LOWESTOFT CATHOLIC PARISH -OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA & ST NICHOLAS Presbytery: 19 Gordon Road, Lowestoft, NR32 1NL Tel: 01502 572453

Parish Priest, Rev. Paul Chanh, 07414 735102 (text message only) email: paulchanh@yahoo.com

www.ourladylowestoft.com http://www.catholiceastanglia.org Deacon: Rev. Stephen Pomeroy

Bulletin entries: barbara.radforth@hotmail.co.uk by 7.00 pm Wednesdays

BISHOP’S PASTORAL LETTER FOR GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY

As attached.

MASSES & SERVICES

All the above Masses and services will be streamed live on the Facebook link of the church website www.ourladylowestoft.com. This is the official Facebook group for the parish and the place where you can view weekly livestream Masses as follows: Monday to Saturday: 8.00am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament followed by 9.00am Mass Sunday: 10.30am Mass (see above for any variations to this).

If you are already on Facebook you can link through without joining the closed church Group. Click on the link on the website homepage if you would also like to join the church Facebook Group (currently over 150 members).

Note: When in the church Facebook Group all public posts will now need to be approved by Admin. This is to ensure that all content is relevant and suitable. Please do not be offended if your post is rejected as we are limiting information on this group to livestream worship and liturgy broadcasts, parish information and important announcements from the Catholic church. Thank you.

If you do not have Facebook you can watch recordings of the live streamings once they have finished and been posted on the website. Scroll down the right-hand side of the homepage until you see a still image with the arrowhead which you click to start the video. If this is not there when you get the home page just refresh the search in your browser and wait. It will appear but may take a moment or two.

FAMILY MASS

Janet Long has provided the words for this Sunday’s family Mass and Deacon Stephen is recording a sermon. Please tune in on the facebook page at 10:30 am for the live streaming.

Sat 2 May 09.00 am

OLSS Mass Priest’s Intention

Sun 3 May

10:30 am OLSS Mass Priest’s Intention

Mon 4 May

09.00 am

OLSS Mass The Jewish People

Tues 5 May

09.00 am

OLSS Mass

Priest’s Intention

Wed 6 May

09.00 am

OLSS Mass

Priest’s Intention

Thur 7 May

09:00 pm

OLSS Mass

Priest’s Intention

Fri 8 May

09.00 am

OLSS Mass

Priest’s Intention

Sat 9 May 09.00 am

OLSS Mass

Priest’s Intention

HYMNS FOR SUNDAY MASSES

If every week you would like the words of the Sunday hymns please let me know (Tony on ajwpmw@gmail.com). Janet Long will provide them if there is sufficient interest.

MASS INTENTIONS

It is still possible to request Mass Intentions by a note through the Presbytery door or via email to Father Paul or Tony Walmsley (ajwpmw@gmail.com).

CHILDREN’S LITURGY Words and Materials attached for this at the end of the bulletin WE PRAY for those whose anniversary occurs around this time: Quentin Rudd, Thomas Edward Skelly, Antonio Casteleiro, Geoffrey Gibbons, Eric Haynes, Christine Veronica McCormick, Ellen Fox, Norman Jolly, Hilda Homerstone, Tracey Osborne, Philomena Garvey, George Webb, Alice Butterworth, James Beckett, Jack Thain, Lily Lockwood, Joseph O'Connor.

COMMUNICATIONS Tony Walmsley will continue to send these bulletins in emails to all the parishioners who gave an email address in the Parish Census but because of the government restrictions on movement, it will no longer be available in printed format in the church porch. If you know of anyone who would like to receive the email, advise them to send their email details via the church website www.ourladylowestoft.com. ROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE & NHS VOLUNTEER SUPPORT The volunteer support scheme is now working for shielded and other vulnerable groups under the GoodSam title. For more information go online to goodsamapp.org/assets/pdf/Guide_for_Referrers.pdf OFFERTORY While social distancing was operative it seemed sensible to suggest you might pop your offertory through the Presbytery letterbox. That will no longer work, so either put it your piggy bank until normal service is resumed or arrange to send via your bank as some parishioners have done, Parish bank details: Barclays sort code 20-53-06 Ac No.10719587 Our Lady Star of the Sea Registered Charity No 278742 Parish Account and remember to reference your name so we can count it for Gift Aid. Some banks also ask for the type of account and ours is a Business Current Account. There are various companies that will take credit card donations on our behalf but of course they charge for doing so. We are researching their terms to see if it would be worthwhile. COMMENTRY SIDE OF BULLETIN & SUNDAY PLUS What you would have seen on the commentary side of the bulletin is attached as is this week’s Sunday Plus.

