THE PARISH OF OUR LADY & ST BENEDICT
  • Home
    • Church History
  • Mass Times
    • Church opening times
  • Newsletters
    • Fifteenth Sunday
    • Fourteenth Sunday
    • St Peter & St Paul
    • Corpus Christi First Communion Sunday
    • Trinity Sunday
    • Pentecost Sunday
    • Seventh Sunday of Easter
    • Sixth Sunday of Easter
    • Fifth Sunday of Easter
    • Fourth Sunday of Easter
    • Third Sunday of Easter
    • Second Sunday of Easter
    • Easter Sunday 2025
    • Palm Sunday
    • Fifth Sunday of Lent
    • Fourth Sunday of Lent
    • Third Sunday of Lent
    • Second Sunday of Lent
    • First Sunday in Lent
    • Eighth Sunday
    • Seventh Sunday of the Year
    • Sixth Sunday of the Year
    • Fifth Sunday of the Year
    • The Presentation of the Lord
    • Third Sunday of the Year
    • Second Sunday of the Year
    • The Baptism of the Lord
    • The Epiphany of the Lord
    • Feast of the Holy Family
    • Fourth Sunday of Advent & Christmas
    • Third Sunday of Advent
    • 2nd Sunday of Advent
    • First Sunday of Advent
    • Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
    • Thirty-third Sunday
    • Thirty second Sunday
    • Thirty-first Sunday
    • Thirtieth Sunday
    • Twenty-ninth Sunday
    • Twenty-eighth Sunday
    • Twenty-seventh Sunday
    • Twenty-sixth Sunday
    • Twenty-fifth Sunday
    • Twenty-fourth Sunday
    • Twenty-third Sunday
    • Twenty-second Sunday
    • Twenty-first Sunday
    • Twentieth Sunday
    • Nineteenth Sunday
    • Eighteenth Sunday
    • Seventeenth Sunday
    • Sixteenth Sunday
    • Twelfth Sunday
    • Eleventh Sunday of Year
    • Tenth Sunday of the Year
    • Low Sunday/Divine Mercy Sunday
    • First Sunday of Lent
    • Fourth Sunday of the Year
    • Thirteenth Sunday
    • The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ
    • Christmas Day
    • Mary, Mother
    • World Mission Sunday
    • The Assumption of Our Lady
  • Eighteenth Sunday
  • Outreach
    • Ukrainian Help & Support >
      • Ukrainian Support Group
    • Justice & Peace
    • Lend With Care
    • Middlesbrough Food Bank >
      • Middlesbrough Foodbank Archive
    • The Sick and the Unwell
    • The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP)
    • Zimbabwe missions appeal >
      • Monastery of Christ the Word, Zimbabwe
      • Mary Sturges history with Zimbabwe
      • Zimbabwe thank you notes
      • Mashambanzou Bulletin September 2020
    • Historic Outreach >
      • Climate Change Zoom event 24/04/21
      • ​Together Middlesbrough and Cleveland (TMC)
      • Fundraising event for Mary’s Meals 03/10/2021
  • Fees & Donations
    • Easyfundraiser
    • Parish Hall Hire
  • Forms
    • Legacy
  • Contact us
  • Gallery
    • Parish BBQ 2022
    • Parish BBQ 2021
    • Bernard's bench 2020
    • Cherry tree in blossom 2020
    • Church 2016
    • Rievaulx Pilgrimage 2014
    • Photos from early 1900's
  • Coronavirus
    • Caritas Middlesbrough helpline
    • Live streaming
  • Cemetery Protocols
  • GDPR - Privacy Notice
  • Safeguarding
  • Useful Links
  • Archive
    • 100 Club Winners
    • Caristas Newsletter
    • Homilies >
      • Twenty-third Sunday
      • Twenty-second Sunday
      • Thirty-first Sunday
      • The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
      • Nineteenth Sunday
      • Eighteenth Sunday
      • Seventeenth Sunday
      • Sixteenth Sunday
      • Fifteenth Sunday Yr B
      • Fourteenth Sunday
      • St Peter & St Paul
      • Thirteenth Sunday
      • Twelfth Sunday
      • Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • The Most Holy Trinity
      • Pentecost Sunday
      • Seventh Sunday of Easter
      • The Ascension of the Lord
      • Sixth Sunday of Easter
      • Fifth Sunday of Easter
      • Fourth Sunday of Easter
      • Third Sunday of Easter
      • Second Sunday of Easter
      • Homily; Maundy Thursday 2021
      • Homily; Good Friday 2021
      • Homily; Easter Vigil & Easter Day 2021
      • Palm Sunday
      • Fifth Sunday of Lent
      • Fourth Sunday of Lent
      • Third Sunday of Lent
      • Second Sunday of Lent
      • First Sunday of Lent
      • Ash Wednesday
      • Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
      • Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Baptism of Our Lord
      • Epiphany of the Lord
      • Homily; 1 Jan 2021; Mary Mother of God
      • Christmas Midnight Mass
      • Fourth Sunday of Advent
      • Third Sunday of Advent
      • Homily 2nd Sunday of Advent
      • Homily; 1st Sunday of Advent
      • Thirty-third Sunday
      • Thirty-second Sunday
      • All Souls
      • All Saints
      • Thirtieth Sunday
      • Twenty-ninth Sunday
      • Twenty-eighth Sunday
      • Twenty seventh Sunday
      • Twenty-sixth Sunday
      • Twenty-fifth Sunday
      • Twenty Fourth Sunday
      • Nineteenth Sunday
      • Seventeenth Sunday
      • Trinity Sunday
      • Homily for Tuesday Wk 6 Easter
      • Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • The Presentation of the Lord
      • Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Holy Family
      • Mary Mother of God
      • Second Sunday of Advent
      • First Sunday of Advent
      • Remembrance Sunday
      • Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
      • Twenty-fourth Sunday
      • Twentieth Sunday
      • Eighteenth Sunday
      • Sixteenth Sunday
      • The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ
      • Seventh Sunday of Easter
      • Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Thirteenth Sunday
      • St John the Baptist
      • Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Transfiguration of the Lord
      • Cemetery Mass
    • Knitting for Refugees
    • Rosa Ampleforth
& the phrase for this 3rd Sunday of Lent, & with promising weather & hopeful signs in the pandemic.. the phrase sadly is “you shall not..”  it is a relational lockdown, as God through Moses introduces the 10 commandments..& just in case you want to forget them or amend them, they are engraved not in your heart but on tablets of stone “you shall not..”  a God losing control as his people, then & now, test the water & the boundaries.. Fr Richard Rohr Franciscan priest asks  “what is the opposite to love?” & yes right answer is “hate” however the real answer is “control”  no wonder God had to send his Son to address crisis meltdown in lockdown.. ..a Son he foolishly lovingly, risked losing, out of control, to teach us how to love & self-sacrifice, empower the weakest & those of us addicted to /controlled by our faults & failures to begin a period a Lent of recovery & redemption.. 
 
“..we preach a crucified Christ ..”  a human failure..                               ; Lord have mercy “..to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over” ..they rejected him..   ; Christ have mercy “..to the pagans madness” he was too good too ordinary to believe in..   ; Lord have mercy May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins & bring us to everlasting life. Amen. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“a man like us in all things but sin” sin a dis-grace, behaviour or words in contravention of the goodness which grows inside us we call grace; divine grace within a lively alert conscience.. essence of John’s gospel “the Word was made flesh & dwells among us” & within us.. to see each of you here & now is to see God; each of us made in the image & likeness of God.. so where does the temper tantrum of Jesus come from? his dis-graceful comment to his mother at wedding feast just before our gospel; she notices wine had run out, so she approaches her son gently sensitively.. “they have no wine” & his response? “woman why turn to me?” not “mother” but “woman” just like any other woman.. don’t expect favours from me.. how do you think she felt?.. how would you feel?..& very next incident he crashes into temple HQ temple [ Abbey Church not Our Lady & St Benedict ] makes a whip, drives them out threateningly, he knocked tables over & verbally dressed them down big style.. what sort of reputation is he building for himself?.. dismissively rude to his mother; abusive towards those at religious work in Temple, violent towards property & verbal abuse..2yellow cards for rudeness & verbal abuse, & a straight red for violent conduct..& Jews, always ready to provoke & intimidate, ask him to explain himself.. a human Jesus guilty on all charges..& then.. then.. John brings in divine Jesus..& notice how story changes dramatically; a different man & the divine voice now dialogues theologically & at depth “destroy this sanctuary, & in 3days I will raise it up”.. “it has taken 46yrs to build this sanctuary; are you going to raise it up in 3days?”& the dialogue ends as if answer then, & now to us, is “wait & see”.. as at wedding feast, as Mary, having been humiliated by her son, says to servants “do whatever he tells you” in other words “wait & see” his bark is worse than his bite; he’ll soften calm, & the miracle will come, you’ll see “wait & see” & when Jesus rose from dead his disciples remembered that he had said this & [then] they believed.”.. wait see & believe.. & what was cause of his anger at wedding feast & at Temple? same transgressions/sin/ dis-grace.. his mother crossed a boundary.. at feast she’d be with golden oldies, whereas young Jesus with his pals.. socially unacceptable for her to step into domain of youth.. temple traders & money changers had crossed a religious border vital in temple worship.. exchange & mart.. if you brought in cattle sheep pigeons or £10 note as your temple offering it had probably been touched by pagans.. religious covidcarriers.. so these dealers exchanged your unclean offering for clean one, touched raised only by clean 
Jews.. call it insider dealing.. your £10 note exchanged by minister of welcome for mint one, straight out of Barclays Bank in Helmsley.. so all they were doing was religiously kosher but crucially they were doing it in wrong place.. ..religious commercialism is necessary in any parish, & should go on in Parish Hall, on campus but apart from holy ground in here.. our porch & sanitising area equivalent to the Court of Gentiles.. for 2nd class believers to come to pray quietly but at a distance [ other side of screen ] from us.. us the elite in the body of Church nave..navus navy crew-space.. where you each pull on oars & there are no passengers.. Viking longships crossing to Shetland crewed, not by terrorists but by families, with women taking it in turns to row.. Viking raiders or prospective migrants?.. how tragically we have been misled..& our value added here now, from temple worship of 2500yrs ago, is we have Catholic & non Catholic together.. praying on together.. the gift of all of us [ not us & them ] “us” who are not Roman Catholic, yet come week in week out with your Catholic spouse & give our meal that extra ingredient/flavour, much deeper than words.. it is presence.. real presence.. & no boundaries.. spiritually in full communion with us.. could I share with you a short poem called “from the place where we are right”? 
 
from the place where we are right flowers will never grow in the spring the place where we are right is hard & trampled  like a yard 
 
but doubts & loves dig up the world like a mole, a plough. And a whisper will be heard in the place where the ruined house once stood.                                                                                                                                                                       [Yehuda Amichai ; 1924-2000] 
 
a Jesus sadly who was right.. where a whisper heard in the place where the ruined house, the ruined temple at Byland or Rievaulx, once stood..& pray who whispered ?..Mary did.. “do whatever he tells you”. ..the inclusiveness of this our faith community.. I listened to talk last Saturday by monk from United States entitled “ a time of crisis becomes a time of formation” one phrase from him struck home for me, & which seems appropriate for our monastic community & for us, our faith family here in the parish.. “the more the community has exiles, the less it attracts vocations & the presence of the  young.. because the community is not totally “being there”.. ..a cry from us in our temple, to those choosing in lockdown to go to other temples.. ..be it the Abbey Church or their own on-line home temple.. ..& a whisper heard in the place, in this holy place..a place of recovery & redemption.. listen to whisper, no longer a cold ”thou shall not..” but now? a warm “welcome home”.. 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                      [3rdSunLent Yr B Jn 2;13-25] 



Website by Gabriel Media Limited
  • Home
    • Church History
  • Mass Times
    • Church opening times
  • Newsletters
    • Fifteenth Sunday
    • Fourteenth Sunday
    • St Peter & St Paul
    • Corpus Christi First Communion Sunday
    • Trinity Sunday
    • Pentecost Sunday
    • Seventh Sunday of Easter
    • Sixth Sunday of Easter
    • Fifth Sunday of Easter
    • Fourth Sunday of Easter
    • Third Sunday of Easter
    • Second Sunday of Easter
    • Easter Sunday 2025
    • Palm Sunday
    • Fifth Sunday of Lent
    • Fourth Sunday of Lent
    • Third Sunday of Lent
    • Second Sunday of Lent
    • First Sunday in Lent
    • Eighth Sunday
    • Seventh Sunday of the Year
    • Sixth Sunday of the Year
    • Fifth Sunday of the Year
    • The Presentation of the Lord
    • Third Sunday of the Year
    • Second Sunday of the Year
    • The Baptism of the Lord
    • The Epiphany of the Lord
    • Feast of the Holy Family
    • Fourth Sunday of Advent & Christmas
    • Third Sunday of Advent
    • 2nd Sunday of Advent
    • First Sunday of Advent
    • Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
    • Thirty-third Sunday
    • Thirty second Sunday
    • Thirty-first Sunday
    • Thirtieth Sunday
    • Twenty-ninth Sunday
    • Twenty-eighth Sunday
    • Twenty-seventh Sunday
    • Twenty-sixth Sunday
    • Twenty-fifth Sunday
    • Twenty-fourth Sunday
    • Twenty-third Sunday
    • Twenty-second Sunday
    • Twenty-first Sunday
    • Twentieth Sunday
    • Nineteenth Sunday
    • Eighteenth Sunday
    • Seventeenth Sunday
    • Sixteenth Sunday
    • Twelfth Sunday
    • Eleventh Sunday of Year
    • Tenth Sunday of the Year
    • Low Sunday/Divine Mercy Sunday
    • First Sunday of Lent
    • Fourth Sunday of the Year
    • Thirteenth Sunday
    • The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ
    • Christmas Day
    • Mary, Mother
    • World Mission Sunday
    • The Assumption of Our Lady
  • Eighteenth Sunday
  • Outreach
    • Ukrainian Help & Support >
      • Ukrainian Support Group
    • Justice & Peace
    • Lend With Care
    • Middlesbrough Food Bank >
      • Middlesbrough Foodbank Archive
    • The Sick and the Unwell
    • The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP)
    • Zimbabwe missions appeal >
      • Monastery of Christ the Word, Zimbabwe
      • Mary Sturges history with Zimbabwe
      • Zimbabwe thank you notes
      • Mashambanzou Bulletin September 2020
    • Historic Outreach >
      • Climate Change Zoom event 24/04/21
      • ​Together Middlesbrough and Cleveland (TMC)
      • Fundraising event for Mary’s Meals 03/10/2021
  • Fees & Donations
    • Easyfundraiser
    • Parish Hall Hire
  • Forms
    • Legacy
  • Contact us
  • Gallery
    • Parish BBQ 2022
    • Parish BBQ 2021
    • Bernard's bench 2020
    • Cherry tree in blossom 2020
    • Church 2016
    • Rievaulx Pilgrimage 2014
    • Photos from early 1900's
  • Coronavirus
    • Caritas Middlesbrough helpline
    • Live streaming
  • Cemetery Protocols
  • GDPR - Privacy Notice
  • Safeguarding
  • Useful Links
  • Archive
    • 100 Club Winners
    • Caristas Newsletter
    • Homilies >
      • Twenty-third Sunday
      • Twenty-second Sunday
      • Thirty-first Sunday
      • The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
      • Nineteenth Sunday
      • Eighteenth Sunday
      • Seventeenth Sunday
      • Sixteenth Sunday
      • Fifteenth Sunday Yr B
      • Fourteenth Sunday
      • St Peter & St Paul
      • Thirteenth Sunday
      • Twelfth Sunday
      • Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • The Most Holy Trinity
      • Pentecost Sunday
      • Seventh Sunday of Easter
      • The Ascension of the Lord
      • Sixth Sunday of Easter
      • Fifth Sunday of Easter
      • Fourth Sunday of Easter
      • Third Sunday of Easter
      • Second Sunday of Easter
      • Homily; Maundy Thursday 2021
      • Homily; Good Friday 2021
      • Homily; Easter Vigil & Easter Day 2021
      • Palm Sunday
      • Fifth Sunday of Lent
      • Fourth Sunday of Lent
      • Third Sunday of Lent
      • Second Sunday of Lent
      • First Sunday of Lent
      • Ash Wednesday
      • Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
      • Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Baptism of Our Lord
      • Epiphany of the Lord
      • Homily; 1 Jan 2021; Mary Mother of God
      • Christmas Midnight Mass
      • Fourth Sunday of Advent
      • Third Sunday of Advent
      • Homily 2nd Sunday of Advent
      • Homily; 1st Sunday of Advent
      • Thirty-third Sunday
      • Thirty-second Sunday
      • All Souls
      • All Saints
      • Thirtieth Sunday
      • Twenty-ninth Sunday
      • Twenty-eighth Sunday
      • Twenty seventh Sunday
      • Twenty-sixth Sunday
      • Twenty-fifth Sunday
      • Twenty Fourth Sunday
      • Nineteenth Sunday
      • Seventeenth Sunday
      • Trinity Sunday
      • Homily for Tuesday Wk 6 Easter
      • Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • The Presentation of the Lord
      • Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Holy Family
      • Mary Mother of God
      • Second Sunday of Advent
      • First Sunday of Advent
      • Remembrance Sunday
      • Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
      • Twenty-fourth Sunday
      • Twentieth Sunday
      • Eighteenth Sunday
      • Sixteenth Sunday
      • The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ
      • Seventh Sunday of Easter
      • Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Thirteenth Sunday
      • St John the Baptist
      • Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
      • Transfiguration of the Lord
      • Cemetery Mass
    • Knitting for Refugees
    • Rosa Ampleforth