Newsletter- 8th Week of Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners
Lent begins this Wednesday – 5th March – Ash Wednesday. Information about the planned extra liturgies and other Lent related resources and such like follow in this week’s Parish Bulletin.
The readings for this Sunday 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time (the final Sunday before Lent) remind us that our words and actions illustrate what lies in the hearts of each person. The First Reading speaks of the true test of a person being what they say they are, and thus the importance of listening carefully to others. We also need to be conscious of our own choice of words. The Responsorial Psalm celebrates the joy of offering thanks to the Lord for the goodness He brings to those who follow in His ways. In a similar vein, St Paul encourages the early Christian community in Corinth to persevere in serving the Lord (Second Reading). St Paul reminds them – and us too – that following the example of Jesus will never be in vain. In the Gospel, we see Jesus using striking visual images to illustrate His teaching. Firstly, He warns us of the dangers of following others blindly and then He speaks of the danger of judging others whilst not acknowledging our own failings and many shortcomings.
Three of our four readings this week speak of the care and conditions that trees need to produce good fruit. As Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee Year, let us pray as we prepare for Lent this coming week, that we may be ever mindful of the impact our ways of living can have on the natural environment. As we pray that we will make good choices to protect all of God’s creation and that our lives and our actions may speak of our faith we profess in Christ Jesus.
Lent Information 2025
Ash Wednesday: This year we will offer two Masses in the parish. Mass with Imposition of Ashes at 10 am in church. At this Mass we will welcome St Mary’s School who will help to animate the liturgy (All parishioners are warmly welcome to this Mass with the school, I ask please that you sit under the organ loft). In addition, we shall offer in the evening of Ash Wednesday a Sung Parish Mass with Imposition of Ashes at 6 pm in church.
Walk with Me Prayer Booklets (Lent 2025): Following on from their popularity in previous years I have arranged for copies of this excellent little prayer manual to be made available again for Lent 2025. This year’s edition is a special Jubilee edition available from this weekend to buy and to take home and to use each day during Lent. Copies are available in church to purchase priced at just £1 a copy. Lent ushers in a springtime of renewal in the Church and in the natural world around us. As Christs modern day disciples, during this Jubilee Year, Walk With Me offers us in a handy pocket-sized prayer book help to prepare more fully during Lent for the coming of Easter and the joy of the Resurrection. Each day Walk With Me offers a different focus to pray and to meditate upon the theme of Christian Hope as we follow the daily readings of the Church during Lent and as we open our hearts to Christ and deepen our personal encounter with him.
Lent 2025:
Stations of the Cross – This ancient Christian devotion will be celebrated in church each week most Fridays at 7 pm during Lent. Starting this Friday 7th March. N.B. (6 pm Friday 28th March (First Holy Communion candidates and catechists lead the devotion tonight) and 6 pm on Wednesday in Holy Week (16th April) and 6 pm on Good Friday (18th April).
Extra times of Confession on a Friday (Directly after Stations of the Cross) N.B. (No confessions 28th March nor 18th April).
Pilot Small Lent Prayer Group– Link Room at 6 pm – (This year by invitation only) – I have asked a small group of parishioners to join me each week this year during Lent, on a Friday evening, for an hour, as we pray and reflect together using a beautiful resource for faith sharing in small groups, specially written for the Jubilee Year, on the theme of Christian Hope (produced by the Dominican Sisters of the New Forest). It is my hope if this year’s pilot prayer group is successful during Lent, that next year, we shall be able to offer two lay led prayer groups for the whole parish community to enjoy (one group meeting during the day and one in the early evening for a maximum of 10 people per group).
Important Lent Diary Date: Bishop’s Jubilee Year Deanery Station Mass, Deanery Jubilee Church, The Immaculate Conception and St Norbert’s church, Spalding – Tuesday 1st April, at 7 p.m.
All parishioners are warmly encouraged to attend. No Mass in St Marys Grantham that day.
Adoration – from 6 pm – 6.45 pm
Confessions – from 6 pm – 6.45 p.m.
Station Mass – 7 p.m. – Principal Celebrant and Preacher – Bishop Patrick McKinney, concelebrants (priests of the deanery), deacons of the deanery (assisting at the altar).
Refreshments – There will be a chance to meet with Bishop Patrick, members of the deanery clergy and other parishioners of the deanery informally over fellowship and light refreshments in the parish hall, immediately after Mass.
Parishioners attending the evening in Spalding can receive The Jubilee Year Indulgence *(Please see information regarding criteria in this week’s Bulletin).
In Bishop Patrick’s Pastoral Letter of December 2024, regarding The Jubilee Year of Hope 2025, The Immaculate Conception and St Norbert’s church, Spalding was designated as our deanery Jubilee church. The Bishop aware that very few people would be able to visit one of the major Basilicas in Rome during the Jubilee Year, nor might they be able to visit the Cathedral of St Barnabas, designated a special Jubilee Church within each deanery of the Diocese of Nottingham. During the Jubilee Year Bishop Patrick will be moving from deanery to deanery to offer Mass. Our deanery is hosting him at a Station Mass this coming Lent. Bishop Patrick will preside and preach at Mass that evening and all members of the deanery clergy, and their parishioners are strongly encouraged by the Bishop to attend and to join in the Mass there together. I do hope as many parishioners as possible from St Mary’s will be able to join us all for Mass with the Bishop in Spalding on 1st April.
CAFOD Lent Appeal – Family Fast Day collection – Friday, March 14th: This Jubilee Year, our Holy Father Pope Francis has called upon each of us to be Pilgrims of Hope. This is CAFOD’s mission – to bring love for our neighbours to people suffering the impacts of war, global debt and climate change and to give them the support, skills and tools they need to find new hope for the future. This year Family Fast Day takes place on Friday 14th March, the day designated by the Church for special prayer for the needy and hungry of the world. This Lent by praying, eating simply and giving to CAFOD we will be helping to support CAFOD in their important and vital work helping local experts on the ground to provide simple, effective solutions to the toughest problems facing many of the poorest peoples around the world. You can collect a CAFOD envelope as you leave church from this weekend to make a Lent offering, and please consider pledging a monthly gift to CAFOD this Jubilee year. You can scan the QR code on the CAFOD POSTER (in the entrance to church) or search from your computer at home ‘CAFOD envelope’ to give online. CAFOD Family Fast Day Envelopes can be returned throughout Lent in the weekend collection plate. All donations received will be forwarded to CAFOD after Easter.
Prayers for The Holy Father: You will find a red perpetual candle has been lit for our Holy Father in the Lady Chapel in our parish. There is also a special prayer there that you may like to use to pray for him as you light a candle and seek prays for him during his time of critical illness. As a parish community we keep Pope Francis each day in our prayers at Mass. Let us pray that through the Intercession of our Blessed Lady, our Holy Father may be given strength and courage during his time of sickness and pain and know the comfort and loving mercy of Christ to help him to face the future.
With prayers for you and for your families as we approach Lent together again this year,
Your parish priest and friend,
Father Jonathan
2025 2nd March – Newsletter – Download