Readings

First Reading (Exodus 19:2-6): The image of the eagle in today’s reading is striking: God led Israel swiftly and safely through the wilderness, like an eagle training its young to fly, catching them on its back when they tire or fall.

Second Reading (Romans 5:6-11): Paul is overwhelmed by the extraordinary love of God, displayed in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Because such grace is at the heart of Christian faith, it spill over into ecstatic joy.

Gospel (Matthew 9:36-10:8): The Gospel reading today offers us three panels: the motivation, the call and the sending. Each moment will speak to us today: why proclaim the Gospel? Who is to proclaim it? How is it to be offered? Excellent material for reflection today.

Notices

Parish Volunteers Day
All volunteers are invited to gather next Sunday at 12:30pm at the school for a sumptuous BBQ. Looking forward to meeting everyone! To ensure we have provided for everyone, please confirm your attendance with Fr Alex.

Special Collection
 Three of our young people from the youth group will be representing our parish. To help with the cost we are inviting everyone to contribute to a second collection next weekend to help towards travel and accommodation expenses.

First Holy Communion Celebration
Takes place here on Saturday 24th June at 11am. We pray for the children as they prepare for their very special day and we welcome all their families and friends who are joining them.

Catechism Classes
Today, 18th June at 10am.

Welcome to Visitors!
English Martyrs is blessed to have many visitors from all over the world joining us for Mass.  Come and join us after 11am Mass each Sunday in the Hall for coffee and a chat!

New Parish Safeguarding Representative
We welcome Dr. Muna Dahabreh to the post as the Safeguarding Representative for the parish and we thank her for her service in the community. Her contact details are:

Telephone: 073 1175 1497 

Email: towerhillsg@safeguardrcdow.org.uk

Thought for the Day

We can identify easily with the double expression “harassed and helpless”, a wide expression of frustration and naked need. There can indeed be a sense of aimlessness, “like sheep with-out a shepherd”, as we look for direction in life, values to live by and a sense of overall meaning and purpose. Dennis O’Driscoll captured it in his poem Missing God: Miss Him when the TV scientist explains the cosmos through equations, leaving our planet to revolve on its axis aimlessly, a wheel skidding in snow.

The message of the kingdom is no less real, rooted in compassion and relevant today as never before. In the pithy expression of Bishop David Jenkins: “There is God. He is as he is in Jesus. There is hope.”

Prayer and Feasts

Prayer
God of the cosmos, you come close to use all in the compassion of Jesus. As we take to heart his proclamation of the kingdom, show us how we can be bearers of the good news to all around us. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Feast of St John Fisher and Thomas More
On Thusday 22nd June we celebrate St John Fisher and St Thomas More. John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal, and theologian. He was also an academic and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935

Fisher was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept him as the supreme head of the Church of England and for upholding the Catholic Church‘s doctrine of papal supremacy. He was named a cardinal shortly before his death. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church.

Saint Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535) was an English lawyer, judge^, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532.He wrote Utopia, published in 1516,which describes the political system of an imaginary island state.

He opposed the Protestant Reformation, directing polemics against the theology of Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and William Tyndale. He also opposed Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and executed. On his execution, he was reported to have said: “I die the King’s good servant, and God’s first”.

Pope Pius XI canonised him in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the patron saint of statesmen and politicians.