Wednesday 24th December 2020 - Christmas Eve

 

 

Wednesday 24^th December 2020

Christmas Eve

Dear brothers and sisters,

 

Picture an ‘old fashioned’ television. The kind before digital, sky plus and satellites. The kind that had the flimsy metal aerial attached to the box similar to the one in the picture below.

 

It may look dated now but many families scrimped and saved to have these new entertainment machines in the corner of their living rooms. The aerial and its position were crucial to the quality of picture and sound that came through. If the aerial was tilted the wrong way or there was outside interference from the weather then all you could see was a black and white fuzz with loud static crackling noise. The adjustment of the T.V aerial required skill and a great deal of patient perseverance! 

There are times in life when our own spiritual aerials have not been pointing in the right direction.

Rather than receiving God and being able to focus on our relationship with Jesus Christ the picture that has emerged is one of patchy faith and blurry hope. Over the last nine months we have all been living through uncertain and frustrating times,  even now the new year of 2021 is still unclear and fuzzy. Many people have been plagued with understandable worries and genuine concerns. All this ‘interference’ has caused static and crackling in our lives of faith which in turn has made it difficult to clearly see and hear the Lord. What do we do? How do we resume normal service?

The best spiritual T.V repairman that I can recommend is Saint Peter Julian Eymard. He was a 19^th century French priest who established the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and whose words of wisdom are still in print today. Over the last few months when I have pondered over ways to be a priest during the Covid-19 pandemic and adapt to the challenges and new pastoral needs it’s presented, I’ve found myself turning to this saint and asking for his intercession. Saint Peter Julian has repaired and redirected my spiritual aerial back towards Jesus Christ especially in the mystery of the Blessed Sacrament. The following words he penned are perfect for this moment in time with Christmas looming!

 

 

‘We must keep in mind that the Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ, past, present, and future; that the Eucharist is the last development of the Incarnation and mortal life of our Saviour; that in the Eucharist Jesus Christ gives us every grace; that all truths tend to and end in the Eucharist; and that there is nothing more to be added when we have said, “The Eucharist,” since it is Jesus Christ...It is not difficult to find a relation between the birth of Jesus in the stable and His sacramental birth on the altar and in our hearts...Who does not see that the hidden life of Nazareth is continued in the Divine Host of the tabernacle, and that the passion of the Man-God on Calvary is renewed in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at every moment of the day and night, and all over the world?’

(‘The Real Presence’, Saint Pierre Julian Eymard)

 

Whenever he was on his travels or could not pray before the Blessed Sacrament Saint Peter Julian would close his eyes and picture the tabernacle in his own church. This simple practice reminded him of the reality of Jesus’ true and substantial Presence in the world. It was the Blessed Sacrament contained within the tabernacle the reaffirmed Peter Julian Eymard’s faith that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, was not in the clouds above but dwelling amongst his people on earth. Throughout his life Fr. Eymard faced many trials and challenges but it was the love of Christ found in the Eucharist that helped him to have a clear picture of Heaven.

 

As we approach these days of Christmastide and look towards the New Year I invite you brothers and sisters to imitate the prayer of Saint Peter Julian Eymard. Close your eyes and think of the tabernacle here at St. Mary’s. Picture the red lit sanctuary lamp whose flickering flame reminds us of the Lord’s Presence in our midst. Once you have that visual image talk to Him, the Good Shepherd. Adore Him, give Him Thanks, talk to Him about your worries and concerns and petition Him for your friends and family.

  

Many people, even a few atheists I know, love Christmas cribs and are always sad when they have to pack them away. One individual I know always says good bye to Jesus for another year when they bubble wrap the bambino figure. Brothers and sisters we may pack away the image of Jesus from our nativity scenes and Christmas cribs but we can never pack away Christ’s Real Presence in the tabernacle. No matter how the future pans out and what ups and downs 2021 has in store for us Our Lord, ever present in the Eucharist, remains steadfast and constant in the tabernacle. If you want to see Jesus in a clearer way this Christmas and beyond then adjust your spiritual aerial to the tabernacle and you won’t go far wrong. God Bless. Amen.           

             

Masses for the Christmas Season

Both the 6pm and 8pm Christmas Eve Masses are now fully booked but there are some places available for the 8am and 10am Christmas Day Masses. Do check the parish website for more information in regards to dates and times over the Christmas and New Year period. My thanks to the stewards who have been able to offer their services so that we can have two public Masses for the Solemnity of the Epiphany (6^th Jan 2021).

 

Telephone Bookings

Ursula Heyes has done a great job with the telephone booking system which has allowed people with no internet access to ring up and book a place for Mass. Over the last nine months each Wednesday and Friday from 5pm – 6pm, Ursula has been available to answer the phone to parishioners. However, the pattern that has emerged over this time is that the majority of people are now booking online with very few calls on a Friday. As of today Ursula will continue to provide the phone booking service but only on Wednesdays. Please note the phone booking service will resume on Wednesday 6^th Jan 2021. (Tel: 232 433)

 

Online Bookings

My thanks to Czes and the team for all their help with the online booking system.  If you would like to book this way then please visit the parish website www.saintmarysoswaldtwistle.co.uk which has a link for online Mass bookings. Sadly, some volunteers have had to return to work and therefore you will only be able to book online during the week (Monday to Friday).

 

Stewards & Cleaners

Thanks to all the stewards and cleaners for their dedicated service especially over the forth coming Christmas period. If you would like to serve Our Lord as a volunteer steward then please email Jennifer Pickles (St. Mary’s Steward Co-ordinator) at: jennifer.pickles@virginmedia.com or to volunteer as a cleaner please contact Karen Beard (Parish Housekeeper) at jakey9998@aol.com

Parish Christmas Crib Appeal

I’m hoping you will have noticed the restored figures in the crib this year done by Lewis & Lewis. As you will remember at the end of 2019 we made an appeal for donations to help repair and paint the Bambino, Our Lady, St. Joseph and the donkey. Thanks to the kind generosity of many parishioners these restored crib figures look beautiful. This year we are asking for donations to help repair and paint the shepherds and Ox, who are looking even more bedraggled than usual next to the Holy Family. It cost over £700 for last years restoration. There will be a basket in front our crib for any donations towards restoring our three shepherds and Ox. God Bless you.  

 

The Year of St. Joseph 8^th December 2020 - 8^th December 2021

The last two years, pre-Covid 19, I have celebrated a New Year’s Day Mass where I have invited people to come forward to the sanctuary and choose the name of a saint, written on paper, from a basket. This year there will be no need to do this as our Holy Father Pope Francis has chosen a saint for us all – Saint Joseph. Bishop Arnold has written the following:

‘... 8th December 2020, marked the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX placing the Universal Church under the Protection of St. Joseph. To mark the anniversary Pope Francis has written a powerful meditation on St. Joseph, particularly in the light of the current pandemic. It is well worth reading and is a rich stimulus to prayer. The link is here http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/events/event.dir.html/content/vaticanevents/en/2020/12/8/letteraapostolica-patriscorde.html

The Pope has dedicated the next twelve months as a Year of St. Joseph. The Decree from the Apostolic Penitentiary is not yet available in English but there is a good summary here https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-12/apostolic-penitentiary-plenary-indulgence-year-st-joseph.html’

God Bless and keep praying.

Our Lady of Oswaldtwistle, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Peter Julian Eymard, pray for us.

 

Have a Holy Christmas and a Blessed New Year for 2021

Fr. O’Brien

 

Second Week of Advent - Monday 7th December 2020

 Monday 7^th December 2020

Second Week of Advent

Dear brothers and sisters,

 

If I asked you to name a celebrity chef what would your answer be? Delia Smith? Jamie Oliver? Fanny Cradock? Nigella Lawson or Rick Stein? My favourites were the Two Fat Ladies – Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Patterson.

 

I was fascinated by their witty dialogue, extravagant dishes and most of all their unashamed witness to the Catholic faith. From the Crucifix and picture of Our Lady in the kitchen through to the retelling of personal stories about their First Communion experiences, from the Pope to their saintly devotions and of course Jennifer’s red papal slippers! No matter who our favourite television chef is they all have one phrase in common:

‘Here’s on I made earlier!’

For the show to run smoothly the TV chef has to be prepared. Very prepared! They have a limited amount of time to demonstrate the cooking of a dish from start to finish which may take over an hour and the BBC can only give them 30mins on air to present it all. Ingredients have to be prepared beforehand and examples of the dish, at various stages of the cooking process, have to be ready to show the audience in an instant.

 

The readings at Mass during this season of Advent, have all so far, called us to prepare. Prepare for what? The Second Coming when Jesus will return again as he promised. Like the cookery programme time slot which is limited, so is this world. We are familiar with the Gospel sayings, ‘You do not know the hour’ or ‘..like a thief in the night...’, they remind us that there are many things in the future that we cannot predict when, where and how they will happen but that does not mean we can’t be ready for when they do come.

‘And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’ (Mk. 13:37)

‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord”, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.’ (Mt. 7:21)

‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock.’ (Mt. 7:24)

‘All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins.’ (Mk. 1:5) 

 

As we continue on our Advent journey let us take heed of the word of God and prepare ourselves for when Christ will come again. Let us be ready, alert and awake. Let us not only hear the words of Jesus but act on them. Let us have the humility and courage to come to the Sacrament of Confession and prepare our hearts to receive the Lord. For when the Master does return will we be able to show him the fruits of our faith ripened by our lives of holiness or will we have the weak excuse – I wasn’t ready! 

 

Confessions

Advent is a time of preparing to meet Our Lord and an important part of this is Confession. This sacrament was instituted by Christ so that we could tangibly feel and truly receive his mercy and forgiveness. There will be the opportunity for Confession at St. Mary’s on the following dates:

 

Saturday 12th December 9am – 10am

Saturday 19th December 9am – 10am

 

Our Dean, Fr. Stamp at St. Anne’s in Accrington, is also kindly offering Confession by appointment and can be contacted at simon.stamp@dioceseofsalford.org.uk     

 

Stewards & Cleaners

If you would like to serve Our Lord as a volunteer steward then please email Jennifer Pickles (St. Mary’s Steward Co-ordinator) at: jennifer.pickles@virginmedia.com or to volunteer as a cleaner please contact Karen Beard (Parish Housekeeper) at jakey9998@aol.com

Temporary Booking for the Holy Mass during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Ursula Heyes will be available on Wednesdays and Fridays, from 5pm – 6pm on (01254) 232 433 to take telephone bookings. The parish website www.saintmarysoswaldtwistle.co.uk has a link for online bookings. Sadly, some volunteers have had to return to work and therefore you will only be able to book online during the week (Monday to Friday). On behalf of the parish I would like to say thank you to all those involved with our parish booking system.

