Thank you for your offerings last week of £1,359.  Mass attendance 623.
Sunday 30th July (Saturday Vigil)	17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 6pm          People Of The Parish
	9.15am      Tom Cotte (L O’Sullivan)                   Francesca M Sio RIP (J&L Sio) 11am         Michael Ussher-Smith (M Kelly)
Monday 31st July	St Ignatius Of Loyola 9.30am      Fr David’s Silver Jubilee (CWL)
Tuesday 1^st August	St Alphonsus Liguori 9.30am      Phyllis & Frank Gilchrist RIP (H Denham)
Wednesday 2^nd August	Feria 9.30am      Jimmie & Mary O’Connor
	10.45am    Eucharistic Adoration
Thursday 3^rd August	Feria
	9.30am      Maurice Cantopher (Cantopher Family)
Friday 4^th August	St John Vianney 9.30am      Martin O’Connor RIP 7.30pm     Eucharistic Adoration
Sunday 6^th August (Saturday Vigil)	The Transfiguration Of The Lord 6pm     Joel Parker RIP (A Parker)
	9.15am      People Of The Parish 11am         John Mulvey RIP (M Mulvey)

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.

Fr David writes…

The Divine Comedy by the great Italian literary poet, Dante Alighieri, is a long narrative poem which he begun in 1308 and completed in 1320, a year before his death in 1321.  It is widely considered as the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.  The poem’s imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the mediaeval worldview as it had developed in the Western Church by the 14^th Century.  On the surface, the poem describes Dante’s travels through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, but at a deeper level, it represents allegorically, the soul’s journey and search for what is Transcendent, God.  In the 1^st Canto of Inferno of The Divine Comedy, Dante writes: “Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark.  For the straightforward pathway had been lost…”.  Dante, through allegory is describing to us his restless soul which he experienced in midlife.  Notwithstanding his obvious successes as a Literary Medieval author in Florence of his time, he immerses himself in an existential crisis.  He feels completely lost.  The securities of the past did not satisfy him any longer.  Those things which nourished his soul and gave him meaning in the past stopped giving him the answers for the essential questions in midlife.  He was yearning for something deeper.  His soul was starving for the spiritual.

Karl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst speaks of our lives being divided into two stages.  The first stage is one of establishing ourselves in the world.  We do this through our roles in the community.  We feel good about ourselves as we build our families, our professional life and feeling a sense of achievement through successes in the cultural milieu of where we live.  The second stage of our lives according to Jung is characterised by the collapse of all the scaffolding that we had constructed around us, leaving us vulnerable and lost without control.  According to Jung, at this time, our soul is crying out for meaning and spiritual values.  One needs to re-visit the past in order to construct a new future.  One needs sometimes to unlearn in order to construct a new narrative.  I have known people who at this stage in life, had to readjust their whole existence.  Changing professions that were no longer satisfying them.  Professions that were suffocating them.  People around them thought they were mad as they decided to take the plunge and risk everything.  Doing things certainly out of character.  But they had no alternative.  They knew that if they remained living their lives as they were living them, they would lose their soul.  The journey in midlife becomes personal.  And from an external journey, it becomes internal.

The famous words of Augustine of Hippo in 354-430 in his literary work, Confessions – “Our hearts are restless, unless they can find rest in you” speaks of the same dynamic of the soul.  Behind Augustine’s words are a succession of desperate searches for fulfilment: excessive pleasures, false religions, philosophy, dissipation and distractions – futilities that left him so weary of himself he could only cry out, “How long, O Lord, How long?” At that very moment when he uttered that cry, something broke free in him.  Led him to confess his past life and be baptised.  The Confessions will be his testimony of God’s interaction with a soul that has found rest in its Creator.  Once he experienced this spiritual transformation, he literally left everything and embraced a life which was conducive to his new found Reality – God.

In today’s gospel, Jesus told a story about a farm worker who stumbles on a great treasure which has been hidden in a field.  This man appreciates the value of his find.  He is an astute character; the first thing that he does is to bury the treasure again, then he sells everything he owns to buy the field.  He experiences the great joy of discovery.  He knows the value of his find; he is prepared to pay the cost for possessing it.  Jesus then told another parable about a man who discovers a great treasure.  This man does not stumble on his find but discovers it after a long search.  He is a wealthy man who had devoted his life to hunting for this treasure in the shape of fine pearls.  When he comes across the finest pearl he has ever set eyes on, he is in no doubt what to do.  Immediately he sells everything he owns, so that he can possess the pearl that is without peer.  The cost has been everything but he owns that pearl, his search has ended.  In both parables the men appreciate the true value of what they have discovered and are willing to pay the cost of everything they have for the new treasure.  Both are certain about the wisdom of what they must do.  Sometimes life brings us to a place of awakening.  It is easy sometimes, for the sake of familiarity and security, to remain where are – not to rock the boat.  However we experience mediocrity and death.  Sometimes for the sake of our souls, we need to take brave decisions and move on.  This obviously must be done with genuine discernment and sensitivity towards the responsibilities that we do have.  But having genuine support in our lives who patiently accompanies us on our journey, we would be able to pass like Dante through Hell, purgatory and arrive in Heaven.  I pray this weekend, for all those in our midst who are at the stage of discernment.  May they find the right help and people that they need to be able to walk this very arduous journey.  It is not for the faint hearted.  Hopefully with another seeker, the American poet Robert Frost we can say at the end of life: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference”.  Bon voyage.

(Fr David will be on holiday for a little while from this weekend.)

Email from Australia

Dear Fr David and Parishioners of St James the Great

I wish to thank you for the very warm welcome I received and continued to receive during my recent stay in your parish.  I came over from Australia for Fr David’s 25^th anniversary which was celebrated beautifully liturgically and the garden party was a credit to you all displaying Catholic parish life at its best.  I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the daily morning Prayer and Mass, attending the w/end Masses and experiencing all the nuances of each of the Masses both weekends.  I also enjoyed attending Joseph and Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat produced by the school.  It was a very pleasant evening.

By the warm welcome and the lovely conversations I had with many of you, I felt like I had been in the parish for years.  I really was delighted to hear from you how you feel about my friend Fr David.

May all the wonderful things you are doing there as a parish continue as you work together and may you continue to be richly blessed.  I will remember my time there with you for ever.

Thank you.  Imelda Purcell.

“Drop-In” – Evening Surgeries

There will be no drop-in evening surgeries until further notice.  So if you would like to see Fr David, please email him or phone the parish office for an appointment.  Thank you.

Justice & Peace Group

Foodbank current needs

Many thanks to everyone who responded to the call for food needed over the school holidays.  The Foodbank is currently asking for the following items: tinned vegetables, tomatoes and fruit, tinned meat for hot meals, tinned cold meat, rice pudding, tinned custard, squash, UHT milk.  Thank you.

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.

First Friday of Month - Eucharist Adoration also takes place on the 1^st Friday of each month from 7.30 pm – 9pm and concludes with Benediction.  Everyone is welcome for all or part of this time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

Youth Pillar

Post-Confirmation Retreat

29^th September - 1^st October 2017

In collaboration with Southwark Catholic Youth Service, we are offering all young people who have made their Confirmation the opportunity to attend a Post-Confirmation retreat which promises both fun and faith exploration under the experienced guidance of the youth team in Whitstable (Costs tbc).  Please contact the parish office by 24^th July 2017 to register your interest.

Communications Pillar

The Parish’s Welcome Booklet

The parish’s booklet has been revised and updated.  Copies are available in the repository for £3 a copy (to cover costs).

Time and Talents Questionnaire

Thank you to everyone who has completed a questionnaire.  We will be collating the information over the next few weeks and then members of the PPC will start contacting you.  If you haven’t completed a form but would like to help there are still some spare forms at the back of the church.

Mass Intentions

Please note that, due to high demand, Mass intentions for services up to and including October 2017 are fully booked.  Please bear this in mind when filing your Mass intentions, and try to give the office as much lead in time as possible to help ensure you get the dates you would like.

Pastoral Care Pillar

Peace Candle in Our Lady’s Chapel

A quiet space is available in Our Lady’s Chapel, and a book is available for anyone who wishes to write a prayer for peace or for their own personal intentions.

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 5^th August
Cleaning the Church	S Ingle, I Hutchins, P Driscoll, J Rogerson, M Mitrovic

6^th August
Mass	Saturday 6pm (Vigil)	Sunday 9.15am	Sunday 11am
Welcomers	M Gallagher	L Thomas F Mace	M Cooper K Edwards
Readers	J Bajorek M O’Mahony	S Cotta B Cotta	M Ingledew N D’Silva
Ministers of Holy Communion	J Bajorek H Rothon M Cahill C Cahill J Callinan	A Hawkins D Hairs B Cotta W David B D’Arcy	T Troy B Bridle A Bunnage P Murray V Terry

Tellers

S Barradell, A Barradell