Month: December 2022

Dear Parishioners,

As we about to leave one year behind and cross the threshold into another many thoughts pass through our minds about the certainty and relative security of the known, despite all its limitations, and the lack of knowledge of the new, and the experiences and challenges that it each new dawn will bring. 

In wishing you all the joys and blessings of the continuing Christmas Season, not least the maternal presence of Our Blessed Lady, the great feast of whom we celebrate this weekend, I assure you of continued remembrance in prayer, kindest thought and affection. I offer a reflection too, conscious that oftentimes out of the unknown can come so much good and enrichment. May we all be open to the generosity of God to be found in surprise and the new.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas

A New Year Prayer 

We Pray… 
For healing … prepare us for surprises.
For strength … prepare us for surprises.
For vision … prepare us for surprises.
For transformation … prepare us for surprises.
For messengers and messages … prepare us for surprises.
For community … prepare us for surprises.
For acceptance – of ourselves and others … prepare us for surprises.
For making room at our table … prepare us for surprises.
For Truth-seeking … prepare us for surprises.
For support … prepare us for surprises.
For Common Ground … prepare us for surprises.  

Walk beside us, O Holy One,
as we question and welcome,
as we challenge and invite,
as we discover and understand,
as we see, touch, taste, smell, and listen for the Newness awaiting us in 2023. 

May we, Your Holy People, walk forward together side by side. 

Amen. 

Dear Parishioners,

As Advent turns into Christmas with our Liturgies of Christmas Eve, may I wish you all the joys and blessings of the Season surrounding our celebration of God’s eternal love for humankind revealed in the longed-for Infant of Bethlehem over two thousand years ago: Jesus Christ. Although our media is filled with so much negativity at a national and global level, the constancy of the knowledge of being loved by Almighty God in all the circumstances of life’s precarious journey is itself a great gift. With much notice being given to what we do not have, perhaps even the briefest reflection on the true meaning of Christmas 2022 will gently nudge us into an appreciation for what has been given to us, and what we can all to easily take for granted, not least the precious gift of family and friends.

I assure you – and for your particular intentions – of a remembrance in the celebration of Holy Mass this Christmas, together with my kindest thoughts, and affection. 

As ever, Fr. Nicholas

Dear Parishioners,

Despite celebrating the fourth Sunday of Advent this weekend, we still have almost a week before we gather to rejoice at the birth of Christ in such humble surroundings two thousand and more years ago. Our Liturgy, from today, alters dramatically, with Readings focussing on that first coming, containing familar texts from the Infancy Narratives of both St. Matthew and St. Luke.

This Sunday we are presented with the ‘alternative’ Annunciation story, that of St. Joseph, as told by St. Matthew. It recounts St. Joseph, a ‘man of honour,’ struggling with his conscience amid the complexities of life. Ultimately, he embraces God’s will for him which takes nothing of the difficulties and stark reality of life away from him. Yet he journeys with a confidence lived in the simple truth of the name given to the child to whom he will be the earthly father: God-is-with-us.

May we each enjoy these final reflective days of a Season given to us as a pre-Christmas gift, wrapped in its own beautiful and meaningful Liturgies. 

With an assurance of prayerful remembrance, kind thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas

Dear Parishioners,

Once more it is good to be able to greet you in the sending of the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass. Not least as we arrive at the Third Sunday of Advent this weekend – or Gaudete Sunday as it is often referred to, due to the fact that the first antiphon of the Mass begins with the word “Rejoice”.  This sense of joy is highlighted in the colour of the Advent Candle lit this weekend: Rose. 

Stoked by a media filled with much joyless news, and often negativity, the call to be joy-filled can seem quite a challenge at the moment. Yet joy is an abiding gift within Christianity stemming from the belief that what seems to be lifeless can indeed bear green shoots and fruit. Together with hope for better days, joy in life’s simple things was a companion in the isolated days of a couple of years ago. Looking around both presbytery gardens the green shoots of spring bulbs are beginning to make their appearance … they will come to life and colour at some time in the future not ours to decide, but nature’s. Let us have the joyful hope that those days will herald a new springtime of better and brighter times for one and all.

In the meantime I hope to see good numbers coming together for the Christmas Fayre at Holy Spirit later today. Perhaps hesitancy to make the effort will be erased by remembrance of times when all we sought was a return to what we dare call ‘normality’ !

With prayerful remembrance, kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas         

Dear Parishioners,

It is good to be able to greet you once more as I send out the Newsletter and Readings for Holy Mass this weekend. With the arrival of John the Baptist as a central character in the Liturgy this weekend we know that Advent has most certainly arrived ! A reflection from CAFOD invites us to reflect on the following words and, in the spirit of the Baptist’s message, make them our own.

We repent and are sorry for the damage we have caused to our earth and to one another. Come, Lord, bearer of love.

Guide us as we seek to straighten the paths of injustice and prepare a way for you. Come, Lord, bearer of love.

Lead us in your ways, as together we make a change and reach out in love to others. Come, Lord, bearer of love. 

As the second of our Advent Candles is lit this weekend you, together with your loved ones, will be remembered.

With prayerful remembrance, kindest thought and affection.

As ever, Fr. Nicholas