There is a strong echo here of the 50 days between the Exodus from Egypt and the foundational experience on Mount Sinai when the Covenant between God and the Chosen People was made and the 10 Commandments were given.

There are all sorts of ways of trying to express the mystery of Pentecost.   We use the language of “outpouring”:  the Spirit of God is poured out on the disciples empowering them to proclaim the Good News of God’s work in Jesus.

We talk about a “manifestation” of the Spirit: the Spirit of God is shown forth in the marvellous events connected with Pentecost.  The gifts of the Spirit allowed everyone to hear the apostles in their own tongue;  droves of people accepted the Lordship of Jesus.

Some talk about an “effusion” of the Spirit: a copious gushing forth of the Holy Spirit, a sort of exuberant torrent of gifts and graces.

Pentecost is often referred to as the Birthday of the Church: the day the Church first appeared in public, as it were, to proclaim Jesus as Lord.

It was my privilege to participate in a Life in the Spirit seminar during this week and to witness the power of the Spirit at work in the lives of so many people.  It is my prayer –and the prayer of the Church- that the Spirit would come into the lives of each parishioner and into all the structures of our community of faith.   The Spirit brings peace and unity and a new energy in building up theKingdomofGod.

Happy Pentecost!

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

The Sacrament of Confirmation –which is being celebrated in the parish today for 21 young parishioners- is part of the rites of initiation into the faith.  The three Sacraments of initiation are Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.  In the early days of the Church, Confirmation was closely identified with Baptism;  it was celebrated immediately after baptism. This is still the case of adult converts to the faith at the end of their R.C.I.A. process.

In the case of infants, Confirmation was gradually separated from baptism and eventually it came to be celebrated when the child reached the “use of reason”, normally about 7 years of age.  In those days it was still experienced as a Sacrament of Initiation and was celebrated before First Holy Communion.   Slowly the gap between Baptism and Confirmation grew and First Holy Communion became the norm around the age of 7 but Confirmation came later.   Today the age for Confirmation is often (as in our country) in the teenage years.

Whenever celebrated, Confirmation remains a Sacrament of initiation: it is part of becoming a fully mature Christian.  Confirmation signals a vital stage in growth into the Body of Christ: the coming of the Spirit, not only with Gifts but also with Tasks.  The newly Confirmed are empowered to work for the building up of the Body of Christ, so that what they experience in being Christian may be shared with others to the glory of God.

It is our prayer that our young 21 parishioners will not only enjoy this spiritual experience but be able to share it with others as they take up their responsibilities in the Body of Christ.

Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

In the Ascension Jesus becomes MORE present than ever before: he is now present without any restrictions of time, place, language or culture.

Thanks to the Holy Spirit, this new presence of Jesus is established for ever just where Jesus himself had always taught his disciples to discern him: in his Word, in the Sacraments, in our neighbour, in service of one another.

We may stare open-mouthed into the sky, like the apostles, but we have to be witness of the Risen Ascended Lord in our daily lives as we build up his Kingdom.

Often the Preface of the Mass gives a memorable summary of the feast being celebrated.   We have two such Prefaces for the feast of the Ascension on Wed/Thursday:

Preface I : “He ascended, not to distance himself from our lowly state, but that we his members, might be confident of following where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before.”

Preface II: “He was taken up to heaven in their sight, that he might make us sharers in his divinity.”

May the feast of the Ascension confirm our Easter Faith and bring us great joy in our believing.

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

There is an old tradition in the Church of dedicating the month of May to Mary.

In the northern hemisphere the month of May has always been associated with Spring, with flowers, blossoms, with new life, and with fecundity.  In May the ancient Greeks celebrated the goddess Artemis, while the ancient Romans focussed on Flora, goddess  of flowers.

There also had been a tradition of one month devoted to Mary, Mother of God.  With some  prayer to Mary for 30 consecutive days, this was called “tricesimum”.

These two traditions came together to give us Mary’s month, May.

We can honour Mary this coming month of May in a variety of ways.

We could revisit the first two chapters of St Luke’s  Gospel where he recounts some of the great highlights of Mary’s role in the life of Jesus.

We could say a decade of the Rosary –choosing whatever mystery is appropriate for our circumstance- each day.   We could visit the shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help here in the church, light a candle and say a prayer.

Of course, you could come to the weekly Novena each Thursday at 7 30 p.m.  In the month of May we hope to reflect on some of the great Marian shrines around the world, helping us to be more aware of the variety of ways in which Mary is present to us in our daily lives.

The programme for the Novena in May looks like this :

May 2nd: Our Lady of Lourdes

[May 9th is the feast of the Ascension, so the Novena is replaced with Holy Mass]

May 16th Shrine of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rome

May 23rd Our Lady of Fatima

May 30th Our Lady of Guadeloupe.

We have been making the Novena part of our Year of Faith.  Come along and learn more about a living tradition about Mary’s shrines around the world

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

I was greatly encouraged by Mother Teresa’s attitude to vocations to her newly established Missionaries of Charity.  In the early days of this new Religious Congregation, Mother Teresa used to say ‘I keep on telling Mary, mother of Jesus, “I have no children” just as she told Jesus “They have no wine”.  I put my trust in her heart.  She is sure to give me in her own way’.

We know today how well placed Mother Teresa’s trust was.

My suggestion than is that we bombard Mary with prayer for vocations.

I am especially grateful that this weekend we are able to introduce two candidates for the Redemptorist way of life: Pierre Lenoir and Sixtus Osuagwu.  They are beginning their vocational journey with us and I am sure you will keep them in your prayers.

We have become used to the TIME TALENT TREASURE approach to parish involvement.  It is significant that it is very difficult to remember when a member of the parish entered Religious Life or was ordained Priest.   Does God ignore Bergvliet in this matter?

To respond to a vocational call to Religious Life or Priesthood is to hand over in joy all one’s time, all one’s talent and all one’s treasure –and for keeps!

May the Lord’s gentle call be heard in many hearts so that those in greatest need will have the witness of lives radically given to God.

We may have very little wine but we have trust in prayer, especially through the intercession of Our Mother of Perpetual help.

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

The Foreword is written by someone other than the author.  So, an author often tries to get a distinguished person to write the Foreword.  To publish a book with a Foreword by Pope Francis would be quite a coup!

A Preface on the other hand is written by the author of the work.  In the Preface the author explains the purpose, prospective readership and scope of the book; it is a sort of introduction so that the reader has some idea of what to expect.

All our Eucharistic Prayers come with a Preface and in the Easter season there are five special Easter Prefaces.  Each of these Prefaces highlights a certain aspect of the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection.

Easter Preface I praises Christ as the true Passover Lamb whose death has destroyed death.

Easter Preface II proclaims that Christ is the new life in whose death we have become children of light.

Easter PrefaceIIIacknowledges Christ as the great priest who makes intercession for us before the face of God.

Easter Preface IV portrays Christ as the founder of a new age in whom the world is renewed and humanity restored, a cosmic vision.

Easter Preface V declares Christ the priest, the altar and the lamb of sacrifice.

The Prefaces of Easter are a mini commentary on the Feast of Feasts and they repay pondering over and praying in the light of the Resurrection.

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath.

Particularly at Easter we are drenched with the mercy of God and today, more particularly, on Mercy Sunday, we delight in the mercy of God  which cannot be hidden or restricted .  Shakespeare noticed that when we echo the mercy of God there is a double blessing:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

His conclusion is that any authentic prayer for mercy for ourselves must mean that we in turn are merciful to others:

We do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.

We will know that Jesus has eastered in us, that we have welcomed mercy if we findthat are being merciful to others.

The modern devotion to Divine Mercy is another way of expressing the ancient tradition of the Church of seeing the loving kindness of the heart of our God in the pierced Heart of Jesus.

Catholics learn very early on in their faith journey to relate to God through many symbols which hint at great mysteries.   The mystery of mercy is a way of speaking about the whole paschal mystery, it is a “shorthand” for Easter, it is a warm and attractive insight into true devotion to the Sacred heart of Jesus.

