Woodhall Spa Parish

Welcome to Woodhall Spa Parish

Our Lady and St Peter Woodhall Spa 

click on the picture above to see inside and here to see the garden

Sunday 10am Mass and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 10.00am

 



Serving Woodhall Spa, Horncastle, Coningsby and Metheringham

Parish Priest Fr John O'Donnell

Our Lady and St Peter

15 Cromwell Avenue, Woodhall Spa, LN10 6TH

Tel 01526 352245 

e-mail catholic.church.woodhallspa@gmail.com 

Diocese of Nottingham

The Catholic Church in England and Wales

The Vatican website 

Vatican Apps

  Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period

(reading plan courtesy of Gideon International)

The Bible


Current Newsletter

St Mary's Church of England Church, Horncastle

click on the picture of the church to see inside

 Saturday 6pm Mass 




Live and recorded Masses at St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham

Please click on the picture link below

St Barnabus Cathedral

Monday – Friday   1 pm Mass 

Saturday     10 am Mass 

Sunday    10 am Mass 

Schedule


For todays Mass Readings and for the Readings for the Week 

click on the date link below

  

Live and recorded liturgies and addresses of Pope Francis with English  commentary 

Please click on the picture link below


ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION PRAYER

Offered as an example of a suitable prayer for use by home viewers wishing to participate in a Live Streaming of the Mass

After the celebrant has received Holy Communion himself, the celebrant reads aloud the Act of Spiritual Communion, and invites the home viewers to say the words of the prayer with him.

My Jesus, I believe that You are 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 into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen

Notices 

For “Churches Without Walls” and "Community of Enquiry"  meetings, programme and information click here

"Talking  Philosophy & Theology: a Carmelite Perspective - Reading & Discussion Zoom Group - Open to All" - A group of Third Order Carmelites, a lay organisation, are offering a course via Zoom on the philosophy that is woven into the spirituality of Ss Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Sr. Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein).   Meeting via Zoom  in Jan. Feb. & March. as follows: 1st & 3rd Wednesday evenings at 7.45 pm for 8.00 -10.00 pm, on 2nd Thursday afternoons at 12.45 pm for 1.00 -3.00 pm, on NB Theology starts on 4th (not 5th) Thursday afternoons in February 2024    Should anyone be interested please contact james.hunter200@btinternet.com     Click here for more details

Pope Francis  March  2024

For the martyrs of our day, witnesses to Christ

Let us pray that those who risk their lives for the Gospel in various parts of the world might imbue the Church with their courage and missionary drive.

This month, I want to tell you a story that is a reflection of the Church today. It is the story of a little-known witness of faith.

Visiting a refugee camp in Lesbos, a man told me, “Father, I am Muslim. My wife was Christian. Terrorists came to our place, looked at us and asked what our religion was. They approached my wife with a crucifix and told her to throw it on the ground. She didn’t do it, and they slit her throat in front of me.” That’s what happened.

I know he held no grudges. He was focused on his wife’s example of love, a love for Christ that led her to accept, and to be faithful to the point of death.

Brothers, sisters, there will always be martyrs among us. This is a sign that we’re on the right path.

A person who knows told me there are more martyrs today than at the beginning of Christianity.

The courage of the martyrs, the witness of the martyrs, is a blessing for everyone.

Let us pray that those who risk their lives for the Gospel in various parts of the world might imbue the Church with their courage and missionary drive. And to be open to the grace of martyrdom.

March 2024

Pope Francis Catechesis Series on Vices and Virtues - Virtuous action

Excerpt below click on the picture link above for the full text

After having concluded our overview of the vices, it is now time to take a look at the mirror image, which is in opposition to the experience of evil. The human heart can indulge evil passions, it can pay heed to harmful temptations disguised in persuasive garb, but it can also oppose all of this. However arduous this may be, the human being is made for goodness, which truly fulfils him, and is also able to practise this art, causing certain dispositions to become permanent in him or her. Reflection on this wondrous possibility of ours forms a classic chapter in moral philosophy: the chapter of virtue.

But how can we define the concept of virtue? The Catechism of the Catholic Church offers us a precise and concise definition: “A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good” (no. 1803). Therefore, it is not an improvised or somewhat random good that falls from heaven sporadically. History shows us that even criminals, in moments of lucidity, have performed good deeds; certainly, these deeds are inscribed in the “book of God”, but virtue is something else. It is a goodness that stems from a slow maturation of the person, to the point of becoming an inner characteristic. Virtue is a habitus of freedom. If we are free in every act, and every time we are required to choose between good and evil, virtue is what enables us to have a tendency towards the right choice.

Nottingham Diocesan E-Magazine

February 2024

Grapevine Newsletter 

10 January 2024

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Warmer Welcome

Monday 26 February at 7.00pm

Online drop-in

Caring for Creation

Do Justice

A short parish course for civic renewal

You are welcome to join an online introduction with Nottingham diocesan parishes on Monday 29 January at 7.00 p.m.

Paul  - Caritas Diocese of Nottingham

paul.bodenham@dioceseofnottingham.uk   Tel   0115 648 1509

The Cost of Living Crisis

Autumn 2023 Cost-of-Living Statement

click on the picture link above to access the statement

Since our last statement on the cost-of-living crisis, issued by our Department for Social Justice, some aspects of the crisis have eased while other problems have emerged. The persistence of social and economic difficulties for many has led us to issue a new public statement.

At the Bishops' Conference, we are acutely aware of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis up and down the country.

The crisis is having a devastating effect on families, pushing many deeper into poverty and leading many others to struggle with day-to-day living costs.

Who owns food?

Our friends at CAFOD have launched a new campaign to ‘Fix the Food System’.  It highlights the threat to farmers worldwide from the growing monopoly of a small number of seed corporations.  The solution to this injustice is ‘seed sovereignty’ – safeguarding the age-old rights of farmers and consumers to self-determination.  

But food sovereignty is not just a challenge for people abroad.  In a five-minute read, we explore the wider vulnerabilities of our food system, and how Catholic social teaching can help us respond.  And we highlight some farms here in Nottingham Diocese where we can already see principles of Catholic social teaching in action.

This is the first of a number of articles on food and justice over the coming year, thanks to support from CAFOD

Read 'Who owns food?'

“Laudate Deum”: the Pope’s cry for a response to the climate crisis

Pope Francis has published an Apostolic Exhortation building on his 2015 encyclical. We’re not reacting enough, he says, we’re close to breaking point. He criticises climate change deniers, saying that the human origin of global warming is now beyond doubt. And he describes how care for our common home flows from the Christian faith.

New Lectionary to be launched in England and Wales for Advent 2024 

The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has confirmed the approval by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for the new Lectionary. The Lectionary, which includes the scripture readings for Mass and the sacraments, will come into use in Catholic parishes in England and Wales from Advent 2024.  

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Lent 2024

Lent is a time for turning again to the practice of our faith - in prayer, self-denial (fasting) and practical generosity (almsgiving).

Marriage Week 2024

7-14 February

Marriage Week is an annual celebration offering the opportunity to support and promote marriage and family life. It is celebrated this year from 7-14 February.

A Christian marriage is rooted in faith; that means faith in God, as the giver of life and the one who promises eternal life to those who believe in him.

Racial Justice Sunday  

28 January 2024

Racial Justice Sunday is the day the Church focuses on the need to oppose racism and pursue racial justice with renewed vigour.

The theme for Racial Justice Sunday is: “Seeing one another in the life of the Church”.It is important to recognise that we are all children of God, regardless of our race and background. This year’s theme seeks to promote reflection, discussion and action on our theme and to encourage us to carry this through in the weeks and months after Racial Justice Sunday.

Peace Sunday 2024  

Sunday 14 January 

click on the picture link above for the full details

For his theme for the World Day of Peace in 2024, Pope Francis has chosen ‘Artificial Intelligence and Peace’. Whilst this might seem a strangely technical theme, we do need to think about the consequences of the advances in AI for peace and justice.

Supporting asylum seekers at RAF Scampton

Join Lincoln's faith communities to develop pastoral care

Wednesday 31 January, 7.30 p.m.

at Lincoln Central Mosque

Anytime now the Home Office could start moving up to 2,000 asylum seekers into temporary accommodation RAF Scampton.  Caritas is helping to organise the welcome, pastoral care, chaplaincy and practical support Lincoln's new neighbours will need.

Join Christians and Muslims from the Lincoln area to discuss how best to respond, over a meal kindly provided by the community at Lincoln Central Mosque (pictured).  Book your place on the link below.

Book for 31 January at Lincoln Central Mosque

Hope and Anchor: Prayer, Hope, Action

The 2024 Year of Prayer with Caritas Diocese of Nottingham

Caritas Diocese of Nottingham is responding to the invitation of the Year of Prayer by in turn extending an invitation to you.

Once a month, on a Monday or Tuesday between February and June, we will help each other reconnect our prayer, hope and action in society.  And why 'Hope & Anchor'?  Because this will be an online open house, a contemplative but convivial space - like no pub you've been to before.

We will learn ways to pray together with Scripture using 'lectio divina', and we'll have the type of spiritual conversation which was used at the recent Synod meeting in Rome - all with the aim or returning to the world as agents of change in our neighbourhoods and the wider world.

We'll meet for five sessions on Zoom each at 7.00 p.m. for an hour or so:

Monday 12 February

Monday 11 March

Tuesday 16 April

Tuesday 14 May

Monday 10 June

You don't need to come to every session - come when you can, and come as you are.  Register here and we'll send you the Zoom link as a reminder before each session. Just log on when you can make it - we look forward to meeting you at Hope and Anchor.

Register to receive the Zoom link for Hope & Anchor

Prayer Day for Peace in the Holy Land  -  March 8th

Cardinal Nichols is encouraging Catholics to have a special focus to pray for peace for the people of the Holy Land on 8 March

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

 18-25 January

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in the northern hemisphere, is traditionally observed from the 18-25 January. The theme this year, 2024, is ‘You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbour as yourself’ (Lk 10:27).

Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ Statement on Holy Family Parish in Gaza

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has issued a statement on the killings in the Church compound of the Catholic Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City - click on the picture link above for the statement.

CAFOD Advent Appeal

 Israeli-Palestinian Crisis

The devastating conflict in Israel and Gaza has so far taken the lives of over 14,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis. Tens of thousands more are injured, and over 1.4 million people have lost their homes. 

We are working closely with our local partners in Gaza to reach those who have been affected by the conflict, supporting 10,000 families with vouchers to purchase essentials like food, water and bedding and providing shelter support and solar lanterns where electricity has failed. 

CAFOD 

Call for a ceasefire in the Holy Land

Thousands of people have been killed across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory as the region witnesses the deadliest days in recent history. 

CAFOD unequivocally condemns this shocking killing and kidnapping of civilians.

But we know more violence is never the answer.

The scale of the Israeli government’s violent retaliation is causing more civilian deaths and injuries. The decision to withhold food, water and fuel from reaching the two million inhabitants of Gaza – half of whom are children – will inevitably lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.

Will you email the Foreign Secretary to urge the UK to play its part in upholding international law, ensuring humanitarian aid can reach people in need, and works with other world leaders to secure a lasting peace for the region?

CAFOD

Israeli-Palestinian Crisis

How you can help

We have all been shocked and saddened by the devastating conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. Our local partners are actively responding and providing urgent humanitarian aid to those in need.

Street Pastors in Lincoln

Seventeen towns and cities in Nottingham Diocese have a Street Pastors scheme which reaches out to young people..

