Dear friends,
This evening (Thursday, 30 May) Fr Jason has kindly agreed to officiate at Evening Prayer (5.45pm) and Mass (6pm), in my absence and the absence of Fr Mike: please attend these services, if you are able to do so – to acknowledge Fr Jason’s kindness and generosity towards our parish.
A reminder to PCC members that our Away Day takes place this coming Saturday, 1 June, at St Luke’s Hospice: arrival is from 10am, to start at 10.30. Please bring a pen. In consequence of the Away Day, there will be no public Morning Prayer on Saturday, or morning Mass.
This Sunday, tickets will be on sale (from Pat) for our forthcoming Parish Barbecue, the afternoon of Saturday, 6 July. The cost is £12.50/adult, and £5/under-18 – and, as this is both a social event and a fundraising opportunity for the parish, we are asking everyone who attends to bring either a salad, a side dish or a dessert to share. There will be a glass of rum punch (or non-alcoholic punch) on arrival: please also bring any other drinks you wish to have with your meal. There will be a raffle – and we now invite donations of raffle prizes; please invite your friends, and help spread the word! We would still like to hear from additional volunteers to help with the preparation or cooking of the barbecue food, and/or with setting up, serving and clearing away: there will be a further planning meeting after Mass on Sunday 30 June.
This Sunday is also the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, an occasion of thanksgiving for the Eucharist: at the end of the 10.30am Mass, there will be a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, and Benediction. The serving team this should arrive at 10am, please, for a briefing.
As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI remarked, the bread of the Eucharist tells the story of salvation: the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, and from this comes new life, as the seed grows into a wheat plant; the ear of wheat is, in turn, ground to dust and the resultant flour subject to fire – and in this process, the bread rises, to give strength to those who consume it. The wheat grain, the flour, the broken bread all tell the story of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection – a story into which we are incorporated each and every time we assist at Mass. ‘The mystery of the Passion is hidden in the bread made of ground grain… Only through death does resurrection arrive, as does fruit and new life.’
Likewise this Sunday, we are very much looking forward to welcoming back to St Mary’s former churchwarden Trish Royle, her husband Mike and their family – as Trish and Mike celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. All are welcome to join them after Mass, for a party in the Hall: congratulations!
Next week on Friday, 7 June, the 9.30am Mass will be followed by a complimentary continental breakfast, in celebration of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart: all welcome! Please note the change of venue for the Society of the Maintenance of the Faith Annual Festival on Saturday, 15 June: the Mass (at 12 noon) will now be celebrated at St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, in the City of London. We are also invited to the Collation and Induction of Fr Stephen Brown as Vicar of St Anselm, Hayes at 7pm on Monday, 17 June.
Please remember now to return your Additional Curates Society donations boxes, to be counted; please give generously, during the month of June, to our second collection for the West London Kidney Patients Association.
May the Lord grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Christ’s Body and Blood as always to enjoy the fruits of His Redemption,
Fr Richard