Newsletter 6th March 2016.
Today we are half way through Lent, the fourth Sunday. AS a slight relaxation from the Lenten purple we use the Rose coloured vestments. It is known as Laetare Sunday from the first word of the Latin Introit – be joyful.
Stations of the Cross this evening as a Lenten devotion at 6.30.
Next Sunday, as a special Lenten devotion there will be solemn sung vespers at 5.30pm.
Thank you for your generous donations for the Cafod Lent Fast day. These amounted to £672.99. There are still some envelopes at the back of the Church if you missed this.
Thank you also for those who responded by completing the cards for the Fund for Sick and Retired priests. Peter will be in touch with you later with a date for the formal presentation.
Off to Spain on Monday once again to visit the College. This is an important visit to prepare all the papers for the meeting of the Trustees which takes place after Easter – all the usual things – investment reports, cash flow, budgets, risk management and reports on the properties so a lot to do. If all goes well I should be back on Friday evening. I will let you know the arrangement for Masses when I have spoken to the Bishop. Also I will ask the Rector if we can come again in the autumn – we always have an enjoyable visit and I will let you know the response.
I am busy working on a possible renewal of the kneelers in the Church. The contractor will be coming for a visit after Easter. The proposed design is based on the work undertaken at St. Patrick’s in Soho Square. If you are in the area, have a look to see if you approve. I think that the best colour would be blue. With the polished benches and the blue carpet, the Church looks splendid. No wonder there are so many requests for marriages.
The boy is very busy with his reading – he has finished War and Peace and has now started on Jane Austen. His sister finds it hard to keep up – It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife –
New orders of Service had been introduced for the Sacraments of Marriage and Confirmation. The new altar books have bene published and must be used from Easter Sunday. This will involve quite a lot of work in re-writing my own booklets and notes that are used in the preparation for these Sacraments.
Something quite technical. The starter signal at the end of the new platform at London Bridge is number TL2020. The track curves sharply beyond the new station and there is a banner repeater signal for the next signal TL2018, which is out of sight as the train leaves the station. I suggest that this is not altogether safe as it could be misread as the starter signal from the new platforms. See if you can works this out!
A dish for Lent: cook some chopped tomatoes gently in olive oil with some cloves of garlic, some oregano and maybe a little chopped onion. Reduce well. Add some cooked courgettes, some beaten eggs and some cheese and chopped parsley. Place in a medium oven and cook until it is nicely browned.
A Lenten Prayer:
God our Father, in your love and goodness you have taught us to overcome our sins with prayer and fasting: accept our Lenten disciplines and raise us up by your unfailing mercy. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
This is Thomas Merton, if the Monks’ Refectory, preparing to read the Scriptures at the beginning of a meal:
Then the monks pause upon the step
With me here in this lectern
And Thee there on thy crucifix
And gather little pearls of water on their fingers’ ends
Smaller than this my palm.