Dear Parishioners,

An interesting comment from Pope Francis speaking to young people last week.

The dreams of young people scare adults a bit. But do not let yourselves be robbed of your dreams.
There was a boy, here in Italy, twenty, twenty-two years of age, who started to dream and to dream big. And his father, an important businessman, tried to convince him otherwise but he said, “No, I want to dream. I dream what I feel inside”. And in the end, he went away, to dream. And his father followed him.

And that boy sought refuge in the bishop’s house, he took off his robes and gave them to his father: “Let me go on my path”.
This young man, an Italian of the thirteenth century, was called Francis and he changed the history of Italy. Francis risked so he could dream big; he knew no boundaries and ended his life dreaming. Let us think: he was young like you. But how he dreamed! They said that he was mad because he dreamed in this way. And he did so much good, and continues to do so. The young scare adults a bit because adults have stopped dreaming, they have stopped risking, and they have organised themselves well. But as I said before, do not let yourselves be robbed of your dreams.
“And how can I make sure, Father, that no-one robs me of my dreams?”
Look for good teachers capable of helping you to understand them and to make them real, gradually and with serenity. Be good teachers in turn, teachers of hope and trust towards the new generations who will follow you.
“But how, I can become a teacher too?”
Yes, a young person who is capable of dreaming becomes a teacher, through his or her witness. Because it is witness that shakes and moves hearts, and shows the ideals that everyday life covers up. The dream is a great strength.
“Father, where can I buy the pills that make me dream?”
No, those no! Those will not make you dream, they will send your heart to sleep. They will burn out your neurons. Dreams cannot be bought. Dreams are a gift, a gift from God, a gift that God sows in your hearts. Dreams are given to us freely, but so that we give them away freely to others too. Offer your dreams: no-one, taking them, will impoverish you. Offer them to others freely.

Fr John

Refugees

http://fabcare.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https://fabcare.com/shop/industrial-washing/washing-machineside-loading/ They have no need of our help

http://thmiii.com/?page_id=496 So do not tell me

These haggard faces could belong to you or l

Should life have dealt a different hand

We need to see them for who they really are

Chancers and scroungers

Layabouts and loungers

With bombs up their sleeves

Cut-throats and thieves

They are not

Welcome here

We should make them

Go back to where they came from

They cannot

Share our food

Share our homes

Share our countries

Instead let us

Build a wall to keep them out

It is not okay to say

These are people just like us

A place should only belong to those who are born there

Do not be so stupid to think that

The world can be looked at another way

Now read from the end to the beginning

Brian Bilston

 Prayer of St Augustine

Hear my prayer, Lord.

Let my soul not wilt under your discipline.

Let it not tire of remembering your kindness

in rescuing me from my careless ways.

I long for you to be my delight

more than the honeyed pleasures.

I chased in the past.

You have enabled me to love you,

love you strongly, deeply.

You have brought me to hold your hand

with every ounce of strength I have,

that you may keep me from all danger

till my dying day.

See, Lord, you are my King and my God.

Whatever of value I learnt as a boy

I now place at your service.

Whatever I read, or write,

whatever I speak or compute,

let these skills serve you.

From Confessions of St Augustine

(Reflecting on his misspent youth)

For Trust

O Christ Jesus,

when all is darkness and we feel

our weakness and helplessness,

give us the sense of your presence,

your love, and your strength. 

Help us to have perfect trust

in your protecting love

and strengthening power,

so that nothing may

frighten or worry us,

for, living close to you,

we shall see your hand,

your purpose, your will

through all things.

Amen

St Ignatius of Loyola

(Founder of the Jesuits d.1556)

Dear Parishioners,

Pope Francis speaking to a large crowd on the place of the Commandments in our relationship with God said:

“Christian life is first and foremost a freely given response to a generous Father. For Christians who follow only their “duties” something is missing! What is the foundation of this duty? The foundation of this duty is the love of God the Father, who first gives, then commands. To place the law before the relationship does not help the path of faith. How can a young person wish to be Christian, if we start out from obligations, commitments, consistency and not from liberation? But to be Christian is a journey of liberation! The commandments free you from your selfishness and they free you because there is the love of God that carries you forward. Christian formation is not based on the strength of will, but on the acceptance of salvation, of allowing oneself to be loved: first the Red Sea, then Mount Sinai. First salvation: God saves His people in the Red Sea; then on Sinai tells them what they must do. But the people know that they must do these things because they have been saved by a Father Who loves them.

