Newsletter 10th April 2022
St Mary’s Blackheath
Newsletter 10th April 2022
Sunday Masses: Saturday 6.30pm first Mass of Sunday
– Sunday 9.30 and 11am and 5pm.
Monday to Friday: Lenten service at 8am.
Saturday 10am and 6.30pm
Confessions: Saturday12 to 1
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Palms will be blessed in the garden before the 9.30 followed by the procession into the Church. Blessed palms will be available in the Church at the later Masses.
Today we will read the account of the Passion from Luke’s gospel and we ask you to share in reading the responses of the crowd.
Masses are at the usual time of 8am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Thursday is Maundy Thursday at which we commemorate the Last Supper. There will be a Mass for Children at 4pm and the solemn Mass of the Last Supper at 8pm. This will be followed by the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose and the stripping of the altars. The Church will remain open until 10pm. I have decided that this year there will not be a washing of the feet at the Mass.
On Good Friday morning the service on the Heath starts at 10.30am.
The Solemn Liturgy in the Church starts at 3pm. We will read the account of the Passion from John’s gospel. The cross will be brought into the Church and held up for veneration, but again for Covid reasons, there will not be personal veneration. You will be able to receive Holy Communion on this day.
There will be Stations of the Cross at 8pm.
A reminder that Good Friday is a day of Fasting and Abstinence.
There is no morning Mass on Holy Saturday and no Mass at 6.30pm. The Easter Vigil begins at 9pm with the blessing of the new fire in the garden and the Procession into the Church with the Easter Candle. The Vigil is completed the celebration of the first Mass of Easter.
Masses are at the normal times on Easter Sunday. Rather than reciting the Creed, you renew your baptismal promises and you are sprinkled with newly blessed water from the font.
During Eastertide, the Paschal Candle is kept beside the altar and is lit at the major Masses.
There is a First Communion class took place yesterday and the children will have a special role at the Palm Sunday Mass.
After the 9.30 Mass on Easter Sunday, it might be worth going to the garden to see if you can find some hidden treasures.
Room now for some other news: I spoke to the new Rector during my visit to the College in Spain and it is at least possible that we may be able to arrange a visit this autumn. A word of warning: entry into Spain is much more difficult these days. It takes at least an hour to complete the formalities on arrival.
No recipe this week as it is a penitential time, but I will prepare something special next week for the Easter celebration.
A good Holy Week and we look forward to the celebration of Easter.
Best wishes
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon