This week's News

Lent Meeting

We hope as many people as possible are taking up the offer of joining a Lent Parish House Group.
As well as the local groups, we will be hosting a main group get together *this Saturday (2nd March)* from 10am until 12noon - all invited to come to the parish hall for a chance to join he conversation that is taking place in the home groups.
All are welcome.

Rite of Election

On the first Saturday of Lent, as at the start of every Lent, our diocesan family gathered at the cathedral together with our bishop to celebrate the Rite of Election, where those who are journeying towards becoming part of our Catholic community are presented to Bishop Declan.

Click below to read the write up on the Clifton Diocese Rite of Election.
Congratulations to all the new candidates as they joined together with their family and friends

https://cliftondiocese.com/news/rite-of-election-2024/

A message from the Department of Adult Education and Evangelisation

We are starting a new formation course in Stroud on a Wednesday evening called 'Invited'. These formation sessions are for parishioners who are interested in learning more about their faith and passing it onto others. I would be grateful if you could promote this in your newsletter/noticeboard/website. The details are:

 

Invited - God offers us a radical invitation but what does it mean to say yes? What does it mean to be a Catholic? What do we believe and how do we grow deeper in our Faith? This twelve-week course will enable us to explore a variety of questions relating to Catholic Teaching.  Who is Invited? This is a course for anyone who is interested in learning more about their faith and passing it onto others, so very useful for new and experienced catechists. The course will take place at The Immaculate Conception, Stroud. The Wednesday evening dates are: 17 April, 24 April;  1 May, 15 May, 22 May;  5 June, 12 June, 19 June, 26 June;  3 July, 10 July, 17 July.

 

For the full outline of the course please see here: cliftondiocese.com/news/invited-a-formation-course-in-stroud/. To express your interest please complete the booking form on the diocesan website and send to catechists@cliftondiocese.com or post to the Department of Adult Education & Evangelisation, Alexander House, 160 Pennywell Road, Bristol, BS5 0TX.

 

Cost of Full Course £50 or £6 per session (bacs details are on the booking form). Although it is not necessary to attend every session (they are stand-alone) we hope that the group will grow together as a community. The sessions will be 7pm to 9pm including time for refreshments.

 

Thanks to Deacon Vincent for his Reflections for Third Sunday in Lent Year B

1st Reading from the book of Exodus 20: 1-17.
The ten commandments or “ten words” (Decalogue) are sometimes explained as “a manifesto for a free society”. Don’t get hitched up on their apparent negativity. God is offering us a route map for a loving relationship, we can either attempt to live it out for God’s sake or ignore it and slip into a free for all society where anything goes, which usually signals a selfish view of life pleasing to ourselves and not necessarily pleasing to others. The first three concern how we recognise our God and treat God with the respect deserved by the God who rescued the Israelites from a life of servitude in Egypt. God gave them back their national identity. The other seven concern how we should live as a people who attempt to be Holy as God is Holy. This will enable God to prepare a people to receive His only Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, and enable the new creation to continue to live in harmony, and at one with God. In our respect and gratitude to God we attempt to develop a sweetness of spirit towards God and each other. When the seven are ignored in part or in all; disharmony, terrors and wars ensue. Far from being restrictive, when we try to observe these guidelines; happiness and harmony become the fruits.

Psalm 18: 8-11.
A song in glory of the Law (Ten Commandments), singing joyously of the great gift God has given us and its’ fruits. “The command of the Lord is a bright light”, which is a wonderful description of the fruits of God’s Law.

2nd Reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 1: 22-25.
In this selection from Paul’s letter, we are entering at a point where Paul is emphasising that the message he brings is about Christ Crucified, which is anathema to the Jews who can’t comprehend God’s plan in such an act, and absolute madness for Greeks. However, Paul insists with great confidence almost breathtaking audacity that “for those called; Jesus Christ is God’s power and wisdom, for God’s stupidity is wiser than human beings, and God’s weakness is stronger than human beings.” Jesus Christ is irresistible in Paul’s experience, because he is God’s Word. The Spirit of Christ captivated Paul and sent him to the Gentile world to convert firstly his Jewish brethren and then offer the Gentiles God’s reconciliation through the Crucified Jesus Christ. By Jesus’ sacrifice we are purchased for God and into God’s Law.

The Holy Gospel according to John 2: 13-25.

We know the authority for Jesus driving out those doing business in God’s Sanctury, but those who witnessed it did not know, even his disciples were not completely sure that Jesus was God’s Son. However, it is at the Resurrection that they begin to be enlightened and they remember Psalm 69: 9, “Zeal for your house will devour me.” But more importantly they realise that Jesus was talking about His Body, not the building. So right at the creation of the Church they say, “they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus said.” Jesus is already extraordinarily authoritative. There is also an ominous warning, “Many came to faith in his name”. Jesus did not entrust himself to them, for Jesus could read people’s hearts. We might remember that in our dealings with Jesus. He can read our hearts!! We cannot deceive him. We are required to be always perfectly honest with Jesus. Let us not deceive ourselves in the matter of our Faith. It is not about power, but about relationships with Jesus and God, everything else fades into insignificance.

May God open our minds to grow ever closer to Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit.

Deacon Vincent