Thank you for your offerings last week of £1,162 Mass attendance was 517.  The Comboni Missions collection amounted to £1,088.
Sunday 21/8/16	Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time 6.00pm  Alexander Canning RIP (Canning Family) 9.15am People of the Parish 11.00am  Patrick Kirwan RIP (R & E Wright)
Monday 22/8/16	The Blessed Virgin Mary 9.30am John Mulvey RIP  (Howell Family)
Tuesday 23/8/16	St Rose of Lima 9.30 Edward & Margaret Cushman RIP
Wednesday 24/8/16	St  Bartholomew 9.30am Joel Parker  RIP (Howell Family)
Thursday 25/8/16	St Louis 9.30am Sabastian Braganza RIP (Rebello Family)
Friday 26/8/16	Feria 9.30am Teresa Adams (P Cantopher)
Saturday 27/8/16	Vigil Mass 6.00pm Cynthia Cahill RIP (C Kiely)
Sunday 28/8/16	Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time 9.15am Michelle Headingon RIP (Barbara Bridle) 11.00am People of the Parish
Confessions heard Saturday 5.00pm-5.45pm or by appointment.

Pondering the Word (Lectio Divina)

A quiet reflective look at the following Sunday’s Gospel.  Mondays 11-12 noon here in the church.  All welcome.

“Drop-In” – Evening Surgery

The next Surgery will take place on Tuesday 6th September 5.00–8.00pm.  Please call at 281a Crescent Drive.  No appointments necessary.

Deanery Pilgrimage to Cathedral

There is a home-school-parish deanery pilgrimage to St George’s Cathedral Southwark taking place on Saturday 17^th September 10.30am for 11.00am.  It would be great to have some parishioners at the service representing our parish.  If you are able to attend please notify the Parish Office early September.  There are no costs incurred but parishioners will need to cover their own transportation costs and may want to take lunch.

Mount Street Jesuit Centre

Deepening our Awareness of God Within Us

There are some places left on this 9-month part time course, which has been running since 2004.  The course uses Ignatian spirituality to foster the connection between life and prayer.  It includes many different ways of praying, reflecting and listening to help “find God in all things”.  The location for the course is the Mount Street Jesuit Centre, 114 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1K 3A

For further inforamtion please view the website www.msjc.org.uk.

We remember in our prayers today, Noreen Alford-Smith, a deceased parishioner, whose first anniversary is on Sunday.  Noreen’s family are visiting the parish this weekend and we extend to them a warm welcome.

“It is a great grace of God to practise self-examination

but too much is as bad as too little.

Believe me,

by God’s help we shall advance more

by contemplating God’s goodness and holiness

than by keeping our eyes fixed on ourselves.’

St Teresa of Avila

Parish Groups

Youth Retreat 30th September-2nd October 2016 – few remaining spaces!

The Parish Youth Team are organising a retreat on the above dates at St Vincent’s Centre Whitstable.  All young adults that have been confirmed are invited to attend this retreat.  The cost will be £75.00.  If you could confirm your interest to the Parish Office via telephone 01689 827100 or email parish.office@stjamespettswood.org.

Christ The King Youth Day – 19th November

The Catholic Youth Ministry Christ the King Youth Day will take place on Saturday 19^th November here at St James from 12.00pm-5.30pm and will be followed by a Youth Mass at 6.00pm.  There will be activites throughout the day and refreshments will  be provided.  This event is open to all young people across the Bromley Deanery in school years 7 and above.  If you would like to attend please inform the Parish Office.

Monday Club

The Monday Club meets in the Hall at 1.30 – 4 pm each week.  Everyone is welcome, all ages.  Activities include crafts, outdoor French Boules (in the garden) indoor curling, tri-dominos, table tennis and lots more.  Tea and Coffee and a chat.  £1 contribution welcome.

One of the groups participating on Mondays is the Craft Group who make items to be sold at autumn and Christmas Fairs all in aid of the building fund.  Some bring along their own projects to work on and enjoy the companionship.  If anyone has any experience in amateur leatherwork, please come along as there are some lovely leather pieces available to work on. 

Bromley Foodbank

Currently the most urgent needs are for :

Tinned fruit, ‘cold’ meat (ham, spam etc.), ‘hot’ meat (i.e.  tinned meat that can be heated to form the basis of a hot meal), tinned vegetables (especially peas, green beans and carrots), potatoes (tinned or packets of instant mash), custard, rice puddings and squash.  Food is the priority, but toiletries are still needed too.  Please help if you can.  Thank you.  J&P Group

Justice Matters Traidcraft Campaign

Some irresponsible British companies are exploiting or abusing people and the environment in developing countries in ways which would not be tolerated here.  This is a nationwide campaign to call on the Government to update the law so that large companies can be prosecuted in the UK for the most serious cases of causing harm abroad.  Please consider adding your name to this petition, the forms are at the back of the church.  There is more information on the notice board or go to the www.traidcraft.co.uk/justicecampaign and you can also sign the petition online.  J&P Group

Eucharistic Ministers and Readers

Diary dates

Fr David would like to meet with both the Eucharist Ministers and the Readers in September as follows:

Eucharistic Ministers on Monday 12 September at 8pm in the Church

Readers on Monday 19 September at 8pm in the Church.

Jam Jars Required

454g size.  Please leave in the box in the Church Porch or speak to Frank Simon.  We eagerly look forward to damson jam produced from the parish garden in the coming weeks. 

Prayer is Oxygen for the Soul

Prayer is oxygen for the soul.  Just as the body needs to breathe, so we need to allow our souls to draw in deeply the love that is the very source of our existence. 

Often we bring to prayer the hectic pace that can pervade our days.  And then we can wonder why there was no awareness of the Lord’s presence.  Many blessings of consolation and guidance and encouragement are not received because the vessel our heart is already filled, busy about many things. 

So, rather than rushing into prayer, it is good to change pace and prepare our hearts.  We slow down, find some solitude, move into silence and still the mind and heart.  “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen’ (Matthew 6:6).  We consciously enter into our inner sanctuary.  A sacred space can greatly help.  For some of us, it may be a corner of a room with a comfortable chair and a crucifix and Bible on a table, for others it may be a quiet spot at the back of a church we pass daily on the way to work. 

There is a power in simple rituals to help us centre the heart and mind.  Some of us may light a candle before an icon or cross.  Others of us may bless ourselves slowly and prayerfully, invoking the Spirit to lead us in prayer. 

We bring our bodies to prayer.  If we notice that we are carrying tension in our bodies, we can sit straight and breathe in slowly and gently, holding our breath briefly before exhaling.  Doing this several times can help ease stress and calm the body.  All of this is both a preparation for prayer and a prayer itself. 

The image of our heart as an open vessel ready to receive, has been used to describe the interior disposition that most blesses us in prayer.  We take time to prepare our heart so that we come before the Lord receptive and docile to his grace. 

A powerful prayer of trust that gives the Lord freedom in our prayer might be: ‘Jesus, all that you want to give me, I long to receive.  All that you long to do in me, with all my heart I want it to happen.’

Extract from The Simplest Prayer by The Irish Franciscans