newsletter - teams gb newsletter and this seems an unnecessary use of printing resources ... and...

September 2014 • October 2014 • November 2014

Equipes Notre-Dame • Teams of Our Lady • Equipos de Nuestra Señora • Equipas de Nossa Senhora • Ehegruppen E.N.D

Newsletterfor the GB Regions

Please send contributions for the December 2014 – February2015 edition by 1st October 2014 to Newsletter Editors,Malcolm & Marilyn Studholme

GB Teams 4 Michael Courtney’s Obituary 6 Thanks to Jan & Marta Kaxzmarek 7 Celebrate - Family Conference

Newsletter Editors

Contents

From The GB Regions 2 Southern Region Letter

Prayers & Reflections 26 Prayers & Reflection for September 28 Prayers & Reflection for October 30 Prayers & Reflection for November

Southern Region: Harold & Irene HerbonnetCentral Region: Paul & Janet DeBoo, Central Regional CoupleNorthern Region: Mark & Dympna Edwards, Northen Regional Couple

Take

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“Dis

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International 9 ERI Letter - Françoise and Rémi Gaussel 11 ERI Letter - Father José Jacinto Ferreira de Farias 12 The Closing of the Enquiry into the Cause for Father Caffarel’s Beatification 14 ERI Study Topic-“Discerning the signs of the times”- Meeting 1 20 ERI Study Topic-“Discerning the signs of the times”- Meeting 2

Diary 1 Diary Entries & Important Notice

If you require extra copies of a particular edition of the Newsletter, please contact your Regional Distribution Couple.

Articles on the web ERI Study Topic-“Discerning the signs of the times” Friends of Father Caffarel Bulletin No.15

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Teams Diary

We list below future events throughout our Regions – some organised by Sectors, some by the Regions. We hope that, by advertising all events in this newsletter, if there is an event in a neighbouring area that you would like to attend, then you

will feel free to do so.

Important Notice - Please ReadWe are including the material for the first 2 meetings of the new ERI Study

Topic in this GB Newsletter. The whole document will still be available on the Teams GB Website. However, we propose that future editions will contain just a sample. The printed version takes up a large proportion of

the Newsletter and this seems an unnecessary use of printing resources and postal charges if users are finding it convenient to access the study material on-line. In the last edition of the Newsletter we invited readers to send us their comments on how useful they found the printed version, but we did

not receive any feedback at all.

Please let us know if you are inconvenienced by the unavailability of a printed copy. If it transpires there is a need, the printed version will be

included in the Newsletter.

Malcolm & Marilyn Studholme

2014Sept Teams Retreat Details from David Andrews

22 to 25 All welcome. Brownshill Monastry, Nr Stroud Retreat leader Fr Ken Payne

Sept Wessex Lorna & David Watts 6 Sector Quiz with fish & chip supper 7.00pm Westbourne, near Bournemouth

Dec Wessex Lorna & David Watts 6 Teams Mass & Party 6.30pm St Joseph’s, Purewell, Christchurch

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Southern Region Letter

Dear Friends in Teams,We hope you are relaxed and refreshed after the summer break and ready to enjoy the beauty – and the fruits – of autumn. For some, it is a season which heralds gradual decline and decay, but for others it is the mature culmination – and reward – of all the care and endeavour of the previous months. Sustained by such optimism, we should be ready and able to continue our efforts in the knowledge and hope that they will bear fruit in due season – and this applies to our spiritual as well as to our physical endeavours.But is this a time to take your foot off the pedal for a while – to relax and bask in the warmth of complacent satisfaction in a job well done? Not if the message from Francoise and Remi Gaussel, members of the International Leading Team (ERI), is anything to go by. Consider the following extract from their letter to the Movement in June 2014: “Since Christian marriage and the family, society’s basic cell, are currently going through a serious crisis throughout the world, it is very important that Teams of Our Lady thinks seriously about how to make itself better known.” That was said in the context of the invitation from Pope Francis “to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.” Reference is then made to the mission of the Teams Movement, which is to evangelise couples, especially young couples, by bearing witness to the value of marriage and life-long commitment. “It is the International Leading Team’s responsibility to outline a united approach and to open up new ways to allow couples’ unions to be lasting”, say Francoise and Remi. We would suggest that it is also the responsibility of every Team, and of every couple within a Team, to do the same. Fortunately, we all have a ready-made platform from which we can launch our efforts, and that is the Teams Movement itself. Father Jose Jacinto Ferreir de Farias, SCJ, the Spiritual Counsellor for the ERI, says in his own June Letter “We live in an era when it seems that these words [of Pope Francis about the value of conjugal love] make little sense because today it is difficult to become involved in and commit to a relationship for our whole life until death.” But building a Christian marriage is to “bear witness to the joy of giving our future to the loved one, a gift that truly redeems. Being a witness to this joy

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Southern Region Letter

is the mission and charism of [the Teams] Movement”. It is recognised elsewhere in the ERI letters – and we will all recognise it ourselves – that a good marriage does not just happen – it needs constant effort and renewal by both husband and wife. Above all, it needs a prayerful approach to the problems and difficulties which will always arise in any marriage, no matter how committed and resilient the individuals concerned. In other words, it needs Teams!So, refreshed and re-invigorated by our summer sojourn, let us redouble our efforts to respond to Pope Francis’s invitation – or rather, challenge – to spread the word about Teams within our own sectors and within our own parishes. Use whatever method works best for you. Personal approaches are usually the most effective and can be made through the Parish Priest identifying suitable couples, through your own contacts or those of other members of the Team, or in respect of couples who respond to a presentation from the pulpit. Interested couples can be invited to an informal information evening, or to an actual Teams meeting, to a picnic or barbeque, or to anything which you think will sow the seed which, with God’s help, will mature, in the fullness of time, into a flourishing new Team. Some excellent piloting material is available – you have only to ask and your Regional Couple will send you a pack. We know that there are a number of new Teams currently being piloted and we wish the piloting couples and the new couples every encouragement and blessing in the formation of the new Teams.May God bless you all and your families,Teddy & Colette TotmanSouthern Regional CoupleFather Jose’s and Francoise and Remi’s letters can be found in the ERI sections of this newsletter (Ed)

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This time of looking back over the first decade of the Teams Super-Region nearly coincides with the second anniversary this autumn of the death of Michael Courtney.

