Newsletter 19th March 2017
Today is the Third Sunday of Lent.
There are Stations of the Cross at 6.30pm today.
Normally 19th March is the Feast of St. Joseph but this year the feat is kept on Monday.
Saturday 25th March is the Feast of the Annunciation.
Monday is the first day of spring: the trees in the garden are beginning to blossom and the flowers are appearing. I am looking forward to a warm summer.
Next Sunday, as a special Lenten devotion, there will be solemn sung Vespers at 5.30pm.
Thank you for your generous support for the Family Fast Day last week.
Another recipe from Spain. Deep fry some cubes of potatoes in oil. Now make the sauce. Fry a chopped onion and add some crushed garlic, paprika and cayenne pepper. Mix with some ripe peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes, a bay leaf, a little sugar and cook gently until it is smooth. Reheat and drain the potatoes and cover with the sauce.
A Lenten poem from George Herbert:
Welcome deare feast of Lent; who loves not thee,
He loves not Temperance, or Authoritie,
But is compos’d of passion.
The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church says now:
Give to thy Mother, what thou wouldst allow
To ev’ry Corporation.
A prayer for our Parish:
O God, creator and redeemer of all who trust in you, bless the Church in this place in its work for the furtherance of your kingdom on earth. Strengthen the faith and commitment of its members; and grant to all a spirit of charity and hope.
In addition to the Mercedes buses on route 108, two all-electric buses have appeared recently. They seem to have the class code EI – I hope that the batteries do not run out of charge when they are in the middle of the Blackwall Tunnel. Years ago there was a test to see if a trolleybus could run through the Kingsway tram tunnel on its batteries. The batteries ran low and it had to be pushed out of the tunnel.
We are making good progress with the First Communion classes: thanks to the parents for all their help. Tasks for the day, the order of service and the allocation of places in the Church have been arranged. The next task is to order the cake. Always we seem to have a warm sunny day.
You may puzzle about some of our administrative tasks: I usually attend to the counting of money and the banking. This is greatly helped with some sorting trays and a weighing machine. Recent changes with polymer notes and now the new pound coin mean that it has become necessary to order a new machine. It seems that a new £20 note will arrive in 2020 but the machines are not ready for this yet.
Catherine – my niece and the mother of the boy – is due to take her final exams on the 19th April. Prayers and best wishes for her – and also for Sian – who is taking the same exams.
Ruskin is always good for raising the blood pressure: here he is addressing the Architectural Association in 1857. If we were to be asked abruptly, and required to answer briefly, what qualities chiefly distinguish great artists from feeble artists, we should answer I suppose, first their sensibility and their tenderness; secondly their imagination and thirdly, their industry. Some of us might doubt the justice of this. (So now you know.)
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon