If you are planning to take a year out before work or further study, there are worthwhile projects in the UK where you can use your talents and serve in a Church-based environment. On the Catholic Gap Year Website you can find out about the many Catholic gap year opportunities that exist, from working with disabled people to evangelisation and youth centre work.
http://www.catholicgapyear.com
Friday 7th August at 7.30 pm
United Reformed Church Hall, Leigh
Presentation by Sheila Cochrane of our area who has first-hand working experience in Uganda with her team to improve the lives of our sisters and brothers there.
Refreshments, raffle, bring & buy. All most welcome. Good free parking. Tickets 50p, including refreshments, pay at door.
Sister Megan at St. Gabriel’s will be pleased to receive donations, prizes and/or gifts for the Bring and Buy stall.
The United Reformed Church Hall is In Union Street in Leigh Town Centre.
The relics of St Theresa of Lisieux will be touring England between 16th September and 15th October 2009.
They will be at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral 24th & 25th September,
Salford Cathedral 25th & 26th September
and Manchester University on 27th September.
There are brochures at the back of church with full details.
My dear People,
One summer in three we receive Sunday by Sunday the 6th Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John. This would be a good title: “The Passover Feast of the Bread of Life”. Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul describe the words of our Lord when he took bread and wine in the atmosphere of the Passover meal; John, in his account of the Last Supper does not set out the actions and words of Jesus to do with bread and wine; instead, and at its heart it is all one deed, he describes our Lord, in full awareness of his coming from the Father and going back to the Father, choosing to be a slave and washing his disciples’ feet.
That action is truly the same action as surrendering himself to his body broken, his blood poured out so that sins may be forgiven. And this is his chosen sign of who he is, what he is among us: bread and wine do not conceal him: once the sign was a baby, lying in a manger: poor, lowly: at the supper, kneeling to wash feet: bread and wine which in the words of the Jesuit poet and priest, Gerard Manley-Hopkins, “wear man’s smudge and share man’s smell”: all of this is sign: makes him known as he really is, as God really is.
But some came to him not because they had seen, read, understood the sign of Emmanuel, God with even us in our frailty. They wanted a king to provide food in abundance, plenty to consume; a king to lead us out in campaigns, to glorious successes and achievements: glory, renown, celebrity, idols and idolatry.
But he insists: - “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent”. Step by step over the coming weeks we will be asked with Simon Peter to recognise Jesus the Nazarene, the child of Mary who once sung of her lowliness and hunger and poverty: at the end of August’s journey we will acclaim with Simon Peter “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.”
A few weeks ago Christy Nolan died; I wrote to his mother and father with whose affection, labour, patience, respect, he was able to bless many from his paraplegic’s wheelchair that, in the obituary for him, the Economist described as his pulpit and his throne. One challenge in his life was communion: he had no control over his mouth. But a priest observed: Christy’s mouth always opens when he laughs. So he came with Bible, Prayers, the Blessed Sacrament, and a joke. Christy commented: So I met my servile God. That surely is the servile God made known to us by Matthew, Mark, Luke John, and Paul: the Lord who gives his body for me: pours out his blood for us sinners; kneels to wash our feet.
I have often wondered if the words from the hymn of Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi inspired Christy. I will have to wait now to find out when with Christy I rejoice in the life of the world to come of which every Mass is the foretaste, if it was one source of his “my servile God”. Saint Thomas wrote:
“Panis angelicus fit panis hominum;
dat panis coelicus figuris terminum.
O res mirabilis! Manducat Dominum,
pauper, servus et humilis.”
If Monsignor Leo Alston were still among us he could translate those words worthily; strangely, the best I can do is do so literally, with no attempt to capture the lyricism, the beauty of Saint Thomas, theologian and outstanding poet.
“The bread of angels becomes the bread of mortals;
the bread from heaven brings to an end the foreshadowing;
O wonderful deed!
the poor and lowly servant eats the Lord”.
Besides the refreshing in body, mind, spirit, many like me thirst for in the summer months, may these August Sundays renew our hunger and thirst for our servile God.
Yours devotedly in Christ,
+ PATRICK KELLY
Archbishop of Liverpool
NOVENA PRAYER
Lord, help us to be united in prayer with our pilgrims who have travelled to Lourdes in answer to Mary’s call to Bernadette.
We pray that during these special days all of us may be drawn closer to you through the prayers of your Mother.
“Bless us dear Lady with blessings from heaven,
and to our petitions let answer be given.”
Our Lady of Lourdes: pray for us.
St Bernadette: pray for us.
LOURDES ‘AT HOME’ PILGRIMAGE
The last day of the Lourdes ‘At Home’ Pilgrimage will take place in our Pastoral Area at Our Lady of the Rosary this Thursday with Bishop Tom Williams:
8.00 am Early Morning Mass
8.30 am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (until 11.30 am)
12.00 noon Mass of Anointing of the Sick *
followed by lunch
8.00 pm Holy Hour
*The Mass of Anointing is particularly for those who are sick and housebound, but it is also an opportunity to re-affirm Eucharistic Ministers and others who care for the sick in their homes.
The current ‘flu pandemic (H1N1 2009), more commonly known as ‘Swine Flu’, has so far caused a relatively mild illness in most people. However, it is very easy to catch the ‘flu and pass it on to others. The number of cases is expected to increase. To minimize the risk of both infection and transmission:
1) Most important: stay at home if you are ill. ‘Flu is primarily an air-borne infection transmitted when groups of people breathe the same air in an enclosed space. It is not a sin to stay away from Mass when you are ill or infectious (i.e. seven days after the onset of symptoms).
2) Please be aware that asking the priest or a Eucharistic minister to make a routine visit would put them and others at risk and involve taking special precautions.
3) Priests and ministers are requested to wash their hands before and after distributing communion. Bottles of anti-bacterial hand gel are available at each of the churches. Hand washing is recommended for everyone before touching your mouth.
4) As a temporary measure, the chalice will be withdrawn from communion. Please remember that the Body and Blood of Christ are completely received when consumed under the appearance of either bread or wine.
5) Communion received on the tongue involves the risk of contaminating the ministers’ fingers with virus-containing saliva. So it is requested that all receive communion in the hand for the time being.
6) The “Sign of Peace” could be an occasion for viruses to be transferred from hand to hand. If you are worried, it is perfectly acceptable to simply say the words “Peace be with youâ€? or bow to those around you.
7) A leaflet is available at the back of churches with more details. Please consult your own GP or NHS Direct (http://www.nhs.uk) if you have personal health concerns or symptoms.