Asking for Wisdom

At the beginning of Advent we had the opportunity to spend time with God and with each other, taking the chance to prepare spiritually for Christmas. We travelled to Myddelton Grange Retreat Centre, the Youth Residential Centre for the Diocese, and were immediately stunned by the snow covered valley and the view of Ilkley Moor.

Fr. Simon Lodge, the director of Myddelton Grange, led two challenging but upligting spiritual conferences. He spoke about the message of God conveyed through the Bible and the Catechism; Scripture and Tradition being the two sources of the Word of God. He emphasised the importance of approaching the Bible and the Catechism with an attitude of openness and prayer. Wisdom should be our goal, he said, not just more knowledge. Such an enterprise demands patience, humility and faith: all virtues we cultivate especially during Advent.

The day concluded with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and an opportunity simply to spend time in silence, stillness and simplicity before our loving God.

The picture of St. Robert, above, is taken from a mosaic
on the wall of the chapel at Myddelton Grange.

"Always be Ready to Move On"

Taking up the challenging readings of the day, Canon Lawrie came back to St. Robert's with the message that we must always be ready to move on, always ready for the next challenge, the next gift and, ultimately, for eternity.

After a couple of months in his new post in Pontefract, he came back for a final celebration. It was an opportunity for him to say "Thank you" to the parishioners and also for the parishioners to express their gratitude and love for him. Barbara Macaulay, the outgoing chair of the parish council, said a few excellently chosen words at the end of Mass as her final act as chair. She expressed how fondly the parish remembered Canon Lawrie's kindness, his generous availability, his thought-provoking and entertaining homilies and his down-to-earth friendliness. Everyone will remember, she went on, his bobble hats and his Catholic trivia questions at the end of Mass.

On behalf of the parish, Barbara presented him with an offering and a book in which parishioners had written messages of thanks and best wishes.

Pilgrimage to our Patrons

Despite the gloomy Summer we've been having, the sun shone last Sunday for our parish pilgrimage to St. Robert's Cave and the Shrine of Our Lady of the Crag. After walking along the south side of the River Nidd first, we crossed the river and soon came across St. Robert's Cave: a hidden treasure that has been a place of pilgrimage since the twelfth century. The Cave had been decorated with candles and, with the sound of Benedictine monks singing in the background, it had a beautiful and prayerful atmosphere.

After spending some time in prayer, we went on further to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Crag. Built by John the Mason in thanksgiving to Our Lady who, through her prayers, had protected his son from near death by a falling rock. The shrine dates back to the fifteenth century and is currently maintained by St. Mary's Catholic Church in Knaresborough.

We prayed a decade of the rosary and then went on to have a picnic. The pilgrimage was a thoroughly pleasant and joy-filled afternoon, not just because of the shrines and prayers. There was a great mixture of people, both young and old. Everyone left both with good friends and new friends.

Click here to find out who St. Robert is and where his cave is.

Monsignor Donal Arrives

A very warm welcome to Fr. Donal Lucey, who is our new parish priest. Originally from Cork, he has had many appointments in his priestly life including Barnsley, Leeds Cathedral, Notre Dame College, Myddelton Lodge Retreat Centre and, most recently, St. Benedict's Church in Garforth. At a large celebration this summer he celebrated his fortieth anniversary of ordination. We assure him of our prayers and best wishes as he moves in Harrogate and makes his home with the people of St. Robert's.

World Youth Day 2008

Two young people from St. Robert's and Fr. Chris joined a large group from the Diocese to go on pilgrimage to Australia to join Pope Benedict and hundreds of thousands of young Catholics in a celebration of faith. Held every three years, World Youth Day is the largest youth event in the world. This year's theme was taken from Jesus's words at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses". Gabriel Hopkins shares his experience of the event:

On 7th July 2008, the pilgrimage from the Diocese of Leeds set-out on what was to become, what I can only describe as one of the most amazing experiences of their lives, to attend World Youth Day 2008 in Australia. Some knew everybody; some knew hardly anybody (including myself), yet 130 young pilgrims signed-up for an immense journey that was to span nearly two years – two years of fund-raising and preparation, that would end with Mass with the Holy Father on 20th July 2008, World Youth Day itself.

