May 2013 Year 18 — No. 7

Holy Cross Catholic Church Newsletter

Paphos Gate, 1010 Nicosia; PO Box 21964, 1515 Nicosia, Cyprus

Tel. (357) 22 662132; Fax: (357) 22 660767; Email: holcross@logos.cy.net; URL: www.holy-cross-nicosia.com

Parish Priest: Fr. Garret Edmunds, ofm; Assist. Priests: Fr. Andrew Arhin, ofm; Fr. Vito Gabriele Scagliuso, xs

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad, alleluia.

SUNDAY MASSES

8:00 am English

9:30 am English

11:00 am French: Every 1st Sunday of the month

11:00 am Tagalog: Every 2nd Sunday of the month

11:00 am Indian: Every 3rd Sunday of the month

11:00 am Sinhala: Every 4th Sunday of the month

6:30 pm English (Children/Families)

7:00 am English

Sri Lankan Sisters’ Chapel

7:00 am English

St. Joseph’s Sisters’ Chapel

7:30 am Greek (Tuesdays)

St. Anthony Devotion

8.00 am English (Wednesdays)

6:30 pm English

4:00 pm Polish: Every 1st Saturday of the month

4:00 pm Spanish: Every 2nd Saturday of the month

6:30 pm English

WEEKDAY MASSES

SATURDAY VIGIL MASSES

Monday to Saturday at 5:15 pm or by appointment

Penance service: First Wednesday 6.30 pm

CONFESSIONS

CHRIST IS RISEN—ALLELUIA!

EXSULTET

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!

Exult, all creation around God's throne!

Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!

Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,

radiant in the brightness of your King!

Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!

Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!

The risen Saviour shines upon you!

Let this place resound with joy,

echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

Fr. Garret, Fr. Andrew and Fr. Vito

wish a HAPPY EASTER to all.

THE EASTER SEASON

(50 days of Easter) SPECIAL DAYS IN MAY

5 May: Easter Sunday

12 May: Second Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday

14 May : St Matthias : Apostle

26 May: First Communion, 11 AM Mass

31 May: The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Dear brothers and sisters throughout the world, Happy Easter! Happy Easter!

What a joy it is for me to announce this message: Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons.

Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God always triumphs!

We too, like the women who were Jesus' disciples, who went to the tomb and found it empty, may wonder what this event means (cf. Lk 24:4). What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom. The love of God can do this!

This same love for which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell - to the abyss of separation from God - this same merciful love has flooded with light the dead body of Jesus, has transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope.

This is what Easter is: it is the exodus, the passage of human beings from slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness. Because God is life, life alone, and we are his glory: the living man (cf. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, 4,20,5-7).

Dear brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose once for all, and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection, this pass-over from slavery to evil to the freedom of good-ness, must be accomplished in every age, in our concrete existence, in our everyday lives. How many deserts, even today, do human beings need to cross! Above all, the desert within, when we have no love for God or neighbour, when we fail to realize that we are guardians of all that the Creator has given us and continues to give us. God's mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14).

So this is the invitation which I address to everyone: Let us accept the grace of Christ's Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God's mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.

Easter Message of Pope Francis

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY—12 May 2013

Friday Movie Night, 10 May: St. Faustina

The Second Sunday of Easter is also

known as Divine Mercy Sunday. From the

diary of St. Faustina, then a young Polish

nun, this special devotion began spreading

throughout the world in the 1930s. The

message is nothing new, but is a reminder

of what the Church has always taught

through scripture and tradition: that God is

merciful and forgiving and that we, too,

must show mercy and forgiveness.

Our Parish Divine Mercy Group will

celebrate their anniversary at the 8 AM

Mass on 12 May.

Our May movie night on Friday, May 10, at 7:15 PM

(St Francis Hall) will show the story of Sr. Faustina. All

are welcome and refreshments will be served.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad, alleluia.

FIRST COMMUNION

This year's candidates are:

Anton Wishwa S.A. Modiyansalage Sofia Panteli

Shehan Chamodya Peiris Margarita Kakkouli

Simon Walter Ramesh Denzil Nicos Ramesh

Christina Duglus Bosco Sera Tsangaridou

I. Mauni Ionna Fernando Ntanish Iqbal

Keep them in your prayers.

