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Our Parish Locations

Come and join our friendly congregation who come together in our two Parish churches, Our Lady of Lourdes and St Swithun’s, to worship God and listen to God’s word.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church


Telephone: 023 9282 8305	Bransbury Rd, Portsmouth, Hampshire. PO4 9JY

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St Swithun’s Church


Telephone: 023 9282 8305	Waverley Road, Southsea, Hampshire. PO5 2PL

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Address: 105 Waverley Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire. PO5 2PL
Telephone: 023 9282 8305

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A Coin, A Sheep, A Son - Word on Fire

9 hours ago

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CHRISTIAN MORNING MEDITATION:September 15, 2019Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary TimeLuke 15: 1-10The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." So to them he addressed this parable. "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance. "Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.' In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents."Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe that you came into this world to redeem sinners. I hope in you, and in your power to transform my soul, by your grace, from sinfulness to holiness. Lord, I love you and offer you the longings of my heart to put you truly first in my life. I want to love you with all my mind, heart, soul, and strength.Petition: Lord, save me from my sinful habits and help me grow in virtue.1. “This Man Welcomes Sinners and Eats with Them”: Jesus is willing to sit down and share a meal with me. In other words, my Lord and Redeemer overlooks my unworthiness to speak with me. This attracts my attention. I know my guilt, yet I do not feel judged, and so I draw near and listen to him. In so many of my misguided actions, I have sought personal benefits which I do not deserve. I accept, even demand favors from those around me, while hypocritically not respecting their needs or the common good. Often there is no difference between my lifestyle and that of a “tax collector” or “sinner.” Still, Jesus is willing to lower himself and share a meal at my table, despite the criticism and rebuke he receives on my account. I can connect with him at his level, since he has lowered himself to mine, to lift me up.2. “Rejoice with Me Because I Have Found My Lost Sheep”: For Christ, every soul has value. Every soul has been created through him, in God’s image and likeness. No sin, while this time of mercy lasts, can escape the reach of the Redeemer’s infinite love. Christ has shed his blood and passed through death to save those souls who have died in their sins, and he restores them to life. All that I have to do is hear his shepherd’s voice that calls out to me and finds me where I am. I need only to let myself be found, let him take me up in his arms, let him dispel my darkness and fear by the warmth of his love, and let him return me to the fold. “Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace” (CCC, 654). Every sin confessed, and every new virtue acquired, is a triumph of God’s grace in my soul.3. “Rejoice with Me Because I Have Found the Coin That I Lost”: In Christ, there is communion. No Christian is left to stand alone. God’s grace in a soul radiates out to others. This is one of the most beautiful fruits wrought by Christ’s redemption: A soul is brought into union with his Mystical Body. The communion between the members of Christ’s Body produces joy, and I am meant to proclaim it. In the same way that others rejoice whenever the light of God’s grace shines in my soul through good works (Cf. Matthew 5:16), so too, I should lift praise to God whenever I discover his goodness in others. “Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: ‘Go and tell my brethren.’ We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection” (CCC, 654)Conversation with Christ: Lord, you do not judge or discriminate against me, so long as I am willing to listen to your voice and respond to your promptings. Please continue to grant me your merciful grace, so that your call to holiness will triumph in the life of my soul. Let me rejoice with others.Resolution: Today, I will consciously choose to exercise a virtue that will help me break one of my sinful habits.dailymeditations www.stswithuns.org.uk/event/dr-15092019 ... See MoreSee Less

13 hours ago

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stswithuns.org.uk/newsletter-NL_15092019Lots going on in the Parish this week as we are about to start our pilgrimage to Italy on Monday. Please pray for us.Keep up to date with what's going on in our Parish Mass Time Our Lady of Lourdes for 6pm Mass on Saturdays for Sunday Mass at St Swithun's RC Church Southsea. Mass Times at 8:30am , 10:15am (family mass ) and 1pm (Mass Polish)We wish you all a blessed and peaceful weekend - Father Marcin and the Parish Team ... See MoreSee Less

Newsletter: 15th Sept 2019 - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time St Swithuns

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CHRISTIAN MORNING MEDITATION:Lectio Divina: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross - John 3:13-17Saturday, September 14, 2019Anyone who believes in Jesus has eternal life.Opening prayerOh Father who wanted to save manby the Cross of Christ, Your Son,grant to us who have known on earthHis mystery of love,to enjoy in Heaven the fruits of His redemption.We ask this through Christ our Lord. 1. LECTIO Reading:Jesus said to Nicodemus:"No one has gone up to heavenexcept the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,so must the Son of Man be lifted up,so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perishbut might have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,but that the world might be saved through him.2. MEDITATIOa) Key for the reading:The text for today’s Liturgy has been taken from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It should not surprise us that the passage chosen for this celebration forms part of the fourth Gospel, because, it is precisely this Gospel which presents the mystery of the cross of the Lord as the exaltation. This is clear from the beginning of the Gospel: “as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up” (Jn 3:14; Dan 7:13). John explains the mystery of the Incarnate Word in the paradoxical movement of the descent-ascent (Jn 1:14,18; 3:13). In fact, it is this mystery which offers the key for the reading in order to understand the evolution of the identity and of the mission of the passus et gloriosus (suffering and glorious) of Jesus Christ, and that we may well say that this is not only valid for the text of John. The Letter to the Ephesians, for example, uses this paradoxical movement to explain the mystery of Christ: “Now, when it says, ‘He went up’, it must mean that He had gone down to the deepest levels of the earth” (Eph 4:9).Jesus is the Son of God who becoming Son of man (Jn 3:13) makes known to us the mysteries of God (Jn 1:18). He alone can do this, in so far as He alone has seen the Father (Jn 6:46). We can say that the mystery of the Word who descends from Heaven responds to the yearning of the prophets: who will go up to heaven to reveal this mystery to us? (cf. Deut 30:12; Prov 30:4). The fourth Gospel is full of references to the mystery of He who “is from Heaven” (1 Cor 15:47). The following are some quotations or references: Jn 6:33, 38,51, 62; 8:42; 16:28-30; 17:5.The exaltation of Jesus is precisely in His descent to come to us, unto death, and death on the Cross, on which He was lifted up like the serpent in the desert, which, “anybody… who looked at it would survive” (Num 21:7-9; Zech 12:10). John reminds us in the scene of the death of Jesus Christ being lifted up: “They will look to the one whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:37). In the context of the fourth Gospel, “to turn and look” means “to know,” “to understand,” “to see.”Frequently, in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about His being lifted up: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (Jn 8:28); “when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all peoples to Myself. By these words He indicated the kind of death He would die” (Jn 12: 32-33). In the synoptics also Jesus announces to His disciples the mystery of His condemnation to death on the cross (see Mt 20:27-29; Mk 10:32-34; Lk 18:31-33). In fact, Christ had “to suffer all that to enter into His glory” (Lk 24:26).This mystery reveals the great love which God has for us. He is the Son given to us, “so that anyone who believes in Him will not be lost, but will have eternal life,” this Son whom we have rejected and crucified. But precisely in this rejection on our part, God has manifested Himself to us His fidelity and His love which does not stop before the hardness of our heart. And even in spite of our rejection and our contempt He gives us salvation (cf. Acts 4:27-28), remaining firm in fulfilling His plan of mercy: God, in fact, has not sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world may be saved through Him.”b) A few questions:i) What struck you in the Gospel?ii) What does the exaltation of Christ and of His cross mean for you?iii) What consequences does this paradoxical movement of descent-ascent imply in the living out of faith?3. ORATIOPsalm 77 (1-2, 34-38)My people, listen to My teaching,pay attention to what I say.I will speak to you in a parable,unfold the mysteries of the past.Whenever He slaughtered them,they began to seek Him;they turned back and looked eagerly for Him,recalling that God was their rock,God the Most High, their redeemer.They tried to flatter Him with their mouths;their tongues were deceitful towards Him.Their hearts were not loyal to Him;they were not faithful to His covenant.But in His compassion He forgave their guiltinstead of killing them,time and again repressing His angerinstead of rousing His full wrath.4. CONTEMPLATIO "Jesus Christ as Lord,to the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2:11)dailymeditations www.stswithuns.org.uk/event/dr-14092019 ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

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CHRISTIAN MORNING MEDITATION:Lectio Divina: Luke 6:39-42Friday, September 13, 2019Ordinary Time 1) Opening prayerGod our Father,You redeem usand make us Your children in Christ.Look upon us,give us true freedomand bring us to the inheritance You promised.We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 2) Gospel Reading - Luke 6:39-42Jesus told his disciples a parable: "Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,' when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye."3) Reflection• Today’s Gospel gives us some of the passages of the discourse which Jesus pronounced on the plain after having spent the night in prayer (Lk 6:12) and after He had called the twelve to be His apostles (Lk 6:13-14). Many of the sayings in this discourse had already been pronounced on other occasions, but Luke, imitating Matthew, puts them together in this Sermon on the Plain.• Luke 6:39: The parable of the blind man who guides another blind man. Jesus tells a parable to the disciples: “Can a blind man guide another blind man? Will not both of them fall into a hole?” A parable of one line, quite similar to the warnings which, in Matthew’s Gospel, are addressed to the Pharisees: “Alas for you, blind guides!” (Mt 23:16-17,19,24,26) Here in the context of the Gospel of Luke, this parable is addressed to the animators of the communities who consider themselves the masters of truth, superior to others and because of this, they are blind guides.• Luke 6:40: Disciple – Master. “The disciple is not greater than the teacher, but the well prepared disciple will be like the teacher” Jesus is the Master, not the professor. The professor in class teaches different subjects, but does not live with the pupils. The Master or Lord does not teach lessons; he lives with the pupils. His subject matter is himself, his life witness, his way of living the things that he teaches. Living together with the Master, the Lord has three aspects: (1) the Master is the model or example to be imitated (cf. Jn 13:13-15). (2) The disciple not only contemplates and imitates, he commits himself to the same destiny of the Master, with his temptations (Lk 22:28), his persecution (Mt 10:24-25), his death (Jn 11:16); (3) He not only imitates the model, he not only assumes the commitment, but arrives at identifying himself with Him: “I live, but it is not I who live, but Christ lives in me!” (Gal 2:20). This third aspect is the mystical dimension of the following of Jesus, fruit of the action of the Spirit.• Luke 6:41-42: The splinter in the brother’s eye. “Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the great log in your own? How can you say to your brother: ‘Brother, let me take out that splinter in your eye, when you cannot see the great log in your own? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter in your brother’s eye”. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew treats the same theme and explains a bit better the parable of the splinter in the eye. Jesus asks for a creative attitude which will make us capable of going and encountering others without judging them, without preconceptions and rationalizing, but accepting the brother (Mt 7:1-5). This total openness toward others considering them as brothers/sisters will arise in us only when we are capable of relating to God with total trust as His children (Mt 7:7-11).4) Personal questions• Splinter and log in the eye. How do I relate with others at home and in my family, in work and with my colleagues, in community and with the brothers and sisters?• Master and disciple. How am I a disciple of Jesus? 5) Concluding PrayerLord, how blessed are those who live in Your house;they shall praise You continually.Blessed those who find their strength in You,whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. (Ps 84:4-5)dailymeditations www.stswithuns.org.uk/event/dr-13092019 ... See MoreSee Less