Prayers for the priesthood

Last weekend we were given the sad announcement that at the end of next month Fr. Aaron will be leaving Horsham after only 14 months in the parish. As both he and Fr. Richard said at all of the Sunday Masses Bishop Kieran did not do this lightly and another priest is urgently needed in Redhill which is made up of three parishes and also covers East Surrey Hospital. Fr. Aaron has been a fantastic and invaluable part of the clergy team here in Horsham, a great support to many and he will, I'm sure, be sorely missed.

As hard as it is when priests are moved on a situation like this highlights how much we need to pray for vocations to the priesthood. It is easy to think that someone else is doing it or to look at young men like Tom and think that there are plenty of people responding to this calling. The fact is that we do urgently need more priests. The Mass and the sacraments are an essential part of our lives as Catholics, they bring us into an ever deeper and more intimate relationship with Christ, give us a foretaste of heaven and help us to centre ourselves on God and God alone. As Christians we should all be actively trying to discern what God is asking us to do each day, what his will is for us each day. Just as every Catholic woman should take the time and space to open herself up to God and see if he is calling her to some special vocation (like the religious or consecrated for example) so should every young man see if he is called to serve God and the Church as a priest. We have been very blessed in this parish to have such easy access to the sacraments for so long but in so many places in this diocese and around the world this is simply not the case. Why not commit to praying once a day for vocations to the priesthood as well as praying for our seminarians, our priests and our bishop too. Prayer always works, prayer always helps...even if we don't see the result with our own eyes.

Prayer for Vocations

Father of all,
in the  name of Jesus Christ
who came not to be served but to serve,
grant us the grace of many new vocations
to the priesthood in our diocese.
Give us men after your own heart who,
following the example of the Good Shepherd,
are willing to joyfully lay down their lives
in your service and for your glory.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Our Father.  Hail Mary.  Glory be.

Holy Mary, our hope, pray for us.
St Philip Howard, pray for us.
St John Vianney, pray for us.
Blessed John Paul II, pray for us.

For more information on the priesthood visit the vocations blog by clicking here, the vocations website here, or Facebook page here.

Corpus Christi

Today, as you will all know by now, was the feast of Corpus Christi and whilst all feasts are joyful celebrations of the goodness of God this one is something extra special. Two weeks ago Eastertide came to a triumphant close with the solemnity of Pentecost and the birthday of the Church and we (after much celebration, of course) were plunged back into the so-called Ordinary Time. As I was reminded recently during a homily there is nothing "ordinary" about this time at all and this feast certainly tells us of that. After forty days of fasting followed by six weeks of feasting and celebrating the Lord's resurrection from the dead it could be easy to become...too relaxed...perhaps a tad complacent...to fall back into old habits and just go through the motions as always. But today we are not allowed to rest on our laurels, instead we are shown the beauty, the magnificence, the almighty power and love of God for his people, how he cares for and nourishes his Church each and every day. Today we celebrate, we adore and worship, the presence of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Under the guise of bread and wine he humbles himself again, brings his divinity and majesty down to earth and gives his very flesh and blood for us to eat and drink. During the Mass our offerings are united to Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, we immerse ourselves into his passion and, by the grace of God, are invited to share the fruits of his resurrection and ascension. And this is not a one off thing, this is what happens at every single Mass, every single day, all over the world. Our Lord loves us so much that he offers himself, the whole of himself, his very life, to us on a daily basis. He stretches out his arms towards us and all we have to do is turn back towards him (in particular through the sacrament of reconciliation) and humbly accept.

Today at St. John's we made a big point of rejoicing in the love our God has for us and that we have for him in return. We had a Eucharistic Procession (a practise Pope Benedict has been commending at St. Peter's today) around the church building, heralded with songs such as O Salutaris Hostia, Sweet Sacrament Divine, Tantum Ergo. It was fantabulous to walk as one Body, one Church in faith following behind the one who saved us from our sins. And it didn't rain! (Hooray!) Here's a few pics (and a poorly shot video...please excuse the singing from our end of the pew) taken from my iPhone.

Fr. Richard exposes the Blessed Sacrament

The procession entering the...car park...

As you can see, lots of people came out, singing praise to God
(and there were waaay more than pictured here)

Happy feast day everyone!

As promised...

Fr. Richard's homily from Sunday's prayer service for Christian Unity.

Prayer Service for Christian Unity 2012 at St. Mary’s, the Causeway, Horsham

In July 1995 I was ordained a deacon in the Arundel & Brighton parish of Christ the Prince of Peace in Weybridge. It was an ecumenical occasion in that there were many visitors from other churches, not only because I had been baptised and brought up in the Church of England, but because Weybridge seemed to a very ecumenical place. Mgr Benny O’Shea, the parish priest at the time, had a theory for this. The churches in Weybridge get on so well together because all their members play golf and vote Conservative.

Things in common seem to be a very important part of our journey to Christian unity. Shared culture, shared concerns, shared contributions to society and community: these are surely significant. But sometimes we can be sidetracked by those shared things (which are important but superficial) so that we cease to engage in the dialogue which is more demanding and even painful and which will ultimately bear more fruit. Indeed, the rich diversity of difference in a community like St John’s would be considered as one of our greatest strengths.   

Two months before my ordination Blessed Pope John Paul II had issued his Encyclical Ut unim sint, May they all be one. The encyclical is the highest and most weighty form of personal papal written teaching. John Paul had set the business of Christian unity as one of his priorities of the pontificate in the early 1980s. Now his thoughts were chrystalised in that authoritative document which set the course afresh for Christian unity as a priority for the Catholic Church. This demand springs from the pope’s own commitment to that dialogue between people of good will which, if neglected, becomes more of a battle for ideas. In his experience this had been a real battle, fort out, not in the lecture theatre but on the streets of his occupied city of Krakow; the regimes of fascism and atheistic communism had sort either to replace God or build a society without God. The consequences were desperate, the cost was horrific, the legacy is lasting.

The moving sight of John Paul II arriving at the church of the Gesu in Rome to sing Te Deum in thanksgiving for the old year 1992 was my first meeting with the pope we now call Blessed. My last sight of him was on looking up at the window of the apostolic palace on Easter Wednesday 2005, three days before his death. He struggled desperately to speak to us and bless us. My 1992 had led to tough decisions about my on journey of faith, and the shadow of Peter in affecting strength and unaffected simplicity falling on me had, I believe,  helped me to make those decisions. But the experience of the Church preparing to bid farewell to Il Papa, the Polish Pope had demonstrated again to the world that the desperate weakness of old men who have lived with the weakness and suffering, the doubts and the fears of so many for so long becomes the bright light of a better future.

Pope Benedict spoke at his audience on Wednesday about Christian unity.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which begins today invites all the Lord’s followers to implore the gift of unity. This year’s theme – We Will All Be Changed By The Victory Of Our Lord Jesus Christ – was chosen by representatives of the Catholic Church and the Polish Ecumenical Council. Poland’s experience of oppression and persecution prompts a deeper reflection on the meaning of Christ’s victory over sin and death, a victory in which we share through faith. By his teaching, his example and his paschal mystery, the Lord has shown us the way to a victory obtained not by power, but by love and concern for those in need. Faith in Christ and interior conversion, both individual and communal, must constantly accompany our prayer for Christian unity. During this Week of Prayer, let us ask the Lord in a particular way to strengthen the faith of all Christians, to change our hearts and to enable us to bear united witness to the Gospel. In this way we will contribute to the new evangelization and respond ever more fully to the spiritual hunger of the men and women of our time.