Newsletter- 33rd Week of Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners
This weekend we keep the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time and as I read the readings for today, especially the Gospel’s story of preparing for the end times, I kept looking for a word of hope. It is there if you read between the lines and don’t get lost in the destructive descriptions of apocalyptic literature that turns the world upside down. If you continue to follow along in the readings especially the Gospel, the promise of new life will happen, and we are reminded that: “not a hair on your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”
The readings call us to trust that we can, without reservation, enter a journey whose future turns we cannot see. Hope is the virtue we need to carry on. The opportunities to experience hope are as close to us as we are to each other, God has given us the capacity to pay attention, endure and imagine and to enter into this wonder of life as individuals and as a Community.
The challenge to be “watchful in hope” reminds us all to look around us for the nearness of God, a nearness which makes possible the acts of justice and the words of healing which give life. Hope is an energy that comes to us from God. It is a transforming force that we do not control. We must never be afraid of the future whatever that future may hold in store for us, because we never journey alone. God is always present in our midst.
Jesus and his Jewish followers did not think in linear terms about the future but in relationship to God and to each other. The end they wanted, and I believe the end we all want, is not the end of history but the end of suffering. The nearness of God is not on our calendars, it is rooted in our present, it is rooted in our hope that helps us find our way when the usual lights on our path no longer shine. Where do we go if God is nowhere to be seen?” We must follow God’s invitation to be a home for hope, to discern its work, and to be a people living in the light of expectation.
Thomas Merton once asked his student a question, “How does an apple ripen?” The student answered, “It just sits in the sun.” Years later the student was thinking about Merton’s question and realised that the apple needs the sun for its daily nourishment. That’s how we mature in the fullness of God’s life. Today’s Eucharist and every Eucharist is a source of hope and strength in living as Jesus has called us to do. It is our nourishment for the life here and now and the life that is yet to come. So, we journey forward in hope and with endurance and faith in the knowledge that the God who loves us and summons us to journey forward will never forsake us nor leave us alone, he remains close beside us, even if we cannot see him but only glimpse his presence, and he will continue to do so even unto the end of time!
World Day of the Poor: Pope Leo XIV has declared this weekend to be the ninth World Day of the Poor, with the theme of You are my Hope. The theme is taken from the Psalmists cry “You, O Lord, are my hope.” (Psalm 71:5). In his message for this World Day of the Poor, the Holy Father urges us to recognise those experiencing poverty as “witnesses to a strong and steadfast hope, precisely because they embody it in the midst of uncertainty, poverty, instability and marginalisation.” Reflecting on the Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Leo calls on us to “ensure that the closing of the Holy Door does not mean an end to action. Those experiencing poverty remain “not recipients of our pastoral care, but creative subjects who challenge us to find novel ways of living out the Gospel today.” On this World Day of the Poor we are all invited to offer friendship, solidarity and welcome to the poorest of our sisters and brothers.
Canon Michael Bell: As many parishioners will be aware in the past few months Fr Michael has become increasingly frailer, and he now needs more long-term care than can be given to him here at home in Grantham. During this past week Fr Michael moved to take up residence at the Mercy Care Centre (owned by the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy), 310, Highfields Park Drive, Darley Abbey, Derby, DE22 1JX. Here he will be around several other retired clergy from the diocese and will I know receive the care and support that he now requires. We thank Fr Michael for his long ministry in retirement within our parish as we keep him in our prayers as he settles into his new home and life in Derby. I had the opportunity to visit Fr Michael just before he moved last week and to assure him of our continued prayers and best wishes for him as he looks towards the future. I have also given him a little gift from our parish community to remind him of his happy years here in Grantham. Thank you to all the many parishioners who have visited Fr Michael during these past few months. I know how grateful he has been for your prayers, love, care and support.
Thursday 20th November – Please Note the Change of Mass Time: This Thursday I must attend the Mission Enabling Board Meeting at Bishops’ House and Mass today in the parish will be celebrated at 9.30 am.
November – Month of the Holy Souls.
‘The Holy Souls – November Dead List’- You will find in the entrance to church 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, which can either be given to me personally or dropped through the letter box of the Rectory. The names of your deceased relatives and friends will then be placed in the basket close to the Altar throughout the month of November to be remembered each day at Mass, 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.
Looking ahead to Christmas! – Service Times for all the Masses celebrated in the Parish from Christmas Eve through to the New Year are to be found in the Bulletin from this Weekend. Please do make a note of them.
With my prayers for you and for your families,
Your parish priest and friend,
Fr Jonathan
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