St Mary’s Blackheath
Newsletter 3rd September 2023
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 Twenty-Second Sunday of the Church’s year.
It is the anniversary of the consecration of our Church in 1906. We will light the candles in front of the consecration crosses for the morning Masses. These make the places where the walls were anointed with Chrism on the day of the Consecration.
Friday of this week is the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The choir is back again this Sunday after the summer break. New members would be welcome.
The Justice and Peace Group meet on Saturday 9th – not the 10th as noted in the newsletter last week.
A reminder of the meeting for the parents of the First Communion Group. This will take place on Tuesday 12th September at 8pm in the big hall. Books and timetables will be given out in preparation for the First Class.
Some work to the various properties will be starting this week: generally, maintenance works including better lights outside the Church, a new ventilations fan in the Angelus Room and a new back door for the big hall.
A simple recipe this week: a salad – made with some green and some black olives, some chopped ripe tomatoes and a diced cucumber and some fetta cheese. Dress with olive oil and wine vinegar.
The day on the railway on the Bank holiday was most enjoyable. A two-train service, both with steam engines, though the small Ivatt tank engine can only manage three coaches.
From last week, you probably recognised the poem as the Pied Piper.
And a poem for the joggers in the village:
The rain is on our lips
We do not run for prize
We know not whom we trust
Nor withward we fare
But we run because we must ….
(This was written by Charles Sorley)
A prayer for today:
Lord God, the source of truth and love, keep us faithful to your teaching and united in prayer: on in joy and simplicity of heart. Amen.
The Rector and the staff are now back at the College in Spain, preparing for the new year. There are thirty students this year: they will be arriving at the end of the month.
The summer has passed by with few very warm days. In the next couple of weeks, it will be necessary to drain the pool and put it away for another year. There will be the usual task of raking re-seeding the grass. Usually, some new grass appears within a couple of weeks. Also, my herb pots are beginning to wilt, and I will need to clean them. One or two items should survive for another year.
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon