Virgin of Vladimir (+ image by the hand of Stephen Allison 2008)

Monday 29 August 2011

A new creation

Notes of meeeting on 23 August 2011

Picture of Risen Lord with the empty Cross behind Him and of Jesus taken down from the Cross in Mary's arms
"I have paid the price of darkness to give you light. I have given you the light in your inner being to pass on to others."


It is my love that inspires you and will bring fruit in your life.


Romans 8 v 31 - 39
31 After saying this, what can we add? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts?
33 Who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice
34 who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died -- yes and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God's right hand -- and who is adding his plea for us?
35 Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ -- can hardships or distress, or persecution, or lack of food and clothing, or threats or violence;
36 as scripture says: For your sake we are being massacred all day long, treated as sheep to be slaughtered?
37 No; we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us.
38 For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power,
39 nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.



Revelation 21 v 1 - 7
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea.
2 I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, 'Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them.
4 He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.'
5 Then the One sitting on the throne spoke. 'Look, I am making the whole of creation new. Write this, "What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true."
6 Then he said to me, 'It has already happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty;
7 anyone who proves victorious will inherit these things; and I will be his God and he will be my son.




See link below to an article if the Good News magazine by Fr Chris Thomas
http://www.ccr.org.uk/archive/gn1107/g012.htm

Sunday 28 August 2011

Set us free

Notes of meeting on 16 August 2011

Luke  4 v 16-22

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips....

Lord thank you that you are the anointed one, our saviour, our redeemer.

Lord anoint us and the world with your Spirit , set us free from the sin weakness lack of faith that binds us give us new sight  to see you as the light in the darkness.





Wednesday 17 August 2011

Save us Lord

Notes of meeting 9 August 2011

Micah 6 v 7-8
6 'With what shall I enter Yahweh's presence and bow down before God All-high? Shall I enter with burnt offerings, with calves one year old?
7 Will he be pleased with rams by the thousand, with ten thousand streams of oil? Shall I offer my eldest son for my wrong-doing, the child of my own body for my sin?
8 'You have already been told what is right and what Yahweh wants of you. Only this, to do what is right, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.'


Matthew 8 v 23 -27
23 Then he got into the boat followed by his disciples.


24 Suddenly a storm broke over the lake, so violent that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But he was asleep.
25 So they went to him and woke him saying, 'Save us, Lord, we are lost!'
26 And he said to them, 'Why are you so frightened, you who have so little faith?' And then he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 They were astounded and said, 'Whatever kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?'



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Please see below details from Tom Hickey of a recent message given at Medugorje on 2nd August 2011 .
The message seems to me to strike a chord with this group's recent call to pray for the world and against the evil that besets it.


Our Lady to Mirjana - 2nd August 2011

Using words she never used before the Virgin Mary issued an unusually dire

warning but also gave a mighty promise during her August 2 apparition to

Medugorje visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo.

The world is threatened by an evil that wants to rule and destroy it, individual

people cannot stop it on their own - but by becoming a new people with Jesus,

gathering into God's family and receiving strength from the Father, mankind is

capable of changing everything and healing the world, the Virgin Mary also said in

a message that could seem imminently prophetic:

"Dear children,

Today I call you to be born anew in prayer and through the Holy Spirit, to became a

new people with my Son; a people who knows that if they have lost God, they have

lost themselves; a people Who knows that, with God, despite all sufferings and trials,

they are secure and saved. I call you to gather into God's family and to be

strengthened with the Father's strength. As individuals, my children, you cannot

stop the evil that wants to begin to rule in this world and to destroy it. But,

according to God's will, all together, with my Son, you can change everything and

heal the world. I call you to pray with all your heart for your shepherds, because my

Son chose them. Thank you."


The apparition took place at The Blue Cross in Medugorje. It lasted little more than

five minutes from 8.38 am.
 

Monday 8 August 2011

Jesus our Rock

Notes of meeting on 26 July 2011

Jesus you are our Rock, our Deliverer, our Saviour, our Redeemer, our Shepherd.
We are saved by you so we need not be afraid as you lift us from the mire out of the dross of life.

Psalm 40
1 I waited, I waited for Yahweh, then he stooped to me and heard my cry for help.

2 He pulled me up from the seething chasm, from the mud of the mire. He set my feet on rock, and made my footsteps firm.
3 He put a fresh song in my mouth, praise of our God. Many will be awestruck at the sight, and will put their trust in Yahweh.
4 How blessed are those who put their trust in Yahweh, who have not sided with rebels and those who have gone astray in falsehood.
5 How much you have done, Yahweh, my God -- your wonders, your plans for us -- you have no equal. I will proclaim and speak of them; they are beyond number.
6 You wanted no sacrifice or cereal offering, but you gave me an open ear, you did not ask for burnt offering or sacrifice for sin;
7 then I said, 'Here I am, I am coming.' In the scroll of the book it is written of me,
8 my delight is to do your will; your law, my God, is deep in my heart.
9 I proclaimed the saving justice of Yahweh in the great assembly. See, I will not hold my tongue, as you well know.
10 I have not kept your saving justice locked in the depths of my heart, but have spoken of your constancy and saving help. I have made no secret of your faithful and steadfast love, in the great assembly.
11 You, Yahweh, have not withheld your tenderness from me; your faithful and steadfast love will always guard me.
12 For troubles surround me, until they are beyond number; my sins have overtaken me; I cannot see my way. They outnumber the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, Yahweh, to rescue me, Yahweh, come quickly and help me!
14 Shame and dismay to all who seek to take my life. Back with them, let them be humiliated who delight in my misfortunes.
15 Let them be aghast with shame, those who say to me, 'Aha, aha!'
16 But joy and happiness in you to all who seek you! Let them ceaselessly cry, 'Great is Yahweh' who love your saving power.
17 Poor and needy as I am, the Lord has me in mind. You, my helper, my Saviour, my God, do not delay.


Matthew 9 v 1 -8
1 He got back in the boat, crossed the water and came to his home town.

2 And suddenly some people brought him a paralytic stretched out on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, 'Take comfort, my child, your sins are forgiven.'
3 And now some scribes said to themselves, 'This man is being blasphemous.'
4 Knowing what was in their minds Jesus said, 'Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts?
5 Now, which of these is easier: to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Get up and walk"?
6 But to prove to you that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,' -- then he said to the paralytic-'get up, pick up your bed and go off home.'
7 And the man got up and went home.
8 A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for having given such authority to human beings.


Our Lady in front of the Cross bidding us to come and worship Jesus.




Look up the bible readings at:-

http://www.catholic.org/bible/