PASTORAL LETTER

of

BISHOP ALAN HOPES

for the

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

2020

This Letter is to be read at all Masses that are live streamed in the Diocese

during the weekend May 2/3. Please assure that the Letter is also made

available on the parish website.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today is commonly known as Good Shepherd Sunday because in today’s

Gospel, Jesus claims to be the Good Shepherd who looks after his sheep.

How important it is for us to remember this truth! Our God is not the

clockmaker god of the post-Enlightenment philosophers who winds up the

world and then leaves it to its own devices. Nor is he the capricious despot of

the ancient Greek and Roman gods. Nor is he some impersonal force of

nature that directs this universe to no apparent end. No, he is a shepherd -

someone who sees us and cares personally about us, someone who guides us

with an unfailing hand, if we are willing to follow Him.

Today we pray particularly for vocations to the priesthood – for those who

will become images of the Good Shepherd for us in our parishes. We pray for

men who will be willing to look after the flock of God, not for their own gain,

nor for their own convenience, but selflessly, with the love of the Master

himself.

That is a tall order! That is why we need to pray for our priests, for those in

formation for the priesthood, for those who are discerning a call to be a

priest, those who are afraid to follow the call, those who have not yet heard

the call which is already in their heart. Our prayer is essential!

It is also important for us to actively encourage anyone who is showing the

signs and the gifts that are needed for today’s priests.

John Vianney, a saintly French Parish Priest who lived two hundred years

ago, preached these words:

A good shepherd, a pastor after God’s own heart, is the greatest treasure

which the good Lord can grant a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of

divine mercy.

The priest is a precious gift for the People of God. It is the priest who is the

Lord’s instrument, in bringing about His Presence in the Eucharist. It is the

priest who brings the Lord’s loving mercy and forgiveness into the messes we

make of our lives. It is the priest who helps us find purpose and meaning and

direction in our lives as they guide us in God’s teachings. It is the priest who

cares for us as at all the special moments of our lives and who shares in all

our joys and sorrows.

As your Bishop I am concerned about the future of our Diocese of East Anglia.

Those priests who now serve in our parishes have given up their whole lives

in faithful service of God’s people, many of them above and beyond the years

expected of them. Pray for them at this challenging time. Know that every

day in this lockdown they offer the Holy Mass and the Prayer of the Church

for each one of the Parish community and for all whose lives have been

affected by the pandemic, and for all those who have died. And as we pray

for them, we pray today that future generations of Catholics may also be

served and loved and guided by true shepherds.

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we also remind ourselves of the women and

men who serve the Church through their Religious Orders and Congregations.

We are blessed in our Diocese. We have a contemplative community who

offers its life in prayer and worship on behalf of the whole world. We also

have active communities who lovingly serve God through a variety of gifts.

Pray for them in thanksgiving and pray that they may continue to be blessed

with vocations.

Finally, as St John Henry Newman reminds us, each of us has been called into

being by God to carry out a specific service. Through our Baptism we are all

members of the Body of Christ, whatever our state in life – and we are called

to serve God and one another. That is our Baptismal vocation. We must pray

for the ability to abandon our own plans, our own safe calculations and to

learn to ask the Lord:

What are your plans, and calculations for me, what do you desire for me and

my life?

We should be ready with a generous and open heart to respond to whatever

God replies.

May the Lord grant us more vocations both for the priesthood and the

religious life. May he help us all to discover how we might strengthen the

witness and the service of the Church in the world.

May the Risen Christ continue to fill you with hope and peace in these

uncertain days. And may the Holy Spirit of Pentecost renew and strengthen

us all in the Lord’s service and in the service of one another.

With all good wishes and prayers for you to stay safe and well,

Yours devotedly in Christ,

The Right Revd Alan S Hopes

Bishop of East Anglia

ENTRANCE HYMN

Sing it in the valleys, shout it from the mountain tops.

Jesus came to save us, and his saving never stops.

He is King of Kings, and new life He brings.

Sing it in the valleys, shout it from the mountain tops, oh oh,

shout it from the mountain tops.

Jesus you are by my side, you take all my fears.

If I only come to you, you will heal the pain of years.

Sing it in the valleys……..

You have not deserted me, though I go astray.

Jesus, take me in your arms, help me walk with you today.

Sing it in the valleys…….

GLORY TO GOD

Gloria, (clap,clap) Gloria, (clap,clap) in excelsis Deo (x2)

Lord God, Heavenly King, peace you bring to us;

we worship you, we give you thanks, we sing our song of praise.

Jesus, Saviour of all, Lord God, Lamb of God;

you take away our sins, O Lord, have mercy on us all.

At the Father’s right hand, Lord, receive our prayer;

for you along are the Holy One, and you alone are Lord.

Glory, Father and Son, glory Holy Spirit;

to you we raise our hands up high, we glorify your name.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

The Lord’s my shepherd I’ll not want.

He makes me lie in pastures green.

He leads me by the still, still waters.

His goodness restores my soul.

RESPONSE: And I will trust in you alone,

and I will trust in you alone,

for your endless mercy follows me,

your goodness will lead me home.

He guides my ways in righteousness,

and he anoints my head with oil.

And my cup it overflows with joy,

I feast on his pure delights.

And I will trust in you alone …

And though I walk the darkest path,

I will not fear the evil one.

For you are with me and your rod and staff,

are the comfort I need to know.

And I will trust in you alone …

COMMUNION HYMN

My shepherd is the Lord, he is everything, everything.

My shepherd is the Lord, he is everything, everything to me

I can rest in your pasture, the pasture of your arms.

Living waters refresh me, your Spirit revives me.

When the darkness afflicts me, your hand is there to hold.

You defend and protect me a feast lay before me.

FINAL HYMN

As I kneel before you, as I bow my head in prayer,

Take this day, make it yours and fill me with your love.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, dominus, tecum, benedicta tu.

All I have I give you, every dream and wish are yours.

Mother of Christ, mother of mine, present them to your Lord.

Gospel: John 10:1-10 Jesus said, “I am telling you the truth: the man who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who goes in through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him; the sheep hear his voice as he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. When he has brought them out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. They will not follow someone else; instead, they will run away from such a person, because they do not know his voice.” Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he meant. So Jesus said again, “I am telling you the truth: I am the gate for the sheep. All others who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever comes in by me will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life — life in all its fullness. (Gospel passage taken from Good News Translation® and used with permission, see details below*)

Gospel reflection: In today’s reading Jesus tells us a parable in which he is the gate which takes us to God. But can you remember what Jesus says, right at the end of today’s gospel? Jesus says, “I have come so that you might have life – life in all its fullness.” What do you think it means to have life in all its fullness? Living life to the full doesn’t mean having all the latest toys or the most fashionable clothes or the biggest house. And it doesn’t even mean just having all the things we need in life, like enough food and somewhere safe to live, although this is a really important part of living life to the full. It also means being the best person that we can be, living our lives well and having the chance to use all our gifts and talents for the good of all. What gifts and talents do you have? What are you good at? Let’s do all that we can this week to live our own lives to the full – doing all that we can to be the best people we can be and using our gifts and talents for the good of others. Prayers:In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

We pray for all our brothers and sisters around the world: that they may have the chance to live free from poverty and hunger and be able to make the most of their own talents and gifts to build a better future.

We pray for our parish, family and friends: that we may use our gifts and talents to be the best people we can be and for the good of all. We pray for all those who are ill and for everyone who is caring for them in hospital, in care homes and at home. We pray for the farmers, cooks and shopkeepers who are helping to supply us with food. Closing prayer: Dear God, inspire us to help one another to use the gifts and talents you have given us, so that the world may be a better place, reflecting the glory of your Kingdom. Amen. Activity suggestions Ask the children to colour in the accompanying illustration. Make a card or poster to give to a lonely neighbour, a family member who lives far away or a delivery person. “ I am the gate for the sheep”

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Fourth Sunday of EasterGospel: John 10:1-10

Pray that all people may have life to the full: cafod.org.uk/prayers

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Next Sunday’s Readings:Exodus 32:7-11. 13-14

1 Timothy 1:12-17Luke 15:1-32

ENTRANCE ANTIPHONThe merciful love of the Lord fills the earth;by the word of the Lord the heavens were

made, alleluia.

FIRST READING Acts 2:14. 36-41

PSALM Psalm 22

RESPONSE The Lord is my shepherd;there is nothing I shall want.

Or Alleluia!

1. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit. R.

2. He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name. If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort. R.

3. You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes. My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing. R.

4. Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever. R.

SECOND READING 1 Peter 2:20-25

GOSPEL ACCLAMATIONAlleluia, alleluia! I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my own sheep and my own know me. Alleluia!

GOSPEL John 10:1-10

COMMUNION ANTIPHONThe Good Shepherd has risen,who laid down his life for his sheepand willingly died for his flock, alleluia.

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SUNDAY BULLET INSBDivine

images

Mass text

Joanna Moorhead continues this series looking at rel igious ar t.

3 MAY 2020

4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

YEAR A

DIVINE OFFICE WEEK IV

Next Sunday’s Readings:Acts 6:1-7

1 Peter 2:4-9John 14:1-12

ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSSNo painting sums up grief as brutally, as devastatingly, as Rogier van der Weyden’s extraordinary masterpiece The Descent from the Cross. To me it always seems shocking that it was painted in the fifteenth century: the faces are so real, the tears on the faces are so fresh – still glistening, even – that they take you into the heart of the tragedy, as though it happened yesterday rather than two thousand years ago.

The moment van der Weyden chooses to paint is surely the saddest moment, the most desperate moment, in human history. Christ is dead; the centre of the cross-shaped painting is taken up with his body, which is being carefully lowered down from the cross. His family and friends, huddled at the foot of the cross, are in agony; Mary Magdalene, at the right of the painting, is so distraught that her body is twisting and curling with the pain. The other Mary, Christ’s mother, has fainted, and is being tended to on the ground.

But this is more than merely a moment of personal loss. It is the lowest point of the Christian story; the moment when everything hung in the balance. Jesus was dead, as he had said he would be; but would he, could he, rise from being dead? The future looked grim: for the apostles and disciples, hope was at its lowest point. Christ was about to be laid in his tomb – and who, really, can have believed that he really was going to rise out of it?

The painting hangs on a black (what else?) wall at the Prado in Madrid; having been painted when the Flemish van der Weyden was the official painter in Brussels, it later became part of the collection of the Royal Family of Spain, and is today one of its jewels. Originally commissioned by a Belgian crossbow guild, the artist has cleverly shaped Christ’s body into a crossbow; there are also, if you look carefully, tiny crossbows in the corners of the work.

What’s most stunning about this painting is how far van der Weyden has been able to take the new realism; and how brilliant he is at using the new oil paints that have enabled this new movement in art. Because it’s the oils that allow him to depict the emotion on the faces of the characters as impressively, and movingly, as he does.

ALWAYS HOPEOne of the things I most cherish about this painting, which is one of my all-time favourite works, is the way van der Weyden has echoed Christ’s dead face in his mother’s fainting one; Mary’s grief is as central to the scene as her son’s death, and I love that acknowledgement of the depth of a

mother’s loss. She has died with him. Van der Weyden understands her pain; he understands the pain of the others ranged around; and no artist has ever more comprehensively conveyed that pain to his viewer. In front of this painting, we are in the depths of despair, and it is hard to believe there will ever be a flicker of joy on these faces (or ours) again. And yet… and yet… in just three days’ time, the landscape is going to be altered, totally and for ever. And the faces in this painting are so incredibly real that, when you look at them for a long time, you can imagine how they’ll light up, when the moment comes and the tomb is found to be empty. The work is a reminder to us all that, however terrible our grief, however desperate our sorrow, there is always hope – and not merely the hope of something a little better, but the hope of something totally transformative, and utterly life-changing.

The Sunday Bulletin. Written by Joanna Moorhead. Edited by Peter Edwards © Redemptorist Publications. A Registered Charity limited by guarantee. Registered in England 03261721. Mass Text: excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. Psalms from the Grail Psalter reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd © 1963. All rights reserved. Concordat cum originali Ann Blackett. Imprimatur + Peter Doyle, Bishop of Northampton 13 July 2018. Permission granted for distribution in the dioceses of Scotland. Image: Rogier van der Weyden, The Descent from the Cross, 1435, Museo del Prado, Wikimedia Commons, Web Gallery of Art

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Sunday Plus. Edited by Denis McBride C.Ss.R. and Sr Janet Fearns FMDM. Copyright © Redemptorist Publications, Chawton, Hampshire GU34 3HQ, A registered charity limited by guarantee. Registered in England 03261721. www.rpbooks.co.uk.

