Dear Parishioners,
It is good to be able to send you the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass this weekend, together with a relatively ‘hot off the press’ statement from the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales regarding the status of the Sunday Obligation to attend Mass. The statement is considered and clearly reflects an awareness of the level of anxiety that a number of people feel about coming together once more for a communal act of worship.
Personally, and it is only a private reflection, I am pleased to see anyone returning to participation in Holy Mass, even if they are not yet ready to join us on a Saturday evening or Sunday morning, but choose to make a weekday Mass their weekly commitment to being fed by the Lord in both the Scriptures and Eucharist. When our churches were limited for capacity, at both Christmas and Easter, we were encouraged to attend Mass on any one of the days of the Octaves of those feasts, and celebrate at that time the fulness of the festival. It worked and worked well, allowing people to come into an environment in which they felt safe, and at the same time celebrating our primary feasts. The invitation is offered once more … come to a weekday Mass, make that your weekly celebration. The Lord is waiting patiently to welcome you back, and so are many of the faces that you recognise, not to mention the buildings that are our spiritual homes !
May the week – the last in our Liturgical calendar – be kind to you and your loved ones. Be assured of remembrance at the altar, in thought and affection.
As ever, Fr. Nicholas