PLEASE NOTE:
Reminder - Tomorrow's Mass for St Patrick's Day will be at **10am** (not the usual Friday evening time) as there is a Diocesan celebration Mass at St Patrick's Church, Redfield for their centenary.Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Highlighting our 2023 overseas Parish Project: The Mike Proctor Foundation.
Mike Proctor has sent us a thank you message as he heard about the amazing Quiz Night which took place last week - as you can see, he is delighted to know we are helping the foundation this year and hopes to join us for an event when he is over in the summer.Organisers of the quiz night and Parish Project sponsors, Mike & Steve Ryan, said "What a great night of fun we had at the parish quiz. A very grand total of £733 was raised on the night! Special thanks go to the quiz gang helpers, to the full house of 'quizzers' and all who supported us."
The Foundation was set up by cricketer Mike Proctor to enhance the lives of South Africa’s most vulnerable citizens using cricket and other sporting activities as a vehicle to improve self esteem, escape the harsh realities of everyday life and provide an environment for children to be children.
At Ottawa primary school a significant proportion of the children are HIV positive and many are orphans. Many face a daily struggle against hunger and crime.
The foundation has been providing physical education lessons and sporting opportunities for the 1,200 children at Ottawa primary school, at Shastri Park in the Phoenix area of Durban, since 2011. They are delighted to announce that in 2023, they have agreed an expansion of activities into the Solomon Mahlangu primary school at Cornubia, which has around 750 pupils and is located about three miles to the south east of Ottawa school.
See their website for more details. https://mikeprocterfoundationuk.org/
Cuteness alert!
Some of our adorable children were making a little garden in the soft ground this weekend, after Mass, including 'the most colourful leaf' one of them had ever seen! (can you spot it?)
.... when asked if it was a place for the fairies to have a party in (it looked like a great party venue to me!) they so wonderfully replied 'it's a garden for Jesus at Easter'.
Well... that told me! 😆 A much better answer!❤️
Come and look for it when you next come to the Church - we'll see how long it survives in this awful weather!
Bernadette x
Thanks to Deacon Vincent for his reflections for 4th Sunday of Lent Year A
1st Reading from the first book of Samuel 16: 1, 6=7, 10-13.
This story is about Samuel’s perception of what a future King of Israel should look like. He immediately thinks Jesse’ eldest son, a tall strong man should be anointed, but God tells him in no uncertain terms that God sees things differently. He is not fooled by appearances; he looks at the heart. We are taught to start to gain God’s vision. We need to learn how to discern a deeper vision, we need to see with our spirit not just our eyes. God has chosen David, the smallest of Jesse’s sons, but a young man of clear face and fine eyes of pleasant bearing. God wants a shepherd king. God has a soft spot for shepherds, he allows them to visit the new-born Christ before all others. Sight is not just about vision it goes hand and glove with perception.
Psalm 22.
Here we see how God is portrayed as a shepherd, guide and host. It is a favourite psalm with most people, in Hebrew this psalm displays beautiful poetry, but some of its artistry is lost in translation, however, the sentiments capture the imagination. We are viewing God with our hearts, and the vision is beautiful. It has been a favourite theme for artists throughout the ages.
2nd Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians 5: 8-14.
This is an excerpt of a very long section dealing with the kind of behaviour that is appropriate in the Body of Christ. It is thought that it might have been written by one of Paul’s disciples as the teaching is more diffuse and less precise than in most of Paul’s letters, but this is of small matter, as the author shares Paul’s sense of what fits and does not fit if you are a Christian. The lines “Wake up”, might have come from an early Christian hymn. We are left in no doubt that being a Christian requires a response in the way we behave.
The Holy Gospel according to John 9: 1-41.
This story continues a theme of Christ the “Light of the World.” We encounter a man born blind and then a stupid question from Christ’s disciples inquiring about who sinned to cause his blindness. Christ gives a brief view of different types of blindness. Christ heals his blindness; but then follow the story through as the man gains in confidence and deals spiritedly with Jesus’ opponents, and finally the man comes to full faith, (The full sight of the spirit), in Jesus as the Son of Man. We are confronted by the blindness of those who think it is another man, and he wasn’t the blind man at all, and then there is the blindness of Jesus’ opponents, who decree that Jesus cannot possibly be from God, because, “we know he is a sinner” Finally we have the blindness of his parents who do not want to be involved. All of it contrasts with the man who at the beginning is blind, but at the end, the only one, apart from Christ, who is seeing more that anyone else. Faith in Jesus gives us real sight and perception. We need to strive for that faith that enlightens our minds and hearts to follow the Gospel life more deeply and sincerely, and so come close to God.
God Bless us as we journey closer to Jesus this Lent.
Deacon Vincent
*I fully acknowledge the assist given me by Nicholas King’s Study Bible in this and all my reflections For his insight into the books and writings of the Holy Bible. He has been my inspiration and insight into the wonders of Holy Scripture.*
1st Reading from the first book of Samuel 16: 1, 6=7, 10-13.
This story is about Samuel’s perception of what a future King of Israel should look like. He immediately thinks Jesse’ eldest son, a tall strong man should be anointed, but God tells him in no uncertain terms that God sees things differently. He is not fooled by appearances; he looks at the heart. We are taught to start to gain God’s vision. We need to learn how to discern a deeper vision, we need to see with our spirit not just our eyes. God has chosen David, the smallest of Jesse’s sons, but a young man of clear face and fine eyes of pleasant bearing. God wants a shepherd king. God has a soft spot for shepherds, he allows them to visit the new-born Christ before all others. Sight is not just about vision it goes hand and glove with perception.
Psalm 22.
Here we see how God is portrayed as a shepherd, guide and host. It is a favourite psalm with most people, in Hebrew this psalm displays beautiful poetry, but some of its artistry is lost in translation, however, the sentiments capture the imagination. We are viewing God with our hearts, and the vision is beautiful. It has been a favourite theme for artists throughout the ages.
2nd Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians 5: 8-14.
This is an excerpt of a very long section dealing with the kind of behaviour that is appropriate in the Body of Christ. It is thought that it might have been written by one of Paul’s disciples as the teaching is more diffuse and less precise than in most of Paul’s letters, but this is of small matter, as the author shares Paul’s sense of what fits and does not fit if you are a Christian. The lines “Wake up”, might have come from an early Christian hymn. We are left in no doubt that being a Christian requires a response in the way we behave.
The Holy Gospel according to John 9: 1-41.
This story continues a theme of Christ the “Light of the World.” We encounter a man born blind and then a stupid question from Christ’s disciples inquiring about who sinned to cause his blindness. Christ gives a brief view of different types of blindness. Christ heals his blindness; but then follow the story through as the man gains in confidence and deals spiritedly with Jesus’ opponents, and finally the man comes to full faith, (The full sight of the spirit), in Jesus as the Son of Man. We are confronted by the blindness of those who think it is another man, and he wasn’t the blind man at all, and then there is the blindness of Jesus’ opponents, who decree that Jesus cannot possibly be from God, because, “we know he is a sinner” Finally we have the blindness of his parents who do not want to be involved. All of it contrasts with the man who at the beginning is blind, but at the end, the only one, apart from Christ, who is seeing more that anyone else. Faith in Jesus gives us real sight and perception. We need to strive for that faith that enlightens our minds and hearts to follow the Gospel life more deeply and sincerely, and so come close to God.
God Bless us as we journey closer to Jesus this Lent.
Deacon Vincent
*I fully acknowledge the assist given me by Nicholas King’s Study Bible in this and all my reflections For his insight into the books and writings of the Holy Bible. He has been my inspiration and insight into the wonders of Holy Scripture.*
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