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After the miraculous catch of fish, which we hear about in the Gospel today, Peter realised, as never before, his own sinfulness and the holiness of Jesus. He asked Jesus to depart from him but Christ showed him that his sins and weaknesses would not prevent him from sharing in his work. While our sinfulness humbles us we should not let it get us down or make us feel that we do not belong to the company of Christ. Christ came to “call sinners.” He is known as the “friend of sinners” - he comes to help us to overcome our sins. That is why, with confidence, we can come before him in the Mass to confess our sins.
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Mary the Mother of Jesus lovingly and willingly united herself to her Son’s sacrifice on the Cross, sharing
in his self-giving for our salvation and redemption. That is why several Popes have called Mary Co-Redemptrix. Mary
teaches us to have faith. If our faith is week, we should turn to Mary. Jesus dying on the Cross bequeaths his mother
to all mankind and especially to all his disciples.
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Can we trust the Gospel accounts of what Jesus said and did and of who he claimed to be? Luke, Gentile doctor, Christian convert and missionary companion to St Paul, seems to have no doubts. In the prologue to his Gospel he describes the received teaching as “well founded.” and his confidence is in no small part due to the fact that the accounts of Jesus’ life and mission which had been handed down, were the work of those who, from the outset, were “eyewitnesses.” So we can reliably learn what Jesus said and did, and about who he claimed to be, by attending to the Gospels.
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Love and marriage are very much in the air in our readings today. The scriptures reveal how God created us in order that we might know and love him. God delights in us or, as Isaiah in our first reading puts it: ‘As the bridegroom rejoices in his bride so will your God rejoice in you.’ Two become one in marriage and God created us so that we might be united with him in love - and our God is passionate about our being made one with him - So passionate that he gives himself totally for us in Christ who is born among us to win our love and devotion. This is the greatest love story ever told. Christ reveals the God of love to us in order that we might fall in love with him and so, like him, be prepared to leave all to be wedded to him.
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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and we leave behind the touching scene of the crib. Jesus has moved from the helpless infant of Bethlehem to a grown man who takes upon himself a tremendous burden and responsibility. The burden is the weight of the sins of humankind. The responsibility is to make reparation for those sins.
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Today, with the holy Church of God throughout the world, we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany means “manifestation” and it was made manifest to the Magi, who were led from afar by a bright star, that Jesus came, not just for the people of Israel but for everyone. This feast draws us away from the temptation to confine the mystery of the Christmas celebration to our own private world and interests. For the Church, Epiphany is a call and a challenge to never become narrow and inward-looking but to remember that, as the baptised, our vocation is to be a light for all people.
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In today’s Gospel Luke relates the story of the Visitation and it involves the encounter of two pregnant women. Mary, who is from Galilee, journeys to Judea, the place where, one day, the son she is carrying will be cruelly rejected and condemned to die. At Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child in her womb “leapt for joy.” Joy is the first response to the coming of the Messiah. Preparing for the great celebration of the Nativity of the Lord means experiencing the joy of knowing that our God is the God who comes to us - the God who gives himself for us because he loves us.
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John the Baptist, who we hear about in today’s Gospel, marks the end of the time of waiting and the beginning of the new age in Jesus. John is the last of the great prophets; for a long time, the people had been without a messenger from God but in John the Baptist the people discovered an end to God’s silence. Through John, they could hear the word of God. We are told that many went out from the towns and cities to see John - which is testimony to his charismatic power to attract people - such is the powerful attraction of the word of God alive and active in a person.
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The invitation to welcome the God who comes to us in Christ and to cast away empty living is repeated in the liturgy of the Second Sunday of Advent. The Opening Prayer of the Mass asks that no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet Christ. And today we hear the lonely voice of John the Baptist who exhorts us to prepare a way for the Lord. May our faithfulness to the Spirit of Advent create a space so that the Lord can come to us.
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As we begin Advent our thoughts are guided, through the liturgy, to the coming of Christ - his first coming to us in humility and weakness and his second coming in majesty and power. The description of the Second Coming of Christ should not fill us with fear, rather we should look forward to it and prepare for it through prayer and right living
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The feast of Christ the King, which the holy Church throughout the world celebrates today, brings to a close the Church’s liturgical year. Our image of a monarch tends to be of one who lives a privileged life and lords it over others. Christ our King is not like that. He came to serve, not to be served and he wants us to imitate him in his loving service of others. That is why, as St. John of the Cross said: “In the evening of life we shall be examined on love.” If to love and to serve our neighbour is heavenly, hell is the suffering of one who can no longer love.
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Faith in the God of love can bring great happiness and confidence for “perfect love casts out all fear.” The warnings about the end times in the Scriptures are meant to be a source of hope for us, not fear, for “Christ, by his death and resurrection, has achieved our sanctification.” All we need to do is to place our trust in Christ and so be able to make the words of today’s psalm our own: “You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence.”
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Today in the Gospel we hear the story of the “Widow’s Mite.” The mite was the tiniest coin in circulation. In the Temple the rich were giving from their loose change, but the widow, out of her extreme poverty, gave everything she had: two small coins. Although poor and in need of the few coppers she had, she never hesitated, never counted the cost. She gave everything to God. The widow became famous, not because she gave so little but because, in her extraordinary generosity, she gave so much.
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Through liturgy and worship, formation, evangelisation and social outreach, the Diocesan Vision calls us to work for the renewal of the Church. The then Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, insisted that, “The true celebration of the Sacred Liturgy is the centre of any renewal of the Church whatever.” This is why the New Evangelisation must be founded on the faithful and fruitful celebration of the Sacred Liturgy as passed down and presented to us by the Church in her tradition. This is because it is in the Sacred Liturgy, especially in the Mass - the source and summit of the Church’s life, that we encounter the saving action of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most profound way. Liturgy for us in the Church is not just a series of actions or rituals but an encounter with the living Christ who alone offers perfect worship to God and who draws all people to himself through the Sacrifice of the Cross made present in the Eucharist.
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October is the month of the Rosary, and we have prayed a decade of the Rosary at each Mass during October as a gentle reminder, if it is needed, of the great riches that are to be had in this form of prayer. Padre Pio, the holy saint who received the stigmata, loved to pray the Rosary. He always kept his Rosary beads in his hand. Because he prayed it almost constantly, he was known as the ‘living Rosary.’ One day his superior asked him how many Rosaries he had prayed that day. Wanting to be respectful and honest with his superior he told him: “I have prayed thirty-four Rosaries today.” On another occasion a follower asked him to teach him a prayer that was most pleasing to our Blessed Lady. Without hesitation, he insisted that none is more beautiful or pleasing than the Rosary. And he further instructed him: “Always say the Rosary. The Rosary is a weapon in our hands.” Near the end of his life, he didn’t talk much and when people sought his advice or help, he would simply show them the Rosary. Let us follow St Pio’s example and always have our Rosary with us.
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October is the month of the Rosary, and the Rosary is Trinitarian and Christ-centred, but it is also a Marian prayer. In the Rosary, we are happy to praise the mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the words of the Archangel Gabriel and her cousin Elizabeth: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.” And in the Rosary, we meditate and reflect on the important events in Our Lord’s life through the eyes of Mary. Another prayer that makes the Rosary Marian is the concluding prayer - the “Hail Holy Queen.” But the two most important prayers of the Rosary are the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary. As St. Louis de Montfort said: “How could there possibly be any more pleasing prayers to Almighty God and the Blessed Virgin, or any that are easier, more precious or more helpful than these two prayers?”
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October is the month of the Rosary, a rich and complete form of prayer. In the first place it is “Trinitarian”. We begin the Rosary with the sign of the Cross as we invoke the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity: “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” We then recite the Apostles Creed, which calls to mind each of the Divine Persons in turn: “I believe in God the Father Almighty…and in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son…I believe in the Holy Spirit”. And each decade of the Rosary concludes with the Trinitarian prayer: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit”. The Rosary is also Christ-centred, for the mysteries of the Rosary upon which we meditate are the mysteries of Christ’s life. And in every “Hail Mary” prayed, we honour Christ by saying: “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus”.
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October is the month of the Rosary, a rich and complete form of prayer. In the first place it is “Trinitarian”. We begin the Rosary with the sign of the Cross as we invoke the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity: “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” We then recite the Apostles Creed, which calls to mind each of the Divine Persons in turn: “I believe in God the Father Almighty…and in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son…I believe in the Holy Spirit”. And each decade of the Rosary concludes with the Trinitarian prayer: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit”. The Rosary is also Christ-centred, for the mysteries of the Rosary upon which we meditate are the mysteries of Christ’s life. And in every “Hail Mary” prayed, we honour Christ by saying: “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus”.
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October is the month of the Rosary - a form of prayer which has been practiced and encouraged by saints and Popes down through the ages. More importantly, it is a prayer that has been urged by Our Blessed Lady herself. Mary appeared to St Dominic and instructed him to use the Rosary in combating heresy. In the apparitions in Lourdes in 1858, Our Lady appeared with the Rosary in her hand and recited it together with Bernadette. And in Fatima, in 1917, she appeared again holding the Rosary and encouraged the faithful to be diligent in praying the Rosary. It was at Fatima that Mary identified herself as “the Lady of the Rosary” and asked for the “Fatima prayer” to be said after each decade: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.”.
