Thank you for your offerings last week of £1,468. Mass attendance 612.
6^th January (Saturday Vigil)	The Epiphany Of The Lord 6pm Dr Margaret Evelyn Ledger
Sunday 7^th January	9.15am Francesca Sio RIP (Sio Family) 11am William Ashton RIP (K Griffin)
Monday 8^th January	The Baptism Of The Lord 9.30am Elizabeth Horner RIP (Horner Family)
Tuesday 9^thJanuary	Feria 9.30am Bridie Olivelle RIP (M Olivelle)
Wednesday 10^th January Whole School Mass	Feria 9.30am Anthony Olivelle RIP (M Olivelle)
	10.45am Eucharistic Adoration
Thursday 11^th January	Feria
	9.30am Rose O’Keeffe
Friday 12th January	Feria 9.30am Edna Allen RIP (Simon Family)
13th January (Saturday Vigil)	Second Sunday 6pm Neil Morgan RIP (Morgan Family)
Sunday 14th January	9.15am Francesca Sio RIP (Sio Family) 11am Cathleen Benson RIP (Benson family)

Confessions heard Saturday 5.00-5.45pm or by appointment.

Morning Prayer: Takes place Monday – Friday at 9.10am. All are welcome to attend.

Pondering the Word (Lectio Divina)

A quiet reflective look at the following Sunday’s Gospel. Mondays 11am - 12 noon, except for Bank Holidays, here in the church. All welcome.

Sunday Mornings in the Community Centre

Every Sunday coffee and tea is served after the 9.15am and 11am Masses. Please join us for a while and get to know each other over a cuppa!

Second collection

The second collection on 13-14th January will be the White Flower appeal for SPUC (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children). This cannot be gift-aided.

Christmas Thank You

I would like to thank those of you who helped make our Christmas celebrations so wonderful. The decorations, flowers, crib and the entire church looked lovely. Also to all the Servers, choirs, instrumentalists and everyone who take part in the Masses. Also, on behalf of myself and Fr Barry, I would like to thank you for all your cards, gifts and generosity too. Fr David.

Fr David writes…

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”. Poem: Little Gidding – TS Eliot. In his other poem “Journey of the Magi”, TS Eliot challenges the idealised depiction of the three gold crowned “wise men” ride camelback towards Bethlehem, faithfully following a bright, guiding star and certain of their destination, they take their place in the Silent Night tableaux. He offers a more realistic interpretation of the original Christ seekers. Eliot in his three stanzas depicts a journey towards, an arrival and a journey away. Each leg of this journey has its difficulties and its value. Journeying towards Christ comes not with eager anticipation but frustration, arrival signifies not final perfection but temporary satisfaction and journeying away is both a birth and a death. Thus, according to Eliot, Christianity is a journey of gradual difficult discovery rather than sudden, glorious epiphany. For Eliot, the journey of the Magi becomes both personal and universal. There is according to Eliot an element of the Dark night of the soul in every journey which becomes a painful journey of purification. One experiences isolation and temptation. This individual quest takes a great length of time. Along the journey through a dark night, Eliot suggests one’s surroundings do not point logically or scientifically to a destination. There are no comprehensible road signs or maps. And despite this absence of mental information, there is a presence of spiritual satisfaction. In finding a place – merely a rude stable – they experience both emotional disappointment and spiritual satisfaction as if both needs to co-exist. It is the event – the journey itself – that is significant not the place itself. This is the heart of Eliot’s spirituality – the ability to journey with a sense of acceptance for the realities of coming and going, of birth and death.

It definitely depicts the reality of our interior spiritual journey too. It is a great temptation for some of us to envisage our journey as a linear journey with sure signposts and maps. This helps us feel that we are in control over our lives and without our knowing, of God himself. We love to box Him into a nicely packed parcel. Journeys are never linear. From early childhood our stories of quests where the hero will leave the world of the familiar and sets out for an unknown country in search of something or someone special. Journeys demand risking. Some of us choose to remain put for one reason or another. Sometimes because we must because of familiar obligations or sometimes it is much more convenient to remain in the familiar. It is much more secure. Even though geographically we remain on familiar ground, on another level we still need to embark on our interior journey. In other words, no one can escape from the reality of quest. Others find journeys as a definition of their identity. Their interior self-quenches for more. They cannot remain in one place for a long time. Their landscape becomes large and their lack of stability becomes a hindrance to put down any roots. These are those who are incapable of making commitments of any sort and they are driven by the next project, the next best thing. They find themselves constantly on the run. Believing that happiness and meaning abides somewhere else from the here and now. On one hand these people remind us that we are all pilgrims on this earth. That we cannot attach ourselves completely to places and things and people. Yet on the other hand these people lack groundedness. Whoever we are, our outward journey always profoundly mirrors our internal quest for meaning and happiness. Once we are open, we encounter people and situations who help us or hinder us in our search. Both though are opportunities of growth and learnings.

Matthew is the one evangelist who tells the story of the Magi. We are told of the story of the Magi, pagan astrologers who do indeed find the Christ-child and bring him their gifts. In writing this Gospel towards the end of the first century, Matthew is aware that Judaism has rejected Jesus as the Christ while many pagans have accepted him. That situation is reflected in the story when we see King Herod and the Jewish Leaders united in their rejection of Jesus, while the pagan travellers from a faraway land come to worship the child King of the Jews. They might have taken a route that seemed curious to a religious establishment that had so many antique maps and scriptures in its possession, but God draws all sorts of different people to him by all sorts of different routes. The wandering Magi were led to God more by natural wonder than dogmatic instruction and this has made them symbols of hope for all who struggle to God by strange routes. The Magi are the patrons of all those who see signposts to God that others neither see nor follow. Most of us travel to God by the routes that have been mapped out by generations of faithful Christians, but we should be hesitant to condemn those who take other roads in their search for the same God. If we are all exploring God, if we are journeying in faith and love, then we can teach each other something new about God. We may seem strange to each other, but what if the stranger is the one who has the address of God? What a shock that might be!

“Drop-In” Evening Surgeries

The first drop in of the year is on Wednesday the 10^th January 2018. There is no surgery on Wednesday 17th January.

Liturgy Pillar

Eucharist Adoration - takes place for an hour each Wednesday shortly after the morning Mass starting at 10.45 am and finishing at 11.45 am. This Devotion to the Eucharist is a time of silent prayer and quiet music. Everyone is welcome for all or part of this time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

Pastoral Pillar

'Dementia Friends’

On Saturday 13th January from 9.30am to 10.30am Nikki Fishman, Community Development Worker for Bromley Dementia Support Hub will be returning to St James’ to talk to us about the work of ‘Dementia Friends’. All are welcome and if you know of any one outside St James’ who may be interested, please invite them to come along. The meeting will take place in the Community Centre. We look forward to seeing you.

Evangelisation Pillar

Readers Meeting

On Monday 22nd January at 8pm in the church there will be a meeting for all existing Readers and anyone interested in becoming a Reader.

Eucharistic Ministers

On Monday 12th February at 8pm in the church there will be a meeting for all existing Eucharistic Ministers and anyone interested in becoming a Eucharistic Minister.

Communication Pillar

We are looking for someone to help with updating the Parish website and advise on the best way to use the Facebook page. If you are able to help please contact the parish office – parish.office@stjamespettswood.org

Thank You.

Youth Pillar

St James’ Youth Group

The next Junior Youth Group will be held on Saturday 13th January in the Community centre from Noon to 2pm. £1.50 per session - which includes lunch.

Justice and Peace

Foodbank news

The organisers report that the current needs have changed because of excellent collections from the churches of Bromley. At present they are not short of any food stock but toiletries and household items are needed. Strong bags (e.g. ‘bags for life) are also very useful. Please don’t donate beans, pasta or soup – they have loads!  Thank you, J&P Group.

Seeing a Chaplain if You Are Admitted to Hospital

· Protecting personal information (data protection) is really important when you become an inpatient in hospital.

· So please specifically ask hospital staff to pass on your details to the hospital’s Roman Catholic chaplain as soon as you are admitted if you would like a Chaplain to visit you.

· Fr David would always be very happy to visit you too, so please ask a relative or friend to let him know about your admission. You, or they, can email Fr David on father.david@stjamespettswood.org, or phone the parish office on 01689 827100.

Weekend Rotas: Thank you for helping.

Saturday 13th January 2018
Cleaning the Church	Uniformed Groups, Readers

Wednesday Coffee 17th January

M Gyi, S Barradell, B D’Arcy

14th January 2018
Mass	Saturday 6pm (Vigil)	Sunday 9.15am	Sunday 11am
Welcomers	I Garcia Finan	C Cook L Thomas	Uniformed Groups
Readers	P Dabrowski I Stewart	H Denham S Cotta	Parade Mass
Ministers of Holy Communion	R Wright A Guyton P Cantopher H Rothon J Bajorek	B Cotta W David B D’Arcy T Forde D Hairs	Z Bajorek T Troy A Bunnage P Murray V Terry
Bar			P Benson M Wright
Coffee		G & D Brookes	T Troy J Cosgrave
Altar Servers	P Marshall R & F Norman-Brown J Monaghan		Church Parade Z & E Teare Paulina

Tellers

M Shea, T Wrafter, K Evans