The Most Holy Trinity
15th June 2025: The Most Holy Trinity (Cycle C)
Parishioner’s Gospel
Contributor: Ikenna Nze
John 16: 12-15
We encounter a deeply comforting and profound message from Jesus. As He prepares to leave His disciples, He openly acknowledges a truth that many of us still wrestle with today: we are not yet ready to understand everything as we have doubts, fears and limitations. Jesus knows the constraints of our understanding, and instead of abandoning us in our incompleteness, He makes a promise—a promise of his continuous presence through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is sent to continue His work, to lead us into all truth, and to gradually unfold the mysteries of God in a way we can understand. The Spirit does not speak on His own but communicates what He hears from the Father and the Son. This interconnectedness reveals the deep unity of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working as one, in perfect harmony, for the sake of our salvation.
This passage reminds us that our spiritual journey is ongoing. We are ever learning, still growing, still becoming. And in that process, we are never alone. Trusting the Spirit means surrendering to a divine guide who knows the way, even when we do not. It means opening our hearts to be shaped, transformed, and led deeper into the truth of God.
As we reflect on this passage, may we find comfort in knowing that our questions, doubts, and limitations are not barriers, but invitations to trust more deeply.
Let us walk with the Spirit, allow Him to shape us, and embrace the journey toward truth, knowing that God walks with us every step of the way.
***************************
22nd June 2025: Corpus Christi (Cycle C)
Parishioner's Gospel
Contributor: A Parishioner
Luke 9: 11-17
Today we hear Luke recounting the miracle of Christ’s multiplication of five loaves and two fish into food sufficient to feed five thousand plus followers. Despite eating their fill there were scraps left over sufficient to fill twelve baskets. How astounded and bemused many of those present must have been when they experienced this miracle in the midst of what seemed a mundane daily occurrence, eating a meal together. God’s grace to them, and us, is revealed as truly abundant; His care and generosity towards us is boundless.
Across the world since time immemorial meals have gathered peoples together, bringing unity and joy, shared meaning and deepened relationships, physical and spiritual nourishment. They are times of healing and forgiveness, gratitude, ritual and love. Some meals have given us abiding memories that we treasure for years, even generations. God has gifted to humanity this simple but universal human activity, with its unique qualities that invite engagement of our entire being. Indeed, He has chosen to communicate most profoundly with mankind through and in it – for example, witness today’s miraculous meal; the meal that the risen Jesus shared with the disciples in Emmaus; the Passover celebration (recalling, celebrating and re-enacting the salvation of the Jewish people from slavery, bondage and death of Egypt); and the pinnacle of all meals, Eucharist feast, (celebrating and re-enacting the salvation of humanity from the slavery and bondage of sin and death.)
This feast day offers us an opportunity to meditate deeply on the mystery of Our Lord’s self-giving and His present in the consecrated bread and wine. We might contemplate its meaning through all our senses and many avenues.
Here are some:
visually explore the Last Supper painting, by Leonardo De Vinci https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo)?wprov=srpw1_0 ;
prayerfully listen to St Thomas Aquinas’ profound hymn, Pange Lingua* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4apJNn2Y-ds, (or just the last two verses, Tantum Ergo* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExNIxKsGTn8 );
sense Christ’s presence in the stillness and silence of Adoration (Adoration room open Mon – Fri, 8 am to 8pm, except Wednesdays);
travel to see the relics and exhibition of St Carlos Acutis later this month in St. George’s Cathedral https://www.stgeorgescathedral.org.uk/whats-on/carlos-acutis-relics;
ponder the words of the beautiful hymn ‘In Bread we Bring You’, recognising both our unworthiness and redemption
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77uoFk7dQ10www.youtube.com/watch?v=77uoFk7dQ10
acknowledge and ask forgiveness for the times we have taken the Eucharist for granted, through reading Charles Causley’s poem ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ https://poetryarchive.org/poem/ballad-bread-man;
and above all else
‘taste and see that the Lord is good’. Psalm 34 v 8’, by receiving Him at Communion.
