Thank you for your offering last week of £1464.05 and £398.67 for Catholic Youth Services.  Mass attendances were 754.

 

Sunday

29/11/15

First Sunday of Advent

 

6pm Saturday  People of the Parish

 

9.15am Kenneth Thomas RIP (L Thomas)

 

11.00am  Sally Ashoka & Family (A & P Powell)

 

Monday

30/11/15

 

St. Andrew, Patron of Scotland

 

9.30am Deceased Members of CWL

 

Tuesday 1/12/15

Feria

 

9.30am Dick Gammie RIP (S & A Barradell)

 

Wednesday

2/12/15

Feria

 

9.30am Chris Barrett RIP (L Barrett & Family)

Thursday

3/12/15

St. Francis Xavier

 

9.30am  Maria Carletti RIP (D Suzzara)

 

Friday

4/12/15

Feria

 

9.30am Pauline Kemp RIP (Harding Family)

 

Saturday

5/12/15

Vigil Mass

 

6.00pm  Efrem Suzzara (D Suzzara)

 

Sunday

6/12/15

Second Sunday of Advent

 

9.15am  Eileen Keane RIP (P Farrant)

 

11.00am  People of the Parish

Confessions heard Saturday 5.00pm-5.45pm or by appointment.

Morning Prayers take place Monday – Friday at 9.10am.  All are welcome to attend.

Fr David writes

Waiting is not a very strong virtue in most of us nowadays.  Delayed gratification is looked down upon.  If we feel the need for something, we need to get it right away.  We tend to want instant results, instant solutions, instant remedies for ailments and instant wealth.  We cannot possibly wait.  There is no time to wait for the right moment.  It has to be done now.  As we grow older though we realise that life does teach us differently.  There is a process that needs to be honoured.  Rome wasn’t built in one day.  If we take a look at nature itself, we can learn about life’s natural process.  There is a definite right time for a plant to grow, there are seasons that need to be respected.  Although nowadays there is a way how we can push the process in obtaining seasonal fruits for every season, we know that the taste is not the same.  We cannot push the process – it needs time.  Thank God there are nine months in waiting for a child to be born.  Psychologically and emotionally the parents need the time to prepare themselves for the new birth.  They need the time to get in touch with the big adjustment they have to make in their lives in order to receive the gift of new life.  The process of a baby in the womb is a good metaphor for waiting.  The mother has no control over what is happening in her.  She just needs to wait.  Sometimes with anxiety, with fear of what might be.  The mother needs to surrender herself to the natural process.  It can be a terrifying time but at the same time a time of excitement for what is to come.

Advent is a time of waiting.  Waiting in darkness.  It is a time of surrendering ourselves to the natural process of life.  We need to do our best to bring things to fruition, yet we need to honour the right timing and sometimes also change direction if we feel that after doing our best, what is desired by us seems not to happen or is meeting with lots of resistance.  This is the time that we need to stop and discern wisely on what the process of life is telling us.  Sometimes the doors we knock are very hard to open.  However we are so entrenched in our desire that we miss out on what the lessons we are being taught there and then.  Sometimes we do not want to listen to the natural process.  Stubbornly we keep on trying – but in vain.   Our desired object might not be the one we would need to pursue but there would be other doors opening for us to new life.  We need to be wise to let go and embrace the new.

We are embarking on our Advent journey this year shrouded by a very cruel world.  Our own world is becoming ever seemingly violent.  A world which we do not feel particularly safe in.  Fear has overshadowed us.  And fear has the ability to paralyse us.  It cripples us.  In today’s gospel, Luke gives us the last address of Jesus’ public ministry.  And Jesus is clearly fretful about the future as he paints a bleak picture of the end of the world.  There is a talk of nations in agony, of bewilderment, of people dying of fear, the power which menaces the world.  It is a nightmare view of total disaster which “will come down on every living man and woman on the face of the earth”.  Nightmares are bad experiences we usually wake up from, not experiences we stay awake for.  Yet that is Jesus’ advice: “Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen”.

But what is there to stay awake for?  In Jesus’ view of the future there is a far side to disaster.  Jesus’ forecast is liberation.  Jesus’ view is that these terrible things that will happen are signs that something else is happening.  The saving visit of the Son of Man at the end of time.  The disaster is the end age.  The good news is that out of that comes final liberation for the true disciple.  It is reassuring to hear this good news at the beginning of Advent.  As we struggle with our own personal problems and the global issues that are threatening us, let us embark on this Advent journey acknowledging the fearful reality but also with hope in our hearts.  Let us allow ourselves to be surprised by what God will reveal to us in our daily lives, our relationships and our work.  Let us remain alert to the stirrings of God’s spirit amidst the negativity which sometimes seem to rule around us.  There is a promise for new life at the end of the dark tunnel.  Let us embrace it.  In the meantime though, let us not push the process.  Let us live through it and still hang on to the promise which awaits us at the end of the journey.

Second Collection

Will take place this weekend for the Maintenance Fund. 

Next weekend there will be a second collection for the Parish Overseas Project for 2015-16, being the Parish of St Helen in Peru.

