NO MASS IN THE PARISH ON THURSDAY THE 28TH: There will be no Mass in the parish on the 28th of May. This is the feast day of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest. Every year Bishop Marcus invites all of the priests of the Diocese to join him to concelebrate Mass in the Cathedral. Please fee free to come along to the Cathedral if you can. The Mass begins at 11.30.
We are invited to join Bishop Marcus with his prayer for vocations for men and women: “Our Lady of Unfailing Help! Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send labourers into His harvest and that He will grant an abundance of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life within the Diocese of Leeds, and throughout the world. Amen.”
Marriage Care, a Catholic organisation specialising in relationship support, is currently looking for those who are empathetic, understanding and have an enthusiasm for supporting adult relationships, to train for Certificate in Relationship Counselling (CRC) and volunteer. Please note there are costs associated with training (far lower than with alternative training providers) however no one is excluded on their ability to pay. For information please visit: www.marriagecare.org.uk or email: volunteer@marriagecare.org.uk
Our repository could do with items to sell. It may be that you have unwanted religious images or statues that someone else would love to have. If you have anything that you no longer need, feel free to leave them in the sacristy in either of our churches. Thank you.
Last week students from our High School joined us after the 10.30 Mass at St Urbans to raise money to help them go to Lourdes to help sick pilgrims on our Diocesan pilgrimage in July. You contributed a magnificent £493, that’s before taking into account donations on our Dona machines. That is absolutely magnificent and the students are thrilled by your generosity. Well done! Fr Chris
A SINCERE APOLOGY for the late cancellation of the parish social. This was due to insufficient ticket sales. If you would like a refund for your ticket please let me know. Fr Chris
A series of 15 sessions of Prayer and Life Workshops, a program where you “learn to pray and you learn to live”, will be held in the meeting room at St Urban’s every Wednesday from 6.45pm to 8.45pm.
Baptism preparation sessions will be held on the 23rd of May at 3.00pm in the meeting room at St Urban’s.
The next SVP meeting will be on the 20th April at 7pm in the Meeting Room at St Urban’s. All are welcome to attend.
Join Catholic Care on Sunday 19th July 12.30pm at Catholic Care Head Office for our summer fundraiser! Enjoy live music from Voices of Yorkshire, a BBQ, games, raffles, cakes and more. Browse the clothes and book sale, try henna and relax with friends and family. Free entry and all proceeds support Catholic Care’s vital work in the local community. Catholic Care are active in our parish and it is a great way to show our appreciation of their work.
RETREAT DAY FOR NEW CATHOLICS: The Faith Formation team within the Vicariate for Education warmly invites new Catholics to a retreat day exploring the gift of new life in Christ, including time for prayer and fellowship, celebrating the adventure of faith together. Saturday 27 June, 10.00am–3.00pm , Briery Retreat Centre, Ilkley, £35 per person (including lunch). Further information/booking, please contact the Briery 01943 607287 or admin@briery.org.uk .
A SINCERE APOLOGY for the late cancellation of the parish social. This was due to insufficient ticket sales. If you would like a refund for your ticket please let me know. Fr Chris
This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the most Holy Trinity. Not three gods. God who is one - one substance, three persons. What do we understand about this? At the beginning of the Christian era, for decades that turned into centuries, people understandably struggled to understand who Jesus was. At one level it’s an easy question to answer – Jesus the man from Nazareth, and so He indeed is. But it was obvious to His followers that He was much, much more than that. When the gospels were being put together, in a sense they provided as many questions about Jesus as answers. John's gospel in particular was, and still is complex, and enigmatic. John was dealing with something so big that he can seem to struggle to anchor Jesus in the fullness of His humanity. At the same time John constantly shows us how Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus, in His own words, tells us more than that, they are not alone, there is the Spirit too – the spirit of truth, the advocate. They are three distinct persons but always, always, one. A communion of 3 divine persons in one divine nature – one substance, three persons. This is difficult territory and it is not surprising that that the term Trinity (Greek – trias; Latin – trinitas) only emerged in the second century of the Christian era. But hints about the “threeness” of the divine life of God goes back a long way. For example in Genesis, the creator uses the first person plural “let us make man in our image, and the Lord appears to Abraham in the form of three men, among other examples. Examples that, with our hindsight, point to something bigger. It is in the New Testament, where Jesus affirms that God is one, that slowly but surely it is also revealed that the one God is a "family" of three divine persons – one substance, three persons. How can we know this? Again it is made explicit in Jesus’ own words after the resurrection and at the point of His