Parish of Our Lady & Saint David, Cwmbran

This Sunday is all about the “Divine Community” – in other words, the way in which our God is in himself a communion of love: Father, Son and Spirit, distinct yet perfectly united – three persons, one God.  We hear of the perfect union between Father and Son, revealed in the mysterious poem of the First Reading, where the Son is “Wisdom” joining the Father in the act of creation. This union bears fruit in the Spirit, who pours this perfect love into our hearts, so that we may imitate the “Communion of Love” by living together and hoping for our place within the Divine Community.

First Reading: ApostlesProverbs 8:22-31

Responsorial Psalm: How great is your name, O Lord

                                            our God, through all the earth!

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5

Gospel: John 16:12-15

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’ 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 fulfillment 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: Apostles 2:1-11

Responsorial Psalm: Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth

Second Reading: Romans 8: 8-17

Gospel: John 14: 15-16, 23-26

As he blessed them he was carried up to heaven

The Word This Week

Recently the bishops of England and Wales decided to move the celebration of Ascension to this Sunday. While this moves the feast away the fortieth day, it does open up this celebration as part of the journey of the Easter Season. 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 you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me.” Jesus does not open the way to us just by rising from the dead: to complete the mystery presumes the Lord’s return to the Father. Ascension is therefore a feast of hope: our hope that the Lord will 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 at the Father’s right hand.

First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11

Responsorial Psalm: God goes up with shouts of joy the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

 Second Reading: Hebrews 9: 24-28, 10: 19-23

Gospel: Luke 24: 46-53

WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY 2013 – 13^TH TO 18^TH MAY

Monday 13^th             12noon        Holy Trinity

Tuesday 14^th             7pm              Victory Church

Wednesday 15^th        12noon         The Salvation Army

Thursday 16^th           7pm              Richmond Rd Baptist Church

Friday 17^th                12noon         Fairhill Methodist Church

Saturday 18^th morning: sponsored prayer walk and breakfast for Christian Aid Cwmbran at Cwmbran United Reformed Church.  Walk starts 8.00am, breakfast 9.00am

The Word This Week

As Eastertide unfolds, we feel the power and influence of the Spirit growing. This is the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, and the Spirit who brings the Church to birth at Pentecost. As we journey towards Pentecost – the climax of the Easter Season – we should be considering the presence of the Spirit in the Church today: the reconciler of disputes, the solver of problems, true inspiration for the family of God on our journey to the New Jerusalem! From this side, Pentecost is about promise: the Lord at the Last Supper promises that He and the Father will be “at home” with all who keep his words – and it is the Advocate, the Holy Spirit who will remind us of these and all his words. We believe that all Scripture is “inspired” – the word of the Spirit – so as we listen or proclaim this Sunday let us look for the fulfilment of the promise made by the Lord.

First Reading: Acts 15:1-2,22-29

Responsorial Psalm: Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the people praise you.

Second Reading: Apocalypse 21:10-14.22-23

Gospel: John 14:23-29

The Word This Week

We are now closer to Ascension and Pentecost than Easter, but we are still in the Easter Season. The readings this Sunday begin to move us along too, as once more we hear the Lord at the Last Supper preparing his disciples for his departure: he does this by giving them a rule to live by, a new commandment. This commandment, “love one another”, is to be the guiding light of the community of believers after Pentecost (check the first reading for the Second Sunday of Easter) – it is the risen Lord’s parting gift to his Church.

First Reading: Acts 14:21-27

Response Psalm 144: I will bless your name for ever, O God my King

Second Reading: Apocalypse 21:1-5

Gospel: John 13: 31-35

“I give eternal life to the sheep that belong to me”

The Word This Week

This is traditionally known as “Good Shepherd” Sunday, and is part of the continuing journey of Easter – remember that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who both gives his life for his sheep and takes it up again. His relationship with us, after the resurrection, is closer than we can imagine: through his dying and rising, Jesus fulfills the promise he makes in today’s Gospel: “I give them eternal life, and they will never be lost.” This Sunday is another opportunity for us to consider the consequences of the Resurrection – how we live the Easter Story.

First Reading: Acts 13:14.43-52

Response to the psalm: We are his people, the sheep of his flock

Second Reading: Apocalypse 7:9.14-17

Gospel: John 10:27-30

“Jesus stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them,
and the same with the fish.

 First Reading: Acts 5:27-32.40-41 

 Second Reading: Apocalypse 5:11-14

 Responsorial Psalm: I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

 Gospel Reading: John 21: 1-19

Welcome to the Parish of Our Lady and St David, Cwmbran