But work has begun on preparing our 2020 Christmas Crib to be put up outside the church!
That’s my work done, for now. Over now to Bill, master of the jig-saw!
31 Saturday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic, God who speaks, Mission, Prayer, St Nicholas Boldmere
in31 Saturday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
in31 Saturday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
inThe group’s latest newsletter can be downloaded here – highlighting the sad situation in Uganda and the need for continued help and support.
One way of offering support – and enjoying an evening at home! – is suggested here
31 Saturday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
inSt John writes against the threat to faith and faithful living by those who have sought to redefine Christian faith as it moves towards an appreciation of the Mystery of the Trinity, to an appreciation especially of how Jesus the Christ participates in the life of the One God.
He also writes to encourage the faithful to participate more fully in the life of Christ, by avoiding sin and seeking out opportunities to love. Right faith must lead to right living.
1 John 3:1-3
Second reading for All Saints
(NB the text set for Sunday is given below in bold and in ‘quote sections’ below; the rest is the immediate biblical text from which the Lectionary text is extracted)
Warning Concerning Antichrists
2.18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is…
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30 Friday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
inThe extract from the psalm set to be sung at Mass this coming Sunday acknowledges God as creator, and sees our way to God in terms of our living right and ascending the mountain of the Lord.
The mountain reference probably is to the hill on which Jersualem’s Temple stands – and indeed the ancient city of Jerusalem itself.
The psalmist keeps the right side of this, but it is not uncommon to find people idealising, idolising, their religion, their country, their way at the expense of the Lord and his Kingdom.
How do you try to keep yourself free to choose the Lord’s way, the Lord’s will?
Psalm 23(24):1-6
Responsorial Psalm for the Solemnity of All Saints
(NB the text set for Sunday is given below in bold and in ‘quote sections’ below; the rest is the immediate biblical text from which the Lectionary text is extracted)
Psalm 24
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29 Thursday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
inThe vision of John is a vision of the triumph of God’s grace offered to and received fruitfully be all his people, by Jews first and then by others.
The concluding reference in the excerpt from the passage below which refers to the robes of the great multitiude “washed … and made … white in the blood of the Lamb” may refer to martrydom, with which the author of Apocalypse/Revelation was familiar, but more likely here refers to the more general participation in the dying and rising of Christ to which St Paul, for exmaple refers, which is defining of the life of all Christians.
Apocalypse 7:2-4,9-14
First reading for the solemnity of All Saints
(NB the text set for Sunday is given below in bold and in ‘quote sections’ below; the rest is the immediate biblical text from which the Lectionary text is extracted)
The 144,000…
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28 Wednesday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
inMass on Friday 6th November at 7pm
This Mass will be offered for everyone who has died during the past year: parishioners, family, friends – everyone. The circumstances of the year have meant that often people have not been able to attend funerals. This Mass is an opportunity to come together to spend time together and with the Lord and pray for them.
Mass on Monday 2nd November (All Souls) at 10am
This Mass will be offered for all deceased parishioners.
Other Masses for the Dead
Envelopes are available at the offertory table for those who wish to arrange a ‘November’ Mass for deceased family and friends.
Blessing of Graves
Deanery services for the Blessing of graves cannot take place this year. However people are free to make their own private visits and pray. Prayers to use on these visits can be downloaded below for use on a smartphone. Paper copies will be available at Mass on Sun 31 Oct/1 Nov.
That Sunday, also, Mass will begin with the blessing of water – including water to use in the blessing of graves, and in our homes, over the following weeks, especially during Advent – so bring a bottle of water with you – and possibly another too, for a housebound neighbour!
Photograph. (c) 2020, Allen Morris. Oscott Cemetery,
28 Wednesday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
inWe honour and venerate the Saints, and hopefully also we seek to find inspiration in them for how we live our own lives.
For myself, when I started to read lives of the saints, it came as a surprise to recognise how much they had to struggle – against their own frailties, often, but still more commonly against those who opposed their godly lives and godly mission. In the case of the martyrs the opposition was often from those outside of the Church; but in the case of others so very often the opposition came from within the Church.
Sometimes that opposition was from individuals jealous of their reputation; sometimes from people who feared the consequences of change and renewal that the saint was bringing about.
And very often the opposition took institutional form: the number of saints who were marginalised within or even hounded out of the very religious…
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26 Monday Oct 2020
25 Sunday Oct 2020
Posted Catholic
inIt ‘s a problem that its nice to have in some ways
But for those most directly involved, it’s not so nice.
The nice thing is that regularly our 9am Mass is now regularly full to capacity. And teh sad thing is that regularly we now have to turn one or two families away.
There are other Sunday Masses that are not regularly full – the 4pm and 6pm on Saturday and the 11am on Sunday. So families might like to think instead of coming to those.
However sometimes people are limited by circumstances to only being able to attend Mass at one of the times available in this parish.
A request has been made at the 9am Mass for those who could go instead to another Mass to think about making a change, as an act of charity for others who can only attend the 9am. However, it is recognised that not everyone is free to change, even if they could.
It would be possible to follow some other parishes where you have to book in on-line to come to Sunday Mass. However recent parish experience with a funeral where a certain number of places were bookable showed that some booked and didn’t come, and others who wanted to come and could have come if others had not already book (following me, still?) showed that system is far from foolproof, let alone better than first come first served.
So, the best advice that can be given is