Newsletter- 1st Week of Eastertide
Dear Parishioners
Our Lenten journey and pilgrimage are over. Our fasting is complete; now we can feast and celebrate, Easter has come! We have travelled with Jesus from the harshness of the desert to the new life coming from the empty tomb. Having walked with Jesus on the Way of the Cross, we now share in and experience the joy and power of his Resurrection.
Belief in the Resurrection is the bedrock of Christianity. It is the heart of the Easter message. In the risen Christ death has lost its hold on humanity. Death is not for us as Christians the end of the story. It is the beginning of a new chapter. At Easter we are reminded that there is life after death. A life of immortality lived in the loving presence of God. The whole purpose of our present life is to prepare us for that. But Easter is not only concerned with life after death. It has much to say about the life each of us lives out in the here and now, our life on earth. At Easter we are reminded that all life matters. Human life is both of the body and of the spirit; in our present state each depends upon the other. At the heart of all Life is the precious gift of love. Life gives love its real meaning, and its whole purpose and love lies at the heart of the Easter message.
Through the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead we know now that where there was despair, God brings us hope. Where there was darkness, God has brought light. Where there was death, God brings us not just life, but new and everlasting life. These are the gifts that God offers each of us through the Resurrection of Jesus.
During this Jubilee Year of Hope, we especially remember as we celebrate the joy of Easter that in our world there is often the reality of suffering, violence, and injustice, and that we are called to be People of Hope. This is not ordinary human hope. This is the hope that comes to us through the Resurrection of Jesus. In the face of sadness, difficulty, and pain, we are all called to look to, and rely upon, the resurrected Jesus and not just on our own strength and resources. The call, invitation, and even challenge of Easter, is that we all experience it personally deep within ourselves. We are called to be an Easter People, People of the Resurrection. We are called and asked to be people who are filled with the new life, love and hope of the resurrected Jesus. The Lord is risen, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Happy Easter!
Fr Jonathan Easter Break: – Low Week: I shall be taking a few days holiday away from the parish this coming week and I shall also be going into hospital for a day this coming Tuesday for an explorative procedure. Please keep me in your prayers whilst I am away, as I will be keeping you in my own. I shall be back to celebrate the weekend Masses on 26th/27th April. The church will be closed during the period that I am away outside of the following times of Mass this coming week:
Wednesday 23rd April – Mass at 9.30 am
Friday 24th April – Mass at 9.30 am
Divine Mercy Sunday – 2nd Sunday of Easter – 27th April: Our First Holy Communion candidates and their catechists have asked for a short period of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament just before Mass begins next Sunday morning. They will be coming into church from 9am when the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on the Altar from 9 am until just before the start of Mass. Please try to be as quiet as possible when coming into church next Sunday and maybe use this time to pray and be still before Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament as you prepare yourselves for Mass at 9.30 am.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish each of you a very Happy Easter. My sincere thanks for your generous gifts to me and for the lovely cards and messages which I have received. I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to all visitors joining us at Mass this weekend.
May the light and love of Christ continue to be alive and active in our hearts and in our lives both during this Easter season and in the months and years ahead.
With my warmest best wishes this Easter,
Your parish priest and friend,
Father Jonathan
2025 20th April – Newsletter – Download