This Week's News

Holy Week Services

Maundy Thursday - 7.30pm Mass of the Lord's Supper

Good Friday - 11am Children's Stations of the Cross

(all welcome, not just for kids)

Good Friday - 3pm The Passion

Easter Saturday Vigil - 8pm for all our Parishes in Communion

Easter Sunday - 9.30am Mass of the Resurrection

Easter Message from Fr Barnabas

Dear all.

I wish you every blessing for Easter despite everything that is going wrong in our world at present. This is why the message of Christ is so important. Christ lived under the brutal Roman occupations of his land & yet His Good News still set individuals free.

As we carry the light of Christ into the darkness at the Easter vigil this symbolises the power of the Resurrection to bring us hope.

And I Thank God we live in the Northern hemisphere where Easter coincides with Spring!

Thank you all & Bless you.

Thank you to Deacon Vincent for your Reflections for the Easter Vigil (Year B)

The Easter Fire is lit and a new Pascal Candle is lighted and carried into the darkened Church. It symbolises the light of Christ Risen from the Dead.

The Easter Proclamation (The Exultet) is then sung by the Deacon a lone voice in the darkened Church proclaims the Risen Christ. Church is lighted.
Seven Readings from Genesis, Exodus, Prophet Isaiah, Prophet Baruch and the Prophet Ezekiel trace Salvation history from the creation till the preparation for the Messiah.

1st Reading of the Mass from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans 6: 3-11.
Paul makes the contrast between death through sin and life through the Risen Christ. He describes Baptism as going into the tomb with Christ and Rising with him in a new life, liberated from the pull of sin. Paul insists on the centrality of Jesus Resurrection from death to life and then for all Christians following him from death to life. For Paul the whole story is one of movement from sin (death) to the power of the resurrection to life. This completes his contrast from Adam to Christ. Through Aam came death, but through Christ comes life.

Psalm 117: 1-2, 16-17. 22-23.
At last we have our Alleluias. This psalm is celebrating God in his Temple, but it relates so beautifully, to our celebration of Jesus Resurrection especially in relation to the rejection of the corner stone that has become the key stone. So descriptive of Christ’s death and resurrection.

The Holy Gospel according to Mark 16: 1-7.
This is believed to be the original ending of Mark’s Gospel and the additions that followed were added by those who thought it needed more, but there is a wonderful urgency about the women going through the Sabbath impatiently waiting till they can buy the spices to anoint the body. Then their concern for who will move the large stone from the entrance to the tomb. Thy were not expecting the Resurrection, hence wanting to anoint the dead body. It is thought that Mark makes a rather gentle joke at the expense of the ladies by stating that, “The Sun had already Risen.” If we think the ladies were foolish not to think about how to roll the stone away, we might ask ourselves, where were the men? Only the women venture forth. We guess by the description that this young man might be an Angel, but it is him who makes the Easter Proclamation, “He is risen.” It is a shame we finish the Gospel at this point because Mark has another hidden message when the women had heard the message to give to the disciples and Peter, they fled away from the tomb, “for quivering and astonishment had hold of them”. Quivering and astonishment is the sign of the presence of God. This really is a powerful ending to the Gospel.

Let us Rejoice for Jesus is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia.
Happy Easter from Deacon Vincent