Category: Announcements

Via Crucis, the way of the cross.

The way of the cross (Via Crucis) is depicted in most of our churches in different images, photos etc. and this gives us imaginary scenes of the process Jesus went through up to his crucifixion, death and burial in the tomb. 

This is part of the liturgy is a devotional exercise because we stand in front of the 14 stations which helps in our meditation on the passion of Jesus Christ. 

In going through the stations, we listen to words of encouragement, meditate, pray for ourselves and others including the faithful departed. 

I have always seen this liturgy as a great tool in presenting Jesus to an unbeliever and individuals who want a better description of how Jesus died on the cross. 

As a young Christian growing up, the Via Crucis helped to shape my understanding of Christianity and my social life. Indeed, it was clear to me that nothing good comes easy and to achieve greatness takes time. I always made sure never to miss the liturgy of the stations of the cross because I see God speaking to me in this devotional exercise.

Jesus Christ went through all this so that we will be saved and have eternal life. What Jesus Christ did for us on the cross is what makes us who we are today. 

I am always encouraged to press on no matter the difficulty when I read this scripture 

“…if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

Fr. Josiah

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On Thursday (16th) we’ll be joined by three bishops. Bishop Sarah as Bishop of London is visiting churches in the Willesden Area alongside Bishop Lusa (Bishop of Willesden) and our Bishop, Jonathan (Bishop of Fulham). Please do come along at midday for a short period of prayer followed by lunch and conversations with the bishops. Nothing too serious, just a chat over coffee from the new coffee bike and some lovely cake. An opportunity to tell the Bishops exactly what you think of St. Anselm’s and Hayes!

During Lent there will be a Priest available for confessions for an hour before each mass. Make your way to the statue of Jesus and the Priest will hear your confession or will help you make your first confession. 

Next Sunday is Mothering Sunday (not Mother’s Day as I was told off for saying this week!) Please do come home to your mother church here in Hayes. There will be a small gift for all mothers at the end of Mass.

Can you bring in any spare plastic bags you have for foodbank please?

Exploring a good lent.

It may sound odd to want to wish somebody a good lent. But that’s exactly what we should do.

Lent is a period of time that allows us to prepare for the high point of the Christian year – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

It is not simply a period of time where we think about something that we can give up, ‘what are you giving up this year?’ or what we may take on, ‘are you doing extra devotionals this year?’. 

No, lent is first and foremost a period of preparation, a period of preparation in which we leverage the power of self-denial in order to attempt to walk more closely with Jesus in his final weeks of earthly life.

In the following weeks we will walk with Jesus as He moves from the surrounds of Jerusalem where crowds follow Him and where He teaches to all who will listen. Where He heals, where He walks, where He talks to all who have ears to listen. 

We will enter into that great city with Him as he arrives as King – but not the King that people want or expect.

We will stand next to Him as the crowds who followed Him, where healed by Him, who listened to Him call for His death on the cross.

Most importantly we will share in His death, we will wait at His tomb and we will rejoice when we arrive on Easter Sunday morning – He is alive!

So I wish you a good lent. I wish that you find a way to walk with Jesus over the coming weeks and in doing so find a closer relationship with Him and a deeper understanding of His Love for you.

Fr. Matthew

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Please bring your palm crosses to church on Sunday so that we can burn them for Ash Wednesday!

During Lent there will be a Priest available for confessions for an hour before each mass. Make your way to the statue of Jesus and the Priest will hear your confession or will help you make your first confession. 

Next Saturday (25th) is the annual fundraising concert by the Torfaen Male Voice Choir. Last year we raised well over £500 in ticket sales and donations for tea & coffee for the work of the parish. Please do support the concert by selling tickets this week or putting up a poster in your local shop.

Alpha continues to run on Thursday evenings right through Lent. If you’re interested, or know someone who you think may find it helpful, given them a flyer or point them to our website at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/alpha

Can you bring in any spare plastic bags you have for foodbank please?

Our new coffee bike is now in place alongside our new cafe area. We’ll be advertising shortly for somebody to come and run the cafe on our behalf for a set daily fee – if you know of anyone who may be interested please speak to Fr. Matthew.

Pray, without ceasing.

Our spiritual growth and development are dependent on our dedication to prayer and total faith in it. Prayer is the key to enhances our relationship with God and builds our faith as Christians. Prayer is what nourishes us in our journey with the Lord but sometimes, we tend to be little the impact of prayer in our lives and as a result, puts us in a position where the glory of God will be missing in our Christian life.  Edward McKendree Bounds puts it clearly “Four things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds prayer, God answers prayer, and God delivers by prayer”.

When our prayer life is in its best shape, we are guaranteed answered prayers and we will not be worried about the future because our way is made clear through our prayers. It is not easy trying to grow our prayer life but being consistent in prayer puts away all our worries because we will find ourselves in the good hands of God. Whenever I read 1Thessalonians 5:16-17 which says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,” it encourages me to do more in my prayer life because I realize that the more, we pray, the more we experience inner peace and joy.

Beloved in Christ, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6).

Let us always speak to God in all things and be faithful in everything we do, and God will deliver by prayer.

Fr. Josiah

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I have brought water back from the well at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and added it to the water in the stoup at the sacristy entry from the well in Nazareth. Holy water from Nazareth in the Holy Land mixed with holy water from England’s Nazareth.

Alpha continues to run on Thursday evening (over 20 people joining us each week) and for the next 9 weeks. If you’re interested, or know someone who you think may find it helpful, given them a flyer or point them to our website at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/alpha

The foodbank is still in serious need of help. We are now regulars helping over 80 families each week and the shelves are emptied every Wednesday. Please do donate any spare tins you may have or consider offering a small cash donation – you can find details at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/foodbank

Our new coffee bike is now in place alongside our new cafe area. We’ll be advertising shortly for somebody to come and run the cafe on our behalf for a set daily fee – if you know of anyone who may be interested please speak to Fr. Matthew.

Healing & wholeness.

It’s no surprise that many of us feel under the weather at this time of year. The cold weather is still with us, the sun isn’t quite warming things up yet and is still taking too long to appear in the mornings – yet disappears far to early of an evening.

We are tired, we are worn out, we many not even be able to put a finger on quite what is wrong with us.

Of course sometimes we know exactly what is wrong with us – a sore throat, a bad leg, poor eyesight and an aching back.

When these things assault us we turn to the medicine cupboard and reach for the pills, the solutions, the badges and special wraps that keep us going day by day.

These are good and important things, but there is a deeper hurt, a deeper pain, a deeper wrongness that can affect how we feel day to day.

It’s difficult to put a name to, but it can pull us down and in doing so make our physical woes harder to bare, harder to heal.

It’s this deep hurt and pain that our service of Benediction and Healing will address on Sunday evening. 

There will be a quiet hour where we’ll sit in from of the Blessed Sacrament and ask Jesus to heal us.

We’ll gather and Fr. Matthew & Fr. Josiah will lay on hands and pray for healing for specific needs.

We’ll be anointed with oil from the Holy Land and will reach out to God in prayer – to ask that the deep hurts we feel are cured. That they are made bearable.

Come, be healed.

Fr. Matthew

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PCC meeting on the 5th February (this Sunday) immediately after mass – to include a special meeting for appointing Fr. Matthew as Vicar.

There will be a special service of Benediction and Healing on Sunday (15th) at 6pm – with anointing and laying on of hands for healing using oil from the Holy Land.

Alpha continues to run on Thursday evening and for the next 10 weeks. If you’re interested, or know someone who you think may find it helpful, given them a flyer or point them to our website at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/alpha

The foodbank is still in serious need of help. Last week we looked after over 89 families and each week we are being cleared of food. Please do donate any spare tins you may have

Our new coffee bike is now in place alongside our new cafe area. We’ll be advertising shortly for somebody to come and run the cafe on our behalf for a set daily fee – if you know of anyone who may be interested please speak to Fr. Matthew.

Let the children come to me.

Last Tuesday I and Fr. Matthew went to the licensing of Fr. Robert in Ruislip and after the blissful service I had the opportunity to chat with a parishioner who made a very important point about why the church should focus on giving more opportunities to the young ones including children to become an integral part of worship and all activities of the Church.

Jesus said to His disciples

“…Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 

Matthew 19:14

Children are very precious in the sight of God because God created the family and children are an important part of the family, children are the gift of God, the nurturing and raising of children on the path of Christ is key in the assembly of God, and the faith of the church must be handed on from one generation to the other. This means children are the future of the church so the way we engage and direct them will determine the growth or otherwise of the church.

When we put more energy in organising and encouraging children to do things in the church, we will experience a lot of fire and growth in the assembly of God. This will then move to our homes and families, and it will draw more people to the church through the power of the Holy Spirit.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” 

Matthew 18:10

Fr. Josiah

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This Sunday we have our family led mass put together by Fr. Josiah and Susan. It will be a wonderful opportunity to share the gifts of our children with the whole congregation.

Alpha started last Thursday evening and continues for the next 10 weeks. If you’re interested, or know someone who you think may find it helpful, given them a flyer or point them to our website at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/alpha

The foodbank is still in need to tinned fish, long life milk, sugar and most of all… bags! Can you please have a dig around and bring some in on Sunday.

Thank you to our online family who have sent money and amazon deliveries to supply the foodbank – there have been days this week where your deliveries were the only thing keeping us going. 

Our new coffee bike is now in place alongside our new cafe area. We’ll be advertising shortly for somebody to come and run the cafe on our behalf for a set daily fee – if you know of anyone who may be interested please speak to Fr. Matthew.

PCC meeting on the 5th February immediately after mass – to include a special meeting for appointing Fr. Matthew as Vicar. 

There will be a special service of Benediction and Healing next Sunday at 6pm – with anointing and laying on of hands for healing.

Love one another, as I have loved you.

Being a Christian is not always easy. For a start there are all these other people who claim to be Christian but don’t behave the way I do… so they can’t be Christians!

Sadly, this kind of thinking is all too common in our churches. It’s the kind of thinking that Jesus preached and taught against so often. 

We need to start with the simple understanding that anyone who loves Jesus is a brother and sister – and then work from there.

There are enough reasons to disagree and argue with people in the world without us finding new ways to fall out with our own family.

As I return from the Holy Land I’m prompted to consider the part that I play in division and hatred. It may sound overly dramatic, but my own small part is a cog in a wheel that results in the hatred and hurt we see in the middle east. 

In the same way that our small acts of good add up to change the world, or small acts of nastiness or gossip or unkind comments add up to make the world a worse place.

So in this Week of Christian Unity, I urge you to keep an eye out for your brother and sister Christians around the world and to pray that one day, with the Grace of God, we will once again be one in Him.

Not divided by doctrine and dogma, but united in love and in a joy of being a family in Christ.

Fr. Matthew

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Alpha started on Thursday evening and continues for the next 12 weeks. If you’re interested, or know someone who you think may find it helpful, given them a flyer or point them to our website at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/alpha

The foodbank is in need to tinned fish, long life milk, sugar and most of all… bags! Can you please have a dig around and bring some in on Sunday.

Next Sunday we have our family led mass put together by Fr. Josiah and Susan. It will be a wonderful opportunity to share the gifts of our children with the whole congregation. It will be a very special service.  

Our new coffee bike is now in place alongside our new cafe area. We’ll be advertising shortly for somebody to come and run the cafe on our behalf for a set daily fee – if you know of anyone who may be interested please speak to Fr. Matthew.

PCC meeting on the 5th February immediately after mass – to include a special meeting for appointing Fr. Matthew as Vicar. 

Fr. Matthew has brought Holy Water back from the Holy Land (the Well of Mary in Nazareth) and this will be available on Sunday. 

It’s easy to bring people to church.

As I sat to write this weeks pew sheet I was visited in the vestry by a regular member of the congregation – I shall not reveal their name to save their blushes. 

They sat opposite me and we had a good natter about the parish, about life in general, about schools and Hayes Town – all the usual and interesting things.

They then told me they’d been to have their hair done and overheard some people talking about the church and how they’d seen it was now open after so many years of being closed.

So, they piped up and told them it was their church and it had never been closed, but it was certainly very much alive these days.

The people in the shop were amazed and told her how they had started going to a church in Ealing before COVID because they thought we were closed.

The stalwart of St. Anselm then invited them to come here, but didn’t stop there – they got their numbers and has arranged to meet them ahead of mass and bring them here… messaging them during the week to remind them where and when to meet. 

What a brilliant thing to do! It is exactly what Bishop Philip North encourages us to do when we invite people to church.

‘I’m going to church on Sunday, it’s great – you should come. What time shall I pick you up?’

So thank you to this wonderful person – this evangelist of God – who has shown us how easy it is to bring new people to the Love & Grace of Jesus Christ.

Amen, amen, amen!

Fr. Matthew

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Thank you to all who have brought provisions in for the foodbank, we are now back up to full strength – but the need is great and continuing so do please keep the donations up over the coming weeks.

Alpha starts this week! (19th Jan) If you’re interested, or know someone who you think may be close to becoming Christian, given them a flyer or point them to our website at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/alpha

You’ll have noticed our new coffee bike is now in place alongside our new cafe area. We’ll be advertising shortly for somebody to come and run the cafe on our behalf for a set daily fee – if you know of anyone who may be interested please speak to Fr. Matthew.

Fr. Josiah is organising our first family mass at the end of this month. If your child would like to take part, please speak to him. We’re very keen for children to lead the readings and the prayers – we have much to learn from them!

PCC meeting on the 5th February immediately after mass – to include a special meeting for appointing Fr. Matthew as Vicar. 

Fr. Matthew is in the Holy Land this week (returning Wednesday evening) If you have any special prayer requests for him to take to this special place please be in touch.