Newsletter 8th January 2017
Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord – the visit of the three wise men who come to adore the new born Saviour.
At the 9.30 Mass today the children will perform the third part of the cycle of mystery plays. After Mass the costumes and the props will be put away for another year.
I hope that you all had an enjoyable Christmas celebration. I was very pleased to see the great nephew and the two great nieces. As you can imagine, my brother’s house was turned into a sea of Lego and it was necessary to show great enthusiasm for Star Wars and Ghostbusters. I am not sure if I understand this – life was much simpler when one could settle down to read the Meccano Magazine.
This completes the Christmas celebrations and we will be taking down the crib and the lights during the coming week.
This year the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is kept on Monday.
For the rest of the week the green vestments come out for the First Week in Ordinary time. This year the Mass readings on weekdays are taken from the First cycle.
First Communion classes coming around once again: the parents meet to plan the class at 8pm on Monday evening. The class is at 10am on Saturday and will include First Confessions in the Church so it is important for all the children to come along.
The Eucharistic Ministers meet on Wednesday evening.
A busy week with a number of visits to schools as part of my work with the Local Education Authority.
Busy preparing for the visit to Sanlucar later in the month. The local confraternity look after the Church of St. George on our behalf and we are presenting them with a silver dish. I have arranged for this to be engraved and have to collect it this week.
I hope the Church will be warm and comfortable this week. We have fitted a new pump to the Church boiler. The original pump was probably over 40 years old – with rubber drive bands and a metal cage to enclose the drive wheels – but it was beginning to leak and after much tooth sucking, it seems that a new pump was required.
A request for help please – I need a new administrator for the red mission boxes – not too demanding a task. If you could help, please let me know.
A new recipe book – so to start with, a very basic recipe for shortcrust pastry. Rub 8oz flour with 4oz of chilled butter so that it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add 3 tsp of cold water to bring the dough together. Roll into a ball and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling. I am sure that you know this already,
I always like John Dunne:
Busie old foole, unruly Sunne,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtaines call on us?
A prayer for the New Year:
Lord of creation, in whose power are all times and seasons, bless this year and crown it with your goodness. Keep your Church in peace, grant us every blessing and lead us to our eternal home, where you reign for ever and ever. Amen.
Lots to inspect on the railway line to London Bridge and to work out what was completed during the holiday period. Also at Clapham Junction, the first of the new 707 electric units was in the yard. These have been built by Siemens to provide extra sets for the South Western suburban routes.
Best wishes to you all,
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon