Mass time changes: I’m not on Facebook but gather some feel disappointed at ‘lack of consultation’ regarding changes to the Mass times on Sunday at St. Joseph’s. I'm happy to facilitate a meeting to listen to any opinions or suggestions. I will be available in the Jubilee Room immediately after the 11:00am Mass this Sunday, 21st January, to listen to any opinions, suggestions etc., on Mass times, or indeed to any comments you might have on any of our services, be it baptism, marriages, confessions etc. Please feel free to join me – you will be more than welcome. Thanks.
Our week of prayer for Christian Unity is now upon us, and your continued prayers are asked. In a time when witness is so important, perhaps a model witness is the excellent work at an ecumenical level is being done at Sanctuary 21 by the combined efforts of the Salvation Army and members of our parish. May they continue to be blessed in alleviating the growing plight of homelessness.
“On the journey of ecclesial communion, and in the dialogue with other Churches and Christian communities, something that has always made me think of what Patriarch Athenagoras said, somewhat light-heartedly, to Paul V1: let us put the theologians on an island and we will journey together. Certainly, theologians are necessary: they need to study, to speak, to discuss; but in the meantime, let us carry on, praying together and with works of charity. For me, this is the path that does not disappoint,” Pope Francis.
Journey in Faith – we realise that a different approach is needed and to this end we are going to re-appraise the format for the Autumn.
The Hill We Climb
Amanda Gorman
When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished far from pristine but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promised glade
The hill we climb If only we dare It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed it can never be permanently defeated In this truth in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked south We will rebuild, reconcile and recover and every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it.