Dear friends,
Today at 6pm we will again be joined by the Willan Singers for a special Sung Mass (no public Evening Prayer): volunteers are kindly requested, both at 4pm to help set up the church for refreshments, and/or to bring a cake to the party afterwards – all welcome!
Our readings this weekend at Mass deal with the disciplines and duties enjoined on us as Christians, which – Jesus stresses – must not be a matter of mere external conformity, but of heartfelt conformation to God’s Word. He speaks of this word as a seed ‘which has been planted in you and can save your souls‘: as such, it is both something which grows within us – as we mature in our discipleship; but also something which we must nurture – by a daily and deliberate attention to the practice of the Faith.
Volunteers are likewise requested to help set up the Hall on Saturday at 6.30pm, in advance of our bring-and-share parish lunch after Mass on Sunday, to welcome our new pastoral assistant, Ryan Davey, as he begins his year on placement at St Mary’s. Ryan will be talking about his journey, and the pastoral assistancy scheme, during Saturday’s Vigil Mass and Sunday’s Parish Mass. Please bring your food to share to the Hall before Mass.
There will also be the opportunity to meet Ryan (and other members of the 2024-25 (Willesden Area) cohort of the Ministry Experience Scheme on Saturday evening, when they will join us for Evening Prayer at 5pm, the Vigil Mass at 6pm, and drinks thereafter with the congregation.
Two thirds of this calendar year have now passed – and our Usual Sunday Attendance (at Mass) stands at 57(with our Average Sunday Attendance at 63): this is somewhat below our target USA, of 61. To achieve this goal, USA henceforward must be at least 67 people each week – and to do this is therefore in your hands.
Please sign up in church to come to St John, Kensal Green at 5pm on Sunday, 8 September, for Evensong and a barbecue: we will depart together from Kenton Station at 3.50pm; please likewise sign up to come to Evensong at Westminster Abbey on Sunday, 29 September, at 3pm.
Thank you for your donations in August in aid of Caritas Bakhita House: our external giving in September will be in support of the Harrow FoodBank. On Sunday, 29 September – at our Harvest Festival – we will invite your customary donations of groceries for the FoodBank (which, at present, especially requires tinned or packet foods; long-life milk and juices; cooking oil; porridge, and instant coffee) – but, until then, we also invite your cash donations to sustain this vital work. Please pick up an information leaflet in church, and please use a Gift Aid envelope as appropriate.
Between Sunday, 1 September and Sunday, 3 November we will be trialling ten new scented incenses at Mass, made of natural frankincense sourced from sustainable boswellia forests in Ethiopia – and we would love to know your thoughts! Use this link to select which of the scents you most enjoy: the link will remain open until Monday, 4 November – and the name of each scent will be printed each week in the Mass booklets. Exceptionally this weekend, one of these new incenses – made with 100% natural myrrh – will also be used at the 6pm Vigil Mass on Saturday.
(Please also note that on Sunday, 3 November there will be no 10.30am Mass: Mass will instead be at 5pm (and followed by a party), in celebration of St Leonard’s Day: our guest preacher will be Fr David Bateman, Assistant Priest in the Southampton City Centre Catholic Parish.)
Finally, a reminder that we will enjoy another bring-and-share parish lunch together after Mass (and Sprinkling with Walsingham water) on Sunday, 22 September, as we celebrate our Patronal Festival in honour of Our Lady of Walsingham (and mark my own second anniversary as your parish priest!) Please let Pat Edwards know what you can bring – it may be simplest just to repeat your offering for this Sunday!
Please find attached the 2024 concert programme from St Andrew, Kingsbury, as well as a flier for an upcoming concert at St Andrew’s on 21 September, featuring music from weddings and funerals. Please also pick up from church a flier for our Macmillan Coffee Morning, on Saturday 28 September, 10.30am-3pm in the Hall.
May our prayer arise before you like incense, O Lord,
Fr Richard