Saturday
10am: In honour of Mary
6.30pm: Frances McEvoy Rec Dec
Sunday Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
8.30am: Parish
10am: Priest Int
11.30am: Holy Souls MS
Monday No Mass
Tuesday 10am : Holy Souls
Wednesday 10am: for the sick
Thursday 11am Requiem Mass Yuwaraj Yogendram (Raj)
Friday Solemnity of Mary the Holy Mother of God
10am: For the Parish
Saturday 6.30pm TBA
Sunday
8.30am: Holy Souls
10am: Parish
11.30am: Priest Int
Christmas Offerings Many thanks for your generosity Christmas offerings. It’s my pay day and whatever you give until 5th January is for your Parish Priest. The extension is to make up for loss of earnings during the year. Envelopes are to be found at the back of the Church.
First Reading Honour your father and mother. It’s not just about younger children doing as they are told. It’s also about older sons and daughters, grown ups, looking after aged parent(s). I hope my mum doesn’t see this!
Second Reading Paul again in this beautiful reading about the virtues that hold a community and a family together. Love is singled out as the most important. It also says something about wives being obedient to husbands – as you should in the Lord. No comment required.
The Gospel This recalls the presentation of Jesus in the temple. Mary and Joseph meet Simeon an Anna, the elderly representatives of those who faithfully awaited the coming of the Messiah. Simeon tells us that Jesus is the hope of Israel. He will be a light for the nations. The theme of salvation for the gentiles is introduced. People had thought that salvation was only for Jews. The reading also refers to the rejection of Jesus and a sword will pierce the heart of Mary, too. It ends with a soothing glimpse of Jesus growing up in Nazareth with Mary and Joseph. He had to learn. He was fully human though without sin.
More Good News. No homily today. There is a pastoral letter from Archbishop John, his first since coming to Southwark Diocese. It saves all the priests in Southwark having to do homily when we have just done Christmas. Well done, Archbishop for thinking of us!
Reflection As God’s chosen ones, we should clothe ourselves with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. We must bear with one another and forgive one another, just as the Lord has forgiven us. If we are angry, we must not let the sun go down on our anger. Above all, we should clothe ourselves with love, and the peace of God will reign in our hearts and our homes.
Christ’s Mass When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with the flocks, then the work of Christmas begins: To find the lost, to heal those broken in spirit, to feed the hungry, to release the oppressed, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among all peoples, to make a little music with the heart. And to radiate the life of Christ, every day in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say. THEN THE WORK OF CHRISTMAS BEGINS.
Christmas is a call to joy. Let’s fasten our minds very firmly on the facts of the feast. In past times people had an idea of what it’s all about but, sadly, not now. The fact is that God joined us in time as a child in Bethlehem and as the man Christ on the cross in Jerusalem. We have to keep reminding ourselves that, like Christ rising from the dead at Easter, Christ being born at Christmas is not just something tagged onto the Christian faith. He whole idea is that we meet God in Christ in his birthday and try to stay with him for the rest of the year. As we know, that means moving things that get in the way, and there is no better time for healing old wounds and aiming at reconciliation. We can look towards the faith and hope and love of Mary and Joseph at this special time.
The family, a School of Prayer. The family is where we learn to pray and make God the centre of our lives. The rosary is a great way forward for all of us. My grandparents said the rosary each night. I must say that it helps make prayer life a lot easier by enlisting the help of Mary the Mother of God. Children need to pray at home, to be taken to Mass, to be blessed before they go to bed. Pope John Paul ‘s father, by his quiet and consistent loyalty to prayer, shaped his son to be a saint who would in time shape the face of the earth and have so much to do with defeating atheistic communism.
Many thanks to the Flower Girls for making the church look great. Also, I would like to thank all the stewards who have made it possible to come to worship in our church. If you did not get to Mass n Christmas Day you can come in the Octave of Christmas.
The St Gertrude’s Carol for Christmas is amazing so many, many thanks to Charlie and Jeannie and all the choir.
Christmas and New Year and all year round gifts Please visit the repository, stocking fillers, cards. Help the Sisters’ orphanage in Minsk, Belarus’
Blessing for the New Year May you treat each other in the same friendly way Christ has treated you. My you clothe yourselves in clear compassion, kindness and patience. May your love for one another not be real words but something real and active