In Teams life and to many of their friends Mick and Nora were a double act, so in some ways it is difficult to talk about Mick’s individual qualities. This is all the more so, since Mick had a quiet manner and was self-effacing and did not advertise himself to anyone. Mick with Nora was active in teams for many years, as team members, Pilot couple, Sector Couple for Surrey and Sussex, Regional Expansion Couple, member of George and Teresa Smith’s Regional Support Team, Regional Couple and GB Treasurers. They themselves were a great team, sometimes vigorously disagreeing with each other and Michael being the calming influence. With Nora as GB treasurers Mick was a safe pair of

hands and gave of his time most generously. As Regional Couple they put in energy and hard work visiting and getting to know people all over the region. However the time as Regional Couple was also challenging, because it was a time of transition in Teams GB when there were moves to split GB into three parts and form a Super-Region of which we have now seen the fruits. Mick and Nora did all the preparatory work for this, amid some heated debates on the Regional Support Team, but in all this Mick demonstrated his wonderful capacity to listen quietly and eventually add his few wise words. He shared with Nora a love of hospitality and their home was the base for meetings and teams social events, usually well lubricated by the good red wine which Mick so enjoyed.Family was very important to Mick and he greatly loved his children and many grandchildren and was enormously supportive to them in his kind and gentle way. He was active in his parish in such ways as giving lifts to church for the elderly and running the parish covenant scheme for 15 years.He had a distinguished and successful career as a Structural Engineer with the firm Ove Arup and in his own time on many occasions helped out family, friends or friends of friends, when they had questions or troubles to do with their houses - he would visit, discuss and sometimes spend more time in writing reports.

Michael (Mick) Courtney’s Obituary

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Michael (Mick) Courtney’s Obituary

His skills from work came into play as well in his years as a Lib Dem Councillor on Elmbridge Council. Typically of Michael he did not blow his own trumpet and it was only when he failed to be re-elected that the council realised what a gap his absence created particularly in their dealings with buildings. He was loved by and greatly loved Nora, and was tremendously proud of her accomplishments as an art historian. He really enjoyed their time visiting buildings together and brought something extra, an ability because of his engineering training, to notice details about buildings that Nora might have missed. He was responsible for the photography and preparing slides for Nora’s lectures. His kind & gentle nature rather belied his fiendish competitiveness at the bridge table!Peter & Mary Hayes

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Thanks and Good Wishes . . . .

On a sunny Sunday in June, the Hastings/ Bexhill Team and the Eastbourne Team, enjoyed a lunchtime meal on

the seafront at St Leonards. Jan and Marta, long time Team members, helped start our Team in Hastings and have done much to enrich our meetings. They are moving to Bournemouth for a while, to help their son and daughter-in-law, who have young twins. They aided us in promoting Teams in East Sussex. We ask your prayers that their presence, in Teams and in the community, will bear much fruit.It is not farewell, as our Team is visiting them in their home in Poland in July and we feel sure they will find a Team to join wherever they go.Gillian Meyer Hastings/ Bexhill Team

. . . to Jan and Marta Kaczmarek

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Celebrate Family Conference

This is the second article on organisations that offer events which provide spiritual input for parents and children. (The first article featured Catholic Peoples Weeks.)

Celebrate - A Conference For All The Family

The Celebrate conferences are Catholic family events that run throughout England and Wales. The main conference runs for a week from Easter Sunday at a holiday camp in Ilfracombe in Devon alongside 11 regional weekend events that take place in a variety of locations throughout the UK (see details below). There has

been an exciting growth in the number of people and families that have come to a Celebrate event with nearly 5000 attending in 2013.Celebrate in Devon, which has run for twenty years, regularly has approximately 1,500 people attend of whom almost half are aged 22 years and below. It has excellent facilities for children to enable them to learn about their faith in a fun and relevant way with eight streams catering for the children and younger teenagers as well as ‘Joel’s Bar’ the stream for over 200 young adults of 16 years + and special sessions for those in their 20s and 30s alongside the main adult Conference. Many families, like the Travasso family, have been going to Celebrate for many years (with both grannies) and see it as essential for faith development. ‘We feel Celebrate is invaluable to our children; it is a place where they (and we) are allowed to be themselves and share their faith. They get to see puppet shows, learn new songs with actions (which get sung all year round afterwards!), do crafts and games, and have special prayer times. It is great for them to experience their faith in such culturally relevant ways and to deepen their relationship with Jesus. The teaching has been invaluable and has built real foundations for our faith, and our marriage and family life. Benjamin our youngest son of 8years old says ‘I love it so much! And I love the church.’Many young people have grown up going to Celebrate and now serve as leaders of the different streams and a number have been involved in Celebrate’s young leaders formation programme ‘Release’ an initiative which started 2 years ago.Sarah Goldsmith, in her mid-twenties, explains ‘As a family, we have grown up together at Celebrate, both in age and in relationship with the Lord. My sister and I have been kids, teenagers and are now young adults here – I had both my 18th and my 21st birthdays at Celebrate. We’d call ourselves, along with a growing group of others, ‘Celebrate Babies’. Our physical and spiritual growth has been held, fed and loved by the different streams and ministries of Celebrate at every turn. For me and my fellow ‘Celebrate Babies’, the most direct and obvious blessing has been the

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Celebrate Family Conference

children and youth streams, where we have received fantastic fun, teaching, all targeted right at our age group and life situation. These have been the places where we have received God’s love, been encouraged to live for him fully and had the relief at being in a place where it’s normal to think that Jesus is pretty awesome. As we have become older in faith, it has become completely natural to step out in serving the Lord and others. At Celebrate, this hasn’t just been with our peers but with our families as well. In the vast majority of Western culture today, I think most young people couldn’t think of anything worse than working with your dad or being involved in prayer ministry with your mother, and yet here it’s completely normal. There is something incredible about being in a place where actually everyone’s parents, grandparents, siblings and friends are doing something for the Lord, building the kingdom together.’

