A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning - I hope you’re well

As I was reflecting on yesterday’s poem, the Epitaph from Burns, I thought that today we might acknowledge the great strength that we have as a parish, a community, a body of folk that love and support each other - with the capacity to reach out to others.

And so, with no apologies to Liverpool supporters who seem to have appropriated this song - and for whom it was a consolation during dark days

You’ll Never Walk Alone - from Carousel (Oscar Hammerstein)

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark.
At the end of a storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind;
Walk on through the rain’
Though your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone.
You’ll never walk alone;
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone.

For us, as a community of faith, we know that hope is that gift from God that enables us to keep loving whatever the circumstances.

Or as the horse says, ‘When the big things feel out of control … focus on what you love right under your nose.'

John Buchan puts it slightly differently:
'The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.’

St Joseph, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John