Posts from 2025

Posts from 2025

News for April 27th & Week Ahead

Dearest friends, In the 1930’s a Polish nun called Sr. Faustina (now St. Faustina) experienced a series of visions of Jesus. Amongst her visions Jesus asked her to paint a very special image – an image of the Divine Mercy of God flowing from His Sacred Heart.  Her visions were centred around Jesus bringing her to a place where she could see the mercy of God at work in the world around her.  She wrote of her pain at her…

News for the Triduum & Easter

The Triduum What a beautiful beginning to Holy Week – congratulations on a hugely encouraging turn out at both parishes for Palm Sunday! Today begins the Sacrum Triduum, or Three Holy Days – of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated this evening at 7pm at St. John’s, and afterwards the Watch of the Passion will continue until midnight (although you are welcome to come and go as you…

News for Palm Sunday & Holy Week

Dearest friends, Palm Sunday has always struck me as a delightful and fun day. I can so easily get caught up in the expectation and the joy of the people of Jerusalem as Jesus enters the city.  I can see and hear the children as they run to meet him. This great teacher, this man who is God, Jesus who has given us so many signs and such wonderful love.  The noise, the smells, the hands held high waving palm…

NEws for 6th April & The Week Ahead

Dearest friends, This week we have been enjoying the wonderful readings from Genesis giving us the first few chapters of the story of Joseph. (Genesis 37). It’s worth going back when you have a moment this week and reading the whole story (Genesis 37-46). It is a story where you can easily imagine Joseph asking the question ‘how much more of this can I take?’.  First he was sold into slavery by jealous brothers, then he was put in prison…

News for Sunday 30th March and THe Week Ahead

Dearest friends, It has been a terrific week in both churches as we have had an early taste of Easter Sunday with the celebration of school Easter services. At St. Luke’s we welcomed Haytor View Primary School – who sang us songs, read scripture, and explained why Easter was so important. At St. John’s we travelled the short distance to St. Catherine’s school in Heathfield, where once again the children sang, gave readings (and even some poetry), and explained why…

News for Sunday 23rd March and the Week Ahead

Dearest friends, Next Sunday we will be celebrating Mothering Sunday. It is a very old feast and comes on Laetare Sunday – a time in Lent when we take a moment to remember that we are already an Easter People, that we have already been saved, that we have already seen the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ.  We take a breath and view the hard work we have undertaken so far, before girding ourselves for the coming weeks of…

News for 16th March & The Week Ahead

Dearest friends, In Lent we will be following the Stations of the Cross on Saturday evenings before Evening Prayer.  But why? The 14 stations allow us to spend time with Jesus Christ in His last day on earth. We start with His condemnation and end as He is laid in his tomb.  Many churches have beautiful images, icons or even life size statues of each of these moments in His last day. Each gives us a moment to pause, to…

News for 9th March and the Week Ahead

Dearest friends, This week we collected your palm crosses and burnt them to make the ash for Ash Wednesday (thank you Mark!)  There are never quite as many collected back as there are given out. We are reticent to give up those beautiful palm crosses that we took home from church last Palm Sunday.  They adorn our halls, our studies, our offices, our bedrooms, and we become used to their reassuring presence.  Each time we walk past them we feel…

News For 2nd March and The Week Ahead

Dearest friends, We start lent by being shriven of our sins. It is a moment of weakness and as St. Paul tells us, ‘..when I am weak, then I am strong’. (2 Cor’ 12:10) In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our fragility gives us strength. Our willingness to expose our ugly sins to Christ, renews us. Reconciliation is the sacrament of love and of mercy, it is a moment to die to sin and to our own desires that we may…

News for 23rd February and the Week Ahead

Dearest friends, At the end of mass you will hear either myself or Deacon David say ‘Go now, and announce the gospel of the Lord’. I know that many of you will not have heard this before and even Deacon David has to work to remember it!  But when we get to the end of Mass it’s always struck me as rather odd that our dismissal lacks a certain energy and hwyl.  The word ‘Mass’ comes from the final blessing…

News for the 16th February and the Week Ahead

Dearest friends, Last week we celebrated the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They were brothers who both entered the service of Christ together. Methodius was a monk and Cyril became a Bishop. Between them they are credited with many wonderful things (not least the invention of an entire alphabet) but at the heart of this celebration is the message of a joint purpose and calling. The brothers were missionaries in the slavic countries and nothing could stop them bringing…

News for 9th February and The Week Ahead

Dearest friends, Last week was the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1858 the immaculate Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.  Mary appeared to this poor, 14 year-old girl to call us to change our lives for the better. To pray the rosary and to offer ourselves in service of the poor and the sick. A couple of years ago I had the chance to go to Lourdes on pilgrimage. I must admit I wasn’t expecting…
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