Fourth Sunday of Advent 18.12.2022
MASS TIMES AND INTENTIONS
Sun 18th Dec
8.30 am Melise Sarthal and family members, intns
10 am Ted Sasin, RIP
12 noon Patrick Giblin, anniversary
Mon 19th Dec Advent Feria
10 am Funeral of Maria Pini, RIP
Tues 20th Dec Advent Feria
10am Kathleen Armstrong, RIP
7pm -8pm Confessions in Church
Weds 21st Dec
NO MASS
Thurs 22nd Dec Advent Feria
10am Veronica Filippin, anniversary
Fri 23rd Dec Advent Feria
10 am McDonagh family, intentions
Sat 24th Dec CHRISTMAS EVE Children's Mass with Nativity Play- 6:00pm – Graham Knapton RIP
Mass for Midnight- 10:00pm – John McGrory RIP
Your Prayers:
Let us keep in our prayers: Agnes Day, Christna Cahill, Eric Nicholas Darwent, Therese Kemp, John O’Shea, Rekha, Bina, Jose Luis Pérez, Alice, Lilian Murphy, Karina McKiernan, Izabela Lissowska and Florida Regina Karawgodage – all unwell at this time.
We also pray for:: Gino Tomei, James Meally, Peter Sartori, Noel Ryan, Donato Merola, Aurora Lobo–Buckland, Christine Pavlou, Tom Lohan, Siobhan Lynch, Dennis Lennane, Susan Wren, Geraldine Day, Catherine Kelly, Josephine Okuyiga, Betty Murray, Jane Ikwueke, Gail Yates,Ronald Kinsella, Maureen O Sullivan, Patrick Reilly, Ann Gourdarznia, Nina Cole, Lorenzo Marcantuono, Pat McMahon, Michael Walsh Esther Ampomah Arhin, Peter McHugh, Marguerite Kyunga, Kathleen Molloy and Maria Pini, whose anniversaries occur at this time or have died recently. May they Rest in Peace.
Offertory:
The offertory collection for week ending 11th December – £573.70. Many thanks. Please do not forget, that arranging a standing order is the easiest way to support St Mary’s.
Do you want a Good Excuse to avoid the World Cup Final?
If you have grown tired of World Cup football, why not come to Deacon Patrick Van Der Vorst talk on art and the Eucharist at 7:00pm this Sunday in the parish centre. Deacon Patrick spent a summer at St Mary’s last year and is editor of the hugely successful webpage “Christian art”.
A St Mary’s Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2023
Fr Peter writes: “I am looking into planning a 5-day, 4-night weekday full board pilgrimage to Lourdes departing 24th April, returning 28th April for approximately £609 per parishioner and I need a minimum of 20 parishioners! The hotel on offer is 3 star and flights are from Stansted to Lourdes airport (making your own way to Stansted). I know Lourdes very well, can arrange Masses and tours to suit a 4-day trip. I have put a sign-up sheet at the back of the church for those who would like to come.
Once a Catholic?
On that first Christmas the shepherds were the first to learn of the birth of Jesus. Those shepherds felt outcast and not welcome. The birth of the Saviour showed them to be at the very centre of things. If you were baptised into the Catholic Church but have not practised for some time and are here for Christmas then you are very welcome. Please consider introducing yourself to Fr Peter and perhaps making an appointment to see him in the New Year. You can be assured of a warm welcome.
A Monday Clean.
Fr Peter writes: “I would be very grateful if some volunteers could help clean the church on Monday at 11am.We are getting ready for Christmas! The more hands on deck, the quicker the clean.” Many thanks.
Calling all Altar Servers – and those who would like to learn.
Please sign the list at the back of the Church if you are able to serve over Christmas. Deacon Dom will arrange a practice for the Christmas Eve celebrations. For those who would like to be an altar server (you need to have made your First Holy Communion) please sign the alternative list and Deacon Dom will teach you. Adult parishioners can also sign up to be servers!
St Mary’s Special Commemorative Calendars
The special St Mary’s colanders celebrating 125 years of the parish are available to collect or buy (we printed some extra copies) this weekend. Cost per calendar is £7:50.
Have you any Old Foreign Coins?
For one more week….. St Mary’s continues its partnership with “Mary’s Meals” to serve nutritious school meals to children living in some of the world’s poorest countries.” Marys Meals” is already feeding more than two million children every school day. The promise of a good meal attracts hungry children into classrooms, giving them the energy to learn. An inexpensive way to support “Mary’s Meals” during Advent, is to search out any old foreign coins or notes and put them into an envelope and drop them through the presbytery letter box. The charity has an agreement with banks to turn them into “cash” ….and pay for meals. Many thanks to all those posting notes and coins through the presbytery!
Timetable of Christmas Masses at St Mary’s.
There is an additional newsletter in church detailing times of Masses over the Christmas Season. Please take note that on Christmas Day there will be two Masses; 8:30am and 11am.
Christmas Offerings:
The collection at all Masses on Christmas Eve & Day is your gift that contributes to the salary of your priest. Alternatively, you may wish to give Fr Peter a personal gift.
Christmas Confessions:
Fr Peter writes: “Make room for the Christ child by clearing out any faults and failings and receive the gift of God’s forgiveness. I will be in church from 7pm – 8pm on Tuesday happy to give reconciliation. The Blessed Sacrament will be on the altar imparting grace after grace”.
New Year’s Eve 2022
Fr Peter writes: “For the past few years I have tried to celebrate a New Year’s Eve Mass in honour of Our Lady at midnight on 31st December. I see it as a way of beginning the New Year in the presence of Christ, who I know, will be accompanying us through 2023. So on New Year’s Eve I will be celebrating a quiet informal Mass in the Church beginning at Midnight – and you are most welcome to join me.”
Nursery and Primary School 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 or primary school application forms. Please make sure you have completed address and dates of birth before coming to see me.”
Advent Lectio Divina
Fr Peter writes: “On Monday at 7:30pm I will host the last Advent Lectio Divina Zoom.. Lectio Divina includes a short period of prayer followed by discussion about a Gospel reading. Our Gospels are those for each Sunday of Advent (Year A – in the lectionary). Please email peterscott@rcdow.org.uk if you would be interested.
A Thought for Christmas….
“But when finally, the scrolls of history are complete, down to the last word of time, the saddest line of all will be: “There was no room in the inn.”...The inn was the gathering place of public opinion, the focal point of the world's moods, the rendezvous of the worldly, the rallying place of the popular and the successful. But there's no room in the place where the world gathers. The stable is a place for outcasts, the ignored and the forgotten. The world might have expected the Son of God to be born in an inn; a stable would certainly be the last place in the world where one would look for him. The lesson is: divinity is always where you least expect to find it.” Fulton Sheen.
A Christmas Blessing:
“God grant you the light of Christmas,
which is faith;
the warmth of Christmas,
which is purity;
the righteousness of Christmas,
which is justice;
the belief in Christmas,
which is truth;
the all of Christmas,
which is Christ."