St. Mary’s,
Blackheath
Newsletter: 29th March 2015
Mass times: Saturday: 6.30pm (first Mass of Sunday)
Sunday: 9.30 and 11am and 7.30pm
Monday, Wednesday: 10am
Tuesday: 7.30am
Confessions: Saturday 12 to 1pm
Today we start Holy Week, the most sacred Week in the Church’s year.
Today is Palm Sunday we commemorate the entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Palm branches will be blessed in the garden at the beginning of the 9.30 Mass and we will process solemnly into the Church singing the hymn – All Glory, Laud and Honour.
During the Mass we read the gospel account of the Passion – this year taken from Mark’s gospel and you are asked to join in with the parts marked for the crowd.
On Maundy Thursday there is no morning Mass. There will be a special Mass for the children at 4pm. The solemn Mass of the last supper takes place at 8pm. During the Mass the feet of 12 members of the parish will be washed – I have put up a list for helpers in the porch. Also during the Mass the Eucharistic Ministers are asked to renew their dedication for a further year. At the end of Mass the Blessed Sacrament is taken in solemn procession to the Altar of Repose. At the end of Mass the high Altar is stripped of all its adornments. There will be watching in the Church until 10pm, commemorating the agony of the Lord in the garden of Gethsemane.
On Good Friday there is no morning Mass but there is a service on the Heath at 10.30 shared by all the Churches in the area. We will leave in procession at 10.10 from the front of the Church.
The solemn afternoon liturgy on Good Friday begins at 3pm. We read the account of the passion from John’s gospel, venerate the image of the cross and Holy Communion is distributed.
There will be a collection for the maintenance of the Holy Places.
Friday is a day of fasting and abstinence.
There will be Stations of the Cross at 8pm.
There is no morning Mass or 6.30 Mass on Holy Saturday but the Easter Vigil begins at 9pm. We start in the garden with the blessing of the new fire and of the Paschal Candle and process into the darkened Church for the singing of the Exultet, the solemn hymn which proclaims the Resurrection of the Lord. After the readings from Scripture, the water in the font is blessed and we continue with the Liturgy of the Easter Vigil Mass.
I hope I can encourage you to come as this is one of the most special liturgies of the Church’s year. We hope to finish by about 11pm.
On Easter Sunday, the Masses are at the normal times of 9.30, 11 and 7.30pm. Instead of reciting the Creed, we renew our baptismal promises.
The Paschal Candle, blessed during the vigil is kept beside the altar and will remain in place until Easter Sunday.
I am sure that I do not need to remind the children that it will be worth looking in the garden after Mass to find some hidden treasure.
A reminder that Virginia is holding a craft afternoon for children in the Angelus room from 2pm on Tuesday afternoon