Evangelium Conference 2010 . . .

Have you heard about the Evangelium Conference 2010?

It's a weekend for young Catholic adults (18 to 35) to be held at the Oratory School in Reading from 6th to 8th August.

It sounds like it will be a memorable weekend. Among the excellent speakers will be Fr Nicholas Schofield, Fr Thomas Crean OP, Fr Tim Finigan, Joanna Bogle and many more including the co-authors of Evangelium Fr Marcus Holden and Fr Andrew Pinsent.

In addition to the talks there will be prayer, daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration. The weekend will give you the opportunity to mix with other young Catholic adults who share your faith with leisure opportunities for evening entertainment and sport.

To find out more and download a booking form follow the link here

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas . . .

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas . . .

"O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore thee."

This is the opening line of the hymn St Thomas Aquinas wrote for the feast of Corpus Christi.

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi dates from the thirteenth Century. First established in the diocese of Liege, Pope Urban IV instituted it in 1264 throughout the Universal Church.

On this day we thank God for His presence among us; we make reparation to Him for the offences committed against Him in the Blessed Sacrament. We will tell Him many times that we love Him.

It is a day of thanksgiving and joy because Our Lord has wanted to remain with us in order to feed us and strengthen us, so that we will never feel alone for He is indeed Panis Angelicus . . .

We intend to have a short procession here in the parish on the Feast of Corpus Christi. It would be marvellous to be able to do so with a canopy for the Blessed Sacrament. If anyone within travelling distance of Banstead knows of a canopy that we might borrow for the Feast, I would be delighted to hear from them. (Or even an ombrellino!)

First Holy Communion . . .

Today saw the second and final group of our children making their First Holy Communion.

Celebrating the Feast of the Ascension together with our children's First Holy Communion helped to make our Mass even more special. Once again, the children were a delight. Fortunately, the rain kept away until late afternoon so I expect a lot of families were also able to enjoy their celebrations afterwards indoors and out. I wouldn't be surprised to hear there were a few Barbecues lit in Banstead.

Here a few photos taken this week and last. If you'd like to see them all please follow the link here and here.

First Holy Communions - Week One . . .

This morning at the 10am Mass 15 of our children made their First Holy Communion.

It was a beautiful Mass. The children were a credit to their families, their catechists and their parish! They had obviously listened to the reminders about reverence in church and the importance of the occasion. A lot of people worked hard to make the liturgy so special; our altar servers, our flower arrangers and our musicians in particular. I must give a special mention to two of our younger choir members who sang solos beautifully.

A group photo of all the children was taken after Mass and I hope to be able to post it as soon as we have made sure there are no objections from any of our parents.

Meanwhile, here is an unusual shot to which I hope no one can object.

Please pray for all our children and their families that they will remember the joy of this special occasion and stay close to the Lord throughout their lives.

Our Lady, Cause of Our Joy, pray for us.

Holy Hour . . .

As suggested in the recent letter from our Bishops, this morning after our parish Mass we held a Holy Hour for healing, forgiveness and a time of renewal.

We began with a time of personal pray followed by praying the Rosary and an Act of Reparation. We concluded with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

It was very encouraging to see so many people staying on for this extra hour and others joining after the end of Mass; especially as we had seen such a commitment from parishioners to our 40 Hours Devotion which only finished yesterday.

The lay faithful are just that! It's heartening to see how faithful our parishioners are, despite all the problems the Church is suffering at the moment.

We'll repeat this every Friday morning during May.

See what you're missing!

Here are a few photos taken at about Midnight last night. We had a good number for Mass at 6.30 pm and it was lovely to see people coming and going throughout the evening and into the night.

It's not too late to come along and join us in prayer . . .

Our 40 Hours Devotion continues right through the night again tonight and concludes with Benediction at 9.00am on Thursday morning. Mass will be at 9.30am.

The Year for Priests - 40 Hours Devotion . . .

'The priest is not a priest for himself; he is not for himself, he is for you.' - St John Vianney.

The Year for Priests closes on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, 11th June 2010. Here at St Ann's, we have decided to celebrate the Year for Priests with 40 Hours Devotion which begins this evening immediately after Mass at 6.30 pm.

I am delighted to provide this opportunity for people to come along and pray for our priests. Adoration will continue throughout the night tonight and tomorrow night. Our devotion will close with Benediction at 9am on Thursday 6th May. Mass will follow at 9.30am.

All our welcome. Do please call in and join us in prayer for our priests if you can.

Prayer for Priests - St Therese of Lisieux

O Jesus

I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;

for your unfaithful and tepid priests;

for your priests labouring at home

or abroad in distant mission fields;

for your tempted priests;
for your lonely and desolate priests;
for your young;
for your dying priests;
for the souls of your priests in Purgatory.
But above all, I recommend to you
the priests dearest to me:
the priest who baptised me;
the priests who absolved me from my sins;
the priests at whose Masses I assisted
and who gave me Your Body and Blood
in Holy Communion;
the priests who taught and instructed me;
all the priests to whom I am indebted
in any other way.

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,
and bless them abundantly
in time and in eternity.

Amen.

If you ask for anything in my name I will do it . . .

'If you ask for anything in my name I will do it.'

This is the final sentence in the Gospel for today's Mass; Jesus always brings us consolation. He intercedes for us in Heaven and promises that everything we ask for in His name He will give us.

To ask for something in His name means to have faith in His mercy, it means asking Him for both human and supernatural things that are good for our salvation.

The Magisterium of the Church teaches 'That everybody should have firm hope in God's assistance. For if we are faithful to grace, just as God begins in us the work of our salvation, He will bring it to completion.'

Sacred Heart of Jesus, we put our trust in thee.