**** MEETING POSTPONED**** NEW DATE ALERT ****
St Augustine's Soup Run Meeting
We were due to meet this Sunday but this has been rearranged due to illness, and will now be on ** SUNDAY 26th March at 6.00pm ** (no longer at 3pm) in the Parish Hall. (BS16 6QR)
Please spread the word to anyone who was considering coming so they don't make a wasted journey.
Hoping to see as many people as possible at the meeting to be able to share the news of how the soup run helps those in need in Bristol and how we might be able to get involved.
Everyone is very welcome.
St Patrick's Day
St. Patrick’s day is fast approaching with plans for a week long celebration around the city.The annual parade by 'West of England Irish' is on Sunday 19th March, assembling Trinity Community Centre, Old Market, setting off around 11.30 am and concluding by the High Street with an afternoon of music, song and dance!!!See their website for all the information.
https://weirish.org.uk/festival/
Are you passionate about your faith and have the desire to share it with others?
Would you like to support our parishes in their mission to be communities of evangelisation, mission rooted in synodality?
Do you have an interest in developing resources and working with a variety of different groups to deliver effective and dynamic ongoing faith formation and sacramental preparation, alongside accompanying parishes in their outreach to those seeking faith or simply curious?
The person appointed to this role will be someone committed to the mission of the Church, a confident communicator, able to promote the Gospel and support parishes to grow in their capacity to be places of mission and outreach. He or she will work closely with the Officer for Caritas and Environment on some joint projects, particularly in the area of Youth Ministry.
If you are interested in such a role and would like to work for Clifton Diocese, please send your application to sarah.adams@cliftondiocese.com. For more information and an informal conversation, prior to applying, please contact Sarah Adams, Director for the Department of Adult Education and Evangelisation, on 0117 902 5595.
Further Information and the Application form can be found here: https://cliftondiocese.com/diocese/working-for-us/
Closing Date for Applications: Friday 14th April - First Interviews Monday 24th April
Further Information and the Application form can be found here: https://cliftondiocese.com/diocese/working-for-us/
Closing Date for Applications: Friday 14th April - First Interviews Monday 24th April
Thanks, as always, to Deacon Vincent for his reflections for the 3rd Sunday in Lent Year A
1st Reading from the book of Exodus 17: 3-7.
Exodus is a remarkable story of God and God’s people of Israel. They are freed from Pharaoh’s enslavement and learn obedience to their God, during a long testing time in the desert. This passage today shows how the people were very angry, so angry that Moses feared they would stone him. Water is a matter of life or death in the desert. Life does not last long without it. Although we can be killed by water it is essential for life. Despite everything God had done for them, the people still had not learnt to trust him or his intermediary, Moses. The book illustrates the ups and downs of Israel’s relationship with God. It is a classic way to explore our own attitude to God, we find ourselves exposed to our own vagaries in our relationship with God. When things are going well, he is a good God, but when things take a turn for the worse, we complain, “How does a good God allow such things to happen?” We manage to blame God for all the things that man gets wrong. If we really engage and enter into this book, journeying with the people of Israel; we will discover a real insight into our own shortcomings. It also illustrates God’s eternal patience with such a stubborn and hard-hearted people, that we are.
Psalm 94: 1-2, 6-9.
The song is an invitation for us to praise God, and to weep for our lack of trust at Meribah and Massah, when we put God to the test and were very angry with him. The word Massah means, “Temptation” and Meribah, means, “Reviling”. The song recalls our failing which we have just read in our first reading. It encourages us to always praise and thank God for his goodness.
2nd Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8.
We continue the theme of God’s unbelievable generosity in coming to our aid, whilst we were still in “Sin”. It is not due to any merit of our own that God has called us and redeemed us in Christ, in fact Paul emphasises that it was whilst we were steeped in sin, just as the people grumbled at Massah & Meribah, yet God gave them water to drink, so in Christ, God has reached out to save us despite our sinfulness. This, for Paul, illustrates just how much we are loved by God. God is anxious to save us, we should always rejoice like the composer of Psalm 94.
The Holy Gospel according to John 4: 5-42.
1st Reading from the book of Exodus 17: 3-7.
Exodus is a remarkable story of God and God’s people of Israel. They are freed from Pharaoh’s enslavement and learn obedience to their God, during a long testing time in the desert. This passage today shows how the people were very angry, so angry that Moses feared they would stone him. Water is a matter of life or death in the desert. Life does not last long without it. Although we can be killed by water it is essential for life. Despite everything God had done for them, the people still had not learnt to trust him or his intermediary, Moses. The book illustrates the ups and downs of Israel’s relationship with God. It is a classic way to explore our own attitude to God, we find ourselves exposed to our own vagaries in our relationship with God. When things are going well, he is a good God, but when things take a turn for the worse, we complain, “How does a good God allow such things to happen?” We manage to blame God for all the things that man gets wrong. If we really engage and enter into this book, journeying with the people of Israel; we will discover a real insight into our own shortcomings. It also illustrates God’s eternal patience with such a stubborn and hard-hearted people, that we are.
Psalm 94: 1-2, 6-9.
The song is an invitation for us to praise God, and to weep for our lack of trust at Meribah and Massah, when we put God to the test and were very angry with him. The word Massah means, “Temptation” and Meribah, means, “Reviling”. The song recalls our failing which we have just read in our first reading. It encourages us to always praise and thank God for his goodness.
2nd Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8.
We continue the theme of God’s unbelievable generosity in coming to our aid, whilst we were still in “Sin”. It is not due to any merit of our own that God has called us and redeemed us in Christ, in fact Paul emphasises that it was whilst we were steeped in sin, just as the people grumbled at Massah & Meribah, yet God gave them water to drink, so in Christ, God has reached out to save us despite our sinfulness. This, for Paul, illustrates just how much we are loved by God. God is anxious to save us, we should always rejoice like the composer of Psalm 94.
The Holy Gospel according to John 4: 5-42.
This passage takes us deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is. Jews and Samaritans do not mix and each have a long standing dislike of each other. Jesus asks for a drink, the odd thing about this story is Jesus never gets his thirst satisfied. It reminds us of Jesus’ thirst on the cross, and the remark in Matthew’s Gospel, “I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink.” Maybe we should realise that Jesus is thirsting for kindness and compassion but failing to get it. The woman is very quick to realise what Christ is really saying to her. She is the first person in this Gospel to call him Lord. Jesus questions the men in her life and she realises he is a prophet; finally she raises the question as to whether he is the Messiah, to which Jesus responds, “I AM”. Then just at this moment the disciples intrude and are very disparaging about the company Jesus is keeping. The woman abandons her bucket symbolising leaving her old life behind, and takes up the new task of being a missionary. The disciples do not grasp what is going on, but the woman (a foreigner at that), is reaping a harvest for the Lord. Finally, Jesus is described as “Saviour of the World”. We now realise that foreigners and Gentiles are signalled as grasping the reality of Jesus, ahead of the Judaic people, the chosen ones of God.
May God enlighten us to give Jesus true kindness and compassion. Deacon Vincent
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