newsletter 18th May 2014

Newsletter 18th May 2014
Best wishes to the second group of children who will be making their First Holy Communion at the 11am Mass today. Several of the group come from Spanish speaking families so that some of the readings and prayers will be in Spanish.
This now completes our task for the current season so a word of thanks to all the parents who have helped in such a special way.
The children from St. Matthew Academy will be coming to Mass at 10am on Thursday.
Governors’ meetings at the school and the College on Monday and Tuesday this week.
A discrete word and I hope that you will try to understand the reason for this. At 9.30 we provide a Mass in which children are welcomed in a special way. At 11am there is a solemn Mass with a high standard of music. It at all possible, I hope that you can come to the children’s Mass if you have small ones who are still going through the phase when they make a lot of noise. It makes it very difficult for everybody if there is a lot of noise at 11.
Saturday is the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, the dedication of our Church.
Travelling back from Birmingham the other u can imagine day on a London Midland train, the guard announced that there would be a 15 minute pause at Northampton to allow the passengers to visit the restaurant room. This is a return to the Victorian practise, before the introduction of corridor trains and dining cars. Afternoon tea in the dining car on the way back to London – what a luxury this would be nowadays.

I am always inventing new recipes so here is the latest attempt. Cook some tagliatelle until it is gently soft. In the meantime fry some slices of mushroom and some garlic gently in some olive oil, making sure that they do not become too brown. Mix with pasta together with a good portion of Hollandaise sauce – your can buy it ready prepared. Serve hot with some red wine. I am sure that the Italian people in the parish will tell me the name for this.
I meant to tell you the final results for the Underground party – you can imagine that some of the guests were recognised as “Wopping” and Barking. In the end I dug out my canonical cape from the cupboard and went as Canon Street – though I know that my spelling is not very good.
A prayer for you:
O Lord, from whom all good things to come: grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those thongs that may be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Something from Wordsworth:
The poet’s soul was with me at that time,
Sweet meditations, the still overflow
Of happiness and truth. A thousand hopes
Were mine,a thousand tender dreams of which
No few have since been realiz’s and some
Do yet remain, hopes for my future life.
This is from book six of The Prelude.
Various happening over the next few weeks – we hope to start work on re-polishing the benches in the Church – the original varnish did not work very well. Work will start fairly soon on houses outside the front of the church so a request to everybody to take care. Also continuing the cycle of repairs to the house. This year decoration to the part we call the flat – where visiting students and priests stay from time to time. It has not received any major attention for many and it is long overdue.
This is from Miguel de Unamuno:
For me, God is not a rational necessity: I have no need of Him to explain the universe: what I cannot explain without God I cannot explain with Him. But he can become a need of the heart, the revelation of the Father. I realise that all this will strike you as a kind of jumble, like everything that happens when one attempts to reason with one’s heart, which is as bad as trying to feel with one’s head (in the everyday sense).
I think that there is an echo here of Anselm’s proof of the existence of God.
Those of you who came to Salamanca with me will remember the statue of Unamuno.
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon

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