Services in the Chapel of St. George with St. James Unless Otherwise Indicated

Services in the Chapel of St. George with St. James unless otherwise indicated:

Solemn Mass in the Church of Our Lady of Virtues, Fuente de Piedra 1015 (Sundays)

Weekday Mass Monday - Saturday*0930Aguadulce

*Wednesdays in the Chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham

Calle Principe de Asturias 15, Fuente de Piedra.

Evensong with Benediction1830(Sundays) Aguadulce Requiem Mass (Monthly) As announced Aguadulce Saints’ Days, Holy Days and “Fiestas” As announced

The worshipping Community of this parish meets in the Chapel, St. George’s Presbytery, Calle Almeria 13, Aguadulce, Seville Province, and on Sundays in the Church of Nuestra Señora da las Virtudes, Fuente de Piedra. Malaga Province.

Easter is a time of hope. It is not the type of hope akin to winning the lottery or the football pools; it is the hope we experience when promises have been made. I would like to think that the little girl in the photograph above has been made promises sufficient to give her hope by people who love her and have faith in her doctors and nurses. It is an expectant type of hope rather than wishful thinking. Hope springs eternal in the human psyche and it is that kind of hope which we experience in the season of Easter. I have heard many non-Christians express the opinion that the promise of Life with Christ after human death is the other type of hope – wishful thinking at best and a delusion at worst; that Christ's Resurrection was staged; he never really died; it was a plot to dupe followers perpetrated by the disciples. Spiritual hope is something different – Faith, Hope and Love (Charity, in the Authorised Version of the Bible) are the stalwarts of St. Paul's teaching. Again, it is the hope born out of promises and experience; it is the hope of the fulfilment of Scripture; it is the hope of faithful service rewarded and the completion of life's work. It is not fair to criticise the worldly form of hope from our position of 20/20 hindsight. Even the disciples had difficulties grasping Christ's promise of a kingdom to come – they saw it as worldly and not heavenly. This Newsletter is a supplement for March 2013 concentrating on Holy Week and Easter, and Palm Sunday is the precursor to those momentous seven days we call Holy Week. One can only imagine the thoughts of hope-achieved going through the minds of the disciples when they saw the crowds lining the streets entering Jerusalem waving palms fronds and strewing their garments in the way. In terms of an earthly kingdom they must have thought all they had hoped for had arrived! This was it! Jesus would bring Israel out of Roman domination and they would be rewarded for their part in it. How their hopes must have been confused by the events of the Thursday with what became known as the Last Supper followed by the events in the Garden of Gethsemane. How their hopes must have plunged when Jesus was arrested and tortured; Peter's hopes must have taken a further nose-dive when this most enthusiastic of the disciples denied knowledge of or association with his Lord. Hope must all but have vanished with events of Good Friday and the confusion of Holy Saturday. Then came the Resurrection Morning.

Even then, the disciples were still thinking in terms of an earthly kingdom and it was not until the Ascension and Pentecost that the realisation that their hopes had been fulfilled in a totally different way to that which they had expected eventually dawned. Hope turned into action; the Church was founded in Jerusalem and the many of the Apostles (meaning “one who is sent forth”) left the comparatively dangerous surroundings of Jerusalem to bring the Gospel and the hopes it brings to the infinitely more dangerous wider Roman world. There are many who still maintain the official Jewish line that the whole thing from Good Friday onwards was a plot masterminded by Jesus and carried out by the disciples. This could be persuasive were it not for one fact – a fact which is indisputable: With the exception of St. John, every Apostle was martyred for his faith. The Resurrection was such a culmination of hope that they gave their lives for that truth. St. John died an old and revered man on the island of Patmos but not without having experienced attempts on his life. Would they have died to preserve a conspiracy? Would you give your life for something you knew to be a lie? Of course not. Nor did they. There is a term used which always makes me shudder and it is used mostly (but not exclusively) in terms of what we deem to be the “Third World”. The term is “Life's cheap”. Well, not if it's yours and if your life isn't, nor should anyone else's be. Whether it's children dying of hunger; people made homeless by natural disaster or war; but especially victims of atrocities perpetrated by terrorists, life is not cheap. It is taken away at great cost and not only to the victim and their families. The cost to the terrorist is equally as frightening. It makes them soul-less, uncaring and without conscience. They have no Grace and they cease to be in a state of Grace, separated from God and honourable men by their actions. Jesus' cry from the Cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” is their only chance of Salvation.

Hope is part of human nature; it is the spark which keeps us going; it is the fuel whereby we achieve. In the words of a famous hymn: “Faith and Hope and Love we see, joining hand in hand agree; but the greatest of the three, and the best, is Love”; it was the Love of Christ for the fulfilment of our Hopes emboldened by our Faith in Him, which make Easter truly special and specially true.

We wish you a Holy Week full of Love, a Good Friday full of Hope and an Eastertide filled with Faith.

There will be a full range of services both in Aguadulce and Fuente de Piedra throughout Holy Week and into the Easter period. Services in Aguadulce will be in the Chapel of St. George with St. James and in Fuente de Piedra in the Chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham with the Palm and Easter Sunday Eucharists in the church of Nuestra Señora de las Virtudes. Details are below:

Holy Week and Easter Services 2013

Palm SundaySung Eucharist and Blessing and Distribution of the Palms 1015 Fuente de Piedra (Parish Church) 24MAR

Monday in Holy Week: Mass0930Aguadulce (Annunciation of BVM) 25MAR

Tuesday in Holy Week: Mass 0930Aguadulce 26MAR

Wednesday in Holy Week:Mass0930Fuente de Piedra Chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham. 27MAR

Maundy Thursday:Mass of the Institution of the Eucharist: 1930 Aguadulce 28MAR

Good Friday:Ceremonies, Veneration of the Cross and Mass of the Pre- sanctified 1500 Aguadulce 29MAR

Holy Saturday:Ceremonies, Blessing of the Paschal Candle, Renewal of Baptismal Vows and First Mass of Easter 2315 Aguadulce 30/31 MAR

Easter Sunday:Sung Eucharist 1015 Fuente de Piedra (Parish Church) 31MAR

Please note that the Sunday services will take place in the Parish church of Our Lady of Virtues, Fuente de Piedra at 1015.

For further information please contact Fr. David on 954 816 668 or 608 086 150

Easter Confessions by appointment with Fr. David on the above telephone contacts.

Easter Sunday is the most important day in the Church's year and attendance at any of the Holy Week services should be in addition to attendance at the Easter Day service. Therefore if anyone for whatever reason is unable to attend and would appreciate being brought Holy Communion at home on Easter Sunday, Fr. David would be only too pleased to visit you. Please call to arrange a mutually convenient time.

Please send any written contributions to Fr. David, (financial ones will help, too!)

Cheques should be made payable to “The Parish of St. George with St. James” and sent to:

Fr. David Worsley, Parish Priest, St. George’s Presbytery, Calle Almeria 13,

41550 Aguadulce. Sevilla. Spain.

Tel / Fax: (0034) 954 816 668 [land line] or (0034) 627 168 614 [mobile]

And, of course the dreaded E-mail thingy:

But which saves us considerable expense!

For further information on the Holy Catholic Church – Western Rite, please contact Fr. David at the above address and contact numbers. The Diocese's Web-site is But please note this is not at present

under the control of the Diocese itself. The parish has use of the Royal British Legion's Web-site and our pages can be retrieved by entering: