Parish of Our Lady & Saint David, Cwmbran

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me

Ascension is not just a feast that happens to fall in Eastertide: it is an integral part of the Easter mystery. Remember the Lord’s words at the Last Supper: “I am going to prepare a place for, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me.” The resurrection presumes the Lord’s return to the Father. This is therefore a feast of hope: our hope in the Lord’s return, as he went. Our hope that he will take us with him, when our bodies are raised as his was. Our hope that we will take our place in heaven, where he sits on the Father’s right.

Ascension Sunday of Eastertide 2017 Newsletter

I shall ask the Father, and he shall give you another Advocate

By now we are some distance away from Easter, but the season is still permeated with the Easter message: Christ is risen, we are baptised in him. But today a new dimension of the story comes out: Easter is not complete until the risen Lord has returned to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit. So in the Gospel today we begin two weeks of looking forward to the coming of that ‘Spirit of truth’ which sets us apart from the world.   This is a Spirit of power, which flows through the life of the Church, enabling its members to ‘proclaim the Christ and, dwelling in our hearts, to live in the midst of the world’s slander and accusations.

6th Sunday of Easter 2017 Newsletter

We continue to explore the meaning of baptism, of membership of the Church, of living a life which has been immersed in the life and death of Jesus Christ: in other words, we continue our ‘Mystagogy’ – our training in the mystery of Baptism and the other Sacraments. We hear more about ‘who Jesus is, with another I am statement: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. We are baptised into his way, his truth and his life. We hear about the earliest community struggling with the life they are called to by baptism, and Peter again reminds us that baptism builds us into a spiritual house with Jesus as our cornerstone. The mystery of the Church is clearly before us today: the Church is the community of those baptised in Christ, the pilgrim people walking with Christ (who has shown us the Father) to the place he has prepared for us. Today’s reading can perhaps make us think a little about how we form part of this spiritual house, the Church, as we journey to the Father.

5th Sunday of Easter 2017 Newsletter

This Sunday is traditionally called ‘Good Shepherd Sunday, because of the Gospel references to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. It is also the day of prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood. On this Sunday we hear one of the great ‘I am’ statements of Jesus from Saint John’s Gospel today ‘I am the gate of the sheepfold. Through Jesus we enter into life and safety, and we ‘go through Jesus, the gate’ by baptism. This image is implied in all today’s readings: the people listening to Peter find this gateway and enter through it: Peter writes to remind us that we have come back to the Good Shepherd, who heals us by his wounds.

4th Sunday of Easter 2017 Newsletter

They recognised him at the breaking of bread

During the Season of Easter we walk with the Risen Lord, enjoying his appearing to his disciples. Today’s gospel is one of the loveliest accounts of his appearing – and one especially important for the reader. Jesus appears and teaches the two disciples, by reference to the Scriptures, the meaning of his death.

This is very close to the way in which the neophytes (newly baptised) would continue to be taught, through hearing the scriptures, during Easter. The reader should take to herself or himself the words of the Gospel Acclamation: “Lord Jesus, explain the scriptures to us. Make our hearts burn within us as you talk to us.”

3rd Sunday of Easter 2017 Newsletter

Often people forget that Easter is not just a day, but a season – the longest in the Church’s year, in fact!  We are given fifty glorious days of Spring and Summer to prolong our baptismal joy, fifty glorious days of basking in the light of the risen Saviour. It seems a shame that after the efforts we put into Lent we don’t celebrate Eastertide with the same enthusiasm. The readings of this Season have their origins in the instruction given to converts in the early Church: in Lent, the readings were the basis of catechesis on the forthcoming baptism; in Easter the readings are “Mystagogy” – a type of teaching where the newly baptised (“neophytes”) learn through taking part in the celebration of the sacraments and hearing the word. On the Sundays we hear who Jesus is, and on weekdays hear about Baptism and the Eucharist. This “Mystagogy” is not just to nourish the neophytes, but to help all of us deepen our life in the risen Lord Jesus.  This Sunday we are with the disciples in the Upper Room, where eight days after the Resurrection Jesus comes among them – as he comes among us.

2nd Sunday of Easter 2017 Newsletter

“Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast then,
in the Lord.”

When the Word is proclaimed, it is real and active – the Lord is present, and what is described is, in a sense, happening now. On certain days this is made more obvious by the selection of scripture that refers to a particular time or day. Such a selection occurs this morning, when we go with Mary Magdalene to visit the tomb, only to make – with her – a momentous discovery: the tomb is empty, he is risen!

Easter Sunday 2017 Newsletter

A Happy and Peaceful Easter To You All

From

Canon John

Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!

On Palm Sunday the long reading of the Passion dominates the celebration, and in a sense its meaning is obvious. Do not allow this, however, to detract from the other readings, which give the vital context necessary for understanding the Passion as more than just a long story. It is our story the tale of how God achieved OUR salvation by the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Palm Sunday 2017 Newsletter

I am the resurrection and the life

The Gospel of the Fifth Sunday is perhaps the deepest meditation on the mystery of Baptism and membership of the Church. It is a prelude to the events of Easter Sunday, when we celebrate the triumph of life over death. To be plunged into the waters of baptism is to be buried with Christ, only to rise with him from the waters. This paradox of life and death is the content of today’s readings. There is no more important part of our faith that the resurrection: that Christ rose from the dead is the very centre and heart of all that we believe – without it, our faith is useless. In the same way our belief in our own resurrection is vital: it is the most deeply needed gift that Christ gives us. This is why the climax of the instructions given to candidates for Baptism was this teaching: that Christ would give them life after death. Look ahead to the 3rd Sunday of Easter, where Saint Peter preaches to the crowds – what he teaches them is that life comes after death, as it did for Lazarus, and for Christ himself.

5th Sunday of Lent 2017 Newsletter

He went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored

When we get to Easter, there are two symbols of the resurrection that we use in Church: fire and light (the Easter Candle) and water (the Font). Last week we reflected on water, and this week there are passages all about light – true light, that defeats the blindness of sin. Again, this would have been offered to those preparing for Baptism, but speaks to all of us who have been baptised, inviting us to be renewed in the light of Christ at Easter. Remember that one of the oldest titles of the newly baptised was “neophyte”, which means “newly enlightened” There is a subtle link between the readings on this Sunday: in the first reading, David is anointed, and the Spirit of the Lord seizes on him. This anointing lights him along the right path – ‘no evil would I fear’ as the Psalm says. Then Paul tells us more about this light: it is Christ shining on us, calling us to live as children of light. All this is summed up in the Gospel, the marvellous story of the healing (by being ‘anointed’ with spittle) of the man born blind. Jesus is the light of the world.

4th Sunday of Lent 2017 Newsletter

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