From Bishop Richard - 2nd June
Webmaster • June 1, 2024
We gather for our celebration of Corpus Christi at a significant time in the life of our Diocese when the Pastoral Plan – The Word Who is Life – is being implemented. While this is a time of change, all we do grows from our encounter with the True Vine - the person of Jesus Christ – who gives Himself to us in the Eucharist. Our continuing conformity to Him, our remaining part of the Vine, is the only way for us to ensure that we are faithful to the Mission to which He has called us. Our celebration today, elevated by the wonderful carpet of flowers, celebrates the gift of the Eucharist, and impresses upon us all the centrality of the Lord’s
Eucharistic presence in our lives.
The wonder of the Eucharist calls for our utmost thanksgiving - it is the greatest gift for our journey. We speak of Viaticum - food for the journey - as the last Communion before death, but the Eucharist is the food for our journey of life. The Lord gives us His very self as the supreme sustenance for our lives. The
Lord’s Passover - His life death and resurrection - is made present by none other than the Lord himself, acting through his Priest. Just as Jesus gave Himself to the Apostles in the Upper Room, under the appearance of bread and wine, so He gives Himself to us. He is the Bread of Life. Like the disciples at
Emmaus, we recognise Him in the breaking of bread and our hearts burn within us as He speaks to us on the road of our own pilgrimage and feeds us with his very self.
Every aspect of our life as His people should flow from the Eucharist and we bring ourselves and all our life's
experience to the foot of the cross and to the empty tomb as we gather to listen to Him, welcome Him, praise Him and receive Him. As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews explains: through His death on the cross, Jesus, Who is the new covenant, makes it possible for us to render service to the Living God.
The Eucharist is beyond our understanding. We see and receive Jesus, Who humbled Himself to share in our humanity and Who, in this action of the Mass, calls us to share in His life, in His divinity. This wonderful mystery, through which we become conformed to Christ, demands our lifelong reflection, prayer, participation and thanksgiving.
Our Eucharistic procession is a significant and powerful extension of this celebration. Pope St. Paul VI, whose feast we celebrated only yesterday, wrote of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament as “a proof of gratitude, an expression of love and a duty of adoration towards Christ our Lord”. Expressing our gratitude, love and adoration in a public way is a witness to our faith in Jesus’ Real Presence. The procession is an act of witness and, together with the celebration of the Eucharist itself, is a moment of evangelization. This public
witness to the Eucharistic Presence of the Lord proclaims Him to the world. The Eucharist is at the heart of our mission as the Church, for it is here that we encounter Christ, deepen our unity with Him and with one another. It is this encounter, this closeness to the Lord, which we proclaim.
Across the Diocese, Eucharistic Adoration provides opportunities for prayer to underpin the work of the Pastoral Plan. These times are a vital element in the life of the Diocese as we look to the future and the continuing renewal of our mission.
Many will remember the Adoremus gathering in Liverpool a few years ago, part of the celebration of Eucharistic Congresses across the whole world. Indeed, our flower carpet team laid a carpet in Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral for that celebration. This year, Adoremus continues, as it were, with a gathering at
Oscott College in Birmingham on the 14th of September. Each Diocese has been offered 44 places for this event and you can book a place and find out more details on our diocesan website.
Spend time with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, speak to others of his Real Presence, share frequently in the celebration of the Eucharist for it is participation in Him that brings about, in a way not possible in any other context, our conformity to Him, and the growth in holiness that will enable us to proclaim Him to the world.
With every blessing,
+ Richard
There are several events organised by the Worthing Deanery Justice & Peace Group to celebrate Refugee Week 2025. Please put them in your diary and come along to one or all: • Faces of Resilience on Sunday 15th June 2-5pm at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church Hall, Vermont Drive. East Preston, BN16 1JU. Come and see photographs and listen to a ‘Living Book’, vividly telling the stories of Ukrainian women fleeing war and seeking refuge in the UK. Join us in prayer in the church at 3pm for refugees, people seeking asylum and peace in our world. See you there! • On Wednesday 18th June , there will be a Vigil for Refugees after the 10am Mass at Holy Family Church, Lancing. We are going to spend time together praying and reflecting on the plight of the refugee. • During Refugee week, please come and see Refugee photo exhibition "THE STATIONS" on display at both The Holy Family Church, Lancing, and St Mary of the Angels, Worthing. • "Welcoming the Stranger" - an evening of stories and sharing on Saturday 21st June 7-9pm at St Peter's Church Hall, Shoreham. Come and hear stories from Ukrainian refugees and those who support them in our local community, as well as information from the charity Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group and Refugee Tales. Please bring some snack food and drink to share! See the leaflet with the newsletter for lots more information! Download here
Photograph exhibition happening this Sunday 15th June
A statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
More than 80 pilgrims from across the Diocese joined Bishop Richard on a special Jubilee Year Pilgrimage to the National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady at Walsingham last weekend (6-8 June). The pilgrimage, which saw many people travelling to Walsingham for the very first time, brought Catholics from parish communities across Surrey and Sussex together, offering enriching opportunities for prayerful reflection and fellowship in one of England’s most cherished places of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bishop Richard celebrated two Masses at the National Shrine during the pilgrimage. Preaching to an international congregation for the celebration of Pentecost on Sunday, he highlighted the “quiet revival” of the Church and emphasised the importance of sharing the good news: “When we, according to our different vocations and circumstances, proclaim Christ, we proclaim the Word that the world can not contain. Let us never underestimate the power of the Gospel message to a world that is in so much need of it.” “The renewal that we are seeing in the life of the Church in recent times is a result of people experiencing the ‘Living Water’ of Christ. Let us open our minds and hearts to the presence of the Holy Spirit, that strengthened by it, we bring hope to our world.” You can see more photos from the pilgrimage weekend on the diocesan Flickr site
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks with clarity of the Father, Himself as the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His words express the unity that exists between the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Spirit will speak what comes from the Son, who has all that belongs to the Father. We express this in the Creed when we speak about the Holy Spirit coming from the Father and the Son. The mystery of the Trinity is about relationships – the relationships that exist between Father, Son and Spirit, one God. The wonder of God, existing eternally – as we hear in the First Reading this Sunday – pours love into our hearts, as St Paul reminds us. It is truly wonderful for us to reflect that, through our baptism, we are brought to live our lives in the love that exists in the Trinity. We are enabled to live in relationship with a God who is all love and whose love we see and experience as it is lived between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As we rejoice in our relationship with the one God, three Persons, let us recall that it is God who gives us life and, in the coming days, pray very especially for respect for life in our own society as those in parliament prepare to vote on the “Assisted Dying Bill”. If you have not written to your MP, there is still time. May I thank all those who have written, for such action is a powerful witness to the wonder of life, given us by God. With every blessing + Richard
Parishioners are warmly invited to an online webinar being run by Stella Maris on Thursday, 19th. June from 7:30pm to 9pm. You will hear about the work that Stella Maris has been doing with seafarers and fishers over the past year, including the use of the funds kindly donated on Sea Sunday last year. To attend this webinar, please sign up at: www.stellamaris.org.uk/thankyouwebinar
www.mothersprayers.org Calling all Mothers, (Including spiritual mothers, godmothers and grandmothers) Come and pray for our children. Mothers prayers group starting Friday July 4, 10 -11 am in the Parish Room at St Peter’s. On the first Friday of the month thereafter (except August). You are all welcome to join us for tea/coffee and prayers. See poster and flyers in the church porch
It’s now been confirmed that MPs will debate and vote next week – on either Tuesday 17 or Wednesday 18 June – on extreme abortion up to birth amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. These proposed law changes represent the most serious threat to unborn children since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967. The disability rights group, Not Dead Yet UK, is asking people to contact their MP using a new tool on their website. It explains exactly why this Bill would be a disaster for people with disabilities. Please take action now and contact your MP. It only takes 30 seconds. You can read more including a statement from Archbishop John Sherrington (Lead Bishop for Life Issues) here: Opposing the Decriminalisation of Abortion - Catholic Bishops' Conference
When we contemplate the beginning of things and the whole created order, as we do in the scriptures today, we are brought to silence and awe. The Wisdom of God and the love of God made manifest in everything we see and can even imagine. We also consider the beginning and end of life and the wonder of our own being. God who brings us into existence and knows our end. It is all too much for us. It would be easy to see such a God as remote and distant. Yet there is not a cry He doesn't hear or even hair on our head He doesn't count. This God of ours is a God who saves. The movement of love in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit overflows to us in Jesus. God made flesh. God who is spirit is made visible and lives among us and in us. It really is a "wondrous mystery", but it is the "true faith". Everything we do is in the name of the Trinity from the sign of the cross at the beginning of Mass, to the Doxology at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer to the blessing before the dismissal. God the Holy Trinity is our beginning and our end. From baptism to commendation our hope is in God and our "hope does not put us to shame." With my prayer for you all. God bless you, Fr Graham
Saturday 5th July , 12pm-4.15pm,Church of Our Lady of Consolation & St Francis, West Grinstead, RH13 8LT. With Mass, personal consecration to Our Lady, Rosary, Adoration, Chaplet, Benediction and opportunities for Reconciliation. Bring a packed lunch. For details, contact Jayne by email .