 

Sacramental Programme: Confession and Holy Communion

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed a lot of our usual routine events and this includes the sacramental programme. I feel very strongly that those young people who are actively engaged with the parish should be able to receive Our Lord and therefore, adapting to new circumstances, I’m beginning the new programme. If you live in the parish of St. Mary’s and have a baptised Roman Catholic child who is seven years old + and you believe that they are ready to begin preparation for the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion then please do contact me before the end of December. The sacramental programme at St. Mary’s is through the parish and not the schools. Mass attendance and full active participation in the life of the parish is just automatically assumed because Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is both the ‘object and means of our faith’ (St. Peter Julian Eymard). Without an active relationship with Our Lord, without regularly being in His Presence before the Blessed Sacrament, our faith can never grow nor can we truly know Him and Jesus wants us to know Him. Why? Because he has Good News for us!                    

 

God Bless and keep praying.

Our Lady of Oswaldtwistle, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

Fr. O’Brien

Abraham and Isaac

 

Abraham and Isaac

Wednesday 2^nd December 2020

Over the last few months we have travelled a great distance with Abraham on our biblical journey. Hopefully he is no longer an obscure character from the Old Testament but a real companion of flesh and blood, of emotion and feeling, on the road of faith. Today as we read chapter 22 from the book of Genesis we encounter one of the most infamous episodes of Abraham’s life (as depicted in the Icon above). So let’s begin our reflection by turning to God the Holy Spirit in prayer and asking for his help and blessing to understand the Scriptures better.

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Come, O Holy Spirit,

and fill us with the gifts of knowledge and wisdom.

Strengthen us, we pray, with heavenly grace,

so that we may grasp with our minds,

treasure in our hearts,

and carry out in our deeds,

all the teachings of your Holy Book

which lead to salvation.

Amen.

 

Before we delve into today’s chapter, a few weeks ago I promised to explain the change of spelling from Abram  to Abraham  and of Sara  to Sarah. You will have probably noticed this already in your Bibles. If you read Genesis chapter 17 you will see that this name change is an outward expression of the patriarch’s new faith in God. When a couple marry they wear a ring to symbolise publicly that they are in an exclusive committed loving relationship. The ring is an outward sign of the new stage in the couples life together which has grown and deepened internally. In religious life a person is clothed in the habit of their Order after an initial period of formation. The new monk or nun by wearing the habit externally shows their maturing relationship with God and gives witness to their vocation. Abram is asked by God to change his name as a public witness of his internal deepening faith and exclusive worship of the true God.

 

‘You shall no longer be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I make you father of a multitude of nations.’ (Gn. 17:5)                   

 

Now back to today’s biblical reflection...   

One of the things that may have struck you when you were reading this chapter is the drama involved. We saw how God made a promise to Abraham to make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky (Gn. 15:5) and he ratified this by making a solemn covenant with His servant (Gn. 15:18). We witnessed the tension between Sara and Hagar after Ishmael was born and the uncertainty of Sara about God fulfilling His promise. Then Isaac is born, as promised! Miraculously, defying all sense of logic as well as transcending natural law. The high crescendo of the Genesis narrative is the realisation of the power and steadfastness of the Lord’s love and mercy, the sure and certain knowledge that God never abandons or forgets but is faithful to His word. So when we read chapter 22 the joy and future that Abraham has so longed for seems to be taken away. What was all the waiting and heart ache for?

 

‘ ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt offering,

on a mountain I will point out to you.’ ’ (Gn. 22:2)

 

The text of this chapter does not describe how Abraham must have felt. He has been asked to sacrifice his only son! His only son! The son he has patiently waited for! The son whose birth strengthened his faith in God! Now that very same God who Abraham has left everything for asks for his gift of Isaac back. The editors of Genesis did not record in detail Abraham’s emotional turmoil because they assumed that would be obvious to people. How could a man not be heart broken or overwhelmed by depression having to face such a command from the Almighty? The emphasis and stress the editors wanted to convey was not Abraham’s emotion but his readiness to listen and obey God. As painful as God’s decree is and as hopeless as it makes his servant feel, Abraham obeys without hesitation.

 

As the patriarch begins to ascend the mountain with his son, a conversation begins:

 

‘Isaac spoke to his father Abraham, ‘Father’ he said.

‘Yes, my son’ he replied.

‘Look,’ he said ‘here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’

Abraham answered, ‘My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering’.

Then the two of them went on together.’ (Gn. 22:7-8)

 

The anguish that weighed down upon Abraham on that journey must have been suffocating. Yet he is ready to submit and give everything, EVERYTHING, to the Lord his God.

The drama now reaches another high point. Just at that moment when the old patriarch is about to plunge the knife into his son God intervenes.

 

‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son, your only son.’

(Gn. 22:12)

 

Isaac is saved and a ram, caught by its horns in a nearby bush is sacrificed instead. As a child at school once said to me, ‘poor ram!’ It’s at this juncture that I would like to make mention of that phrase the angel of the Lord says to Abraham. A phrase that we often hear repeated in the scriptures is: ‘the fear of the Lord.’ Fear in this context does not mean that we live in terror of the heavenly Father. God does not want us to see Him as the cold angry parent who instils panic and worry every time we feel His Presence. Fear of the Lord does not mean to be scared of God but instead to have a deep awesome reverent respect for Him. Abraham clearly shows that reverent respect by his response to God when asked to sacrifice his son. How truly ready and fully willing are we to listen and obey God? Do we hold back? Do we dictate how far we will go for God based on the judgements and opinions of others? Do we judge God Himself and personally decide what’s correct and appropriate in our lives of faith? Fundamentally the real question is do we fully trust the Lord our God?

 

Finally as we end today’s reflection it is important to mention ‘biblical typology’. What is biblical typology? Quite simply it is how events and images of the Old Testament foreshadow what is to come in the future. In regards to Genesis 22 the early Church Fathers saw Abraham and Isaac as God’s future plan of salvation.

 

‘Isaac is a type of Christ, for he was a son as Christ was a son, and he carried the wood of his sacrifice just as the Lord bore the wood of the Cross.’

Saint Clement of Alexandria.

 

‘The Lord carried his Cross as Isaac carried the wood;

and the ram, caught by its horns in the thicket, prefigures Jesus crowned with thorns and then slain in sacrifice.’

Saint Augustine of Hippo                     

 

Next time we shall reflect on Sarah, who like Abraham is a person of real flesh and blood, of real emotion and feeling. She is often referred to as ‘The Mother of the Promise’.

 

God Bless and Keep praying

Fr. O’Brien

Sunday 29th November 2020 - First Sunday of Advent

  

Sunday 29^th November 2020

First Sunday of Advent

Dear brothers and sisters,

            You’ve probably already glimpsed the picture below and are thinking that doesn’t look very seasonal. What an odd image to use at the start of Advent!

  

 You’re right this is not a traditional sign of Advent but I think it’s meaning is very clear and conveys the Advent message perfectly – STOP!

 

Christmas trees are decorated, Turkey and trimmings have been ordered, lights are flashing, cards are being signed and sent, families are facing diplomatic quandaries about where, when and who can they meet over the festive period and online shopping is reaching new highs of demand. All this is understandable as 2020 has been a bleak time with the Covid-19 pandemic and Christmas brings a glimmer of hope, something to look forward to. After a second national lockdown who isn’t longing to meet up with friends and loved ones again. However, let’s look to that unusual Advent sign again – STOP! It doesn’t mean stop all the Christmas fun and excitement. It means stop and catch your breath; it means stop and gather your thoughts; it means stop and allow yourselves time to think and refocus.

 

Stop and embrace the season Advent. A time of hopeful expectancy. A time of joyful preparation. A time of excited waiting. The world seems in such a rush to devour the main course of Christmas that it’s missing out on the sweet appetisers and tantalising starters of Advent. The build up and preparation of Advent allows us to fully experience the Christmas mystery of the Incarnation in a profound and joyful way.

 

Pope Benedict XVI gave a beautiful quote a few years ago, to help us Catholics fully appreciate and understand the meaning of Advent, a meaning that as you will see is two-fold.

‘In Advent, Christians re-live a dual impulse of the spirit:

 on the one hand, they raise their eyes towards the final destination of their pilgrimage through history, which is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; on the other, remembering with emotion his birth in Bethlehem, they kneel before the crib.’ (Pope Benedict XVI)

The season of Advent is not just a countdown until Christmas day but a time for us to remember that the Second Coming will be a real event in the future. Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour will come again. We profess this regularly in our prayers and at the Holy Mass.

 

‘...He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead...’ (The Creed)

 

‘...and as we look forward to his second coming...’ (Eucharistic Prayer III)

 

‘We proclaim your Death, O Lord,

and profess your Resurrection until you come again.’ (The mystery of faith)  

 

‘Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days,

that, be the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress,

as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.’ (Embolism)  

 

Advent asks us to Stop and think about the Second Coming. When the Lord returns again am I ready to go out and meet him? When he judges me have I striven throughout life for holiness or just trying to be a ‘nice’ person? (Remember ‘nice’ does not appear in the Bible!) It’s a sobering thought isn’t it! The Second Coming sounds almost like a Hollywood apocalyptic blockbuster but it’s a very real truth of our faith. Hence Advent asks us to Stop and take time to reflect and pray about our lives and strivings for holiness.

 

The second part of Advent then begins to prepare and direct us towards the birth of Our Lord. The prayers, symbols, liturgies and Masses all combined draw us deeper into fully understanding what the long promised birth of Jesus Christ truly means.

 

So brothers and sisters do have a wonderful and blessed Christmas once the 25^th December arrives. Until then Stop and give yourself time to fully embrace and enjoy this liturgical season of Advent. I promise it will make Christmas, despite Covid-19, that spiritually more enriching. On the parish website, you will find on the homepage a link that will give a number of Advent resources you can use at home.

 

Resumption of Public Worship

As the national lockdown comes to an end this coming week and we enter the government’s designated Tier 3 for Lancashire, public worship will be allowed to resume. Mgr. Daly as you know has been appointed by the Bishop to help facilitate the safe re-opening of our diocesan churches. He emailed a summary of the continued restrictions that are in place for the safety and protection of all parishioners throughout the diocese.

‘Finally, please remember the importance of adhering to these guidelines for the health and well-being of everyone (ourselves included). Please look after each other in this respect. So to summarise:

Whilst we remain in tier 3 for the sake of safety the restrictions in place in church continue, attendance at Mass will be limited, there will be no singing, Holy Communion will be distributed at the end of Mass (the practice of all parishes in Hyndburn) ... and people are advised not to gather in groups either before or after Mass. We know this is difficult particularly for funerals and with the Christmas season approaching however such care will ensure that, especially given the relaxation on socialising at Christmas, our churches remain amongst the safest places and the celebration of Holy Mass will not be interrupted over Christmas.’

Both telephone and online bookings for Mass will resume again here at St. Mary’s. Ursula Heyes will be available on Wednesdays and Fridays, from 5pm – 6pm on (01254) 232 433 to take telephone bookings. The parish website will have a link for online bookings which hopefully will go live at some point next week. Sadly, some volunteers have had to return to work and therefore you will only be able to book online during the week (Monday to Friday). On behalf of the parish I would like to say thank you to all those involved with our parish booking system.

         

Confessions

Advent is a time of preparing to meet Our Lord and an important part of this is Confession. This sacrament was instituted by Christ so that we could tangibly feel and truly receive his mercy and forgiveness. Dependant on the availability of volunteer stewards I’m hoping to offer Confession on Saturday 12^th December 9am – 10am and Saturday 19^th December 9am – 10am. The practicalities in regards to Covid-19 health & safety conditions are still to be formalised but the Sacrament of Confession will be in the church building. Please do check the parish website for news and information later this week.

 

Stewards & Cleaners

We have been blessed to have such good parishioners who have sacrificed both their time and services to make sure St. Mary’s has been open for both private prayer and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as well as being clean and safe. THANK YOU from all the parishioners and the parish priest. If you would like to serve Our Lord as a volunteer steward then please email Jennifer Pickles (St. Mary’s Steward Co-ordinator) at: jennifer.pickles@virginmedia.com or to volunteer as a cleaner please contact Karen Beard (Parish Housekeeper) at jakey9998@aol.com

 

Sacramental Programme: Confession and Holy Communion

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed a lot of our usual routine events and this includes the sacramental programme. I feel very strongly that those young people who are actively engaged with the parish should be able to receive Our Lord and therefore, adapting to new circumstances, I’m beginning the new programme. If you live in the parish of St. Mary’s and have a baptised Roman Catholic child who is seven years old + and you believe that they are ready to begin preparation for the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion then please do contact me before the end of December. The sacramental programme at St. Mary’s is through the parish and not the schools. Mass attendance and full active participation in the life of the parish is just automatically assumed because Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is both the ‘object and means of our faith’ (St. Peter Julian Eymard). Without an active relationship with Our Lord, with out regularly being in His Presence before the Blessed Sacrament, our faith can never grow nor can we truly know Him and Jesus wants us to know Him. Why? Because he has Good News for us!                     

       

Parish Online Advent Calendar

The Parish Online Advent Calendar can be accessed via the ‘Advent’ box on the parish website homepage. It’s still not too late to send through submissions. Everybody in our parish family has words and stories of hope to share that could help others during these difficult winter months. Do not worry about spelling or punctuation – you have all put up with my poor grammar for the last eight months most graciously! You may want to write a poem, retell a story, compose a prayer or recall times past at St. Mary’s etc. There is no exact word limit and if you wish you can remain anonymous. If a theme is needed then I would simply say look to the baby born in the manger who brought the world hope and love. Have a think and do email me at sean.obrien@dioceseofsalford.org.uk  Thank you to those people who have already submitted various memories and poems so far. More are always welcomed.

 

God Bless, keep praying and do remember to Stop and enjoy this season.

Our Lady of Oswaldtwistle, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Fr. O’Brien

Hagar & Ishmael

 

Hagar & Ishmael

Wednesday 25^th November 2020

 

Saint Basil once gave a beautiful reflection concerning God’s care for us through His angels. He wrote:

‘Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd

 leading him to life.’    

In our biblical journey today we encounter the angel of the Lord doing just as Saint Basil described – protecting and shepherding. The two chapters we are looking at are Genesis 16 and 21. As always let us invoke the aid of God the Holy Spirit. 

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Come, O Holy Spirit,

and fill us with the gifts of knowledge and wisdom.

Strengthen us, we pray, with heavenly grace,

so that we may grasp with our minds,

treasure in our hearts,

and carry out in our deeds,

all the teachings of your Holy Book

which lead to salvation.

Amen.

 

Patience is a virtue, so the saying goes. However, waiting can be tiresome and frustrating and though God had promised Abram that he would be the father of many descendants, in fact as many as the stars in the sky, Sara his wife became impatient.

‘So Sara said to Abram, ‘Listen, now! Since the Lord God has kept me from having children, go to my slave girl. Perhaps I shall get children through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sara had said.’ (Gn. 16:2)

 

Hagar conceived a child by Abram successfully but Sara began to feel that her servant was getting above her station and being disrespectful towards her. After all, Hagar had done want her mistress had been unable to do. This as you will have read infuriated Sara who brought her grievance to her husband and was given the response:

 ‘‘Very well,’ Abram said to Sara ‘your slave girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit.’’ (Gn. 16:6)

Hagar was unable to take the bad treatment that she received at the hands of Sara and ran away. During her escape she met the angel of the Lord who called her by her name. In God’s eyes Hagar was not a slave or an outcast but a daughter who like all His creation was precious in His eyes and valued. Through the angel, God gave Hagar the same promise that he gave Abraham, saying that she would be the mother of a great nation and that she should return to the home of Abram and Sara.

 

‘Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave to the son that Hagar bore the name Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.’ (Gn.16:15-16)

 

The name Ishmael means ‘God hears’ . No doubt when Abram called his son this name he honestly thought the Lord had heard his cries of hope for a son and had fulfilled His promise to begin making Abram’s descendants as many as the stars. However, if Abram and Sara had been a little more patient they would soon see how God was really going to fulfil His promise. By reading chapter 21 you will have already seen that God’s promise became a reality in the miracle of Isaac.

 

‘The Lord dealt kindly with Sara as he had said, and did what he had promised her. So Sara conceived and bore a son to Abram in his old age, at the time God had promised.’ (Gn. 21:1-2)

 

All initially seemed well in the patriarch’s household. Hagar had Ishmael and Sara had Isaac, however, this peace was not to last. When Sara saw Ishmael playing with Isaac she demanded that Abram dismiss her slave girl and child from their home. She was worried that Isaac may not receive his father’s full inheritance and would have to share with Ishmael if they remained attached to the household.

Abram was reluctant to throw Hagar and their son out of his house because after all Ishmael was his first born. The Lord reassured him that all would be well and Abram prepared some provisions for Hagar and Ishmael to take with them on their journey into the wilderness. However, disaster strikes - 

‘When the skin of water was finished she abandoned the child under a bush. Then she went and sat down at a distance, about a bowshot away, saying to herself, ‘I cannot see the child die’. So she sat at a distance; and the child wept and wailed.’ (Gn. 21:15-16)

 

Yet again God sent His angel when Hagar needed help. This angel of the Lord revealed God’s mercy and loving plan. He opened Hagar’s eyes so that she could see a well to fetch water and revive her son as well as reminding her of the promise He had made. ‘… I will make him in to a great nation.’ (Gn. 21:18)

Through Ishmael, Abram is seen as the father of the Arab peoples and the patriarch for Islam. There is a shrine associated with Abram and Ishmael that Muslims consider to be an important place called Kaaba.  

 

As time passed Ishmael grew up to become a mighty warrior and married an Egyptian woman. His descendants became so great that they formed 12 tribes. Not the 12 tribes of Israel but the 12 tribes who were to be the enemies of Israel. (see Gn. 25)

 

Life can be brutal and hard. There are times when we find ourselves confronting unexpected situations and having to engage with events that are beyond our control. Hagar had to suffer the injustices of her mistress because of jealousy and suspicion; Sara had to deal with the crisis of faith that maybe God was not going to fulfil His promise of giving her children; and Abram had to wrestle with his conscience through an emotional minefield of worry and anxiety about his family.  The common thread of hope that weaved its way throughout the ups and downs of Abram, Sara and Hagar’s lives was God Himself. Without Him there was no hope, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, there was no future.   

 

As we saw a few weeks ago in the solemn covenant that the Lord made with Abram, He promised to be his God and make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky. This hope was made real in God’s gift of Isaac. Hagar found herself an outcast and refugee with no future. God gave her hope in the ministrations of His angel who not only helped with her practical needs, but also promised her a family, a future and a hope that would be made real in Ishmael and his descendants. Finally Sara who saw her world disintegrating with no sign of children and a slave ousting her from her position was given the concrete hope in God’s gift of her son Isaac.

 

Brothers and sisters know that whatever predicament or situation we find ourselves in, the Lord God is never far away. He sends His angels to watch over us, His saints to pray for us and His Son Jesus Christ to be with us, for all time.

 

‘Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food, or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked.’ (Rm. 8:35) 

 

God Bless and keep praying

Fr. O’Brien

Pastoral Letter : For the Feast of Christ The King 2020

 

Thursday 19th November 2020

 

Thursday 19^th November 2020

Dear brothers and sisters,

            An iceberg is deceptive as the picture below demonstrates. On the surface of the water it appears only as a fraction of its size. Dive below and you will be shocked to see how much more of it there really is!

 

The iceberg is a good image to illustrate what is taking place around us at this very moment in time. On the surface we are living through a second lockdown. People are working from home, certain businesses are closed and ‘normal’ everyday life has been interrupted – again! The world around is a little more quiet and subdued. However, look below the surface.

 

Look below the surface and you will see that there are carers still nursing behind closed doors. Look below the surface and you will see that there are still neighbours looking out for those on their street, in their flats and next door. There are still good Samaritans, unseen to the world, who are still shopping for those who are vulnerable. There are still anonymous friendly voices picking up phones and chatting about this and that with those who are isolated and lonely. Look below the surface and you will see those people of prayer still picking up their rosaries, not in cathedrals or churches, but in the sanctuary of their homes and praying for rich and poor, saint and sinner,  family and friends. Look below the surface and you will see on our streets and in our towns faceless and unknown people continuing to live, work and pray for the world. Like the image of the iceberg, we may not be able to initially see these people and their actions, but if we look closely we will be pleasantly surprised!

