17TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
(YEAR C)
WEEK: JULY 27TH - AUGUST 2ND 2025
“You give me life though I walk amid affliction”
YOUR CHARITABLE PRAYERS are requested for our parishioners and friends, especially those whose names appear below.
SICK: John Green, Joan Killeen, Christine Clarke, Tony Kenny, Luke Burke, Dominic Boardman, Connie Marrone, Alexander Loughlin, Surya Duval, Margaret Lawless, Peter Barlow, Jean Barlow, Terry Cummins, Elizabeth Flanagan, Margaret Emsis, Francis Doyle, Linda Solan, Fred Kibblewhite, Daniel Keane, Ethel Keenihan, Peter Bradbury, June Mills LATELY DEAD: Christopher Duju, Samuel Symzyk, Sean Hussey ANNIVERSARIES: Rosemary Guilfoyle, John Wilson, Antonietta Hordynski, Fernando Lopes, Joao Luiz, Maria Manuela, Francisco Catanha, Maria de Jesus, Joseph McDermott, Mary Drinkhill, William John McArdle, Jimmy Howe
LAST WEEK'S COLLECTION: £825.78; I also received three large donations during this week, one of £3,000, one of £200 and another of £75. Caritas (Homeless) £20.00
Standing Order: £572.00 a month
Many thanks for your kind generosity.
If anyone needs the Bank account details to set up Direct Debit payments, please contact Father Phil.
THIS SUNDAY'S MISSALETTE & HYMNS 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Missalette 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Hymns
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NOTICES:
All Masses will continue to be live streamed. A link is provided on the Parish website: www.smwsp.org.uk or via the Twitter App (@PhilipSumner13).
MESSAGE FROM BISHOP PAUL MCALEENAN, THE LEAD BISHOP ON REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS
“It was disappointing to hear about the protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping over the weekend. While the right to protest peacefully is part of our democratic tradition, protests that spread hatred and fear, and which intimidate are not acceptable. “We have seen before, including in last year’s attacks on hotels used for asylum accommodation, the dangerous consequences when fear is stirred up and exploited. Such actions do not reflect who we are as a society. “We must remember that the individuals housed in that hotel are not faceless intruders, but people – human beings who have fled war, persecution and hardship in search of safety and dignity. Migrants are not objects to be sent back or spoken of as burdens; they are our brothers and sisters, deserving of compassion and our welcome. “Alleged criminal acts must be investigated and follow due process and the rule of law. This is necessary for the common good of society and to prevent a cycle of violence developing. “In the words of Pope Leo XIV: “No one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person”. We must not allow hatred or hostility to harden our hearts.”
CARITAS SOCIAL ACTION - Saturday 20 September 2025. |
YCW IMPACT GROUP
Just over a week ago, several of our parishioners represented this country at a YCW international meeting in Paris. Anna, Famous and Liane met with European representatives at an ‘in person’ meeting, at which other representatives from around the world joined them ‘on-line.’ All three of our parishioners have taken on leadership roles in YCW at a regional and a national level. They have worked hard in the last year, as part of a wider team, to organise a recent ‘Day of Hope.’ We should be proud of our young people. You might also be interested in the magazine at the back of church called YCW Impact, Action. There you can read about several of the events our young people have been involved in over the last year. On page 2 you will see a photograph of Famous, Cesar, Liane, Nicole Harry Carla and Anna with the International President of the YCW. Then, on page 5, there’s another report about our YCW group making some money to help with the Terence O’Grady Social Club for adults with learning disabilities. There’s another feature about our group on the bottom of page 7 where there’s a brief report of their annual retreat, which, this year was in Yorkshire. On page 8, there’s a report of the previous international conference in Turin, Italy, that several of our group attended and. on page 9 there’s a report of the visit of the international president of the YCW here at St. Patrick’s.
SPECIAL DAYS THIS WEEK |
THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS
The link between the first reading and the Gospel today is clearly that of ‘persistent prayer’. Abraham sounds like a rather persistent child coming back again and again to see how much he can get out of his parents. And, in the Gospel, the so-called friend who knocks on the door incessantly during the night to ask for some bread seems to be rewarded for his persistence (the word used in this translation is ‘impudence’). But we need to be careful. It seems that Jesus is only promising to give “the Holy Spirit” or “good gifts” that will be life-giving to those who pray. God is not to be reduced to a type of genie, even if we are persistent. The disciples in today’s Gospel story have seen Jesus praying regularly. They are on the journey, with him, to Jerusalem and he knows that he is going to his death. For this reason, the journey must be a difficult one for him. He needs to know that his Father is with him on the way, to sustain him. The disciples became aware of that relationship and could see, perhaps, how it was so important to Jesus. Little wonder that they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus’s opening word, according to Luke, is ‘Abba’. To translate this as ‘Father’ does an injustice to the sense that Jesus portrays. ‘Father’ is much too formal, whereas ‘Abba’ suggests something more intimate, perhaps ‘daddy’. If we take on that word in our prayer, we are immediately drawn into a very intimate relationship that seems too informal, perhaps even impudent, especially when we go on to say, “Hallowed be your name”! This could last phrase could be translated as “May your name be held holy”. ‘Holy’ in this sense is something so different from us that it cannot be understood or known. So, in the first line of the prayer we are given by Jesus, we are presented with a tension between a God who is so transcendent and yet so close. In Matthew’s version of this prayer, (the version that we tend to use) the first two words are “Our Father”. That can seem a bit strange when it’s just Jesus who is saying it. But he is drawing us all into the same intimate relationship with his Father, and we need to be aware that when we pray, we join a community of prayer; it’s not just between me and God! A further element to the prayer that Jesus gives us when he says, “Give us each day our daily bread”, suggests that again we should be aware of the context in which Jesus makes this prayer; he is on the road to Jerusalem and to his death. This is Jesus’ Exodus (a road to life that involves great difficulty) and, like the Hebrews, he needs his Father to sustain him each day. We often complete our prayers with the phrase, “through Christ Our Lord”. We have to remember again that we pray as a community, in his name, as the Body of Christ. We need to be aware of the prayers that issue from others too.