Second Sunday of Eastertide; Low Sunday: Divine Mercy Sunday; Domenica in Albis

 Quasi modo geniti infantes, alleluia: rationabilies sine dolo lac concupiscite, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.  Exsultate Deo adjutori nostro: jubilate Deo Jacob.

As newborn babes, alleluia, desire the rational milk without guile, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.

(1 Peter 2:2 and Psalm 80:2 from the Introit of Mass)

Dear Friends,

Call it what you will, this Sunday continues our celebration of Life in the midst of so many reminders of what threatens it. Our Faith recalls that life is eternal and Easter in particular draws our attention beyond the short time of earthly life which is given to us to fit us for God's company in eternity... or not, if we waste the opportunity. The life we live, the death we die, the challenges we face should all be put into this ultimate perspective. The vicissitudes of life are all overcome in Our Lord's resurrection. Through faith, we can become as new-born babes, with all the joy, hope and innocence that brings to mind.

This Thursday is the Feast of St George, the Protector of England. Let us ask his intercession at this time.

St George, a faithful servant of God and invincible martyr, you were favoured by God with the gift of faith, and inflamed with an ardent love of Christ. You fought valiantly against pride, falsehood, and deceit. Neither pain nor torture, sword nor death could part you from the love of Christ. I fervently implore you to help me by your intercession to bear bravely the trials and temptations that oppress me, so that I may patiently carry the cross which is placed upon me. Let neither distress nor difficulties separate me from the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Valiant champion of our faith, assist me in the fight against all evil.

… St George, Pray for Us …

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Please pray for the repose of the soul of one of our parishioners, Margaret Thornton (often seen at the 8.30am Mass) who died on 13th April having been affected by the Coronavirus infection. She had gone to a care home in Preston recently, having suffered a fall. 

Your prayers are also requested for Lawrence Allen.

May they rest in peace.

May I request your prayers also for Stuart Monk, the son-in-law of a parishioner of St Cuthbert's, Wigan (my previous parish) - an ambulance medic who is now on a ventilator having contacted Coronavirus.

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A video Easter message from Archbishop Malcolm can be viewed here:
https://youtu.be/YwviBcoYXVY

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For anyone looking for something extra, the excellent  Monsignor John Armitage, director of the shrine at Walsingham, will lead  an Eight Day Retreat. This will  start after Compline at 8pm on Sunday 19th April and finish on Sunday 26th April. He's always an engaging and down-to-earth speaker, bringing he Faith alive with  challenge, humour and compassion.

 

https://www.walsingham.org.uk/

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

For the people of the parish
Clive and Margaret Benson
Margaret Thornton, LD
Bethany Andrew, RIP
Fr Gerard Dunn, RIP
Charlie Robinson

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

Also on Facebook, the Canons at St Walburge's in Preston stream many Masses and Devotions: https://www.facebook.com/icksp.preston/

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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Please do continue to keep in touch via our Parish Facebook page and my blog. I continue to be in touch with parishioners via phone calls in particular.

If you will permit me... like many parts of society, the financial effect of the lockdown is also a concern for our parish. May I ask that, if you are able, please continue to put aside your weekly offering each Sunday and bring it with you when things return to some normality. If you would like a Standing Order form, please contact me. The Archdiocese is also looking into ways you may be able to contribute to the parish via the diocesan website. There may be more news on this next week.

God keep you,

Fr Simon.

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.

Good Friday

 

 The Relic of the True Cross enshrined on the altar,
before which I will pray for all our parishioners today.

Behold, the wood of the Cross,

on which was hung the Saviour of the World.
O Come, let us adore.

Prayer to be added to the Good Friday Intercessions:
For those suffering from the current pandemic.

Let us pray, dearly beloved,  to God the Father almighty,  that he may extend his hand in mercy  to all those affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Almighty ever-living God, heal those who are ill, comfort those who mourn, give solace to all who are afraid and alone, and protect those who are providing medical care. Make us instruments of your peace  among our brothers and sisters. In your mercy, alleviate our fears  and eliminate this scourge, so that we may come together again  to give you praise and to build your Kingdom. 
Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The statue of St Veronica holding the veil in our church grounds.

Sacred Triduum

The Crucifixion from the Stations of the Cross in our church.

Dear Friends,

As we approach the Sacred Triduum in these uniquely difficult circumstances, be assured of my prayers for you as I offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each day in our little church, holding you all before the Lord.

From our parish.

Please remember in prayer Aleksander Chodasiewicz - Margaret Rooney's Father-in-law. Alek died in his nursing home in Lytham last week aged 100; the cause of death has been recorded as Covid 19.

Please also pray for Lily Clayton, a long-time parishioner, though housebound for many years, who also died this week. Requiescat in pace.

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Other things of interest this Holy Week:

The Crown of Thorns, saved from the fire in Paris Cathedral, is to be displayed for veneration during a Good Friday broadcast. See HERE.

The Holy Shroud of Turin is also to be displayed for veneration on Holy Saturday. See HERE

https://shroud.com/latebrak.htm

Please do try your best to spend a few minutes in prayer each day - most especially during the Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. As we walk with Our Blessed Lord in His sufferings let us also accompany in prayer all those suffering at this time. We walk not blindly but on the road to glorious resurrection and new life. 

Good Friday remains a day of fasting and abstinence and perhaps our efforts are even more important in marking the day this year when we cannot gather together as God's family in His house.  Particularly at 3pm stop if you can and mark the moment of Our Lord's death.  You might read the Passion Gospel if you have a Missal or Bible or pray the Stations of the Cross. You might use one of the prayers below:

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FROM THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.
Because by Thy holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.

Consider how thy Jesus, after three hours’ Agony on the Cross, consumed at length with anguish, abandons Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head, and dies.

O my dying Jesus, I kiss devoutly the Cross on which Thou didst die for love of me. I have merited by my sins to die a miserable death; but Thy death is my hope. By the merits of Thy death, give me grace to die, embracing Thy feet, and burning with love for Thee. I yield my soul into Thy hands. I love Thee with my whole heart; I repent of ever having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always; and then do with me what Thou wilt.

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PRAYER BEFORE A CRUCIFIX

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus,

while before Thy face I humbly kneel and,

with burning soul,

pray and beseech Thee

to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments

of faith, hope and charity;

true contrition for my sins,

and a firm purpose of amendment.

While I contemplate,

with great love and tender pity,

Thy five most precious wounds,

pondering over them within me

and calling to mind the words which David,

Thy prophet, said of Thee, my Jesus:

"They have pierced My hands and My feet,

they have numbered all My bones."

Amen.

The Relic of the True Cross enthroned on our High Altar last year.

" Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying, while we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on him, and we have been healed by his bruises."
Isaiah, 53

Still very much alive, thank you.

There is a very well-considered article in Catholic World Report on the permission and publication of some  additional prefaces and allowable feast days in the Usus Antiquior just promulgated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Some of the prefaces were already in use in various countries before the Council and there is now a legitimate way to celebrate feast days of saints canonized in more recent years.

What startled me is that there is horror in some quarters that Rome is even bothering to legislate for anything to do with the Usus Antiquior. Such rigid "moderns" apparently ask why Rome would bother legislating for what they see as an obsolete version of the Mass. They are outraged that such legislation gives recognition to the Usus Antiquior and treats it as a living entity rather than a dead letter.

Of course, it is a living entity, proven by the fact that so many pray it and celebrate it with a joy and vigour that gives them spiritual sustenance.

Here on lockdown, I've gone from celebrating the Usus Antiquior three times a week to every day and I suspect that many priests are using the unforeseen opportunity of these strange times to "learn up" the Latin and bring a forgotten ad orientem side altar back into use.

(Though the photo above is not us breaking all the social distancing rules but taken in church here a little while ago. Before someone comments!)

Read the Catholic World Report article here:

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/04/03/the-older-form-of-the-roman-rite-is-alive-and-well/?fbclid=IwAR1ODSeYlLAhqxvfG1PG7yPylu4wp_pIz3dhaAr1_bfBO5PoIbGQvXD6siU

Palm Sunday Update

Dear Friends,

"O Lord, keep not Thy face far from me: look to my defence; deliver me from the lion's mouth."

So says the Introit for the Mass for Palm Sunday in the words taken from Psalm 21 and we can join with the Psalmist in most fervent prayer this year in asking the Father for deliverance from these times.

I am gradually trying to contact parishioners either by social media or with a phone call as these days of lockdown pass by; just as I am in contact with many priests here in the diocese and beyond and have received calls from the Dean and from Archbishop Emeritus, Patrick.

You can access a message from Archbishop Malcolm here:

https://youtu.be/7Q6P2xZ3XrI

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You might also like to read the Bishop of Portsmouth's letter, which I'm sure reflects the sentiments of many bishops as they made the difficult decision to suspend the public celebration of the Mass during this time of crisis.

https://mailchi.mp/portsmouthdiocese/from-bishop-philip

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

Clive Benson.Fr B Kevill, Anniv., Margaret Dickinson, RIP. Louise Beardsmore and family. Fr Gerard Dunn.  Deceased members and friends of the Lancashire Infirm Clergy Fund.  
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.

----------------------------------------

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 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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Most especially at the start of this Holy Week I do encourage you to set up a prayer corner or little home altar and to find a prayer book, a missal, a Bible, your Rosary or an on-line resource to pray there each day. For the many of us who are looking for things to do at home in these days, let's not overlook spending time with Our Heavenly Father in prayer. We can turn to our extended Heavenly family of all the Angels and Saints to pray for our own loved ones, for all those who are ill and for those who care for them.

God keep you,

Fr Simon.