Newsletter - 26 March 2023
RECONCILING WITH GOD
Dear brothers and sisters,
It’s already the fifth Sunday of Lent and Palm Sunday is only next weekend. We may be concerned about our low achievement in terms of repentance and poor conversion of sinful habits. The daily mass Gospel reading will from now on focus on the increasing tension around Jesus leading to his condemnation, Passion and death on the Cross.
People around Jesus, especially Pharisees, Priests and Scribes, increasingly rejected him. Not only did they not accept his teachings and actions, but they rejected who he was: the Son of God. They did not want to have to deal with Him. We can be quite puzzled about their hostile behaviour but should be careful not to overestimate ourselves. We are no better than people of that time. Who knows how we would react if we were there? Moreover our own personal behaviour and attitude today reveal how we accept or reject Jesus Christ.
We too reject him when we find his requests too demanding; for instance when he asks us to love and pray for our enemies. Or when we decline his invitation to give up everything and prefer him above all. Not only do we not consent to his demanding requests but this contributes to rejecting him. We also exclude him from some areas of our lives: those places where there is too much suffering and where sins have had ill effects.
The Parish is organising a reconciliation evening on Tuesday 28 March. This gives us an opportunity to be reconciled to God and to ourselves. Being reconciled means that we first acknowledge something went wrong, it is now broken and we do not have the ability to repair it. The good news is that God himself repairs and heals our brokenness, our frailties and our sinfulness. He does what we cannot achieve by ourselves, while respecting us. During Reconciliation, God pardons and pours his grace over our humanity, a grace of new hope for our humanity to change and amend for the better. Brothers and sisters, let us not be mean and prevent our souls from receiving this divine grace.
Fr Pascal Sullivan, ccn
Focus of the Week
UPDATE ON THE ALAM FAMILY
Since last June we as a parish community have been supporting George and Olga Alam and their two children under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and as you know they have been living in the presbytery with the Chemin Neuf Community. Since then, George has found work as a heavy equipment operator, Olga is studying English and maths while waiting for her DBS clearance for a job in nursery education, and the children are settled at DeBohun School on Green Road. They are now ready for the next step and are looking for affordable housing. They really love our parish community and would like to stay in the neighbourhood. How can we assist them with this next step?
Please speak to Nancy Wood,
07845 898 953, if you have any ideas.