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The Gospel today presents us with a lesson in humility. Whilst the disciples were arguing amongst themselves about who was “the greatest”, Jesus was arguing for being “last of all” and “servant of all” and Jesus backs up his words with his actions, for that is exactly what he became. He washes his disciples’ feet, the work of a slave, and he dies the death of an outcast criminal. And he wants us to share in his way of humility because it is the way of the God who stoops low to gather us into his kingdom.
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Parish Events
Date
| Title | Description |
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30.11.-1 | Coffee Together at the Jubilee Centre | Coffee Together on this Saturday morning, 5th February, 10.30 to 12 Noon, in the Jubilee Centre. All welcome. |
30.11.-1 | Week of Prayer for Cristian Unity | This year's Service, organised by Churches Together, will take place in St Swithin’s Church, Barston, at 6.30pm next Sunday, 23rd January |
30.11.-1 | Post for Fr Frank | Please hand to one of the stewards at Mass. They will see that I receive all post, including Mass cards, after Mass. I will respond to you during the week. |
30.11.-1 | Lent Breakfasts & Talks | The breakfast talks continue throughout Lent at the Methodist church hosted by local churches. This week (29th) the speaker is Rev Dr Stuart Jennings "The Godliness of the Puritans". Saturday 7th March at 8.30am, Blessed Robert Grissold is hosting the Lenten breakfast at the Methodist church. Cost £2.00 and consists of cereals, croissants, and toast followed by the Lenten talk. The theme this year is "Moving forward by looking back". New visions for the future of Christianity. Speaker Mr Peter Larkin "The drama of Catholicism". All welcome. |
09.07.2016 | Church Consecration | This is a very special year in the life of our parish, as our church will be consecrated on 9th July by Archbishop Bernard Longley. Preparations are already underway, both for the consecration service itself, and for various fund-raising activities. Updates on our progress so far are published in our Easter newsletter available online (along with our weekly Sunday bulletin) on this website For more details of how you can be involved, please speak to Joe Martin or Ian Clarke, or email enquiries@brgparish.org.uk. |
10.07.2016 | Candle of Dedication | The dedication for this week is Francis Clements |
10.07.2016 | Prayer Life | The meditations and instruction on prayer in the Christian spiritual life continue on Wednesday during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament |
10.07.2016 | Ethiopia Appeal and Collection | There is a serious food crisis in Ethiopia. Extreme weather shifts, part of the El Nino effect, mean severe drought has left millions of people in need of emergency food aid. 400,000 children are already suffering from malnutrition and we need to act now to prevent a far more terrible crisis. Please give to the collection today for CAFOD's emergency humanitarian response. And please pray for those who are suffering. |
10.07.2016 | Consecration | A huge thank you to all those who worked to make the Consecration of our church such a blessed occasion yesterday. There will be a more in depth write up of the mass and celebrations soon! |
10.07.2016 | Consecration Pictures | Pictures of the consecration celebration are now available by clinking on the link or accessing the Parish Archive via the menu. |
12.07.2016 | Mass time change for this week | Please note that this week's Tuesday Mass is earlier than usual and will be at 9.30 am to allow Fr Frank to attend the monthly Deanery Meeting of clergy |
17.07.2016 | Candle of Dedication | The dedication for this week is Richard Brennan |
17.07.2016 | Car Park | Thank you to Paul Ryan for his generous donation of time and materials in repairing the gulley in the car park. If anyone would like to talk to Paul about driveways, paving or landscaping please call him on 07831 386621 |
24.07.2016 | Candle of Dedication | The dedication for this week is for Jo Nijst |
24.07.2016 | Consecration candles | We would like to thank those who donated the four consecration candles put up in the church. These are in memory of the following. Bridge and Perry family, Cotterill family, McLean family, Daniel Mark Lester and Amy Pullen |
24.07.2016 | Fr Frank on holiday | Father Frank is on holiday this week. There will be a Eucharistic Service at 10.00am on Tuesdays while he is away. There will be no Mass with the Anointing of the Sick in July and no First Friday Mass in August. |
24.07.2016 | Baptism of Eve Elizabeth Ryder | We pray for Eve and for her family, godparents and friends as they gather, after Mass today, for her Baptism.CAFOD Collection |
24.07.2016 | CAFOD Collection | Thank you so much for the generous CAFOD donations collected in the last two weeks. An exceptional total of £382 was raised and that is without the Gift Aid extra reimbursement which will make the final total well in excess of £400. Thank you especially to all who took the time to fill in their details |
31.07.2016 | Fr Martin Newell CP | We look forward to welcoming Fr Martin who will celebrate Mass here next Sunday. |
31.07.2016 | Candle of Dedication | The dedication for this week is for Jo Nijst |
24.05.2025
Every year, hundreds of pilgrims from across the Archdiocese of Birmingham join together for the Lourdes Pilgrimage. 2025 is the Year of Jubilee and Archbishop Bernard invites you to come with us on this very special occasion in the life of the archdiocese: “It’s a great experience to be together with upwards of 700 fellow pilgrims.” The pilgrimage dates have been announced: Saturday 24 – Friday 30 May 2025, and you can now express your interest in a place or get more information by visiting www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/lourdes.
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10.03.2025
Departing 10th March 2025. £799.00 pps – price includes flight, 10kg hold luggage, 4 nights in 4* Castlecourt Hotel, Westport with dinner, bed & breakfast. Lunch on three days. All entertainment, excursions and transport included. Visit Knock, Galway City, Kylemore Abbey, Croagh Patrick, Ballintubber Abbey, Quiet Man Museum. Single supplement on enquiry. Contact 01268 762 278 or 07740 175557 or email knockpilgrimages@gmail.com.
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08.03.2025
Saturdays during Lent from 8:45-10am, with refreshments. Venue: Methodist Church, Station Road. This year’s subject is the Council of Nicaea. All welcome. Dates and organisers: 8th March (Methodist Church), 15th March (St Peters), 22nd March (St Marys Temple Balsall), 29th March (St John the Baptist Berkswell), Saturday 5th April (Blessed Robert Grissold). Donations welcome.
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12.02.2025
The next parish coffee morning will take place at 10.30 am this Wed 12th February, in the Parish Room. Join us for tea, coffee, scones, cakes and good conversation in abundance! All welcome.
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11.02.2025
Weekday mass: this week at Blessed Robert Grissold at 7pm. Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. Intention: Eva Nicholls (RIP).
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11.02.2025
There will be a Parish Pastoral Council meeting on Tuesday 11th February after the 7.00pm Mass. Please forward to Fr Frank
suggested items for the agenda.
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09.02.2025
The Baptism of Anya Grace Pointer will take place on Sunday 9th February at 1pm: Please pray for Anya, her parents, godparents,
family and friends.
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09.02.2025
Today from 2-5pm at St. Mary’s, Temple Balsall there is an opportunity to visit the churchyard, gardens and adjoining woods abundant with wild snowdrops. Homemade teas between 2-4pm. Free entrance, donations welcome.
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09.02.2025
Jubilee 2025 – Pilgrims of Hope: To find out more about how your parish, family or school can celebrate the Jubilee Year in our Archdiocese, and how you can participate in events nationally and internationally, visit our Diocesan website: www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/jubilee-year
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08.02.2025
The Birmingham Lourdes Hospitalité: warmly invites you to a special Mass celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes on Saturday, 8th February 2025, at 4:30 pm, in St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. This celebration is a wonderful opportunity to come together in prayer, honour Our Lady, and seek her intercession for the sick and their carers. Special invitation is sent to all who have served in Lourdes, and schools, students, and Pilgrims planning to join our Diocesan Pilgrimage in May 2025. Refreshments will be served after Mass. For more information, please contact treas.hosp.lourdes@rcaob.org.uk
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28.01.2025
Tony Cotterill (RIP), who many parishioners will remember from his attending BRG for many years, passed away just after Christmas. His funeral Mass will be on Tuesday 28th January at 11am at Christ the King in Coventry, and afterwards at the Church Social Club next door. Please remember Tony and his family and friends in your prayers
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26.01.2025
Recently deceased - Isabel Cusack, parishioner of St George & St Teresa.
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26.01.2025
Any parents with children aged 7 or above wishing to make their First Holy Communion should contact either Father Frank, Chris Mitchell or Eileen Selby.
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26.01.2025
Father Hudsons have asked us to pass on their thanks for the many gifts (over 50) that were donated via the Christmas Giving Tree and which were distributed to those less fortunate than ourselves.
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26.01.2025
Friends of the Holy Land: Thank you for all who donated to the collection at the Carol Service to the Friends of the Holy Land. The amount collected for this charity was £82.
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21.01.2025
Requiem Mass will be held for Martin Sheehy (RIP) this Tuesday 21st January at 10.45am. Please keep Martin, his family and friends in your prayers.
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19.01.2025
A service of prayer for Christian Unity is to be held at St Mary the Virgin Church, Temple Balsall on Sunday 19th January at 4pm. All are welcome.
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18.01.2025
The week of prayer is traditionally observed from the 18- 25 January – the octave of St. Peter and St. Paul. At the heart of our reflections for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is the question posed by Jesus to Martha: ‘Do you believe this?’ (John 11:26). Please visit www.cbcew.org.uk/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity/ for resources and prayers for this week of prayer.
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15.01.2025
Sara’s normal parish office hours (Wednesdays 10.30am – 2.30pm) will resume from Wednesday 15th January.
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12.01.2025
Choir practice after mass starts again today. If anyone is interested in joining the choir, please speak to Ian Clarke – no previous choir experience is necessary.
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Parish Calendar