We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ…

During the Stations of the Cross in Lent we have used the traditional prayer “We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world”. 
 
However this isn’t the complete prayer which was actually composed by St Francis of Assisi who whenever he caught sight of a Catholic church in the distance, would kneel down and give praise to God. We adore you, O Lord Jesus Christ, in this church and all the churches of the world, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen
 
He  encouraged his followers to clean up churches physically and to ensure that the Blessed Sacrament and the Scriptures were reserved reverently, while also “not neglecting to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, work to alleviate the suffering of people suffering from leprosy, and engage in every possible corporal and spiritual work of mercy—never with the assurance that their best efforts would be enough to wipe out these and other pressing human needs. They did these things always with the confidence that their small contributions are precious in God’s eyes”
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In all of this, vowed Franciscans and admirers of Francis have been mindful over the centuries of our need to give the good example that God rightly expects of us. The “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless you” prayer has kept them focused both on current needs and the heavenly banquet “where God will be everything in all of you,” as Saint Paul wrote

“Give hope, sow peace”
the Good Friday Collection 2025
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Hope is the central message of Jubilee 2025, the living and personal encounter with the Lord. A concrete gesture of hope is represented by the Good Friday Collection, also known as the Colletta pro Locis Sanctis, one of the collections in aid of the places and needs of the Holy Land. To know more about how it works, and to give straight away, the site www.collettavenerdisanto.it is available where, alongside materials and guides, the reader can also find the text of the Via Crucis prepared by the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, with the meditations and testimonies of the “Living Stones” of the Holy Land.
Now more than ever, the suffering populations of the Holy Land, the few remaining Christians, the religious communities, young people and children, who are the future of those communities, but also the sick and the elderly, are in need of concrete and immediate help, even just to “maintain their positions”, thus mitigating the damage that continuous conflicts are causing to the daily life of the people.
The Collection, which takes place on Good Friday, this year on 18 April, the day that commemorates the Passion of the Lord, has its origins in Saint Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Nobis in Animo, of March 1974. The Collection was established with the intention to strengthen the bond between Christians around the world and the Holy Places, and it is one of the official collections of the Catholic Church.
This collection represents the main resource for supporting the activities and life around the Holy Places. The donations gathered by the parish communities and the bishops are transferred, via the Commissioners of the Holy Land, to the Custody of the Holy Land. These funds are used to preserve the sacred sites and to support the local Christian communities, often defined as the “living stones” of this region.
The territories that receive support from the Collection include those where the Custody has been present for centuries: Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus, along with countries where the eastern Christian communities are present: Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq and Türkiye.  The Custody has 270 missionaries from over 30 nations. The friars take care of the Holy Places and welcome pilgrims 
The Christian communities have been left without employment and the entire economy linked to religious tourism. As a result, most families suffer from the economic crisis and struggle to pay school fees. Schools, however, remain the place where the friars build Peace every day.
The Good Friday Collection, together with pilgrimages, therefore represents the main source of funding. The Custos of the Holy Land, Brother Francesco Patton, writes: “Thanks to your generosity, we will be able to care for and make the Holy Places places of prayer and welcome for the faithful and pilgrims; respond to emergencies; support schools, clinics, dispensaries, homes for the elderly and for young families; and promote humanitarian works for migrants, displaced persons and refugees. Help us to Give Hope and Sow Peace!”.

The celebration of Holy Week
 
Wednesday 16th April
1800     Confession & Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, concluding around 1845
 
Maundy Thursday 17th April
1900     Mass of the Lords Supper & watching at the Altar of Repose
2055     Night Prayer
 
Good Friday 18th April
0900     Children’s Stations of the Cross
1000     Morning Prayer
1030     Confessions
1200     Stations of the Cross
1500     Liturgy of the Passion & Veneration of    the Cross. 
 
Holy Saturday 19th April
1000     Morning Prayer
1900     The Easter Vigil
 
Easter Sunday 20th April
1100     Sung Mass for Easter Sunday
1800     Mass for Easter Sunday

The Prodigal Son
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“So it was that after he came to his senses the younger son set out on a new journey ….  he had realised that it is precisely work, humility and daily discipline that create the true feast and true freedom. So he returned home, inwardly matured and purified: he had understood what living is. Of course, in the future his life would not be easy either, temptations would return, but he was henceforth fully aware that life without God does not work; it lacks the essential, it lacks light, it lacks reason, it lacks the great sense of being human. He understood that we can only know God on the basis of his Word.
 
We Christians can add that we know who God is from Jesus, in whom the face of God has been truly shown to us. The young man understood that God’s Commandments are not obstacles to freedom and to a beautiful life, but signposts on the road on which to travel to find life. He realized too that work and the discipline of being committed, not to oneself but to others, extends life. And precisely this effort of dedicating oneself through work gives depth to life, because one experiences the pleasure of having at last made a contribution to the growth of this world that becomes freer and more beautiful.”
Pope Benedict 16th

“Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth
            Who we are
            Where we come from
            Where we must go
What path we must take in life”

​Pope Benedict the 16th

Lenten Joy
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“In the short chapter on Lent in St Benedict’s Rule he twice mentions the joy of the Holy Spirit, once by making an offering to God “with the Joy of the Holy Spirit” and once by waiting for Easter “in the joy of holy desire”.  For St Benedict Lent is now a season of torture but a season of joy.”
Dom Henry Wansborough OSB
May our Second week of Lent be a joyful time of restraint and preparation for the Easter mystery

The Prodigal Son
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During Lent this year we will hear the Gospel of the Prodigal Son which Pope Benedict 16th said “constitutes one of the peaks of spirituality and literature of all time”.   Part of the famous Rembrandt painting of this parable will accompany our journey in the Church, with the Father embracing his repentant child - as Pope Benedict put it “our Father who out of love created us to be free and endowed us with a conscience, who suffers when we get lost and rejoices when we return”.
 
The Holy Father went on to write “For this reason, our relationship with the Father is built up through events, just as it happens for every child with his parents: at first he depends on them, then he asserts his autonomy; and, in the end if he develops well he reaches a mature relationship based on gratitude and authentic love.
In these stages we can also identify moments along man's journey in his relationship with God. There can be a phase that resembles childhood: religion prompted by need, by dependence. As man grows up and becomes emancipated, he wants to liberate himself from this submission and become free and adult, able to organize himself and make his own decisions, even thinking he can do without God. Precisely this stage is delicate and can lead to atheism, yet even this frequently conceals the need to discover God's true Face.
Fortunately for us, God never fails in his faithfulness and even if we distance ourselves and get lost he continues to follow us with his love, forgiving our errors and speaking to our conscience from within in order to call us back to him”
 
During these Lenten days may we hear the voice of the Father, who is ever merciful and compassionate, speaking to our hearts that we may grow closer to him each day. 

Almsgiving during the Season of Lent
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In one of his Lenten messages Pope Benedict XVI wrote that  “In the Lenten period, the Church makes it her duty to propose some specific tasks that accompany the faithful concretely in this process of interior renewal: these are prayer, fasting and almsgiving” and the Holy Father went on to quote St  Augustine who said that “fasting and almsgiving are "the two wings of prayer" which enable it to gain momentum and more easily reach even to God”
While we all have our own ways of supporting others, during this Lenten Season I would like to invite our Parish community to support both CAFOD but also the work of the Genesis Trust, a local Charity here in Bath, which undertakes some of its outreach at St John’s Church Bath.   Fr Christopher and Fr Jeremy will also be inviting the parishioners in St Johns and St Marys Parishes to take part in this Lenten almsgiving. 
Next Sunday (the 1st Sunday of Lent) there will be collection boxes for you to take home and to use, if you wish, during the 40 says of Lent.   I would then ask you to bring these boxes back either on Palm Sunday or on Maundy Thursday when they will be bought up during the Offertory at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.   The collection will be divided equally between Genesis and CAFOD.
In case the work of the Genesis project isn’t familiar Fr Christopher has written this. 
“Out of a desire to reach out to some of Bath's vulnerable, St John's hosts a lunch each Thursday in partnership with the Genesis Trust to ensure that some of those who live on the streets are nourished and nurtured with a home-cooked meal.  Attracting some fifty guests each week, the lunch is made up of those who are homeless, those with addiction needs, those who are lonely, and those who are vulnerable. The hall at St John's provides a welcoming environment in which Genesis' guests can come to be refreshed, fed, and made welcome. 

Dates for your diary
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Weds 5th March – Ash Wednesday Masses at 0700 / 1200/1800
Stations of the Cross – 1130 on Fridays & 1715 on Sundays
Tue 15th April – Parish Lent Penitential Service 1830

Racial Justice Sunday 16th of February
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On this day the Church focuses on the need to oppose racism and pursue racial justice with renewed vigour. The theme for Racial Justice Sunday is: “Pilgrims of Hope: Our Journey Together Towards Racial Justice”.
 
The theme invites Catholics across England and Wales to reflect on the collective journey towards racial justice in our schools, parishes and wider society. Bishop Paul McAleenan said: “2025 is a very special year. It marks both a Year of Jubilee and the 30th anniversary of Racial Justice Sunday. This year, we invite the Catholic community to reflect on the journey towards racial justice – past, present and future – by asking: ‘How far have we come, where are we now and what remains to be achieved?’
 
Just as pilgrims must prepare for their journey and be properly equipped, we, too, need all that is necessary to propel us towards racial justice – the mind of Christ; examination of our progress and of the challenges that remain; a willingness to learn from one another together; and prayers for and on the journey. “It is my hope that our Racial Justice Sunday 2025 resources will not only assist but inspire the People of God to continue walking and praying together on the path to racial justice.”