Newsletter 7th August 2016.
Today is the nineteenth Sunday in the Church’s year.
Thank you for your generous contributions to the Mission appeal last Sunday.
You will notice that the bench kneelers are away at present. If all goes well, they should be coming back next Sunday. I suggest that it would be preferable if you could sit at the times when you would normally kneel.
Next Sunday we keep the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Normally the feast is celebrated on 15th August but this year it has been transferred to the Sunday so that there will not be a Holy Day of Obligation during the week.
This week Monday is the feast of St. Dominic, Wednesday the feast of St. Lawrence (who appears in one of our stained glass windows, and Thursday is the feast of St. Claire, who was the sister of St. Francis.
I am pleased to report the arrival of a further great niece, born on 22nd July, Eva Dorothy. She is the first daughter of Emily, the sister of Catherine. The boy is pleased to have a new cousin. She will be able to play with his own small sister, Ana, so there will be no distractions as he concentrates on important matters such as an elaborate Lego model.
Changes at London Bridge at the end of the month. As we predicted, the operation of the station will be difficult with only three platforms for the Charing Cross trains. For the time being, during the rush hour, platforms 8 and 9 will be used for up trains but down trains will not stop at London Bridge. The lines are reversible and during the evening rush hour, up trains to Charing Cross will not stop but down trains will call at platforms 7 and 8. This will continue until August next year.
With the summer days I have been making a pot of Gazpacho. My recipe is a cucumber, a red and a green pepper, some tomatoes and some bread crumbs. Peel, chop and put through the liquidizer. Season with wine vinegar, a little olive oil and pepper and salt to taste. Sometimes a small amount of sugar can help. You will notice that I have not used any onions or garlic.
A prayer today from psalm 95:
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.
Come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Something from Ted Hughes now:
The sea cries with its meaningless voice,
Treating alike its dead and its living,
probably bored with the appearance of heaven
after so many millions of nights without sleep,
without purpose, without self-deception.
(This has the improbable name of Pilbroch)
You may have noticed quite a lot of work on the pool in recent days: the present liner is 4 inches too small for the support frame. I have drained the water out, re-set the posts and re-filled the pool. I hope that it will work this time. Also some work on the passage beside the sacristy wall. There is a light well for the boiler house and this needs a safe cover.
I thought that you might like the original French text from the Our Father: Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour. I find this far more expressive than our bland English version.
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon