Newsletter 9th June 2013.
Today we are back in the Sundays of ordinary time, celebrating the 10th Week of the year. The Sunday readings are taken from Cycle “C” and during the week, the readings are from the first cycle.
There is a second collection today for the National Catholic Fund, which meets the expenses of the Bishops’ Conference and the central administration of the Church.
The Liturgy Committee meets on Monday at 8pm.
On Wednesday I am going with Bishop Lynch to celebrate the funeral Mass for Father Eric Wright at the Royal Hospital at Chelsea. Some years ago he was an assistant priest here.
To Westminster for a meeting on Thursday and to the Town Hall for a meeting at Woolwich in the evening. The Chair of our Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Mick Hayes has been elected as deputy Mayor for the current year which means that he will be Mayor next year.
Tuesday is the feast of St. Barnabas. Although not one of the original twelve, he is counted as an apostle. He looked after Paul and introduced him to the others – showing a confidence in him at what must have been a very difficult time. He originally came from Antioch and was to accompany Paul in his journeys. He is described in the book of the Acts as “a good and holy man”.
I hope that by the time you read this, the works to the Church will have been completed. Thank you for your patience during our temporary use of the Angelus Room. I was not happy with the finish to benches as they seemed to scratch very and I have asked the contractor to given them a new coat which will be stronger. I hope that it will work.
Hardly a recipe but you might be interested in this if you ever need to deep fry some chips. (I hardly dare mention this in my French cooking column.)
Put together equal quantities of vegetable oil and corn oil and they will be crisp and golden.
A familiar prayer from St. Benedict:
O gracious and Holy Father, give us wisdom to perceive you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to behold you, a heart to meditate upon you, and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Our Lord.
A most enjoyable day on the railway on the Bank Holiday at the end of May. The drain cock to one of the cylinders had jammed so it was not possibly to close it, leading to a squirt of high pressure steam at each stroke. Sometimes this is caused if a chunk of cinder finds its way into the cylinder blocking the pipe and sometimes it is more serious – a piece has come off one of the piston rings and this is blocking everything. The driver managed to clear it for a while with some hard running up the bank to Medstead but it came back later in the day – so I fear the engine will be in pieces once again soon.
I know that lots of exams are taking place at present: GCSE’s, AS, A level, Sats, as well as University exams. Prayers for you all and I hope that you will all do well.
Something curious from “The Cloud of unknowing”.
Often enough when you are thinking that you are abridging in this darkness and there is only God in your mind, if you look carefully you will find your mind not occupied with this darkness at all, but definitely engaged with something less than God. And if this is so, then that thing can be said to be temporarily on top of you, and between you and God.
The garden is looking wonderful at present: thanks to all those who have helped. Lots of fruit this year: it seems that the late spring with lots of rain has helped everything. My herb garden is doing well, though I still have to plant some more basil and maybe some rosemary. There is a fine rosemary branch on the path – thanks to Rachel of this – which has been there for some time so I will try to take a cutting. I look at the olive tree regularly: it is still there but I always think that it is missing the warmer climes of Italy. The horse chestnut is doing well this year and I hope that it is recovered from the disease of the last couple of years.
Best wishes to you all
Monsignor Nicholas Rothon