Webmaster • August 2, 2025
A missionary from Bethlehem, The Holy Land, will visit our Parish on the weekend 9th - 10th August to briefly talk about the Holy Land and sell religious articles made out of Olive Wood to help and support the poor Christian families, any help you could give to them it will be highly appreciated” (when you help the poor you help our Lord”).
ST MARK’S WAY ON THE NATIONAL JUBILEE PILGRIMAGE OF HOPE: Begins on Saturday 6 September with 8am Mass at Leeds Cathedral. Walk all or part of the way between the Cathedral and the Jubilee Pilgrimage Church of St Austin in Wakefield. See Diocesan website for details of how to sign up.
In Chapter 12 of Luke's Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples and the crowd on how to be ready for the coming judgment. At first he speaks only to the disciples, reminding them that it is not persecution they should fear but the judgment that is coming for all who do not acknowledge the Son of Man. Suddenly a man in the crowd shouts out to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus offers the man no help. Instead, he uses the question to teach what life really consists of. Jesus tells the crowd a parable. A rich man's lands has yielded more crops than expected. His response is not to consider how he might share all the extra food with others but to wonder how he can possibly store it all. He has what he thinks is a brilliant idea: to tear down his present barns and build larger ones. Then he will have many things stored up for years of eating, drinking, and making merry. “You fool” is God's response to this man because that very night his life will be taken away. To whom will everything belong then, God asks. The rich man's world is small, just him and his possessions, and now he learns that he is to lose his life. What good are his possessions now? Jesus states the moral of the story. This is how it will be for everyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God. We are not just performing works of mercy; we are paying a debt of justice. Life does not consist in possessions but in sharing what we possess with others. The goods of the earth have been given to everyone.
Taking place at Ampleforth College from Friday 22nd - Monday 25th August , the Youth 2000 Summer Festival provides young adults (aged 16-35) from across the UK the opportunity to come together and explore faith, build relationships and find hope. This four-day festival includes great speakers, social time, break-out sessions, Daily Mass, 24/7 Adoration and much more! Register at: youth2000.org/events/summerfestival2025. Tickets are also available for priests, religious, families and groups. For more information, email: events@youth2000.org . If you would like to know more or fancy meeting up at Y2K (Saturday only), please contact Gill in the Parish Office or speak to Lauren Rayner (our flautist at Sunday morning Mass).
ALL welcome to join our Summer Laudato Si’ Mini-Pilgrimage on Saturday 9 August! 11am Mass at St Mary’s Catholic Church, Knaresborough & guided walk to St Robert’s Cave and Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag. Sign up via communications@dioceseofleeds.org.uk More information at: https://www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk/event/four-seasons-of-creationlaudato-si-mini-pilgrimage-for-summer/
On Saturday, August 9 , St Patrick's Mission will be hiking the Yorkshire Three Peaks to support the ongoing ministry in Bradford city centre. We are grateful for anyone who would like to hike with us, or who would like to volunteer to help on the day, or simply donate to the cause! To sign up, https://www.stpatricksmission.co.uk/event/one-and-three-peakchallenge or to donate: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/spm-peaks25 .
Mass for the Feast of St Bernard, Wednesday 20th August, 12noon. All welcome. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/fountainsabbey-and-studley-royal-water-garden/events
This year our retreat at The Briery will take place over the weekend of 31 October to 2 November . The cost will be in the region of £190 -£200 which includes all meals from Friday teatime to Sunday Lunch. If you think you may be interested then please contact Christine Szczepanski via the Parish Office.
There will be a series of special Jubilee Masses in some of the churches in the Deanery. Parishioners are encouraged to go to some or all of these Masses and so become ‘pilgrims’ in this Holy Year whose theme is Pilgrims of Hope. Jubilee Masses are: Tuesday 9 September - St Michael’s Knottingley. All Jubilee Masses start at 7.00pm.
A big thank you to everyone who made our parish picnic and the blessing of our new Marian garden a great success
In today's reading, Luke presents the core of Jesus' teaching on prayer. It consists of Jesus teaching a prayer to his disciples, a parable on the persistent neighbour, and assurances that God hears our prayers. The disciples notice Jesus praying “in a certain place.” They ask him to teach them to pray just as John the Baptist had taught his disciples. Jesus teaches them a simple version of the most famous Christian prayer, the Our Father, or the Lord's Prayer. Matthew's version shows signs of being shaped by public prayer. Luke's version is probably closer to the original form that Jesus taught. Stripped of much of the language we are used to, Luke's version seems simple and direct. We pray that God's name will be recognized as holy and that his rule over all will be established. This is followed by petitions for our needs for bread, for forgiveness, and for deliverance. Luke uses the more theological language of “sins” rather than “debts,” used in Matthew's version. Having taught his disciples a simple, daily prayer, Jesus goes on to reassure them that God answers prayers. He tells a parable about a persistent neighbour who asks a friend for bread at midnight. The friend is already in bed and has no desire to disturb his family by opening the door, but because the neighbour is persistent, the sleeping man gets up and gives him all that he needs. This teaching concludes with the reminder that if we seek, we will get a response. If a human father, with all his faults, knows how to give good gifts to his children, how much more will our heavenly Father give us? Instead of good gifts, however, Luke substitutes the word Holy Spirit. This foreshadows the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is central to Luke's theology and who will play an important role in the growth of the early Church after Pentecost. The parable and the concluding teaching in this section should not lead us to think of prayer as a series of requests presented to God. Rather, as Jesus teaches in his model prayer, prayer consists in recognizing God's holiness and his rule over all things.