We have talked about the characteristics of a Good Shepherd, always looking out for the safety and well being of their sheep, always prepared to rescue and protect their sheep.

We had fun playing a sheep and shepherd game.

We can think of ourselves as one of a flock of sheep, with Jesus our Good Shepherd, our omnipotent leader, protector and guide.

Here are some of our thoughts about today’s liturgy.

Pentecost is a great day of celebration for Christians! RED is the festival colour for Pentecost.
Pente means 50 in Greek. Does that give you a clue about Pentecost Sunday?

Pentecost comes 50 days after Easter. But the date isn’t nearly as exciting as the events of the very first Pentecost.
On this day, a miracle occurred: tongues of flame lighted on each person...AND each person spoke their own native tongue but, miraculously, everybody understood everybody else!
John 20: 19 - 22

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was not a wind, but his descent was accompanied with a sound like the blowing of a violent wind.
The Holy Spirit was not fire, but tongues of fire were signs of the fact that the hearts of those present were in fire of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was not water, but as well as water fills a vessel the Holy Spirit filled the disciples' hearts.

At Pentecost, the Disciples were empowered by the Spirit to share the Gospel.
Up until then, they had been keeping it to themselves. It is the gift of sharing the Good News boldly, and in such as way as it makes sense to those who hear it. It is not the gift of "speaking in tongues" as some mistakenly think, but the strength to spread the love of God, help the church to grow.

Look at the pinwheel, how can we make it work? Without wind it does not move, with the power of wind it can turn. In the same way, with the power of God’s Holy spirit we are moved to follow in His ways.

Today we prayed for two of our friends who are ill. Eve,aged 7, who comes every week to our liturgy, is in hospital at Nottingham, as she has leukemia.

You can visit her website on www.caringbridge.org/visit/evekelly

also Harry, aged 70+, one of our keenest supporters, is still unable to get to mass, as his legs are so weak at the moment.

We miss them both so much and long to see them both well again at St. Joseph's.

We talked over how Eve had enjoyed one afternoon at the park, when she had been well enough fo her Mum to take her outside the hospital, and they had made daisy chains- and we said sorry for the times when we miss the little things in life which make it all worthwhile.

Dear Lord,
Sorry for taking things for granted and not noticing all the many small wonders you send us every day.
Amen

Today is Trinity Sunday. Trinity means three of something. In this case it means the three ways God shows us love:
God created us and all things; then he sent his Son to show us how to love each other and how much we are loved, as Jesus died for us on the cross. The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts just as Jesus might have talked to God and God to Jesus, inspires us and gives us courage. The Holy Spirit is God moving us.

It might be a bit difficult to understand, but all that is important is that God shows us we are loved.

The children chose three different colours, green for God the Father, red for God the Son and gold for God the Holy Spirit. Then the children made the letters for the word, LOVE, by tearing up the coloured paper and mixing it up before sticking it onto card. This showed that there were the three ways of thinking about God's love but all saying the one word.

The younger children carried the card back into church and were to stand on the altar showing the cards which explained God meant LOVE.

Today we have heard about the parable of the lost sheep.
Luke 15: 1-32
When Jesus was seen talking with tax collectors and sinners he was questioned. People could not understand why Jesus would speak with those people who had made wrong choices. Jesus told a parable about a shepherd who had 100 sheep, when one was lost the shepherd searched high and low until he found it again. When he had found it he rejoiced and celebrated with his friends and neighbours that he had all his flock in the fold .

When the shepherd found a sheep was missing from his flock he went out and looked until he found it. The shepherd was overjoyed when it was brought back to the flock. In the same way God rejoices when people restore their faith in God.
Lord, let your light shine so that what is lost may be found and restored.
In the liturgy time we hunted for the lost sheep (cotton wool balls!) then made our own sheep, or flock, to remind ourselves of the parable Jesus told. We talked about the importance of the one sheep that was missing, how much it was celebrated for returning safely, just as we are loved when we are forgiven. All the children thought of one action they could perform this week that would show God’s love to others. Ideas included: helping at home, smiling, playing with new friends at school.

Today in our liturgy, we have talked about Pope Benedict and his visit to our country.

We found out many things.

He lives in the Vatican, which is in Rome, the capital of Italy.
In Italy, all the children call their Dads 'Papa', so the Pope is also called 'il Papa', as he is like a Dad for every Catholic.

He says Mass every morning and spends a lot of time praying.

His name was Joseph Ratzinger, but he became Pope Benedict 16th when he was elected by all the cardinals, on April 19th 2005, after the previous Pope died.
He chose the name Benedict because he hoped he would be like St. Benedict, bringing Jesus to many people in Europe who had forgotten about God. St. Benedict lived 1500 years ago and was the first monk in Europe.
The last Pope named Benedict (15th) had worked hard to bring peace during the First World War.

The Pope wears white because a monk, who was a follower of St. Dominic, became Pope Pius the Fifth. The Dominicans wear white and, ever since, the Popes have worn white. We all wear something white when we are baptised, so by wearing white, the Pope also shows everyone he is a Christian.

The Pope lives in Rome, because St. Peter went to Rome, when the good news about Jesus was spread round the world. St.Peter became the first bishop of Rome. After he was crucified there by the Roman Emperor, who was afraid of the Chrisitians, the whole of Rome soon became followers of Jesus. The bishops of Rome who came after have been the leaders of the Church ever since.

The Pope wears a gold ring, which is called a fisherman's ring, because St. Peter was a fisherman. His image is engraved on the ring. This reminds the Pope he is a fisher of people, bringing them to God.

All bishops carry a crozier, which is like a shepherd's crook, reminding them they are to look after their flock. The Pope carries a staff with a big cross on it, because his most important job is to show the whole world that Jesus loved every single person. The cross represents the arms of Jesus open wide with love for everyone.

The hat the Pope wears is called a mitre. Its shape reminds us of of the tongues of fire which came to rest on the heads of the apostles, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Pope and all the bishops have been given the Holy Spirit to help them.

We made a collage, which shows the special moments of Pope Benedict's visit.

Dear God,
We pray that Pope Benedict enjoys his visit to Britain. Please keep him safe and warm
Amen

At the beginning of today's liturgy, we welcomed Aro, Angel and Monica's Mum, who is our new helper.
We said a prayer for Eve, for Faith, who should have been helping, but woke up to find water pouring through her ceiling, and for Gerard's grandmother, who is poorly with food poisoning.
Please say a 'Hail Mary' for them.

We heard that in today's Gospel(Luke 16:19-31), Jesus told the Pharisees a story about a rich man who dressed in fine clothes and feasted every day with his friends. He was not concerned with the poor man, Lazarus, who lay at his gate, covered with sores, and who would have been glad to eat the scraps of food the rich man gave to his dogs.

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham (the great prophet). The rich man also died, but he then began to suffer, having a great thirst. He could see Abraham and Lazarus in the distance. He begged Abraham to let Lazarus dip his finger in water and go to him, so he could lick it and soothe his thirst.

Abraham replied that the gap between the men was too wide and was now fixed. The rich man begged Abraham to warn his brothers about what would happen to them if they did not listen to the prophets. Abraham said that they would not listen to him, no matter what he did, if they did not listen to the prophets.

We talked about God's desire that we should care for each other, though God would never do anything to hurt us. God just wants us to love each other and realise that we are all equal. When we help someone, we find a friend- and we find out who we, ourselves, really are.

We then talked about someone who found himself by helping other people- JOHN BRADBURNE. (We remember that he was Father David's hero.)

Today our children, plus helpers, provided the music for mass , some prayers and the readings. We welcome Julia Louise, who played her violin with us for the first time.
 
We were delighted that Harry was able to be with us for the first time in many months. Welcome back, Harry, and please continue to get well. :)
 
Father John talked to us about Saint Theresa and took the children to see the display about her life which can be seen behind and to the right if our main altar.
 
Father John told us that Saint Theresa of Lisieux ( a town in northern France) began life as an ordinary child like us.

PRAYER.
 
October 10th 2010.
THANK YOU PRAYERS.
 
"O' give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
For his mercy endures forever."
 
As we listened to today's Gospel (Luke 17: 11-19) about the 'Ten Lepers', we saw that they had faith in Jesus.
They were so excited and so grateful that they had been healed that they could not wait to show themselves to the priest to be declared 'clean'.
 
But only one of the ten lepers remembered to thank Jesus.
We talked about what happens when we say 'thank you'- it makes us happy all over again and whoever helped us is glad with us. It creates a world of love and gladness. We think about what we have; not what we haven't got! And we learn more about God; it brings us closer so that we can feel wrapped in God's love.
 
We made our own 'I am Thankful' booklets. We wrote down all the people and things we are Thankful for.
We will put them next to our beds to remind ourselves every morning and every evening to be Thankful to God.
 
Dear Lord, you give us everything we need, but often we forget to say 'Thank you'.
We thank you now and ask you to help us to remember to give thanks every day for all that you do for us.
Amen
 
October 17th: Answers to prayer?
 
Today was Courtney's birthday, so we all sang 'Happy Birthday!'
We thought about how singing 'Happy Birthday!' was in a way like prayer. We are happy that in it someone's special day and we are glad for them. We celebrate them: we are pleased they are in the world and we hold them in our hearts whilst we are singing. We remembered that we all have special days, but we are each special to God every day.
 
Today there was a water feature in our liturgy room!

He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being upright and despised everyone else,

'Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, "I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like everyone else, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here.

I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get."
The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

This man, I tell you, went home again justified; the other did not. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.'

Jesus taught his disciples that whenever people boast and brag about the great things that they do, they are headed for a fall! He told about two men who went to the temple. One of the men bragged about all of the great things he did and thanked God that he wasn't like those other sinners in the temple. The other man, instead of bragging about how great he was, humbly asked God to forgive him for all of the times he failed to be the kind of person that God wanted him to be.

Jesus was not the least bit impressed with all of the boasting of the first man. Most of the things he did, he did to impress other people. Jesus said that we should be humble -- like the second man. After all, when we compare our goodness to the goodness of Jesus, it just doesn't stack up, does it?

In church, Father John told everyone about people he had known in his life whom he considered to be saints, because of the beautiful way they lived, caring for others.
 
We have been looking at 'Sorry' prayers, so we thought about the ways we are, perhaps, not caring towards others and how we can make up for this.
 
We heard the Gospel story about Zacchaeus, from Luke 19: 1-10.
 
Zacchaeus had not lived a good life.His job was to change money, but he often took too much from people.
Jesus went his house one day. Zacchaeus confessed all he had done wrong. He told Jesus he would try to put things right. He believed in Jesus.
 
Jesus said,"Today, Salvation has come to this house."
 
Zacchaeus was forgiven.
 
We know Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus.
We made our own tree and wrote on leaves all the things we have done wrong, or regret doing- and we put the leaves on our tree.
 
Just as Autumn comes, our wrong-doing will blow away and we will be forgiven. Then we begin again, with a fresh start- just like Spring; new and fresh.

Today all the children who have made their First Communion this year came together to our Children's Mass and stayed afterwards for a celebratory breakfast. The children provided the music, readings, prayers and the design for the mass leaflet was Abbie's.
 
Father John spoke to the children about today's Gospel- Luke 20: 27-38. Father John explained that the Sadducees were asking Jesus "what if" questions- they did not really want the answers; they were only trying to catch Jesus out. Do we ever ask "what if" questions?
 
The children's bidding prayers included prayers for Haiti, where the earthquake victims are now having to cope with a cholera outbreak. and prayers for hedgehogs and the birds, as they face the winter ahead.
 
Everyone enjoyed the parish celebration in the hall afterwards.

November is a time when we specially remember those we love who have died. We pray for them, as we think of them meeting and realising God's perfect love at last. We call them the 'Holy Souls'. In church we can see a basket in front of the altar, where people can put the names of those they wish to remember in this way.
 
Today we remembered all who have died in wars, especially the soldiers who have given their lives to make a world fit for children.

The symbol for this remembrance is the poppy. This came about because, during the First World War, the ground where most of the fighting took place, in Flanders and  Picardy (Belgium and North Eastern France) became a sea of mud. This disturbed poppy seeds, which flourish when ground is moved; by Summer 1915, the area became a mass of red with poppy flowers. It seemed that the very earth was reminding everyone of all the people who had been killed and lay buried beneath the soil.

The feast of Christ the King was introduced into the church’s year in 1925, to remind everyone what was really important in life. Many political leaders were seeking to rule for the sake of power alone and Pope Pius wanted to keep Jesus as the example of how to live.
 
Next week we will be in Advent, when we really prepare to celebrate Jesus’ coming to earth for us at Christmas.
 
As our Advent project, we will be travelling on Safari to Zimbabwe. Our Bethlehem this year will be at Mother of Peace Community, where we will find our friends, the children orphaned by AIDS. To reach them we will need to journey across our church, from the starting point on the right of the altar, all the way along the altar steps to St. Joseph’s chapel, where we will see the village at Mutoko and Chigona, the Holy Mountain. How will we travel? We will fill the space with the animals, flowers and birds of Zimbabwe.
 
We have started out today, by creating some animals- the elephant, a zebra, some rhinos and many more- and a flame lily, the national flower.