Newsletter 4th November 2012.
November is the month of the Holy Souls. I have placed a basket under the altar for you to place envelopes containing the names of those who should be remembered at Mass during this month.
The Film Club meets this evening at 5pm: this month the film is Kes. I understand that there is some debate about a film for December. I leave it to the members to decide – my task is to ensure that the pizzas are cooked and delivered on time.
This week the First Holy Communion classes come round again – the main class is in the big hall at 10 am on Saturday. We need to have a preparatory meeting for those who are running the class – we have agreed that it is not necessary for all the parents to come to this but only those who will be running the class on Saturday. This will take place on Monday evening in the house at 8pm. All who want to are welcome to come along but it is particularly important that those who have agreed to run the class should come.
Otherwise the week is very full – a Trust AGM that I have to run at the Clarendon on Tuesday,
Wednesday a meeting of the Chapter Canons at the Cathedral and Thursday to Canary Wharf for an investment meeting – so life is quite busy.
Next Sunday is Remembrance Sunday and the 11am Mass will be a Requiem Mass for the Dead of the World Wars.
It now looks as if the Convent will be closing by the middle of this month with the end of 8am Masses. I am still consulting on what to do about the future of Mass times in the parish and will explain things later. It is a bit difficult as there are a number of opinions – rather like a coalition.
Always I try to bring back a recipe from Spain. Now this is really good and simple to prepare. You will need some white asparagus spears – look for a jar in the Supermarket. Drain them and dress them with some good quality olive oil and some black pepper and serve with a slice of lemon. This comes from “El Caballo de Troya” in Valladolid.
During our trip to Spain, we visited St. Teresa’s Convent at Avila. She is reputed to have said that one of the statues told her what had been going on when she was away. I think I need a statue like that here. The Carmelite Sisters still live there, but part of the building is now a museum – it is wonderful to see letters written by Teresa and some of the musical instruments that she used. They are all locked away in glass cabinets now: I remember that some years ago it was still possible to play them.
The garden is now beginning to settle down for the winter. The tree worked caused damage to my herb garden and even the olive tree took a bashing – which is disappointing. I have been trying to clean it up and to plant some new herbs. It was good to get rid of the holly trees – there is much more light in the house and also they were popular with the birds. The only thing is that it now occurs to me we may be short of decorating material at Christmas.
And some more Keats this week:
Old Meg she was a gipsy,
And lived among the moors;
Her bed it was the brown heath turf
And her house was out of doors.
Her apples were swart blackberries,
Her currants, pods o’broom
Her wine was dew of the wild white rose,
Her book a churchyard tomb.
A prayer for November:
Lord God, the glory of all the faithful and the life of the just, by the death of whose Son we are redeemed, hear our prayers on behalf of your servants who have died and who shared our faith in the mystery of the resurrection in Christ, and grant that they may receive the eternal reward of heavenly joy: through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Time now to get out the books and to set to work on the Christmas quiz: the editors of the magazine will be asking from this soon. One year I prepared it and found that I had deleted the answers, so I could not provide a solution the following month. Luckily, as usual, Ali was able to provide a complete set of answers.
Time also to think about the Christmas mystery plays. Next week the charts for the parts will be going up in the Angelus Room so remember to look out for them.
And just to report that the great nephew is almost walking: he will need to practice as we will all be going out for a stroll after lunch on Christmas Day and he will have to be able to keep up.
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon