South Cardiff Ministry Area

27/05/2023

Welcome

Welcome to a new edition of our newsletter, featuring news and updates from the churches of South Cardiff Ministry Area.

Read about what happened at OMG! our new youth event, get ready for CHURCHES UNLOCKED and REFUGEE WEEK and prepare for PENTECOST on Sunday!

Why not COME ALONG AND SING at St Paul’s Church or get ready for our JUSTICE CAFE in June!

There’s so much going on! Why not get involved?!

Pentecost Sunday

On Sunday, the Easter Season reaches its climax and fulfilment as we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised. Masses are celebrated across the Ministry Area at the usual Sunday times.

Lots of people love to wear red to Mass on this day, so why not do the same and bring a bit of colour as a Pentecost people!

If you’d like to find out more about the seasons and festivals of the Church’s year, check out our Time Passes pages which also features pictures and, infographics

St Saviour’s loves to get creative for Pentecost!

Churches Unlocked

St Saviour’s is taking part in the Churches Unlocked Festival alongside dozens of other churches, and it all kicks off next Saturday!

You can find out more about all that’s on offer both at St Saviour’s and across the diocese of Llandaff and Monmouth at https://www.churchesunlocked.org/ and you can check out what St Saviour’s has on offer here

OMG! We had a great time!

Last Sunday, we celebrated our first OMG! event for young people. We gathered for pizza and ended with prayer! You can find out what happened here!

Coracles and Creation

The Churches Unlocked Festival is almost here and St Saviour’s have a full programme of events (June 3-11).

Amongst much activity, we’ll be celebrating the Celtic Saints, like Columba here who features in a beautiful statue and stained glass windows. Discover more here:

Come and Sing

Come and sing Brahms Requiem at St Paul’s Church, Grangetown on 10 June 2023. Registration takes place between 1 and 1.30pm with a £12 entry – refreshments provided.

Then, there will be a free performance for all at 730pm with a retiring collection in aid of St Paul’s Church

Justice Cafe

Check out news of our first Justice Cafe with a free lunch scheduled for Tuesday June 20 at 12.30 pm, and it’s all part of our Refugee Week programme

It’s time to get around the table and explore issue of injustice in our world, local and global. It’s time to make a difference.

Refugee Week

Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of people seeking sanctuary

We’re all set for Refugee Week from June 19th – 26th with a full week of activities as we work alongside St Mary the Virgin Church in Wales Primary School. Find out more here:

Pilgrim People

Yay, it’s the pilgrimage season, and there are many opportunities to make pilgrimage from South Cardiff this year, near and far. Read on to find out more!

Daily Reflections

On most days, we publish a quick read based on the readings of the Mass of the Day.

You can find these on the News section of our website, where you can also sign up to receive all our posts delivered to your Inbox. Discover more here

Worship for the week ahead

Prayer and worship is at the heart of our life together, and each day we gather for Mass across the Ministry area.

SUNDAY 28
PENTECOST

BUTETOWN:
S MARY THE VIRGIN
1100hrs	Solemn Mass

GRANGETOWN:
S PAUL THE APOSTLE
0800hrs	Said Eucharist
1030hrs	Sung Eucharist

SS DYFRIG & SAMSON
0915hrs	Solemn Mass

SPLOTT:
S SAVIOUR
0930hrs	 Sung Mass

MONDAY 29
Mary, Mother of God
10am	Mass (S Mary’s)
7pm	Mass (Ss Dyfrig and Samson)

TUESDAY 30
of Ordinary Time
10.00am	Mass at (St Saviour’s)
7.00pm 	Mass (S Mary’s)

WEDNESDAY 31
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
10.00am	Holy Eucharist (S Paul’s)
11.00am	Mass (St Mary’s)

THURSDAY 1
Our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest
9.30am  Mass (Ss Dyfrig and Samson)
10am    Mass (St Mary's)
5.45pm  Mass (S Saviour’s)

FRIDAY 2
of Ordinary Time
10.00am	Mass (S Mary’s) 

SATURDAY 3
Saints Charles Lwanga and his Companions
11.00am	Morning Prayer and Rosary
11.30am	Mass (S Mary’s)
12 noon	Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)

Justice Cafe

During Refugee Week, you can enjoy a free lunch at St Mary’s and get to grips with justice! Read on to discover more about our first ever Justice Cafe!

Photograph: https://unsplash.com/photos/QLQj_CaNG-Y

As the Easter Season comes to an end on Sunday with the Feast of Pentecost, the beginning of Lent seems so far back! Then we had embarked upon a Just Lent, exploring issues of social justice, and our response to injustice around the world and in our own communities.

At our Lent course, each week we explored a different area of social justice, from poverty to homelessness, from care of the environment to war and peace. We were able to measure in some way our present response, and explore how we can further strengthen what we can do. (You can look back at our Just Lent page here)

At the end of the five week course, it was suggested we establish a Justice Team to ensure that our observations are authentic and our response effective.

Our Just Lent course was just one of a series of resources and activities created for Lent 2023. You can check out more with the links below.

As we prepare for Refugee Week (June 19-25, 2023), we have scheduled our first JUSTICE CAFE on Tuesday 20 June at 1230pm at St Mary’s Church.

Anyone can join us for a free soup and salad lunch (or bring your own lunch, if you prefer – tea, coffee and soft drinks also provided. The soup will be suitable for vegans).

During lunch, we can share issues of concern and share with a wider audience some of the ways in which we are working with others in our community, and look for ways of working together to address issues, local and further afield.

Working with St Mary’s School, we have a full programme of events

Hopefully, from a bowl of soup, we will gain momentum to hold more Justice Cafes around the Ministry Area, and build relationships so that we can make a difference in the world.

Get in touch if you would like to find out more! You don’t have to book to attend but it would really help us with catering planning if you can let us know!

You can find out more about how we are celebrating Refugee Week with St Mary’s Primary School here.

Shaped by the love of God

Saturday 27 May, 2023 | Seventh Week of Easter |Readings: Acts 28:16-20,30-31; Psalm 10(11):4-5,7; John 21:20-25 (You can find these in full on the Universalis website – Click here)

In 2022, Penguin Publishers asked their readers to tell them about their favourite classic books, and they created a list of 100 must read classics featuring the likes of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Thomas Hardy, to name just a few. Mark Twain, the author of Huckleberry Finn which was published in 1884, also featured on the list at number 31, although of Classic novels, he once wrote, ’Classic – a book which people praise and don’t read.” Perhaps this observation applies to many of us!

As the gospel of John comes to an end in today’s gospel reading, we have what appears to be a personal postscript from the gospel writer. He offers a personal confirmation to all the things we have read for he himself had witnessed them and written them down. He then goes on to say that the gospel account is by no means exclusive. “There were many other things that Jesus did,” he wrote. “If all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.”

The first-hand witness accounts of all that Jesus did and said are preserved and presented to us in the New Testament so that we, too, can experience a contemporary encounter with Christ. Each gospel offers a different perspective for a different audience, and each contributes to the other as, through the reading of Sacred Scripture, we seek to know and love God more and more. Since those early days of the life of the Church, so many theological books have been written and words shared as we seek to deepen our understanding. But all of those books and each of those words are measured by Holy Scripture, to which we constantly turn as something which we praise but also read and take to heart.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

These posts are part of our endeavour each day to provide a short homily or reflection from the celebration of the Mass of the day. Links are posted on Twitter and Facebook, and you can also sign up for daily emails in your inbox by registering your email below:

MINISTRY AREA MASS

Mass today (Friday 27 May, 2023) is celebrated at Mary’s Church, Butetown at 11.30am | If you would like to send a prayer request then click on the ‘REQUEST PRAYER’ Button. You can discover more about Worship across the Ministry Area on our Worship page

Coracles and Creation

During Churches Unlocked (June 3-10) we’ll be celebrating the Celtic Saints, including St Columba whose memory is alive in Splott in statue and stained glass. They have much to teach and inspire us! Here’s a little taster as we explore the Columba connection in Splott!

Here, he stands in a coracle, looking out to sea perhaps, in his favoured mode of transport, like many of the Celtic Saints as they moved across seas and waterways. It says much about the adventurous and trusting way in which they pushed out from shore into unknown territory, not knowing what lay ahead but believing that God would guide them to the place that they should go.

St Columba, whose memory is alive in St Saviour’s Church, carved out in a statue and illuminated in stained glass, was born in the year 521 in what is now County Donegal in Ireland. He was ordained a deacon at around the age of 20. Having completed his training at the monastic school of Movilla, in County Down, one of Ireland’s most important monasteries, he travelled south towards Leinster.

After some time there, he moved to the monastery of Clonard overseen by St Finnian and where he may have experienced something of the traditions of the Welsh Church, for Finnian had been trained in the school of Saint David.

Columba was one of twelve students of Finnian who became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He became a monk and eventually was ordained priest.

After much activity in Ireland, Columba eventually settled into spending much of his time on the Scottish island of Iona, establishing a monastery there, and from which he evangelised much of Scotland and Northern parts of England. He died on 9 June 597.

Scottish Splott

At the corner of Splott once known as the ‘Cardiff Cottages’ built to house industrial workers, the street names sing with a Scottish lilt. The Bute family left many a mark on the landscape and their Scottish heritage shines through in place names. So, the name of St Columba became embedded in the memory of Splott. Nestled within these Scottish streets was the first church in Splott of the then Church of England, the chapel of St Columba’s School.

As St Columba was growing up in the cradle of Ireland, our own St Cadoc of Flat Holm fame had already reached Scotland first. At about 528, after his father’s death, St Cadoc is said to have built a monastery in Scotland, north-west of Stirling. He stayed for seven years by which time Columba was still a teenager.

Cadoc’s Coracle

The South Wales born St Cadoc too had coracle adventures of his own, pushing out from the coast of South Wales not far from his settlement at Llancarfan in the Vale of Glamorgan, as he island hopped from Barry Island to Flat Holm to make his Lenten retreat.

Five miles out into the Bristol Channel, it’s where we make pilgrimage from St Mary’s with a regular pilgrimage programme, although we are coracle free! It was on one voyage back to the island to fetch a forgotten prayer book that Cadoc’s companions, Baruc and Gwalches, drowned. St Baruc’s body was washed up on Barry Island. His memory lives on in the name.

A Final Journey

St Brendan (484-577) by far seemed to have the most adventurous journey of all – setting of from the coast of Ireland in search of the Island of Promise. It’s believed that for him this was Newfoundland, and where he received a vision to return home for his final journey.

His final Prayer on the Mountain is a prayer where his experience of crossing seas to far away places express his letting go of all things in order to die and come to Heaven’s shore. This metrical version of his prayer is from our Celtic Pilgrimage Manual, Here in this Place, to accompany our Flat Holm pilgrimages:

O shall I, King of Mysteries,
abandon all for sake of thee?
Give up the land which nurtured me
and set my face towards the sea?

Shall I give up my need of fame,
protection, pow’r and wide acclaim?
No food or drink to bring delight,
no bed to lay my head at night.

O shall I say farewell to all,
my land, my home, all that enthrals?
Pour out my heart, confess my sins,
in streaming tears for love of him?

O shall I kneel upon this shore
my knee prints marking out my prayer?
Abandon all and take the wounds
believing now that I’ll be found?

Shall I push out across the wide
expanse of sea and ocean tide?
Shall I let go upon the waves
and trust alone in him who saves?

Across the sparkling seas and storms,
O, King of Heav’n, O Christ my Lord,
you bid me come to Heaven’s shore.
I choose you now, for evermore.

Saints and Beasts

Stories of the Celtic Saints often feature animals, expressing the close bond between them and all that God has created. Whilst the legendary tales may be difficult to fathom with our modern minds, the stories can captivate us and, if we dig deeper, reveal something of the character of the saint and their intricate relationship of everything that exists.

So, there was St Colman of Dromore, a contemporary of Columba who, in his solitude and poverty, learned much from three strange companions. A cockerel woke him for prayer through the night. A mouse nibbled at his clothes to wake him each morning, and a fly walked down the page to mark the lines of Scripture Colman was reading.

When they eventually died, he shared his sorrow with St Columba, who replied in jest and wisdom, “To you, the cockerel, the mouse and the fly were as precious as the richest jewels, so rejoice that God has taken these jewels to himself.”

The life of St Cadoc is no different and features animals as big as boars and tiny as mice. It was a boar which marked the place for Cadoc to build his oratory at Llancarfan, a mouse which led him to a hidden room full of grain during a famine, and stags which were tamed to pull timber for building so that his followers weren’t deterred from their study of Scripture.

Emerging from these stories is an ancient secret waiting to be discovered in the way we relate to the natural world. They are, perhaps, a call to pause and look at the beautiful miracle of God’s Creation, to see the details we miss so easily in our busy and distracted lives, to marvel in all that God has made, and to show it respect as the richest of jewels which belong to God, and over which we have been set as stewards not masters.

ST COLUMBA AND THE CELTIC SAINTS: Discover more about St Columba and other Celtic Saints closer to home on Saturday 10 June at 2pm at St Saviour’s during the Churches Unlocked festival. There’ll also be an opportunity to get creative and try writing your own prayers in the Celtic tradition. The Session ends with Celtic Night Prayer. More details here

CHURCHES UNLOCKED: You can find out about the Church Unlocked Festival here

FLAT HOLM PILGRIMAGE: To learn more about our Celtic Island pilgrimage programme to Flat Holm, visit our pilgrimage pages

Shaped by the love of God

Friday 25 May, 2023 | Seventh Week of Easter |Readings: Acts 22:30,23:6-11; Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-11; John 17:20-26 (You can find these in full on the Universalis website – Click here)

In Dylan Thomas’s play for voices, Under Milk Wood, we are given a glimpse into the lives of the residents of Llareggub, beginning when it is dark as the town is sleeping. A whole day passes by as we linger in the lives of those colourful characters. Towards the end of the day, as the town begins to hush, we listen in on the sunset prayer of the Rev Eli Jenkins as he prays for those who live under Milk Wood. It is a prayer filled with love for the people he serves, who” are not wholly bad or good.” He prays, “And Thou I know wilt be the first to see our best side, not our worst.”

In the gospel reading today, we listen in to the prayer of Jesus which he makes in the darkness of Gethsemane. We glimpse something of the prayer which lies in his heart, as he prays for his disciples and all those who will believe through him. It is a prayer of love and concern, as he prays that they may be one. In that prayer, Jesus is not just praying for those who have followed him to the garden, and who have been chosen for a special role in his ministry. He is praying for us, too – even before we were born.

The Easter season has moved on, and we are now in that special time which occurs between the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost. During this time, the Apostles, Mary and the others gathered together in the upper room to wait for the Promise from on High, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They were united in prayer and purpose, obeying the command of Jesus, waiting for his promise to be fulfilled. The Church is a gathered community, united in prayer and purpose. That is what Jesus prayed for on the night before he died. It is a prayer that we can take to heart as we seek closer unity for the church. United in prayer and purpose, may we be shaped by the love of God in Christ.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

MINISTRY AREA MASS

Mass today (Thursday 25 May, 2023) is celebrated at St Dyfrig and Samson, Grangetown at 9.30am, Mary’s Church, Butetown at 10am, and St Saviour’s Church, Splott at 5.45pm | If you would like to send a prayer request then click on the ‘REQUEST PRAYER’ Button. You can discover more about Worship across the Ministry Area on our Worship page

Food for Life

Our first OMG! event for young people took place on Sunday evening, and we’re already looking forward to the next one!

OMG! is our new event for children and young people

Some started to arrive before the pizza did, but the sun was shining so we spilled outdoors where a fire was already kindled – but that was for dessert, toasted marshmallows squidged and squeezed between two chocolate digestives!

Bang on time, the pizza arrived, and we tucked in and enjoyed the sunshine which belted down on the gardens of St Saviour’s.

This was OMG! a time for young people to get together, enjoy each other’s company, share food, and worship together. Some of our young people had recently been baptised and many of them confirmed, and so this was a particularly special time to gather together.

Following food we gathered inside at the altar table, a place common to each of us. We gather around it week by week to share food that feeds the body and the soul. We meet Jesus in so many different ways in our lives – through prayer and worship, in the Bible, through Creation, in love and service, in friendships and fellowship, but the Eucharist is the beating heart of all that we do.

This was a time spent in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, when we enjoyed that snapshot from the Mass when we are shown the Body of Christ. Now, we could spend a little more time appreciating the beauty of the gift that God gives us.

We were invited to write our names on a place-name-card and place it on the altar to remind us that we are welcome, wanted, invited and called by Christ to his banquet, his breakfast, his meal. Each of us has a place at the table. Each of us is valued, loved and cherished by God.

And then, there, in the midst of our names and our reserved places, the Blessed Sacrament was placed upon the altar and, after a time of prayer, we received a blessing.

We had eaten and chilled out, sang songs and prayed. When we left the church, the sun was still shining.

We could still smell the embers of the dying fire which had toasted our marshmallows, squidged between two chocolate digestives.

But, above all, we had grown a little, moved on a bit, and discovered again the food which brings life, Jesus the Bread of Life. Food for Life.

Well, the fire was as popular as the pizza!

We’re looking forward to the next OMG! event for young people. Look out for news and updates or get in touch to find out more about our ministry with children and young people.

20/05/2023

Welcome

Welcome to a new edition of our newsletter, featuring news and updates from the churches of South Cardiff Ministry Area. Read about OMG! our new youth event, as well as the many pilgrimage opportunities on offer. There’s also a feature about our partnership with Cardiff Foodbank, and lots more!

There’s a reminder about our involvement in the Churches Unlocked Festival as well as Refugee Week, with an update from St Mary’s School about all that they are doing, as we work together! There’s so much going on! Why not get involved?!

OMG! It’s time for young people!

We’re looking forward to our first OMG! event on Sunday May 21st. It all kicks off with pizza at 5, and a fire pit in the gardens! Check out more in our OMG article!

Abundant Kindness

Check out how we went on a shopping trip with money that wasn’t ours for food that we wouldn’t be eating, as we explore our work in partnership with Cardiff Foodbank, and how you can be involved too!

Pilgrim People

Yay, it’s the pilgrimage season, and there are many opportunities to make pilgrimage from South Cardiff this year, near and far. Read on to find out more!

Christian Aid Week

There is still an opportunity this Sunday to contribute to Christian Aid week (14 -20 May) Envelopes are available in each church.

Your gifts this Christian Aid Week could help farmers in Malawi plant better seeds, secure a fairer price for the crops, and build happier futures for their children. You can find out more about Christian Aid Week here

Churches Unlocked

St Saviour’s is taking part in the Churches Unlocked Festival alongside dozens of other churches.

Refugee Week

Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of people seeking sanctuary

We’re all set for Refugee Week from June 19th – 26th with a full week of activities as we work alongside St Mary the Virgin Church in Wales Primary School. Find out more here:

Charity Coffee Morning

Each month, there’s a coffee morning at St Paul’s Church, Grangetown, with delicious cakes, good company, and a chance to raise money for a charitable cause.

Last month, we raised funds for PROP: Brain Injury Rehab, and next Saturday 27 May, we’re raising money for the Chair Appeal for St Saviour’s Church, Splott.

Daily Reflections

On most days, we publish a quick read based on the readings of the Mass of the Day. You can find these on the News section of our website. Discover more here

Worship for the week ahead

SUNDAY WORSHIP

BUTETOWN:
S MARY THE VIRGIN
1100hrs	Solemn Mass

GRANGETOWN:
S PAUL THE APOSTLE
0800hrs	Said Eucharist
1030hrs	Sung Eucharist

SS DYFRIG & SAMSON
0915hrs	Solemn Mass

SPLOTT:
S SAVIOUR
0930hrs	 Sung Mass

MONDAY 22
Seventh Week of Eastertide
6pm	Mass (S Mary’s)
7pm	Mass (Ss Dyfrig and Samson)

TUESDAY 23
Sixth Week of Eastertide
10.00am	Mass at (St Saviour’s)
7.00pm 	Mass (S Mary’s)

WEDNESDAY 24
Seventh Week of Eastertide
10.00am	Holy Eucharist (S Paul’s)
11.00am	Mass (St Mary’s)

THURSDAY 25
Seventh Week of Eastertide
9.30am  Mass (Ss Dyfrig and Samson)
10am    Mass (St Mary's)
5.45pm	Mass (S Saviour’s)
(We’ve maintained this Mass this week  because of the need of Foodbank volunteers to attend Mass on this day)
7.00pm	Solemn Mass (St Mary’s)

FRIDAY 26
St Philip Neri, priest
10.00am	Mass (S Mary’s) 

SATURDAY 27
Seventh Week of Eastertide
11.00am	Morning Prayer and Rosary
11.30am	Mass (S Mary’s)
12 noon	Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)

Abundant Kindness

In the last year, Cardiff Foodbank distributed 52% more food parcels than the previous year. This morning, some of our congregation went on a little shopping trip!

It’s early on a sunny May morning, and we’re off to the supermarket, cash in hand. Yes, we’ve got money to spend! It’s not our money, and we’re not buying anything for ourselves, for we’re financed by a generous donation for Cardiff Foodbank given by some members of our congregation. Potatoes and pasta, carrots and milk are lifted from the shelves by the tray full.

Since 2014, St Saviour’s Church in Splott has been one of Cardiff Foodbank’s Distribution Centres in Cardiff, and it was the first in Wales to offer an evening opening time aimed to help those work during the day.

There are two sessions, one on Wednesday afternoon and the other on Thursday evening and, like every Distribution Centre, they are staffed by a group of volunteers who give freely of their time.

Across the Churches of our Ministry Area, we also receive donated food each week , and despite the financial challenges that all of us face, people continue to generously donate items which then go to Foodbanks’ Warehouse before they are eventually distributed to the Distribution Centres across Cardiff.

You can check out the list of requited items – and what is in particular demand at the moment – at Cardiff Foodbank’s website

Cardiff Foodbank recently released their stats on the number of emergency food parcels within our local community between April 2022 and March 2023.

The figures reveal that they have provided 19,253 emergency food parcels to people who couldn’t afford the essentials in Cardiff over the last year – and 7,639 (40%) of these went to children.

It’s the most parcels ever distributed by Cardiff Foodbank in a single year and represents a 52% increase compared to last year.

But the Trussell Trust Foodbanks don’t just distribute parcels of food to people in crisis. They also work to tackle the reasons why so many people find themselves needing their help.

For example, food banks across the Trussell Trust network are calling for MPs across the UK to support a social security system that guarantees our essentials, by making sure that the basic rate of Universal Credit is at least enough to afford the essentials we all need to live.

And so, we arrive back at St Saviour’s, with a car full of food, and where we are met by more volunteers who are busy cleaning and preparing the church for the Churches Unlocked festival at the beginning of June, when we will open our doors for a whole week of celebrations.

Our churches are committed to tackling issues of social injustice, and this is just one way in which we work in partnership with others.

Donated items are delivered to Cardiff Foodbank’s warehouse for distribution across Cardiff

Despite the cost of living, soaring prices, increasing bills, and so many challenges and difficulties, kindness and generosity remain in abundant supply People continue to respond to the needs of others, give of their time and their money.

