Monthly Archives

February 2021

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In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, ST MARY'S

A Gospel reflection – 28 February 2021

A Gospel Reflection

So here we are – already at the end of February with signs of spring all around us. God’s promise from Genesis holds firm be- fore our eyes:

‘ As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat and summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’

We have all come through very difficult times over the last eleven months, and Lent itself is not an easy time as we reflect and seek to find a better future. In today’s Gospel (Mark chapter 8, verses 31 to 38) Jesus teaches that following in faith is costly in the extreme, we are to ‘lose our life’ in order to save it and that it might involve suffering (a cross). Many in recent months have had a huge cross to bear. This has meant different things for different people, but the Gospel message tells us that we can be confident that in all circumstances God’s covenant stands firm. And we are all part of that as we seek to move forward in a sense of reconciliation and peace immersing ourselves in the hope that Spring brings.

John Marsden

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In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

A Gospel Reflection – 21 February 2021

A Gospel Reflection

 

The word ‘Lent’ means Spring so let’s make the best of that thought and go with it. Lent was originally referred to in Latin as Quadragesima (meaning forty days) – the time Jesus spent fasting in the desert. By the 4th century there was a combined desire both to exclude Sundays (not being fast days) and have forty days in the season – hence the forty-six days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day.

Our Gospel today (Mark chapter 1 verses 1 – 15) links to Jesus’ baptism, temptation and proclamation to ‘repent and believe the good news’. Mark’s gospel is crisp and concise. We recall our own baptism through which we are saved. When we repent and seek God’s forgiveness, our baptismal state is restored, and the image in us, once tarnished, shines again. God made an early covenant with Noah after The Flood and this promise is sealed afresh in Jesus – Hallelujah!

As the year moves forward we go with a sense of optimism as we meditate on these scriptures, using this time of Lent for prayer for our own circumstances and the wider world.

Look out for the four week ‘course’ on Wednesdays if you would like a bit more study (details on the Notice Sheet).  How we need to encourage this sense of hope.

John Marsden

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, TICKHILL

A Gospel reflection

A Gospel Reflection

14th February has a long association with St. Valentine. Born in Terni, Italy, in the early 3rd century AD, Valentine was a Roman priest who suffered martyrdom at the hands of Emperor Clauduis II Gothicus. According to legend, St. Valentine signed a letter ‘from your Valentine’ to his jailer’s daughter whom he had befriended and healed of blindness before his death. The girl subsequently regained her sight to read the note. Nowadays Valentine’s Day is very much associated with love.

In the old Liturgical Calendar this Sunday was known as Quinquagesima (fifty days before the great festival). One of the readings set for the day was 1 Corinthians chapter 13, St Paul’s letter of love – ‘Love is patient. Love is kind. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres’.

In our current liturgy the Gospel reading today retells the story of the Transfiguration in Mark chapter 9 v. 2 – 9. This mysterious reading finds us all at a watershed moment as we prepare to revisit Jesus’ saving work through Lent, Passiontide and Easter. Moses and Elijah appear, referencing the past; Peter makes a characteristic ‘faux pas’ in wanting to preserve the present; and the Father’s voice looks to the future as we are told, ‘Listen to Him’.

As we begin the Interregnum this is a good time to look back at where God has led us thus far, to rejoice that God accepts us (faux pas and all), and to listen to our Saviour as we set our faces towards the future with love in our hearts.

John Marsden

(With thanks to Lucille Henderson for research about St Valentine)