The Celebrate regionals weekends run in a similar way to the main conference with well-run facilities for the different children’s age groups and are packed with a rich variety of talks, seminars and workshops with teaching based on the Scriptures and the teaching documents of the Catholic Church. Mass is celebrated both days with lively worship and the sacrament of Reconciliation is available. Whilst Celebrate is a Catholic Conference, they are delighted to welcome brothers and sisters from other parts of the body of Christ both as participants and as contributors. Celebrate encourages creative activities using drama, mime, art and music to illustrate and emphasise the Gospel message and to show that it’s exciting, fun and challenging to be a Christian today. Regional locations – Wales, North West, East Anglia, Twickenham, Brighton Cleethorpes, Southampton, North East, Torquay, Bristol, St Albans Jenny Baker For all information see www.celebrateconference.org

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ERI Letter

Dear Friends,Our names are Françoise & Rémi Gaussel and we are members of the International Leading Team, in charge of communication and liaising with young couples. We completed our previous mission as Responsible Couple of the Responsible Team for France-Luxembourg-Switzerland in August 2013. We have been married for the past forty-six years and have two children and seven grandchildren.The international nature of our movement is a source of great richness, as the last gathering in Brasilia demonstrated once again. It is therefore important that team members throughout the world can be in communion. In order for that to happen, we need to know more about the everyday realities of our lives, our cultures and our ways of being members of the Teams. Communication plays a very important role here. As Pope Francis said, “Good communication helps us grow closer, to know one another better…” Our access to modern media makes this easy. The Movement’s Internet site is, in this respect, a useful tool that must be constantly improved, updated and made more attractive. An editorial committee will be put in place to oversee its renovation and a watchdog will also be organized so that the different sections are regularly brought up to date and enriched. Correspondents in different zones will be asked to keep us informed of events that ought to be brought to the attention of all. The part dedicated to Father Caffarel and his work will be reviewed, extended and illustrated. Furthermore, in an effort to evangelise and remain faithful to the founding charism of the Movement, meditative and reflective texts on marriage and couples will be posted. Gradually, the international site will become a site of reference.Since Christian marriage and the family, society’s basic cell, are currently going through a serious crisis throughout the world, it is very important that Teams of Our Lady thinks seriously about how to make itself better known. The founding charism and precepts of our Movement can be a source of help to a great number of young couples who are worried about such an evolution and who wish to make their union last and be entrenched in Faith. Indeed Pope Francis, in his last apostolic exhortation, invited us “to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.”Moreover, the mission of our Movement, which is based on spiritual conjugality and the sacrament of marriage, is to evangelise intensely those young couples, who are already team members. We must therefore bear witness to marriage, look with faith on this noble institution and demonstrate that to last is not utopic, but that with the help of the Lord and a firm will, it is not only possible, but also thrilling! More than ever, helping couples experience strong conjugal spirituality in order to discern is essential, especially when they are faced with a society that

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disseminates a certain number of counter-truths and advocates superficiality. It is important to reconcile introductory and in-depth knowledge, a gradual and a demanding approach, all of which requires a certain amount of imagination and creativity. Since the daily realities are not the same in each country of the world, it is important to think about the evolution of the Movement and how it adapts according to place and circumstance. It is the International Leading Team’s responsibility to outline a united approach and to open up new ways to allow couples’ unions to be lasting. The first act of fraternal love is to facilitate these young people’s encounter with the Love of God by bearing witness to the Good News that Jesus came to tell us. “The Gospel,” said Pope Francis at the World Youth Day 2013 in Rio, “is for everyone… it is not only for those who seem to be closest, most receptive, most welcoming of it, it is for everyone.” The Teams of Our Lady, with the help of the Spirit, must assume this wonderful challenge.Françoise & Rémi Gaussel

ERI Letter

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My very dear Friends,I greet you in the hope that my message finds you well, busy as you are with your various activities, in which you seek to accomplish God’s will both as a couple and as a family. This way of looking at faith, which teaches us that the thinking and love of God precedes us, is truly comforting for us. Today, it is very problematical to talk about love, a word that has been emptied of its original meaning. But we wish to have the boldness to continue to concentrate on this subject, notably within the context of your common spousal and conjugal nuptial vocation. Benedict XVI reminded us that we are redeemed, not by science, but by love (Spe Salvi, 26). Love that precedes us and finds is most sublime expression in the Heart of Jesus (Spe Salvi, 27). Poetic literature and the mystic tradition speak of the wound of love, meaning that there is a profound and mysterious relationship between suffering and love. Indeed, suffering without love leads to frustration and despair, but love without suffering is merely the exploitation of the other person by reducing them to an object of pleasure. The love that redeems us, and that we learn at the school of the wounded love of the Sacred Heart, is an oblative love, which is apparent in the fidelity and availability to give oneself to the other person to the point of being able to give one’s life for them. We ought to ask ourselves what pushes us to love or to want somebody else’s good: are we good or are we attracted by the goodness that emanates from others? Love implies a leaning towards the other person, who attracts us by their goodness. Therefore, we ought to be attentive to recognising the goodness in the other and in trying to respect it. It is in this respect that love becomes apparent, and through which we desire the other person’s good because of the good that they have in and of themselves. Pope Francis dedicated two sections of Lumen fidei to couples and the family. He explained that the conjugal relationship was very similar to the dynamic of faith. “…a man and a woman can promise each other mutual love in a gesture which engages their entire lives and mirrors many features of faith. Promising love for ever is possible when we perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a plan which sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love.” (Lumen fidei, 52) We live in an era when it seems that these words make little sense because today it is difficult to become involved in and commit to a relationship for our whole life, until death. Today, we are afraid or we feel incapable of ‘giving our whole future to the loved one.’ But Jesus tells us that what is impossible for man is possible for God and it is this divine possibility, which is the grace of the sacrament of marriage, that Christian couples are asked to bear witness to (cf. Mt 19, 26). Bear witness to the joy of giving our future to the loved one, a gift that truly redeems. Being a witness to this joy is the mission and charism of our Movement.May the Lord give you his blessing and the abundance of his grace.Father José Jacinto Ferreir de Farias, scjSpiritual Counsellor for the International Leading Team

ERI - Father José’s Letter

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The Cause For Fr Caffarel’s Beatification

The Closing of the Enquiry into the Cause for Father Caffarel’s Beatification

“Each human being is unique, and the holiness to which he/she is called is also unique” (Father Henri Caffarel)The past teaches and inspires us. It gives us strength. We should give glory to the Lord for His light which shines upon us. To prepare for the future there is nothing better than remembering the past, our traditions. Of course History is never repeated but as has been said, History teaches, inspires and gives us strength to go forward.We would like to share a great joy with you. The closing session of the Enquiry regarding the virtues and holiness of Father Henri Caffarel will take place on 18th October next. Thus the first stage of the canonization process will be achieved. The official ceremony will take place at the Church of St. Augustin in Paris. The whole ceremony will be held in a spirit of simplicity and humility; virtues in harmony with our founding Father. To begin, the closing of the diocesan Enquiry according to Church law will be held at 3pm in the church crypt and Monseigneur Moulins de Beaufort, auxiliary bishop of Paris will preside in the presence of Monseigneur Maurice Fréchard, Bishop Emeritus of Auch, Father Paul Dominique Marcovits, Postulator, Maria Christine Genillon, Vice-postulator, members of the International Leading Team, and members of the Association of Friends of Father Caffarel.Then, at 4.30 pm, all team members are invited to participate in the Eucharistic celebration of Thanksgiving in the church of St Augustin. This will be organized by the Super Region of France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Obviously this Cause is getting more and more important in our Movement and we hope that together we may give it the solemnity that the moment deserves.

The International Leading Team have announced that the first phase of the work of the Cause will be formally submitted to Rome on 18th October, 2014. There will be an official ceremony in Paris to mark this on 18th October and all Teams couples are invited. For those who cannot get to Paris, it is hoped that there will be local celebrations.Further details to follow, but for now, please put the date in your diaries.Antony & Janet Denman Super Regional Couple(The Friends of Fr Caffarel website: www.henri-caffarel.org)

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With the closing of the work in Paris, a new phase will start in Rome. The files will be taken to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. As usual, the Postulator of this second stage will have to live in Rome to monitor the progress of the Cause. Father Angelo Paleri, of the Franciscan Order, and himself a member of Teams of Our Lady has been appointed to this role. In collaboration with the Congregation, a “Positio ” will be written analyzing the virtues and reputation for holiness of Father Caffarel based on the Enquiry which has just finished in Paris. United with Father Caffarel, may we continue working on the mission the Lord has entrusted to us; to show to the world the holiness of marriage and the irreplaceable importance of prayer.Tó et Zé Moura Soares (ERI Responsible Couple )

The Cause For Fr Caffarel’s Beatification

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ERI Study Topic - Meeting 1

Discerning The Signs Of The Times First Meeting - Looking Positively At The World

I – Word of God

“Be a blessing for all people”

God said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your kindred and your father’s house for a country which I shall show you; and I shall make you a great nation, I shall bless you and make your name famous; you are to be a blessing! I shall bless those who bless you, and shall curse those who curse you, and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you.’ So Abram went as Yahweh told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there. Gn 12: 1-5.Abraham’s attitude in this passage makes of him the Father of and a model for believers: he listens to God and obeys him without any hesitation, confident in the promise that is made to him, despite its apparent improbability.This confidence Abraham showed in the Love of God is considered in Chapter I of the Encyclical Lumen Fidei as the founding deed of Faith: “The word spoken to Abraham contains both a call and a promise. First, it is a call to leave his own land, a summons to a new life, the beginning of an exodus which points him towards an unforeseen future. The sight which faith would give to Abraham would always be linked to the need to take this step forward: faith “sees” to the extent that it journeys, to the extent that it chooses to enter into the horizons opened up by God’s word” Lumen Fidei N°9

II - Presentation of the chapter “Looking positively at the world”

Discerning the signs of the times means wanting to understand in today’s world what is a sign of God’s presence.Christian faith relies on confidence in God’s Love and therefore in his Word. God has the power to transform the world. Hope lies at the heart of our Faith. .In his Discussions with Father Spadaro SJ Pope Francis puts us on guard against all forms of defeatism or pessimism: ‘Lamentations that denounce a “barbarous” world end up giving birth within the Church to a wish for order that is taken to mean pure conservation or a defensive reaction’ Etudes, October 2013. If we want to contribute to the “coming of the Kingdom”, we have to accept the need to change our perspective on the world, to revisit some of our judgements and to modify some of our behaviours. Witnessing to God’s love means agreeing to head off in search of the other, of those who are not like us; witnessing to God’s love means wanting to

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understand those things in our contemporary world that are signs of his presence; it means joyously announcing the Good News. Jesus did not come to make life easy; he came to bring fire to the earth. Being a Christian, means to risk exposing oneself to that fire with confidence. The Preface to the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (chap 1, 17) itself remarked: “the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live….”

III - Documents for reflection

Scrutinizing and interpreting the signs of the times in the light of the GospelTo carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics. Some of the main features of the modern world can be sketched as follows.

