Newsletter 15th January 2017.
Today is the second Sunday of Ordinary time.
The readings at Mass are taken from the First Cycle.
Normally the Sunday after the Epiphany is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord but this year the feast was celebrated on 9th January.
The first Communion children will be helping in a special way at the 9.30 Mass today. Yesterday was the day for First Confessions.
The green vestments appear once again for a few weeks until we begin Lent on the first Sunday in March.
Saturday of this week is the feast of St. Agnes.
.. Ah, bitter chill it was!
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
The hare limped trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in the woolly fold;
Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers while he told
His rosary, and while his frosted breath,
Like pious incense from a censer old
Seem’d taking flight for a heaven ….
(I expect that you will be reading this on Friday evening.)
The Christmas celebrations are now completed. The costumes for the plays have been put away for another year: the crib figures are back in the loft and the crib is being dismantled and put away.
Thank you for your many gifts for the Manna Centre and for the Centre for Asylum Seekers. These have been delivered in recent days.
Time for Confirmation classes once again. The class is at 6.30 pm on Wednesday evening.
A recipe from my sister in law to use up a left over panettone. Make custard – half milk and half single cream with some sugar and a little custard powder. Pour over the pieces of panettone and add some currants and bake in a hot oven. I understand that this most popular with the boy: he can be distracted from Lego to eat some.
The railway was closed for several days over the holiday period but it is difficult work out what in fact took place. I thought that the crossing might be reinstated at New Cross or possibly some new point work at the entrance to London Bridge but this has not happened. I am sure that there will be several major closures over the coming year as the work progresses.
A morning prayer:
Look graciously upon us, O Holy Spirit, and give us, for our hallowing, thoughts which pass into prayer, prayers which pass into love, and love which passes into life with thee for ever.
How about a horoscope? Are you an Aquarius? One of the reasons people like you is that your charm seems effortless – you never seem to compete. You just drift on in persons or places don’t suit.
The new pump for the Church heating boiler is now working. It replaced an ancient machine with a belt drive and a wire cage to protect the wheels: now modern, electronic and all enclosed. The Church seems to be warmer, but I wonder if it will last as long as the old pump.
And to finish, something from Teilhard: Through the whole breadth and depth of the cosmos, it is in truth the divine action that still moulds us, as it moulded the clay on the first day of creation. Thus the mystic recollects himself in hallowed communion with the omni-operant will. (I am not sure if I really understand this)
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon