Dear Brothers & Sisters,

Advent, and its beautiful liturgy, has almost been obliterated by an anticipated Christmas. Nevertheless, its beauty and expectancy remains. I imagine the church’s year to be an act of theatre. Advent, and especially the first week of Advent, is the overture warning us that the play is about to begin. We quieten down, become still, empty ourselves of unnecessary thoughts and focus on what is to come. The Church simplifies its liturgy; no Gloria, no flowers, no frills.

Enjoy!
Fr. Richard

The next meeting will be tomorrow. The minutes of the last meeting are below.

Chris

PCC Minutes 250913

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

This weekend concludes “The Year of Faith”. Well, where has that year gone, and what did we do for our Year of Faith? In reality, we lived it by coping with change; you with the change of a Parish Priest, me with a change of Parish. We have all been thrown into the air, the familiar has vanished. How have we coped – with faith that God is helping us, guiding us and helping us to fulfil each other. As we have remembered the Vatican Council (50 years) and the Publication of the New Catechism (20 years) we are reminded that the reason of the Council was “Renewal”, or conversion; and that that renewal must be a continuous present. On this feast of Christ the King may we make the Kingdom come by doing God’s will on earth.

Yours,
Fr. Richard

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

There are lots of catchy slogans to help those who are in programmes to overcome addition. When in particular agony or pain it is good to remember – “This too will pass”. Even pain doesn’t last forever, and very often it is amazingly short-lived. For those in the grip of temptation “This too will pass” is a sobering tag to remember.

The gospel talks about endurance. We have only to look at the people of the Philippines to know what this entails. May God give them endurance, and may we, by our generosity, give them hope. This trouble too, will pass, but hope springs eternal.

May God continue to help and bless us all.
Fr. Richard

These are the planned times for Masses over the Christmas period this year:

Christmas Eve:
Children’s Mass – 5 p.m.
                Carol Service – 11:30 p.m.
                Midnight Mass – midnight
 
Christmas Day:
                8:30 a.m.
                10 a.m.
 
Boxing Day:
                11 a.m.

Chris

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

The readings from the variety of books that make up our old and new testaments, the Bible, throughout the year keep us in touch with God who reveals Himself to His people, according to their capacity to understand.

The revelation that there is life after death only came to be believed in in Israel one or two hundred years before Christ. Even so, only some Jews believed in a resurrection. The Sadducees were not of that persuasion. As Christians and as Catholic Christians we have a highly developed belief in the resurrection of the dead. We believe that life is ‘changed’ not ended, and that people can be closer to us in death than in life. There is no separation of time or space in the eternal now. It is a good thing to remember our dead, it is a better thing to pray for our dead; and yet more excellent to believe in a mutuality of love with even those who have gone before us.

Have a good week.
Fr. Richard