Offertory £735.66
Cafod £2
Today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast has been transferred from the 15th August to the Sunday.
A reminder to return the First Communion forms. We already have a good number and I am looking forward to the classes in the autumn.
Thanks to all who helped with the work in the garden recently. We are making good progress. The weather has been curious in recent weeks and I have had to undertake some watering. The roses are blooming once again after some severe pruning earlier in the summer. I have cleaned out the herb garden. The new mint has taken well and I have added some parsley. Also the olive tree is doing well: plenty of flowers but no sign of fruit as yet. I will have to harvest some more of the apples soon before the start to fall.
A prayer:
O God, source of holy desires, right counsels and just actions, grant to your servants that peace which world cannot give, so that our hearts may be wholly devoted to your service, and all our days may be passed in quietness under your protection.
A poem to an old poet from Siegfried Sassoon:
Old friend (for such you have lately grown to be
Since your tranquilities have tuned with mine),
Sitting alone, your poems on my knee,
In hours of contemplative candle shine,
I sometimes think your ghost revisits me
And lives upon my lips from line to line.
Something that you might like to try if you can find some chicory in the supermarket. Clean the chicory and simmer in a covered pan for about 20 minutes. Drain thoroughly. Wrap each piece of chicory in a slice of ham. Arrange in a shallow ovenproof dish and cover evenly with Béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese and dot with butter. Cook towards the top of a moderate oven for about 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and golden.
Recently I have been reading a number of books about Spain. Paul Preston’s history of the Civil War is firmly slanted towards the Republic. He is the professor of Hispanic Studies at the LSE. He has written a new book on victims of the Civil War. It has already appeared in Spanish and the English version is due next spring. At the opposite extreme, a book by Halliday Sutherland who visited Spain as a guest of the Government in 1948. He is anxious to justify the Franco regime in every way so as to counter prejudice in England. From my memories, I think it was said that he was not an easy guest when he came to the College at Valladolid, and reading between the lines, this comes out in the book.
Have you noted the pictures of the four great Doctors of the Western Church on the Sacred Heart Altar? Jerome, Gregory, Augustine and Ambrose. Jerome has his pet lion and Ambrose has a bee hive: Gregory wears the papal tiara and Augustine is the Bishop.
The footbridge at the station is coming down. I imagine that a railway crane will be required one Sunday to remove the span. Footbridges are no longer acceptable as a general rule and we have inherited a number of them for our steam railway. The bridge at Medstead arrived about 12 years ago and came from Uckfield. There is already a bridge at Ropley but there is a talk of a second bridge from Kings Cross. Maybe this led to platform 9 ¾.
A little more from St. Francis de Sales:
Think of Our Lord in his sacred humanity, seeing everyone from heaven, gazing particularly upon Christians and more particularly upon Christians at prayer. TThis is no mere imagination, but a most certain truth, for though we cannot see him, he most certainly looks down upon us, as was revealed to St. Stephen at the time of his martyrdom.
As an austerity measure, the Greek Government has banned he production of Taramasalata and Tzatziki to prevent a double dip recession.
No additions to the language vocabulary for some time, so I though some Polish might be helpful:
Prosze uwazac na ten zyrandol. I am sorry that I cannot manage the accents.
The quotation last week came from Joyce’s “Portrait of an Artist as a Young man.”
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon