St. Mary’s,
Blackheath
Newsletter: 30th September 2018
Mass times: Saturday: 6.30pm (first Mass of Sunday)
Sunday: 9.30 and 11am and 7.30pm
Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 10am
Tuesday, and Thursday, 7.30am
Eucharistic Service: Tuesday 10am
Confessions: Saturday 12 to 1pm
Today is the Twenty Sixth Sunday of the Church’s year.
At the 9.30 Mass today, the children in the First Holy Communion class will have a special role and will receive their crosses. The first class took place on Saturday.
Next Friday is the CAFOD autumn Fast Day and envelopes are available today. They will be collected next Sunday.
Tuesday is the feast of the Guardian Angels and Thursday is the feast of St. Francis. By tradition October is the month of the Holy Rosary and you might remember to find your beads.
Autumn days and I expect we will be starting the heating in the Church fairly soon. I am looking forward to seeing how well the new boiler works.
The garden is settling down for the winter – you will have seen that I have tried to sow some grass on the areas where we put the pools. First Communion children from last spring should go and look at their tree. It is doing very well and with luck, we might have some fruit next year. I must clean out my herb pots. The lettuce leaves grew well but I would say that there were almost inedible. The tomatoes were a great success and did you find the plums on the tree at the end of the garden?
A favourite prayer from Teresa of Avila: Let nothing disturb you, let nothing affright you, all things pass away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who has God finds he lacks nothing; God alone suffices. (On our visits to Spain we have visited her Convent below the old walled city of Avila, at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains.)
And now a poem:
We are the pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further; it may be
Beyond the last blue mountain barred with snow
Across that angry or that glimmering sea…….
Why men are born; but surely we are brave
Who take the golden road to Samarkand.
A very curious recipe: boils some parsnips in their skins and when soft, drain a puree them. Add a little grated green ginger root and salt and pepper and thin with a little of the reserved cooking water and some olive oil. Place in individual dishes with half a hard-boiled egg on top and strew with bread crumbs and a some more olive oil. Cook in the oven until brown and the puree is hot. (I found this recipe and it seemed interesting: I must try it sometime: goodness knows what it will taste like!)
The older buses are disappearing from the London streets: the last Tridents and the Plaxton Presidents. The main replacements seem to be new Enviro 400 MMCs and Gemini Streetdecks. (You will need to consult by learned books to understand this.)
The boy is enjoying his new term at school – the problem is that he is deeply engrossed in his books – the things he wants to read – which means that there is not always enough time for other tasks. I think he must already be working on his doctorate.
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon
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