This Week's Parish Newssheet
Transcription
This Week's Parish Newssheet
The Catholic Parish & Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, West Grinstead Fr. David Goddard, The Priest's House, Park Lane, West Grinstead, West Sussex. RH13 8LT Telephone: 01403-710273 E-mail: [email protected] 11th January 2015: The Baptism of the Lord CALENDAR FOR THIS WEEK TODAY (11th) Solemnity: The Baptism of the Lord 6.00pm (Sat.) Vigil Mass Valerie Dwan – R.I.P. 10.30am Mass Priest’s private intention 3.00pm Low Mass (1962 Missal) Pro Populo (The Parish) The End of Christmas Time MONDAY (12th) Feria of Week 1 in Ordinary Time NO MASS TUESDAY (13th) Feria NO MASS WEDNESDAY (14th) Feria 11.30am Exposition & Adoration 12.00 noon Holy Mass John Goddard – R.I.P. THURSDAY (15th) Feria NO MASS FRIDAY (16th) Weekday of Christmas Time NO MASS SATURDAY (17th) Mem: St. Anthony, Abbot NO MASS NEXT SUNDAY (18th) Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 6.00pm (Sat.) Vigil Mass Catherine Caryll – R.I.P. 10.30am Mass Pro Populo (The Parish) The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is available before the 6.00pm Vigil Mass on Saturday or ‘On Call’. The monthly Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Missal (Extraordinary Form) takes place TODAY (Sunday 11th) at 3.00pm. It will be a Low Mass and the celebrant and preacher will be Fr. Hurley. Wednesday Adoration (11.30am) followed by Holy Mass (12 noon) – back to usual. Please remember the sick and housebound in your prayers at this time; and amongst them: Ralph Bayross, Marie-Claire Bleasdale, Agnes Burns, John Challis, Catherine Clayton, Bridget Coghlan, Edward Collard, Moya Connolly, Kath Davies, Jo Dexter; Anthony Dobbe, Maggie Dougall, Suzanne Enbeigene, Sean Fahy, Jeffrey Facon, Vaughan Frederick, Lillian Fry, John Greig, Antonio Grandine; Michael Handley, Eileen Hill; Joanna Holmes, Marilyn Jackson, Josephine Kiely, Moria Killian, Mary Larder, Pat Levy, Margaret Mellows, Mary Murray, Denis Parker, David Rees, Giles Rubens, Joan Stafford, Rita Stalker, Ronnie Taylor, Teresa Tierney, Christine Turner, Douglas Verrier, Charlotte Walker and Lee Walshe. The Christmas Season ends today (Sunday 11th) and tomorrow sees us back into Ordinary Time (Week 1). Our thanks again to John and Chris Dobbe for the Christmas Tree; to our team of flower arrangers (a number of you commented on how particularly subtle and beautiful the flower arrangements have been this Christmas); and finally to Barry Carrol for constructing the Crib. Today is a last opportunity to make a visit to the Crib, to offer your personal prayers and to make a contribution towards the ‘Friends of the Holy Land’ in their special Christmas Appeal for our Christian brothers and sisters, especially in and around Bethlehem and the Holy Family Parish of Gaza. Archbishop Peter Smith has specially asked that our diocese should support FHL this Christmas in this venture. For more information on the work of FHL, please visit the website: www.friendsoftheholyland.org.uk. Has your Baptism gone dead? Everyone knows that marriages can go dead if they are not looked after properly. So can baptisms. Just because we were plunged into water as babies does not mean that we have kept to our side of the bargain in adulthood. Often we can even get to the stage where we even forget that we are baptized. Not that we deny our faith, but we can act as if we are just the same as the people next door who have never been inside a church. They say that a wedding takes a day, but a marriage takes a lifetime. You have to learn to live a marriage. In the same way a Christening takes (part of) a day but a baptism takes a lifetime. We grow into our status of baptized children of God. If a husband stopped showing affection for his wife, and vice versa, then they would be wedded, but would not be living out the sacrament of matrimony. Sacraments are not magic, they are ways of life. To live out our baptism means to remember that we were washed in water and anointed with oil. The oil was a symbol that we were set aside to be PRIESTS, PROPHETS and KINGS. When we were anointed as PRIESTS, we agreed (probably through our parents and godparents) to offer the daily sacrifice of our lives to God. This means being people of prayer, people who are aware of where we are going in life, and prepared to bring our hopes and joy, our fears and frustrations as an offering to our God, so that they may be blessed and transformed. The role of PROPHET was given to each of us when we were anointed in baptism. To be a prophet simply means that we agreed to be spokesmen and spokeswomen for God. In other words, we agreed that by our words and actions we would be examples of what God wants in the world. We would be God’s voice in our society, speaking God’s word to our world. And by becoming KINGS (or queens) at baptism we undertook to be responsible for a kingdom. A good king rules by seeing that all his subjects are fairly treated and are able to live a life unhindered by fear or lack of stability. We too are called to rule, but our ruling is service. It entails looking after those in our care, showing concern for those whose rights are denied, protecting the good things God has given to the world, and even looking after the world itself by having proper regard for natural and global resources. So if your baptism has gone through a sticky patch, or is almost on its last legs, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is your chance to renew your commitment to those promises made years ago. It is a chance to be once more a priest, a prophet and a king. The Arundel & Brighton Diocesan Trust is a Registered Charity No.252878