Today, the human race is involved in a new stage of history. Profound and rapid changes are spreading by degrees around the whole world. Triggered by the intelligence

and creative energies of man, these changes recoil upon him, upon his decisions and desires, both individual and collective, and upon his manner of thinking and acting with respect to things and to people. Hence we can already speak of a true cultural and social transformation, one which has repercussions on man’s religious life as well.As happens in any crisis of growth, this transformation has brought serious difficulties in its wake. Thus while man extends his power in every direction, he does not always succeed in subjecting it to his own welfare. Striving to probe more profoundly into the deeper recesses of his own mind, he frequently appears unsure of himself. Gradually and with greater clarity, he lays bare the laws of society, only to be paralysed by uncertainty about the direction to take.Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the world’s citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. Never before has man had so keen an understanding of freedom, yet at the same time, new forms of social


Interpreting the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel to respond to the perennial questions

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and psychological slavery make their appearance. Although the world of today has a very vivid awareness of its unity and of how one man depends on another in needful solidarity, it is most grievously torn into opposing camps by conflicting forces. Political, social, economic, racial and ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the peril of a war which would reduce everything to ashes. True, there is a growing exchange of ideas, but the very words by which key concepts are expressed take on quite different meanings in diverse ideological systems. Finally, man painstakingly searches for a better world, without a corresponding spiritual advancement.Influenced by such a variety of complexities, many of our contemporaries are kept from accurately identifying permanent values and adjusting them properly to fresh discoveries. As a result, buffeted between hope and anxiety and pressing one another with questions about the present course of events, they are burdened down with uneasiness. This same course of events leads men to look for answers; indeed, it forces them to do so.

Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes – Introductory Statement

Seeing God acting in this world…We can say that, for a certain number of Christians and even of theologians, before the Second Vatican Council there was a sort of divorce between the logic of Revelation and Faith, and the logic of the development of the world. However, what the Council wanted above all else was to look at this world from a new perspective, not to condemn it, but to become aware that the Spirit of God, which has been at work since creation, continues to act in this world and to produce fruits for the good of mankind. None of this causes the faults of our world, nor men’s errors nor their sins to disappear. But it does enable us to become more aware that in human experience there occur real forces, on which we can rely to build a better world.This perspective, this loving look at the world, was one of the basic insights of Vatican Council II. This loving look at the world also entails a certain way of understanding mankind. The oldest of you, or those who have read a lot, may remember that right after the Second World War some currents of thought could not contemplate affirming mankind without denying God. The relationship with God was seen as necessarily involving a sort of mutual destruction: if God exists, mankind does not; and if mankind exists, God does not. This hellish logic pervaded our societies and constituted a sort of permanent conflict between the progress of humanity and progress of faith in God. The Council wanted to make it clear that this conflict was an artificial construct. It had been developed by people who had engaged in reflection, who had proposed their theory, but it did not correspond to the reality of the universe.Man is in the world because God wanted him to be, and God wanted man so that he should be his partner. And this partnership between God and man relies essentially on


God wanted man so that he should be His partner

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the capacity that each man has in himself, to choose and to live in freedom. It is because man is free that he can become God‘s partner... It is because man is free that he can respond to God. We cannot make humanity progress in its relationship with God if we do not keep working at developing this liberty, at eliminating what prevents it from existing, at building the conditions for a free choice in human existence.That is the great initiative, the great insight of Vatican II, which was taken up again in the Constitution Gaudium et Spes ... This Constitution, together with all the texts of the Council, has engaged us once and for all in a relationship of dialogue with the world, and not in a relationship of condemnation of the world.

Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris to the Bishops of France March 2012

Living with God’s eyes« There was once an old man sitting at the entrance to a town in the Middle East. A young man approached him and said to him: ‘I have never been here; what are the people who live in this town like?’ The old man answered him with a question: ‘What were the people in the town you came from like?’ ‘Self-centred and wicked. That’s precisely why I was so happy to leave’, said the young man. The old man answered: ‘You will find the same people here’. A little later, another young man approached him and put exactly the same question to him. ‘I have just arrived in this region; what are the people in this town like?’ The old man replied in the same way: ‘Tell me, sonny, what were the people like in the town you just left?’ They were kind, welcoming, and trustworthy; I had good friends there; I was very sorry to leave’, answered the young man. ‘You will find the same here’, replied the old man. A merchant who was watering his camels not far from there had overheard the two conversations. As soon as the second young man had gone on his way, he remonstrated with the old man: ‘How can you give two completely different replies to the same question put by two people?’ ‘Whoever opens his heart also changes his view of others,’ replied the old man. ‘Everyone carries their universe in their heart.’»... We see what we see from the perspective of who we are. Above and beyond some of life’s realities that are complex and sometimes very painful, there are women and men whose life is a nagging complaint. Then there are those women and men who go through life with a degree of gentleness. We are all, women and men, affected by our respective stories. What is most important is to find on our journey people who take us by the hand and lift us up when we stumble. They are the visible sign of the presence of God at the heart of our humanity. They lead us to what we should see, and above all to live life differently. In fact, through our hearts, our view of the world is transformed completely since faith, hope and love are the eyes with which we advance on our journey as believers. So seeing with God’s eyes, involves looking at the world with faith, in other words, always having confidence in the other; recognising that even if it happens that he becomes lost, he can recover and walk upright again on his life’s path; get a grip


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on himself and get back on track; find his bearings in order to walk. So we have this confidence in human beings despite their weaknesses. Then again, living with God’s eyes, means looking at the world with hope. Hope would leave our hearts for ever if there were no signs to tell us that sometimes a human being needs time to make his own discoveries and grow through his failures and disappointments. … Love enables us to respect the personal journey of each human being, even to keep him company should he err, and above all to rejoice when he returns to being himself. Love is always tinged with compassion and so it makes possible the capacity of living a life of forgiveness or better still, reconciliation. In this way, having faith, hope and love, enables us to look at the world differently, since each one of us carries the universe in his heart. Amen

Philippe Cochinaux, O.P.

IV – Suggestions for the Sit Down

Our relationship as a couple with today’s world: hope, distress, withdrawal?What does “following Christ” mean for us, as an individual, as a couple: difficulties and joys we have experienced Practising looking at our spouse in a faith-filled way every day: an opportunity for forgiveness, for listening.

V – Running The Meeting

Suggestions for reflection during sharingEvents experienced in the past month in Christian hope; events experienced with a temptation to withdraw into oneself.What signs of God’s presence have we noticed in our lives?

PrayerGod said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your kindred and your father’s house for a country which I shall show you; and I shall make you a great nation. I shall bless you and make your name famous; you are to be a blessing! I shall bless those who bless you, and shall curse those who curse you, and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you. Gen 12: 1-3

Faith “sees” to the extent that it journeys, to the extent that it chooses to enter into the horizons opened up by God’s word” Vatican

Council II Lumen Fidei N°9

Sharing: Some suggestionsPrayer, a source of communion with the world and schooling in hope. Have we any examples?