Lincoln Street Pastors are looking for people who are willing to offer up their time and their prayers for the Night Time Economy streets of Lincoln and become one of the team of Lincoln Street Pastors.

To find out more about what's involved follow the links below.

Click here to learn about the Street pastors scheme

Find out if there is a Street Pastors scheme in your town

Love the Stranger

Love the Stranger'Love the Stranger' presents a Catholic response to refugees and migrants. It is a 2023 document of the Department for International Affairs.

Love the Stranger places the human being at the heart of our pastoral outreach, looking beyond statistics and policies to the person – each with a name, a face and a story. The document offers 24 guiding principles and has been endorsed by the Holy See, COMECE, CAFOD, CSAN and Caritas Social Action Network members.

Ukraine

Pray for Peace in Ukraine

Click on the picture link above for details

Good news for prospective hosts

of Ukrainian refugees

October 2022

We are happy to announce a new matching service under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, supported by the nationwide Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) in England and Wales.

St John of God Hospitaller Services in partnership with CSAN are offering a matching pathway, training and support programme for sponsors and individuals displaced by the war in Ukraine.  We aim to support people on their journey and provide opportunities to integrate into our community in the UK.

After months of the brutal Russian war in Ukraine, the number of people fleeing the war and in need of shelter remains high and will continue to rise as winter is fast approaching.

We are very conscious that so much of our attention is rightly focused on those at home who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.  There will be those in our communities less affected by that who may be able and willing to open their hearts and homes to displaced people from Ukraine. Can you help?

Click here to find out more

CAFOD Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

At least 3 million people have fled their homes to escape conflict in Ukraine. Your donations will reach families who are in urgent need of help.

Parishes of Welcome

The war in Ukraine shows no sign of ending soon, and its people are continuing to flee.  Would you like to help your parish extend a welcome to refugees?  Are you seeking to host a family or individual - or do you already have a guest and experience you'd like to exchange with fellow hosts?  

We have received numerous expressions of interest in hosting refugees from the conflict in Ukraine.  Compassion and solidarity are alive and well in the Diocese of Nottingham.  That's why we're opening a Parishes of Welcome scheme, to help you find the support you need as a welcomer, locally and nationally, within the Church and beyond.

Even if you don't have spare accommodation, there are already plenty of opportunities to develop the care, support and accompaniment that will help those who have fled Ukraine to find a place of safety. 

Pope Francis Message for the 56th World Peace Day 01.01.23

Click on the picture link above to read the message

Sponsorship to all Ukrainian refugees

Click on the picture link above for details

Caritas in Ukraine

Caritas Ukraine and Caritas-Spes are working on the ground to help about 13.000 people in different parts of the country, and especially in critical areas such as Mariupol, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kyiv and Odessa. Caritas Internationalis have launched a campaign to support their work, especially for the most vulnerable people, such as the elderly and children in the conflict zones.

Donate to Caritas Internationalis

#HelpUkraine 

Organisations in Derby serving the Ukrainian community have come together to launch the #HelpUkraine appeal.  The national launch was hosted by the Ukrainian Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel, near the Arboretum.  It is introduced in the video above by Fr David Senyk, parish priest of communities the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy in the area of our diocese.

You are invited to donate to this appeal, which is managed by the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain with the Church's support.  It represents the efforts of Ukrainians here in Nottingham Diocese and across the UK, and is the perfect way to show solidarity with our own neighbours, and their efforts for their compatriots, in this crisis.

Donate to #HelpUkraine

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http://www.ndcys.com/

youth2000uk Youth 2000 seeks to draw young people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, lived at the heart of the Catholic church. www.youth2000.org

The Joy of Love 

Reflection document on Marriage and Family Life

Click on the picture link above for details

Pope Francis Message for the third world day for Grandparents and the Elderly  22.07.23

Click on the picture link above for details

Pope Francis Letter to Married Couples December 2021

Pope Francis Message for the first world day for Grandparents and the Elderly  25.07.21

Click on the picture link above to read the letter

Novena on the Care of Creation


The 'God Who Speaks' team offers this Novena of readings and prayers as tangible action to respond to the urgent climate change issues we all face.

please click on the picture link

A Father's Heart - A Podcast for Catholic Dads

This new podcast series from the Diocese of Nottingham for the Year of St Joseph will explore what does it mean to be a Catholic Dad , taking St Joseph as our model. Each month a section of the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde will be explored through conservation with two dads from the Diocese of Nottingham sharing their thoughts and experiences.


'Being a Disciple' 

The 'Being a Disciple' series was run in conjunction between the Diocese of Nottingham and Catholic Voices over four evenings  on Zoom in January 2021.

Brenden Thompson, CEO of Catholic Voices presented in each session a fundamental principle of being a Catholic disciple. Session 1 explores the Word of God and how as disciples we are called to internalise it that means to live it, to share it and to seek to know it better.

This course was aimed at both those who would like to grow in their personal discipleship and those who want to help others grow. 

The recordings are presented here for you to access and use this course to help you grow as a disciple or to help others in your community. 

Pope Francis Twitter



Let us pray for peace, and let us bring it about, starting in our own homes! 

http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm

May we help people to discover the joy of the Christian message: a message of love and mercy.  Pope Francis 

Pope Francis: our path is to take care of others

Pope Francis 03.02.15 - Daily contemplation of the Gospel

Daily contemplation of the Gospel helps us to have true hope. The Pope again urged people to take 10 minutes out of their day to pick up the Gospel and talk to the Lord, rather than waste it on TV soap operas or listening to other peoples’ gossip.

Take up the Gospel, read and imagine the scene, imagine what happens and talk to Jesus, from the heart. And with this we allow hope to grow, because we have our gaze fixed, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. 

We should all carry out this contemplative prayer. 'But I have so much to do!'. At home, 15 minutes, pick up the Gospel, a small passage, imagine what happened and talk with Jesus about it. So your gaze will be fixed on Jesus and not so much on a TV soap opera, for example. Your ears will be focused on the words of Jesus and not so much on your neighbourhood gossip ... ".

Hope comes from this prayer, he said, adding "our Christian life unfolds in that context, between memory and hope": "Memory of our past journey, memory of so many graces received from the Lord. And hope, looking at the Lord, who is the only one who can give me hope. And in order to gaze at the Lord, to know the Lord, we pick up the Gospel and carry out this contemplative prayer.

Today, for example, try for 10 minutes - 15, no more – to read the Gospel, picture it and say something to Jesus. And nothing more. And so your knowledge of Jesus will be bigger and your hope will grow.



Bishop Patrick recommends the new Pocket Gospels



Pope Francis has said "Everyone should carry a small Bible or a pocket edition of the Gospels and should find at least a few minutes every day to Read the Word of God"

Priced £4.99 from the Bible Society




Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period

(reading plan courtesy of Gideon International)

The Bible online

Sunday & daily Mass  live streamed at 

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Live Catholic TV 

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Salt and Light Live TV

Live Catholic TV 

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Watch Catholic TV Network

Find your local Diocesan newspaper.

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Thoughts from Elston Hermitage on Angels

Of all things visible and invisible angels then are part of that invisible side of God's creation and so worthily deserve our attention.

Angels are God's messengers not only for great occasions but we can be assured they are constantly looking after us too as promised by the Psalmist  'The Lord will command his Angels to guard you in all your ways, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone' (Ps. 91 11-12). Angels then are body and soul guards, and each of  us has a guardian angel to watch over us.

Pope Francis: Guardian angels our companions on life’s journey 

Guardian angels exist

Pope Francis at Mass at Casa Santa Marta. "Guardian angels exist, they are not the fruit of imaginative doctrine, but companions that God has placed beside us on our life’s journey."

Travelling away or going on holiday?

Click on the link below to find out Churches and Mass times at or near your destination

weekdaymasses.org.uk