Newsletter- 34th Week of Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners
As we come to the end of another liturgical year with the celebration this weekend of the great Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe we are given the opportunity again on this feast day to reflect upon the past year and to consider the priorities we wish to live by in our often-troubled world. Christ’s universality is described with the vision of ‘one like a son of man’, whom we identify as Christ himself, from the book of Daniel (First Reading). Christ’s sovereignty is eternal. It is not exclusive and will never be destroyed. The Responsorial Psalm picks up this theme of kingship and majesty. Christ, as Son of God, has reigned from the beginning of time. In the Second Reading from the Apocalypse, Christ is called the Alpha and the Omega. He has rescued us from our sins and will be made manifest when he comes again on the clouds of heaven. The Gospel brings us to the essential question. What kind of king is Jesus? As Pilate questions him, Jesus explains that his kingdom is not of this world; it is not a kingdom of pomp and power and glory. Christ has come to testify to the truth, but he does so with humility and deep compassion for all.
This weekend is also the weekend of special prayer for Young People, National Youth Sunday. On National Youth Sunday let us pray for all our young people in our parish that they may grow in the knowledge of Christ as their Lord and Saviour and come to know day by day His loving presence in their lives.
Let us pray this week ahead that all humankind may be united in Christ, so that he can offer to the Father a people ‘of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace’ (words heard in the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass today).
Thank you to Phil Duffy – Phil Duffy has over many years helped in so many quiet but important ways, often behind the scenes, to assist the smooth running of our parish. We thank him for his commitment too as a Eucharistic Minister and for all his hard work within the Grantham Passage community. Phil will now be stepping down from his many and varied commitments and I know you will want to join me in offering him our sincere thanks for his dedication, kindness and commitment to our parish over many years. Thank you, Phil, from us all here at St Mary’s!
The Jubilee Year 2025 Companion Booklet – 2025 marks another Jubilee Year and to accompany our journey through this special Holy Year Alive Publishing have produced some simple but helpful booklets to help us to reflect and to pray more fully during this special year ahead. Copies are now available in church. Please do take as many as you would like, there is no charge for them but if you would like to make a small donation to offset the costs to the parish, please feel free to leave a donation but this is not necessary, the important thing is to take a copies home with you and share them with your friends and family members! The Holy Year of 2025 has as its theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ A Jubilee Year is a time for resetting our relationship with God, with one another and with the world around us. Let us pray that during the Jubilee Year of 2025 God will continue to guide us and enable each of us to contribute to the harmony of the world around us all its people and that through Gods mercy we too as individuals may find peace and harmony in our own lives too.
Advent Sunday – Introduction of the New Lectionaries at Mass this weekend– On Saturday evening next weekend at the Vigil Mass for Advent Sunday we will bless the new copies of the Lectionaries which have now arrived. The Lectionary, the books that contain the sacred Scripture Readings for Mass and the Sacraments, has now changed as part of the continuing process of revising the liturgical translations. We begin to use the new Lectionaries from Advent Sunday this year.
I am immensely grateful to the generosity of so many parishioners who have contributed to the purchase of our new Lectionaries for use at all our liturgical celebrations within the parish and for the purchase of a copy of the Book of the Gospels for use on Sundays and Major Feast days.
Aid for Chad and Peru: at both the Weekend Masses on Saturday/Sunday 7th/8th December 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.
Christmas Liturgies: Please note the times of the Christmas Liturgies and the Mass schedule during Christmas and into the New Year. They are published in the Bulletin and will be put on the parish website from this weekend. As Christmas Day falls this year on a Wednesday your will see several changes to our normal weekly Masses.
Christmas Crib Offerings: Christmas time recalls the needs of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. Friends of the HolyLand will be the beneficiary of our crib collection again this year. FHL remains the only registered UK Charity with its ownoffice, staff, and volunteers in the City of Christ’s birth. From Christmas Day and until the end of the Christmas season there will be a basket to collect your offerings placed before the Crib in church. All donations given will be sent directly to FHL to help support their important aid work.
Admission to the Guild of St Stephen: Boxing Day- Feast of St Stephen – Thursday 26th December – Mass 11 am. I anticipate admitting our new servers into the Guild of St Stephen during Mass that morning. In addition, it is hoped that this year those who are eligible will receive their silver medals. We shall do this in a simple ceremony towards the end of Mass. We are greatly blessed in our parish with a good number of servers who come each weekend to serve at the altar and in the weekdays too and I am very grateful to them for offering their time and talents for this important ministry in our parish. Please do come to this special Mass for them to support them in their ministry to our parish and if your time will allow during the Christmas holidays.
With my prayers for you and for your families too as together we celebrate the end of the Church’s Liturgical year, on this the great Solemnity of Christ the Universal King,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
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