Although the end-goal was Sydney, our pilgrimage started its journey in the ‘Days in the Dioceses’ in a town called Geelong, around 45 minutes south of Melbourne. We stayed nearly a week, with host families in this town, with a population similar to that of Harrogate. The size of the population is what amazed me most. I’m not sure if it was just that my host (Geoff) knew everyone, but Geelong felt like a community. Of course, this was evident at parish events, but it was also visible on a wider scale. It seemed as though Geoff knew everybody, from the star players of the mighty ‘Cats’ (Australian Rules Football team), to the manager of the local supermarket. It was a strange experience, especially when Geoff’s wife insisted the opposite. However, the strangest experience was when we celebrated Mass with the locals one Sunday. I’m sure many of us have prayed for sunshine throughout our dark winters, yet the Australians were praying for rain, in the middle of winter! The most notable aspect of our stay in Geelong, however, was the most wonderful hospitality we were afforded. No matter how many times Geoff reminded me how this would be a wonderful Summer day in England (even though it was 5˚C on some days!), or how awful the English Cricket Team is, I will be forever indebted to the warmth of his and his wife’s welcome. I hope that our group, along with the Diocese of Lancaster, and a group from Poland were able to reignite the faith of the other young people of Geelong, as per the aim of ‘Days in the Dioceses.’

Yet, onto Sydney we went, and to warmer weather too! Although we had had a wonderful time in Geelong, it was evident that excitement was brewing about our final destination, which was to be Randwick Racecourse, and seeing Pope Benedict. Throughout the mornings of our stay in Sydney, we attended Catecheses, given by Bishops from around the world, under the theme "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses." All three of the Catecheses we heard were extremely stimulating, both intellectually and spiritually.

For me, however, World Youth Day was about something more. Coming from a society in which secularism, politics, war, and misery dominate, it was a great joy to feel at peace with thousands of other young Catholics, and escape daily life. Therefore, I felt the major events – such as the Commissioning Mass in the Telstra Dome, Melbourne, where for example 600 priests took part in the Mexican Wave; or simply just walking through Sydney with Catholics from all over the world, shouting “Benedetto!” and “Viva Il Papa!” – they made World Youth Day for me. It is difficult to describe these moments: you felt invincible, untouchable, as if nothing could worry or harm you. The Lord was truly with us.

The Pope principally gave two homilies: one at the Vigil Service on the Saturday evening and one at the Mass for World Youth Day on Sunday morning. To read the homilies click here: Saturday Vigil homily, Sunday Mass homily.

There are many today who fear that faith may limit their life, that they may be constrained by the commandments and the teachings of the Church and will not be free to move about the 'broad place' of contemporary life and thought.

They feel like the younger son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32), obliged to depart, leaving God aside, in order to enjoy to the full 'the broad place' of the universe. In the end, however, this 'broad place' becomes narrow and empty. Only when our life has successfully risen to God's heart will we have found that 'broad place' for which we were created. A life without God does not become any freer and broader. The human being is destined for the infinite. For him nothing else can suffice.

Yet those who leave God out limit their lives and the world to the 'finite', to what we ourselves can do and think, and this is always too little. Above all, God enlarges our heart so that we no longer think only of ourselves, are no longer concerned only with ourselves. The heart that is open to God becomes – through the breath of God – in turn generous and large. This person no longer needs to seek anxiously his own happiness, his own success or to attach importance to the opinions of others.

He is now free and generous, open to God's call. He can give his whole self confidently because he knows – wherever he goes – that in God's hands he is safe. The one who is big-hearted will be able to keep a place of honour for God and his neighbour in his life and will be healed through his encounter with God.

Pope Benedict XVI
Click here to read the entire text

Confirmation

On Wednesday 21st May, a group of young adult parishioners received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Bishop Arthur visited to confer the Sacrament and to encourage the young people to live lives of heroic virtue. It is a challenging vocation in today's world, he said, but one made possible with God's help. The joy and fulfilment that life in the Spirit brings cannot be found elsewhere.

