The next City Council mobile ‘Tip Truck’ visit is coming at the end of this week, on Friday 3rd May. Please note new operating times, 7.30am to 1.00pm. The trucks will be located at the foot of Reay Nadin Drive, off Chester Road North, as you turn off the main road up towads the Primary School, see the map attached. The truck can sometimes be a few mins late and leave a few mins early, so leave a few minutes either way to allow for this!
You can save yourself a ‘tip trip’ and just come to the mobile trucks instead. As before, any general waste, recycling, spring garden waste or bulky items can be accepted. Loft clearance, shed rubbish, old furniture or cabinets, toys and play equipment, garden waste etc just bring it along, see the attached notification. But no rubble, hazardous waste, fridges, car batteries or car parts please! Empty paint tins are fine, but not if there’s any liquid paint left – it just spills out of the truck and onto the road. See the notice attached for more details. Please note, all the items listed will be taken in the general waste truck, and salvageable items separated out back at the Depot. Also as a reminder – normal bin collections for rubbish and recycling will continue as scheduled in addition to the tip truck visit.
2023-24 has been designated the Year of Prayer by Pope Francis. It will help us prepare for the Jubilee Year “Pilgrims of Hope”. It presents our Church with a significant opportunity to revisit the basics of prayer, and for us to become even more a people of prayer.
Pope Francis on the prayer of petition
Fifth Sunday of Easter -28th April 2024
In today’s gospel Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it.” This takes us into the realm of petitionary prayer. Pope Francis’ catechesis on some aspects of petition was given on Wednesday, 9 December 2020.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Let us continue our reflections on prayer. Christian prayer is fully human — we pray as humans, as what we are — it includes praise and supplication. Indeed, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he did so with the “Our Father”, so that we might place ourselves in a relationship of filial trust with God, and ask him all our questions. We implore God for the highest gifts: the sanctification of his name among men, the advent of his lordship, the fulfilment of his will for good in relation to the world. The Catechism recalls that: “There is a hierarchy in these petitions: we pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome it and cooperate with its coming” (n. 2632). But in the “Our Father” we also pray for the simplest gifts, for more everyday gifts, such as “daily bread” — which also means health, home, work, everyday things; and it also means for the Eucharist, necessary for life in Christ; just as we pray for the forgiveness of sins — which is a daily matter; we are always in need of forgiveness — and then for peace in our relationships; and finally, that he help us during temptation and deliver us from evil.
To ask, to supplicate. This is very human. Let us listen to the Catechism again: “By prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own last end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him” (no. 2629).
If one feels bad because he has done bad things — he is a sinner — when he prays the “Our Father” he is already approaching the Lord. At times we may believe we do not need anything, that we are enough for ourselves, and that we live in complete self-sufficiency. This happens at times! But sooner or later this illusion vanishes. The human being is an invocation, that at times becomes a cry, often withheld. The soul resembles a dry, parched land, as the Psalm says (cf. Psalm 63:2). We all experience, at some time or another in our existence, a time of melancholy, or of loneliness. The Bible is not ashamed of showing our human condition, marked by disease, injustice, the betrayals of friends, or the threat of enemies. At times it seems that everything is collapsing, that the life lived so far has been in vain. And in these situations, seemingly dead ends, there is only one way out: the cry, the prayer “Lord, help me!”. Prayer can open up a sliver of light in the densest darkness. “Lord, help me!”. This opens up the road, it opens up the path.
We human beings share this invocation of help with the rest of creation. We are not the only ones “praying” in this boundless universe: every fragment of creation bears the desire for God. And Saint Paul himself expressed it in this way. He says: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly” (Rom 8:22-24). The multiform cry of creatures resounds in us: of trees, of rocks, of animals. Everything yearns for fulfilment. Tertullian wrote: “Every creature prays; cattle and wild beasts pray and bend their knees; and when they issue from the layers and lairs, they look up heavenward with no idle mouth, making their breath vibrate after their own manner. Nay, the birds too, rising out of the nest, upraise themselves heavenward, and instead of hands, expand the cross of their wings, and somewhat to seem like prayer” (De oratione, XXIX). This is a poetic expression commenting on what Saint Paul says: “the whole creation has been groaning”. But we are the only ones who pray consciously, who know that we are addressing the Father, and entering into dialogue with the Father.
Therefore, we should not be shocked if we feel the need to pray, we should not be ashamed. And, especially when we are in need, to ask. Jesus, in speaking of a dishonest man, who had to settle the accounts with his landlord, says this: “To ask, I am ashamed”. And many of us have this feeling: we are ashamed to ask, to ask for help, to ask something of someone who can help us, to reach our purpose, and also ashamed to ask God. One should not be ashamed to pray and to say: “Lord, I need this”, “Lord, I am in difficulty”, “Help me!”: It is the cry of the heart to God who is the Father. And we have to learn to do so also in happy moments, to thank God for everything that is given to us, and not to take anything for granted or as if it were owed to us: everything is grace. The Lord always gives to us, always, and everything is grace, everything. The grace of God. However, we must not suffocate the supplication that rises up in us spontaneously. Prayer of petition goes in step with acceptance of our limitations and our nature as creatures. One may even not reach the point of belief in God, but it is difficult not to believe in prayer: it simply exists, it presents itself to us as a cry; and we all know this inner voice that may remain silent for a long time, but one day awakens and cries out.
Brothers and sisters, we know that God will respond. There is no one at prayer in the Book of Psalms who raises a lament that remains unheard. God always answers: [it may be] today, tomorrow, but he always answers, in one way or another. He always answers. The Bible repeats it countless times: God listens to the cry of those who invoke him. Even our reluctant questions, those that remain in the depths of our heart, that we are ashamed to even express: the Father listens to them and wishes to give us the Holy Spirit, who inspires every prayer and transforms everything. It is always a question of patience, of withstanding the wait. Now we are in the season of Advent, a time that is typically of expectation of Christmas. We are in waiting. This is clear to see. But all our life is also in waiting. And prayer is always in expectation, because we know that the Lord will answer. Even death trembles when a Christian prays, because it knows that everyone who prays has an ally who is stronger than it: the Risen Lord. Death has already been defeated in Christ, and the day will come when everything will be final, and it will no longer scorn our life and our happiness.
Let us learn to remain in expectation of the Lord. The Lord comes to visit us, not only during these great feasts — Christmas, Easter — but rather the Lord visits us every day, in the intimacy of our heart if we are in waiting. And very often we do not realize that the Lord is nearby, that he knocks on our door, and we let him pass by. Saint Augustine used to say: I am afraid of God when he passes; I am afraid he will pass and I will not realize. And the Lord passes, the Lord comes, the Lord knocks. But if your ears are filled with other noise, you will not hear the call of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, to be waiting: this is the prayer.
I know that you will join me in assuring them both of our prayers as they prepare to take up their new responsibilities for the pastoral care of our clergy and people.
With their considerable pastoral experience and their dedicated service as Vicars General we can be sure that our two Bishops-Elect will approach their new responsibilities with energy and enthusiasm, and always sensitive to the present needs of our Archdiocese. As they prepare for their episcopal ordination, we wish Mgr Timothy and Canon Richard every blessing in their new apostolate and assure them both of our continuing prayers.
The situation in Sudan is deteriorating rapidly and with 25 million people needing immediate humanitarian assistance up to seven million people will now be at risk of famine-like conditions by June.
CAFOD has immediately released £150,000 from their funds to support their local partners, including Caritas Sudan, and there is an urgent need for them to scale up their emergency response.
We will have a retiring collection this weekend to assist CAFOD make this emergency respond.
If you prefer to Gift Aid your donation, then please make your donation on-line here.
This evening children of the parish, and other children who attend St Nicholas school, are being confirmed by Bishop David Evans.
Please pray for them, for their sponsors, families and friends…
Heavenly Father, God of power and of love. We pray for all the children who are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation.
May your Holy Spirit help them to grow in faith, hope and love.
May they come to know you as the one true God who loves them without limit.
May their hearts welcome you gladly; their ears hear your voice in the scriptures; their eyes see you in all things; and may they proclaim your glory as they walk in the ways of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Amen
Image (c) 2016, Allen Morris. Banner in Shrewsbury Abbey
On our national feast day, let us not only ask St George for prayer, but let us take the opportunity to pray and work, once more, for peace.
Peace is, of course, not only the absence of war. Peace is a positive thing, born of mutual love and care.
There was a sentence in Pope Francis’s Letter for the World Day of Prayer Vocations read on Sunday that has stuck with me.
I think of all those who carry out their work in a spirit of cooperation with others, and those who strive in various ways to build a more just world, a more united economy, a more equitable social policy and a more humane society. In a word, of all those men and women of good will who devote their lives to working for the common good.
Pope Francis writes this as he teases out different dimensions of our baptismal vocation. Christians are to seek to work/live in this spirit, because of Christ’s call. Such cooperation is not limited to Christians – that’s part of his point, of course – but as Christians we are called to promote such cooperation.
This day let’s pray for the flourishing of such cooperation, and maybe spend some time in self-reflection considering how we might promote or how we might frustrate such work.
Photograph: (c) 2016, Allen Morris. Lichfield Cathedral.
Each year, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations invites us to reflect on the precious gift of the Lord’s call to each of us, as members of his faithful pilgrim people, to participate in his loving plan and to embody the beauty of the Gospel in different states of life. Hearing that divine call, which is far from being an imposed duty – even in the name of a religious ideal – is the surest way for us to fulfil our deepest desire for happiness. Our life finds fulfilment when we discover who we are, what our gifts are, where we can make them bear fruit, and what path we can follow in order to become signs and instruments of love, generous acceptance, beauty and peace, wherever we find ourselves.
This Day, then, is always a good occasion to recall with gratitude to the Lord the faithful, persevering and frequently hidden efforts of all those who have responded to a call that embraces their entire existence. I think of mothers and fathers who do not think first of themselves or follow fleeting fads of the moment, but shape their lives through relationships marked by love and graciousness, openness to the gift of life and commitment to their children and their growth in maturity. I think of all those who carry out their work in a spirit of cooperation with others, and those who strive in various ways to build a more just world, a more solidary economy, a more equitable social policy and a more humane society. In a word, of all those men and women of good will who devote their lives to working for the common good. I think too of all those consecrated men and women who offer their lives to the Lord in the silence of prayer and in apostolic activity, sometimes on the fringes of society, tirelessly and creatively exercising their charism by serving those around them. And I think of all those who have accepted God’s call to the ordained priesthood, devoting themselves to the preaching of the Gospel, breaking open their own lives, together with the bread of the Eucharist, for their brothers and sisters, sowing seeds of hope and revealing to all the beauty of God’s kingdom.
To young people, and especially those who feel distant or uncertain about the Church, I want to say this: Let Jesus draw you to himself; bring him your important questions by reading the Gospels; let him challenge you by his presence, which always provokes in us a healthy crisis. More than anyone else, Jesus respects our freedom. He does not impose, but proposes. Make room for him and you will find the way to happiness by following him. And, should he ask it of you, by giving yourself completely to him.
A people on the move
The polyphony of diverse charisms and vocations that the Christian community recognizes and accompanies helps us to appreciate more fully what it means to be Christians. As God’s people in this world, guided by his Holy Spirit, and as living stones in the Body of Christ, we come to realize that we are members of a great family, children of the Father and brothers and sisters of one another. We are not self-enclosed islands but parts of a greater whole. In this sense, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations has a synodal character: amid the variety of our charisms, we are called to listen to one another and to journey together in order to acknowledge them and to discern where the Spirit is leading us for the benefit of all.
At this point in time, then, our common journey is bringing us to the Jubilee Year of 2025. Let us travel as pilgrims of hope towards the Holy Year, for by discovering our own vocation and its place amid the different gifts bestowed by the Spirit, we can become for our world messengers and witnesses of Jesus’ dream of a single human family, united in God’s love and in the bond of charity, cooperation and fraternity.
This Day is dedicated in a particular way to imploring from the Father the gift of holy vocations for the building up of his Kingdom: “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Lk 10:2). Prayer – as we all know – is more about listening to God than about talking to him. The Lord speaks to our heart, and he wants to find it open, sincere and generous. His Word became flesh in Jesus Christ, who reveals to us the entire will of the Father. In this present year, devoted to prayer and preparation for the Jubilee, all of us are called to rediscover the inestimable blessing of our ability to enter into heartfelt dialogue with the Lord and thus become pilgrims of hope. For “prayer is the first strength of hope. You pray and hope grows, it moves forward. I would say that prayer opens the door to hope. Hope is there, but by my prayer I open the door” (Catechesis, 20 May 2020).
Pilgrims of hope and builders of peace
Yet what does it mean to be pilgrims? Those who go on pilgrimage seek above all to keep their eyes fixed on the goal, to keep it always in their mind and heart. To achieve that goal, however, they need to concentrate on every step, which means travelling light, getting rid of what weighs them down, carrying only the essentials and striving daily to set aside all weariness, fear, uncertainty and hesitation. Being a pilgrim means setting out each day, beginning ever anew, rediscovering the enthusiasm and strength needed to pursue the various stages of a journey that, however tiring and difficult, always opens before our eyes new horizons and previously unknown vistas.
This is the ultimate meaning of our Christian pilgrimage: we set out on a journey to discover the love of God and at the same time to discover ourselves, thanks to an interior journey nourished by our relationships with others. We are pilgrims because we have been called: called to love God and to love one another. Our pilgrimage on this earth is far from a pointless journey or aimless wandering; on the contrary, each day, by responding to God’s call, we try to take every step needed to advance towards a new world where people can live in peace, justice and love. We are pilgrims of hope because we are pressing forward towards a better future, committed at every step to bringing it about.
