Week beginning 27th June, 13th Sunday of the Year

Writing in what many consider his most famous work, the ‘Apologeticus’, Tertullian, the second century Father of the Church declared, “… the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” This is very true this week, wherein the Church rejoices in many martyrs, both named and unnamed, but who nonetheless planted a rich seed, the fruit of which we see around us.

The Apostles of Rome, Ss Peter and Paul (Tuesday 29th) both came from unlikely beginnings to become fearless lions of the Faith. In his first epistle, Peter urges his readers to be full of hope and propriety, regardless of their surroundings or the impending trials that would befall them. Likewise, in his epistle to the Romans, Paul urges them to remember that they are saved by hope (this being the text chosen by the Holy Father for his momentous encyclical of 2007, “Spe salvi facti sumus” – in hope we are saved!).

With such fertile teaching, the First Martyrs of the Roman See (Wednesday 30th / Ca AD 64) willingly surrendered their mortal lives, as witness to the world, that they were Christ’s.

However, such martyrs are not confined to far off lands or distant history. St Oliver Plunkett (Thursday 1st July / 1629 – 81) was martyred at Tyburn for the Truth as recently as 1681. Following a scandalous show trial, this saintly Archbishop of Armagh was hanged, drawn and quartered; but, in accepting his martyrs’ crown like those before, he is numbered among the company of the white-clothed army of martyrs.

Week beginning 27th June, 13th Sunday of the Year

St Joseph: Nicole & Kelly’s intentions
St John Fisher/St Therese: Nadine & Steve’s intentions
St Thomas More/St Anthony: Laurence Burbridge’s intentions
Our Lady (Saturday – Monday): Deacon John & Maureen Sampson
St Pius X: John Beck
Sacred Heart: Charlotte Fawcett’s recovery

Find out about our Votive Lamps at the Shrines programme.

13th Sunday of the Year

At first glance it looks like a poster for a horrow film – perhaps The Omen VI: He’s Coming to Get You.”

This is how Terry Sanderson, of the National Secular Society, recently described an ultrasound image of a baby in the womb. He speaks for the self-proclaimed apostles of ‘reason’; but, in being so flippant, reveals the unreasonableness of many secularists to those without a voice: they are to be reviled and are, at best, only a commodity. Survival is only for the fittest, and for those whom ‘they’ choose to live.

The Catholic Church, without reservation, defends the right of the unborn, the sick, the elderly and the marginalised; it is for this reason that many secularists hate her with a fanatical passion. She challenges their perceived ‘right’ to commit evil, as they see ‘evil’ to be something relative – to be determined only by the individual. Logically, this is an absurd idea, but, nonetheless, it prevails and is practised widely by those who choose to ignore the Word of God and the teaching of His Church. However, this is nothing new. In the first century, the First Chrisitian Martyrs of the fledgling Church of Rome stood up to the absurdities and evils of the tyranical emperor, Nero, and paid with their lives. We celebrate their memory this coming Wednesday (30th June). In our day, the Church of Christ is still proclaiming Christian Truth; yet, in spite of his enormous power and prestige, Nero’s empire is but a chapter in history. Mr Sanderson: Have regard for the past, examine the present, look towards the future – Respice, adspice, prospice!

Indeed, the Sanctorale (the commemoration of the saints) for this week richly recalls martyrdom: the price paid by Christians for the Truth of the Faith, and none more glorious that Ss Peter and Paul, the two great saints of the Holy Roman Church, whose solemnity we keep on Tuesday (and which is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Latin Church!).

The word, martyr, comes to us from the Greek, martyros, meaning witness. Almost all the saints, whom we recall this week, died in witness of Jesus Christ. One need only contemplate today’s Psalm to understand their motivation. Here, the Psalmist highlights what is key for all the people of God, manely, to have a total devotion to the Lord. God is our refuge and portion; He is our counsel and fullness of joy. To understand this is to be fearless in the face of earthly trial, no matter what the cost.

In throwing his cloak over Elisha, in our first reading, Elijah, symbolically, passed to Elisha his God-given gift of prophecy. This succession of grace and authority is still passed on today, which is why bishops of the Catholic Church stand in succession, to Peter and Paul, in succession to Christ; and so, when Paul’s work in Galatia was being hindered by those who sought to undermine his teaching, he was able to speak with authority and proclaim that it was the Law of Christ – the Law of Love through the Holy Spirit – which would free the Galatians from the slavery of pettiness and indulgence into which they had found themselves drifting.

