Andrew McDonald RIP

This Friday we celebrate the Requiem Mass for Andrew McDonald RIP. The Mass will take place at 11am in St Pancras Church.

Last night St Paul's Catholic College presented their second performance of West Side Story. It was a slick and professional production with outstanding performances and contributions from young people many of whom are from this parish. Many of those young people are regular at Sunday Mass and I was so proud to see them perform this moving story of tension and disaster between communities. The poignant story is the secret love of Maria and Tony who represent these two groups. They are both strongly Catholic communities. At the conclusion Maria, the heroine, looks forward to a better world. Having heard  the iconic and masterful redition of Lalalalala America earlier in the musical we are left in no doubt that the better world of which she speaks is the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. Let us pray this Lent for the coming of the Kingdom. May our young people find inspiration from Christ, the Prince of Peace, for this work. May they know His power in the Blessed Sacrament to transform lives and may their lives be ordered by His holy will.

Young Peoples' Way of the Cross

Our young people will join the parish next Friday at Stations of the Cross beginning at 7pm. We will use this devotion to pray especially for victims of teenage cancer. After the time in chirch we will meet for pizza (vegetarian as it's Friday!) in the presbytery. All young people are welcome. Megan Taylor and her freinds have recently spent time raising money to assist with the relief of those teenagers who suffer from cancer.

The Holy Season of Lent

Lent is later this year than usual. Whilst the tempratures are still fresh, Spring is definitely in the air. The word Lent has the sense of the lengthening days, the days of Spring. This is our new Spring, an opportunity to grow in grace and find again the true value, meaning and purpose of our lives in Christ. Let us pray and direct our lives to Almighty God; let us give alms and come to the assistance of the lives of others; let us fast and be attentive to our physical as well as our spirtual well-being. There are so many opportunties in our parish to mark the sacred time of this holy season. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the prayer of the rosary and the way of the cross and most especially Holy Mass. Let us begin our Lent.

Happy New Year .. 2011

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD, the mystery of light by which Our Lord begins his public ministry, marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of ordinary time. Christ has come that we might grow into His likeness; Christ has come to teach us the value each of us has in the sight of God.

Into the last week of advent....

WE CONCLUDE THE HOLY SEASON OF ADVENT. Christmas will soon be here. Please take some fliers with mass times for family and friends. It is good to celebrate and it is good to contemplate these holy days.

So what is Advent...?

 

Advent literally means coming or arrival from the latin 'adventus'. When we as Catholics celebrate Advent at Christmas time, we identify with God’s people who came before Jesus’ birth and eagerly anticipated the coming of their Messiah.

Since we live in the blessings of Christ and the forgiveness we enjoy through him, we often take for granted what it must have been like to live before his Advent.

Surrounded by the beeping machines and till drawers closing, its sometimes offers up a joyful moments peace to remember what happened on that night, under that star all those years ago.