Today Pope Saint John Paul II would have been 100 years old. Here are a couple of photos from our pilgrimage to Poland in May 2019. The photo below shows the famous cake which he loved!

From time to time John Paul II indulged his sweet tooth and nostalgia for his home country by eating a dessert made famous under the name Papieska Kremowka (“Papal” Cream Cake), a sweet made with puff pastry filled with cream. During his time as pope, John Paul II told the story of how, when he was young, he had organized (together with his friends) a cream-cake-eating competition to celebrate their high school graduation. Karol (his name before becoming pope) managed to eat 18, but even so, he wasn’t the winner.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. In the readings at Holy Mass we hear of Christ under the title of The Good Shepherd. To quote the Gospel Acclamation ‘I am the Good Shepherd, says the Lord. I know my own sheep and my own know me’.

On this Sunday we are asked to pray especially for an increase in Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life. Some people call this day Vocations Sunday. At St Mary’s we held a period of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament concluding with Benediction. This service was live streamed so parishioners could participate from home.

Just a thought as we begin the month of May tomorrow.

The month of May is dedicated to Our Lady – to quote a well known hymn:
“Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.”

Usually before the 10:30am Sunday Mass during May, the Legion of Mary lead the Rosary. However, this won’t happen in the same way this year.

Can we challenge ourselves to pray the Rosary everyday? Especially, if you don’t usually pray the Rosary. Please pray for the needs of our Parish, to Mary under the title ‘Health of the Sick’ during this pandemic. Of course, we pray for our own personal intentions too. The Rosary can be prayed anywhere… whether at home or whilst walking (observing daily exercise).

The Sunday after Easter Sunday is now commonly known as Divine Mercy Sunday or Day of Divine Mercy.

Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun, reported Visions and Visitations from Jesus and conversations with him. He asked her to paint the vision of his merciful divinity being poured from his Sacred Heart and specifically asked for a feast of Divine Mercy to be established on the first Sunday after Easter Sunday, so that mankind would take refuge

At St Mary’s we live streamed a Holy Hour during which the Divine Mercy Chaplet was prayed using the traditional chant. As usual the Holy Hour concluded with the short service of Benediction.

We are now live streaming our Masses and other Services on our YouTube page as this seems to be a more practical and reliable way of making the transmission of Holy Mass possible. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoVczBB0wVcqOzLu1NonFyA/featured

A very Happy and Blessed Easter to all!

Join us live at 7:00pm on the Parish Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SJHNParishMorecambe

In our churches, all crucifixes and images may be covered in veils (usually purple, the colour of vestments in Lent) starting on Passion Sunday: “The practice of covering crosses and images in the church may be observed, if the episcopal conference decides. The crosses are to be covered until the end of the celebration of the Lord’s passion on Good Friday. Statues and images are to remain covered until the beginning of The Easter Vigil.” (Specifically, those veils are removed during the singing of the Gloria.) The veiling was associated with Passion Sunday’s Gospel (John 8:46-59), in which Jesus “hid himself” from the people.

As public Masses are suspended until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic, from tomorrow, Sunday Mass will be live streamed onto this Facebook page. The Mass will be available to watch from around 9:30am. Be sure to tune in!

https://www.facebook.com/SJHNParishMorecambe/

The popular Lenten Devotion called Stations of The Cross takes place in the Parish every Friday evening at 7:00pm. Please see the weekly Newsletter as the devotion moves around the three parish churches each week. If you haven’t attended Stations of The Cross before, you are very welcome to do so!