Easter Sunday

O God, who on this day through Thine only-begotten Son, 

hast conquered death 

and thrown open to us the gate of everlasting life, 

give effect by Thine aid to all our hopes, 

which Thou dost anticipate and inspire.

Opening Collect from Sunday's Mass.

Dear Friends,

As I offer Easter Mass today, I will be remembering you all in prayer before Our Risen and Triumphant Lord. For us all perhaps, and certainly for me, the strangest Holy Week and Easter. To be honest, attempting to celebrate these great events without you as God's family joined with me before the altar has been rather depressing and hard to cope with. Perhaps one positive thing we can take from these trying times is a stark reminder about how precious the Sacraments really are; that we should never treat them lightly or without due care. How precious is the community of God's people gathered in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament that we so often have taken for granted. Easter reminds us of Our Lord's triumph over sin and death - a hope which we need to draw on more than ever in these times.

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Our parishioners Catherine and Fouad Bahari ask your prayers Fouad's parents, Sawsan and Bahari Marzok, his mother with suspected Coronavirus and his father who is already very poorly.

Also for Frank Cheetham, lately dead, a relation of parishioners Mr and Mrs Healey.

On a positive note, a little five year old boy, Harry, who was very poorly and with a high fever, whom I was asked to pray for seems to be making a recovery. Deo gratias!

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Your Mass intentions will still be offered as requested and you may continue to send them in: this week for...

Members of the Grand Priory of Great Britain.      

Margaret Benson          

Joan Booth, LD

Alek Chosasiewicz, LD

Lily Clayton, LD

Frank Cheetham, LD

For the people of the parish

Your Prayers are asked for all the sick, including: Rita Sarbrick, Rosena Stacey, Vivienne Lee, Tom Miller, Paul Casey, Linda Melling, Tilly Gee, Kathleen Ward, Clare Butler, Maureen MacDonald, Louie Baines, Maureen O'Brien, Margaret McNiff, Elle Miller, Mark Duncan, Hild Gibbons, Bill Sutton, Barbara Fow, Mary Ann Monaghan, Bernard Lawson, Mick Marshall, Carol Parkinson, Margaret Cheston, Eric Neilson, Alan Cottam, Seámus McLoughlin.

We pray for those who are housebound and for those who love  and care for them.

O Mary conceived without sin - Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

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If you would like to pray through the Mass online or via TV here are some links below. Some people find it a way of preparing in some fitting way to make a Spiritual Communion in these times when the actual Mass is not available:

If you have access to Facebook, the beautiful little church of Corpus Christi on Maiden Lane in London has Mass each day.           https://www.facebook.com/corpuschristimaidenlane

If you have Sky TV or you can also access EWTN at: https://www.ewtn.com/

With many other programmes that you might find useful.

The Oratorians at Cardiff: http://cardifforatory.co.uk/live-stream/

 
The Fathers of the Fraternity of St Peter also stream their Masses and devotions from Warrington St Mary's at: http://s3.amazonaws.com/livemass/warrington/index.html 

You can even join in Mass live from Westminster Cathedral: http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/index.php

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Let us continue to pray for one another, recalling that the spiritual ties that bind us together in the Lord - along with all the angels and saints - are stonger than the hysical ones denied to us at this time.

God keep you,

Fr Simon.