If you would like to donate food to Cardiff Foodbank, then you can do so at any of the churches in the Ministry Area. You can also find out more about volunteering roles as well as how to help tackle Food Poverty at Cardiff Foodbank’s website

No more questions

Friday 19 May, 2023 | Sixth Week of Easter |Readings: Acts 18:9-18; Psalm 46(47):2-7; John 16:20-23 (You can find these in full on the Universalis website – Click here)

C.S Lewis, the renowned author of the The Chronicles of Narnia, also wrote many Christian books for adults, including the book, A Grief Observed which was written following the death of his wife, Joy. In grappling with his grief, he wrote, “When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of ‘No answer.’ It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, ‘Peace, child; you don’t understand.”

In the gospel reading, Jesus acknowledges the sadness the disciples are presently experiencing. He does not attempt to belittle or dismiss their sadness. It is not overlooked. Jesus addresses this sadness in a direct yet gentle way. “You are sad now, but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you.” Jesus offers them a way forward, through which the present sadness will give way to joy that will last for ever. It is a future joy, a promise of God that there is more to come, when things will be so clear and so beautiful that no more questions will need to be asked.

There are often times when we may be weighed down by sadness or find it difficult to move on. There is no need to pretend with God or to put on a brave face. We come to him as we are, with all our fears and concerns, with our emotions and vulnerabilities. In exploring his own sense of pain and sadness, C.S. Lewis experienced the apparent silence which comes from God when we throw our questions at him, and which can sometimes leave us feeling abandoned or uncared for. It can throw our faith into confusion and cause us to doubt. But this silence, he said “is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, ‘Peace, child; you don’t understand.”

MAKING CONNECTIONS

MINISTRY AREA MASS

Mass today (Friday 19 May, 2023) is celebrated at St Mary’s Church, Butetown at 10am | If you would like to send a prayer request then click on the ‘REQUEST PRAYER’ Button. You can discover more about Worship across the Ministry Area on our Worship page

Faith seeking understanding

Wednesday 17 May, 2023 | Sixth Week of Easter |Readings: Acts 17:15,22-18:1; Psalm 148:1-2,11-14; John 16:12-15 (You can find these in full on the Universalis website – Click here)

“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” So says Winnie the Pooh in A.A Milne’s series of books. Perhaps we can quite understand what the loveable bear means. Whilst each of us has varying degrees of intellect, insight or understanding, there are many occasions when we are simply too aware of our own limitations, and we too may feel like ‘a Bear of Very Little Brain.’

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth.’ As he speaks to them, he knows that they are confused. Not long after this moment they will disperse in fear as Jesus is arrested. The darkness of Gethsemane will give way to chaos and pain. After his death, they will spend much time searching their hearts, thinking about all that Jesus has said to them. And, in the days after the Resurrection they will be filled with joy as the Risen Lord reveals more of the Mystery of God. This doesn’t mean that God becomes for them a subject to study beneath the microscope. Rather than capturing everything there is to know about God, they will be caught up in love of him, embraced by his Majesty.

St Anselm of Canterbury wrote of us having “Faith seeking understanding.” We can never claim to know everything about God. We can simply hope, through faith, to glimpse something of God’s Mystery and Majesty, and embrace all that is revealed to us. Of the Eucharist, St John Vianney wrote, “If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy.” Yes, we are given so many beautiful gifts by God, and so much is revealed to us but whilst our understanding of them may increase, we can never know the true joy and beauty until, as St Paul says in the First letter to the Corinthians, “we shall see God face to face, and know as we are known.”

MAKING CONNECTIONS

MINISTRY AREA MASS

Mass today (Tuesday 17 May, 2023) is celebrated at St Paul’s Church, Grangetown at 10am and St Mary’s Church, Butetown at 11am | If you would like to send a prayer request then click on the ‘REQUEST PRAYER’ Button. You can discover more about Worship across the Ministry Area on our Worship page