resurrection - "go and make disciples of all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". St Paul concludes his 2 nd letter to the Corinthians saying, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. St Paul's letters predate the written gospels which shows us that the concept of the Trinity was in the consciousness of Christians from the earliest times. But despite this, at its heart, the life of the Trinity remains a mystery – something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. We should not be surprised by this, after all some things in the natural world fit this description too, for example in astronomy how dark matter interacts with matter itself. If we accept that some things in the natural world cannot be explained why are we surprised that this is true for God too? Someday we will understand what dark matter is, so too, God willing, in God’s presence we will see and fully comprehend the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. So for the moment, perhaps its best to model our lives on what we know about the life of the Trinity – a community of love, trust, respect, self-giving and openness. We are made for community, we all live in one. If you think about it, the communities in which we live, if they reflect the love and solidarity of the community of the Trinity, have the potential to reflect the image and likeness of God here in our world. How willing are we to be like the Trinity in what we do, what we say and how we behave? How loving, trusting, respectful of others, self-giving and open are we? By doing our best to be all of these things we will model the life of the Trinity in ourselves and show how the Trinity is to others around us. The Trinity is about the deepest level of integration not separation. One substance; three persons. God bless and keep you. Fr Chris
A series of 15 sessions of Prayer and Life Workshops, a program where you “learn to pray and you learn to live”, will be held in the meeting room at St Urban’s every Wednesday from 6.45pm to 8.45pm.
We often take words and terms we use for granted but all words have an origin. What does the word "spirit" come from? We are used to associating the term with the Bible, but there is no direct term for "spirit" in it, except the term “ruah”, literally meaning wind or breath. The English word “spirit” is simply a form of the Latin word, spiritus – breath. Wind is invisible, unpredictable, it is an uncontrollable force. It can be refreshing like a summer breeze, or frightening and destructive. I remember channel crossings in rough seas, and a few bad crossings across Irish Sea. Crossings like that seem to go on forever; luckily I don’t suffer from sea sickness but it was frightening none the less. This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. In the readings for Mass we hear of the descent of the Holy Spirit. I invite you for a moment to put yourself in the shoes of the Apostles. This is a group of people who, despite their experience of the risen Christ, are still trying to make sense of recent events. Perhaps they are frightened, maybe they are merely waiting as Jesus told them to but for what they are not sure; perhaps they just feel lost – Jesus has left them and they don’t know what to do let alone how to go about doing it. Then the inexplicable happens. Despite being indoors they experience wind and fire. Perhaps for a moment they are terrified, who wouldn’t be, and yet they are transformed from uncertain people without a purpose people with a vision and a mission. An unpromising group of people begin to transform the world brining the kingdom of God that bit nearer. We are their direct heirs and successors; we would simply not be here without them. We also share the same Holy Spirit as the Apostles through baptism and confirmation. Today we hear of how the Holy Spirit breaks into the existence of the Apostles and the world. It is like the injection of a powerful medicine which has an immediate and everlasting effect. In his letters St Paul tells us more about the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. In his letter to the Corinthians he states “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”. That’s an amazing statement. You and I through baptism and confirmation have God actually living within us. Each one of us is a dwelling where God truly is. Genesis tells us we are in the image and likeness of God and by the sacraments we really are – each and every one of us. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead can give eternal life to us too. The same Holy Spirit enables us to call God the Father, Our Father, Daddy. But the Holy Spirit does not enslave us or impose upon us; it is more the gently breeze and the warming flame, the ruah, the breath of God. By the God given gift of free will we are invited to cooperate with God’s gifts to us, including the Holy Spirit. It seems to me that we if we were all fully conscious of this indwelling of God within us through the Holy Spirit it would transform us inwardly; our dealings each other, and the change the world. So remember that the Holy Spirit is actually living within you; reflect on the gifts the Holy Spirit offers – wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Put them to use to change yourself, to help your brothers and sisters, and to bring the Lord into our suffering and desperate world. Fr Chris
Pope Francis
If peoples are to remain brothers and sisters, prayer must rise unceasingly to Heaven, and one single word constantly echo on earth: peace.