FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
5th February 2012
FEAST OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES Saturday 11th February
BLESSED POPE JOHN PAUL II's PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF LOURDES (August 15th 2004)
Hail Mary, poor and humble woman, blessed by the Most High.
Virgin of hope, dawn of a new era, we join in your song of praise, to celebrate the Lord's mercy, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom and the full liberation of humanity. Hail Mary, lowly handmaid of the Lord, Glorious Mother of Christ! Faithful Virgin, Holy dwelling-place of the Word, teach us to persevere in listening to the Word, and to be docile to the voice of the Spirit, attentive to his promptings in the depths of our conscience and to his manifestations in the events of history.
Hail Mary, woman of sorrows, Mother of the living! Virgin spouse beneath the Cross, the new Eve, be our guide along the paths of the world. Teach us to experience and to spread the love of Christ, to stand with you before the innumerable crosses on which your Son is still crucified.
Holy Mary, woman of faith, first of the disciples! Virgin Mother of the Church, help us always to account for the hope that is in us, With trust in human goodness and the Father's love. Teach us to build up the world beginning from within:
In the depths of silence and prayer, in the joy of fraternal love, in the unique fruitfulness of the Cross.
Holy Mary,
Mother of believers,
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.
Amen.
MASS of Our Lady of Lourdes here in the parish Saturday 11th February at 12.30pm
Fr David Barnes. Parish Priest
THE SUNDAY OBLIGATION: The first commandment of the Church binds all Catholics to attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy days of obligation. This is a grave obligation on our conscience, unless some really serious cause prevents us. To come in late, wilfully or through carelessness, when Mass has begun is at least a venial sin. To miss Mass when you cannot help it, or when it would be very difficult for you to attend Mass, is not a sin. So, if you were to miss Mass because you were ill, or because you had to stay at home to mind a sick person or children, or because you were a long way from church, or if for some other reason you could not go, it would not be a sin. When you cannot go to mass, say the Mass prayers yourself at home, if possible.
THE SEVEN CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY To feed the hungry; to give drink to the thirsty; to clothe the naked; to harbour the harbourless; to visit the sick; to visit the imprisoned; to bury the dead.
ADORATION: every Tuesday and Friday 8.30am-5.45pm PLEASE "sign up to watch" (list on the table at the back of the church) ROSARY: during this Month of the Rosary please remember * Always have the rosary with you.....in your pocket, bag or (fashionable now!) around your neck Hold it with faith at various times of the day (say, at times of anxiety, or temptation, sadness or joy) for this is a prayerful action opening us to God. Say some part of the rosary every day If possible, join the public recitation of the Rosary every evening in church at 5.20pm.
RE-ESTABLISHING FRIDAY PENANCE
A key resolution of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, released after their May 2011 plenary meeting, was 'to re-establish the practice of Friday penance in the lives of the faithful as a clear and distinctive mark of their own Catholic identity.'
This act of common witness will come into effect from Friday 16th September 2011- the day the Church in England and Wales marks the anniversary of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom.
Since the Bishops of England and Wales announced this decision in May 2011, a number of questions have been asked. To help answer these questions the Bishop's Conference has produced a list of frequently asked questions with answers that will help to explain the reasons for the reintroduction of this penance.
The full document which includes further questions and answers, as well as a liturgical explanation of the Friday penance can be downloaded from the link www.rcdow.org.uk/includes/dow-content-print.asp?content- ref= 3473.
Questions and answers include: Why are we obliged to practice penance on Fridays? From the earliest centuries of the Church's history, Friday was dedicated to the memory of the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a day on which we should make a special effort to practice penitence. The seasons and days of penitence in the course of the Liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday) are therefore intense moments of the Church's penitential practice.
Does this mean that we should eat fish on Friday? There is no requirement for us to eat fish instead of meat on a Friday. Our act of abstinence does not mean that we have to eat another particular type of food as a regular substitute for meat on a Friday. The precise goal of penitence is not simply the avoidance of meat or its substitution with another food but relating the external and common act of penance we do to inner conversion, prayer and works of charity.
Are the Bishops placing a greater obligation on Catholics in England and Wales? Apart from the exception above, will it be a 'sin' to eat meat on Friday after the Bishops decision takes effect in September? The obligation on Catholics in England and Wales to do penance on a Friday will be the same after Friday 16th September 2011 as it was before that date. The only change is that the Bishops have determined that the requirement by all the faithful to do penance on a Friday will be fulfilled by abstaining from meat.
While failure to abstain from meat on a particular Friday would not constitute a 'sin' as such, the Vatican previously made it clear that it is our duty as Catholics to undertake penance on a Friday. It is more a question of intending to 'carry a small cross for Christ' than about abstaining from meat. The person who knowingly decides not to undertake any Friday penance at all is probably 'sinning'; the person who accidently eats a ham sandwich for lunch is not.