SUNDAY PLUS3 May 2020

Called to missionby Stephen Davies

The word “vocation” can fill me with dread. What is my vocation? Have I made the right choice? Am I succeeding in it? Yet everyone’s God-given vocation is the same: to be the person God calls us to be; the best “me” I can be.

To do this, I have to enter through “the gate of the sheepfold” – the phrase Jesus uses to describe himself in today’s Gospel. By following Jesus we have our guide and support. Once inside the sheep pen, I sometimes want to get some straw and make myself a nice place to curl up and rest. But this is not the “life to the full” to which Jesus is leading us.

If I have experienced God’s love through my relationship with Jesus, how can I not want to share that with others? I have a mission:

to get out of the comfort and let others know, through my actions and choices, about God’s love. Our mission as lay people is summed up by St Oscar Romero: “You parents, teachers, workers, labourers… transform the world by bringing to it the presence of God that you carry in your heart.”

Stephen Davies is the Red Box Director for Missio, the Catholic Church’s official charity for overseas mission, www.missio.org.uk

Gospel, Jesus promises us a place of safety and nurture.

But whether the words we hear disturb, challenge, or reassure us, they are always words of love. After all, they are addressed to us by the God who is love.

Dr Lawrence Osborn is an Orthodox layman living in Glasgow.

Loving Lord, when I watch sheepdogs guiding a flock into its pen, at least one sheep invariably seems to escape and needs to be rounded up again. Where do I fit into the picture? Help me to hear and follow your voice. Keep me close to you. Amen.

“You can do so many things, so many works, even works of mercy, you can do many great things for the Church — a Catholic university, a college, a hospital... and they might even build a monument to you as a benefactor of the Church, but if you do not pray then none of this will bring light.”

Pope Francis

Called to be a gatekeeper

Chosen and lovedby Dr Lawrence Osborn

It was the day of Pentecost. Peter found himself explaining the apostles’ behaviour to an incredulous crowd and the people responded. Peter’s words had become God’s words to them.

Whenever we hear the words of scripture, God is calling us. Sometimes those words are disturbing: they force us to say with Peter’s crowd, “What must we do?” Sometimes they are challenging: they tell us only too plainly what we must do, for example, to “die to our sins and live for uprightness” (1 Peter 2:24). With the challenge, there also comes a promise: Christ’s victory on the cross enables us to meet the challenge. Sometimes they are reassuring: in today’s

pass through. We are being called to follow the Lord but perhaps there are times when we might be gatekeepers, when we have an opportunity, through the way we live and the way we treat others, to be a gatekeeper for Christ so that others also learn to trust God.

Catherine Pepinster is a former editor of The Tablet and the author of The Keys and the Kingdom – the British and the papacy from John Paul II to Francis, published by T&T Clark.

Chosen and called

Today:Acts 2:14. 36-411 Peter 2:20-25John 10:1-10

Tuesday:Acts 11:19-26John 10:22-30

Wednesday:Acts 12:24 – 13:5John 12:44-50

Friday:Acts 13:26-33John 14:1-6

Saturday:Acts 13:44-52John 14:7-14

Next Sunday:Acts 6:1-71 Peter 2:4-9John 14:1-12

Thursday:Acts 13:13-25John 13:16-20

Monday:Acts 11:1-18John 10:11-18

4th Sunday of Easter • Divine Office Week IV • Year A • World Day of Prayer for Vocations

by Catherine Pepinster

The Gospels are full of imagery of the shepherd and his sheep. Jesus lived in a time

when many people made their living through the land. Shepherds were some of the lowliest people in society; it must have seemed strange that he chose this metaphorical language. Yet it is particularly successful because of its vividness and that vividness

remains; we continue to see in our day the relationship between shepherds and their sheep.

In choosing this imagery, Jesus is emphasising that he wants his followers also to be engaged in relationship with him. That relationship is based on us giving him our total trust, just as the sheep trust the shepherd. They follow him because they know his voice. The Gospel today makes us pause to ask:

A Year of the Word

Monday (E): The English Martyrs (Feast): Acts 7:55-60; Matthew 10:17-20

do we know the Lord’s voice? Have we listened so that we have grown to know it and to understand it is a voice we can always trust?

There are others who are familiar in this story too: thieves and robbers. We need to be more wary of other siren voices that we hear and might lead us astray.

But there is someone else too: the gatekeeper who opens the gate so that the shepherd can