OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO ABORTION LAW: PLEASE ACT NOW Four proposed amendments to abortion law will probably be considered and decided by MPs this Wednesday, 15th May. There will be a prolife rally outside Parliament on the day, starting 11am. Please join us if you can. Also, if you have not yet done so, please contact your MP and ask him to support NC15 (lowering the time limit) and NC41 (increasing protection for Downs babies) and oppose NC1 and NC40 (effectively permitting abortion to birth). For further information and facilities to do this really quickly: For NC1, NC15 and NC40, click the “take action” buttons here: https://righttolife.org.uk/news/press-release-parliament-to-vote-on-lowering-abortion-time-limit-on-15-may For NC41 see: https://dontscreenusout.org/timeforchange/ Then please keep this in your prayers. Thank you.

(To be recited every day of the novena, from Friday 10th May until Pentecost) On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, body and soul to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant is listening." Amen.

This is a special weekend for our parish as some of our young adults will be Confirmed by Bishop Richard at Arundel Cathedral on Sunday. It will be very moving and life changing for them. Perhaps you can remember your Confirmation? You may not seemed to have changed afterwards or felt different at all, but in truth, everything changed. The Holy Spirit changes things and people, renews them, consecrates them and makes them holy. The "High Priestly Prayer" of Jesus (John 17), could be heard as a particular prayer for those being Confirmed: "Keep them true to your name", "protect them from the evil one", "they do not belong to the world", "consecrate them in the truth", "I have sent them into the world." This is the prayer that Jesus still prays for us! We belong to Him. We are marked with the sign of the cross and anointed with the oil of Chrism to receive the fragrance of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Whether we feel Him or not. The task is to believe that the Holy Spirit lives in us and we live in God. The early apostles depended on the Holy Spirit for every decision, big and small. I pray our candidates, and all of us, may be likewise dependent on the same Holy Spirit. We need Him, the Church and the world needs Him. With my prayer for you in this novena and on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. God bless you.  Fr Graham

Dear brothers and sisters, “You did not choose me; I chose you.” These words of the Lord in this Sunday’s Gospel are for each and every one of us. The Lord chooses me; He chooses you. This choice of the Lord begins at the very first moment of our existence. At the moment of conception, we are loved by God, we are His creation. At baptism, we are called to live our lives in the love that exists eternally in the Blessed Trinity. While our parents may bring us to be baptised, it is the Holy Spirit who prompts. The Sacrament of Baptism is God’s action. It is the grace of God that takes away the effect of Original Sin, fills us with His love, brings us into the Church, the Body of Christ. For the adult coming to faith, the Holy Spirit is active, calling the person to faith, to this same action of God Himself in the sacrament. Perhaps we often feel unworthy of God’s love. “Why would God choose me?” we might ask. Very often, we find ourselves called to have confidence in God’s love for us: to trust in Him. It is worth giving a moment to reflect that, in His love for us, in His call to us in baptism – and in the many other ways that He calls us – God is placing His confidence in us: in me, in you. How often in the Gospels do we find Jesus saying: “Do not be afraid”? There is no need for fear. The way ahead may be a daunting one, the path rough at times, the road steep and narrow, but there is no need to fear, for, chosen by God, we walk in His love. God, in the person of His Only Son, gives new life and we are guided by the Holy Spirit, strengthened through the sacraments. Each and every one of us has "some definite purpose," as St John Henry Newman reminds us. We are chosen and loved by God. With every blessing + Richard

May is the Month of Mary. Today we crown her statue and honour her as the Mother of God and our Mother. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Thursday is the solemnity (Holy day) of the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven. It is customary, ever since Jesus told His disciples to wait for the promised gift, that the Church prays to the Holy Spirit for 9 days (Novena) between Ascension and Pentecost. It shouldn't be just "one of those things we do". I am hoping and praying that this year it will be different. That more of us, indeed all parishioners, will join in this prayer with devotion and wholeheartedly. The Church needs the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was present at the first creation, hovering over the waters, and is ever present in the new creation of the Kingdom of Heaven inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is given to us in baptism and we are sealed with the gift in Confirmation. God has no favourites and desires that everyone receives the Spirit. The Spirit enables us to live the Christian life and be acceptable to Him by living a supernatural life in the grace received in the sacraments especially Mass and confession. God never gives less thank Himself. He gives us the whole Christ, the fullness of the Holy Spirit and all of His love. He loved us first. So our response to a Day of Obligation or Novena is not just out of duty or just "one of those things we do". It is an opportunity for us to move from servant of Jesus to friend, from fear to love. With my prayer for you as we approach the ascension of the Lord. God bless you.  Fr Graham

The journey from Eastertide to Ascension and Pentecost calls us to mission. This year, in the light of Bishop Richard’s new Pastoral Plan , the whole Diocese is invited to come together for four weeks of prayer to the Holy Spirit for the raising up of new vocations in the Church. Let us spend some time each day this week reading about the spirit of truth (Jn 14:15-21) and praying for all young people to have the gift of discernment in a changing world. You can download our Month of Prayer for Vocations leaflet. To find out more about vocations, visit our website . (Leaflets also available in the porch.)

Jesus is very clear about the call to His disciples to bear fruit, something that is simply impossible unless we remain close to Him, part of the vine. Given the current worldview - with conflict, famine, challenges to our climate, economic hardship, and an ever -present devaluing of the dignity of human life before our eyes in the news at almost every moment - the Lord’s call to each of us to bear fruit, to be His disciples, is a call to action to each and every one of us. This action grows out of prayer, our experience of the Eucharist, and our encounter with the Lord as we see Him present in others. St John in his first letter expresses it another way: our love is not to be just words or mere talk but something real and active. This is the measure of our discipleship, the proof that we are children of the truth, coheirs with Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. At the beginning of Lent, we heard the words of St Paul: "now is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation." This same sense of urgency is with us each and every day as we seek to do the Lord's work and is most pressing in these present times. May our experience of faith, a lived relationship with the person of Jesus, find expression in our care for our brothers and sisters wherever they may be. With every blessing, + Richard

Last Sunday afternoon I spent some time in A&E in Worthing suffering from swelling and discolouration in my right arm. The next few days I underwent tests and treatment at Worthing and Brighton hospitals. After many tests the diagnosis is a DVT in the upper right arm / shoulder (subclavian vein). I avoided an operation as I have responded well to blood thinning injections. I am now on 3 months of medication with a referral to haematology to see how the clot disperses and as to its cause. The swelling and discolouration in my arm have reduced. I wanted to let you know what has happened and ask for your prayers and patience now and as investigations proceed. I will try to slow down a bit and focus on the necessary things of priestly ministry. I think the Lord is asking me to spend more time with Him in prayer.  Thank you for your prayer, support and understanding. With my prayer for you all. Fr Graham.