A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning - well! I finished the walk with an average of 11,000 steps per day. Thank you for your generous support.

The last two days with wonderful sunshine were some kind of recompense for the damp, dark mornings earlier. Walking round Wardley has been a privilege; making the acquaintance of so many good people buried there who continue their life of prayer for us in heaven and enjoy a good rest after all their labours.

These next three days are a celebration of all that is good in our lives - the love of God in the more than tangible form of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Archbishop Rowan Williams ponders this:

‘In an ‘ordinary’ Holy Week, we’d be keeping watch tonight at the Altar of Repose - ‘staying put’ with Jesus in his agony as he ‘stays put’ with s in his dying and rising and his eternal prayer to the Father. The reserved sacrament speaks powerfully of the steady and unfailing presence of Christ in the heart of his Church.
'He will not go away. He draws our thanksgiving and adoration in the sacrament. And this year we are called very specially to acknowledge and adore his presence even when the usual physical access to the sacrament is not possible. Here too he is with us - in our homes and our hearts. He is where the Body of Christ is.
‘And his faithful staying there summons us to a life of faithful love and accompaniment - being there for our neighbours, in whatever unexpected way becomes possible in these anything but ordinary times. ‘Love one another’, says the Lord, ‘as I have loved you’: pray that the Spirit gives strength for us to be Eucharistic signs of the love that stays - so that the whole may know itself to be accompanied, held and treasured.’

I know that Maureen has tried to squeeze as many people into our services as is safely possible. I am sorry if you have not been able to attend but you must know that, wherever we might be, we are the Body of Christ praying for each other and for all those whom we are called to serve.

St Joseph, guardian of this parish these days, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John