4th Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday)​A day of prayer for vocations to the priesthood and religious life

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4th Sunday of Easter Good Shepherd Sunday Open your doors to Christ! Dear Parishioners, dear friends: This 4th Sunday of Easter is commonly known as The Good Shepherd Sunday. There are no intricate reasons for it nor stories going back to ancient times. It is simply that the gospel this Sunday is taken from the discourse of Jesus on the Good Shepherd. The image of the shepherd was very familiar to the people of his time. Many kings and rulers of the ancient Near East described themselves as shepherds. This implies that part of their task was that of caring for the most vulnerable. So, Jesus used this image to set himself apart from the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders who neglected their duty to care for the poor. Jesus was clearly moved by an incident earlier on where he had cured a man born blind. That poor man had spent all his life begging for money. But never did any of the Pharisees ever show any sympathy towards him – probably because in their own words “he was a sinner through and through ever since he was born”. Then it turned out, that the day when he was cured by Jesus, the Jewish leaders did not rejoice with him, and what is worse, as soon as they heard the blind´s man profession of faith in Jesus he was rejected and expelled from the Synagogue.   But we are not here to point fingers at people. Instead the Church would want us to take this opportunity to explore our vocation. Christ the Good Shepherd has called us all, firstly to be part of his Church, and secondly to live our Christian life in a particular way. According to the gifts and talents that He has given us and also in response to the particular needs of the world in our times. Today more than ever, we all need to help each other – and perhaps even more so our young people – to find our vocation, our place in the world and in the Church. It is true that we live in a world full of noise and at the same time so empty of good examples. But still the greatest obstacle is the mistrust and fear of God. As if He would take something away from us. Conscious of this John Paul II, opened his pontificate with the words: (“Non abbiate paura! Aprite, anzi, spalancate le porte a Cristo!”) “Do not be afraid! Open, rather, open wide, the doors to Christ.” So, let us pray for one another, that we can all listen carefully to the voice of our Good Shepherd and respond to His calling generously and courageously. And, of course, let us pray too for the shepherds in the Church, the Pope, Bishops and priests and for those whom God will call to this ministry. That they may never get tired of serving God’s Church, but giving their lives for the faithful they may imitate ever more perfectly the example of Christ the Good Shepherd.   Daniel Herrero Pena   For news and prayer list for the sick and our deceased go to the notice board section of our website.    A series of talks A series of five Tuesday-evening talks on Zoom, commencing 20th April, by Fr John Deehan, and part of our continuing journey through The Year of the Word – The God Who Speaks.   Sunday Evening Mass Sunday Evening Mass returns at 6.00 pm from Sunday 18th of April. Find in this link a video exporing the vocation to the priesthood. https://youtu.be/nP_u0A3S-q0 Priest Training Fund Collection This Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday and our second collection will support the Priest Training Fund. This fund pays for the priestly formation of men for the Catholic priesthood. There are currently 42 men studying at Allen Hall seminary, 18 of whom are for our own Diocese, and two men are studying in Rome, also for our Diocese. Last year two men who studied at Allen Hall and one who studied in Rome were ordained to the priesthood to serve as our future priests. The fund also supports the ongoing enrichment and formation of our ordained priests. Your gift ensures we can provide training for these men responding to Christ’s call to dedicate their lives to serve God’s people. Please be as generous as you can. Please also pray for vocations and for all our priests. If you do not have a donation leaflet, plenty are still available at the back of the church.  You can donate online anytime atwww.rcdow.org.uk/donations  News from our Diocesan Seminary Download News Letter Commemorating in prayer the Armenian Genocide Commemorating the one hundred and sixth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide there will be here at Our Lady of Victories a service of vespers at 7 pm on Tuesday April 27th. JOIN US ONLINE ONLINE This service was postponed from last year due to Covid restrictions.  FOLLOW THE SERVICE HERE Our Lady of Victories 16 Abingdon Road London W8 6AF 020 7937 4778  [email protected]