 

I have no doubt that there will be recognition, honours, awards and public adulation for the many brave and selfless acts that individuals and groups have done during these days of the Coronavirus pandemic. There will be many people whose roles and actions, no matter how great or small, will never be known. Either way for us, as disciples of the Lord, anything we do should be done with pure hearts and for Him and Him alone. As St. Matthew’s Gospel reminds us, Jesus said that whatever we do to the least of our brethren we do to Him.

 

‘For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me...I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.’ (Mt 25: 35, 40)

 

All our actions are just outward expressions of faith, faith rooted in the love of Jesus Christ, and done in service of Him our Lord. What will you do today? Who will you serve?                               

           

Second Government Lockdown

As you will have seen from the statement given by the Bishops Conference of England and Wales,  acts of public worship are still temporarily suspended following government directives. However churches have been given permission to open for private prayer. Thanks to those parishioners who have generously come forward as volunteer stewards St. Mary’s Church continues to be open for private prayer on Wednesdays and Saturdays 9:30am-10:30am.

 

Safeguarding

This week I completed a module in safeguard training with other priests of the diocese entitled ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing’. It was facilitated by Pat Jones-Greenhalgh who is a social worker by profession, working in health care and dementia awareness. As we can all appreciate the Covid-19 pandemic has created new challenges for communities especially in regards to mental health. Let’s continue to hold those who are suffering and isolated in our prayers. Our Lady of Oswaldtwistle, pray for us.

 

Thank You

As always thank you to our volunteer cleaners, gardeners and stewards. These parishioners have helped to continue the life of St. Mary’s during the pandemic. Also thank you to John Hughes. Without his maintenance of the parish website I would be struggling to communicate with so many parishioners and as I’m finding out many people beyond Oswaldtwistle!   

 

Health and Safety

Before the first lockdown the diocese had initiated a new health and safety programme so that every parish would meet the high standards expected by government legislation. Ian Tracey, one of the diocesan health and safety officers, visited St. Mary’s at the beginning of the year and compiled a report. A number of things have been flagged up and with the help of Berni McGuinness, the parish secretary, we have been able to address those issues as best we can under global circumstances.

Fire Safety Report (Wyvern Safety Solutions), Electrical Assessment (P. Edmundson), Asbestos Report (R B Asbestos Consultants) and of course my favourite topic – Tree Report (R. Longley & Hyndburn Borough Council) and CCTV cameras maintenance (Mono Security). In line with Salford Diocesan Health and Safety procedure more reports are due and of course when faults are found, I am realising very quickly, money is needed to rectify the issues. Again Our Lady of Oswaldtwistle, pray for us.

 

Sacramental Programme: Confession and Holy Communion

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed a lot of our usual routine events and this includes the sacramental programme. I feel very strongly that those young people who are actively engaged with the parish should be able to receive Our Lord and therefore, adapting to new circumstances, I’m beginning the new programme. If you live in the parish of St. Mary’s and have a baptised Roman Catholic child who is seven years old + and you believe that they are ready to begin preparation for the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion then please do contact me before the end of November. The sacramental programme at St. Mary’s is through the parish and not the schools. Mass attendance and full active participation in the life of the parish is just automatically assumed because Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is both the ‘object and means of our faith’ (St. Peter Julian Eymard). Without an active relationship with Our Lord, with out regularly being in His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, our faith can never grow nor can we truly know Him and Jesus wants us to know Him. Why? Because he has Good News for us!                     

       

November Souls List

November is traditionally that time when, as Roman Catholics, we pray for those who have died. Over the last two years we have had an All Souls box placed in front of the Altar where people have been able to put the names of their deceased loved ones in. This year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are going to dedicate a page of our parish website for people to pray for the repose of the souls of those who have died. Throughout the month of November those names will remain on the website under the ‘Prayer’ box of the homepage. If you would like to submit the names of family and friends who have died please see the parish website www.saintmarysoswaldtwistle.co.uk      

and click on the box that says ‘November Souls Remembrance Submissions’. I will be celebrating a number of private Requiem Masses for all those names on the list during November.    

 

Parish Online Advent Calendar

Advent is one of my favourite liturgical seasons. There is a sense of expectancy and a feeling of hope which of course is realised in the birth of Our Lord. There has been the idea that we could do a St. Mary’s Parish Advent Calendar. This would involve each day a reflection/prayer/story/memory etc. being posted on the website. What would make this parish advent calendar unique is that each day the prayer/reflection/thought/story etc. would be from you the parishioners. Everybody in our parish family has words and stories of hope to share that could help others during these difficult winter months. Do not worry about spelling or punctuation – you have all put up with my poor grammar for the last eight months most graciously! You may want to write a poem, retell a story, compose a prayer or recall times past at St. Mary’s etc. There is no exact word limit and if you wish you can remain anonymous. If a theme is needed then I would simply say look to the baby born in the manger who brought the world hope and love. Have a think and do email me at sean.obrien@dioceseofsalford.org.uk 

Thank you to those people who have already submitted various memories and poems so far. More are always welcomed.   

 

God Bless and keep praying

Our Lady of Oswaldtwistle, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Fr. O’Brien

         

 

 

 

Sunday 15th November 2020 - St. Joseph, Patron of a Happy Death

 

St. Joseph, Patron of a Happy Death

Sunday 15^th November 2020

Since we are in the month of November, for us as Roman Catholics the month dedicated to the Holy Souls, I thought it was important to reflect upon those uncomfortable subjects –

 Death and Dying. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, famously said:

 ‘Certainty? In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!’

 

A person would be hard pushed to argue against these facts. Yet, though generally most people have accepted the obligation of paying tax many still refuse to acknowledge the reality of death. When I was a curate there was a parishioner who claimed that they were the most northern of all northerners and the most Lancastrian of all Lancastrians. They were proud to say things as they saw them and to call ‘a shovel a shovel!’ However, when it came to death they became quite sheepish and would skirt around the subject and call it anything other than what it was. ‘They’ve passed on, moved over, no longer with us…’. That proud, self-confident individual withered away into a timid and uncertain person when it came to death and dying.

Death is not a nice subject because fundamentally it’s about loss. How many of us have experienced the death of a loved one? How many of us can still picture where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news? How many of us wept, became angry or simply refused to accept what had happened? How many of us remember that pain, that emptiness that sudden realisation that so and so was gone? How many of us still feel bereft no matter how long ago that person died? How many of us have those wounds of grief, those scars of loss that over time may have become a little numb yet still are very much present and real? No matter how politically correct the phrases about dying are or how much the world tries to keep death at bay by masking it or ignoring it, the reality is it’s still very much present.

‘The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of death. In the ancient litany of the saints, for instance, she has us pray: “From sudden and unforeseen death, deliver us, O Lord,” to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us “at the hour of our death” in the Hail Mary; and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death.’

(Catechism of the Catholic Church #1014)

Our faith as Roman Catholics, our prayers and devotions, our culture and spirituality, as the above quote from the catechism reminds us, never shies away from death. It is a truth and a reality that we face. It does not take away the anxiety, the sadness or the grief of death and dying but our faith in Jesus Christ gives us the hope to confront it.

‘Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection.

If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?’ (Jn 11:25-26)

 Each time we stand at the graveside or are seated at the crematorium death is their staring us directly in the face. Death is staring at us in our pain and loss, but as disciples we can stare right back. Why? Because the Lord has reminded us that death is not the end, the final curtain, the full stop. Jesus Christ Our Lord died that we might live, he descended into hell and rose again on the third day, he has destroyed the permanence of death for ever!

I know the Lord rose from the dead, I believe truly in his resurrection and the life he promised in the world to come yet there are still times when I feel tense about it. Why? Because I don’t always live well and if I don’t live well then how can I die well. To attempt to explain this a little more clearly look at the picture below.

 

It’s a painted stone carving from a church depicting the death of St. Joseph. The artist shows a man during the moments of his last few breaths. He is frail, weak and vulnerable. The strong working carpenter, the faithful devoted husband and energetic loving foster father is now reduced to a mass of flesh and bone. Yet this dreaded moment is filled with light and hope in the persons of Christ and our Blessed Mother Mary.

 St. Joseph lived well. He listened attentively to God and readily obeyed:

‘When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord told him to do...’

(Mt 1:24).

St. Joseph wholeheartedly embraced Mary and Jesus and took them into his home, into his heart:

‘...he took his wife to his home.’ (Mt 1:24a);

‘He [Jesus] went down with them (Mary & Joseph) and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.’ (Lk 2:51).

St. Joseph showed love and devotion to the family that God had given him through his constant vigilance and protection.

 ‘So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him,

left that night for Egypt’ (Mt 2:14).

St. Joseph never neglected his duty of worshipping and giving thanks to God:

 ‘...[Joseph] took him  [Jesus] up to Jerusalem...observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves...’ (Lk 2:22-23).

‘Every year his parents used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.’

(Lk 2:41).

All the above Gospel verses allow us to see that St. Joseph was a holy man who lived a holy life. In other words he lived well because he lived for God. Therefore at the end of his earthly life he died as he had lived – in the presence of God. St. Joseph’s death was marked by the holiness of the life he lived which was always for Jesus and Mary. When he took his last breath there was Christ the Son holding his hand and Our Lady, his spouse, praying next to him. What peace, reassurance and consolation he must have received during those last anxious and painful moments.

 I know I will die. I know that in the future there will be a headstone that will read:

 

‘Of your charity please pray for the repose of the soul of

Fr. Seán O’Brien, Priest

who went to God on ??/??/??

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord...’

 My prayer is not to stop the inevitable arrival of death at my door but to die well. To die like St. Joseph, blessed in the same peace he received, with Our Lord and Mary close by me. For that to happen I have to keep trying to live better, to love better, to forgive better, to pray better and most importantly to try to be holy better.

 

Let us turn to St. Joseph this November, this month of the Holy Souls, and ask his intercession that we never lose faith in Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord, who is our sure and certain hope.

 God Bless and keep praying

Fr. O’Brien

 

Prayer to St. Joseph for a Happy Death

O Blessed Joseph, you gave your last breath in the loving embrace of Jesus and Mary. When the seal of death shall close my life, come with Jesus and Mary to aid me. Obtain for me this solace for that hour - to die with their holy arms around me. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I commend my soul, living and dying, into your sacred arms. Amen.