*’Sing, my tongue’, or the last two verses ‘Therefore so great’
Parishioner’s Gospel
Contributor: Ikenna Nze
John 16: 12-15
We encounter a deeply comforting and profound message from Jesus. As He prepares to leave His disciples, He openly acknowledges a truth that many of us still wrestle with today: we are not yet ready to understand everything as we have doubts, fears and limitations. Jesus knows the constraints of our understanding, and instead of abandoning us in our incompleteness, He makes a promise—a promise of his continuous presence through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is sent to continue His work, to lead us into all truth, and to gradually unfold the mysteries of God in a way we can understand. The Spirit does not speak on His own but communicates what He hears from the Father and the Son. This interconnectedness reveals the deep unity of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working as one, in perfect harmony, for the sake of our salvation.
This passage reminds us that our spiritual journey is ongoing. We are ever learning, still growing, still becoming. And in that process, we are never alone. Trusting the Spirit means surrendering to a divine guide who knows the way, even when we do not. It means opening our hearts to be shaped, transformed, and led deeper into the truth of God.
As we reflect on this passage, may we find comfort in knowing that our questions, doubts, and limitations are not barriers, but invitations to trust more deeply.
Let us walk with the Spirit, allow Him to shape us, and embrace the journey toward truth, knowing that God walks with us every step of the way.
***************************
22nd June 2025: Corpus Christi (Cycle C)
Parishioner's Gospel
Contributor: A Parishioner
Luke 9: 11-17
Today we hear Luke recounting the miracle of Christ’s multiplication of five loaves and two fish into food sufficient to feed five thousand plus followers. Despite eating their fill there were scraps left over sufficient to fill twelve baskets. How astounded and bemused many of those present must have been when they experienced this miracle in the midst of what seemed a mundane daily occurrence, eating a meal together. God’s grace to them, and us, is revealed as truly abundant; His care and generosity towards us is boundless.
Across the world since time immemorial meals have gathered peoples together, bringing unity and joy, shared meaning and deepened relationships, physical and spiritual nourishment. They are times of healing and forgiveness, gratitude, ritual and love. Some meals have given us abiding memories that we treasure for years, even generations. God has gifted to humanity this simple but universal human activity, with its unique qualities that invite engagement of our entire being. Indeed, He has chosen to communicate most profoundly with mankind through and in it – for example, witness today’s miraculous meal; the meal that the risen Jesus shared with the disciples in Emmaus; the Passover celebration (recalling, celebrating and re-enacting the salvation of the Jewish people from slavery, bondage and death of Egypt); and the pinnacle of all meals, Eucharist feast, (celebrating and re-enacting the salvation of humanity from the slavery and bondage of sin and death.)
This feast day offers us an opportunity to meditate deeply on the mystery of Our Lord’s self-giving and His present in the consecrated bread and wine. We might contemplate its meaning through all our senses and many avenues.
Here are some:
visually explore the Last Supper painting, by Leonardo De Vinci https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo)?wprov=srpw1_0 ;
prayerfully listen to St Thomas Aquinas’ profound hymn, Pange Lingua* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4apJNn2Y-ds, (or just the last two verses, Tantum Ergo* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExNIxKsGTn8 );
sense Christ’s presence in the stillness and silence of Adoration (Adoration room open Mon – Fri, 8 am to 8pm, except Wednesdays);
travel to see the relics and exhibition of St Carlos Acutis later this month in St. George’s Cathedral https://www.stgeorgescathedral.org.uk/whats-on/carlos-acutis-relics;
ponder the words of the beautiful hymn ‘In Bread we Bring You’, recognising both our unworthiness and redemption
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77uoFk7dQ10www.youtube.com/watch?v=77uoFk7dQ10
acknowledge and ask forgiveness for the times we have taken the Eucharist for granted, through reading Charles Causley’s poem ‘Ballad of the Bread Man’ https://poetryarchive.org/poem/ballad-bread-man;
and above all else
‘taste and see that the Lord is good’. Psalm 34 v 8’, by receiving Him at Communion.
*’Sing, my tongue’, or the last two verses ‘Therefore so great’