“Gratitude is a characteristic trait of the heart visited by the Holy Spirit; to obey God one must first remember the benefits. As Saint Basil says, “Those who do not let those benefits fall into oblivion, are oriented towards good virtue and towards every work of justice”. Where does all this lead us? To perform a memory test: how many beautiful things has God done for each one of us! How generous is our heavenly Father? I would now like to propose a little exercise to you, in silence: each person answer in his or her own heart. How many beautiful things has God done for me? This is the question. In silence, each one of us, answers. How many beautiful things has God done for me? And this is God’s liberation. God does many beautiful things and frees us.

Quoting Pope Benedict, he continued; “The love-story between God and us consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus our will and God’s will increasingly coincide: God’s will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself.  Then self-abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy”

Fr John

Celebrating the Eucharist Together – Everybody is Welcome to our Church Family

‘God’s heart is a welcoming heart, reaching out in Jesus to embrace all. Our parish dream is that all would feel welcomed and called to welcome.’

Some time ago, the Salvete Group were asked to suggest ways in which we may better identify and welcome visitors and new parishioners to our church.  The group recognised the work of the welcomers who greet and hand mass sheets and hymn books to everyone but also they saw that at busy times the pressure prevented the welcomers sparing time with visitors. So, in an effort to be even more approachable, we are looking for more volunteers to formally welcome people in church, without the distraction of distributing books and newsletters. Peter White has designed some beautiful ‘Welcomer’ badges, featuring the Mother and Child from the stained-glass window in St Hubert’s under which the wearer can print their Christian name.

So, we are looking for enthusiastic and friendly parishioners who are prepared to reach out to visitors and new parishioners, whenever they are free to do so. What is involved? Please read the guidelines below and have a word in St Mary’s Sabden with Carol Hartley or Anthony Brown, in St Michael & St John’s Clitheroe, with Penelope DeSouza or Susan Fellows and in St Hubert’s, Dunsop Bridge with Fr John.

Guidelines for welcomers

• Be Welcoming to all. A smile is a symbol of friendship and peace.
• Look out for new people.
• Inform them of the Mass Sheets, Hymn Books and newsletter.
• Let them know where they can sit (anywhere!!)
• Advise them of children’s liturgy/little church and the location of thetoilets (as appropriate)
• Ask if they are visiting, or new to the area. If they are new invite them to complete the new parishioners leaflet.
• Offer the new parish information leaflets.Invite them to Coffee afterwards; accompany them as appropriate.

Stay with us Lord on our Journey

Dear Parishioners,

With peace in the Middle East as the goal, Pope Francis on Saturday hosted an ecumenical pilgrimage in the southern Italian city of Bari, attended by the representatives of Christian churches with a presence in the Middle East. Bari hosts the shrine of St Nicholas (Father Christmas) a saint revered both by Eastern and Western Catholics

The Christian leaders came together to pray for peace in a region that, due to ongoing conflicts and persecution, has seen the Christian population diminish year after year.

“The Middle East is one of the regions of the world where the situation of Christians is most precarious,” said Cardinal Kurt Koch of Switzerland, head of the Vatican’s office dedicated to promoting Christian Unity. He noted that while Christians represented 20 percent of the population in the region before World War I, today they are only four percent in this “martyred region.” As an example, in Iraq alone, the number of Christians has gone from 1.5 million in 2003 to an estimated 300,000 today.

According to Cardinal Koch, Christians will only remain in the region if peace is restored, and this is why the Catholic Church has been diplomatically working for a peace achieved through political agreements.

“It’s not possible to imagine a Middle East without Christians, not only for political reasons, but because they are essential for the equilibrium of the region,” he said.

Among the Christian leaders who answered Pope Francis’s call are the heads of Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches, the Assyrian Orthodox Church, members of Catholic Oriental churches, a representative for the Lutheran Church along with a representative for the Middle East Council of Churches. A majority of the 19 leaders attending are patriarchs or heads of churches with only five sending a representative.

Please remember this initiative in your prayers,

Fr John