After 2000 years, the detail of the challenge to the Church has changed – we are no longer confronted by those who seek to impose Mosaic ritual on the Galatians. However, challenges remain, as today’s world clings to what the Holy Father calls ‘Relativism’. This is how he described the problem just before becoming Pope:

Having a clear faith based on the creed of the Church is often labelled today as fundamentalism. Relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, looks like the only attitude acceptable to today’s standards … We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as definitive and has as its highest value one’s own ego and one’s own desires.

The Church today, with that same apostolic authority, proclaims the Law of Christ, which is the Law of Love, the Law of Life. It is contrary to relativism and in the eyes of many, its promotion is an unpopular thing to do, but still, we must do it, for “… love of Christ compels us” (II Cor. 5: 14).

Death may not be the martyrdom which the Lord calls us to, but His words, nonetheless, call for a quality of discipleship and witness. His bidding, to “Follow me”, is not just for Sundays, it is for eternity, and we share it with all who have gone before:

Therefore, the witnesses are before the throne of God. They are exalted to heaven.

(cf Apoc. 7: 15)

Week beginning 20th June, 12th Sunday of the Year

St Aloysius Gonzaga (Monday 21st / 1568-1591): As one who responded to God’s call from an early age, St Aloysius entered the Jesuit Seminary in Rome where he lived a life dedicated to the pursuit of holiness. He remained in the plague-torn city to care for the sick and dying, eventually yielding to the plague himself, dying at the age of 23. He is the patron saint of young adults and teenagers.

St Thomas More (Tuesday 22nd / 1478-1535): Lord Chancellor of England and a close friend of Henry VIII, St Thomas More, wore a hair shirt under his robes of state and led a life of prayer and mortification. He was beheaded on Tower Hill, 6 July, 1535, for steadfastly refusing to approve Henry VIII’s remarriage and break with Rome. At his martyrdom, he prayed for the king and taught the assembled crowd the true meaning of Christian conscience, when he said, “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first”.

St John Fisher (also Tuesday 22nd / 1469-1535): A friend of St Thomas More, it was as Bishop of Rochester that, of all the bishops, he singularly refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, recognizing Henry VIII as head of the new protestant national church. The Pope accorded him the dignity of a Cardinal, which he could accept only in death, clothing himself in the scarlet of his own blood, rather than of his cardinalate robes. His body lay under the flagstones of the porch of All Hallows-by-the- Tower for centuries, as an act of desecration to his sacred memory.

Week beginning 20th June, 12th Sunday of the Year

St Joseph: Mrs Cathy Parvez
St John Fisher/St Therese: Charlotte Fawcett’s recovery
St Thomas More/St Anthony: Deacon John & Maureen Sampson
Our Lady (Saturday – Monday): Rodrigo Lipata RIP
St Pius X: Our Parish Families
Sacred Heart: Private intention

Find out about our Votive Lamps at the Shrines programme.

Fashion is probably one of our modern age’s greatest concerns. It may not seem so, when one looks at some young people in ripped jeans and creased tee-shirts, but don’t be deceived, as each rip and each crease is carefully placed. ‘Sunday Best’ has come a long way and means difference things to different people. Indeed, the diversity of fashions seems to create divisions, often unintentionally, so that one group may be dismissive – or even fearful – of another group’s attire.

Whilst it is always important for the Christian to show respect by making an effort to dress for Mass, there is something far more important than mere fabric, which the Christian must consider as part of his or her calling. It is a far more glorious garment than any designer ensemble and enables the bearer to be an individual, but without losing their identity as a member of the Christian family. It proclaims the wearer as being a follower of Christ, united with God and His Church.

In today’s second reading, St Paul discusses the divisions in the society of his age when he talks of Jews, Greeks, slaves and freeman. We have our own divisions: rich and poor; black and white, etc. Some things don’t change! However, here we see how radical the gospel truly is. For no matter how our ‘enlightened’ and godless societies might consider themselves, they cannot help but create division and difference, in spite of their rhetoric to the contrary. True unity can only come from the God who is Unity in Trinity. For this reason, Paul teaches his listeners to clothe themselves with Christ – to put on Christ. In doing so, we become Christ’s and share in the Divine Love of the Trinity, which we celebrated in a significant way two weeks ago on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, but which is itself the apotheosis of all Christian worship. To clothe oneself in Christ is to enter an intimate relationship with God. It is to become one who proclaims Love; it is to become a living Gospel. We give testimony to God by putting on Christ.

