5th Sunday

While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes'aret.  And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."  And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."  And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking,  they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."  For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken;  and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb'edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men."  And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Luke 5:1-11

4th Sunday

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

1 Corinthians 13: 1

3rd Sunday

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read;  and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."  And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

Luke 1: 14-22

2nd Sunday

 His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you.

John 2: 5

Baptism of the Lord

. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Luke 3: 22

We may never be martyrs but we can die to self, to sin, to the world, to our plans and ambitions. That is the significance of baptism; we died with Christ and rose to new life.

Vance Havner

Ephiphany

The journey itself is wonderful. 

For during the journey of our lives 

we continually come upon new experiences of God.

2013

Wisdom is the power to put our time

 and our knowledge to the proper use. 

Thomas J. Watson 

Have a very Happy and Holy Year 2013.

The Holy Family Sunday

A Family Prayer

Heavenly Father, keep our family in Your love.

Help us to imitate the example of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Make our home a holy place where the love of Jesus will be in all that we think, do and say.

Give us the strength to overcome difficulties and may our family life lead only to Jesus - the source of true happiness.

Amen.

... and some pictures as our Parish Family celebrated Christmas this year

Christmas 2012

Mary gave birth to a son, her first-born.She wrapped him in swaddling clothes,and laid him a mangerbecause there was no roomfor them at the inn

Luke 2:6-7

 ‘What good is it for the Christ

to be born two thousand years ago

if Christ is not born in you?’

Meister Eckhart

  Every year as we recall the first coming of Christ into our world, we are challenged to live his way of justice, truth and love. Christmas does not guarantee us a trouble free life. During the Christmas season as we contemplate Mary and Joseph we come to realise that they had only their faith to sustain them in difficult times. It was their deep abiding trust in God’s love that enabled them to cope with hard decisions. That’s all we have too. During this Year of Faith, we pray that as our relationship with Christ deepens, we will have the strength to respond to the challenging decisions of every day life. By keeping our minds and hearts focused on Emmanuel-God-with-us, we too will discover in him the inner source of our hope.

  May we often go to the Bethlehem of our hearts and spend time with the One who offers us love, inner peace and hope.

With prayerful good wishes for this Christmas season 

and the New Year.

Fr.Adam MS and Fr.Chris MS

4th Sunday of Advent

...be focused on 

as we are so close ...

3rd Sunday of Advent

 And the multitudes asked John the Baptist, "What then shall we do?"  And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."  Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"  And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you."  Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."  As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ,  John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy  to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."  So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.

Luke 3:10-18

2nd Sunday of Advent

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiber'i-us Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturae'a and Trachoni'tis, and Lysa'ni-as tetrarch of Abile'ne,  in the high-priesthood of Annas and Ca'iaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechari'ah in the wilderness;  and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;  and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

 Luke 3:1-6

1st Sunday of Advent

Today we begin the season of Advent - a time of longing and waiting for Christmas and for the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

As we light the first candle, we pray:

Heavenly Father, bless our Advent wreath. 

Touch our hearts with the warmth of your love and keep us attentive to Jesus, the light of the world. 

Christ the King

 Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."

John 18: 37

Christmas Bazaar

Thank you to all who supported the Christmas Bazaar and help make it such a great success, especially to those who organised it, those who gave gifts and those who came and supported it.

It was fun...

33rd Sunday

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Mark 13:31

32nd Sunday

"Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.   For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living."

Mark 12:43-44

31st Sunday

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one;  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 

Mark 12:28-31

after feast

THANK YOU to all who helped make the celebration of ST.CEDD’S FEAST so special last Sunday. For the prayerful Mass with music and the children’s welcoming hymn, the Bidding prayer in various languages, the African Offertory Procession and the great participation of everyone in the Mass. Special thanks to all those who donated food and drink for the lunch in the hall and especially to those who organised the occasion. It was a very happy day. St Cedd pray for our parish.

St. Cedd

Today in our parish we are celebrating our Parish Feast of St Cedd. In 653 St.Cedd sailed from Lindisfarne, an outpost of Iona,Northumbria, as part of the Celtic mission and landed at Bradwell on Sea, in Essex. He spread the Faith with people of Essex and built a chapel which is still their today. St.Cedd pray for us and our parish.