As 2015 draws to an end, I find myself thinking of many of the problems our world faces—the situation in Syria and Iraq and the plight of refugees; the vic-tims of terrorist violence and those who live in fear of attacks; the state of our climate and whether the recent conference in Paris will result in changes; floods in Cumbria, poverty in our towns and cities and other worries closer to home, such as illness in our families and anxieties afflicting our friends; at Christmas I always find my-self thinking about the fu-nerals I have celebrated in the past year, and those left behind.

And yet in the midst of all of this, Christmas makes me pause. We pause like shepherds and Magi before the birth of Mary’s child, he who comes into our world to be the visible face of the Mercy of God. The power of this feast, even for a moment, can calm our fears and lay aside our worries. Even if we cannot join in with the festive enjoyment of the world around us, the birth of Christ can still bring a peace and warmth to our troubled hearts, even if only for a mo-ment. Let him in, therefore, welcome his love and mercy and the vision he gives to tired souls, and so find and make a

HODIE CHRISTUS NATUS EST!

TODAY CHRIST IS BORN!

TIMETABLE THIS WEEK

MONDAY 21st December Advent II Weekday

12.15 Funeral Mass of Steven Watson

TUESDAY 22nd December Advent II Weekday

09.30 MASS followed by Coffee Morning

WEDNESDAY 23rd December Advent II Weekday

09.30 MASS

18.30 Holy Hour with Confessions

THURSDAY 24th December Advent II Weekday

No MASS this week

No Pensioners’ Club

23.00

Office of Readings and the First Mass of Christmas (Midnight Mass)

FRIDAY 25th December THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

9.00 MASS of Christmas Day

11.45 MASS of Christmas Day

SATURDAY 26th December St Stephen, the First Martyr

11.00 MASS

No Evening Mass this week

SUNDAY 27th December The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

9.00 MASS

11.30 MASS

FLOWERS IN CHURCH If you would like to make a dona-tion towards flowers for Christ-mas in memory of a loved one please hand into the Parish Office with the details by 12.00 a.m. on Tuesday 22nd December. If you would like to donate live poinset-tias please bring them to Church on Thursday morning. CHRISTMAS MINISTERS LISTS Sign up lists for Christmas Masses are now on the table in the Atri-um. Please sign up as soon as possible but remember to give everyone the opportunity to exer-cise their ministry. Please also sign up for Sunday morning masses on Sunday 27th Decem-ber. GRACE BEFORE AND AFTER CHRISTMAS MEALS Lord and Father of us all, today we rejoice at the coming of your Son, born in simple silence, in humility and need. Pour out your deepest joy upon us as we gather to share this festive meal; help us to build joy for one anoth-er, and to remember those who spend this day, like Christ and his Mother, in humility and need. We ask this through Christ, our new-born King. Amen. Thank you, God and Father, for these gifts. Bless those who worked so hard to make them ready. Help us to spread nothing but peace, joy and hope, in our home today and in our world al-ways. We ask this through Christ, our new-born King. Amen.

THANK YOU FOR ... Last week’s collection: £561.27

+ Standing Orders (weekly average): £154.00 = Total £715.27

THE WORD THIS WEEK It’s only in this last week be-fore Christ-mas that we begin to hear about the “Christmas story” itself. For the past weeks we have been preparing ourselves to greet the

Lord, when he comes. Now we prepare to remember how he first came, by listening to the prophe-cies of his coming, and by hearing of the events before his birth. We meet the woman, Mary, who her-self had been prepared for the coming of the Messiah. She has received the angel’s greeting, and his strange news, and has accept-ed her role in God’s plan. Now she hurries to her kinswoman, Eliza-beth, who herself bears John the Baptist in her womb. John, just as we heard last week, alerts us to the presence of the Lord, as he leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. His joy is that God has kept his promise, and is with his people. ADVENT APPEAL Many thanks for your wonderful generosity in the Appeal this year—thanks to your giving we have been able to make a lot more than 25 gift boxes, which will be delivered to a Farnworth charity this week to be taken to people living rough in Bolton at the mo-ment.

Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)

ST MARY AND ST PHILIP NERI

The Roman Catholic Parish of

20th December 2015

“S T A Y W I T H U S , L O R D , O N O U R J O U R N E Y ”

Belgrave Street, Radcliffe, MANCHESTER, M26 4DG Telephone: (0161) 724 1765

Email: radcliffecatholic@tiscali.co.uk Web: www.radcliffecatholic.org

NEXT WEEK’S GOSPEL Luke 2:41-52

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jeru-salem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual.

When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem with-out his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s jour-ney that they went to look for him among their relations and ac-quaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusa-lem looking for him everywhere. Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doc-tors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’ ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not under-stand what he meant. He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their au-thority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart. And Je-sus increased in wisdom, in stat-ure, and in favour with God and men. IN YOUR PRAYERS LATELY DEAD: Steven Watson OUR DEANERY: This week we pray for the priest and people of Our Lady of Grace, Prestwich.

OUR NATIONAL INTENTIONS: We pray especially for: openness to the Word of God; migrants and refugees; expectant mothers. OUR SICK: Darrell Wild, Brenda Lynch, Philomena Brennan, Vin-cent Fox, Gemma Garth, June Bradshaw, Monica Hart, Margaret Spencer, Anna Morrow, Rose Murray, Fr. Peter Birmingham, Bernard Tonge, Philip Williams, Moira Beardwood, Marie Raws-thorne. ANNIVERSARIES THIS WEEK: Joan Hardman, Ursula Whitehead, Stanislaw Gorka, Josephine Mary Loughlin, Daniel (Dan) Stack, Dor-othy Stockham, James Platt, Fran-cis Joseph Butcher, Freda Maria Eardley, Elizabeth Agnes Platt, Margaret Atherton, Mary Anasta-sia Wild, Harry Barlow, Josef No-vak, Alan Chadwick, Mary Ann Elizabeth Bigg, Frank O’Reilly, Eth-el Cox, Mary Agnes Walsh, Jack Maguire, Carole Martin, Luke McDonough, Arthur Cowles, Ed-ward Hepworth, John Proctor, Thomas Folan, Kazimierz Krzyworaczka, John Hall, Michael Clarke, Lucian Bilek, Mary Goater, Stanley Milner, Arthur Mulligan, John Warnock, William Harding, Witold Masiota, Peter James Far-rell, Mary Catherine Lyons, Patrick Moran, Father Richard Gerrard, Father Arthur McGrath, Harold Spencer, Norah Cooke, Paul

Lipok, Derek Spencer. CONFESSIONS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Please note that there will be a time of confes-sions on Wednesday evening, from 18.30—19.30. During this time, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for pray-

er. This is an ideal opportunity to “step out of the rush” for a few minutes in this busy week—please make use of it!

POPE FRANCIS SPEAKS … The joy of Christmas is a special joy; but it is a joy that isn’t just for the day of Christmas, it is for the entire life of a Christian. It is a se-rene and tranquil joy, a joy that forever accompanies the Christian. Even in difficult moments, in mo-ments of difficulty, this joy be-comes peace. When he is a true Christian, the Christian never loses his peace, even in suffering. That peace is a gift from the Lord. Chris-tian joy is a gift from the Lord. “Ah, Father, we’ll have a nice big lunch, everybody will be happy”. This is lovely, a nice Christmas dinner is good! But this isn’t the Christian joy we are talking about today. Therefore, in order to have this joy in preparation for Christmas, first, pray: “Lord, let me live this Christ-mas with true joy”. Not with the joy of consumerism that leads me to 25 December with anxiety, be-cause “Ah, I’m missing this, I’m missing that...”. No, this is not the joy of God. Prayer. Second: give thanks to the Lord for the good things he has given us. Third, think of how we can go to others, to those in difficulty and with problems — let us think of the sick, of so many problems — to bring a little unction, peace, joy. This is the joy of the Christian. Agreed? In these days, let us pray. But do not forget: let us pray, ask-ing for the joy of Christmas. Let us give thanks to God for the good things that he has given us, above all the faith. This is a wonderful grace. Third, let us think where I can go to bring a little relief, a little peace, to those who suffer. Pray, give thanks and help others. And like this we will arrive at the Birth of the Anointed One, the Christ, as ones anointed in grace, prayer and acts of grace and help towards others. May Our Lady accompany us on this path towards Christmas. And let there be joy, joy!

HARD OF HEARING? There is an Induc-tion Loop System installed in this Church: if you wear a hearing aid, please turn it to the ‘T’ setting. WHEELCHAIR spaces are available on the left of church, near the back, near the statue of Our Lady and at the top end by the emergency exit. REFRESHMENTS AFTER MASS Everyone is very welcome to stay behind after Mass and share a cuppa! Tea and Coffee are served in the Atrium straight after all Masses.

TOILETS Ladies and Gents are located in the Atrium: we also have disabled facili-ties with a baby change unit. Please leave toilets clean and tidy after use. Thank you.

The PARISH OFFICE is normally open Tue—Fri 08.30—12.00 noon (11.30 on Friday) but please check in advance if you intend to call in. Father James is not available on Mon-days: in an emergency please contact one of our neighbouring Parishes.

The DIOCESE of SALFORD

CORNERSTONE AT CHRISTMAS Cornerstone helps some of the most disadvantaged and vul-nerable people in Manchester. The support and services they offer are even more vital as the nights get longer and tempera-tures fall. Christmas is so much about being together with loved ones, so Cornerstone makes special efforts at this time of year to provide a place of hospitality, warmth and friendship to those who are alone and in difficulty. Christ-mas dinner is served to anyone, over several days, and in recent years more than 200 people a day have been welcomed for a Christmas feast! The timetable at Cornerstone this year is as follows, and anyone is very wel-come to pop in! 21 December 11.00 Carol Sing-a-long 22 December Cliff Christmas Disco with Santa! 25 December Full Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings All the services rely on the gen-erosity of volunteers and dona-tions: you can sponsor a Christ-mas meal at Cornerstone for as little as £5: please visit www.cornerstonecds.org.uk/want-to-donate

CARDINAL CORMAC MURPHY-O’CONNOR ON BBC RADIO 2 On Tuesday 15th December Cardinal Cormac gave the fol-

lowing “Thought for the Day” on the Chris Evans Radio pro-gramme: “I wonder what is your favourite passage from Shakespeare? It could be from Hamlet: "To be or not to be", or "Whether it is no-bler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". But you know what my passage is? It’s from The Mer-chant of Venice and it is this: “The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gen-tle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed, it blesses him who gives and him who takes.” If you for-give you will be blessed – forgive in your heart, but also, perhaps, by word or in deed. But it also blesses those who take. Some-times we take forgiveness from a neighbour or a member of the family or a friend whom we have offended. But Shakespeare says, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. And that’s us. I want to remind you today that God forgives. At times I feel very sad that our country sometimes seems so bereft of God. There is a writer, Julian Barnes, a very good one, and he says, I don’t believe in God but I miss Him. How people miss God. He is there to you even though you may not have experienced Him or perhaps have ignored Him or even abandoned Him. There are nine days to go to Christmas. That festival is not only about family and festivity and fun and exchange of pre-

sents. It really is about the most extraordinary, wonderful present, the present of love and the pre-sent of forgiveness of God. I be-lieve that He came among us 2000 years ago at Christmas in the person of Jesus Christ. He came to show that we are accept-ed by God and that we are forgiv-en by God and loved by God. He proved this by the manner of his life and death and his resurrec-tion, so that He is with us still. So in wishing you all a very happy Christmas, I would like you to think about mercy and for-giveness because it is the well-spring of joy and serenity and of peace. “The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed, it blesseth him who gives and him that takes.”

BISHOP JOHN’S DIARY Sunday 20 December 17.30 ReIgnite Mass (Cathedral Church of St John)

Monday 21 December Private appointments (Wardley Hall)

Tuesday 22 December 12.30 Lunch with Seminarians (Wardley Hall) 19.30 Reconciliation Service (Cathedral Church of St John)

Thursday 24 December 23.30 Carols followed by the Cele-bration of Midnight Mass (Cathedral Church of St John) Friday 25 December 9.00 and 10.00 Celebration of Mass (HMP Manchester)

www.salforddiocese.net NEWS AND NOTES OUR OWN HOLY DOORS Last Sunday, Bishop John opened the Holy Door at Salford Cathedral, which will be a focus of prayer and pilgrimage throughout the coming year; simultaneously the Holy Doors at Samlesbury, Kearsley, Wardley and the Hidden Gem were opened. Passing through the Holy Door is not a superstitious or magical act: it is a prayer of faith, symbolic of walking once more into the presence of the merciful Father who wel-comes all who come to Him. Pray for the success of the Holy Year, and think about arranging a visit to one of the Holy Doors in the course of the coming Year of Mercy. Sunday 20 December 2015