St Mary’s Blackheath
Newsletter 17th March 2024
Sunday Masses: Saturday 6.30pm first Mass of Sunday
Sunday 9.30 and 11am and 5pm.
Monday to Friday: Mass at 8am.
Saturday 10am and 6.30pm
Confessions: Saturday 12 to 1
Today is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, at one time known as Passion Sunday.
The statues and crosses in the Church are covered with purple veils to concentrate our thoughts and prayers on the events of the Passion of the Lord.
As a Lenten devotion there are stations of the cross at 4.15pm today.
Tuesday is the feast of St. Joseph but otherwise, the Masses are for the Lenten season.
We have decided to reinstate the washing of the feet at the Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday. Twelve candidates are required and if you would like to share in this, please put your name on the list in the porch.
If you need to borrow one of the books for the reading of Passion either next Sunday or on Good Friday, please let me know. This year on Palm Sunday the reading is from Mark.
Next Sunday, before the 9.30 Mass, we will bless the palms in the garden and process into the Church. Please remember to arrive in good time. The First Communion children will give you the palm branches.
There is a First Communion class in the big hall next Saturday starting at 10am.
Easter is fast approaching, and readers are sought for Holy Week Services (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday Masses). If you are interested in reading at any of these services please contact Clodagh Woodall by email (clodagh.woodall@gmail.com) or let Monsignor Rothon know. A list of services and readers will be put up in the porch a couple of weeks before Easter when there will be a further opportunity to sign up.
Today is the feast of St. Patrick. Happy feast day and best wishes to all our friends from Ireland. The parish owns a relic of St. Patrick, and I will leave it out for your veneration on the side altar.
Usually, I bring back a recipe following my visit to Spain; one day the lunch included tripe and chickpeas. I will not trouble you with the recipe for this: best forgotten.
The dreaded “U-no” is an unfortunate feature of many radio broadcasts. It appears to be contagious – it is noticeable that in Spain, some are punctuating their conversations with “sabes.”
It seems that the Silvertown tunnel will open next year and once again it will be possible to travel on a double deck bus
under the river. The last time that this was possible was in September 1968: after which the Leyland RTLs were replaced with single deckers.
I am not sure where the boy and his sister will be going for Easter: great joy as their mother has passed her exams and I am sure that they will wish to celebrate.
And a word to thank you all for your wonderful kindness and personal support in what have not at times been easy days.
With best wishes,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon