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Readings for next Sunday, 22 nd May 2016 - The Most Holy Trinity - “C” PROVERBS 8:22-31; ROMANS 5:1-5 JOHN 16:12-15 PARISHIONERS DENOUNCE PARISH NEWSLETTER REPORTER FOR REPORTING THE TRUTH Some parishioners have accused the Parish Newsletter Reporter of working with Liturgical Com- mittee members at the parish to discredit some indi- vidual parishioners. These baseless accusations came in the wake of the recent articles which ap- peared in the Sunday Publications of April 3, and April 10, 2016 respectively in which the Passion of Christ Play, Veneration of the Cross, the venue for Palm Sunday procession, among others were high- lighted. Some parishioners who read the articles said they (articles) were in bad taste and further accused this reporter of being bias in handling is- sues at the parish. The accused reporter wishes to categorically deny the unfounded allegations levelled against him for he has never been biased in his reporting of various issues at the parish. There is a saying which says truth hurts. The writer’s reporting has always been based on facts; in this case, the correspondent reported what some parishioners said regarding the Palm Sunday procession venue, Ven- eration of the Cross and Passion of Christ Play. The articles under discussion were published to inform and educate parishioners about the views of other worshippers regarding the activities during the Holy Week. The writer also wishes to remind parishioners that they are free to express their opinions without fear or favour at any given time. The parish requires divergent views from parishioners in order to im- prove our Liturgy at the parish and this should be done in a transparent manner. Parishioners are also free to educate our Liturgical Committee members and bring progressive suggestions/ideas to them unlike playing a hide and seek game. I wish to reiter- ate that our role as reporters is not to bring confu- sion and division among parishioners at the parish, but to build and remain united by informing, enter- taining and educating them about the happenings at our parish without fear, favour or bias. When report- ing issues this reporter looks at the issues at hand and how to propagate them to parishioners. The allegations that this reporter is favouring the Liturgi- cal Committee members at the parish do not hold any drop of water at all. On the issue of not venerating the Cross by some parishioners, it has been observed that the trend has been experienced in many parishes. However, the Church has in recent years recorded tremendous improvements in educating Christians about the need of venerating the Cross. This could be attribut- ed to the fact that the Church has taken different approach of doing things by explaining to the parish- ioners some of the Church rituals. Most Pentecostal Churches have been asking Catholic Church Chris- tians as to why they (Catholics) venerate the Cross on Good Friday; wash the feet of the twelve people on Holy Thursday, among others. Such questions have frustrated some Catholic Christians who in the final analysis have even opted to leave the Catholic Church for other churches. However, today most Catholic Christians are able to explain to such de- nominations the meaning of different rituals in the Catholic Church without much upheaval. By Chipeta Ndaba – Parish Newsletter Reporter ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, soul and body to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compas- sion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and strick- en Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant hears." Amen. CHRIST THE REDEEMER MAKENI PARISH P.O. Box 38117, Lusaka Parish Website: www.makeniparish.com Email: [email protected] Parish Weekly Newsletter. Sunday, 15 th May 2016 1.00 Kwacha The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together Volume 10 # 20(467) Readings: Pentecost Sunday - ‘C’ 1 ST READING: ACTS 2:1-11: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speak RESPONSORIAL PSALM 103: SEND FORTH YOUR SPIRIT, O LORD, AND RENEW THE FACE OF THE EARTH 2 ND READING: ROMANS 8:8-17: Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God + Sequence GOSPEL: JOHN 14:15-16.23-26: The Holy Spirit will teach you everything HOLY CHILDHOOD MEETINGS - EVERY SUNDAY AT 14:00HRS THE SENDING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Fa- ther and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he con- ferred on them the power of giving men new life in God. He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit accomplished the Fa- ther’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ. Luke says that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pen- tecost, after the Lord’s ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first-fruits of all the nations. This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning. If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an advocate as well. And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord. by St Irenaeus today’s Reflection / Inspiration
