BEGINNING A SECOND CENTURY - THREE IMAGES

Saturdays night’s celebrations have involved the unveiling of three visual images to aid and inspired our community as it begins a new era.

1. The blessing of our new Statue of St Joseph the Worker (at the end of the Mass), filling a gap in the devotional arrangement of our Church. This is our first ‘St Joseph’, marking perhaps the work which brought so many from across the water to found and inspire our parish community, and the work just paid for through the continuing generosity of this community. Perhaps we may paint the statue at some point the future. We plan to put up a plaque on the adjacent column marking the Cardinal’s visit and our celebration.

2. Our Youth SVP has produced a mural to hang on our tower for a while, reaching out to passers by. It depicts a man, probably the Son of Man, with colours which symbolically suggest the Messiah. Below are Christ’s words “Who do you say that I am?. These may change over coming weeks. By providential design, but not our young people’s explicit design a few months back, the words they chose are in the Gospel on which the Cardinal has preached, and on which Fr Bernard Vaughan preached almost a century ago to the day.

3. At our reception a couple of songs from our upcoming Musical Rock of the Anointed have been performed. Today we start selling tickets for this. See details over. The musical will be part of our participation in the diocesan Open the Doors weekend. May it indeed be part of a new beginning, a new reaching out, a new fruitfulness in our spiritual lives and so the lives of those we touch.

CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION

TODAY: 3p.m. CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION (see over)
Proclaiming our faith in the Word made flesh for us today

Throughout Christian history, our Lord has shown us that he is really present as the Blessed Sacrament through the Church’s teaching. One extraordinary way has been through Eucharistic miracles. Interestingly these have often taken place as a result of someone doubting the Real Presence.

Most Eucharistic miracles involve incidences in which the Host has "turned into human flesh and blood". Of course we as Catholics believe that the consecrated Host is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord, only under the appearances of bread and wine. Therefore, Jesus, through these miracles, merely manifests His Presence in a more obvious way for the eyes of a struggling faith..

Below are recounted some of the more significant miracles (with acknowledgments to therealpresence.org). In all these cases the Church has officially investigated them and approved their veneration.

Sienna, Italy -- August 17, 1730 Consecrated Hosts, which were stolen and then reovered, remain perfectly preserved for over 250 years. Rigorous scientific experiments have not been able to explain this phenomena.

Amsterdam, Holland 1345 After a dying man was unable to hold down the Host of Holy Viaticum the Sacred Host was placed in a fire to be consumed. The following morning it was found to be unscathed.

Blanot, France -- March 31, 1331The Eucharist falls out of a woman's mouth onto an altar rail cloth. The priest tries to recover the Host but all that remains is a large spot of blood the same size and dimensions as the wafer. This can still be observed.
Bolsena-Orvieta, Italy, fifteenth century. Again, a priest has difficulties believing in the Real Presence, and blood begins seeping out of the Host upon consecration. Because of this miracle, Pope Urban IV set up last Thursday’s the feast of Corpus Christi.

Lanciano, Italy -- 8th century A.D. A priest has doubts about the Real Presence; however, when he consecrates the Host it transforms into flesh and blood. This miracle has undergone extensive scientific examination and can only be explained as a miracle. The flesh is actually cardiac tissue which contains arterioles, veins, and nerve fibers. The blood type as in all other approved Eucharistic miracles is type AB! We remember Jesus said to Thomas “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.'" (Jn 20:29)

BUILDING ON FIRM FOUNDATIONS- Sat 24th June 6:30 pm

BUILDING ON FIRM FOUNDATIONS- Sat 24th June 6:30 pm

In two weekend’s time Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor will be here to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of our parish. He will preach on the text “You are Peter (which mean ‘Rock’) and on this rock I will build my Church”.

This is the same text on which the brother of Cardinal Vaughan, a Jesuit priest Bernard Vaughan, preached at the June 21st Mass 1906 at which the foundation stone of the Linacre Road Church was laid by Lord Edmund Talbot, a prominent lay Catholic, second son of the Duke of Norfolk. That stone was indeed the foundation of a fruitful family of God down the ten decades since. We pray that our recent work upon and for our Church, both the Peter Avenue building and the Willesden Green community, may through our sacramental celebrations, bear fruit in faithfulness, charity and joy over the decades to come.

What God has done and what he can do in the future through us is a cause for celebration. Upon the rock of Peter he has built a family and an institution that has survived and developed over two thousand years whilst other empires have come and gone. From the Willesden Rock of 1906 a spring sprouted forth in which we are all now swimming in. We have a responsibility and power delegated by God to make this flow down a further century.
One pound tickets for the 8p.m. international food reception following this grand 6:30 pm liturgy can be obtained today and next week after Masses and from Clergy House. Ticketing is necessary to enable the party’s organization. Various faces from the past will be taking part in this evening. We do hope many can make this time of founding building up the Body of Christ here in Willesden Green.

Pentecost Sunday

The French mystic Marthe Robin, who lived last century, said that there would soon be a new Pentecost of Love. Our previous Holy Father, John Paul II, also called many times for a ‘new Pentecost’ in the Church, praying for a time of renewal in our days.

Today we celebrate the time when the Holy Spirit came to the Disciples and Our Lady as they waited in prayer after the Ascension. Jesus was quite clear about the way all were to follow Him when he said “This is my commandment, love one another”. (Jn 15, 12) He also gave us many examples and teachings of what that kind of love would look like.

Just like the first believers we also need the Holy Spirit to follow the commandment of love. A significant help for Christians has always been the presence of Mary, always at the centre of God’s disciples, as Mother of the Church. In 1985, Mary reportedly appeared to a local man in Northern Italy as the Queen of Love. She was asking for a renewal of love in the world, she also gave a prayer to entrust our lives to her to be part of this ‘work of love’.

O Mary, Queen of the World
and Mother of Goodness,
trusting in your intercession
we commit our souls to you.
Accompany us each day
to the source of joy
and give us the Saviour
We consecrate ourselves to you
Queen of Love.

AmenLet us pray today that Mary will help us to be open to the Holy Spirit that God may bring a new Pentecost of love into our lives and into the world.

ENSURING APPROPRIATE MINISTRATIONS OF A CATHOLIC PRIEST

ENSURING APPROPRIATE MINISTRATIONS OF A CATHOLIC PRIEST
SHOULD YOU ENTER HOSPITAL

The New Testament letter of St James says “Are there any who are sick amongst you. Let them send for the priests of the Church, and let them pray over them, anointing them with oil, and the prayer will save the sick person, and forgive any sins they may have committed”. The Church has authoritatively interpreted this scripture as outlining the Sacrament of the Sick, whereby Christ fully links himself with those who are suffering. Catholic priests who work in and visit hospitals offer (amongst other support) offer this gift of Christ.

In the light of the data protection Act 1998 those entering hospital are encouraged to indicate that their details may be passed to the Roman Catholic chaplain. Also state that you would like the RC chaplain to visit you.

Small blue cards are available that can be kept in the your wallet/purse etc which indicate the above. It is important that you write “Roman Catholic” above and the telephone number of your parish (ours is below) on the reverse side.

THE CONTINUING FIGHT AGAINST EUTHANASIA

Peers who have led the fight against euthanasia in the House of Lords have written to express their gratitude to all those who wrote during the recent letter-writing campaign opposing the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill introduced by Lord Joffe. Some peers reported receiving hundreds of letter. The campaign was very successful and played a significant part in achieving a victory of 148 votes to 100 against the Bill— the first victory in the pro-life campaign for over thirty years. However, we cannot rest now as the euthanasia lobby has made it quite clear that they intend to continue! In fact, Lord Joffe has also said that he will re-introduce his Bill in the House of Lords this coming autumn. Perhaps you might write and thank those Peers to whom you wrote and who voted against the Bill (list at the back right as usual).

It is also vital that we write to our MPs (at the House of Commons, Westminster, London, SWIA OAA), or telephone (020 7219 3000), expressing concern about legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide. One draw their attention to the fact that — without exception — every disability rights group in the country has made clear their opposition to any such legislation on the grounds that it would totally undermine the basic rights of people with disability.

The Peers have also expressed their gratitude to those who signed the Petition opposing the Bill and for which over 103,000 names were collected making it a powerful document.For More info.: Telephone Right to Life 020 8992 7657