Sunday 29th November
Fr Colin Writes:
We hope that we will be able to resume public Masses on Thursday. If so, the times are as before and as printed on the front page.
Today we start the Season of Advent and a new year in the Church’s calendar. During the first part of Advent, we are focusing on our preparation for the second coming of Christ at the end of time. We move into year B in the Sunday Cycle with most of the Sunday Gospels coming from St Mark. To help us on our Advent journey, there are a number of booklets available in the church porch. ‘Walk with Me’ gives a daily meditation throughout Advent right through to the 10th January. ‘My Day by Day’ gives daily readings for Advent and commentaries on the readings can be found in ‘Bible Alive’. There are still copies of the meditation booklet ‘According to thy Word’, reflecting on the role of Our Lady and also Advent Calendars for children. We will be announcing the arrangements for Christmas next weekend.
Have a good week and help to get the R number below 1.
Father Colin
Advent Litany
Lord Jesus you are the light of the world COME LORD JESUS
You are the light in our darkness COME LORD JESUS
Son of God, save us from our sins COME LORD JESUS
Bring hope into the lives of all people COME LORD JESUS
Give your peace to all nations COME LORD JESUS
Be the joy of all who love you COME LORD JESUS
Bless us as we gather here in your name COME LORD JESUS
Lord Jesus, stay with us. COME LORD JESUS
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee meet on Thursday at 7.30pm in the church.
Parish Council
The Parish Council meet on Thursday 10th December at 7.45pm in the church.
Fr David writes:
As Father Colin has mentioned, today is the start of a new liturgical year. We change the colour of the vestments to purple - which is a sign of royalty and the Imperial power of God the Father. We see this authority of God in the wonderfully deep and ancient first reading from the Prophet Isaiah when the prophet calls twice God our Father (Isaiah 63:16). Another meaning behind the liturgical colour purple is that of waiting and anticipation. Jesus is sometimes depicted wearing a purple robe as he awaits his crucifixion – again a reference to his royal status as King. We also might see Jesus wearing a purple robe in pictures that depict his decent into Hell (Isaiah 64:3)– the place where the just were to be found just before their redemption. We are waiting for the second coming of Christ as well (Psalm 80:14-15) because we have been planted by Christ who sits at God’s right hand. But in our human frailty we can only remember the first coming of Jesus (Isaiah 64:8). Like Adam, who was made from the dust of the earth, we are but dust too, and one day we will return to God, because God made us in his image. Christ is made in God’s image too as well as in his likeness and we are strengthened by that Grace of God, through Christ’s love. 1Corinthians 1:6-9).
We are given by Christ in our Gospel the implicit instruction to be on our guard to stay awake. We are being asked to be in a state of anticipation. I feel like I have lived Advent already, whilst waiting for Ordination and with it being delayed because of the Pandemic virus, we have all been waiting for Lockdown to end. We have been anticipating returning to normality. With Christ there can never be normality because it is precisely in normality that we become complacent. We lose our alertness. The time we spend here on earth is ordered by human measurement of time. We know that God operates outside of time. Jesus uses the image of a Master coming home to meet his household, in an age before mobile telephones could alert his staff of his return. Here is the point: We need to be spiritually prepared for when we are called by Christ to be with him again at his second coming. Therefore, with the return to the start of a new year – we are being given the opportunity to prepare again for Christ’s coming. We will not know when we will be called, but what we certainly do know is that we will be called. We will be called because of our Baptism when we were joined to Christ, and anointed and claimed for Christ as Priest, Prophet and King.
Amen.
ISOBEL McNEILLIS RIP
The funeral Mass for Isobel McNeillis will be on Monday 7th December at 10.30am . Presence at the funeral is at the invitation of the family.
Baptism Preparation
There will be a session for parents who wish to have their baby baptised next Sunday, 6th December, at 4.00pm in the church.
First Communion 2021
Children in Year 3 or above who would like to receive First Holy Communion next year are invited to complete a yellow—coloured application form from the table at the back of the church or from the office and return it by 13th December. At the moment we are uncertain how the preparation sessions will be arranged but it will certainly require more parental help at home. Once we have the number of applications, we can start making arrangements for the preparation and the First Communion days.
Confirmations 2021
Those in year 10 or above who would like to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation next year are invited to complete a blue coloured application form from the table at the back of the church or from the office and return it by 13th December. At the moment we are uncertain how the preparation will proceed, nor of the date of the Confirmations.
Saints of the Week
Monday—St. Andrew, Patron Saint of Scotland, Greece, fishermen, sailors, and spinsters. A big-hearted fisherman becomes an Apostle of the Lord. Andrew was a fisherman from Bethsaida in Northern Israel. He lived on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, which is really a lake, where many of Jesus’ miracles took place. Jesus chose mostly fishermen and small farmers to
be His disciples, perhaps because in these professions a man can plan, sweat, and calculate, and still, in the end, fail. Success is not appreciated unless failure is an option. Farmers and fishermen must depend on God’s providence for success. No amount of preparation can make the clouds open and the rains pour down, and no amount of careful planning will make the nets burst with fish. Farmers and fishermen are hard-working, careful, thoughtful, and yet entirely dependent on the weather and other factors outside of their control. They must work, pray and trust in God in equal measure. They must have the discipline of faith. These are the qualities that made Andrew and others such great disciples.
Thursday—St. Francis Xavier, Patron Saint of Foreign Missions 1506-1552
Today’s great missionary knelt on the floor next to Saint Ignatius Loyola and five other men in a church on Montmartre overlooking Paris in 1534 and took private vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the Pope. It was the start of the Jesuits. Francis Xavier would be ordained a priest three years later in Venice and, in 1540, would sail from Lisbon, Portugal, to India, never to return. The thirteen-month sea journey was brutal, but Francis was as tough as bark. He held his own with all the sailors, slaves, and criminals on board who were seeking to start anew for reasons noble and otherwise.
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The Passage
The Passage is raising funds through the Big Give from 12 noon Tues 1st December – 12 noon Tues 8th December to support its work Helping Homeless People this winter. Double your Donation, Double your impact. This is a matched giving scheme for online donations. If someone (can be company, individual or trust) gave £10 online matched giving of £10 would bring the Gift up to £20 (and for individuals to £22.50 with Gift Aid with higher rate tax relief it may cost the donor less than £10). For more information ring Andrew Hollingsworth 020 75921886 andrew.h@passage.org.uk