Second Sunday of Easter
Divine Mercy Sunday
Parish Priest – Father David B Barrett – email – olneyparishpriest@icloud.com
Parish Deacon – Rev Peter Griffin – Tel 07850499414 – email – pfgriffin@hotmail.co.uk
Parish
Administrator – Denise Wallinger Tel 01234 711212
email: ourladysolney@btconnect.com
SVP Contact – Tel 07925 125206
Parish Website: www.ourladysolney.co.uk
A CONTINUED HAPPY EASTER to you all. Many thanks for the gifts and cards you have put through the Presbytery door over the past week. Let’s continue to keep each other in our prayers.
EASTER SEASON LITURGIES VIA YOUTUBE.
SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
Saturday 18th April
6.30pm Mass of the 2nd Sunday of Easter For the people of the parish
Sunday 19th April
10.30am Mass of the 2nd Sunday of Easter Pamela Davis RIP
5.00pm Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Vespers & Benediction
Monday of the 2nd Week of Easter 20th April
10.00am Mass Sharonne van Reyk RIP
Tuesday – Memorial of St Anselm – 21st April
10.00am Mass Mary Agnes Wogan RIP
Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Easter 22nd April
10.00am Mass Jane, Enis & Joseph Int
Thursday – SOLEMNITY OF ST GEORGE – 23rd April
10.00am Mass Fr Anthony Roberts RIP
Friday of the 2nd Week of Easter 24th April
10.00am Mass David Watson RIP
Saturday – Feast of St Mark – 25th April
10.00am Mass Charlie Rogers RIP
Third Sunday of Easter
Sat 6.30pm Mass For the people of the parish
Sun 10.30am Mass David Ashford Int
To watch the parish Liturgy on the internet, either ask Denise to email you the daily link, or go to our parish website and press the link button that reads TAKE ME THERE. Live Masses have the word LIVE printed on the picture on the screen: you click on that and you should be there. Just make sure that it is the correct Mass.
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY – Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. At 5.00pm you will be able to tune in to Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Evening Prayer and Benediction. The prayers for Evening Prayer (also known as Vespers) and the for Benediction will be available on the Prayers and Reflections part of the parish website.
REGINA CAELI – this is the Eastertide hymn and prayer to Our Lady which replaces the Angelus. You will have noticed that I have been singing it after Mass. You will find the full text in Latin and English on the parish website under the Prayers and Reflections section.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION – Even if you are not attending Mass, you can make a Spiritual Communion every day. It is an expressed heartfelt desire to receive Our Lord even when we are unable. In making the prayer, we receive the Lord spiritually. Here is one prayer to make a Spiritual Communion:
My Jesus, I believe that You are truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as being already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
St Alphonsus Liguori
NOVENA OF DIVINE MERCY –The Novena of Divine Mercy will begin on Good Friday and end on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, known as Divine Mercy Sunday. You will find the prayers of the Novena on our parish website, as well as how to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Please do join in as we pray for the world at this difficult time.
TONY ROCHE RIP – Tony’s funeral will take place this Thursday 23rd April at 12 midday. Sadly, with the present situation of the Coronavirus restrictions, it will be a private funeral at the graveside. Please do keep Tony’s family in your prayers and we pray that Tony will be led by the angels into heaven.
SISTER CELINE LOUGHNANE DHS – Sr Celine’s funeral will also be private funeral with some of the Sisters and family attending. It will take place on Wednesday 29th April at 11.30am. Please pray for Sr Celine and for her family and for the Sisters at the Convent..
FOODBANK – Many thanks to all of you who have been so generous in supporting the Food Bank. I have been able to take over to Milton Keynes a good supply to help those in need. A box is left outside the Presbytery door every day for donations of goods such as
- Long Life Juice
- Long Life Milk
- Tinned Rice Pudding / Custard
- Tinned Meat
- Tinned Vegetables
- Tinned Tomatoes
- Pasta Sauce
- Spreads
PARISH SUPPORT – Many thanks to all of you for your prayerful support over the past few weeks. Thanks too for all those who have been supporting the parish with financial contributions: it does help to keep the place going. I know that these are very uncertain times for all of us.
If you would like to contribute, you can
either put the offering through the door of the Presbytery when you are out for
a legitimate trip – if you didn’t collect your new envelopes, just put down
your old envelope number on an envelope with your initials. If you would prefer to set up a standing order
for donations to your parish using either your on-line bank account or in your
branch, please contact Denise for the relevant details. Any cheques should be made payable to Our
Lady Help of Christians.
MASS OFFERINGS (STIPENDS) – If you have any Mass intentions to be offered, please contact Fr David, Deacon Peter or Denise. Please do include the full name of the person for whom you want the Mass to be offered, whether they are alive or deceased.
SOME THOUGHTS FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY OF EASTER
Today’s Psalm response reads, Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His love has no end. It is taken from Psalm 117. This beautiful Psalm is a prophecy of the joy of Easter – how the Resurrection is God’s answer to the generous sacrifice that Jesus made of Himself in His suffering and death. It is a Psalm of jubilation, of thanksgiving to God, of confession of God’s power and love.
It is also quoted by Jesus Himself when in dispute with the leaders of Israel – The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. These words form a prophecy of how the attempt to destroy Jesus ended up rebounding: God transformed an act of annihilation into the work of salvation for the world. This is the work of the Lord, a marvel in our eyes, the Psalmist goes on to say. He is revealing to us again that God is in charge, He is the real Lord of history. And God will often use the weakest and humblest of things to bring about His plan – foiling the arrogance of a sinful power which wants to exclude God from the world. The Cross was planned to be the end of Jesus: but instead it has become the new beginning for all humanity. His Resurrection is a demonstration that God’s love really is eternal and there is no limit to it, no exhausting of it and never any lessening of it.
During this time of uncertainty we can make Jesus’ prayer on the Cross our own: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. After all, we were made by those hands. Commending ourselves, our present and our future into those hands is our sanest option. His right hand raised me up, continues Psalm 117, pointing to the Resurrection of Christ. Maybe it will be those hands that will also re-fashion us and raise us up in a most unexpected way. After all, there are no limits to God’s love.
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His love has no end.
May Our Lady, Help of Christians, who rejoiced at the Resurrection of her Son, St Joseph and St Lawrence pray for us all, for all in the Health Service, for our Governments, for our parish and Diocese and the whole Church – and for all of the world. Let’s keep praying for each other and supporting those in need.
With my love and prayers,
Fr David B Barrett
Parish Priest