This is, in the end, the goal of every vocation: to become men and women of hope. As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges. These include the baneful spectre of a third world war fought piecemeal; the flood of migrants fleeing their homelands in search of a better future; the burgeoning numbers of the poor; the threat of irreversibly compromising the health of our planet. To say nothing of all the difficulties we encounter each day, which at times risk plunging us into resignation or defeatism.
In our day, then, it is decisive that we Christians cultivate a gaze full of hope and work fruitfully in response to the vocation we have received, in service to God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace. This hope – Saint Paul tells us – “does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), since it is born of the Lord’s promise that he will remain always with us and include us in the work of redemption that he wants to accomplish in the heart of each individual and in the “heart” of all creation. This hope finds its propulsive force in Christ’s resurrection, which “contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. Often it seems that God does not exist: all around us, we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit” (Evangelii Gaudium, 276). Again, the Apostle Paul tells us that, “in hope we were saved” (Rom 8:24). The redemption accomplished in the paschal mystery is a source of hope, a sure and trustworthy hope, thanks to which we can face the challenges of the present.
To be pilgrims of hope and builders of peace, then, means to base our lives on the rock of Christ’s resurrection, knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have embraced and seek to live out, will never be in vain. Failures and obstacles may arise along the way, but the seeds of goodness we sow are quietly growing and nothing can separate us from the final goal: our encounter with Christ and the joy of living for eternity in fraternal love. This ultimate calling is one that we must anticipate daily: even now our loving relationship with God and our brothers and sisters is beginning to bring about God’s dream of unity, peace and fraternity. May no one feel excluded from this calling! Each of us in our own small way, in our particular state of life, can, with the help of the Spirit, be a sower of seeds of hope and peace.
The courage to commit
In this light, I would say once more, as I did at World Youth Day in Lisbon: “Rise up!” Let us awaken from sleep, let us leave indifference behind, let us open the doors of the prison in which we so often enclose ourselves, so that each of us can discover his or her proper vocation in the Church and in the world, and become a pilgrim of hope and a builder of peace! Let us be passionate about life, and commit ourselves to caring lovingly for those around us, in every place where we live. Let me say it again: “Have the courage to commit!” Father Oreste Benzi, a tireless apostle of charity, ever on the side of the poor and the defenceless, used to say that no one is so poor as to have nothing to give, and no one is so rich as not to need something to receive.
Let us rise up, then, and set out as pilgrims of hope, so that, as Mary was for Elizabeth, we too can be messengers of joy, sources of new life and artisans of fraternity and peace.
Pope Francis
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 21 April 2024, Fourth Sunday of Easter.
2023-24 has been designated the Year of Prayer by Pope Francis. It will help us prepare for the Jubilee Year “Pilgrims of Hope”. It presents our Church with a significant opportunity to revisit the basics of prayer, and for us to become even more a people of prayer.
Pope Francis on prayer in daily life
Fourth Sunday of Easter -21st April 2024
In Pope Francis’ catechesis which we are using this week, he reflects on prayer in daily life. During this Easter season our first readings for the Mass are from the Acts of the Apostles. Acts tells us of the daily life of the first Christians. How do our lives compare with theirs? Pope Francis gave this teaching on 10th Feb 2021.
Good morning,
In the preceding catechesis we saw how Christian prayer is “anchored” in the Liturgy. Today, we will shed light on how it always returns into daily life from the Liturgy: on the streets, in offices, on public transportation… And there it continues the dialogue with God: one who prays is like someone in love who always carries the beloved person in his or her heart wherever they go.
Essentially, everything becomes a part of this dialogue with God: every joy becomes a reason for praise, every trial is an opportunity to ask for help. Prayer is always alive in our lives, like embers, even when the mouth does not speak, but the heart speaks. Every thought, even apparently “profane” ones, can be permeated by prayer. There is even a prayerful aspect in human intelligence; it is, in fact, a window peering into the mystery: it illuminates the few steps in front of us and then opens up to the entire reality, this reality that precedes it and surpasses it. This mystery does not have a disquieting or anxious face, no. Knowledge of Christ makes us confident that whatever our eyes and our minds’ eyes cannot see, rather than nothing being there, there is someone who is waiting for us; there is infinite grace. And thus, Christian prayer instils an invincible hope in the human heart: whatever experience may touch us on our journey, God’s love can turn it into good.
