The Body & Blood of Christ, Sunday, 2nd June, 2024.cycle B
St John the Evangelist
128 Bebington Road, New Ferry, CH62 5BJ
Diocese of Shrewsbury (reg. charity 234025)
Parish Priest: Fr Mario Ashuikeka
Deacon: Revd Michael Daly Phone: 0151 645 3314
Email stjohntheevangelist@gmail.com Websites http://www.stjohntheevangelistnewferry.com
The Body & Blood of Christ, Sunday, 2nd June, 2024. Cycle B
FAITH IN FOCUS: ON MEDICINE FOR LIFE
There can be nothing sadder than listening to someone who believes that they are not good enough to go to communion. They feel that they are unworthy and they simply stay put in their seat when the rest of the congregation gets up to eat and drink the body and blood of Christ during the celebration of Mass. Of course none of us is good enough. That’s why we say, “Lord, I am not worthy…” just before we approach the altar. We realise that we mere human beings cannot presume to receive such a gift without acknowledging our unworthiness. But beneath this idea of unworthiness there lies a fatal error. Communion is not for good people. It’s not for saints. It’s for people who are not very good, who are sinners but who want to get better. Our feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus et Sanguis Christi) teaches us that communion is not a reward but a medicine.When we eat and drink (both!) Christ’s body and blood we are signing up to be better. Some of the Church’s early hymn-writers used a lovely phrase to describe the Eucharist: they called it food for the journey. An ancient hymn (O, Esca Viatorum: O, Food of Travellers) makes it clear that the Eucharist is not some celebratory picnic on the journey but is the survival rations, the staff of life. At the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist he commanded us to eat and drink and to do this in memory of his death and resurrection. God has made an agreement (a covenant) with us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. He will be our God and we will be his people by ratifying the covenant: by eating and drinking in memory of Jesus. The Eucharist is our way of signing-up again and again to the promises of God, showing our renewed commitment and gratefully receiving God’s gift. Saint Ignatius of Antioch called the Eucharist “the medicine of immortality, the antidote which prevents us from dying so we can live forever in Jesus Christ.” On the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ we share in communion here on earth, and we pray that one day we may be found rejoicing together at the everlasting meal of heaven.
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ENTRANCE ANTIPHON: He fed them with the finest wheat and satisfied them with honey from the rock.
RESPONSE TO THE PSALM: The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION: Alleluia, alleluia! I am the living bread which has come down from heaven, says the Lord. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever Alleluia!
COMMUNION ANTIPHON: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him, says the Lord
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St John’s Junior School children will be making their First Holy Communion next Saturday at 10.00am and 12 Noon. Please keep the children and their families in your prayers as they continue their faith journey.
Devotions/Adoration: Saturday Morning Devotions will be prayed in Church (the Rosary, Divine Mercy & Divine Praises) from 10:30am-11:30am. Fr Mario will be available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation between 10.30 & 11.00am. All are welcome.
Last Weeks’ Offertory Collection: amounted to £523.50p. World Communications Sunday collection amounted to £240.00p. Many thanks for your continued support.
If you have any queries regarding parish matters or if you wish to arrange a Baptism, Wedding or Funeral please contact Fr Mario on 0151-645 3996. You can also get in touch with Carol Dalziel on 07808975011 or Ann Murray on 07745490279 regarding general parish queries.
SJE’s Parish Safeguarding Officer is Celia Daly, who can be contacted on 0151-645 9256 on all safeguarding matters.
Mass Intentions If you would like to have a Mass said for your own or someone else’s intentions , fill in one of the Mass offering envelopes at the back of Church, place a donation in it & put it through the Presbytery letterbox. Please give at least three weeks’ notice as we are receiving a large number of requests for particular dates.
In Memoriam: Please pray all the faithful departed that they may rest in the peace of Christ.
Children's Liturgy – takes place during the 9.30am Mass. All are most welcome.
Wirral Foodbank Appeal: Please help to support our local Foodbank as much as you can with both food & funds. All items urgently needed are listed on the notice board at the back of church. Thank you.
Sunday Morning Teas continue on the first Sunday of each month. Come along for tea/coffee & biscuits whilst enjoying a chat. Sunday 2nd June is the next date.
Other Social activities: We would like some volunteers to join our group to help to arrange various social activities this year. Please ring/text Diane Baylis on 07946916338.
Confirmation 2024 for St John’s & St Anne’s will be held at St Anne’s on Wednesday 27/11 at 7.00pm.
The next Grace Group meeting will take place on Tuesday 11th June, when they will be discussing Sarah & Hagar.
SVP Charity Night in Aid of the Summer Youth Camp: A performance of “The Importance of Being Earnest” will be held at Gladstone Theatre Port Sunlight on Wednesday, 5th June. Tickets £10 can be purchased at the door or from Steve Bell 07854 622522.
Life in the Eucharist for Teens: Sponsored by the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. It will be presented by teens from Cleveland, Ohio, 10am-6.30pm on Saturday, 8th June at the Blessed Sacrament Shrine, 4 Dawson Street, Liverpool L1 1LE. Registration & enquiries to : liverpoolshrine@gmail.com
DIVINE MERCY CELEBRATION AND VENERATION OF 1st CLASS RELIC OF ST FAUSTINA: Led by Fr Peter Prusakiewicz from Poland who travels the world proclaiming and explaining the Divine Mercy devotion and talking about his experience of St Michael the Archangel and Holy Angels, please join us at St Anne's Rock Ferry from 12 o'clock to 2.30pm on Wednesday 19th June for Holy Mass and a talk, followed by a Eucharistic healing service with veneration of a 1st class relic of St FAUSTINA.
There will also be an opportunity to purchase rosaries and the Angels magazine,
This year’s Diocesan Mass for Marriage will take place on Saturday June 8th, 12 noon at Saint Columba’s Church Plas Newton Lane, Chester CH2 1SA. If any of our parishioners are celebrating a special anniversary in 2024, please provide your Names, address & which anniversary you are celebrating (usually – 25, 30, 40, 50, 60 or a 1st wedding anniversary) . IMPORTANT NOTE: Any requests for invitations need to be submitted from St John’s parish office rather than on an individual basis; please email the details to stjohntheevangelist@gmail.com, with Diocesan Mass for Marriage as the email title, & we will forward them. Thank you.
55+ Group will be having a strawberry cream tea and book sale at St Anne’s Parish Centre on Tuesday, 4th June at 12.30pm.
CELEBRATION -On Friday 5th July there will be a thanksgiving Mass for Fr Mario on his 10th year Anniversary as an ordained priest. Our three parishes – St John’s, St Luke’s and St Anne’s will celebrate together. Mass will be at St Anne’s at 7pm, followed by coffee and cake in the presbytery. All most welcome.
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Saturday 1st 9.30am Cenacle Mass
10.30am Devotions – Rosary, Divine Mercy & Divine Praises
5.00pm Mary Turner B.day
The Body & Blood of Christ 2nd 9.30am Gerard Elliott RIP
7.30pm Prayer Meeting
Monday 3rd 9.15am Moira Roberts RIP
Tuesday 4th 9.15am Ints Colette Sarson B.day
7.00pm Novena
Wednesday 5th 9.15am Ints Fr Paschal Byrne
Thursday 6th 7.00pm MASS AT ST ANNE’S ONLY
Friday 7th 9.15am World Peace
Saturday 8th 10.00am First Communion
12 Noon First Communion
5.00pm Nora McCormick Annv.
Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 9th 9.30am Ted Corrigan B.day Rem RIP
3.00pm Benediction
7.30pm Prayer Meeting
Weekend Masses - Please note that the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed immediately before each Mass. Please use this as a time for prayer & quiet devotion. Please enter the church quietly & remain so. Thank you.
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ST ANNE’S WEEKLY MASS INTENTIONS
Saturday 1st 6.30pm Annie McNamara – Get Well
The Body & Blood of Christ 2nd 11.00am Paul Ware (RIP) & Family
Monday 3rd 12 Noon UCM Thanksgiving
Tuesday 4th 12 Noon John, Elizabeth, Letizia, Anne,
Edward and Eddy Healing
Wednesday 5th 12.Noon David and Donna Sp.Int.
Thursday 6th 7.00pm MASS AT ST ANNE’S ONLY
Jean Saunders Get well
Friday 7th 12 Noon All the intentions of the Shackleton Family
Saturday 8th 6.30pm World Peace
Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 9th 11.00am 60 years of Friendship
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Pope Francis’s Prayer Intentions for June:
We pray that migrants fleeing from war or hunger, forced to undertake journeys full of danger and violence, find welcome and new opportunities in the countries that receive them.
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