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Thank
you for your offerings last week of £1,472.
Mass attendance 719. |
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28th April (Saturday Vigil) |
Fifth Sunday of Easter 6pm Kathleen McCabe RIP
(McCabe Family) |
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Sunday 29th April |
9.15am People of The Parish 11am David Hawkins RIP (The
Hawkins Family) |
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Monday 30th April |
Feria 9.30am People in Syria (CWL) |
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Tuesday 1st May |
Feria 9.30am Thanks to the Holy Spirit |
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Wednesday 2nd May |
St Athanasius 9.30am Thanks to St Jude |
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10.45am Eucharistic Adoration |
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Thursday
3rd May |
Saints Philip &
James |
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9.30am Private Intention |
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Friday 4th May |
The English Martyrs 9.30am Mrs Joan
Crosland (Crosland Family) 7.30pm Eucharistic Adoration |
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5th May (Saturday Vigil) |
Sixth Sunday of
Easter 6pm Edward Pereira RIP (N
Pereira) |
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Sunday 6th May |
9.15am People of The Parish 11am Sharon Fernandes RIP (L&P
Da Cunha) |
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
are 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
This week’s second
collection is for St George’s Cathedral.
Fr David writes…
According to
psychological studies, Attachment, in parenting, is usually referring to the
relationship which develops first between the infant/child and his primary
caregiver who is often but not necessarily the mother. The quality of this attachment impacts the
child’s physical, emotional, psychological, cognitive and spiritual development. The quality of this primary relationship
shapes the child’s basic ability to trust and how positively or negatively
he/she views the world, themselves and others.
The quality of this first attachment impacts and colours all other
relationships. When the child
experiences consistent care where his/her needs are met, he/she internalises
three things mainly – I am safe, I am heard, and I am valuable. With this as foundation, the child can then
develop other healthy relationships. On
the other hand children who have had breaks from their primary caregiver,
unmitigated pain, abuse, neglect or in other ways have not had their needs met
can often be impaired in their ability to develop healthy emotionally
attachments in the future. However we
need to keep in mind that attachment is on a spectrum. From healthy to insecure to disorganised. Healthy attachment gives us a guarantee and a
base from where we can be creative and flourish in our lives. Healthy attachment like insecure attachment
is internalised and affects the way we see ourselves, others, the world and God.
In today’s Gospel,
Jesus makes use of a beautiful metaphor to help us understand the significance
of a healthy attachment that needs to happen between Him and us in our
spiritual life. Jesus begins with the
solemn affirmation “I am the true vine”.
To grasp the meaning and also the challenging
part of this sentence, it is necessary to note that the vineyard of the Lord,
sung by the prophets, was Israel. She
was the vine that had produced abundant fruits of faithfulness. The vine-Israel had been planted in the
fertile soil of a hill, but disappointed his God and she begun to produce sour
grapes. However the works that God
begins never end in failure. Jesus is
the vine and his disciples, which form the branches, are part of him and it is
from them that the Lord expects delicious fruits, justice, righteousness, love:
for this he acts as a gardener, as vinedresser, he breaks off and prunes them. The trimming and pruning were carried out by
the farmers in different seasons of the year.
The first was during the winter and consisted in the removal of
unnecessary branches, the second, done in August was intended to remove the
weakest shoots to foster the best. To
prune and to trim are not images of retaliation, but God’s care for every
person and every disciple. Being called
by Christ does not put one in the position of automatically producing fruit. The dead branches are not individuals who are
less good, but every human being who is on this journey of constant need for
purification – for growth.
We are all on a journey. The essence of the journey is that we are
centred in Christ. The energy within us
needs to flow from the vine. And in order to do this, we need to be attached to Him – the
Vine. How are we to cultivate this
relationship with God. First of all we need to acknowledge that God is important in
our lives. That our soul needs the
spiritual nourishment. This does not
just happen. We need to put aside some
time during the day in order to reconnect spiritually
with ourselves and God. Prayer takes a
lot of different shapes and forms. We
need to find our own way to connect with God.
Prayer is not an end in itself. There is no perfect prayer. Prayer is a means to an end – which is
attachment with God. How do we consider
our attachment with God? Is it a healthy
attachment? One which has grown
organically and deep down wherever we are, we feel reassured of the presence of
God within us? Or is it an insecure
attachment with God? We only search for
God in times of need for example? We are
not sure where God loves us or even cares for us? Once we experience this love, then we are
opened to be pruned. We are not immune to
human pain and suffering. It is in these
moments of crisis of faith that somehow manifests the strength of our
attachment to God or not. Of course, at
these times, we would feel off balance and we would still question. But if the attachment is real, it will carry
us through. The attachment with the vine
will somehow give meaning to the experience.
We feel carried and cared for. That
is a blessing!
Another thing is that
the vine does not produce works of love for him/herself, for the
self-satisfaction of his own moral perfection nor to get a prize from God. Their reward is the joy of seeing someone
happy, verifying that the love of God was manifested through him/her. The image of the Vine and branches which has
been given to us this weekend reminds us primarily about the importance of
continuing to cultivate this mutual relationship. It affects our relationship with ourselves,
others and the world in general. Let us
reflect – how would we describe our attachment to the Vine at this point in our
lives? Have a blessed and safe week!
“Drop-In”
Evening Surgeries
Please note that the
next surgery will be on Wednesday the 2nd May 2018. Fr David will be available at 281A Crescent
Drive from 5.00-7.00pm and no appointment is necessary.
Baptism
This weekend we welcome, through Holy Baptism, Phoebe Charlotte Sudario Mulhall and her parents Joseph and Malka.
Pastoral Pillar
Service at St James the Great to mark Dementia Awareness Week.
On Sunday 20th May at 3pm you are warmly
invited to a service here at St James’ to mark the start of Dementia Awareness
Week which is from Monday 21st May to Sunday 27th May. The service will be led by Fr David and take
place in the Church. It will be a time
of singing, poetry and prayer followed by refreshments in the Community Centre. We do hope you can join us.
Healing Mass
This will take place on Sunday 27th
May at 2.30pm, followed by refreshments in the Community Centre. Should you require a
lift to and from the Healing Mass please contact the parish office giving your
name, telephone number and address. A
member of the SVP will then contact you to make the necessary arrangements.
Helplines and Counselling Services
As part of our care for the community a list of helplines and counselling
services has now been added to the parish website and also, placed in the
porch. The purpose of this is to give
contact details of various organisations which can provide help in difficult
times thereby enabling people to seek privately the information and support
they may need.
Social Pillar
April CWL monthly
meeting
The next meeting of the Petts Wood CWL will be on
Monday 31st April in the Community Centre (in the Small Hall) at 8pm. Non-members are very welcome to join us for
the evening to learn more about the Catholic Women's League which is an
organisation with sections in many different parts of
the world, not just Petts Wood.
NEW “Film Club”
In exploring ways to encourage greater social
interaction within the Parish, we have decided to introduce a periodic St
James’ Film night to be held in the Community Centre. This is aimed at age 18 & above.
Our aim is to run these once a month, starting on Saturday 5 May.
Our first film will be I, Daniel Blake,
directed by Ken Loach. This highly
acclaimed, gritty drama won several major awards, including the Palme d’Or at
the 2016 Cannes Film Festival & the 2017 BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. It will be shown at 8.00pm, & runs for 100 minutes. The bar will be open following the 6pm Mass
& attendees are welcome to bring their own ready prepared food to eat
before the lights go down.
The second Film Night is planned for Saturday 9 June, again at 8pm. This time we will be showing La Vie en Rose, a 2007 French biographical,
musical film about the life of French singer, Édith
Piaf. It too received several accolades
including two OSCARs, two BAFTAs, & a Golden Globe. Running time 140 minutes.
Whilst there
will be no entrance charge to these events, there be an opportunity for
attendees to donate at the door towards different causes which our Parish is
supporting. The first will be to raise
funds for our St James’ Memory Café.
We look
forward to seeing you!
CWL Military Whist
Our
eagerly awaited annual Military Whist Drive will be held on Saturday 12th May
in the Community Centre. It is a fun
evening for 10 - 100 year olds. Light
refreshments will be served, there will be a raffle and the bar will be open. Tickets £6.
Come along at 7.30 if you would like to learn how to play whist,
otherwise please arrive in time to buy your drinks ready for the 8 pm start.
Knights of St Columba
Flavio Iorio will be
taking part in a charity bike ride which is being organized by the Rotary Club
of St Leonards-on-Sea. This year Flavio
will be following the shorter route of 25 miles, being totally unfit and not
having used his bike for over two years now.
If you would like to sponsor him there will be a
sponsorship form in the church entrance.
The monies donated by you will go to St Michael's Hospice (a care home
for the terminally ill) and the Hastings Lifeboat (75%), as well as to the
Knights of St Columba for good causes (25%). Good
luck as usual Flavio!
Justice & Peace
Foodbank
The list of needs has changed and is now: tinned
potatoes, tinned tomatoes, tinned soup, long life fruit juice, jam, rice,
shampoo, toothbrushes, baby wipes, washing up liquid and washing powder. Thank you for continuing to donate these much
needed supplies.
Seeking Job
We have a parishioner who is an experienced
domestic cleaner looking for work, housekeeping, ironing, cooking and cleaning. She has references. Please contact the parish office for more
details.
Polite Reminder
The Parish
disabled parking spaces are for Blue Badge holders only.
Seeing a Chaplain if
You Are Admitted to Hospital
·
Protecting personal information (data protection) is really
important when you become an inpatient in hospital.
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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.
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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.
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Saturday 5th May 2018 |
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Cleaning the Church |
P
Driscoll, J Rogerson, M Mitrovic (Tuesday team –
8th May) |
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Wednesday Coffee 2nd May |
M
Howell and a Volunteer Needed |
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6th May 2018 |
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Mass |
Saturday 6pm (Vigil) |
Sunday 9.15am |
Sunday 11am |
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Welcomers |
A Lench |
L Samuels J Samuels |
G Whitley M Ingledew |
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Readers |
M O’Mahony K Salter |
S Cotta B Cotta |
Z Bajorek H Marvell |
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Ministers of Holy
Communion |
P Cantopher J Bajorek H Rothon M Cahill C Cahill |
B Cotta W David B D’Arcy T Forde K Chan |
A Bunnage P Murray V Terry N Longhurst T Willard |
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Bar |
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P Cosgrave R Monaghan |
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Coffee |
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L Lynch S Barradell |
P Floackhart A Huntington |
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Altar Servers |
J&O McCabe P Marshall R&F Norman-Brown A& D Poulton N Cracknell |
A Lynch |
J Monaghan F Ikenye |
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Tellers |
M Shea,
T Wrafter, K Evans |