May we all continue to bask in the mercy of God and draw other into that unstrained quality of divine love.

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

Easter is happiness and joy in the Risen Lord.  It is with the deepest kind of joy that we greet one another this Easter.  Christ is Risen and in Christ, the Church is Risen, and in the Church, we are Risen.

Easter changes everything: even death is swallowed up in victory.  Easter must mean a new beginning and this year in particular that new beginning is symbolized by the new Pope and the wave of freshness that has blessed the world.

Easter changes everything for those celebrating their full communion with the Church.  Once baptized and brought into full communion at Easter there follows the final part of the R.C.I.A. experience: the MYSTAGOGY.

This puzzling word (from the Greek) refers to the profound experience of those newly converted when they receive the sacraments and have a personal encounter with the Risen Jesus.   The whole of Eastertide, known as the Great Easter, is a very special time for new converts.  It is period of 50 days (from Easter to Pentecost).  During the Great Easter the early Church forbade fasting or sadness: everything is focussed on the supreme reality: Christ is Risen and lives with us.

I hope that the overflowing grace of Easter will spur all of us to welcome our new converts, to make them feel at home in our faith community, to speak to them , to pray for them and to encourage them in settling into their new spiritual home.

I pray also that all of us will follow the lead of our new Pope, Francis, in his special care for the poor.  While it is easy to identify some kinds of physical poverty, it is a bit more complicated when dealing with a spiritual condition where people have lost hope or are facing  much suffering without inner resources.

If Easter does not make a difference to how we treat people then we would have to ask if Christ has really risen for us.

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

We start today with Palm Sunday, the commemoration of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem.  To do this commemoration justice we should have a splendid procession (complete with donkey!).

On Holy Thursday we have the blessing of the Oils, especially the Chrism, in one morning liturgy for the whole Archdiocese (at Lansdowne at 10 a.m.). In the evening we have one great Eucharist, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper with the Washing of the Feet (mandatum) and the collection for the poor (this year we will give it to the Saint Vincent de Paul Society who look after our local poor).

We call Friday in Holy Week Good because we celebrate the Lord’s Passover from death to life.  In the morning we have the ever popular devotion of the Stations of the Cross and the Solemn Celebration of the Passion in the afternoon at 3 p.m.

Holy Saturday is a unique day in the life of the Church: a day of silence and waiting, a day without sacraments until the evening.

The EASTER VIGIL is the supreme highlight of the Church’s year and of the Church’s life.   This is the heart of our faith: the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead to a new kind of existence. It is celebrated in Fire, in Light, in Word, in Sacraments (Baptism and Eucharist).   Everything in the Christian life either leads up to this celebration or flows from it.  It is the single most important event in the life of the Church.

Don’t miss it.

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.R.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the first Jesuit ever to become a pope, the first Pope from the Americas and the first to take the name Francis.

You will have heard all the commentators on radio and Television, you will have noticed their surprise at the outcome of the conclave, you will have seen the vast crowds on Wednesday night and perhaps you will have read the hastily arranged potted biographies of the new Pope.

Let’s just think of what impressed us most.

For myself, I marvelled at two things .  First I was impressed how the new Pope introduced a time of sustained silence for prayer as he asked the people of Rome, his new diocese, and all the people present and watching to pray for him.  It was more than theatre: it was what a good pastor does: throw himself in prayers with those and for whom he ministers.

Then, I was also impressed at his choice of name: Francis.  For me the name Francis evokes the humble little brother of Assisi, it evokes the joy of living in the simplicity of the gospel.  The name Francis also connects with the poor of the world, especially in the face of gross inequalities.  Finally the name Francis reminds me of the vocation of Francis of Assisi to “repair God’s house”: to continue to co-operate with the Spirit in the work of renewal.

Pope Francis asked for prayers for himself in his first public appearance.  We will not be ungenerous in our prayers for him each day.   In every Mass we pray for the bishop of Rome and for our own bishop.  May our prayers be richly answered.

Fr Sean Wales, C.Ss.r.