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Fr. Peter Charles Crowther obl. sbso | The Presbytery, Bury Lane, Withnell, Chorley, PR6 8SD | Tel 01254 830 995 | Reg Charity: 232709

Universalis

© 2021 St Joseph's Catholic Church, Withnell. All Rights Reserved.

Please pray for Pope Francis, Benedict XVI and Archbishop Malcolm McMahon                                                   

Liverpool Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool Reg. Char. 232709

moorlandsanctuary@gmail.com

www.moorlandsanctuary.com


TODAY'S MASS: Jesus was a countryman, from the rich agricultural plains of Galilee, where wheat and fruit- trees abounded. It was natural for him to use such imagery to describe the Kingship of God which he was proclaiming. Today's Gospel offers us two of the many images in Mark's chapter of parables. What did Jesus want to teach by them? Images can carry many layers of meaning. First, the seed growing secretly all the time: perhaps Jesus meant that God's purposes are accomplished in spite of our feeble and fumbling efforts. Perhaps it was a warning that after long waiting the time for decision, the time of harvest had come with Jesus' own mission. Second, the mustard-seed: was this a reply to the discouraged disciples, or perhaps Jesus' critical opponents, that his motley little group of undistinguished peasants, fishermen and tax-collectors would grow into God's own mighty tree? Perhaps this is a first hint that Jesus' mission is for all nations, not just for Israel. All nations would come, nest and find a home in the branches of his mission, just as in the first Reading they nest in the branches of the great cedar tree. At any rate, both images show that God is in charge and has great plans which will be fulfilled despite our own inadequacies.     (Fr. Henry Wansbrough, osb)


WEEKLY PONDER: What does Jesus mean to teach by these parables? More specifically, what does Jesus mean by comparing the Christian mission to a tree?  (Fr. Henry Wansbrough, osb)


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: 'Sleep that knits up the revell'd sleeve of care' is a daily therapeutic miracle, healing the heart There is a gentle reflection of this in John 11, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Sometimes it is better to leave things alone and they will come along of their own accord.  Parents know this very well....you just have to trust the process  /  the growth. The typical heresy of our time is not quietism but rather meticulous activism, often declining into pernickety interference. Some things just take time and the courage of non-interference!   (Fr. Kieran O'Mahony, osa)


PRAYER: You are the mystery at the heart of all, and in you we put our trust. When we are asleep, when we are awake, you are silently at work. In you we place our trust. Amen, amen.    (Fr. Kieran, osa)



SAINT THIS WEEK:  Friday is the feast of St. John Rigby. He was born at Eccleston near Chorley in 1570. He was an English layman who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was also known as Thomas Rigby in the Autobiography of a Hunted Priest; a story about the Jesuit John Gerard who was a distant relation of our own late Madeleine Shaw who before marrying Bob was Madeleine Gerard.


MASS READINGS:    1st. Reading Ezekiel 17:   It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar.

                                                          2nd. Reading  2 Corinthians 5:  We walk by faith, not by sight.

                                                          3rd. Reading  Mark 4:   But once it is sown it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches.



THE POPE: How often do we see a man or woman arrive at work with a weary face, with a tired countenance and, when we ask them, “What happened?”  They answer: “I only slept two hours because we are taking turns at home to be close to....our grandfather, our grandmother.”  These are heroic deeds, the heroism of families.


TAIZE: There are physical forms of violence on earth including war, torture, murder....There are other more subtle forms of violence that are concealed in cunning tactics, in suspicion, mistrust, humiliation. There is no violence in God. God sent Christ not to accuse us, but to call us to Himself, not to condemn us, but because He loves us.


WEEKLY BIBLE: The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.   (Lamentations 3)


SAINTLY GEMS: What we ourselves cannot bear let us bear with the help of Christ. For he is all-powerful and tells us: 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light.'    (St. Boniface)

Everyone has their own mess to contend with. Our tendency is to think that we  are the only ones with a mess, that our mess is messier, more embarrassing, more shameful than other people's mess. It isn't so.   (Matthew Kelly)


FOOD FOR THOUGHT:  Ask Him to lift you in your brokenness and gently carry you to the safety of  His unconditional and redeeming love.   (Jane Trufant Harvey)

Ask Him to please knock a little louder on the door of your heart if for some reason you've missed his call before.  (Jane Trufant Harvey)

If they try to rush me, I always say, “I've only got one other speed, and it's slower.”     (Glenn Ford)

Before engaging your mouth, put your mind in gear!


SYNOD:  We begin a week of daily prayer for the Synod today. The Prayers are on the Website under sidebar  “Pastoral Letters.” We will also use them at daily Masses.


FR. MARK HAYDU, LC:  The apostles' faith multiplied until, all throughout the world, the fruits of their faith are on display.


