Newsletter 14th April 2019
Today is Palm Sunday and we begin Holy Week.
Palms will be blessed in the garden before the 9.30 Mass followed by the procession into the Church. Blessed palms will be available at the later Masses. The First Holy Communion children will have a special role at the 9.30 Mass.
Today we will be reading the account of the Passion taken from Luke’s gospel. Please remember to join in with the parts marked for the crowd.
May I remind you for the events that are taking place at the Convent this week.
There are Stations of the Cross in the Church at 6.30pm.
There is no morning Mass on Maundy Thursday. There will be a Mass for the children at 4pm.
The Solemn Mass of the Last Supper is at 8pm. During the Mass there will be the washing of the feet of twelve people of the parish. At the end of the Mass the Blessed Sacrament will be transferred to the altar of repose and the High altar will be stripped of all its furnishings.
The Church will remain open for watching at the altar of repose until 10pm.
On Good Friday there is no morning Mass. We leave from the Church at 10.10am for the service on the Heath organised by Churches Together in Blackheath.
The solemn liturgy of Good Friday begins at 3pm including the reading of John’s Passion, the veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion. During the service there is a collection for the upkeep of the Holy Places.
There will be Stations of the Cross at 8pm followed by the veneration of the relic of the true cross.
There is no morning or 6.30 Mass on Holy Saturday.
The Easter Vigil begins at 9pm with the blessing of the new fire in the garden and the procession into the Church behind the Paschal candle. Easter is solemnly proclaimed with the singing of the great canticle, the Exultet. After the readings from Scripture, the water in the font is blessed and we renew our baptismal promises and continue with the celebration of the Easter Mass. The Vigil usually takes about two hours and fulfils your Mass obligation for Easter.
Masses on Easter Sunday are at the normal times of 9.30, 11 and 7.30pm.
A message to the First Holy Communion group from last year. Have you noticed how well your tree has blossomed? I hope that there will be some fruit for you to enjoy later in the year. Already preparations for the current group to plant their tree sometime in May.
A recipe for a simple dish for a Lent fast day. Cook some green beans until just tender. Make a dressing with a little garlic, some vinegar, some salt and some oil and pour this over the drained beans. Mix with a diced hard-boiled egg and some parsley. My book says that this dish should not be placed in the fridge.
A short prayer for Holy Week:
Saviour of the world, who by your cross and precious death has redeemed us, have mercy on us, we humbly beseech you, O Lord.
And here is John Donne:
Hence is’t that I am carried towards the West
This day, when my Soules form bends toward the East.
The I should see a Sunne, by rising set,
And by that setting endlesse day beget;
But that Christ, on this Crosse, did rise and fall,
Sinne had eternally benighted all.
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon