LCCC News Update July 2020
October 1, 2017LCCC News Update July 2020
November 3, 2017Chinese Mass：Every Sunday 2:15 p.m.
Our Lady of the Assumption RC Church, Assumption Priory, Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green E2 9PB (map)
After Mass you are welcome to join the community for a tea gathering
Bible study/sharing every Saturday (2:00-4:00 p.m.) at Notre Dame De France Church, 5 Leicester Place WC2H 7BX (near See Woo Chinese Supermarket, Leicester Square tube station)
Talk and discussion meeting First Tuesday of every month (2:00-4:00 p.m.) at Notre Dame De France Church
Chinese Mass for our community
Cardinal Nichols has announced that all parish churches can resume Masses and other Public Liturgies from 4th July. In order to prevent spreading of the virus, the number of parishioners attending each Mass will be limited and the churches have to provide all the necessary products like disinfectants/hand sanitisers.
Members of our Chaplaincy, London Chinese Catholic Community need to travel on public transport ( i.e. the underground, buses etc) from all different areas of London in order to attend our Chinese Mass. After taking careful risk assessments, Fr Joseph and the Committee members of LCCC have decided to postpone the re-opening of our Sunday Chinese Mass for a few more weeks( may be till the end of July) depending on the circumstances of the rate of infection. We will inform you of our re-opening date on this platform in due course.
During this relaxed phase, please take extra care of personal hygiene and make full protection of yourselves when you need to go out. Finally, you are highly encouraged to attend Mass regularly at your local Catholic churches. Thank you and God bless you all.
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Reflection: Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 3, 2017Chinese Mass：Every Sunday 2:15 p.m.
Our Lady of the Assumption RC Church, Assumption Priory, Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green E2 9PB (map)
After Mass you are welcome to join the community for a tea gathering
Bible study/sharing every Saturday (2:00-4:00 p.m.) at Notre Dame De France Church, 5 Leicester Place WC2H 7BX (near See Woo Chinese Supermarket, Leicester Square tube station)
Talk and discussion meeting First Tuesday of every month (4:00-6:00 p.m.) at Notre Dame De France Church
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[1st Reading – Jer.20:7-9; Ps.62; 2nd Reading – Rom.12:1-2; Gospel – Mt.16:21-27]
NOT GOD’S BUT MAN’S
If Peter was to be rewarded according to his behaviour in today’s gospel, his reward would surely not be a very substantial one!
It is difficult enough for anyone to accept suffering and death, especially if it is of someone we know and love. How much more difficult it must have been for Peter to accept when Jesus spoke about his own grievous suffering and death. Even though Jesus also told Peter that he would be raised up on the third day, Peter was not really paying very much attention to what Jesus was saying. Instead Peter was so engulfed in his own thoughts and emotions when he told Jesus “…this must not happen” that Peter totally missed and ignored Jesus’ hint about the resurrection… and continued to focus only on Jesus’ suffering and death. Peter was not asking Jesus why it had to happen… Peter only expressed his thought (and wish) that “this must not happen!” As if Peter had the ability to do something about it!!! If Jesus helped everyone, why should Jesus suffer and be killed? With this line of thinking in mind, one can understand why Jesus called Peter Satan and called Peter an obstacle in his path in doing the Father’s will.
For Jesus, it must have been even more difficult: being one of us but also knowing that he was going to suffer grievously and die at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes. His suffering was not only physical but also psychological because those who knew what was written in the scriptures about him, were the same people who would make Jesus suffer and die, who would totally reject him and in doing so, they would also reject the Father in Heaven. Thus Peter’s comments in response to Jesus’ “suffering and death” meant that he did not understand Jesus which also meant that Peter (not too dissimilar to the elders, the chief priests and the scribes) was rejecting the Father and his will. Although Peter accepted Jesus for who Jesus is, Peter was not ready to accept the will of the Father: that Jesus was to suffer, die and give his life for “everyone” – yes, even for those who have not accepted him!
Once Jesus rebuked Peter for not accepting the will of the Father (i.e. Peter was not letting himself (and Jesus’ life) in the hands of the Father), Jesus reminds his disciples that if anyone wanted to follow him, they must renounce themselves and take up their cross and do what Jesus himself did, even if it meant that one must be ready to suffer and die (as Jesus did) if that was the will of the Father. Peter, and all the other Apostles and true followers of Jesus, understood this teaching and were ready to do the same thing. They suffered and gave their life (as Jesus did). Are we ready to do the Father’s will whatever this may ask from us?
“Lord, sometimes it is hard to understand the will of the Father. Give us a strong, unfailing faith to learn to let ourselves go in his hands. Thank you Lord!”
Fr. Jesmond Pawley, OFM Conv.
(Permission to reproduce on this site by Fr. Jesmond, St. Patrick’s RC Church, Waterloo http://www.stpatrickwaterloo.org.uk/ )
London Chinese Catholic Community UK 