Prayer . . .

Lord Jesus, teach us how to pray

A very brief but beautiful video from stpaulstube.com

Holy Hour for all Nascent Life . . .

Responding to the Holy Father's wishes we were happy to hold a Holy Hour this afternoon to pray for all nascent life.

We began with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent . This was followed by a period of silent prayer and the recitation of the Holy Rosary.

We concluded with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It was lovely that our organist was able to attend and we were able to sing the O Salutaris, Tantum Ergo and Adoremus at Benediction. It was indeed a very 'Holy' Hour.

Thank you to all who braved the freezing weather to come and prayer for this very important intention.

Lux æterna . . . Requiescant in pace . . .

This evening we have our annual Mass for the repose of the soul of all those parishioners who have died during the past year.

Naturally, it is also very much for the families and friends who are grieving for their loved ones.

We have been doing this for several years now and I have received many positive comments from the bereaved.

We invite people to come into the hall afterwards for a cup of tea and a chat. Many have found it a useful part of the healing process. It can be helpful to talk to others in the same situation. For some their grief will still be very raw whilst for others they may be further down the line in the grieving process.

All are welcome to come along to the Mass at 7.30pm this evening. It is good to see other parishioners who come along to pray for people they may not have known personally and to offer a friendly ear to the bereaved.

'Come and See' - 'Coming Home' . . .

We were delighted that Joanna Bogle, the well-known Catholic writer and broadcaster accepted our invitation to come and speak to us for the final session of our 'Come and See' initiative.

Joanna took as her theme 'Coming Home' and gave a very interesting talk which, whilst very entertaining, nevertheless retained an authentic message about the important of the sacrament of Confession, not just for those who are returning to the practice of their faith, but for every Catholic.

Of course we don't know what the outcome of our 'Come and See' initiative will be but we have 'sown the seed' and pray that with the Lord's help our efforts will be multiplied and bear fruit.

Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.

Verbum Domini . . .

Pope Benedict XVI's latest Apostolic Exhortation, 'Verbum Domini' was published by the Vatican on Thursday, 11th November 2010. In this document, the Holy Father highlights the importance of the Word of God in living our personal vocations. Pope Benedict says that the word of God 'calls each one of us personally, revealing that life itself is a vocation from God.'

He also quotes from Saint Jerome when he says,

"We are reading the sacred Scriptures. For me, the Gospel is the Body of Christ; for me, the holy Scriptures are his teaching. And when he says: whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood (Jn 6:53) even though these words can also be understood of the (Eucharistic) Mystery, Christ's body and blood are really the word of Scripture, God's teaching."

If you would like to study this latest Apostolic Exhortation in detail, you will find the full text here.

Five Brave Men and True . . .

A very warm welcome 'home' to the five Anglican Bishops who have today publicly declared their intention to take up Pope Benedict's generous invitation to join the Anglican Ordinariate.

The Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet; The Rt Rev Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough and The Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst; The Rt Rev Edwin Barnes, former Bishop of Richborough and The Rt Rev David Silk, former Bishop of Balleratt in Australia.

Please keep them all in your prayers at this time as they take these first courageous steps into Full Communion with the Catholic Church in the new Ordinariate.

Our Lady, Mother of Priests, pray for us.

'Come and See' - Robin Farrow . . .

We had another very successful and enjoyable evening last night, the second in our 'Come and See' programme. Once again, I would say we had in the region of 40 people present including a few newcomers.

We are very grateful to Robin Farrow, a man of great integrity, for telling us in such an interesting and honest way about his own personal journey to Full Communion with the Catholic Church.

A former Anglican Rector in a parish in East Sussex, Robin's talk gave rise to quite a prolonged question and answer session. I think many of the 'Catholic' practices Robin described when telling us about his background in the Anglican church would have come as a surprise to some parishioners present.

We were delighted too that Robin's wife, Caroline, and their family were also able to join us. Naturally making such a momentous decision would have been impossible for Robin without the full support of his wife.

Please keep Robin and his family in your prayers as they bravely put out into the deep. They have only recently moved out of the Rectory and one of Robin's first priorities will be to find a job.

Our next and final 'Come and See' evening will be on

Sunday 21st November from 7pm to 8pm.

We are delighted that Joanna Bogle, the well-known Catholic writer and broadcaster has agreed to come and talk to us. The theme of her talk will be 'Coming Home'.