There will be a Youth Mass and Pizza Night on Sunday 8th June. All our young people are welcome!

First Holy Communion

On Pentecost Sunday, 18th May, both the 9am and 11:30am Masses celebrated our young parishioners receiving Holy Communion for the first time.

Without the Holy Spirit: God is far away, Christ stays in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is simply an organisation, authority is a matter of domination, mission is a matter of propaganda, the liturgy no more than an evocation, Christian living a slave morality.

But in the Holy Spirit: the Risen Christ is there, the Gospel is the power of life, the Church shows forth the life of the Trinity, authority is a liberating service, mission is a Pentecost, the liturgy is both memorial and anticipation and human action is deified.

Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople (1886-1972)

Ampleforth Retreat Day

A sunny day in the pastoral surroundings of Ampleforth Abbey made the perfect setting for our retreat day. Dom. Henry Wansbrough OSB, a monk of Ampleforth and internationally renowned scholar and author, led two engaging sessions on the Mystery of the Church. He based his talks on the Second Vatican Council's document on the Church, Lumen Gentium, one of the four key documents of the Council.

The document draws its title from the first line of the document: "Christ is the light of the nations." Fr. Henry emphasised that God comes to us in friendship and that it is in the Church that we make our response to Him; the Church is how we are unified with God. The summary Fr. Henry supplied showed that we can understand the Church through a number of Biblical images:

"The nature of the Kingdom is shown by various images in Scripture. The Church is a sheepfold, a flock, ceaselessly led by Christ the good shepherd. A field to be cultivated, the ancient olive tree, the choice vineyard, the vine. A building whose chief cornerstone is Christ, whose foundations are the apostles, a temple built of living stones. The Jerusalem above, our Mother, the spotless bride of the Lamb, united to Christ and nourished by Him."

In the afternoon we reflected on our common vocation to holiness, that God invites everyone in the Church - and the whole world - to draw close to Him. By our baptism we are called to be priests, prophets and kings. Priests by our prayer and active participation in the Eucharist. Prophets by our proclamation of God's Word to the world. Kings by building God's Kingdom and spreading His Lordship on the earth.

"Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2: 19). The Greek verb used, sumbállousa, literally means "piecing together" and makes us think of a great mystery to be discovered little by little. Although the Child lying in a manger looks like all children in the world, at the same time He is totally different: He is the Son of God, He is God, true God and true man. This mystery - the Incarnation of the Word and the divine Motherhood of Mary - is great and certainly far from easy to understand with the human mind alone. [...]

Dear brothers and sisters, it is only by pondering in the heart, in other words, by piecing together and finding unity in all we experience, that, following Mary, we can penetrate the mystery of a God Who was made man out of love and who calls us to follow Him on the path of love; a love to be expressed daily by generous service to the brethren. May the new year which we are confidently beginning today be a time in which to advance in that knowledge of the heart, which is the wisdom of saints. Let us pray, as we heard in the First Reading, that the Lord may "make His face to shine" upon us, "and be gracious" to us (cf. Nm 6: 24-7) and bless us. We may be certain of it: if we never tire of seeking His Face, if we never give in to the temptation of discouragement and doubt, if also among the many difficulties we encounter we always remain anchored to Him, we will experience the power of His love and His mercy. May the fragile Child Who today the Virgin shows to the world make us peacemakers, witnesses of Him, the Prince of Peace. Amen!

- Pope Benedict XVI
Homily for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (1 Jan 2008)
Click here to read the entire homily.

St. Robert's Redecoration

For a good nine weeks from the beginning of August, our church was closed to everyone but painters and decorators. Now it's all over and we've returned to our usual routine, the whole enterprise has proved to be a major success! We believe our church truly lives up to its function: to lift our hearts and minds to God.

Click on the photographs below to see a bigger version.

Epiphany of the Lord

Isaiah 6:1-6
Psalm 71
Ephesians 3:2-3.5-6
Matthew 2:1-12

Click here for a reflection on Sunday's readings.

NEXT WEEK
Baptism of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7
Psalm 28
Acts 10:34-38
Mark 1:7-11