Fr Tony writes.....

BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
Saturday April 2nd was the 6th anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II. This weekend Pope Benedict XVI will preside at a Solemn Mass in St Peter’s Square and declare his much loved predecessor “Blessed”. Beatification is a declaration by the Church that someone who has lived a life of outstanding holiness is indeed in Heaven and can be honoured as an example of Christ-like goodness. Saints and martyrs are not perfect individuals who have never sinned. They are ordinary men and women like us who, despite human failure and weakness, have constantly tried to “live through love in the presence of God”.
Pope John Paul was elected in 1978 and served as Pope for nearly 27 years. In declaring him “Blessed”, or indeed in proclaiming him a saint, which will surely follow in due course, the Church is not necessarily canonising the various decisions he made or the policies he pursued. It is recognising his outstanding holiness as a disciple of Jesus. As we remember him with affection and gratitude this weekend we ask him to pray for us that we too may follow in his footsteps as faithful followers of the Risen Lord.
BLESSED POPE JOHN PAUL II PRAY FOR US

THE LORD IS TRULY RISEN
The Church throughout the world celebrates this weekend the Resurrection of Our Lord from the dead. This is the greatest feast in the Church’s year in that our faith is rooted in Christ, who truly died and was raised to life by the Father.
As St Paul reminds us, “If Christ be not Risen then our faith is in vain.” Here today in the Mass our Crucified and Risen Lord is really present among us as we share in the Liturgy. In Him we find forgiveness for our sins and the grace to live a new life as His disciples.

On behalf of the other priests I want to thank everyone who has contributed in any way to the Liturgy of Holy Week, and to our observance of Lent. I believe that it has been a time of grace for many people. May God allow you to enjoy and celebrate this Easter with faith and love renewed.
Next Sunday, May 1st, The Holy Father Pope Benedict will beatify the much loved Pope John Paul II. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we will making a new shrine in honour of the three recent “Blesseds”, John Henry Newman, Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul. The picture of John Paul will be in place by next weekend, but the other two will follow very shortly, I hope. The picture will be blessed at the 10.a.m. Mass next Sunday.
There will be a kneeler there permanently for private prayer and a votive candle stand. I hope it will become a new place of prayer within the church.

We are at the start of the greatest week in the Church’s year. Holy Week is a unique time in the life of the Church. We are invited to enter into the last week of Jesus’ life on earth, and to celebrate the precious gift of Salvation. We live, here in Britain, in a world where Holy Week means absolutely nothing to most people. For the majority of our fellow citizens there is simply the “Easter Holiday”, followed this year by the added bonus of the royal wedding, and the extra bank holiday it provides.

For us, as for all Christians, Holy Week is a time to remember what Jesus, Our Lord, suffered for us, and to unite ourselves with Him through the Liturgy. It has been good to see the effort that so many have made this Lent to come to Mass and to prepare for Easter. I can only invite all of you to make the time to be here and to share fully in the Holy Week Liturgy. Nothing should take precedence over this apart, of course, from the demands of love for those in need. The Lord invites each of us to accompany Him on His last journey to Calvary, and to Resurrection. He made that journey for us. Let us not take it for granted.

On Thursday evening Father Jonathan and I will give a talk on “Making the most of Holy Week”. We are going to look briefly at four important services that take place in Holy Week. We will look at Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. These services have evolved over the course of centuries. Some of the elements are very ancient. We are hoping on Thursday to explain what we do and why. These Liturgies are rich in meaning. They are the climax of the Church’s year, and the more we understand what we are doing the more we can gain from sharing in them. I do hope that as many of you as possible will want to come to the Liturgy of Holy Week. We also hope that if you are able to come along on Thursday evening you will find it interesting and helpful as we prepare for Easter.
After a rather long gap since last Summer, we are once again able to post these letters online as a separate feature on the Parish Website, I hope to post more things in future. I have recently posted the text of the talk I gave about “conscience”.

We have had quite a few problems with the computer in recent months, but now I hope to start putting more things online. I will advertise the fact in the newsletter and I hope that it will be another way of making contact with people. meanwhile: WATCH THIS SPACE.