CREATION MASS FOR HARVEST
5/6th October 2014
At all Masses this weekend, Fr Bryan celebrated using additional liturgy which had been kindly offered to St James’ by St John Bosco in Reading. St John’s parish has already won its LiveSimply award and we were delighted to use the special penitential rite, bidding prayers and words of final blessing. We added a responsorial version of the Our Father with words particularly appropriate to harvest and the world’s hungry. The idea of One World was represented by a large inflatable globe being brought up in the offertory procession and placed in front of the altar.
The weekend coincided with CAFOD’s Harvest Fast Day collection. We also organised a collection of tinned and dried food for the Manna Centre which supports the homeless around London Bridge. New Christian life was also celebrated with each of the three Masses including infant baptism. At 9.15am Mass the Children’s Liturgy group thrilled the congregation with a few verses of the LiveSimply song “If you want to change the world, then change your life”. Below you can see pictures of them singing the song and the happy family of baby George Harrison. The Living Simply hymn was sung by the congregation at 9.15am and 11.00am Mass.