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Showing posts from 2015

Christmas at St Peter's Eastwood

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A Very Happy Christmas to you all! Mass times  The members of the Southend Ordinariate Mission will be attending parishes where Ordinariate Clergy are presiding. Fr. Lee Bennett celebrates a 7:30 pm. Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve at St John Fisher and a 9am Christmas Day Mass for those who wish to support our 'home-base!' at St John Fisher Catholic Church. Fr. Jeff celebrates masses at   St Peter's, Eastwood  SS9 4BX  24th December-  6pm. Vigil Mass with our young families 10:30-11:30pm Confessions 11:30pm Carols ... 12 Midnight Solemn Mass of the Nativity of the Lord 25 December Christmas Day -of Obligation 8:30 am. Mass of the Dawn 10:15am. Mass of the Day No Evening Mass 26 December-  11am. Mass of St Stephen- protomartyr Sunday 27 December- Feast of the Holy Family  Masses 8:30am. 10:15am & 6pm. Dear friends, Goodness abounds! I recently read with much interest, the Christmas message f

Sunday 20th December 2015

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4th Sunday of Advent Please join us for: 11am. Solemn Mass at St John Fisher Catholic Church Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant: Fr. Jeff Woolnough 7pm. A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols Seasonal Refreshments will be served after the service. A Mother’s Greeting:  Scott Hahn Reflects on the Fourth Sunday of Advent Please Visit      https://stpaulcenter.com Download Audio File Readings: Micah 5:1-4 Psalm 80:2-3 , 15-16 , 18-19 Hebrews 5:5-10 Luke 1:39-45  (see also “The ‘New Ark’”) On this last Sunday before Christmas, the Church's Liturgy reveals the true identity of our Redeemer: He is, as today's First Reading says, the "ruler...whose origin is from...ancient times." He will come from Bethlehem, where David was born of Jesse the Ephrathite and anointed king (see  Ruth 4:11-17 ;  1 Samuel 16:1-13 ;  17:1 ;  Matthew 2:6 ). God promised that an heir of David would reign on his throne forever (s

Sunday 13th December

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Third Sunday of Advent 'Gaudate-Rejoice! 11am Solemn Mass at St. John Fisher Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant: F. Bob White Scott Hahn's Biblical reflection, visit: https://stpaulcenter.com/ Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-18 Isaiah 12:2-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:10-18 The people in today's Gospel are "filled with expectation." They believe John the Baptist might be the Messiah they've been waiting for. Three times we hear their question: "What then should we do?" The Messiah's coming requires every man and woman to choose - to "repent" or not. That's John's message and it will be Jesus' too (see  Luke 3:3 ;  5:32 ;  24:47 ). "Repentance" translates a Greek word, metanoia (literally, "change of mind"). In the Scriptures, repentance is presented as a two-fold "turning" - away from sin (see  Ezekiel 3:19 ;  18:30 ) and toward God (see  Sirach 17:20-21 ;  H

Sunday 6th December

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 SECOND SUNDAY of ADVENT 11 am.  Solemn Mass  at St John Fisher-Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant : Fr. Lee Bennett T he Road Home:  Scott Hahn Reflects on the Second Sunday of Advent https://stpaulcenter.com/reflections/the-road-home-scott-hahn-reflects-on-the-second-sunday-of-advent Readings: Baruch 5:1-9 Psalm 126:1-6 Philippians 1:4-6 , 8-11 Luke 3:1-6 Today's Psalm paints a dream-like scene - a road filled with liberated captives heading home to Zion (Jerusalem), mouths filled with laughter, tongues rejoicing. It's a glorious picture from Israel's past, a "new exodus," the deliverance from exile in Babylon. It's being recalled in a moment of obvious uncertainty and anxiety. But the psalmist isn't waxing nostalgic. Remembering "the Lord has done great things" in the past, he is making an act of faith and hope - that God will come to Israel in its present need, that He'll do even greate

Sunday 29th November 2015

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ADVENT SUNDAY 11 am. Solemn Mass  at St John Fisher-Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant & Preacher: The Ordinary-The Rt. Rev.Keith Newton. Heads Up:  Scott Hahn Reflects on the First Sunday of Advent Visit:  https://stpaulcenter.com Download Audio File Readings: Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:4-5 , 8-10 , 14 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 Luke 21:25-28 ,  34-36 Every Advent, the Liturgy of the Word gives our sense of time a reorientation. There’s a deliberate tension in the next four weeks’ readings - between promise and fulfillment, expectation and deliverance, between looking forward and looking back. In today’s First Reading, the prophet Jeremiah focuses our gaze on the promise God made to David, some 1,000 years before Christ. God says through the prophet that He will fulfill this promise by raising up a “just shoot,” a righteous offspring of David, who will rule Israel in justice (see  2 Samuel 7:16 ;  Jeremiah 33:17 ;  Psal

Sunday 22nd November

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Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King 11 am. Solemn Mass  concluding with Benediction at St. John Fisher Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant: Fr. Lee Bennett      Preacher: Deacon Richard Cerson A Royal Truth: Scott Hahn Reflects  on the Solemnity of Christ the King https://stpaulcenter.com/reflections/a-royal-truth-scott-hahn-reflects-on-the-solemnity-of-christ-the-king Download Audio File Readings: Daniel 7:13-14 Psalm 93:1-2 , 5 Revelation 1:5-8 John 18:33-37 What’s the truth Jesus comes to bear witness to in this last Gospel of the Church’s year? It’s the truth that in Jesus, God keeps the promise He made to David - of an everlasting kingdom, of an heir who would be His Son, “the first born, highest of the kings of the earth” (see  2 Samuel 7:12-16 ;  Psalm 89:27-38 ). Today’s Second Reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, quotes these promises and celebrates Jesus as “the faithful witness.” The reading h

Sunday 15th November 2015

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33rd in Ordinary Time 11 am Ordinariate Sung Mass at St John Fisher Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant: Fr. Bob White Scott Hahn reflects on this Sunday's Readings: https://stpaulcenter.com/reflections/hope-in-tribulation-scott-hahn-reflects-on-the-thirty-third-sunday-ordinaryr eadings: Daniel 12:1-3 Psalm 16:5 , 8-11 Hebrews 10:11-14 , 18 Mark 13:24-32 In this, the second-to-the-last week of the Church year, Jesus has finally made it to Jerusalem. Near to His passion and death, He gives us a teaching of hope--telling us how it will be when He returns again in glory. Today’s Gospel is taken from the end of a long discourse in which He describes tribulations the likes of which haven’t been seen “since the beginning of God’s creation” (see  Mark 13:9 ). He describes what amounts to a dissolution of God’s creation, a “devolution” of the world to its original state of formlessness and void. First, human community--nations and kingdo

Sunday 8th November 2015

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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY   11am. Mass of Requiem for the War Dead at St John Fisher RC Church - home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission. Celebrant: Fr. Lee Bennett - Preacher: Deacon Michael Halsall They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. 

Sunday 1st November & All Souls Monday 2nd November

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Solemnity of All Saints Ordinariate Mass - 11am St. John Fisher Catholic Church Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant Fr Jeff Woolnough -Preacher Deacon Richard Cerson We feebly struggle, they in glory shine! November 2nd ALL SOULS Mass at St John Fisher 7.30pm Celebrant Fr. Lee Bennett Fr Jeff Celebrates masses at St. Peter's Eastwood 7.30am 9.30am & 19.30pm

Pilgrimage to Poland

To mark the year of mercy I am on behalf of the Catholic American based pilgrimage tour company 206 , leading a pilgrimage to Poland in April 12-19, 2016: do get in touch if you'd like to join me? Fr. Jeff www.pilgrimages.com/frwoolnough

Sunday 25th October

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30 th in Ordinary Time 11 am . Solemn Mass at St John Fisher Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant Fr. Bob White Seeing the Son of David: Scott Hahn Reflects  on the Thirtieth Sunday Ordinary Time Please visit https://stpaulcenter.com Download Audio File Readings: Jeremiah 31:7-9 Psalm 126:1-6 Hebrews 5:1-6 Mark 10:46-52 Today’s Gospel turns on an irony--it is a blind man, Bartimaeus, who becomes the first besides the apostles to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. And His healing is the last miracle Jesus performs before entering the holy city of Jerusalem for His last week on earth. The scene on the road to Jerusalem evokes the joyful procession prophesied by Jeremiah in today’s First Reading. In Jesus this prophecy is fulfilled. God, through the Messiah, is delivering His people from exile, bringing them back from the ends of the earth, with the blind and lame in their midst. Jesus, as Bartimaeus proclaims, is the long-a

Sunday 18th October

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29th in Ordinary Time 11am. Solemn Mass at St John Fisher RC Church  home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Celebrant Fr. Jeff Woolnough Fr Jeff with Kimberly and Dr. Scott Hahn, Jerusalem 2013 My friend and colleague Dr Scott Hahn offers this wonderful reflection on Sunday's texts. Please do visit the website: https://stpaulcenter.com/ Readings: Isaiah 53:10-11 Psalm 33:4-5 , 18-20 , 22 Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45 The sons of Zebedee hardly know what they’re asking in today’s Gospel. They are thinking in terms of how the Gentiles rule, of royal privileges and honors. But the road to Christ’s kingdom is by way of His cross. To share in His glory, we must be willing to drink the cup that He drinks. The cup is an Old Testament image for God’s judgment. The wicked would be made to drink this cup in punishment for their sins (see Psalm 75:9 ; Jeremiah 25:15 , 28 ; Isaiah 51:17 ). But Jesus has come to drink this cup on behalf of all humanity. He has