In the Gospel today, Peter knew how to put on Christ when he acknowledged who our Lord truly was. The Gospel reading makes it plain that the price has been paid by Christ in his suffering. It is through the Passion and Death of our Lord that we can put on Christ. There is no other way to enter into this relationship of Divine Love; but, whilst the price has been paid by Christ, it is clear that, for our part, we must renounce ourselves, take up our cross and follow the Lord. The final point, that of following Christ, is an ongoing action and it is an eternal one. As the Compendium of the Catechism puts it (56):

While respecting our freedom, God asks us to cooperate with Him and gives us the ability to do so through actions, prayers and sufferings, thus awakening in us the desire ‘to will and work for His good pleasure’.

Phil. 2: 13

In a holiday, given at St Chad’s Cathedral in 1850, the Venerable John Henry Newman considered what it meant to put on Christ in this way when he wrote:

[We do not] dream of asking for more than that which, through God’s grace, will be ‘evident’, though there be ‘many adversaries’… No one proclaims the truth to a deceived world, but will be treated himself as a deceiver. We know our place and our fortunes: to give witness, and to be reviled; to be cast out as evil, and to succeed. Such is the law which the Lord of all has annexed to the promulgation of the truth: its preachers suffer, but its cause prevails. Joyfully have we become a party to this bargain; and as we have resigned ourselves to the price, so we intend, by God’s aid, to claim the compensation.

Thursday 16th to Saturday 19th September 2010

Pope Benedict’s presence in Britain this September is a unique opportunity for Catholics to evangelise and explain our Faith.

The Catholic Truth Society (CTS) has specially published a new range of books, booklets and leaflets for children and adults, explaining the papacy, introducing the Catholic Faith, and telling of Cardinal Newman (whom the Pope will Beatify during his visit).

You can pick up a FREE red brochure listing a wide range of literature, and there are displays in the Bookshop and at the back of Church which will explain and vary over the next few weeks.

Prepare for the coming visit with good Catholic books so that you have answers for questions you’ll be asked, so that you can help family, friends and colleagues to get involved, so that you can be excited, informed and renewed in Faith when the Successor of St Peter comes among us.

It’s not enough to just watch him on TV (as if he were anywhere in the world) when the Pope will be right here in our midst. We want to welcome him! We want to be where he is! We want to be inspired by his life and his words!

Remember to keep an eye on the official Papal Visit website, www.thepapalvisit.org, to be up to date with what is happening.

Week beginning 13th June, 11th Sunday of the Year

If your name is Richard, or is someone in your family, or among your friends has this name – this Wednesday 16th June is your (their) Feast Day. Celebrate your Feast Day, or pray for your friend or family member.

Who was St Richard?
Richard de Wych was born in 1197 at Droitwich in Worcestershire. He studied at Oxford, Parish and Bologna before returning to England in 1235 when he was chosen as Chancellor of Oxford University, and then became the legal advisor to the Archbishops of Canterbury (Ss Edmund Rich and Boniface of Savoy).

He was Ordained in France, became Bishop of Chichester, and had to oppose King Henry III. He died at Dover, which is now in our Archdiocese of Southwark. He was a model pastor of his flock. His Shrine, in Chichester Cathedral until the ‘reformation’, was the site of many miracles, especially cures of ill health.

We could also pray for our new Archbishop whose diocese includes the port of Dover where St Richard died.

11th Sunday of the Year

Last Friday’s Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and this famous saying of Cardinal John Henry Newman – Heart speaks to Heart – resonate with today’s Sunday Scripture Readings. Jesus says of the sinful woman, who has shown such unrestrained and lavish devotion for Him: “Her sins, her many sins, have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love”. Jesus adds: “It is the one who is forgiven little, who shows little love”.

Similarly, St Paul, writing to the Galatians in today’s First Reading speaks of his great faith “in the Son of God who loved me who sacrificed Himself for me”.

Our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will make us more aware of his love, and inspire us to be more loving to Him in response. We are also led by this devotion to recognise how greatly we wound the Heart of Jesus by our sins, and are therefore moved to confess them, make reparation, and to sin no more.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.