Newsletter 14th January 2018
Today is the Second Sunday in ordinary time. The green vestments have appeared again for a short time until the beginning of Lent on 14th February.
The Scripture readings on Sundays are taken from the second cycle, which means that for the greater part of the year the Sunday gospels will be taken from Mark.
The Funeral of Jim Barlow takes place at Lewisham on Monday at 10am. His family was well known in this parish for many years.
Education meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, so things are getting back to normal. A reminder that the next meeting of the Parish Council is on 25th January.
There will be some money in the Myra Fund in the next couple of weeks so I look forward to suggestions from the young people for something that we might use here – maybe something for the garden during the summer – or something to help with the Sunday Catechism classes.
The first confessions went very well on Saturday. Now to move on with the next phase of the First Communion classes to prepare for the Eucharist -a lot to learn about the different parts of the Mass.
Next Saturday is the Eve of St. Agnes, so as always, some familiar lines:
And they are gone: ay, ages long ago
These lovers fled away into the storm.
That night the Baron dreamt of many a woe,
And all his warrior guests …..
You may have read of the delay in introducing Eurostar services to Amsterdam. There are 18 new units – the blue ones – and the last two were fitted with software to enable them to work on the high speed lines in the Netherlands and to inter-face with the signalling system. It seems that there have been some difficulties with the software, leading to the delays.
A prayer for these January days.
Heavenly Father, in this season of winter, help us to look forward with hope and joy to the days of spring. Amen.
The boy and his sister are now back at school. She is still in the nursery class, but her brother can see her from his playground and makes sure that all is going well. The paints and pencils for her Christmas present were a great success, although the final art works are somewhat uncertain.
I am sure that you will heard the stories of the 4 year olds all claiming that they were 12 so that they could be admitted to the Star Wars film.
Here is a recipe to use up some pieces of chicken. First cook 8oz of long grain rice and wash and drain it. Add the rice to some stock made from the carcass of the chicken; do not remove the fat as it helps to lubricate the rice. Also add some mixed spice, according to taste, and salt and pepper. Then add some strips of chicken meat cut into small pieces. Simmer on top of the stove making sure that the rice does not catch. To finish add some slivers of almonds or maybe some pine nuts.
The students from the College in Spain are now undertaking placements in parishes in England. You may remember that over the years several have come to stay with us. They have come from Birmingham and Leeds and Menevia – and other places. There has been a change in policy and now students go to their home Dioceses – and there is nobody from Southwark this year.
It is always possible to find some strange thoughts in the Tales of Herodotus. He says that male camels are slower movers than the females: they soon begin to drag and are left behind, whilst the females are kept going hard by the memory of their young who are left at home.
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon