Easter Saturday Northampton

Northampton Cathedral

Easter Saturday – 8th April 2022 9.30am

Palm Sunday Jesus is king!

Easter Saturday Northampton – The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem gives way to his Passion and Death. Yet within a few days Jesus will rise triumphant from the dead. He is the firm ground of our hope that suffering in this life are overcome in the power of Resurrection.

The Bishop will begin the 11am Palm Sunday Mass from the St Thomas Centre. Please assemble in the Hall where Bishop David will bless the Palms and lead the Procession to the Cathedral.

Please Pray for Pope Francis who is currently in hospital.

EASTER OFFERING TO THE PRIESTS

Parish collections during the Easter Sunday services will be your offering to the Priests of the Cathedral. Hub in appreciation for the service they do. You can use the envelopes, the pay station or the link on the website for direct payment. Holy Week Northampton

HOLY WEEK – (Easter Saturday Northampton)

Lenten Penitential Service 7pm on Monday 3rd April in the Cathedral

Maundy Thursday – Thursday 6th April 11am Chrism Mass at the Cathedral – all welcome 7.30pm Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the Cathedral

Good Friday 7th April 9.30am Morning Prayer and Office of Readings 10.00am Confessions 12.00noon. Children Stations of the Cross 3pm Solemn Liturgy of the Passion of the Lord 3pm at St Aidan, Ss Francis & Therese & St Thomas More 7pm Stations of the Cross (Cathedral)

Easter Saturday Northampton Holy Saturday 8th April 9.30am Morning Prayer and Office of Readings 10.00am Confessions  8.30pm Easter Vigil (Cathedral) Holy Week Northampton

Easter Sunday 9th April 8.30am, 11am and 5.15pm at The Cathedral 9.45am at St Aidan 9.30am at Ss Francis & Therese 11.00am at St Thomas More

Monday 10th April 10am at the Cathedral

Egg Hunt Please continue to bring your Easter Egg donations to church for the Easter Egg Hunt for the children on Easter Day. Holy Week Northampton

Holy Week Northampton

Bishop David Oakley celebrated a beautiful liturgy at Northampton Cathedral on Holy Saturday evening. He was joined by priests and people of the Northampton cluster of parishes including, Towcester and East Hunsbury, Northampton Cathedral and Kingsthorpe.

The liturgy began as always around the fire, the light of Christ outside the doors of a Cathedral in darkness.

During the service Bishop David baptised three new Catholics and confirmed a further six people, men and women of all ages.

At his homily Bishop David said

Gathering in the gloom of night, a single candle light led us into the Cathedral. Other lights soon appeared. And in the glow of this paschal candle, we heard the Easter Proclamation sung. Then began the vigil of readings and psalms.

Together we listened to the history of salvation. It began in the beating heart of love between the divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Creation was no accident. We are not the fruit of some random chemical cocktail coming together under the influence of natural forces. We were born out of a love which has purpose and direction. Creation has a destiny, moving towards the fulfilment of God’s imprint within every human being. – (Easter Saturday Northampton)

But then a cataclysmic tragedy.

Through the enemy’s envy and our disobedience, we fell away from grace. The Fall gave birth to sin and death, and shaped so much of the world we find ourselves in today. There is no need to rehearse the many ways corruption has manifested itself. We struggle. We struggle to find the God who loves us so much. As news broadcasts daily proclaim, we struggle to achieve peaceful relationships with each other. Again, we need to be very clear about the human condition. None of this was meant to be. Even though it is difficult to imagine otherwise, this place we find ourselves in, is not our default position, before God or with each other. Holy Saturday Northampton

And so,

in the light that represents the risen Lord, began the long journey of God’s compassionate plan of salvation. We heard something of this story in our vigil. It began with the choice of Israel. Bearers of the promise, this people had a mission to the world, but they too are damaged by the Fall, and often struggled to embrace God’s plan for them. – (Easter Saturday Northampton)

God never gave up on us.

God finds ever-new ways to mend and restore, to build and to advance the promises he never forgets. And finally he sent his beloved Son. Look what we did to him! We brought him to a place where he could know within his own experience, the devastation of sin. So much so, he cried outfrom the Cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

But that was never going to be the last word of Jesus. And yesterday afternoon, we heard God’s final word of judgment on the mess we had created for ourselves: It is accomplished. God took the risk. And the promise is fulfilled. The exile is over. We have been brought back home. Holy Saturday Northampton

This is where

I want to share some thoughts with those of you who are receiving the sacraments of initiation this evening.

Because this is where the story of the Church begins. Now dear brothers and sisters, who are about to be baptised and received into full communion with the Catholic Church, this is where our story becomes your story. And what is the heart of all this? I can find no better words than those of Pope Benedict XVI:

‘We have come to believe in God’s love

In these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.’

The death and resurrection

of Jesus of Nazareth is not an event which can be dumped into the waste basket of human history. It changes everything. And through faith, we are invited to step inside this event. St Paul sums this up in fourteen life-changing words, ‘we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him’. This Church you are joining tonight, cannot be reduced to just a set of social and cultural habits, a private business for those who like that sort of thing. The Church is a work of God, even more than all the moments of salvation history we have shared together from the Old Testament. Holy Saturday Northampton

And so my dear brothers and sisters,

I want you to join the Church for the same reason that I stay in it. Because here, in the life of the sacraments, we allow the same power that raised Jesus’ dead body from the tomb, to be at work in our lives today. You cannot find this kind of power anywhere else. And to receive this power, it means we have to turn around and face a completely different direction than we have been doing until we came to new life in Christ. Beforehand, we struggled to make do out of our own effort.

Turning to the crucified and risen Jesus, admitting our powerlessness and trusting in him, we discover a new power at work in our lives. But please be careful and be gentle with some of the other people sitting here this evening. They think they have to get to heaven out of their own will-power. They know this is not possible from their own experience, but still they keep trying.

So finally,

let’s take a closer look at the Gospel we have just shared together. We meet with some women who are disciples and friends of Jesus. They are coming to the tomb as soon as the sabbath day is over, eager to do the right thing for their friend and Master. Actually, they provide a picture of so many in the Church today. They do not know what to think. You think it’s all over. There are disciples without a sense of direction. But then they hear the good news. This is not the first time they heard of this. They remembered what Jesus had told them. – (Easter Saturday Northampton)

Then they are changed women

They are emboldened. They become missionaries, even though the other disciples of Jesus are not having a word of it. We too can become changed people. So we need to unleash this power of our risen Lord into the Church tonight. Through baptism, and the renewal of baptismal promises, I invite us all to be open to the dying and rising of Jesus. As you witness new Catholics receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, open your lives to the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new way. In this Easter Eucharist, may each of us prepare to encounter the risen Lord. For he has risen, he has risen indeed!

Bishop At Easter Vigil : “God never gave up on us”

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