So many times in Scripture when an angel or Jesus approach a person or a group with a task, we are told that they are afraid or are living in fear, as the disciples were in this reading. For example, it happened to Isaiah when an angel asked him to be a prophet. It happened to Mary when the angel Gabriel asked her to bear Jesus. It happened to Peter when Jesus asked him to follow and be a fisherman of people. Whether it is an angel or Jesus appearing, each begins their address with words of reassurance: “Do not be afraid,” or in this case, “Peace be with you.” The ones being visited aren’t shamed or reprimanded for being afraid. Only after their fear is acknowledged are they given their task. For the disciples who are still hiding out in fear for their lives, Jesus sends them to do exactly what they are afraid to do-leave their hiding place, go public, and do what God sent Jesus to do. Maybe they are still afraid. Maybe their voices shake a bit when they first begin to proclaim Jesus’ message.  Maybe they don’t feel worthy to still be a follower of Jesus. Maybe they doubt their ability to bring hope and healing to those who need it, but they still go. The first reading from the Acts of Apostles tells us some of what the apostles were able to accomplish once they left that locked room. They cured sick people and cast out demons, just as Jesus had promised them they would. To do that, they had to move way out of their comfort zone, but remembering Jesus’ words “Peace be with you” helped them to do it. Questions of the week  When have you had an experience of being called to do something that scared you? What helped you to do it?  Is there an area of your life now in which God is inviting you to be more courageous and trusting?

Eastertide is the time of new life. Our Saviour’s in the first place, living for ever a life which belongs no more to the earth and which one day we shall share with Him in heaven. And then our own lives - from Christ to us - for we have more than the assurance of rejoining Him; snatched by Him from the power of the devil we belong to Him as His by right of conquest and we share His life. Easter week is the week of the baptized. They have passed from death to life, from the darkness of sin to the life of grace in the light of Christ. Wherever there are neophytes, the Easter season, and particularly the first week, is the period of postbaptismal catechesis or mystogogy. The community shares with them a deepening understanding of the paschal mystery and an ever greater assimilation of it in daily life through meditation, participation in the Eucharist, and the practice of charity. The moral requirements of the new life are recalled throughout Eastertide. They are governed by the principle enunciated by St. Paul that, risen with Christ, the Christian must raise his desires to heaven, detach himself from earthly pleasures in order to love those of heaven. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to complete the formation in the baptized of the ‘new man’ who, by the holiness of his life, bears witness to Christ crucified. The Fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day, or better as one ‘great Sunday.’ These above all others are the days for the singing of the Alleluia. The Sundays of this season rank as the paschal Sundays and, after Easter Sunday itself, are called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sundays of Easter. The period of fifty sacred days ends on Pentecost Sunday. The first eight days of the Easter Season make up the octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. On the fortieth day after Easter the Ascension is celebrated, except in places where, not being a holy day of obligation, it has been transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter. This solemnity directs our attention to Christ, who ascended into heaven before the eyes of his disciples, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, invested with royal power, who is there to prepare a place for us in the kingdom of heaven; and who is destined to come again at the end of time. The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.  This sacred season of fifty days comes to an end on Pentecost Sunday, which commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the beginnings of the Church and its mission to every tongue and people and nation.

Every year, in every Parish of the diocese a Retiring Collection is made for the ‘Overseas Missions.’ This provides the people of the Parish an opportunity to assist in the missionary work of so many priests, religious, and lay people, working in diverse situations throughout the world, spreading the message of the Gospel. This weekend we welcome Fr Peter Smith of the ‘White Fathers’ to make our annual appeal. The White Fathers are an international team of priests, brothers and lay associates from Africa, Britain, and many countries around the world. Any ministry which has a real relationship with Africa, no matter in what part of the world it may be, is considered by the White Fathers to be within the scope of the apostolate. Through their parish work, building up small Christian communities, working with the media, involvement in justice and peace, agriculture, seminary training, education, and social welfare the White Fathers aim to work in partnership with the Church in Africa . . . . and above all else to help build up the leadership of the churches.  Please be generous in your response to this appeal.

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Not unexpectedly, a very busy week around The Presbytery, with Fr D and Sarah racing about to get the final pieces into place for our Easter celebrations . . . . This week was also one of those during the year when they also had to prepare a second newsletter for whilst Fr D was in Lourdes. This year not with special needs children as usual because Easter’s dates meant that the children were back at school, so he’s going as a chaplain to an ‘Old & Bold’ Group. These are those who have spent many trips looking after the children but now are of an age when they cannot do this any more - but they still come to Lourdes to join in with the children’s celebrations without the responsibility of looking after them! Fr D will be travelling out on Easter Monday and return the following Sunday evening. Easter Sunday, of course, is not the end of our celebration of Easter. After forty days in preparation with Lent, and the celebration of the Easter Triduum (from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday) it is easy to miss looking ahead in the Church’s liturgical calendar. This is, after all, the climax of the Christian year with the celebration of the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Catechism calls Easter the ‘Feast of feasts’ and the ‘Solemnity of solemnities.’ Yet, Easter Sunday is actually just the first day of the Easter Octave, the eight-day festal period, in which we continue to celebrate the momentous conclusion to the Paschal mystery and the economy of salvation played out in liturgical time. The eight days of the Easter Octave are a special time to celebrate the Risen Lord and to more deeply contemplate its mysteries.  The Church punctuates the special importance of this feast by assigning it the highest liturgical ranking, that is, as a Privileged Octave of the First Order. This means that each of the eight days is counted as a solemnity, the highest raking feast day, in which no other feast can be celebrated. It also begins the fifty days of celebration to the feast of Pentecost (known as Eastertide), but these first eight days of the Easter Octave culminates with the Second Sunday of Easter.

PALM SUNDAY - 13th April 18.00(Sat), 9.30 & 11.00 HOLY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER - 17th April 20.30 CHILDREN’S GOOD FRIDAY WAY OF THE CROSS - 18th April 10.00 SOLEMN LITURGY OF THE LORD’S PASSION - 18th April 15.00 EASTER VIGIL OF THE RESURRECTION - 19th April 20.30 EASTER SUNDAY MASSES - 20th April 09.00 & 11.00

Wednesday 16th April, 18.00, Arundel Cathedral.  People from across our diocesan family of faith are invited to join Bishop Richard and members of clergy at the annual Chrism Mass – one of the most beautiful Masses of the Church’s year. It is during this Mass that the new oils of ‘Chrism,’ ‘Catechumens,’ and ‘Infirmorum’ are blessed for use in the sacraments throughout the diocese for the next year. These same oils will be received into the Sacred Heart at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper (20.30 on Thursday 17th April).

Our local Christian communities will be holding their annual act of witness around the Cross in the pedestrian precinct between the Holly Hedge car park and the High Street on Good Friday (18th April) and invite ALL to stop if only for a few minutes between 09.30 and 11.30.

JUBILEE YEAR PILGRIMAGE TO ROME - 5 - 10 November (Cost £1,220 inc. travel, accommodation & half board; single supp. £188). Join two of our diocesan priests Fr Gus Campanello & Fr Nick Harden on pilgrimage to Rome. To find out more and book:-  sarah@tangney-tours.com or  01732 886666

The collections taken over the Easter weekend provides income to the Parish specifically for the support of the clergy and may be Gift Aided. Any cheques should be made payable to the ‘Sacred Heart Parish, Cobham’ (any cheques made out personally to Fr D are direct gifts and cannot be received into Parish funds or Gift Aided). You will find a supply of Gift Aid envelopes (blue) for this collection in the narthex.