Newsletter 7th October 2013.
October is the month of the Rosary. Today at 6.30 there will be Rosary, Litany of Our Lady and Benediction.
I hope to be able to visit the Sisters at Edenbridge this week. They are busy sorting out their old house but I understand that the sale is due to be completed in November and they will be moving to Belmont Hill. We very much look forward to welcoming them here. I have known some of the sisters for many years and they are very good friends so I am delighted that they are coming.
The boxes for your Cafod donations for the Family Fast day last Friday will be available today.
Film Club today – West Side Story – it is well worth seeing – look for the way in which the title credits dissolve into a West Side playground.
Next Sunday there is a second collection for the needs of the Diocese, the fund that helps to make grants to some of the smaller parishes. You will have noted that I tried to keep 2nd collections to a minimum during the summer months, but as always, during the autumn, there are number of 2nd collections that we have to arrange.
Monday is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Thanks to those who have offered to help as Eucharistic Ministers. The last few weeks have been very busy but I hope to begin to arrange the training courses towards the end of this month.
Downton Abbey provides some curious problems for railway enthusiasts. Recently some of the family appeared to be travelling by steam train on the recently opened extension of the Bluebell Line to East Grinstead but their final destination seemed to be St. Pancras. Presumably they travelled to East Croydon and changed to a Thameslink Service for the rest of the journey to London.
You may have noticed that the Holy Father has decided not to appoint any further Monsignori. I find that the second value of my kit on E.bay has suffered a dramatic fall. But maybe it is not too bad to be the last of a line.
The Governors of Christ the King College meet on Tuesday evening at the Brockley site. To Lewisham for a Local Authority meeting on Wednesday and to Greenwich on Thursday evening.
Here is some Alexander Pope from The Dunciad:
O! ever gracious to perplexed mankind
Still spread healing mist before the mind;
And, lest we err by wit’s wild dancing light,
Secure us kindly in our native night.
Here is a Spanish dish that you will probably find on a the bar on the Plaza Mayor in Valladolid. Hard boil some eggs and cut in half. Mash the yokes with a can of tuna and some canned peppers. Add some softened butter and some mustard and blend until smooth. Pipe into the egg white halves with a fancy nozzle and serve with a piece of bread. Just the thing to enjoy with a glass of dry sherry on a hot day.
Something from Merton: Now at last let me begin to live by faith. Take by life into Your hands at last. I give myself to Your love. I mean to keep on giving myself to Your love – rejecting neither the hard things nor the pleasant things You have arranged for me. It is enough for me that You have glory. Everything that You have planned is good. It is all love.
I have recently been re-reading Monica Furlong’s biography of Merton. It is fascinating to see the transition from the withdrawn Cistercian monk – the author of Elected Silence – to the questioning and frequently disturbed individual of the 1960s – concerned about so many things but through his prayer and friendships with so may people, trying to find answers.
I am sure that I am not alone in saying how much I enjoyed Helena’s account of life in Moscow in the magazine last week. She must have a great future as a writer.
The other day a visitor spotted a tray full of bits and pieces of wood, glue and knives for a further model of a Venetian Vaporetto. Nowadays they tend to rival Routemasters in the interest stakes. The visitor commented – I can see that it is just as well that you never married – which was probably quite a perceptive remark.
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon