Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 6th November, 2022.Cycle C
St John the Evangelist
128 Bebington Road, New Ferry, CH62 5BJ
Diocese of Shrewsbury (reg. charity 234025)
Parish Priest: Fr Mario Ashuikeka and Fr Emmanuel Chukwujekwu
Deacon: Revd Michael Daly Phone: 0151 645 3314
Email stjohntheevangelist@gmail.com Websites http://www.stjohntheevangelistnewferry.com www.lpa24.org
The Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 6th November 2022. Cycle C
FAITH IN FOCUS: WILL MY DOG BE IN HEAVEN?
Jesus had less than a week to live when the events of today’s gospel took place. So it’s perhaps not surprising for him to be talking about life after death and teaching against the Sadducees that there is a resurrection that all created flesh will share in. Because the Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection they tried to trick Jesus into giving a stupid answer to their farcical case of a woman who was the surviving widow of her husband and six brothers-in-law. Whose wife would she be in heaven?
Yet this is the sort of question that many people ask even today. Will my dog be with me in heaven? Will I recognise people I’ve known here on earth? What will happen if I come face to face with someone who’s been my sworn enemy? What about my best friend who doesn’t believe in God? And what if I don’t like it?!
Perhaps the first thing that we must say about heaven is that it’s the fulfilment of all our desires and yearnings for God. Jesus enticed his listeners by saying that no eye had seen nor ear heard what God has in store for us. It goes far beyond what we could ever imagine or hope for. We see God face to face and as we gaze on his glory we are moved to the profoundest level of love, a love which leaves no room for any kind of emptiness or regret.
The second thing that we need to remember is that God is eternal, just like the life he offers us. We necessarily live in time but God’s eternal nature means that he experiences infinity at every moment; in fact “moment” is too restricting for a God who exists free from the boundaries of time. After our resurrection we share in that “instantaneousness” of God. We are caught up in the immediacy of God. There is no yesterday or tomorrow about heaven. It’s an eternal “now”.
When we view heaven in this way we realise that many of our questions and difficulties about it are simply man-made and woman-inspired. We naturally have a tendency to tie things down to our own experience of reality. Yet today Jesus tells us that the afterlife is radically different from some of the ways we conceive of it. That’s why he says that the Lord is God not of the dead but of the living: for to God all people are in fact alive.
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ENTRANCE ANTIPHON: Let my prayer come into your presence. Incline your ear to my cry for help O Lord.
RESPONSE TO THE PSALM: I shall be filled when I awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord
GOSPEL ACCLAIMATION: Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to stand with confidence before the Son of Man. Alleluia
COMMUNION ANTIPHON: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives you repose, near restful waters he leads me.
Please continue to support Fr Mario and Fr Emmanuel with your prayers as they use their gifts to minister to us to help to make us one big faithful, Christ centred welcoming community.
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Devotions/Adoration: From now on, unless advised otherwise, Saturday Morning Devotions will be prayed in Church (the Rosary, Divine Mercy and Divine Praises) from 10:30am to 11:30am each Saturday morning.
Fr Mario will be available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Saturday Morning Devotions at 10.30-11.00am. All most welcome.
If you have any queries or ideas, please continue to contact Deacon Mike Daly on 07542463319 or Carol Dalziel on 07808975011 on any Parish matters, or if you wish to arrange a Baptism, Wedding or Funeral. Mike Daly has been sending out his Homilies each week to many of you since the Covid Lockdown first started. He has now stopped this and instead they will be printed on the Parish Website which everyone can access from 1st November. We will publish log in details in the coming weeks.
Mass Intentions If you would like to have a Mass said for your own or someone else’s intentions please fill in one of the Mass offering envelopes at the back of Church, place a donation in it & put it through the presbytery letterbox. Thank you.
Please continue to keep all of our sick parishioners in your thoughts and prayers.
Children's Liturgy is now taking place during the 9.30am Mass, all are welcome.
Tea and Coffee after 9.30am Mass each Sunday. To be held in the Meeting Room through the Music Store Room, but the exit will now be via the front door of the house. All are welcome.
Last Weeks’ Offertory Collection amounted to £516.01p. Thank you. Please try to be as generous as you can to our parish in these difficult times.
Fr. Paschal’s special collection for Haiti amounted to £631.00p. Many thanks for your generosity. A cheque will be sent to the particular Haiti charity of Fr Paschal’s choice.
If you know of any St John's parishioners, who would welcome a home visit by members of the S.V.P, please email St John's with details and we will pass on the information, which is treated confidentially, to Steve Bell, President of St John's SVP. Please ask the person or persons involved if they would like a visit before passing on their details. Many thanks stjohntheevabgelist@gmail.com
The Loop System in the church is now fully operational. To benefit, please set your hearing aid to the "T" setting and adjust your volume as appropriate.
There is a Prayer Intention Book on the table at the back of the church. Please enter your intentions and the Book will be brought to the altar on the first Sunday of each month.
Mother’s Prayers - Please see the poster about this group of mothers from our parish who meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 7pm, to pray for their children and grandchildren and offer each other support. The next meeting is Tuesday 16th November then Tuesday 20th December. All most welcome.
Advent Day by Day booklets containing daily readings throughout Advent are on the table at the back of church. They are £1 but free to take a copy and if you are able to, please leave a donation in the Books and Cards Box by the card table.
Advent Reflection – 10am– 1pm, Saturday 26th November in Saint Paul’s church, Farmfield Drive, Birkenhead. The reflection consists of two talks with space for personal quiet reflection & group discussion, Mass at 12pm with adoration until 1pm and the opportunity to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. Our Advent Reflection will be led by Canon Niall Mullaley the Parish Priest of Saint Philip Neri parish here in Birkenhead. For more information contact Fr Michael Coughlan Parish Priest – Holy Cross, Our Lady & Saint Paul, Our Lady’s Presbytery, Cavendish Street, Birkenhead 0151 652 1074.
Clergy Education & Training Fund: Your support of the Clergy Education & Training Fund is essential if we are to continue to support the cost of training Seminarians and Deacons, and to meet the ongoing training of Clergy required to meet the various needs of Parishes and the Diocese. We ask everyone to give generously in order that we can meet these costs. There will be a retiring collection over the weekend of 12th/13th November. Thank you for your continued support towards the training of our future priests and deacons. There will be a basket at the back of church.
‘Discernment of Gifts and Service – “Your Role and Mission in the Church” A day of reflection, prayer, fellowship, teaching and workshops to help you know how you can best use your gifts in the service of God and neighbour. Run by the diocesan Mission for Catechesis team and Dominican Sisters of St Joseph at St Alban’s Parish Hall, Macclesfield, Saturday 26th November, 10am-5pm. Please bring a packed lunch. To book contact lisa.martinez@dioceseofshrewsbury.org
Fr Mario has made available during November a Booklet entitled “Chaplet to the Faithful Departed “They are free to take but if you are able to please leave a donation in the Books and Cards box on the card table.
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The Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday 6th
5.00pm Bernard McGuigan RIP (KSC)
9.30am Gerard Elliott
11.00am Ellen Kettle RIP
7.30pm Prayer Meeting
Monday 7th
9.15am Deceased Relatives/Friends of Moore Family
Tuesday 8th
9.15am Ints Del Bennet
Wednesday 9th
9.15am Kate & Ted Elliott
Thursday 10th
7.00pm St John’s & St Luke’s Parishes
Friday 11th
9.15am Ints Maeve Dana
Saturday 12th
10:30am Devotions - Rosary, Divine Mercy & Divine Praises
The Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday 13th
5.00pm All Victims of War & Conflict
9.30am Tony Weedon 80th Birthday Ints
11.00am Robert Connell L.D.
7.30pm Prayer Meeting
———————————————————————————————————————————— Wirral Foodbank: All donations need to be non-perishable, please refer to the list on the notice board of items urgently needed. Please continue to support this as much as you can in these difficult times.
Please take a copy of the Parish Newsletter for anyone else who would appreciate receiving a copy. Also, there is a selection of cards in the Card Rack; please put money in the box provided.
If you have a notice for the bulletin, please email it to the parish email address or put it through the presbytery letter box by 12 noon on Wednesdays. Many thanks.
Asylum Link Merseyside is holding its first fundraising concert since COVID on Friday 18th November at 7pm in St Anne's Overbury Street. Acts include Hayley Kincade, Neil Campbell and Billy Hughes and the Scottish & Irish Pipers, and the ALM and Wavertree Community Gospel Choirs. Tickets are £5 at the door or from info@asylumlink.org.uk or call on 0151 709 1713.
AT LAST WE ARE LIVE!! St John’s Website is live from 1st November. It is still in the early stages. Take a look at the information and graphics. Many thanks to Claudia Fryer who has been a great help in creating the website and helping us to go live.
