Easter 2022
After a break, away at his 2nd love (the snooker), Fr Frank has been reflecting on how wonderful the Holy Week and Easter celebrations were.
Covid tried to spoil it, of course, but the various parish team members were lucky to have gotten through the virus with mild to moderate symptoms and were able to change plans around, as and when needed, to keep things running as smoothly as we could.
There were great numbers attending the Holy Week services and the music provided beautifully enhanced the liturgies. Thank you to our talented volunteers!
On Good Friday morning it was lovely to see people of all ages at the Children's Stations of the cross. There were children helping to lead the people from the congregation by reading and bringing up symbolic items as part of the interactive retelling of Jesus' passion. Thanks go out to all those involved in the planning and running of this special service for kids ~ the future of the church.
And on Easter Sunday morning Fr Frank invited the children up to have an Easter Egg - the little ones first and then a stampede by the older kids!
Thank you to everyone involved over Easter who helped make it as special as possible for those who were able to come to church, some for the 1st time in over 2 years.
Everyone, as ever, is always welcome when they are ready.
Fr Frank couldn't have wished Easter to have gone any better.
God bless you all.
CHILDREN’S LITURGY OF THE WORD ~ "CLOW"
CLOW starts back this weekend after a long time away!
So, if your child would like to join our trained & DBS cleared team to learn about the Gospel message in children’s language during Sunday morning Mass, please come up when invited to do so by Fr Frank at the start of Mass.
Then we will come back into church together for the Eucharistic prayers.
All children are welcome to come along to listen, join in, have fun & show respect for everyone there.
If your child would like to come & try it, or if you would like to see what we do, please feel free to come out with them to start with. For children who are not of school-age or not yet settled in at school, they are very welcome indeed - we just ask for a grown-up to accompany them to join in the fun. Then, when you feel they are ready, they can start to come out with the leaders.
We look forward to sharing this time and God's messages with the children.
With love from the CLOW Team.
Thank you Deacon Vincent for your Reflections for 3rd Sunday of Easter Year C.
1st Reading from the Acts of the Apostles 5: 27-32, 40-41.
This is a very short section of a much larger setting with Luke detailing the irresistible work of the Spirit. The Apostles have been imprisoned but released by an Angel of the Lord, and they went into the Temple preaching in the name of Jesus, so the High priest came, and the Temple guards brought them before the Sanhedrin. This is where we commence our reading, as they demand an explanation of why the Apostles continue to defy their ruling to stop talking about Jesus and blaming them for having Jesus killed. Peter and the Apostles state they must obey God over human jurisdiction. Our reading leaves the part where a Pharisee, Gamaliel, advises the Sanhedrin to leave the Apostles alone stating if their teaching is man made it will fail, but if it is God’s work then they could find themselves fighting against God himself, so the Sanhedrin listens, has them flogged and released. We then take up the final part where they leave full of joy at having suffered for the Word. Luke has presented this as a comparison with how Pharaoh opposed God and became demonised and failed; with the irrational opposition of the Sanhedrin; in order to remove any sympathy for their position. It is something to remember that God, is the one really in charge of the outcome of events.
Psalm 29: 2, 4-6, 11-13.
A song of thanksgiving and was used at the service of Hanukkah, after the Maccabean restoration, but the psalm is much older than 165BC.
2nd Reading from the book of the Apocalypse 5: 11-14.
This passage has the Angels and thousands of Elders singing, using language that would normally be addressed to God, except the Lamb is obviously Jesus, these people are going to be a challenge for the Roman imperial powers. The whole setting ends with the massed choirs of Angels praising both the Lamb and God, and with the great “Amen”; the elders bow down in silent worship. This is a picture for us to ponder in wonder. Jesus and God are awesome, and we need to remember this when we come into this presence.
This episode is about Peter, who right from the beginning has always been very outspoken, since the moment when his brother Andrew brought him to the Lord. We begin with Peter again exercising leadership and says he is going fishing and the others follow him. He is effectively returning to his previous profession. However, they work all night and catch nothing, and somehow, we are not surprised. Jesus shouts from the shore enquiring how they had got on, but they do not recognise him. Then when he hears they have caught nothing he shouts out to cast their nets out on the starboard, and they have a huge catch. It is John who recognises the Lord. They arrive at the shore and Jesus is cooking breakfast for them. This is a wonderful picture of how caring Jesus really is. Later after the meal, he sits quietly and talks with Peter and we are faced with a triple enquiry as to whether Peter really loves the Lord, and we are taken back to Jesus’ arrest and Peter’s denial three times at the house of Annas, the High Priest’s father-in-law. After each question and answer he is given his task by the Lord to feed his lambs and his sheep. There is an important point to note here that Jesus commissions Peter whilst a sinner, challenging him to follow him closely, so closely that Jesus warns him of his future execution. His final request is to, “Follow me”. It is also a request for us to follow Jesus. There is so much in this Gospel for us to really study over the coming week and beyond.
God Bless you ALL. Deacon Vincent.
Jesus Christ is truly Risen. Alleluia, alleluia!
