Newsletter- 15th Week of Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners
Who is my neighbour? – Today’s Readings at Mass for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C – call us to love and serve others with compassion, and to care especially for those most in need. The First Reading teaches us that God’s Word is not beyond our reach. It is already in our hearts; it is there for us to proclaim and live out with all our heart and soul.
The Responsorial Psalm celebrates the compassion and kindness of God, who hears and revives the hearts of those in need, and acts to save them. In the Gospel, a lawyer asks Jesus, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus uses the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan to answer both this and the lawyer’s second question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Regardless of who that person is, we must put their needs before our own. Just as Jesus shows compassion and mercy to us through his saving love, so must we try to do the same for others. St Paul (Second Reading) reminds us that Christ is the One who shows us God. Through him everything is created and held together. Christ leads the Church, reconciling all things by his death on the cross.
As Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee year, we pray that our relationships may be truer and richer in compassion, reflected both in our attitudes and our loving action. We may like to pray especially this week for those suffering through war and violence.
Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes – Monday 14th – 18th July – This week Deacon Andrew and myself will be leading a small parish group to join the larger diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes. We leave early on Monday morning and return late on Friday night! Please keep our parish group in your prayers this coming week that each of us may experience Our Lady’s loving presence and return restored in spirit, heart and mind. We shall be praying for the parish each day and as I mentioned last weekend at Mass, we shall be offering your intentions in the sanctuary and remembering the sick and housebound each day at Mass.
There will be a reduced Mass schedule this coming week and outside of the Liturgies the church will be closed. I am very grateful to Mgr. John Hadley for kindly offering Mass in the parish this coming Wednesday 16th July at 9.30 am and Friday 18th July at 9.30 am and to Allan for coming to open and close the church and to serve and prepare the altar for these Masses. Thank you both for your kindness and generosity to our parish community.
With my warmest best wishes to each of you this coming week ahead,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
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