Newsletter 4th September 2016
Today is the 23rd Sunday in ordinary time.
I will be away in Venice from Monday to Friday this week. There will not be a 7.30 Mass on Tuesday and Thursday. I will let you know if the Bishop will be available to celebrate Mass at 10am on the other days.
Welcome back to the choirs today after the summer break. There will be the usual sung Latin Mass at 11am today.
Thursday of this week is the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A reminder please to return First Communion and Confirmation forms as soon as possible.
An interesting recipe. Cook some French beans by putting them into some boiling water: remove whilst still firm and refresh with some cold water. Drain and mix well with some garlic mayonnaise and some black pepper. Serve with a sliced hard- boiled egg and a sprinkling or parsley.
The new railway timetable is in operation with trains stopping at London Bridge – except during the evening peak period. Work has now started on the platforms for the lines to Cannon Street. The last part of the old bridge spanning the tracks will demolished. This dates from 1970. It will be interesting to see how the new concourse operates. I wonder if two escalators will be adequate to bring passengers up to the platform during the rush house.
And now some Hopkins:
All things counter, original, spare, strange:
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow: sweet, sour: adazzle, dim:
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
And a prayer:
We are silent before you, Lord, as we offer our lives in thanksgiving. Help us to be open, ready for when you speak in the stillness. Keep us ready to serve you, both in body and mind, constant in our love towards you.
The blue carpet was put down for a wedding on Saturday: together with the new kneelers and the polished benches the Church looked splendid. Please help to keep everything clean and tidy.
In the garden we are beginning to prepare for the autumn. The roses have been cut back and I think I will empty my herb pots and start again next year. I now use an electric trimmer and you might have noticed my efforts to shape the edge on the path from the garden. Not yet ready to start on some complicated topiary.
I have been reading an elaborate and entertaining book on “How the French think.” It seems that when Andre Malraux travelled to Beijing, he informed a nonplussed Mao Zedong that the Chinese were the French of Asia.
The boy is returning to school next week. I have been advising him on his proposed future profession as an engineer. I suggest that he should go up to Cambridge – John’s used to be the best College for engineering degrees – and he will then be ready to take his career further -his grandfather’s first job was with Rolls Royce but he did not continue with this.
I hope you will allow me a little Spanish this week from Lorca
Nadie come naranjas
Bajo la luna llena.
Es preciso comer
Fruta verde y hellada.
Cuando sale la luna
De cien rostros iguales
La moneda de plata
Solloza en el bosillo.
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon.