Newsletter- 30th Week of Ordinary Time
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ The readings for this Sunday – 30thSunday in Ordinary Time invite us all to consider how to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our communities and in the world in which we live. In the First Reading, God speaks to the people of Israel about how they should treat the oppressed and downtrodden, in order to please God. The Responsorial Psalm reminds us that we can only live the lives that God wants us to by relying upon him: he is our rock, our strength, our saviour, our mighty help. St Paul writes to the Thessalonians that we should all be imitators of the Lord, in the joy of the Holy Spirit (Second Reading). In the Gospel, Jesus asks us to express the love of God that fills our hearts, our souls, and our minds, by treating others as we would want to be treated ourselves. We find in others the image of the God who is love.
This coming week let us pray for and with our sisters and brothers in so many parts of the world who yearn for peace and justice. We pray especially for peace within the Middle East, and we ask God that he will help us to grow in love of him and of one another, so that we may more readily recognise Christ Jesus in our midst, especially in those who are suffering at this present time.
Reception into the Catholic Church: On Tuesday 31st October during the Vigil Mass of All Saints at 7 pm, and with the Bishops kind permission, I shall receive Keith Streets into full communion with the Catholic Church. Keith will be well known to many of you within the parish as he has been regularly attending Mass for some years now at St Mary’s during the week and at the weekend. Please do keep Keith in your prayers as he takes this next important step in his journey of faith and as we welcome him with great joy into the Church.
St Marys School – All Saints Mass 1st November at 10 am: This coming Wednesday we will welcome St Marys School to Mass on the Feast of All Saints. Parishioners are warmly invited to join the whole school at Mass that morning in church. The school will help to animate the liturgy, assisting with the Music, as Readers, Servers, Intercessors etc.
November is the Month of the Holy Souls. You will find in the entrance to church the November Dead List Envelopes, and printed sheets for writing the names of deceased family members and friends to be included in the envelope with a donation, which can either be given to me or dropped through the letter box of the Rectory. The names of your deceased relatives and friends and all for whom you wish to pray will then be placed in a basket close to the Altar throughout the month of November. At the end of November I will divide these names up into special Masses for the intentions of ‘The Holy Souls – November Dead List.’ These Masses will be offered by me for your deceased family members and friends throughout the year.
Aid for Chad and Peru: at both the Weekend Masses on Saturday/Sunday 4th/5th November we will welcome again two parishioners from St Joseph’s Oakham who will set up stalls in the Link Room where you will be able to buy a selection of beautiful hand-crafted items made in the shantytowns of Lima to help support the work of the charity: ‘Aid for Chad and Peru.’ Do pop into the Link Room on your way out from Mass that weekend as I feel sure you will find some high quality and very charming Christmas presents and stocking fillers. All the funds raised from your purchases will go directly to support the work of this small but important charity.
On Sunday 12th November we keep Remembrance Sunday. The Parish Mass at 9.30 a.m. that day will be a Requiem Mass in anniversario for all who died in the past two World Wars and all subsequent conflicts since. At this Mass there will be an Act of Remembrance, a Trumpeter playing the Last Post, then we will keep Two Minutes Silence, after which the Trumpeter will play the Reveille before we hear the Kohima Exhortation and receive the Final Blessing from the altar. We keep in our prayers on Remembrance Sunday all who died in the service of their country and for our freedom.
On Sunday afternoon, 12th November at 2 pm, I invite you to join me at Grantham cemetery for the yearly Blessing of Graves. This will be a simple liturgy of prayer and blessing with holy water of all our Catholic graves. A chance too to pray for the repose of the souls of family members and friends buried in the cemetery grounds. Please meet at the stone archway as you enter the main cemetery gates.
With my prayers for you and for your families during the week ahead,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
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2023 29th October 2023– Newsletter – Download