FR. GERARD HUGHES, SJ: The risen Christ is continuously coming through the closed doors of our minds as he came through the doors of the room where the disciples were gathered.   (God of Surprises)


FR. THOMAS MERTON, OCSO:  This deeply spiritual Trappist monk said, “ Our sins were forgiven before ever they were committed because ( Christ died one Friday afternoon to take away the sins of the world from the beginning until the end of time).  We say this at every Eucharist.


CONFIDENCE:  Jesus loves us because the Bible tells us so.  Nothing can separate us from that love. He knows our individual problems, difficulties, faults, failings and weaknesses, and He sorted them all out on the Cross. We must trust the Lord always and just go through life one step at a time.   (anon)


NEWCREEATIONS:  Life has a way of knocking the wind out of us at times. We all trip up, stumble and make mistakes. That is the moment when the lies of the enemy come at us the loudest about how horrible we are and that we'll never amount to anything. The enemy says that you will never be better than your worst action. But Jesus changes all that. Now that you are in Christ you are no longer defined by what you do. Even though that bad junk may have been your enemy once, now you are an entirely new creation. The new you is clean, holy and right with God. You are now capable of making good decisions and saying no to all that bad junk of your past. Even when you forget that truth and mess up, it doesn't change who you are. Accept this new identity you have in Christ. Let everything you do flow out of your new royal nature.   (Newcreeations)


YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH: We have four parishes in our Deanery dedicated to St. Joseph! Google 'memoraretosaintjoseph' and you will obtain a short beautiful prayer in his honour.


FIRST COMMUNIONS (Part 2):  These were yesterday and were Village children; six of them. Congratulations. Sit at the Lord's Table as often as you can and eat the Food for the Journey; strength for the road!! Our final Group of four will be next Saturday 19th. June.


THE LONG-AWAITED ANNOUNCEMENT:  The PM will let us know tomorrow whether we are being “unlocked” on 21st. June. His decision will decide whether we open up the church on 27th. June. Mass in our little church can never be the same again: You will be asked to deposit your collection in the basket on the way in. There will not be any movement in church except for myself. Holy Communion will be distributed on the way out at the end of Mass, starting from the back and working to the front. Hard Copy Newsletters will be available on the way out as well. We are regarded as the 'Worse Case Scenario' in the Archdiocese, but we can make it work if we all cooperate with each other. Thanks.


CHRISTMAS: People are already asking me how we are going to cope with Christmas numbers. The Vigil Mass will be by ticket only and limited to 90.  However; one step at a time!! It will just be nice to have people in church again, though all Services will continue to be Streamed.


STREAMING: Thanks to a couple of massive donations, I am pleased to say that our Streaming is now being done by MCN Media which is an International Company based in Ireland. They Stream churches throughout the British Isles, America, Canada and the Vatican. All you do is go on to MCN/Church Broadcasts/England/Lancashire. You will see our church picture and click on. You can either watch live at the scheduled time or watch a recording. YouTube is no longer in use. I must thank JT Solutions who installed the original Stream; they worked very hard and tried hard to perfect it but frequent complaints as to sound and vision necessitated the change. We should be okay now, including today.


PLEASE REMEMBER THE SYNOD IN YOUR PRAYERS DURING THIS WEEK.

Lately Deceased

Fr. Peter Charles Crowther, obl.sbso

01254 830 995

Email: moorlandsanctuary@rcaol.org.uk  

Parish Administrator and Catechist: Jane Gilbertson, B.Ed. (Hons), B.Sc. (Hort), CTC.

Week 11B ,  13th. June, 2021


3rd. Sunday after Pentecost        

Hand in hand w1ith Jesus         Remember your daily Rosary

 


 



  


 



















 












Respice in me, et miserere mei, Domine

Anniversaries

Sick & Housebound

Feastdays

Readers

Anointing / Forgiveness

Mass

Intentions

Cardinal George Basil Hume, osb., Bishop Ambrose Griffiths, osb., Fr. Peter Morris, Dcn. Francis Murray,  Dcn. Gerard Buckley, Dcn. Thomas Pritchard, Monica Ratcliffe, Florence Clitheroe, John Holden, Violet Gartside, Thomas Quinn, Robert Bretherton, Catherine Ball, Vera Cox, Harold Unsworth, Jim Charnock, Helen McDonnell, Wilf Lloyd, Agnes Maiden, Lawrence Parker, June Mary Lassey, Elsie Hindle, Bob Baxendale.

 Fr. Bernard Jackson, Fr. Barry McAllister, Fr. Cassian Dickie osb., Philip Rushton, Ian Davies, Ann Beconnsall, Rita Maher, Kathleen Mee, Rachel Mason, Eamon Neary and others.

Next Week:   

COLLECTOR:



Today:  

COLLECTOR:



Dcn. Bert Wright

“Seeds to trees”