Fr. Jeff Woolnough Ordinariate Mission Priest

30 th    Sunday in Ordinary Time Masses  8.30am    10.15am     6pm _______________________________________ St Peter's Catholic Church, Leigh on Sea EASTWOOD PARISH Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Love Commanded: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Download Audio File Readings: Exodus 22:20-26 Psalm 18:2-4 ,  47 ,  51 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10 Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus came not to abolish the Old Testament law but to fulfill it (see  Matthew 5:17 ) And in today’s Gospel, He reveals that love – of God and of neighbour – is the fulfillment of the whole of the law (see  Romans 13:8-10 ). Devout Israelites were to keep all 613 commands found in the Bible’s first five books. Jesus says today that all these, and all the teachings of the prophets, can be summarized by two verses of this law (see  Deuteronomy 6:5 ;  Leviticus 19:18 ). He seems to summarize the two stone tablets on which God was said to have engraved the ten commandme

29 th   Sunday in Ordinary Time Masses  8.30am    10.15am     6pm _______________________________________ St Peter's Catholic Church, Leigh on Sea EASTWOOD PARISH Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Caesar and the King: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Download Audio File Readings: Isaiah 45:1 , 4-6 Psalm 96:1 , 3-5 ,  7-10 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 Matthew 22:15-21 The Lord is king over all the earth, as we sing in today’s Psalm. Governments rise and fall by His permission, with no authority but that given from above (see  John 19:11 ;  Romans 13:1 ). In effect, God says to every ruler what he tells King Cyrus in today’s First Reading: “I have called you . . . though you knew me not.” The Lord raised up Cyrus to restore the Israelites from exile, and to rebuild Jerusalem (see  Ezra 1:1-4 ). Throughout salvation history, God has used foreign rulers for the sake of His chosen people. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened to reveal G

27 th   Sunday in Ordinary Time Masses  8.30am    10.15am     6pm _______________________________________ St Peter's Catholic Church, Leigh on Sea EASTWOOD PARISH Home to the Southend Ordinariate Mission Living on the Vine: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Download Audio File Isaiah 5:1-7 Psalm 80:9 ,  12-16 ,  19-20 Philippians 4:6-9 Matthew 21:33-43 In today’s Gospel Jesus returns to the Old Testament symbol of the vineyard to teach about Israel, the Church, and the kingdom of God. And the symbolism of today’s First Reading and Psalm is readily understood. God is the owner and the house of Israel is the vineyard. A cherished vine, Israel was plucked from Egypt and transplanted in a fertile land specially spaded and prepared by God, hedged about by the city walls of Jerusalem, watched over by the towering Temple. But the vineyard produced no good grapes for the wine, a symbol for the holy lives God wanted for His people. S