LIVE SIMPLY PARISH: 'Stitch it, don't ditch it'!
It is called 'Stitch it, don't ditch it'.
Please come at 2.15pm on Thursday 12th May to the parish hall for just over an hour. Bring anything you like to do. And please come from the school if your children are curious about mending and sewing.
All are welcome to help make, reuse or recycle items that might otherwise be thrown away - plus, it is lovely to meet up with others, learn new skills and have a cuppa and a chat!
Confirmation 2022 - can you help?
On Thursday 9th June at 7pm St Augustine's Church is delighted to be hosting the Mass of Confirmation, with Bishop Declan, for the 37 candidates who have been preparing for this wonderful Sacrament for many months.
We would love to ask for help to be able to offer refreshments to people after the Mass - please message me on here or by email to the office if you are able to help out in a team to provide lovely welcoming hospitality!
Our Next Community Event.... You are all invited!
On Saturday 28th May we will be delighted to welcome the Unity Singers to entertain us with Musical Melodies!
7.30pm in the Church with refreshments during the interval.
Please come along to support this wonderful event, all in aid of your 2 parish projects, Grassroots Suicide Prevention and The Patrick Wild Centre.
James Nash, who passed away last year, was a member of the Unity Singers and so we thank them for coming to our church to help raise money for our projects as The Patrick Wild Centre was a cause so close to James' heart.
Tickets on sale next week - suggested donation £5 per ticket.
Thanks to Deacon Vincent for your Reflections for 4th Sunday in Easter Year C
1st Reading from the Acts of the Apostles 13: 14, 43-52.
This is the first of a pattern we shall come across frequently in Paul’s Ministry. In the passage before the one we are reading today, Paul preaches first in the synagogue and it is accepted but then it is rejected by them, after the opposition works on them, so Paul turns to the Gentiles and meets with great success as they are really excited by the Gospel. His fellow Jews became jealous of his success and tried to disrupt the meeting, then Paul quotes Isaiah 49: 6, which right at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel is quoted by Simeon in the Temple, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles,” This delights the Gentiles and angers the Jews who then work on the upper class ladies and men of the city, so both Paul and Barnabas are expelled from the city. The Disciples expect persecution, which fills them with, “Joy and the Holy Spirit”, these are closely linked in Luke’s view. Preaching the Gospel has never been easy, and it is constantly attacked both at the beginning and now. We are not loved by the world, but we have the Holy Spirit to fill us with joy, and that is priceless.
Psalm 99: 1-3, 5.
This very short hymn is full of references to the covenant, and it contains seven responses to what God has done. Seven reasons to praise God, and so there is always a reason to praise God.
2nd Reading from the book of the Apocalypse (Revelations) 7: 9, 14-17.
Clearly these people come from all over the world and are obviously martyrs, then we have this mysterious reference to blood being a bleacher and we all know that blood is the opposite of a bleach, so we are beginning to realise that God has turned everything upside down. This is exactly what the Gospel does for us, it turns worldly expectations upside down. To be befriended by God’s Son is priceless and worth sacrificing anything to retain it; even life itself.
The Holy Gospel according to John 10:27-30.
This passage happens in the Temple at the Feast of Hanukkah, which celebrated the dedication of the Second Temple after the Maccabean revolt against the Greeks. He is confronted and asked why he just doesn’t come out and say he is the Messiah. He answers that even if he told them they would not believe because they are not his sheep and so he expounds this wonderful description of his flock. We, who have been chosen, can never be lost, unless they choose to be lost. If we truly want to be one of his flock, then we cannot be stolen from him because Jesus and the Father are one and what is God’s cannot be taken from him. We are safe to eternal life, if we choose to listen to him and follow him to green pastures, allowing him to feed and water us. We are his flock, and he needs many helpers to feed and water us, so we must pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send many more labourers into his fields. There will be troubles as we see from the first reading and much opposition, and we face ridicule, but like St. Francis, let’s be “Fools for God”.
God Bless you ALL.
Deacon Vincent...
or as St. Francis would say, “Pax et Bonum” which translated means “Peace and all Good.”
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