In order to grow, friendship needs space, sharing and trust.  Time alone is not enough to build friendship.   Some people can be work colleagues or neighbours for years without any real bond growing between them.  Friendship can only grow where people make space in their lives for each other and use it to get to know each other, to share hopes joys, fears and secrets, to trust the other person with what is deepest in oneself.

What was deepest in Jesus of Nazareth was his relationship with the Father.  He was the beloved Son.  Time and again, he went aside from the crowds to be alone with the Father in prayer.  Often, he took the apostles with him, especially Peter, James and John.  With them he shared his fears about his future sufferings, his hopes of glory, but, above all else, his bond with the Father.  One such occasion was on Mount Thabor where the trio glimpsed that their friend was the promised Messiah, the fulfilment of all their hopes.  They had left their fishing behind to be with him.  They had made space in their lives for his friendship and trust.  He responded by strengthening their faith.

Today is our day for making space and time for Jesus in our lives.  His response will always be generous.   Today is Thabor Sunday.

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Sunday Missal: Page 573    †   New Edition: Page731

Psalm Response

The Lord is my light and my help.

It is often suggested that each stage of a person’s life is deeply influenced by a particular drive or instinct.  While pride is ever-present in our hearts, the suggestion is that the young seek pleasure, the middle-aged want power and the old put their hope in possessions.   Some people find such wayward trends alive and well in every stage of their lives, and are happy in the ongoing human struggle by inviting Christ to be with them as they grow gradually in the gospel values that redirect these strong human drives.

Today’s gospel recounts in a vividly descriptive way how Christ himself experienced similar temptations.  The bread he was offered when he was hungry is a symbol of how easy it is to justify putting our own comfort and pleasure before the needs and rights of others.  His trip to the high mountain with its offer of control over many kingdoms, alerts us to the many ways in which we can be tyrants in small ways through emotional blackmail in our families and through pressure groups in the job or in school.

The desire to be accepted and popular can be so strong that we are often tempted to do what will please rather than what is right, as happened to Christ on the parapet of the Temple.

In each situation, the choice is between selfishness and the other’s good, between settling for human limitations or accepting our greatness as God’s children.  Lent is a time to strengthen the choice to belong enthusiastically to God’s family.

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Sunday Missal: Page 569    †   New Edition: Page727

Psalm Response

Be with me. O Lord, in my distress.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent.  We will only make something important of Lent if we get our diaries out today and plan ahead by asking ourselves how we can participate and what events will be of most help to us in using Lent as an opportunity to renew our Faith.

On Saturday 20^th February, our three Catechumens and our candidates will travel to Portsmouth for the Rite of Election.  At this ceremony, Bishop Crispian will formally accept them to be prepared for the Easter Sacraments.  He will remind them to use the short time that is left as a time of prayer and purification, so that they are as ready as they can be for full entry into the church.  I hope that you will all keep this group in your prayers.  Also, please take the opportunity at the different ceremonies, to reach out to them and make them feel welcome and at home in our parish community.

It would be great if all of us entered into Lent in the same spirit as the Elect.  We would then begin to get excited about our faith and make it central to our lives again.  We are fortunate to be part of the parish -  this we should see as a privilege rather than a burden.  Our elect do share a sense of joy about where they are going . Why not share that joy with them and really celebrate your gifts?

This newsletter gives information regarding the different events that we will have in the parish.  Some of these events will need preparation if they are to take place.  So I am asking for volunteers to come forward to prepare and run these events.  The ideal would be to have small team working together.  This is another way of “Living our Faith”.

Monsignor Tom McGrath

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Sunday Missal: Page 634    †   New Edition: Page 810

Psalm Response

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

The New Roman Missal

On Tuesday 26^th January, Canon Alan Griffiths came to introduce the new translation of the Roman Missal to the priests of the area.  Canon Alan is well known for his knowledge of liturgy and for his work in translation.  We were fortunate to hear from someone who is so well informed.

It was a good meeting and, personally, it made me feel much more comfortable about the new translation.  There are some changes to the responses that we have all got used to but with proper explanation they are all manageable. We have not yet got a date when the new texts will be introduced but the text has now gone to the printers, so the introduction date is not too far off.  As the new text is introduced it will give us all an opportunity to look at how we celebrate and attend Mass and root out any bad habits that we have fallen into.

Monsignor Tom McGrath

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Sunday Missal: Page 631    †   New Edition: Page 806

Psalm Response

Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.

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