Fr Tristan Writes 31st May 2026

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” There are many striking aspects to this moment of Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Jesus does not pick a time when they are triumphant and confident to come to them. Instead, He comes to them through locked doors in a time of fear and hiding. It is remarkable that the Resurrected Christ can pass through physical matter to get to His disciples, but it is more remarkable that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ not only passes through mere physical barriers, but spiritual ones as well, the parts of us that are closed off due to fear and shame. And what does he do once He has entered into that dark place? He shows us His wounds, the very wounds that we have caused, but not to condemn us, but instead to show us that what before brought death is now for God’s glory and victory, and to bring us peace, the peace that only He can give. Finally, having given us the Holy Spirit, He immediately sends us on mission, so that we too may proclaim the Gospel boldly.  Today our young people and Ralph Montilla will receive the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Assisting to prepare our young people to receive this great sacrament during my time at St John’s has been such a privilege, and I ask you to keep them and Ralph in your prayers, that they may be strengthened to proclaim the gospel boldly wherever the Lord sends them in their daily lives.

‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There has certainly been a noticeable shift in the way people view the message of the Gospel. Perhaps ten years ago the general perceived stance towards organised religion, particularly Catholicism, was one of mild disdain or, perhaps worse, sheer indifference, but now there is a noticeable renewed curiosity. That would already be a positive step in the right direction, but there’s more. In France alone, about 13,000 adults were baptised or received into the Church this Easter, and in the UK the numbers have also grown significantly. This is not only happening in Europe, but in the US, Australia and other parts of the world. Non-Catholics I have spoken to about this have sometimes tried to dismiss it as merely people searching for direction in a directionless world, or trying to make sense of the conflict and austerity we are currently facing. To that my response is simply that these are not unlikely, or invalid, reasons to turn to the Lord. In fact that is the pattern that stretches throughout the Old Testament; the people of Israel are usually reminded of their covenant to the Lord by encountering great hardship, which has usually been a consequence of them turning away from Him in the first place. However, perhaps this isn’t the full story. Trying to pinpoint where human response to circumstance ends and the intervention of grace begins is perhaps a fraught venture, but in any case, something is happening. People want meaning. They want truth. The Lord is working through people’s lives, and that means that, as His disciples, we are called to share in His work. What could it be about us, as God’s chosen people, that may be attractive to others? Perhaps one way of putting it is that, in a world of people who are lost and in search of direction and meaning, we know where we are going. Not in the sense that the world promises, in fact we may be rather lost when it comes to our career, family life or personal circumstances. But, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, in our daily struggle to follow the Lord, we know that we are ultimately a pilgrimage people on the journey to (please God) our true homeland: Heaven. So, let’s be welcoming to those who come to our parish, so that we can witness to that truth to them. If we see a new face, let’s go out of our way to make ourselves known to them, and make it clear that they are welcome, and that the Lord desires them to be here. After all, it is He who has brought them here, just as it is He who brought us, one way or another, to His Church. If you who are reading this are new to the Church, and are unsure if you have a place here, be at peace; you have a place here, and Christ has prepared a place for you in His Kingdom. You are welcome. Please introduce yourself to us and keep coming. We want you to be here, but more importantly, the Lord does too; in fact, He wants you more than you can possibly imagine.

“And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice”. This Good Shepherd Sunday, on which we pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, we are reminded of one of its most beautiful aspects. As the Good Shepherd, Christ brings His sheep unto Himself; sheep who are lost, thirsty, or in danger, yet still able to hear the unique authority with which Christ speaks. Christ calls some men to share in His eternal ministerial priesthood to call the lost sheep back to Him, and preach to those outside the fold. This only can happen when these men give themselves over to Christ in total surrender to Him, so that He may increase, and they may decrease. As Christ’s minister, the priest does not preach a message that is his own, nor does he speak with his own voice. This is also true for the whole being of the priest. His hands, anointed with sacred chrism, are not his own, but have been set apart for Christ’s use. His feet, taking him where he has been sent, belong to Christ, who sends him to a place not of his own choosing, but wherever the Church needs him to be. His heart, consecrated to Christ’s Sacred Heart, beats with His wounded love for souls. The priest, though weak and sinful himself, makes Christ present at the altar by the changing of gifts of bread and wine, and, with Christ’s authority, forgives our sins. As St John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests tells us, if the priest truly understood his office, he would die, not out of fear, but out of love. How can we not pray, then, that the Lord may call more men to this most sacred calling? How wonderful it is that Christ takes fallen men and invites them to share in His life in this particular way!  From Good Shepherd Sunday to Pentecost, we will be praying as a diocese for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. This Monday, from 5PM to 8PM, we will have a three hour prayer vigil with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament to pray for vocations to the priesthood in our diocese. I encourage you, if you’re able, to come, even for five minutes, to pray for this intention. Let us also keep in our prayers those who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood, as well as our seminarians, particularly in this parish.

The Gift Aid boxes for this new tax year are at the back of the church for collection. Please don’t use any of your current envelopes for future collections, as a number of the box numbers have been changed. There are special, thinner, boxes of envelopes for those of you who normally donate by monthly standing order and only use envelopes for the second collections, and for Easter and Christmas. If you have any queries, please contact the Parish Office. Thank you for your generous support.

