Congratulations to parishioner Joseph Gulliford who, on Saturday 3rd July, was ordained a deacon at St John’s Seminary in Wonersh as part of his journey to becoming a priest. Joseph has been studying at the seminary for the past five years, and next year will be ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Southwark.
Author: Saintstephens
Reflections for the Month of July
It’s Summertime. Normally, we should have a full diary of events and plans for holidays and days out with family and friends. Most of us are eager to be getting out in the fresh air and to use open spaces. Even going shopping now has some attraction for the non-shopper, who hasn’t been out for such a long time.
Getting married in a pandemic
On Tuesday 6th April 2021, two days after Easter Sunday, in St Stephen’s Church, I had the privilege of marrying Preethi – the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with.
Deeper and Deeper
Parishioner Joseph Gulliford is in his fifth year at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh, which sadly is closing at the end of this academic year.
“Now I find fulfilment pouring my life out completely” is the last line to a song I wrote recently on the theme of Vocation.
No matter what our path or vocation is, these words testify that there is wholeness in living the life God is calling us to live for Him. It echoes some of Jesus’ most challenging words, “for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). The secret of finding our life lies not in the loose sense of ‘living life to the full’ by seizing every possible opportunity that comes to us, but in the paradox of denying ourselves and taking up our cross (as Jesus calls us to do in the previous verse).
Seven Churches Walk, Spy Wednesday 31 March
Andrew Bishop, a seminarian from St Stephen’s studying at the Beda College in Rome, has written this article detailing a pilgrimage he took part in on Spy Wednesday (in Holy Week).
Among the Holy Week traditions in Rome, one which is embraced by members of the Beda College is the Seven Churches Walk. A group of Beda students normally undertake this pilgrimage on the Wednesday before Easter. In 2020, due to the lockdown and pandemic, the Walk had not taken place at all. This year, in the weeks before Holy Week, when Lazio was in the “Red Zone,” it seemed likely that for the second year in a row we would be “confined to barracks.” We already knew that the Easter weekend itself would be red. To everyone’s relief Speranza, the Health Minister, announced on the Friday before that Lazio’s Covid-19 figures had improved just enough for us to be in the Orange Zone and thus allowing the walk to take place.
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