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In what circumstances has reading the Word helped us to look at others and the world we live in, from a faith-filled perspective?Is our Rule of Life likely to free us from our daily world-weariness and blindness?

Discussion of the topic – Some suggestionsHow have listening to the Word and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit helped us to discern this topic, and find responses appropriate to the signs of the times?Conflict between humanity’s progress and progress of faith in God: is this an artificial construct?What relationship should we construct with the world we live in: listening, dialogue? Should we condemn it? What action should we take? What concrete impact should this have on our lives? How and in what respect do faith, hope and love transform our view of the world?

Psalm 18aThe heavens declare the glory of Godthe vault of heaven proclaims his handiworkone day conveys it to the next day one night to the next hands on the knowledge.No utterance at all, no speechnot a sound to be heardbut from the entire earth the design stands outthis message reaches the whole world. High above, he pitched a tent for the sun,who comes forth from his pavilion like a bridegroomwho delights like a champion in the course to be run.Rising on the one horizon he runs his circuit to the otherand nothing can escape his heat.


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Discerning The Signs Of The Times Second Meeting - Looking At The World In The making

I – Word of God

“For the whole creation is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be revealed”

«Indeed, I believe all that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison with the glory which is destined to be revealed for us. For the whole creation is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be revealed….with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed from its slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God. We are well aware that the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains. And not only that: we too, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we are groaning inside ourselves, waiting with eagerness for our bodies to be set free. In hope, we already have salvation; in hope not visibly present, or we should not be hoping -- nobody goes on hoping for something which is already visible.” Rm 8:18-24Here we have a magnificent hymn that sings of Christian confidence in God’s love. In a single breath, Paul leads us powerfully from “suffering in the present” towards the heights of “the glory of the children of God”. Waiting, groaning, liberation, aspiration, labour pains… This profound impulse of faith leads to the only solid reality: we are children of God! What we are will be revealed: the signs of the Spirit flourish. We are developing.This hymn of hope adjusts our view of the world of mankind, but also of creation which is the common lodging place of humanity.

II - Presentation of the chapter “Looking at the world in the making”

Discerning the signs of the times means considering the transformations of the world as stages in its development in which God calls us to participate. God created the world but its creation is not finished, it is on-going and we should participate in its completion: “God freely willed to create a world in a state of journeying towards its ultimate perfection.” CC 310*. He gave man the responsibility of “filling the earth and subduing it”. Gen 1:26-28Man’s capacity to transform the world, closely corresponds to God’s plan. “The norm of human activity is this: that in accord with the divine plan and will, it harmonize with the genuine good of the human race, and that it allow men […] to pursue their total vocation and fulfil it” Gaudium et Spes 35, 2. Science and technology are valuable resources to make human progress easier; but we have to be on our guard, as St Paul warns, lest a “spirit of vanity and malice […] transforms into an instrument of sin those human energies intended for the service of God and man” (Gaudium et Spes 37,3).

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The freedom man has been gifted with, implies that he has “the possibility of choosing between good and evil” CC 1730/1732*. However, human nature since original sin, is weakened and inclined towards evil. Giving birth to the Kingdom of God, as St Paul tells us, cannot come about without suffering and difficulties. The spiritual struggle against all the forms of evil is inescapable. Every manifestation of decadence contains in itself the beginnings of a new reality. If we resign ourselves or remain passive, we refuse to be “collaborators with God.” Cor 3:9. Every man has his part in promoting the common good, depending on the position he holds and the role that he plays.“God who created you without you, will not save you without you.” St Augustine

* CC: Catechism of the Catholic Church

III - Documents for reflection

Helping nature to flourish along the lines intended by God 460 Man, then, must never forget that “his capacity to transform and in a certain sense create the world through his own work ... is always based on God’s prior and original gift of the things that are”.[965] He must not “make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray”.[966] When he acts in this way, “instead of carrying out his role as a co-operator with God in the work of creation, man sets himself up in place of God and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, which is more tyrannized than governed by him”.[967]If man intervenes in nature without abusing it or damaging it, we can say that he “intervenes not in order to modify nature but to foster its development in its own life, that of the creation that God intended. While working in this obviously delicate area, the researcher adheres to the design of God. God willed that man be the king of creation”. [968] In the end, it is God himself who offers to men and women the honour of cooperating with the full force of their intelligence in the work of creation.472 In recent years pressing questions have been raised with regard to the use of new forms of biotechnology in the areas of agriculture, animal farming, medicine and environmental protection. The new possibilities offered by current biological and biogenetic techniques are a source of hope and enthusiasm on the one hand, and of alarm and hostility on the other. The application of various types of biotechnology, their acceptability from a moral point of view, their consequences for human health and their impact on the environment and the economy, are the subject of thorough study and heated debate. These are controversial

questions that involve scientists and researchers, politicians and legislators, economists and environmentalists, as well as producers and consumers. Christians are not indifferent to these

God offers man the honour of cooperating with all the strength of his intelligence in the work of creation

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problems, for they are aware of the importance of the values at stake. [1001]Extracts from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (SDC)

What does progress mean for man and what room does it leave for his freedom?22. … First we must ask ourselves: what does “progress” really mean; what does it promise and what does it not promise? In the nineteenth century, faith in progress was already subject to criticism…If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man’s ethical formation, in man’s inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor 4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.24 a) The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world, can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however good they are. Such structures are not only important, but necessary; yet they cannot and must not marginalize human freedom. Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order. Freedom requires conviction; conviction does not exist on its own, but must always be gained anew by the community.b) Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in this world. Anyone who promises the better world that is guaranteed to last for ever, is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom. Freedom must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Free assent to the good never exists simply by itself. If there were structures which could irrevocably guarantee a determined—good—state of the world, man’s freedom would be denied, and hence they would not be good structures at all. Benedict XVI Spe Salvi

Mistaken views on God, mistaken views on the world…Why then don’t those who find atheism unsatisfactory, turn to Christians? - because Christians hardly seem to find happiness in their faith in God - because, at every level, they show little urgency about speaking of their God. A journalist recently called this Church which no longer knows how to talk about God, not without cutting humour: “the Church of silence” - because, when all is said and done, the face of God that Christians reveal by their behaviour and at times by their words, is hardly attractive.Without any doubt, it is to this misleading face of God that the people drafting Gaudium

If technical progress is not matched by progress in man’s ethical development . . . , it is not progress

Finding happiness in faith in God

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et Spes referred when writing this unexpected and damning phrase: “Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism …” .We all have to make a terrible examination of conscience starting from this question: do not those who see and hear us, risk misunderstanding the true face of Christ? Fathers and mothers, in considering this question, think especially of the children God has placed in your care.