“Drop-In” – Evening Surgery

During the busy Advent season, I will not be holding my “drop-in” sessions.  These will start up again in the New Year and the dates will be published on Briefly.  Fr. David.

Primary School Supplementary Information Forms (SIF)

If you are applying for a place at a Catholic Primary School and need me to sign your SIF, could you please ensure that all paperwork is handed in (to me or the Parish Office) by Thursday 10th December at the latest.  Thank You.  Fr David

CWL Meeting

The next meeting of the Catholic Women’s League will be at 8.00pm on Monday 30th November and will be held at the back of the church.  Please come along if you would like to learn more about the CWL.

Church Cleaning

A new church cleaning rota is starting from next weekend.  Could those people who kindly volunteered to go on the rota, please check on the website.  A paper copy is also available to view at the back of the church.  As well as the volunteers, certain parish groups are also listed on the new rota.

 

If you would like to help out with the church cleaning, please contact the Parish Office.  Many thanks.

Duty Rotas

Rotas starting the weekend of 5-6th December are now on the parish website.

Christmas Prize Draw

Please support this draw which will take place on Sunday 13th December.  Tickets are being sold after each Mass at the back of the church.  Please ensure that all completed ticket stubs and monies are handed in to the Events Team after Mass or to the Parish Office.

Advent Reconciliation Service

Will be held here in Church on Tuesday 8th December at 8.00pm.  This will coincide with the start of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Parish fund-raising

Some of you have raised money for the parish by using our Internet shopping link at www.easyfundraising.org.uk/stjamespettswood  (or just go to our website and follow the link on the home page).  So far we have raised nearly £2,000 in this way but we could really help the parish if more people signed up.  With Christmas online shopping now underway, what better opportunity is there to raise funds painlessly?

CAFOD World Gifts

If you don't know what to buy family and friends for Christmas this year, why not help people in developing countries by buying one of CAFOD's charity gifts?  They offer the chance for us to buy things like water for a family, a goat, a greenhouse, a school starter pack, or simply a meal for someone in poverty.  If you think this is your kind of giving then go to www.cafod.org.uk/worldgifts.  The receiver of your gift will get a card showing how it will benefit a family or even a whole community.

Traidcraft Stall

THANK YOU for your magnificent support for the Traidcraft stall last weekend, total sales were £520.31.  In addition to your support for the work of Traidcraft all profit from the stall is sent to the Parish overseas charity annually (Jan/Feb).  J&P group

Petts Wood Catholic Women's League

is supporting our Local Women's Refuge in  Bromley.  At the end of January we will be collecting new goods to give.  Items requested by the Refuge include new toiletries, bedding, towels and underclothes. There will be a list of items needed on the CWL notice board at the back of the church. 

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.

Christmas 2015

For information, Christmas cards & Advent Calendars are now available from the repository.

Diocesan Financial Secretary

The Diocese is looking for a new Financial Secretary to replace Monsignor Canon Martin Lee who will be retiring in the spring of 2016.  To get more information and to apply please visit the Diocesan website www.rcsouthwark.co.uk.

Youth Gospel Choir

We would like to invite you to join our new and exciting Youth Gospel Choir. It will be on Thursdays between 5.00-6.00pm and is open to all 14-18 year olds. For further information please contact the Parish Office.

Calling all St James’ Youth (14-18 yrs)

On the 5th December from 3pm we are organising an ice-skating, doughnut and hot chocolate trip to Bluewater. The cost will be £20 per head fully inc.

To sign up, please contact the parish office parish.office@stjamespettswood.org  by Monday 23rd November.

Parish Overseas Project for 2015-16

As the Parish will be aware we have supported the home for homeless and vulnerable children and young adults run by Jesuit Missions in Harare over the past 15 months.

The Justice and Peace Group have looked at alternatives for a new overseas project that the Parish might now support for 2015-16 and suggest that we support the parish of St Helen near Arequipa high in the Andes in Peru.

We have been in contact with Fr Alex Busuttil of the Missionary Society of St Paul (mssp) the parish priest there.  Fr David was a member of the mssp.  The parish covers a large area with a number of different settlements.  Many there are poor and live in difficult conditions. Much requires to be done for their pastoral and material care.  Most consider themselves to be Catholic even though many have not even been able to be baptised.

Fr Alex has asked if St James’ could support the building of a small chapel in the parish's children's home which is being developed into a family centre.  The Justice and Peace Group feel that this would be an excellent cause to support.

There will be the first collection held for this next weekend on 5-6 December and members of the Justice and Peace Group will address the parish at each Mass this weekend to give more information on St Helen's parish.

Holy Doors of Mercy at St George’s Cathedral

On Sunday 13th of December Archbishop Peter will open the Holy Door of Mercy.  This act, mirrored in cathedrals and other places of pilgrimage throughout the world, emphasizes the universal communion that exists between particular Churches and Rome.  All visits must be booked.  If you would like further information or would like to book a pilgrimage visit please contact bookings@stgeorges.org.uk