West Derwentside Catholic Partnership

Throughout the Old Testament God promises to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to Gideon, to Samuel and many more, “I will be with you” and then he presents us with His greatest gift, He comes to live among us so He will always be with us ‘until the end of time’. So no matter what we may be trying to do to make this Christmas special, it will be nothing compared to what God has already done. We are not alone; our Lord is with each of us, we need not be afraid but we must be sure to remove any obstacle that keeps us from Him.

The Church is very clear in Canon Law (the Law of the Church) when it comes to Mass intentions and offerings. We feel it is important for us to explain a change to the system that we inherited, in order to prevent misinterpretation and to bring our practice into line with what is required by Canon Law.

 From his boat in the storm Peter immediately recognises Jesus as the one who saves and so jumps out into the sea to reach Him, but when faced with the gale Peter’s faith falters, he looks down at his feet and begins to sink - but he does not drown. Peter then calls out to the Lord with renewed faith and is saved. Even though overcome by doubt Peter realises no one else could help him and so is moved to a stronger faith. There are lessons here for us all.

Summer is here and even if the sun isn’t always shining it is still lovely to see everything coming into bloom. The vegetables in gardens and allotments also look lush as all the earlier planting comes into fruition. We now see the results of what started as tiny seeds, but only because they were planted in good soil, deep enough to allow sturdy roots to develop. Then the seedlings were watered regularly, fertilised and planted out where they could have enough light, warmth and space to thrive.