Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Community Herne Bay, Kent
Clarence Road, Herne Bay, Kent - 01227 375095 - Parish Priest: Fr Mark White CP (mwhite8684@aol.com); Assistant Priest: Fr Patrick CP (743727); Deacons James Foley (366841) & Barry Walker (368685) - website: www.ourladyhernebay.co.uk
FiFth sunday oF lent (Year C) 12/13 MARCH 2016
Entrance Antiphon Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless. From the deceitful and cunning rescue me, for you, O God, are my strength. Preparing for Easter We will be celebrating Easter in 2 weeks time and the Gospel for today’s Mass, generally known as The Woman Caught in Adultery, is a wonderful pre-announcement of the Easter message of pardon and new life. Our Lord is well aware of the tendency in human life to be indignant about the wrongdoings of others – so many news items and the way they are presented encourage us to do the same. We even talk nowadays of a “blame-culture” by which we hold everybody or anybody else responsible for things that go wrong rather than ourselves. Jesus asks us in this Gospel incident to learn how to love the sinner but hate the sin: a true Christian attitude to the faults and failings of others is “there but by the grace of God go I.” Jesus offers the woman freedom and tells her to sin no more: each day he offers us the same gift of freedom, refusing to condemn us. Are we big enough to accept this immense offer of grace? Can we accept that the dreadful sufferings that Christ was soon to undergo were experienced by him to show the lengths to which God goes to offer us the priceless gift of freedom from our sins? Palm Sunday Next Sunday is Palm Sunday - we shall begin each Mass in the Retreat Hall and processs into the church with our palms.