First Sunday of Lent 22.02.2026
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
MASS TIMES AND INTENTIONS
Sun 22nd Feb
8.30 am Arcangela Moretto, RIP
10 am Sena Latz, RIP
12 noon Ita and Bernard Looney, intentions
Mon 23rd Feb Lent Feria
10 am Holy Souls
Tues 24th Feb Lent Feria
10 am Tony and Olive Murphy, intentions
Weds 25th Feb NO MASS
Thurs 26th Feb Lent Feria
10 am Mary Etna O’Sullivan, intentions
Fri 27th Feb Lent Feria
10 am Raymond Mac, intentions
Sat 28th Feb Second Sunday of Lent
5pm People of the Parish
Every Saturday: 10am – 11am - 4.30pm – 5pm: Confessions and Exposition
YOUR PRAYERS:
Let us keep in our prayers: Joan Gordon, Sanjuna Madonandi Kuniyil, Ben Galligan, Julius Lipner, David Ryan, Margaret Ryan, Michael O’Boy, Christina Cahill, Eric Nicholas Darwent, Therese Kemp, Jose Luis Pérez, Karina McKiernan, Jonathan Heller and Izabela Lissowska – all unwell at this time. We also pray for: Arcangela Moretto, Martin Dolan and Sena Latz whose anniversaries occur at this time or have died recently. May they Rest in Peace.
THE OFFERTORY
The offertory collection for week ending 15th February was £495.77 and Contactless was
£80.14 Standing Orders, Stripe and Online Donations will be communicated one month in arrears. Thank you for your generosity.
INCLUSIVE MASS AT ST MARY’S
St Mary’s warmly invites you to an Inclusive Mass for Children and Adults with Special Needs.
Who is it for?
Everyone is welcome — especially children and adults with learning disabilities, together with their families, friends, and carers.
When?
Saturday 28th February 2026 at 5pm
After Mass, refreshments will be served and there will be a relaxed opportunity to socialise and spend time together as a parish community.
We look forward to welcoming you.
CONFIRMATION COURSE 2026.
There will be a Parents meeting at 7:30pm on Thursday 26th February in the small hall. This is mandatory for all parents who have registered their young adult on the confirmation course.
The first meeting for Confirmation Candidates will be at 7:30pm on Thursday 12th March… in the small hall.
THE CHURCH BOILER APPEAL
“A very big and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has donated or helped to raise funds for the “Church Boiler Appeal”. Your generosity, kindness, and commitment to supporting our parish have been truly inspiring. Thanks to your efforts, we have already raised an amazing £20,440.47. This is a wonderful achievement (in these difficult economic times) and a real testament to the strength of our community.
We are now just £16,000 away from reaching our goal, and with the same spirit of goodwill and support, I am confident we can get there together. Thank you once again for all you have done and continue to do for our parish.”
Blessings, Fr Peter.
THIS YEAR’S ST MARY’s LENT APPEAL;
CLOTHING DRIVE IN AID OF “THE PASSAGE”
This lent our Parish charity project is a clothing collection in aid of ‘The Passage’, the homeless day centre founded in 1980 by Cardinal Basil Hume and The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. Based in Westminster it serves the needs of the homeless population with practical support guided by its Vincentian values of compassion, justice, respect and trust with the aim of preventing and ending homelessness.
Homeless individuals are identified on the street by outreach workers and directed towards The Passage Resource Centre where they are assigned a key worker who works with them on their housing situation, routes into employment, immigration support and whatever practical support is needed. The centre also provides two hot meals a day, showers, laundry facilities, health services and a clothing store where users can get a change of clothes.
Often the shelves in the clothing store are quite bare. Most clients at The Passage are men so men’s clothes are always in demand. This lent we want to collect good quality men’s clothing to donate to the clothing store. Clothing identified as particularly needed are men’s trainers, trousers, jeans and joggers and coats. There are posters at the back of the church and a leaflet available to take home that have a QR code which takes you to the full list of items accepted.
LENT ACTIVITIES AT ST MARY’S
“FAITH SHARING GROUP” – Every Monday at 7:30pm in the Small Hall.
“Less of Me, More of Him: A Lenten Journey to Surrender” is a 6-week group journey where we will walk through the Stations of the Cross together, not simply to remember what Jesus endured, but to encounter who He is. As we reflect and surrender week by week, we will rediscover our identity in Christ and learn what it means to live truly rooted in Him. This group is led by Amanda Malandrino.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS – These will take place every Friday during Lent at 10:30am. Additional dates will be arranged for those who are unable to attend in the morning; parishioners are invited to let Fr Peter know if they would be interested in an alternative time.
CONFESSIONS – Throughout Lent (beginning next weekend), Confessions will be available every Saturday from 10am to 11am and again from 4:30pm to 5pm. During these times, there will also be adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
YOUR LENT LUGGAGE LABELS
“Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of our Lenten journey—a moment when we pause, receive the sign of the cross in ash, and hear the stark reminder that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. It is a call to honesty, to simplicity, and to travelling more lightly with God. The ash becomes a temporary label, marking us out as sinners on the road to change.
Luggage labels might seem like ordinary, everyday objects, yet they speak powerfully into this season. When we travel, a label tells others who we are and where we’re headed. But it also reminds us that we choose what goes into the bag. Some things are essential; others only weigh us down.
Lent invites us to look at the “luggage” we carry through life. What habits, fears, or resentments have been stuffed into our spiritual suitcase without us noticing? What expectations or distractions have become unnecessary weight? Ash Wednesday, with its quiet solemnity, gives us permission to name these things honestly. The ashes on our foreheads are a label too—not one that burdens us, but one that tells the truth: we belong to God, we are sinners, and we are being called back to what matters. We are being called to change.
This Lent, the purple luggage labels at the back of the church, become our symbol of intention. We are invited to write on them something we want to leave behind—anxiety, impatience, bitterness, addictions to pornography, social media, television. Or perhaps something we want to carry with us through Lent—scripture, prayer, courage. Or even something we want to offer to others—alms, forgiveness, or our time in service. Around the church you will find forty ideas to prompt your Lenten promise.
Placing your purple luggage label in front of the altar becomes a small but meaningful act of commitment, a reminder that the journey to Easter is about changing direction: walking towards God’s love rather than away.
Christ does not ask us to drag our burdens alone. The One who walked the road to Calvary knows the weight we carry and invites us to hand it over, piece by piece. Lent is not about travelling empty; it is about travelling free, with hearts made lighter by grace.” Blessings, Fr Peter
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