The misleading faces of GodOne of these misleading faces is particularly intolerable for our contemporaries: the God who punishes transgressions against right order, whether by this we refer to the moral order, logical order or social order.

The God of the moral orderA God who is a professor of morality, who supervises, spies and threatens, and for that matter, easily offended, spiteful and vengeful… It is this that gives rise to that anxiety that eats away at the conscience of many Christians, and is to be found amongst the best of Christians when they do not end up turning their backs on this “God of the righteous”, this “sadistic Father”, as Freud agonisingly called him…. Christ declared: “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” Matt 9:13.

The God of the logical, rational orderThe God of philosophers, a God whom reason shows us exists and whose perfections it describes, a keystone God for all the great doctrinal architectures. A God who is as cold as a concept, as unsatisfactory as any mere system…: the God of the Inquisition and its imitators continues to be a threat.

The God of the social orderIt is hard to be sure whether it is this God who made a pact with power, or power that made a pact with him. In any event there is collusion between them: once upon a time it was the emperor; then the “very Christian” king; today it is those who govern, the privileged, the rich… How could the oppressed, those who lack food, work, respect, put up with this?Don’t you think that Christians and non-Christians, and your children too, have often come to imagine that one or other of these three caricatures represented the true face of God?... On the other hand, it is true that other Christians – or the same ones- in the way they spoke and acted, often presented a soothing “good God». Is this other face of God more tempting? This easy-going good guy God, more of a grandfather than a true father; this “stand-in, emergency services, insurance broker” God, has also significantly contributed to disappointing mankind and to encouraging atheism ….Doubtless what is still more shocking for the younger generation and atheists or those looking to atheism, is the gap in the existence of so many “good Christians”, between their relationship with God and their lives. Listen to how they talk. It is all about comfort,

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holidays, a later model car, holiday homes, and all the money worries that these involve. They discuss the latest show, which may or may not be “raunchy”, the latest literary award because you have to be in the swing! They criticise politicians, family members, friends, the Church… Where is God’s influence in all of that?Do you understand now why it may never occur to those who are seeking, to speak to Christians? And why the Fathers of the Council approved the little remark “Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism …”?

Henri Caffarel – Les Equipes Notre-Dame - Face à l’athéisme END p.140

IV – Suggestions for the Sit Down

As a couple, what image of God do we give our children and our neighbours? What room do we make as a couple for the role we have to play in the world as “God’s collaborators?”

V – Running the meeting

Suggestions for reflection for the sharingIn the course of the past month, what influence has God had in our lives?Prayer“In my estimation, all that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison with the glory which is destined to be disclosed for us, for the whole creation is waiting with eagerness for the children of God to be revealed. It was not for its own purposes that creation had frustration imposed on it, but for the purposes of him who imposed it with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed from its slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God. We are well aware that the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains. And not only that: we too, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we are groaning inside ourselves, waiting with eagerness for our bodies to be set free. In hope, we already have salvation; in hope, not visibly present, or we should not be hoping -- nobody goes on hoping for something which is already visible. Rom 8:18-24

Sharing - Some suggestions In what way has our prayer, our liturgy and listening to the Word helped us to make choices in our lives by reference to the Gospel and to practice Hope when faced by the mutations in our world? Does our rule of life increase in us our responsibility as Christians in the world?

Discussion of the topic – Some suggestionsHow have listening to the Word and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit helped us to discern this topic and find responses appropriate to the signs of the times?

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Our “capacity to transform and in a certain sense create the world through our own work ... is always based on God’s prior and original gift of the things that are” [965] (SDC N°460). “If technical progress is not matched by progress in man’s ethical development …, it is not progress”. What reflections does this statement engender in us?As suggested by Father Caffarel, attitudes or behaviours likely to spread misleading faces of God, and to give rise to a degree of atheism in our surroundings?

Psalm 84Restore us once more, God our saviour; abandon your wrath against us.Will you be angry with us forever: drag out your anger from generation to generation?

Please give us life again, that your people may rejoice in you.Show us, O Lord, your love; and grant us your salvation.

I will listen for the word of God; surely the Lord will proclaim peaceto his people, to the faithful,to those who trust in him.

Mercy and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.Truth will spring from the earth; and justice will look down from heaven.

For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit.Justice shall walk before Him: and shall set His steps in the way.

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Prayers & Reflection For September

Text for Meditation Luke 8: 4-15With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, Jesus used this parable:‘A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. Some seed fell amongst thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell into rich soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.’ Saying this he cried, ‘Listen anyone who has ears to hear!’His disciples asked him what this parable might mean, and he said, ‘The mysteries of the kingdom of God are revealed to you; for the rest there are only parables, so that they may see but not perceive, listen but not understand.‘This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they should believe and be saved. Those on the rock are people who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up. As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life and do not reach maturity. As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.’

