Woodhall Spa Parish
Our Lady and St Peter Woodhall Spa
click on the picture above to see inside and here to see the garden
Church Open for Sunday 10am Mass only - please book to attend
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
The Catholic Church in England and Wales
Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period
(reading plan courtesy of Gideon International)
'For the duration of this emergency the obligation to attend Sunday Mass is removed - see catechism of the Catholic Church 2181 – this pandemic is the "serious reason" why this obligation does not apply at this time.'
Catholic Conference of Bishops of England & Wales.
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
Grapevine Newsletter 14.01.21
‘Being a disciple web series’
January is a time when we try and work at being a better person, why not explore how we can be a grow as a disciple of Jesus? On the 4 Thursdays of January at 7pm we will explore a different aspect of what it means to be a Catholic disciple with Brendan Thompson the CEO of Catholic Voices in a web series on Zoom; even if you can only come to one session, come!
Catholic Voices are an international organisation that shares the Good News in the global media. This will be a great foundation for parishes, chaplaincies and individuals to explore how we can support each other in growing as Catholic disciples.
Each session will focus on a principle of being a disciple and how we can grow in it.
Thursday 14th January - Sacramental Life - The Art of Living Liturgically
Thursday 21st January - Christian Fellowship - Being experts in Friendship
Thursday 28th January - Prayer - The Restoration of Joy
This course is aimed at both those who would like to grow in their personal discipleship and those who want to help others grow. So please share with friends, family, fellow parishioners and your parish clergy.
Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMrcuygqjwpGdNBRC5NIQ46Eu1bleEg246A
For information on how to access things on zoom visit: https://www.dioceseofnottingham.uk/information/diocesan-commissions/01_commission-adult-formation/using-zoom
CATHOLIC BIBLICAL ASSOCIATION
On 23rd January from 11 am until 12.30 Dom Henry Wansbrough will be presenting a live stream talk entitled ‘The Adventures of a Biblical Translator’. Dom Henry is the editor of the New Jerusalem Bible and the recently published Revised New Jerusalem Bible. The event will be presented by Dr Sean Ryan, chair of the Catholic Biblical Association. The event can be accessed live by going to www.ssppilford.org.uk and will be available to download subsequently on www.whatgoodnews.org Questions for Fr Henry, and other queries, may be directed to catholicbiblicalassociation.gb@gmail.com
Bible in a Year Podcast – the very charismatic and engaging YouTube evangelist Fr Mike Schmitz has launched a podcast reading the whole Bible in a year. It is currently the number one podcast in America. It can be found through your usual Podcast service by searching ‘The Bible in a Year’. Alternatively you can listen online here: https://media.ascensionpress.com/all-bible-in-a-year-episodes/
Pope Francis January 2021
At the service of Human Fraternity
When we pray to God following Jesus, we come together as brothers and sisters with those who pray according to other cultures, other traditions and other beliefs.
We are brothers and sisters who pray.
Fraternity leads us to open ourselves to the Father of all and to see in the other a brother or sister, to share our lives or to support, to love, and to know each other.
The Church values God’s action in other religions, without forgetting that for us Christians, the wellspring of human dignity and fraternity, is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We believers must return to our sources and concentrate on what is essential. What is essential to our faith is the adoration of God and love of neighbour.
Let us pray that the Lord may give us the grace to live in full fellowship with our brothers and sisters of other religions and not fight each other, and praying for one another, open ourselves to all.
Pope Francis Mass 06.01.2021
Epiphany
Pope Francis Fratelli Tutti
The new Encyclical Fratelli Tutti on fraternity and social friendship. The signs of the times clearly show that human fraternity and care of creation form the sole way towards integral development and peace, already indicated by the Popes Saints John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II. May Saint Francis accompany the Church’s path of fraternity, among believers of every religion, and among all peoples.
New Lectionary for England and Wales
Statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales about receiving the Coronavirus Covid-19 Vaccines - 03.12.2020
At present, debate concerns the use of the vaccines developed by Pfizer & BioNTech, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca. Some have questioned the use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine since it has been developed from cell-lines originating from the cells of an aborted foetus in 1983.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Academy of Life have expressed the view that one may in good conscience and for a grave reason receive a vaccine sourced in this way, provided that there is a sufficient moral distance between the present administration of the vaccine and the original wrongful action.
In the COVID-19 pandemic, we judge that this grave reason exists and that one does not sin by receiving the vaccine.
Nottingham Diocesan Internet Café
Nottingham Diocesan Internet Café is a one-stop shop for you and your parish during the Covid-19 pandemic. Help your parish to thrive, and your own discipleship to flourish, during lockdown and beyond.
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
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)
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
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."
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