Newsletter- 31st Week of Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners
Today’s Feast day (The Solemnity of All Saints) is a commemoration of all those women and men whose lives were centred on the Gospel. Their example can inspire us to live like them, rooted always in God’s love.
The First Reading describes part of St John’s vision of a heavenly realm, where people from every age, nation, tribe and culture are united as one in constant joyful praise of God. The Psalmist sings of a world full of the presence of God. He encourages us to seek the Lord so that we receive God’s abundant blessings. Our Second Reading is a joyful, encouraging letter of love to the early Christian Church. They (and us now) are addressed as ‘Beloved’. We are reminded of our true nature as God’s children. The writer counsels that the ‘world’ may not recognise this, but this is indeed our reality. This is our faith, and we are called to transform the world by leading lives centred on Gospel values, as did all the saints that we celebrate today. The Gospel is Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes. Jesus teaches powerful, courageous – and possibly costly – Gospel values. If we choose to live by them, we can begin to realise the kingdom of God on earth.
On this great Feast, we can take encouragement from knowing that we belong to an eternal community of saints. With them, let us pray as Pilgrims of Hope for all those who are persecuted for expressing their faith in the Gospel and let us continue to pray for peace within our world.
Diocesan Enabling Our Mission Campaign – Those who were at Mass last weekend will have heard the Bishops’ Letter read out about the launch in our parish last weekend of the Enabling Our Mission Campaign. We form the last tranche of parishes throughout the Diocese of Nottingham to take up this initiative. More details and the Bishops’ Letter can be found in this week’s Bulletin and on the Parish Website.
Parish Census Forms: As I mentioned last weekend at Mass part of the preparation for this important initiative involves an up-to-date census of all families regularly attending Mass at St Mary’s. I appreciate that many families with young children may have been away for the half term break last weekend and so at Mass this weekend there will be the opportunity for those who were away to fill out a census form. In addition, a copy of the census form can be downloaded from the parish website and hard copies are available in the narthex as you come into church. Please do fill these out and return them please to me as soon as possible.
November: Month of the Holy Souls
Monday 3rd November – All Souls’ – The church will be open all day today and at 6.45 pm, we will celebrate a Parish Requiem Mass to commemorate All the Faithful Departed. Before the Requiem Mass there will be a period of Exposition from 6 pm, as we pray for our own dear dead and remember them before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. This time of simple Adoration concludes with Benediction at 6.30 pm.
Note of apology – Re – The Commissioning of Four New Eucharistic Ministers for our Parish on Saturday 8th November at 11.30 am in the Cathedral of St Barnabas – Last week in the Bulletin I mentioned that Bishop Patrick will commission all the new Eucharistic Ministers of Holy Communion for the Diocese of Nottingham next Saturday. I said that we have three new Ministers going forward we have in fact four! My apologies to Laura Tester for missing her name off the list of candidates and my thanks to her for her gracious understanding of my mistake! Our new candidates going forward are Laura Tester, Cecilia Collins, Darwin Agbay and Keith Streets. Please keep them in your prayers. I am immensely grateful to each of them for giving of their precious time to this important ministry of service in our parish.
The November Dead List Envelopes, and printed sheets for writing the names of deceased family members and friends to be included in the envelope with a donation are still available in the entrance as you come into church. Your completed envelopes can either be given to me or dropped through the letter box of the Rectory or put in the collection plate at the weekend. The names of your deceased will then be placed in a basket close to the Altar from the Requiem Mass celebrated on All Souls until the end of November. After which I will divide the names up into special Masses for the intentions of ‘The Holy Souls – November Dead List.’ These Masses will be offered by me throughout the year ahead.
Sunday 9th November – 2 pm – Annual Blessing of Graves – I invite you to come and join in a simple liturgy of prayer and intercession for the dead buried in our local cemetery as we bless the Catholic graves with holy water and pray for our friends, loved ones and past benefactors of the parish. Please meet promptly by the stone archway as you enter the main cemetery gates.
Masses for 8th and 9th November – The Vigil Mass next Saturday 8th November at 6.p.m. will be a Mass for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica as per the Ordo. On Sunday 9th November (Remembrance Sunday) our Parish Mass at 9.30 a.m. will be a Requiem Mass in anniversario. At this Mass there will be an Act of Remembrance before the Final Blessing, and we shall keep Two Minutes Silence. We offer Mass on this day for all who died in the service of their countries and for our freedom in the past two World Wars and all subsequent conflicts since and as we pray for peace in our troubled world of today.
With my prayers for you and for your families,
Your Parish Priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
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