St Mary Mother of God

During the day please contact Betty at 01708 720834 with any prayer requests.

The Most Holy Trinity

From Fr. Patrick:

Friends, today we celebrate a mystery that lies at the heart of our faith, the Trinity. You know how difficult it is to understand this. Sometimes it is easy just to believe it and get on with being Catholic. But it makes great sense, it has profound meaning and will blow your mind away. Here is a simple insight the Lord put in my spirit and I hope you will be blessed through it.

The simple meaning of the Trinity is Love. God the Father, from the beginning of time, thinks of me. He says, "Before I formed you, I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). He foresaw the whole of my history, so in love He became human and He is the Jesus we talk about. That is why Jesus himself says to Phillip, "To see me is to see the Father." For all my sins and weaknesses, He went to the cross and paid the price. I can walk away rest assured of mercy, because the Father looks on me with pity and does not treat me according to my sins. Wow! In Matthew 27:50, he cried and groaned, gave up His Spirit, this same Spirit of His comes to dwell inside us. The Spirit is the Father's breath, His belly, His love and passion. This is really amazing. Because love spells intimacy, God the Father in Jesus comes to dwell in us as Spirit. Julian of Norwich says, His meaning is love. This is as real as it can get.

Can I warmly encourage you to open your hearts to Jesus even more. Let Him in. You have nothing to lose. There is so much to gain - so much incredible love and security, deep, deep peace in the storm, a feeling of being specially loved. Most dear friends, offer Jesus the gift of a pure heart, a clean conscience. Meet Him constantly in the Blessed Sacrament, never neglect the Sacrament of Reconciliation, pray the rosary every day, do not be scared of Jesus. Gravitate towards him. Though I have been through terrible storms, pain, hurt which I have openly shared with you and though I have shed so many tears, His love and peace never leave - true. And I pray the rivers of love from the Trinity fill you and bless you in every way today. Love and regards.

During the day please contact Betty at 01708 720834 with any prayer requests.

6th Sunday after Easter

From Fr. John:

In 'Thought for Today' on Wednesday on Radio 4 the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool told how he had to chastise his daughter. She then went promptly upstairs, threw herself on the landing beating the carpet with her hands shouting, "Daddy doesn't love me, Mammy doesn't love me, nobody loves me, I only love myself".

I'm sure the chastisement was well deserved but I could not help thinking that the child had spoken some profound words which impact upon our spiritual lives. If we want to progress in the spiritual life, all the great writers on spirituality from St. Bernard of Claivaux, to St. Teresa of Avilla to St. Francis of Sales etc. all agree that we must start with ourselves.

Firstly God has loved us into existence. We would not be here if we were not part of his great plan for humankind. He has made each of us unique. There is nobody in all the world who ever lived throughout history like me. I am therefore very special. Even when humankind drifted away from God, which includes all of us, God sent his only son to die on the cross so that through his grace we may be perfected in our nature. In other words, with his grace we have the ability to become the sort of people he wants us to be. We cannot achieve this if we have a low self-esteem. We must think well of ourselves, not by relying on self but responding to the graces God lavishes upon us every day. So the child was absolutely right. If she doesn't love herself, how can she love that daddy of hers? Soon of course she will realise daddy has only done it for her own good and very quickly children forget and start loving again, unless of course they are being abused, which is a different story. St. John also has it right. If you say you love God but hate your neighbour, you are a liar. And if you hate your neighbour you have little hope of loving yourself. So start with yourself, then to your neighbour and hopefully that will lead you to the love of God.

Eddie Allen will be doing a sponsored walk to Canterbury to raise money to send a little girl with neuroblastoma to the USA for special treatment. The family are trying to raise £250,000 for the treatment. Eddie would like people from St. Mary's to sponsor him and I have agreed that he can look for sponsorship after the masses this and next Sunday. If you would like to donate online, go to www.justgiving.com/eddie-allen. Fr. John.