Dear Friends,
Today we enter into the wonderful celebration of Holy Week. The Church gives us this opportunity to focus particularly on the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It does this because in these events is revealed the coming of God to us to bring about the transformation of the world. In the richness of Christian worship and celebration, we walk in Jesus’ steps from joyful entry (today), to controversy, betrayal and farewell (Monday to Thursday) to death (Friday) and to resurrection (Saturday night and Sunday).
Remember that walking with Jesus during this week is possible only because Jesus walked with us. We can follow in his footsteps only because he stood in our shoes and knows our pain, our grief, our fears and even the darkness of death. Yet we are confident that the journey is worth taking. We know how the week will end. God raises Jesus from the dead, exalts him to be our living Lord, and enables us to rise along with him to eternal life. In the meantime we need not hasten through the week to find the good news. It is already good that God has provided for us a living Lord who knows our sorrows and is present with us in the darkness of our lives.
Our liturgical programme for this week is carefully prepared, very full, and very rich. I hope that you can participate fully in it and that it will be a blessing for you. I also hope that you will invite others to take part. We welcome visitors from near and far, and trust that they will feel at home in this community of faith.
Today we are celebrating the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem to confront the authorities. We mark this with the procession from the school to the church, and the reading of the Passion according to Mark. Tonight at 7:00 pm we shall join in the Solemn Stations of the Cross to the music of Liszt’s Via Crucis, provided by our choir and organist. Our whole celebration will be enriched with their wonderful music, as it will be through the participation and hard work of so many of you, in your different ways.
On Saturday morning there will be a working bee to prepare for the celebration, and on Saturday evening after the Easter Vigil and Mass there will be an Easter party. It would be appreciated if you could bring some light nibbles or a drink to share.
Above all, let us enter this week with prayer and deep yearning for God’s way of righteousness and peace to be evident among us.
May God bless you all.
Peter Williams
Acknowledgement: Bosco, Helen, and Jonathan Peters are deeply thankful for the thoughtfulness of so many since Catherine died. Through kind words, hugs, flowers, gifts to Oxfam, prayers, recalling stories, baking, and practical help, so many people have shared in this great loss and are supporting us in it. Together we share our gratefulness for the years with our gorgeous, smiling, vivacious, quirky, kind-hearted Catherine. Thank you for supporting, remembering, and celebrating, and for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Please accept this as a personal expression of our thanks.
Readings for Holy Week
Monday Isaiah 42: 1–7 John 12: 1–11
Tuesday Isaiah 49: 1–6 John 13: 21–38
Wednesday Isaiah 50: 4–9 Matthew 26: 14–25
Thursday Exodus 12: 1–14 1 Corinthians 11: 23–26 John 13: 1–15
Friday Isaiah 52: 13–53: 12 Hebrews 4: 14–16, 5: 7–9 John 18 & 19
Saturday Exodus 14: 15–15: 1 Romans 6: 3–11 Mark 16: 1–7