Concluding Prayer Loving Father, renew in each of us and our families the grace of our baptism so that we may be open to your Word, treasure Him always in our hearts and life, and proclaim Him with conviction and heroic witness of life, trusting on your providence to make us bear lasting fruits by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen(Fr Ignatius Edet)

Responsorial Psalm 116 (117)Response “Go out to the whole world, proclaim the Good News”

1. O praise the Lord, all you nations, acclaim him, all you peoples! (R)

2. Strong is his love for us; he is faithful for ever. (R)

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Prayers & Reflection For September

ReflectionLike Matthew (13:1-23), Luke structures his narrative of Jesus’ parable of the sower into three parts: The parable per se (vv.1-8); justification of his use of parable (vv.9-10); the explanation of the parable (vv.11-15). Evidently, the explanation is very helpful. God is the sower, the seed is the word of God, and we are the different types of soil. Like every kerygma or proclamation of the kingdom, the parable invites us, among others, to an honest self-reflection on our response(s) to Jesus’ message (teaching and example). What type of soil am I? How am I responding to Jesus’ invitation? It reminds us of our responsibility as Christians in preparing and nurturing the soil of our life, family and society towards that lasting fruitfulness for which God chose us (John 15:16). Yet, perhaps the greatest challenge is hope, to trust in God’s providence, his grace and power to accomplish his purpose in our life and world provided we cooperate with his grace (see 1 Corinthian 3:6-9).It’s not uncommon to hear parents, family and friends genuinely lament their anxiety and sometime disappointment about the loss of faith especially among their youngsters. Naturally, some of these parents tend to feel a sense of failure of some sort on their part. However, far from lulling us to complacency, the example of the sower (God) offers us a challenging encouragement to be positive and keep scattering the seeds of faith despite its apparent vulnerability especially in today’s secularising context. Like the Divine-sower, we’re to keep sowing the seeds of the Good News of the Kingdom everywhere undeterred by the possibility of failure in unreceptive soil. There’s always some potentially receptive soil out there waiting, oftentimes anonymously, to hear the Good News. But how can they hear without a preacher (a witness)? (Romans 10:14c).

Fr Ignatius Edet

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Prayers & Reflection For October

Text for Meditation Philippians 4: 6-9There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Concluding Prayer Lord Jesus, you offer us a peace that the world cannot give. Help us to set aside time each day to draw aside from the bustle of life and be still in your presence. May we share your peace with others and not add to the turmoil of life. Amen

Responsorial Psalm 130 (131)Response “Keep my soul in peace before you, O Lord”

1. O Lord, my heart is not proud nor haughty my eyes. I have not gone after things too great nor marvels beyond me. (R)

2. Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace. A weaned child on its mother’s breast, even so is my soul (R)

3. O Israel, hope in the Lord both now and for ever. (R)

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Prayers & Reflection For October

ReflectionSt. Paul exhorts the Philippians ‘not to worry’ but if there was anything they needed they are to ask God for it with prayer and thanksgiving. We live in a world that seems to have lost the ability to stand still even for a moment to catch its breath. Everyone is on the go from morning until night, one day rolls into the other and before we know it another year has passed and we wonder where it has gone and what we have to show for it.There is pressure from all sides. It seems that no one knows anymore how to switch off their mobile phones and be present to one another. Everyone seems to jump at the demands of others and we lose ourselves in the process.The psalmist tells us he has ‘set his soul in silence and peace’. Thomas Merton, the Trappist Monk, warns in his book, ‘No man is an island,’ that if we do not have times for silence, ‘at the moment of crucial decision we will have exhausted ourselves in speech before we have anything to say.’ Jesus died to bring us a ‘peace the world cannot give’. The Word made Flesh was silent for 30 years before He began His ministry. Let us make time to lay our cares at the foot of the Cross and then let the peace of God ‘guard our hearts and thoughts’, to enable us to know what is ‘true and noble’ in our lives and thereby be able to make sound choices from a place where our souls are set in peace and not the turmoil of the world.Sister Maria Natella OP

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Prayers & Reflection For November

Text for Meditation 2nd letter of St Peter 1:16-19 We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him. We can tell you this from the Lord’s own teaching, that any of us who are left alive until the Lord’s coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds, together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. So we shall stay with the Lord for ever. With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another.

Concluding Prayer Heavenly Father, we thank you that through the death and resurrection of Jesus we have reason to be people of hope. Give us the courage to reflect upon our own death through the eyes of faith. May any dread we may have, be transformed into trust in your promise of a ‘bright new immortality’. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.Amen

Responsorial Psalm 15 (16)

Response “Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.”

1. O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup, it is you yourself who are my prize. I keep you, Lord, ever in my sight, since you are at my right hand, I shall stand firm. (R)

2. And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad; even my body shall rest in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay. (R)

3. You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence at your right hand happiness for ever. (R)

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Prayers & Reflection For November

ReflectionPart of the reality of this month of November is that we confront the pain of loss and separation. Our loved ones, whom we have lost and from whom we are separated by the very fact of death. Death stares us in the face and becomes again our feared foe.And yet, it is not a simple as that. Our inevitable death is not always the dread of the human heart. We know that life does not go on for ever, we know all about the dissatisfactions and frustrations of every day, we know about our deterioration and difficulties and we know that this is not all.In faith, the darkness of death becomes the promise of a bright new immortality. Through death we glimpse the mystery of what we shall be.And this hope we hold out especially for our loved ones. Our penances, sacrifices and prayer for them, not only assists their journey towards God, but also becomes a way in which we learn to cope with the prospect of our own inevitable death. It also helps come to terms with death, not least by preparing ourselves for heaven.It is sometimes all too easy simply not to think about things. This month has come round again, and again we ponder the greatest mysteries of life and death, love and faith. Even though these dark days are hard for many of us, there is the most amazing consolation to be found in the gift of our faith.Fr Richard Biggerstaff is a priest of the Diocese of Arundel & Brighton and currently the Director of the St Barnabas Society, Oxford

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Prayer Cascade: www.teamsgb.org.uk/prayercascade

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lordand my spirit exults in God my saviour;because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,for the Almighty has done great things for me.Holy is His name, and His mercy reaches from age to agefor those who fear Him.He has shown the power of His arm,He has routed the proud of heart.He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.The hungry He has filled with good things, the rich He sent empty away.He has come to the help of Israel His servant, mindful of His mercy - according to the promise He made to our ancestors,of His mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.

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