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Thank you for your offerings last week of £1345.61 and £1562.05 for CAFOD. Mass attendances were 711.
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Sunday 11/10/15 |
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
6pm Saturday Anthony Olivelle RIP (M Olivelle)
9.15am People of the Parish
11.00am Tom Webb RIP
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Monday 12/10/15
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Feria/St. Wilfrid, Bishop
9.30am Kenneth Jackson RIP (Jackson Family)
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Tuesday 13/10/15 |
St Edward the Confessor
9.30am Louise Mages (CWL)
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Wednesday 14/10/15 |
Feria/St. Callistis I, Pope & Martyr
9.30am John P O’Connor RIP |
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Thursday 15/10/15 |
St. Teresa of Jesus
9.30am Requiem Mass for Louise Mages
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Friday 16/10/15 |
Feria/St. Hedwig
9.30am Noreen Alford-Smith RIP (J & M Clark)
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Saturday 17/10/15 |
Vigil Mass
6.00pm In Loving Memory of Joshua Canning (Anniversary – Canning Family)
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Sunday 18/10/15 |
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
9.15am David Kelly RIP – 2nd Anniversary (M Kelly)
11.00am People of the Parish
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Confessions heard Saturday 5.00pm-5.45pm or by appointment. |
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Fr David writes ….
As human beings we are all on a journey. All the choices that we make are fuelled by our need to find happiness. Our restless hearts are fuelled by our need for safety, security and love. We try to create a life for ourselves and our families which is comfortable financially and for this aim we do work hard and make sacrifices. Financial security gives us a sense of control. Once we have achieved this aim though, we very quickly realise that our hearts are still restless. That our hearts are searching for something deeper. Some of us mistake this restlessness as an invitation to fill it up with more wealth, with larger houses, with a better social status, with fame, with keeping up with the Jones and with addictions of all kinds. At this point the restlessness takes over our control and sometimes we need to hit rock bottom to realise that our search has taken us on the wrong path. Addictions can take many forms as we know. Our restlessness needs to take us on another path – on a spiritual journey. As any person who has or is undergoing the AA programme is aware – the first step of the twelve is to admit that one cannot control one’s alcoholism, addiction or compulsion. And the second is to recognize that only a higher power can restore us to sanity.
Our pursuit for happiness demands a kind of conversion and set us on a deeper spiritual journey. Deep down that is the reason I believe consciously or unconsciously that we do come to church. We need to be fed spiritually. We know deep down that we are not merely material beings. We know that we are also spiritual beings and that the spirit needs nourishment as much as the material. I believe that Jesus has the nourishment that we long and yearn for. Jesus understands the depths of our being. He goes straight to our hearts and minds. He knows what makes us tick. Look at this man who comes to Jesus in all sincerity and asks how he can have some of this eternal life that Jesus has been preaching about. He is a good man, not a sinner, who does everything required of him by the Law of Moses, and does it willingly with a good heart. He was an honest seeker and was respectful of Jesus when they met, even kneeling before him to show his humility and deference in the face of Jesus, the teacher. We are even told that Jesus loved the man. That could be anyone of us. The man probably expected Jesus to praise what he had been doing and to tell him to keep on doing it if he wanted eternal life. But Jesus doesn’t say that. Jesus gets down deeper. Jesus looks into his heart and sees what is really stopping him from going all the way – his love for his material things and the money he has saved up or put aside. When Jesus tells he man that the added thing he can do to assure eternal life for himself was to divest himself of all his material possessions by giving it all away to the poor, to trust in God that there will still be treasure for doing so and follow Jesus as a disciple, the man was unable to make that commitment. He goes away grieving, dejected because he could not make that big a commitment to ensure his eternal life. Would we be any different? He was too much attached to his riches. His riches must have given him a lot of security and identity. Somehow his wealth prohibited him to let go and risk for the sake of his spiritual journey.
Attachments can come in different forms as well. They can be anything. Attachment to things, to possessions, to people. Somehow I feel in today’s gospel, we are challenged once again to re-examine our priorities. What gives meaning to my life? Possessions or relationships? We are invited this weekend I feel to yearn for inner freedom. That possessions are there to serve us to live comfortable lives and not to become gods for us. We are invited to first of all thank God for his blessings in our lives but at the same time to think of others less fortunate than us. We are invited to share with others. To think of others who are poor. We are ultimately invited to move away from our sometimes comfortable ego-centricity and reach out to those in need in one way or another. Happiness comes from sharing and giving. Let us remember the beautiful prayer of St Francis “…….. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life”.
“Drop-In” – Evening Surgery
This week, I will be available between 5.00pm and 9.00pm on Tuesday 13th October, in the Parish Office, 281a Crescent Drive. If you wish to speak to me about any matter, please feel free to come along. No appointments are necessary. Fr David.
Second Collection
Will take place this weekend for the Maintenance Fund.
Parish Centre Update
Following the asbestos removal exercise, work has restarted on the refurbishment and the Contractor still expects to be completed before Christmas. Fitting of the replacement windows is scheduled to start this week.
Baptism Preparation Classes
Will take place this Monday 12th October in the Parish Meeting Room, 281a Crescent Drive, for those parents that have been invited. (Please note change of venue).
Reminders - Church Cleaning!
Saturday 17th October – Readers
Saturday 24th October – Eucharistic Ministers
Morning Prayers
Take place Monday – Friday at 9.10am. All are welcome to attend.
Holy Baptism
This weekend we welcome Austin David Chapple and his parents Amy and David. We also welcome Jack Anthony Bernard Knott and his parents Arvie and Andrew.
First Holy Communion 2016
If you would like your child to take part in our parish program for First Holy Communion, please complete an application form – on table at the back of the Church. Please then return the full slip to the Parish Office (281A Crescent Drive) by Sunday 11th October.
Churches Together
The Churches of Petts Wood are arranging a joint event on Saturday 24 October called One World Day to heighten awareness of issues confronting the world today and to show our community as one people throughout the world. We at St James will be taking part. The plight of refugees is one topic that will be covered and I have arranged for a speaker from the Jesuit Refugee Service to speak. The Churches have each been asked to provide food representing the traditions of the countries of one particular continent. We have been asked to prepare food from any of the countries of Europe (which includes any part of the UK and the Republic of Ireland). Would anyone who is able to contribute food for this please contact Mary O'Mahony on mary.omahony@stjamespettswood.org
Annual Day of Recollection for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and Readers
This will take place on Saturday 14th November at Bishop Thomas Grant School, Belltrees Grove, SW16 2HY, registration at 10.30am. The day will be led by Fr Ashley Beck, from St Edmund of Canterbury, Beckenham. Bishop Patrick Lynch will end the day with Mass at 3.00pm. All Ministers of Holy Communion and Readers are encouraged to attend. Please email or call the parish office so that we can reply with the names of those that are attending.
New Church Cleaning Rota
We are proposing to reinstate a rota of volunteers to clean the church each week. If you would like to go on the rota please contact the parish office. Please note - the current rota will still be used until further notice.
Pondering the Word (Lectio Divina)
A quiet reflective look at the following Sunday’s Gospel. Mondays 11-12 noon here in the Church.
Volunteers needed for the Petts Wood Playgroup for Children with Special Needs.
Members of this Parish have helped at this Playgroup based in the URC Church, Willett Way, in the past, but now only three people are regularly involved. An "escort" is also urgently required on the mini-bus on Friday mornings, starting at 8.30 am. This is a paid position. For further details please contact Mrs Larry Simpson (Tel: 01689 872053) or Mrs Madeleine Howell (a parishioner). Please consider whether you could give some time to help with this very worthwhile group."
JPIC Southwark Autumn Assembly 2015
The Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Southwark Autumn Assembly 2015 will take place on Saturday, 17 October at The Pavilion, CAFOD, Romero House, 55 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7JB from 10am to 4pm. Theme for the Day: Can We Eradicate Poverty? See poster on notice board.
Climate change petition
CAFOD has asked all parishes in England and Wales to sign a petition addressed to the Prime Minister, urging him to take a strong message to the UN Climate talks in Paris in early December. The petition will be available to sign after all Masses this weekend. If you would like to add your name, you will find the forms and pens at the back of church. In summary, the petition says "inspired by Pope Francis and Laudato Si', we call on you to show leadership nationally and internationally so that agreements on tackling climate change and poverty are fair and ambitious".