This week's news

Peace Sunday

Peace Sunday 2024 was Sunday 14 January and the theme chosen by Pope Francis is ‘Artificial Intelligence and Peace’. Pax Christi have produced a series of resources to mark the day.

Use this link for more information: 

Peace Sunday 2024 - Catholic Bishops' Conference (cbcew.org.uk)

Mixer & Mash night

Who fancies an evening together, getting to know or catching up with fellow parishioners?

Well, on Saturday 3rd February you can do just that at our Parish 'Mixer & Mash' night!

Good old, hearty, sausage and mash will be on the menu and for your ticket price of just £15 per person you'll get a 2 course meal, after dinner coffee & mints, table activities, glasses for your BYO drinks and a lovely night out.

Contact the parish office for your ticket or buy them after Masses this weekend and next.

Dietary requirements will be happily catered for - please let us know on purchasing. See you there!

Kingship of Christ: Responding to the Cry of the Earth online formation session

Lumen Gentium teaches that all the baptised participate in Christ’s kingly office. 

We can grow comfortable with calling Christ the King, and we think of it as a cosmic abstraction. But what is Christ’s kingship in a more concrete sense? And how are we called to live that reality in our daily lives?

The Department of Adult Education and Evangelisation is offering an online formation session which links the Kingship of Christ with caring for our common home. Webinar: Wednesday 24 January, 7.30-8.45pm.

 

You can register here

Vacancies

Clifton Diocese are currently looking for a Principle Surveyor for the Diocese and a College Chaplain for St Brendan's College.
Visit the 'working for us' page of their website for detail.

https://cliftondiocese.com/diocese/working-for-us/

St. Nicholas of Tolentino RC Church, Bristol hosts their monthly celebration of Mass for members of the LGBTQI+ community, their family, friends and allies, on 21st January.
All are welcome.

Our friends from the Ukrainian Church are holding their Nativity and Carols here this Sunday at 3.30pm. All are welcome!

Thank you Deacon Vincent, for your Reflections for Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

1st Reading from the prophet Jonah 3: 1-5, 1
The theme for this reading is that Jonah was not at all pleased to be given this task by the Lord, so he ran away to sea, was thrown overboard by the sailors, swallowed by a large fish. Cries out to the Lord for deliverance, is cast upon the shore and so here we have Jonah, at last going to Nineveh, as the Lord had commanded. Jonah has no particular interest in Nineveh he is there purely t the Lord’s request. He goes to the centre of the city and proclaims that the Lord will destroy the city unless they return to the Lord. The people of Nineveh heed the warning proclaim fasts and set about returning to the covenant. As a result, the Lord is merciful and does not destroy the city. The lesson for us, is to heed the warnings that are presented to us by the Lord’s spokespeople and return to the Gospel life with greater sincerity.

Psalm 24: 4-9.
This song continues our theme of forgiveness and asking for the Lord’s assistance. There is that lovely phrase, “In your love remember me.” His law is not just for the learned and wealthy, it is for the lowly and the poor as well. We all are loved and are his cherished children. He wants us all to find our way to the Kingdom of the Lord.

2nd Reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 7: 29-31.

This passage reveals the sense of urgency of the early Church as it expected the Saviour’s return to be imminent, hence Paul’s encouragement for the people to forget their cultural licentiousness and prepare to meet the Lord in the very near future. Paul is not saying that marriage or sexual relationships within marriage were wrong, he was purely emphasising that there were more important issues to attend to in preparing to meet the Lord.

The Holy Gospel according to Mark 1: 14-20.
We are at the very beginnings of Jesus’ mission “The time has come, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand, repent and believe the Good News.” We need to heed the call for us to turn again to God’s covenant of right living with true conviction, rejoicing at God’s patience with us. We witness the call of the first disciples to assist him in his mission. Simon and Andrew are the first to respond. Jesus uses their trade to encourage them to fish for men rather than fish, then similarly Jesus calls two other fishermen, James and John, and notice how Mark shows the urgency of the call by the way they leave their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and follow Jesus. These first disciples were amazing in their trust of Jesus, they left everything for the Gospel. It puts our poor efforts into true perspective, so each year let us grow ever closer to the lord and glorify God by our lives.

May God grant us the grace of perseverance in the Gospel life. Deacon Vincent.