If you still haven’t bought your Christmas cards or need to buy some more, don’t forget that you can buy Cafod ones in the porch as you come in to church. Profits go to support Cafod’s work in Ethiopia.
The Year of Faith – Called to Go Deep in Faith, Go Out in Witness.
A fascinating Introduction and overview Father Nicholas James last Wednesday gave us a good start on the Vatican Council document on Revelation, ‘Dei Verbum’. We will go on from there with a shared reading of the document on Tuesday at 2pm, and the following Tuesday, 4th December, we will look at ‘Amazed and Afraid: The Revelation of God become Man’ from the DVD ‘Catholicism’.
Here is an excerpt from that 1-hour episode:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWf-h2BLzOA&w=560&h=315]
In Lent we will move on to ‘Sacrosanctum Concilium’ the decree on the Liturgy, then ‘Lumen Gentium’, on the Church, in Eastertide
Children’s Mass this Sunday
Everyone is very welcome to our Family Mass on Sunday (25th November). The liturgy will be led by the children in year 5. Please join us after Mass for refreshments in the Community Hall. As only one year group is leading our liturgy on this occasion, all the children who attend are invited to sit with them and the teachers in their school uniform on the right hand wing of the church. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
New Book from Pope Benedict
In December Pope Benedict’s final volume of the Jesus of Nazareth series will hit the bookshops. The first book appeared in 2007, while the 2nd appeared in 2011. We don’t know a great deal about it as it has yet to hit the bookshelves but here’s a description from the publishers:
Now, the Pope focuses exclusively on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life as a child. The root of these stories is the experience of hope found in the birth of Jesus and the affirmations of surrender and service embodied in his parents, Joseph and Mary. This is a story of longing and seeking, as demonstrated by the Magi searching for the redemption offered by the birth of a new king. It is a story of sacrifice and trusting completely in the wisdom of God as seen in the faith of Simeon, the just and devout man of Jerusalem, when he is in the presence of the Christ child. Ultimately, Jesus’ life and message is a story for today, one that speaks to the restlessness of the human heart searching for the sole truth which alone leads to profound joy.
You can pre-order Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives: 3
Christian Prayer
Section One: Prayer in the Christian Life:
Chapter 0ne: The Revelation of Prayer ~ The Universal Call to Prayer
(2566) Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness to existence. ‘Crowned with glory and with honour’, man is, after the angels, capable of acknowledging ‘how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth’ (Psalm 8: 5). Even after losing through sin the likeness to God, man remains an image of his Creator and retains the desire for the one who calls him into existence. All religions bear witness to men’s essential search for God (cf: Acts 17: 27).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1992
Talk by Father Nicholas James
Called to Go Deep in Faith, Go Out in Witness.
On Wednesday evening at 7pm, Father Nicholas James will give us an Introduction to the Vatican Council document on Revelation, ‘Dei Verbum’, as part of Deepening and Refreshing our Faith as requested by the Pope for the Year of Faith. In the following weeks we will have an opportunity to read through the document together.
To help copies of the document are on sale in the porch, £3 each, or a pack of the 4 major documents for £12.
Christian Prayer
Section One: Prayer in the Christian Life – What is Prayer?
Prayer as God’s Gift (2560): “If you knew the gift of God!” (John 4:10) The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him (Cf. Saint Augustine).
Year of Faith 2012-2013
The Year of Faith was inaugurated on Thursday with a fine mass and lecture in Saint David’s Cathedral. Now we are called to work to deepen our faith, and share it out to others. As well as the ideas and resources you can find on the Year of Faith link on the Bishops’ website, in the porch we have a few copies of a 25p CTS fold on ‘The Year of Faith‘, and more copies of “Doorway to Faith” (£1.50, but £1 to parishioners) which gives a day-by-day year-long journey through the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Get your copy today, and start the exploration.
The Word This Week
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (14th October)
In today’s story of the rich man, who comes to Jesus full of good intentions, there are some simple words that speak so clearly to our own age: when Jesus tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor, “his face fell at these words, and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.” “How sad it is that such a keen (he runs up to Jesus), and by all accounts good-looking young man (whom Jesus loves) could not free himself from the word thing that was holding him back – his dependence on riches. Jesus’ words “How hard it is …” perhaps indicate his own sadness that the man could not free himself from this. Jesus’ teaching was new – as the disciples’ reaction shows. In Israel at the time, riches were thought to be a blessing from God. But as Jesus knew and taught, holding on to anything that passes away can distract us from holding on to things that are eternal.
Today’s Readings
Wisdom 7: 7-1
Hebrews 4: 12-13
Mark 1: 17-30
