Evangelium Conference

Registration is open for the ninth Evangelium weekend residential conference on the theme of explaining the Catholic faith in the modern world, 29 – 31 July 2016.

Set in the beautiful grounds of the Oratory School in Reading, the acclaimed Evangelium Conference combines a unique weekend break with the opportunity to learn more about the Catholic faith, assisting participants to live, share, and defend the faith today. Talks and workshops are combined with daily Mass, Eucharistic adoration, and social events. The conference is intended especially for young Catholics age 18 – 35.

For  more details, and to book please visit the Evangelium website

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Christ washing Peter's feet, Ford Maddox Brown

“I give you a new commandment: love one another.

As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

As many commentators have pointed out, the command of love by itself is not new. The Old Testament already commanded one to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18). What is new here is to love as Jesus has loved, which is to love more than self.

The community of disciples that Jesus has formed and is forming, which can also be called “the Church” and “the Kingdom,” should be marked by this love:

“This is how all will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.”

Icon of the Last Supper

We see here how love is tied to evangelism: “This how all will know ... if you have love.” This is a truth we tend to forget. When we take up efforts for evangelization, we tend to think of strategies for outreach, of door-to- door canvassing, rallies, crusades, passing out brochures, parish missions, etc. All of things are fine, but more fundamental is whether the local Christian community actually demonstrates love for each other.

Is our local parish a community of love, or a religious centre where people greet each other in passing while heading in or out of worship? Is it any wonder, then, that the world doesn’t recognize us as the disciples of Jesus?

It is a hard saying. We have a great deal to do in order to implement our Lord’s command this day.

The latest version of our newsletter can be found here.

Fourth Sunday of Easter

The Good Shepherd, Bernhard Plockhurst

Good Shepherd Sunday

"Jesus said: ‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.’" Christ Himself is the Good Shepherd, who knows each one of His sheep, who gives His life for them and snatches them from the jaws of the marauding wolf. He is the true shepherd who fulfils Ezekiel's prophecy foretelling for Israel a shepherd from the end of time who was to deliver his people.

Christ's sheepfold is the Church. In the Church He bestows on us His life in the Sacraments, His word in the teaching that she gives us, all the riches of His grace to light up our way and uphold our steps as we go forward to our heavenly home; through her He acts as the one Shepherd of our souls. Appointed to lead the flock, Peter gave his life for those entrusted to his care, and ever since then the priestly ministry has assured the continuous presence in the Church of Him who remains the true Shepherd of our souls.

Mosaic from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna

The Fourth Sunday of Easter marks the 53rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1964. Parishes are especially encouraged to include prayers for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. We give thanks for all those who have given their lives to the Priesthood and ask that young men will continue to answer God’s calling so that Christ’s sheep may be nourished from the Lord’s table. May Our Lady of Vocations inspire vocation in many young people today.

The latest version of our newsletter can be found here.

Calendar of Events

We are offering a number of events in the coming months of this year of mercy. An elegant, printable, version of this calendar may be found here. A list of the most imminent of these events will appear in the left hand side-bar (non-mobile version).

8th May: Feast of the Ascension

15th May: Feast of Pentecost

22nd May: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, followed by Brunch

29th May: Feast of Corpus Christi

9th July: Group Pilgrimage to Arundel

15th August: Assumption of the B.V.M.

18th September: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, followed by Brunch

8th October: National Ordinariate Pilgrimage to Birmingham

28th-30th October: Reading Ordinariate Weekend Pilgrimage to Walsingham

27th November: First Sunday of Advent

Third Sunday of Easter

'Christ's charge to Peter' (Raphael)

There are two places in Scripture where the curious detail of a “charcoal fire” is mentioned. One is in today’s Gospel, where the Apostles return from fishing to find bread and fish warming on the fire. The other is in the scene in the High Priest’s courtyard on Holy Thursday, where Peter and some guards and slaves warm themselves while Jesus is being interrogated inside (see John 18:18). At the first fire, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, as Jesus had predicted (see John 13:38; 18:15-18, 25-27).

The Denial of Peter (Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1873)

Today’s charcoal fire becomes the scene of Peter’s repentance, as three times Jesus asks him to make a profession of love. Jesus’ thrice repeated command “Feed My sheep” shows that Peter is being appointed as the Shepherd of the Lord’s entire flock, the head of his Church (see also Luke 22:32). Jesus’ question: “Do you love me more than these?” is a pointed reminder of Peter’s pledge to lay down his life for Jesus, even if the other Apostles might weaken (see John 13:37; Matthew 26:33; Luke 22:33).

Jesus then explains just what Peter’s love and leadership will require, foretelling Peter’s death by crucifixion (“you will stretch out your hands”). Before his own death, Jesus had warned the Apostles that they would be hated as he was hated, that they would suffer as he suffered (see Matthew 10:16-19,22; John 15:18-20; 16:2).

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (Ventura Salimbeni)

In Greek there are several different words translated by the one English word love. C.S. Lewis wrote wittily about them in “The Four Loves”. There is Storgé (affection) the quiet liking you might have for a neighbour who is agreeable and with whom you occasionally share a pleasantry. There is eros, a sensual or erotic love, the kind of love that can bond a couple along with their friendship and often leads to marriage. Then there is philia, meaning friendship, the admiring companionship we feel toward people with whom we share some significant interests. Finally there is agapé, which is largely generous and self-giving love, even when there is nothing tangible to be gained. (These are just generalised definitions and are not verified in every case for each of these terms). Like Peter, God wants us to love him. Can we do that in the sense of agape love – unselfish, all-giving? It is tough but we must work at truly loving God.

As usual our latest Newsletter can be found by following the link the left-hand sidebar, or here.

Easter Sunday

Easter is the greatest feast in the Christian calendar. On this Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. For us, Easter Sunday comes at the end of 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in Lent. Through spiritual struggle and self-denial, we have prepared ourselves to die spiritually with Christ on Good Friday, the day of His Crucifixion, so that we can rise again with Him in new life on Easter.

Easter is a day of celebration because it represents the fulfilment of our faith as Christians. St. Paul wrote that, unless Christ rose from the dead, our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:17). Through his death, Christ saved mankind from bondage to sin, and He destroyed the hold that death has on all of us; but it is His Resurrection that gives us the promise of new life, both in this world and the next.

That new life began on Easter Sunday. In the Our Father, we pray that "Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven." And Christ told His disciples that some of them would not die until they saw the Kingdom of God "coming in power" (Mark 9:1). The early Christian Fathers saw Easter as the fulfilment of that promise. With the resurrection of Christ, God's Kingdom is established on earth, in the form of the Church.

Today we remember our New Life in Christ through the renewal of our Baptismal Promises. Let us also pray for those who throughout the Catholic Church have been received into the Church at this Paschal time.

As usual our latest Newsletter can be found by following the link the left-hand sidebar, or here.

The Easter Vigil

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,

exult, let Angel ministers of God exult,
let the trumpet of salvation
sound aloud our mighty King's triumph!

A picture following the Easter Vigil held at the Oratory school. We were blessed indeed to enter the great season of Easter in such a beautiful chapel.