In this regard, the Catechism reads: “We learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the Word of the Lord and sharing in his Paschal Mystery, but his Spirit is offered us at all times, in the events of each day, to make prayer spring up from us… time is in the Father’s hands; it is in the present that we encounter him, not yesterday nor tomorrow, but today” (n. 2659). Today I meet God, today is always the day of the encounter.
There is no day more wonderful day than the one we are living. Those who live always thinking about the future: “But the future will be better…”, but do not take each day as it comes are people who live in their fantasy, they do not know how to deal with concrete reality. And today is real, today is concrete. And prayer takes place today. Jesus comes to meet us today, the day we are living. And it is prayer that transforms this day into grace, or better, that transforms us: it quells anger, sustains love, multiplies joy, instils the strength to forgive. Sometimes it will seem that it is no longer we who are living, but that grace lives and works in us through prayer. And when an angry, an unhappy thought comes to us, that moves us toward bitterness, let us stop ourselves and say to the Lord: “Where are you? And where am I going?” And the Lord is there, the Lord will give us the right word, the advice to go ahead without that bitter taste of negativity. For prayer is always — to use a profane word — positive. Always. It will carry you forward. Each day that begins, if welcomed in prayer, is accompanied by courage, so that the problems we have to face no longer seem to be obstacles to our happiness, but rather appeals from God, opportunities for our encounter with him. And when one is accompanied by the Lord, he or she feels more courageous, freer, and even happier.
Thus, let us always pray for everything and for everyone, even for our enemies. Jesus counselled us to do this: “Pray for your enemies”. Let us pray for our dear ones, but also for those we do not know. Let us pray even for our enemies, as I said, as the Scriptures often invite us to do. Prayer inclines us toward a superabundant love. Let us pray above all for unhappy people, for those who weep in solitude and give up hope that there might still be someone who loves them. Prayer works miracles; and so the poor understand, by God’s grace that, even in their precarious situation, the prayer of a Christian makes Christ’s compassion present. Indeed, he looked with great tenderness on the weary and lost crowd who were like sheep without a shepherd (cf Mk 6:34). The Lord is — let us not forget — the Lord of compassion, of nearness, of tenderness: three words never to be forgotten. Because this is the Lord’s style: compassion, nearness, tenderness.
Prayer helps us love others, despite their mistakes and their sins. The person is always more important than his or her actions, and Jesus did not judge the world, but saved it. The life of people who always judge others, who are always condemning, judging, is a horrible one… It is a horrible, unhappy life. Jesus came to save us. Open your heart, forgive, give others the benefit of the doubt, understand, you, too, be close to others, be compassionate, be tender, like Jesus. We have to love each and every one, remembering in prayer that we are all sinners and at the same time loved individually by God. Loving the world in this way, loving it with tenderness, we will discover that each day and everything bears within it a fragment of God’s mystery.
Again, the Catechism reads: “Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the Kingdom revealed to ‘little children,’ to the servants of Christ, to the poor of the beatitudes. It is right and good to pray so that the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history, but it is just as important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday situations; all forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom” (n. 2660).
Mankind — the human person, men and women, all of us — is like a breath, like a blade of grass (cf Ps 144:4; 103:15). The philosopher Pascal once wrote: “There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapour, a drop of water is enough to kill him”. [Thoughts, 186] We are fragile beings, but we know how to pray: this is our greatest dignity and it is also our strength. Have courage. Pray in every moment, in every situation because the Lord is near us. And when a prayer is said according to Jesus’ heart, it obtains miracles.
‘Liturgy and Worship’ is one of the four priorities singled out in Archbishop Bernard’s Pastoral Vision that informs and guides the current work of looking at how we work now to prepare more solid foundations for the Church in Birmingham in coming decades. It is also the focus of the ‘Prayer and Liturgy Directory’ recently issued for Catholic Schools, Academies and Colleges in England and Wales.
Ordained ministers have had the opportunity to be introduced to what the Liturgy and Prayer of the Church asks of them. It is rare for anything very much to be made available to Lay ministers – yet in our changing circumstances lay ministers are likely to be invited – or simply need – to take more responsibility for the preparation and leading of times of prayer, acts of worship, and celebration of the Liturgy in their communities – parishes, schools, religious communities, etc.
The Way of Communion is offered to help all ministers be introduced to the Church’s tradition and expectations in this area – and provide a simple safe and relaxed forum for discussion and learning.
More information on The Way of Communion is provided here – and a poster suitable for printing is available here.
For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact the course leader, Fr Allen Morris on fr.allen.morris@rcaob.org.uk