Michael Lawrence EGAN RIP

During the last few days,one of our much beloved parishioner passed away to the Father’s House + Michael Lawrence EGAN RIP – as His Family stated:

‘Fabulous father, awesome Granddad and fiercely loyal friend. Headteacher, governor, rambler, gardener, rugby player, traveller. He was one of the good guys. We are heartbroken’ We will miss him so much – and because he has attended last years St Swithun’s church and Sunday Mass at 8.30am, we would like to offer this Holy Mass, this weekend for the repose of His soul.

The details about the funeral will be published soon. May He rest in peace.

The funeral service will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes, Eastney on Friday January 19th 2018 at 11.00am, followed by committal at Portchester Crematorium at 12.15pm

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DAILY MEDITATION:Thursday of the 15th Week of Ordinary TimeJuly 19, 2018Today’s Prayer:Lord, I need to be docile to give You my pain and worries, trusting that Your love transforms everything. Amen.Today's Readings:Isaiah 26:7-9,12,16-19Ps 102:13-21Matthew 11:28-30Finding rest in the yoke of JesusAre you weary? Weighed down and exhausted by family problems, trials at work, challenges in ministry, or maybe even spiritual attacks against your soul? Jesus said in today's Gospel passage, "Come to me when you are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you." We can rest by taking his yoke upon us.What? Sounds like more weight to me!Jesus' yoke is humility -- i.e., enduring trials with gentleness, patience, forgiveness, going the extra mile. But this seems like a very heavy yoke; how will it refresh us? How could it lighten our loads?Today's first reading speaks for our yearnings: We long for God's peace. We want a smooth way through rough problems. We feel like the woman in labor, pushing painfully for hours but expelling only gas. (Isaiah used the word "wind", but don't you think he might have been referring to that stinky wind our bodies expel?)Actually, the restful peace we need is available every moment, because Jesus is with us every moment. In accepting his yoke upon us, we bond ourselves to him. Since he is the stronger one of the team, the weight of the yoke presses more heavily on him than on us. Our burdens feel lighter. If we don't strain against the yoke by pulling Jesus in our own direction, he leads us into the kingdom of everlasting goodness through his power, his strength, and his energy.Life's pains are easier to endure when we realize there's a bigger picture. As we plow with Jesus through troublesome fields, we are helping to sow the kingdom of God, making a difference for all of eternity. That's awesome! If we could see where Jesus is taking us with our plows, we'd be grateful about the new crop that will grow. But we can't see the future -- if we could, we'd probably ignore the fruitful harvest, focus on the sweat of the labor, drop the yoke and run.We have to trust, instead, on the promises God is providing for our encouragement: "You will find rest for yourselves," he says. The Bible is full of promises that are guarantees meant to strengthen us and keep us plowing forward through whatever it takes to produce wonderful fruits.We can either moan and complain about the trials, or we can forgive those who make our lives difficult. Forgiveness is the key to finding the peace of Christ that is rightfully ours. Forgiveness often requires a lot of effort, though, a lot of digging into our humility where we can find the willingness to forgive, a willingness that already exists deep beneath our pain.The deeper we plow with Jesus, the stronger our muscles become. And the more we use these muscles, the lighter the burden feels.#dailymeditations www.stswithuns.org.uk/event/dr-19072018 ... See MoreSee Less

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I will Lord x

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Fabulous

Very true... especially the To Do List!

DAILY MEDITATION:Wednesday of the 15th Week of Ordinary TimeJuly 18, 2018Today’s Prayer:Beloved Father, help me to discover Your presence in simple and humble people, and give me a humble heart to receive and to give to others everything You want to work in me. Amen.Today's Readings:Isaiah 10:5-7, 13b-16Ps 94:5-10, 14-15Matthew 11:25-27Do you know any saint-makers?People who are difficult to get along with are what I call "saint-makers." Whenever we're near them or even merely thinking about them, we cannot remain spiritually stagnant -- we either move forward in holiness or we sin. They give us ample opportunities to grow in patience, forgiveness, unconditional love, reliance on God, etc.God allows us to be in hurtful relationships (*note: I said "allows" not "wants"), because he does not interfere with the free will of those who hurt us. But he does want good to come from the pain. To make that happen, he uses it to show us the limits of our love so that we can stretch and grow stronger in our ability to love unconditionally. (Dangerous abuse is a separate matter and should be fled or stopped immediately, for only then can growth resume and healing begin).C.S. Lewis said: "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and probably be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the coffin or casket of your selfishness."The hurts of love should never destroy us. God heals us as we forgive others.Let me emphasize that God does not allow the troublemakers to go so far as to destroy us -- i.e., to destroy our faith, our lives, our dreams, our hearts -- when we keep turning to Jesus. This is what happened in today's first reading. God had allowed Assyria to advance upon Israel, because the Hebrews had turned away from his protection. But he would not allow Assyria to completely destroy Israel. They were stopped just before they reached Jerusalem, the heart of the nation's faith.If someone is nasty and arrogant and unGodly toward you, like the Assyrian king was toward Israel, or if you've not been able to stop people from advancing against you, or if there seems to be no end in sight to a bad situation, remember that God will not let this go all the way to utter disaster. If you keep your eyes on Jesus and deal with the problems the way he wants you to, you will be protected and you will grow strong.This truth is hidden from "the learned and the clever," as Jesus said in Today's Gospel reading. It's revealed to those who trust in God the way young children trust their parents.Jesus said, "No one really knows the Father except the Son and all those to whom the Son reveals him." Has Jesus revealed the Father to you? If you're teachable, yes! Has Jesus made known the Father's unconditional love for you? Every day! As long as you stay close to Jesus, walking the path of holiness in his footsteps, your Daddy-God will not allow any person or any situation to hurt you so badly that it destroys you.#dailymeditations www.stswithuns.org.uk/event/dr-18072018 ... See MoreSee Less

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DAILY MEDITATION::Tuesday of the 15th Week of Ordinary TimeJuly 17, 2018Today’s Prayer:Lord, what would become of me if You were not ministering to me every day! I want to trust You, I choose to trust You. Strengthen my faith and I'll be able to see the wonders You work for me. Amen.Today's Readings:Isaiah 7:1-9Ps 48:2-8Matthew 11:20-24How firm is your faith?"Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm!" That's the message of today's first reading. How can our faith remain steady when we allow circumstances in our lives to take our eyes off of Jesus? Unless we focus on in him, we're weak and vulnerable and easily shaken by the struggles we face.Trust is a choice. Fear tells us to distrust God and trust our own assumptions, which are based on limited evidence. Fear is a feeling, but trust is a decision. God eagerly helps us to make that decision. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, he gives us divine evidence that contradicts any discouraging evidence, although often it comes in ways that are, at first, easy to overlook.In today's Gospel passage, Jesus uses as evidence the miracles and mighty deeds of God. What trials are you enduring right now? In the midst of the frightening, burdensome and frustrating events that spell out bad news, look for evidence that God has been at work, for there you will find good news.God's mighty deeds happen every day, especially during difficulties. However, unless we allow these miracles to transform us, deepening our reliance on God, our faith is easily shaken. As Jesus said, we become worse off than the sinful cities of Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, because we have more evidence of God's goodness than they did.Distrust is a rejection of God's goodness. The Sacrament of Reconciliation and the penance rite at the beginning of Mass then become more of God's miracles: The Lord provides the grace we need to pay more attention to his loving interventions.#dailymeditations www.stswithuns.org.uk/event/dr-17072018 ... See MoreSee Less