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.

Latin is sooooo hard to learn . . .

I was very taken with this post by Mulier Fortis, I thought I'd share it with you.

Quite often one hears the comment when discussing Mass settings, choice of music etc. 'Oh, but Latin is so difficult for our young people to learn.' 'They aren't used to it'. 'They don't learn it in school any more' and so on . . .

Well, here is a delightful clip of a very gifted young man, just four years old, singing the Salve Regina and obviously enjoying it too.

See and hear for yourself here. Well done Edward! We look forward to your rendition of the Alma Redemptoris Mater very soon!

More Confessions . . .

Having a had a super week in our parish primary school, I have today been privileged to assist with Confessions at The John Fisher School in Purley.

I received a very warm welcome from the school Chaplain, Fr James Clark and Mr Dan Cooper.

It was lovely to see so many of St Ann's boys in the school grounds as I walked through to the school chapel .

In past years, The John Fisher School has helped sow and nurture the seeds of many vocations, including several priests from our own diocese.

Let us all continue to pray for vocations.

St John Vianney, pray for us . . .

Let the Little Children Come to Me . . .

'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'

(Matthew 19:14)

Hooray! I have this week confessed all the children in Years 4, 5 and 6 in our parish school, and as always, what a delight it has been to do so.

Our children are now ready for Our Lord's coming at Christmas.

For those parishioners whose school days are but a dim and distant memory, (and those in between!) you may like to know that our parish Advent Penitential Service is on Wednesday 7th December at 7.30pm in St Ann's Church. All are welcome, not just our own parishioners.

There will be a short liturgy including an examination of conscience, followed by an opportunity for individual Confession. I will be assisted by several other priests from our Deanery. I hope many of you will follow the excellent example of our children and use this chance to prepare well for the feast of Christmas.

Shhhhhh . . .

Shhhhhh . . .

Silence is not only the absence of noise, it is essential in order to listen to God's word. Unless we are able to 'block out' the ever-increasing messages of social communication and mass-media, it is virtually impossible to hear the word of God or indeed reflect on it in a prayerful manner and therefore we are unable to act on it in our daily lives.

Silence is necessary for all of us in church. We need to preach the Gospel in word and action and so we must make room for silence in order to welcome God's word and discern what we are called to do as followers of Christ.

St Joseph is the Patron Saint of silence, foster-father of Jesus and husband of Mary. In the Gospels he does not utter a word. He listens . . . He reflects . . . He acts.

St Joseph welcomed the Word of God into his heart and mind. He welcomed Jesus, God's only Son, the Word made flesh into his family with fatherly care. The silence of St Joseph speaks louder than words.

If we wish to encourage vocations to the priesthood, the religious life, to marriage and the single state, we need to help men and women to find times and places where they can switch off the noise of today and tune in to the silence and peace of God.

'Be still and know that I am God.'

The Advent Wreath . . .

The Advent Wreath may be of any size and is made of evergreens. There are four candles, one for each week of Advent; it is traditional that three of the candles are purple and one is rose.

The rose candle is lit on the Third Sunday of Advent since this colour symbolises and anticipates the joy of Christmas which is announced in the first word of the Entrance Antiphon: 'Rejoice' from the Latin 'Gaudete'. The third Sunday is also known as Gaudete Sunday and rose-coloured vestments may be worn.

The Advent Wreath originated in Europe, in what we now call Germany; there was a tradition there among the pagans to light candles on a wreath as the December darkness fell and the days became shorter and colder.

Eventually the Christians evangelised these people and converted them, but the people still held onto the tradition and so the Church 'Christianised' the practice.

Every year in Advent we wait once again in darkness for the Lord's coming; His historical coming in the mystery of Bethlehem; His final coming at the end of time, and in between, His special coming in each and every moment of grace.

The most important part of the wreath is the flame which symbolises Christ, the light of the world and our yearning for the light and warmth of his love which is everlasting, as is symbolised by the evergreen wreath which never loses its 'green-ness'.

It would be great to have a wreath at home and gather as a family each day and light the candle together (not forgetting to extinguish it!!) and pray for a few moments. This will help us to pray as a family which is the most important thing that you can do as a family.

It will also help you to prepare for Christmas in a real Christian way and focus on Christ rather than wrapping paper and long shopping queues. It will help us prepare spiritually for Christmas so that Christmas may be that Holy day it's supposed to be and God wants it to be for us.

Ultimately God wants each of us to be that candle reflecting His light to our world that so much needs to see Him.

The photo at the top of this post shows our new Advent Wreath already for its 'début' on Sunday. If I can obtain a better photo I'll come back and replace this one!

Update: I hope you approve of the 'improved' photo!