We warmly invite you to our Silent Prayer gatherings, now moving to a monthly meet-up. We will continue to gather in the same gentle rhythm and format: arriving at 3.30pm in the hall, upstairs, for refreshments, followed by a short reflection on Silent Prayer and the Carmelite Saints. We will then move into the church for a time of Silent Prayer, finishing at around 5.00pm. Our next date is Saturday 25th April and then Saturday 23rd May , keep an eye on the newsletter for future dates. Whether you are new to silent prayer or have been walking this path for some time, you are most welcome to join us. Please feel free to come along at any point.

And their eyes were opened, and they recognised him. And he vanished from their sight. At the breaking of the Bread, the disciples finally recognise Jesus, who has been with them throughout their walk on the road to Emmaus. As if to confirm their realisation, Jesus vanishes the moment their eyes are opened. In some ways it seems strange; having spoken to them at great length before they recognised Him, Jesus slips away the moment they realise that they had Him with them all along. Perhaps we too have, in some way, experienced this. There can be moments where, quite suddenly, Christ’s presence is so unambiguously obvious to us; whether that be whilst reading the scriptures, praying before bed, or indeed during Adoration or Mass. For a brief moment all the specific details of our fears and anxieties that weigh us down are simply not in the picture when we behold Being, Truth, Love Himself, who has not merely entered the scene just now, but has been with us the whole time, though we may not have known it. And then, perhaps as suddenly as it began, the moment passes.  However, the disciples not only realise that they had Christ in their midst the whole time, but that they had been given a sign of His presence throughout; “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”. This burning within our hearts, be it a great furnace, or just the tiniest flicker of a candle, is the sign of the peace that only Christ can give, the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, when we chase the spiritual consolations that God gives us for their own sake, it can be frustrating when they are fleeting. But if we search our hearts, even in the midst of turmoil so great that prayer feels impossible, we can know, as long as we acknowledge that Christ is Lord and that we trust in Him, that Christ is there with us, walking alongside us on the road, and wants to listen to our troubles and sorrows. So let us this week be particularly mindful of Christ’s presence to us, beside us, and within us, as we continue to celebrate His conquering of sin and death this Eastertide.

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” This Sunday we find ourselves between various significant points in the Church’s liturgical calendar; last week we celebrated Laetare Sunday, in which we rejoiced in anticipation of the coming celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection. This week, we celebrated the feast of St Patrick and the solemnity of St Joseph. Next Sunday, we will process with palm branches in our hands as we begin that solemn journey to Calvary with Our Lord in Holy Week. And this week, the Church gives us one of the most moving Gospel readings in the lectionary; the bringing of Lazarus back from the dead. Something that has always struck me in this passage is the unapologetic way in which Jesus shows us His humanity, whilst also showing us so clearly His Divinity. In the midst of the death of His friend Lazarus, after Jesus testifies that He is the Resurrection and the life, we read one of the most awe-inspiring passages in scripture; that “Jesus wept”. Why are we told this? For what reason does Jesus let us in on this little secret, this brief glimpse into His emotions, His frailty, His pain? How are we to respond to Jesus’s tears? Perhaps one reason among many is so that we may be consoled. If Jesus had merely brought Lazarus back to life, of course, that would be enough. But how generous it is of Him to share with us not only His power, but also His sorrow. Jesus’s moving display of emotion emphasises to us a simple fact of life that He does not ask us to deny; death is tragic, and it is painful when we lose someone we love. And yet, God’s glory shines through all the same. Jesus weeps, yet He does not let death have the last word. Instead, He makes them open the tomb, not so that He can say a last farewell to his friend, but instead so that He can confidently call him out of the sleep of death. And so, as God’s children who await the glory of the Resurrection, we may also weep when faced with life’s tragedies, but we can do so not just with the comforting knowledge that Christ has wept with us, but also with the joyful hope that, at the end of all things, He will stand before the tombs of all His friends and say, this time without tears, ‘ come forth ’.

You can download our full schedule of Holy Week and Easter Services - HERE (PDF)

“Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning;” Laetare Sunday is already upon us! “Laetare” meaning “rejoice”, the Church now encourages us to remember the ultimate destination we are journeying to on our Lenten pilgrimage; the joyful celebration of Christ’s conquering sin and death. Therefore, we can take this as an opportunity to slightly relax our observances, whilst keeping in mind that this is merely a little foretaste of the paschal celebrations that are to come. It is particularly fitting therefore to see which passage of scripture the Church has given us for this Sunday’s Gospel; Jesus’s healing of the man born blind. Whilst others see in the man’s misfortune an indication of guilt, Christ sees this man’s vulnerability as an opportunity for God’s grace to shine through, and brings him healing and transformation ‘that the works of God might be displayed in him’. Through his healing the man is transformed beyond recognition…crucially, not only did Christ show the power of the Father over natural evil by working this miracle, but also He showed His disciples a sign of the inner transformation that was to come to us once He had defeated sin and death on the Cross, and ascended to His Father, sending the Holy Spirit to His Church. A cause to rejoice indeed, and yet all the Pharisees choose to see is an infraction of the Law, given that a work had been performed on the Sabbath…  Laetare Sunday is a timely reminder to us in Lent as to why we fast, pray, and give. It is not merely to satisfy a rule, or prove to ourselves and others how religious we are; quite the opposite! It is, amongst other things, to show more clearly our vulnerabilities, our frailties, and our wounds, so that Christ may enter into them to bring them healing, or indeed, so that the works of God might be displayed in us. Ultimately, it is to prepare us to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, He who gives us eyes to see and ears to hear, and transforms us beyond recognition into the people we are called to be. Let us joyfully continue our Lenten resolve to draw closer to Christ then, and ask Him to strip away any obstacles in our lives to Him as we continue this holy season of Lent.