Newsletter- 27th Week of Ordinary Time
This Sunday is Prisoner’s Sunday. The day on which the Church marks the start of the annual Ecumenical Prisons Week, a week of prayer which has been raising awareness for some years now of the issues faced by those affected by the criminal justice system.
Across England and Wales Pact invites parishes to join in praying for those who have taken the wrong road and ended up in prison. Pactworks to help build bridges of hope and to give the opportunity to those who genuinely desire, to make a fresh start after their time in prison. If you would like to help to support the important work of Pact, you can give a donation using the envelopes provided.
Pact Envelopes are to be found just as you come into church on the table by the Dona Pay machine. Please put the envelopes with your donation into the collection plate this weekend. All monies received will then be sent directly to Pact after 8th October.
October is the month of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Each weekday morning during October, when there is not a Funeral Mass, different parishioners will be leading the Rosary before Mass. Do come to join us at around 20 minutes before Mass as together we pray the Rosary asking Our Lady’s gracious intercession for our parish community, the wider world and for our own special intentions.
CAFOD FAMILY FAST DAY APPEAL 2023 – Please put your Envelopes in the Sunday collection plate this weekend. All monies received will be sent directly to CAFOD after 8th October.
This week’s readings for the 27th Week in Ordinary Time remind us that: ‘The Vineyard of the Lord is the House of Israel.’ The image of the people of God as a vineyard is familiar in the Scriptures. We can rejoice in seeing the Church as the vineyard of the Lord, but we also need to respond to God’s gifts and use them well. In Isaiah’s ‘Song of the Vineyard’, God has made the people of Israel his vineyard (First Reading). He lovingly cares for it, but sadly the people fail to respond. The Responsorial Psalm picks up the same theme. It is an appeal to God to turn again and visit the vine he has planted. The vineyard appears in the Gospel too, but here the tenants are reproached. Not only are they not profitable, but they murder the owner’s son. St Paul writes that the peace of God is ours if we can only trust in him (Second Reading). We are to pursue all that is good and pure and produce the fruit worthy of the Lord. This week, let us be full of thanksgiving for all that we have received in life, and try a little harder perhaps to find moments in our daily lives to turn to the Lord in prayer.
With my prayers for you and for your families during the coming week,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
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2023 8th October 2023– Newsletter – Download