La Fhéile Phádraig Shona Diobh . . . !

La Fhéile Phádraig Shona Diobh!

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!

Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris . . .

We are beginning Lent, a time of penance and interior renewal to enable us to prepare for the great feast of Easter.

The Church continually invites us to purify our souls and to start afresh.

As we receive the ashes today we are reminded of the words of Genesis, following original sin,

'Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris'

Remember man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Genesis 3:19

In spite of this reminder we sometimes forget that without God we are nothing.

God wants us to abandon sin and return to Him; sin creates a barrier between God and ourselves.

'Jesus Christ himself is the most sublime grace of the whole of Lent. It is He who presents Himself to us in all the wonderful simplicity of the Gospel.' Blessed John Paul II

Jesus is continually looking for a contrite heart in each of us, a heart that acknowledges its weakness and sins and is prepared to change. God wants for us a sincere sorrow for our sins, which we show, above all, by going to Confession. Each of us should draw up a particular plan of mortification to offer to God each day of Lent.

'Thank You' Lunch . . .

In all parishes there is a large group of volunteers who do a great deal to make sure that all runs smoothly in the parish.

St Ann's is no exception. I have said this many times before but I can never repeat it enough - THANK YOU for all your help. It would be impossible to run a busy parish like ours without your generous help in giving your time and talents in so many different areas of parish life.

It is difficult to know how to express my thanks to you all and in recent years, we have organised a lunch party as a small token of appreciation.

Inevitably, this also involves some of the 'helpers' helping on the day. I am especially grateful to the members of our Social Committee who helped serve the lunch and drinks today.

Here is the usual slideshow showing what an enjoyable time it was. Can you spot some familiar faces?

New lamps for old . . . .

No, not a cry from the lamp-seller in the well-known pantomime, Aladdin but the result of the completion of our new lighting project here at St Ann's!

For quite some time we have been hoping to replace our old, expensive to run church lighting with a new and improved scheme which would not only enhance the look of our church and be appropriate to the Masses and other liturgies celebrated here but which would also be energy efficient.

I'm pleased to be able to say that this objective has now been met and, thanks to the efficient and professional services of CES Lighting, our new lighting scheme is now up and running.

Greetings from Ireland on the Solemnity of the Epiphany . . .

My little break at home is coming to an end and I thought that I would drop by and let you know that I offered Mass for all in our parish today.

Here in Ireland, the Bishops have decided not to move the Solemnity of the Epiphany to the Sunday which means that the Mass I offered for your intentions was the Mass of the Solemnity.

I'm sure Fr McCarthy has been looking after you all very well in my absence and I look forward to being back with you all again very soon.

O God, who on this day

revealed your Only Begotten Son

to the nations

by the guidance of a star,

grant in your mercy

that we, who know you already

by faith,

may be brought to behold

the beauty of your sublime glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ,

your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(Collect from the Solemnity of the Epiphany)

Thou art a priest for ever . . .

As promised, here is a photo of the newly refurbished grave of Fr Edward Dockery, the first Priest-in-Charge of St Ann's parish.

I do think it is a great improvement on the rather neglected-looking grave I visited a few weeks ago. I hope you agree.

Please do pop into All Saints' Churchyard next time you're in Banstead village and pay your respects to Fr Dockery and say a prayer for him. May he rest in peace.

The Word became flesh . . .

‘The Word became flesh.’

God became man; He came to live among us. God is never far away, He is ‘Emmanuel’, God-with-us. God is not a stranger, He has a face and this is the face of Jesus.

God is faithful, He does not change. The event of the Incarnation occurred in history but at the same time transcends history. Belief in the God who desired to share our human history continually encourages us in our own commitment to the history, in spite of its contradictions.

May the light of Christmas shine forth afresh this year and may the Infant of Bethlehem bless each of you.