Parish of Our Lady & Saint David, Cwmbran

God sent his Son so that through him the world might be saved.

We begin our Summer ‘Ordinary Time’ by celebrating a strange feast – not of a particular saint or event, but of the awesome paradoxes of our God, the Three-in-One, Father, Son and Spirit: so immeasurably distant, yet so amazingly close, so full of power and so full of love. It is love that is the key to the mystery: the revelation of God, to Moses and in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shows a perfect love – a perfect unity. In the beginning, in the story of Creation in Genesis, God made man and woman ‘in the image and likeness of God’, to live together as a community of love. So too, the Church is an image of this perfection of community which is Father, Son and Spirit. We, as many members of one Church, strive in our everyday lives to imitate God who is Three and One, perfect unity and perfect love.

First Reading: Exodus 35:4-6,8-9

Res: To you glory and praise for evermore

Second Reading: 2Cor 13: 11-13

Gospel: John 3:16-18

As the Father sent me, so am I sending you: receive the Holy Spirit

We arrive at the fiftieth day – the completion of the Easter Season, and the completion of the Paschal Mystery: the Lord has died, is risen, has ascended to heaven and now gives birth to his Church, by sending the Spirit upon the apostles. This feast of the gift of the Spirit is so significant for us, because it marks the handing on of Jesus’s ministry to the Church – in the Church we are guaranteed the presence of the Lord, in his sacraments, in his ministers, in the Blessed Sacrament and in his Celebrated Word. It also marks the fulfilment of our thoughts about baptism throughout this season: the gift of the Spirit which we receive in Confirmation is the ‘seal’ of our baptism, guaranteeing and confirming all that baptism achieves.

First Reading: Acts2: 1-11

Res: Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.

Second Reading: Cor 12: 3-7, 12-13

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.

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.

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life

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.

First Reading:Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7.

Res: May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all hope in you

Second Reading: Peter 2: 4-9

Gospel Reading: John 14: 1-12

I am the gate of the sheepfold

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.

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.”

First Reading:Acts of the Apostles  2:14.22-33.

Res: Show us, Lord, the path of life

Second Reading:Peter 1:17-21.

Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

Morning Prayer – Tuesday and Thursday 9.10am
Evening Prayer – Friday 4.40pm
Rosary – After weekday Mass

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Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

Tuesday, 29th April 10am – 12pm

Friday, 2nd May 9.30am – 5.00pm

Sacrament of Reconciliation on Saturday 3rd May

Our Lady’s: 12noon to 12.30pm

St David’s: 3.45pm to 4.15pm

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.

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7

Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11

Gospel Reading: St Matthew’s Passion

An invitation to everyone to participate in the Easter Triduum

Please come along and bring your children to celebrate The Mass of the Lord’s Supper, The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord in 2014

Holy Thursday:  7.30pm      Our Lady’s

Good Friday:      3.00pm      Both Churches

Holy Saturday:  7.30pm      Our Lady’s