PARISH UPDATES, NOTICES, NEWS, ETC.

Holy Cross Parish Council News & Messages

The Parish Council met on Saturday 27 April 2013 in the afternoon. The meeting started with an opening

prayer and a psalm. Various issues were on the agenda: the use of the services of an independent facilitator

as previously agreed; the Movie Night for May 2013; the scheduling of the Parish Pilgrimage; the arrangements

for Holy Week; the Annual Plan; proposals for Bible Study, and the active participation of the Parish Council

members.

Regarding the meeting to foster unity and cooperation, it was noted that there were differing views as to the

issues involved and that the services of an experienced facilitator were now available to enhance effective-

ness. A date in June was proposed and set for the meeting. It was decided that the Holy Cross Movie Night -

which will take place on Friday 10 May at 7.15pm in St Francis Hall after the evening mass- would feature a

movie on the life of Sister Faustina, the Saint of the Divine Mercy. Refreshments and snacks will be served

during the interval. For the Bible Study, further to some research, a proposal was made to introduce a specific

6 session study soon. Finally it was decided that the Parish Pilgrimage would take place on 15 August 2013,

which is a public holiday in Cyprus. There was also some discussion about the schedule already published for

Holy Week -which produced various reactions in the Parish-, as well as about the role of the Parish Council and

the more active involvement of its members. This issue will be discussed further in future meetings.

The meeting closed with prayer and the blessing. During this special time in which we celebrate Easter, the

resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, our greatest feast, may the Lord bless each one of us in His mercy,

strengthen and support us, our priests, our families, all His people in His Holy Church. May the Lord bless you

abundantly! Have a wonderful Easter! Akis HjiIossif (Chairman)

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad, alleluia.

ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE PARISH NEWSLETTER

Send your notices and other contributions for the next

newsletter to Monique [moniqueburston@yahoo.com]

Deadline for submissions: 26 May

New Location for Parish Office

St. Anthony Hall again to be Meeting Space

After Easter the Parish offices will move to the

Friary and the area near the Library and Sacristy. The

entry will be through the main gate to the garden (to

the right as you face the front of the Church) which

will be open every day from 8AM until Noon. Those

with business at the Parish Office can ring the door

bell next to the main door of the Friary.

The old Parish Office (to the left as you face the

front of the Church) will be returned to its original use

as St. Anthony Hall. This will give us a much needed

additional meeting space.

YEAR OF FAITH 6 : WE BELIEVE IN THE WORLD TO COME

“You are of this world, I am not of this world”, Jesus said to the crowd. “I have been sent by my Father to prepare a place for you in his Heavenly house”. As we celebrate in this litur-gical season the Risen Christ, these words have become true. “It is good for you if I go to my Father to prepare a home for you”, Jesus

insists again, “so that where I am you will also be for ever”.

Paradise is the final goal of the Christian and the greatest wish and hope of all mankind. Our very home is there. We do not hope to find beautiful gardens or wonderful virgins or any kind of former worldly enjoyments left unsatisfied on earth, as many Muslims seem to expect in their Paradise. We will find much more, since is it written in the Book of Revelation, that “God will be all in all”. We will be glorified and will be worthy to sit with Mary, the Apostles, the Martyrs and the holy people of all the ages to sing for ever ALLELUIA and to enjoy the new heavens and the new earth, that does not absolutely exclude our own glorified bodies reborn wonderfully in the Risen Jesus, landscapes and waters and gardens and plants and animals in addition as a crown to the King. Now we can understand how great was the desire of Saint Paul of Tarsis and of many other holy persons to finish with their poor worldly body on earth and to join finally the Risen Jesus for all eternity. Fr . Vito

ORDINATION: On May 18, Grégoire Le Bel will be

ordained as a Jesuit priest in Toulouse, France. He is

the brother of parishioner Bérangère Blondeau.

Pray for him as he begins his ministry to God’s people.

Coffee Morning in the Library Thursday 16 May, 10.00-12.00

Please come and join us, especially if you are new in the Parish and would like the opportunity to meet people and make friends.

You can receive the Parish newsletter electronically.

Go to http://groupspaces.com/HCNewsletter/

Click on “JOIN GROUP” and follow the instructions.

Subscribe to the Parish Register.

Ask one of the priests for the yellow

Registration form.