Newsletter- 4th Week of Advent
Dear Parishioners
On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we meditate on the peace that Jesus brings to our hearts and lives and to our broken and fractured world. On this Sunday, we light the final purple candle to mark the final few days of prayer and preparation as we wait with joy the birth of our Saviour at Christmas. This final candle, the “Angel’s Candle,” symbolises peace, the message of Peace that the Angels proclaimed at the birth of the Christ child at Christmas.
The real event of Christmas is that God comes to change the world and each of us—not just through an historical, virginal conception and a baby lying in a manger, but through the God who is with us today, shattering our self-righteous attitudes and seeking to move us beyond our fears, freeing us from all that holds us back from loving and being loved and offering us the peace which He alone can give.
Although we may be facing uncertainties, difficulties, worries and concerns for us personally and in the wider world too, as Christmas approaches let us put all our hope and trust in God. Instead of relying on our own schemes to get us through life, let us trust in God and be strengthened by talking to Him in our daily prayers and by listening to Him speaking to us in our times of stillness and quiet reflection. Let us remain faithful and prayerful, imitating Joseph and Mary, the humblest of the humble, the kindliest of the kindly, and the greatest-ever believers in God’s goodness and mercy, as we prepare to welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives again this week on Christmas Day.
God sent Jesus from Heaven to earth to give us human beings what we really need most in life: hearts filled with love. That is the gift which Jesus really wants from us, and that is what you and I really need I suspect from God this Christmas – hearts filled with love and deep compassion for one another. As we prepare during these last few days of Advent for the joyful celebration of Christmas let us put all our hope and trust in God who loves us unconditionally and let us ask for the grace this Christmas season to become the bearers of His love, mercy, and truth to one another. Then we shall truly experience the peace and joy of the coming Christmas festivities!
The Jubilee Year 2025
The Holy Year of 2025 has as its theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ 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 and all its people and that through Gods mercy we too as individuals may find peace and harmony in our own lives.
Jubilee 2025 Prayer Cards: The Jubilee Year will be opened in Rome by our Holy Father and in our diocese by Bishop Patrick on Sunday 29th December, Feast of the Holy Family. Our Jubilee Prayer Cards have now arrived. Please take away at least two prayer cards per parishioner – one for you to keep, and one for you to give to someone who doesn’t come to church but who might welcome the invitation. The Jubilee Prayer will be printed in the Bulletin and on the website and we are all encouraged to use this prayer each day at home. We shall pray the Jubilee Prayer together at the end of the Bidding Prayers at Mass each weekend in the parish, from Sunday 29th December onwards and throughout the coming Jubilee Year.
Jubilee 2025 Companion Booklet – 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 copies home with you and share them with your friends and family members!
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 are on the Parish Website and on the glass doors as you come into church.
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 Mass – Feast of St Stephen – Thursday 26th December – Mass at 11 am. I anticipate admitting our new servers into the Guild of St Stephen during Mass this coming Thursday. 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 many 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 if your time will allow as we give thanks to God and pray for our servers on the Feast of St Stephen.
With my prayers for you and for your families this coming Christmas,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
2024 22nd December – Newsletter – Download