5th Sunday in Ordinary Time 06.02.2022
MASS TIMES AND INTENTIONS
Sun 6th Feb
8.30 am - For Hannah & Phil.
10 am - Aurora Lobo-Buckland, RIP
12 noon - Precious and Mary Redican, intentions
Mon 7th Feb - Feria
10 am - Noel Kiely, 1st anniversary
Tues 8th Feb - Feria
10 am - Norah Delaney and family, intentions
Weds 9th Feb - NO MASS
Thurs 10th Feb - St Scholastica, Virgin
10 am - Joan Evans, 1st anniversary
Fri 11th Feb - Our Lady of Lourdes
10 am - Sister Angela Brennan, intentions
Sat 12th Feb - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
5 pm - Confirmation Mass
Your Prayers:
Let us keep in our prayers: Frank Kilbride, Kathleen Lancaster, John O’Shea, Rekha, Bina, Gale Yates, Jose Luis Pérez, Alice, Michael O Boy, Lilian Murphy, Karina McKiernan and Izabela Lissowska – all unwell at this time. Please add the Dixon family to your intentions. We also pray for Tony Padman, Hugh Daniel Doherty,Peter Sartori, Arthur Palmer, Noel Ryan, Donato Merola, Aurora Lobo–Buckland, Larry Tuohy, Elizabeth O’Sullivan, Monica Thomson, Christine Pavlou, Tom Lohan, Dennis Lennane, Vincenzo Gagliardi, Verna Duffy, Susan Wren and Albertina Alves who have all died recently. May they Rest in Peace.
Tony Padman RIP
Tony was a long-time altar server and parishioner of St Mary's. His funeral is to be at St Edward the Confessor,Golders Green, at 11am on Tuesday 8th Feb. Let us keep Tony and his family in our prayers. May he rest in peace.
Offertory Collection
Fr Peter writes: “The ordinary offertory collection in church for week ending 30th January £ 665.92. Allcontributions, every penny, is greatly received and I am very grateful for your continued support at this difficult time. Please do not forget, that arranging a standing order is the easiest way to support St Mary’s.
Nursery Application Forms:
Fr Peter writes: “If your child needs their Catholic Certificates of Practice” stamped and signed, please attend one of the Sunday Masses with your child, bringing their nursery school application forms. Please make sure you have completed address and dates of birth before coming to see me.”
Save the Date!
On Sunday 15th May 2022, Cardinal Vincent Nichols is coming to St Mary’s to celebrate a special Mass in commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the blessing of the church foundation stone. Please reserve the date in your diary.
Were you there?
70 years is not that long ago. Were you or a member of your family at St Mary’s in 1952 when its foundation stone was blessed? Please make contact with Fr Peter so he can gather first hand reflections for St Mary’s 70thanniversary year.
Lectio Divina:
The St Mary’s “Lectio Divina” zoom is every Monday from 7:30pm – 8:30pm. “Lectio” involves reading, reflecting and discussing the gospel passage used each Sunday at Mass. Please email Fr Peter if you want to be part of the “Lectio Zoom Team” and attend
Pope’s Prayer Intention for February…..
…..for religious sisters and consecrated women; thanking them for their mission and their courage; that they continue to find new responses to the challenges of our times.
Confirmations at St Mary’s:
Bishop John will confer the Sacrament of Confirmation on 18 of our young adults at the 5pm Mass next Saturday. If this is your normal Sunday Mass, you may like to choose another next weekend. Let us keep the confirmation candidates, their families, their sponsors and their catechists in our prayers over the next month.
.St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School – Applications for Sixth Form Entry in September 2022 open until 28 February
St Michael’s is a place of intellectual exploration and achievement and every year our students achieve outstanding A Level results which enable them to open doors to the most prestigious universities and courses. St Michael’s has a large and vibrant Sixth Form which welcomes significant numbers of new students who have studied their GCSEs elsewhere. It is an academic school which offers A Level courses only in the Sixth Form. If you are interested in applying for a Sixth Form place at St Michael’s please take a look at the virtual open evening on our website https://www.st-michaels.barnet.sch.uk/new-sixth-form-page/virtual -sixth-form-open-evening/
Applications can be made online through the APPLY NOW button.
Friday is World Day of Prayer for the Sick….
Fr Peter writes “at this Friday’s 10am Mass I am going to include the conferral of the Sacrament of the Sick (anointing with the oil of the sick). I will do so respecting pandemic guidelines. Those who are unwell (physically or struggling with their mental health) are invited. Please do not come to church to receive the Sacrament if you suspect you have Covid.”
The annual Cathedral Mass in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes on the World Day of Prayer for the Sick will take place at 2pm on Saturday 12th February. The decision has been taken that this year the Sacrament of the Sick will not be administered.
The Mass will be livestreamed on the Cathedral’s livestream, which can be accessed at www.westminstercathedral.org.uk or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXx0dFI8GV5D9DSZo46ox6Q
If you would like to attend, please let Fr Peter know before Tuesday.
The Holy Water stoop….
…….has returned! Latest pandemic guidelines have allowed the return and use of Holy Water in churches.
Message of Pope Francis for the 30th World Day of Prayer for the Sick,
which falls on 11 February 2022.
"Jesus’ invitation to be merciful like the Father - writes the Pope - has particular significance for healthcare workers. “I think of all those physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians, the support staff and the caretakers of the sick, as well as the numerous volunteers who donate their precious time to assist those who suffer". People who have made their service a mission. Because Your hands, which touch the suffering flesh of Christ, can be a sign of the merciful hands of the Father".
The Pontiff recalls "the progress that medical science has made, especially in recent times; new technologies have made it possible to prepare therapies that are of great benefit to the sick; research continues to make a valuable contribution to eliminating old and new pathologies; rehabilitation medicine has greatly expanded its expertise and skills. None of this, however, must make us forget the uniqueness of each patient, his or her dignity and frailties". However, He issues a warning and calls for the patient to always be treated as a person with his own dignity. "None of this, however, must make us forget the uniqueness of each patient, his or her dignity and frailties. Patients are always more important than their diseases, and for this reason, no therapeutic approach can prescind from listening to the patient, his or her history, anxieties and fears. Even when healing is not possible, care can always be given. It is always possible to console, it is always possible to make people sense a closeness that is more interested in the person than in his or her pathology".
The Holy Father reaffirms the importance of Catholic healthcare institutions and their commitment to caring for and treating people. "At a time in which the culture of waste is widespread and life is not always acknowledged as worthy of being welcomed and lived, these structures, like “houses of mercy”, can be exemplary in protecting and caring for all life, even the most fragile, from its beginning until its natural end".
Finally, He concludes by recalling the indispensable service of the health care ministry, especially in spiritual assistance to the sick, and the commitment that each of us should have in making ourselves close to those who suffer. Because "the ministry of consolation is a task for every baptized person, mindful of the word of Jesus: “I was sick and you visited me” ( Mt 25:36)".