St Francis of Assisi, Baddesley Clinton

 [Archdiocese of Birmingham: Registered Charity No. 234216]

 

Fr John Sharp                               www.sfachurch.co.uk                          01564 782498

Third Sunday of Lent                                                                               7th March 2010

 

PARISH LITURGY – MASS TIMES and INTENTIONS

 

Saturday           6.00 pm           People of the Parish

            Sunday             9.30 am            Sr Felicity’s Intentions

 

Second Collection for the Missions

 

Monday [Lenten Feria]

9.00 am                                    Intentions of Members of the Silsby Family

 

Tuesday [Lenten Feria]

9.00 am                                    Well-being of Tom Sullivan

 

Wednesday [Lenten Feria]

9.00 am                                    Special Intention

 

Thursday [Lenten Feria]

10.30 am                                  Funeral Mass of Nora McStraw

 

Friday [Lenten Feria]

9.00 am                                    Tom Maguire

7.00 pm                                   Stations of the Cross

 

Saturday [Lenten Feria]

9.00 am                                    Intentions of members of the Fuller Family

 

Confessions:                             Saturday, 4.30-5.00 pm

   

Please pray for the sick in our parish and those who have died: Sr Gertrude; Philomena Mary Dalmaine; Canon Raymond Walsh (former parish priest) (anniversaries).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Welcome to Fr John Clarke of the Verona Fathers/Comboni Missionaries, who will be making a Mission Appeal at both the Sunday Masses.

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Last Week’s Collection: £427.73.  Second Collection: £219.05.  Thank you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes will be from 29th May to 5th June.  Booking forms are available in the church porch.  Application forms for sick pilgrims are obtainable from Miss Elizabeth McDonald, 210 Somerville Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, B10 9HB.

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How could the Lord Jesus bring himself to suffer at the hands of men?  After all, he is the Lord of all the earth, the one through whom men themselves were made in the image of God’s image.  Even if he was willing to suffer as a mark of his love for us, how could it happen?  Would this not detract from his power and dignity?

The answer, as one would expect, is to be found in the Scriptures.  The prophets, inspired by the Lord himself, foretold his coming as man, since if he were to destroy death and bring in eternal life it was essential that he should take upon himself human flesh.  And to take on human flesh involves suffering: the two are virtually indistinguishable.  Has there ever been a human being who went through life without suffering?

But it was not just a matter of accepting the inevitable.  The Lord chose to suffer, so that he could fulfil God’s promises to our ancestors by revealing the depth of his love for them, suffering and dying for us and then raising us as he was raised, drawing together a new people of God.

And the clearest evidence of the extent of that love is his choice of the apostles.  Rather than choose only the reliable, the honest and the dependable, he went for some men who were unstable and even dishonest.  As he said himself, he did not come to call saints, but sinners.

 

Epistle to Barnabas (c. 120 A.D.)