- MARY’S NEWSLETTER
5, Cresswell Park, SE3 9RD
Tel. 020 8852 5420
E-mail: stm.Blackheath@tiscali.co.uk
Website: www.stmarysblackheath.org.uk
Mass times: Saturday: 6.30 pm (first Mass of Sunday) Sunday: 9.30 am, 11.00 am, 7.30 pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 10.00 am Tuesday and Thursday: 7.30 am Eucharistic Service: Tuesday 10.00 am Confessions: Saturday 12 to 1.00 pm
Today is the twenty third Sunday of the Church’s year.
On Tuesday of this week there is a Funeral Mass for June Maile at 10.15am. This will replace the Eucharistic service which is normally held at 10am.
On Wednesday evening we have the meeting for the parents of the children who will be attending the First Holy Communion class. I will explain everything and give out the books and the timetables. The meeting is in the big hall at 8pm and usually takes about an hour. The classes for the children start on Saturday 28th September.
Saturday of this week is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Some thoughts about a Latin class to help understand the texts of the Latin Mass. I have put up a notice in the porch to see who might be interested and if there are enough names, we can arrange a class.
Thanks to those who helped put away the pool on Saturday. We have had a lot of enjoyment this year, but the autumn days are coming. Now the task of seeing if I can encourage the grass to grow back once again.
To London for a meeting on Thursday to discuss the new rules for the civil registration of marriages. At present the system is antique with old registers and black ink but the proposed new rules are far from satisfactory. It is suggested that bride and groom should attend at the Registry Office within 7 days of their marriage to present a certificate: normally they will be away on their honeymoon.
Recently I was given some Spanish sausages which allowed me to cook a pot of cocido: the receipt is too complex for the newsletter but I might put it in the magazine.
And a prayer: Father in heaven, you have given us a mind to know you, a will to serve you, a heart to love you. Be with us in all that we do so that your light may shine in our lives.
Do you recognise this:
But half of our heavy task was one
When the clock sound the hour for retiring:
And we hear the distant and random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon
24th Sunday of the year- 2019
Some lengthy readings today – Moses pleading to the Lord God for forgiveness when the people have apostasised and have used molten metal to make a calf – and the gospel with the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coins and the familiar story of the prodigal son.
The first and obvious point is the perversity of human nature – the Jewish people who had received so much from the Lord God with their delivery from slavery in Egypt – and yet they turn away to pagan idolatry – the perversity of the lost sheep – the ninety-nine follow the shepherd faithfully – an again the younger son who seems to have so much and yet in no time at all he has squandered his inheritance.
And you will notice the three ways in which repentance comes about – Moses pleads with the Lord God – remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – will your wrath against this people – and so the Lord relented – And it is the good shepherd himself who goes out to look for the lost sheep, leaving the others and searching until he finds it – and it is the prodigal himself who seek forgiveness – I will leave this place and go to my Father and say – Father I have sinned.
So it is quite a comprehensive lesson – which has echoes in our own times as we recognise the need for repentance – there are those who pray for others, sometimes for the members of their family, realising that they need the help of our prayers to support them – they not even be aware that we are praying for them – but part of our love, our concern for them is to continue to include them in our petitions – Lord bless your people – and then the lost sheep – times when others need our help – a friend told me recently of how one of his children had been through a difficult period and asked to be collected from the station – they did not say anything on the journey home – but on arrival – he said “let’s have a bonfire” – it was enormously symbolic and even therapeutic – a way of putting aside all that had gone before and starting anew – and the prodigal – the familiar story that it is necessary to reach rock-bottom before beginning the return – the parable says – he came to his senses – it is a story of extremes but there is the lesson of a personal recognition of the point that we have reached with the need to turn back – I will go to my Father – and the confidence that he will not be turned away – he expect some form of punishment – to be treated as one of the paid servants rather than as a member of the family – and he is amazed at the welcome that he receives.
So three lessons for us –
Pray for those who need our prayers –
If necessary, help them as they make a difficult journey – we are not there to condemn or to punish but rather to rejoice with them
And personally, as we come to recognise sin in our own lives and the need for forgiveness, to have a faith and a confidence to turn back to our heavenly Father – to acknowledge our sin – I have sinned against heaven and against you – and to have a faith and a confidence in the forgiveness that we will receive – he was lost and is found – and they began to celebrate.