Newsletter- 27th Week of Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners
I shall be taking some annual leave away from the parish from this Monday 7th October until Thursday 17th October. Deacon Andrew will be your first point of contact in an emergency during my absence as he will be able to put you in touch with a priest. For all other non-urgent parish matters I ask please that you wait to contact me until my return. Mgr. John Hadley will be offering the normal weekend Masses next Saturday and Sunday and Deacon Andrew some services of The Word and Holy Communion and a Holy Hour with Benediction during the week.
This Sunday, on the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B the readings at Mass remind us of the value of marriage, family, and how we must have a childlike trust in Gods great love for us. They call us to live with unity, respect, and dependence upon God. By following these teachings, we can build stronger healthy relationships and grow in our faith and love of God and of one another too.
The first reading from Genesis reflects upon what it means to be truly human. At the heart of being human lies our ability or inability, to love and to receive love. In the second reading at Mass, we see Jesus reaching out to all humanity by submitting to death upon the cross as he gives himself in love. To love is to always open ourselves up to the possibility of suffering and pain. Today’s gospel deals with something that can be even more painful than death; when we have given our heart to another in love and in trust and the other person does not honour that commitment and breaks the bonds of trust. In the gospel, Jesus is asked his opinion on the topic of divorce – a topic which underlines the risks involved when we give ourselves and our hopes, and dreams and our lives and our future into the trust of another person.
We all journey on the pathway of giving and receiving love in one way or another during our lives, and as human beings we know too we are not meant to live in isolation. We need community, and it is here that the Church has a very important part to play, in supporting us as we strive to build our lives based on love of God and one another, and in supporting us when our efforts sometimes crumble and collapse about us.
Wherever we find ourselves in our human relationships, whatever our past may have been, God never stops loving us and we are all capable of loving and being loved. This involves not comparing ourselves one to another or attempting to measure our capacity to love and be loved. It involves believing too that we all have within us the great potential and capacity for love. God created each one of us out of love, to love and be loved and at the end of our time here on earth we will return in love to God our heavenly Father, who is the source of all love.
Request from our Holy Father – Prayer and Fasting For Peace
The Holy Father in his homily last week on the Feast of the Guardian Angels asked that this Monday 7th October, be a day of fasting and prayer for peace in the world. You may wish to participate in this action this coming Monday. In addition, the Holy Father will recite the Holy Rosary this Sunday at the Basilica of St Maria Maggiore in Rome. Again, maybe at some point during this Sunday you may like to take a few quiet moments during the day to recite the Rosary, invoking Our Lady Queen of Peace, and uniting your prayers with those of Pope Francis and other members of the Church around the world, as together we pray for peace in our troubled world.
CAFOD FAMILY FAST DAY – Friday 4th October – Last Friday was CAFOD FAMILY FAST DAY Envelopes to put your donations in are still available as you come into church. You can put these in the collection plate throughout the month of October when all our donations will be sent directly to CAFOD.
Schedule of Liturgies – Monday 7th October – Thursday 17th October
Tuesday 8th October – 6 p.m. Exposition – 6.30 p.m. Benediction – 7 p.m. Service of Word and Holy Communion
Friday 11th October – 9.30 am Service of Word and Holy Communion
Saturday 12th October – 6 pm. Vigil Mass
Sunday 13th October – 9.30 a.m. Parish Mass
Tuesday 15th October – 6 p.m. Exposition – 6.30 p.m. Benediction – 7 p.m. Service of Word and Holy Communion
Friday 18th October Normal Mass times resume – Mass celebrated at 9.30 a.m.
Please note the church will be closed outside of the Liturgies listed above. The church will be open again throughout the day from 8.30 a.m. until dusk from Friday 18th October.
With my prayers for you and you families during my time away. Please keep me in your own prayers too.
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonatha
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