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May, month of Mary

Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

May is here and with it comes the tradition of honouring Our Lady – not just for a day, or even a few days – but for a whole month.

Buy why do we do this? The tradition goes back centuries, but as with many of the traditions surrounding Our Lady it found its modern form in the medieval period. 

May was seen as a month in which the darkness of winter had finally been expelled and the coming of summer, of good crops, of long warm evenings and joyful times with friends outside had finally arrived.

Our Lady (seen here in her Icon – Our Lady of Perpetual Help) has always taken us to her son, Jesus. 

She helps us expel the darkness in our lives and to see the coming of warmth and love in the world. She helps us see the Hope that Jesus brings, she helps us feel the warmth of His love for us. 

So during this month we will be honouring Our Lady by singing the Regina Coeli (Joy to Thee of Queen of Heaven!) after Mass each day and also after Evening Prayer. It’s easy to learn and there will be print outs in the church and online to help. 

It’s also a good month to learn how to pray the rosary if you don’t already know. I’ve printed out some guides and put some rosaries at the back of church for you. Come on Wednesday evenings this month and join in this ancient prayer. 

Pray for Our Lady’s Perpetual Help. 

Fr. Matthew

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Thank you very much for Fr. Angus for covering whilst Fr. Matthew was away. Thank you also to David for keeping our daily thoughts focused on the WhatsApp group. 

It looks like we’ll be able to start serving coffee and tea after mass from Sunday 23rd May. If you’d like to help organising that please speak to Fr. Matthew

We will have our first bric-a-brac sale for a very long time on Saturday 22nd May. 11am – 1pm 

Fr. Matthew has new rosary guides and rosaries available for anyone who wants to learn how to pray the rosary during Our Lady’s month of May. 

The APCM is on the 9th May immediately after Mass. Keep an eye out for reports over the coming week or so. 

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish
Code – 230 623 503 or visit stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

Come with a flag this Sunday! Gleta had a great idea for our Patronal Festival this Sunday – as we can’t have a party – come along dressed in bright colours and with the flags of your home countries and cultures. We’ll be brining the Welsh flag, although I may not dress in green!

Celebration!

part of the family.

What a truly wonderful Sunday we had last week. Eight people confirmed in their faith and one person admitted to Holy Communion.

I wasn’t able to produce a list of names to pray for last week, but do please pray this week – everyday – for:

• Andrew
• Eddy
• Gavin
• Kino
• Nene
• Edmund
• Aaron
• David-Martin
• and Christine.

The journey they have now started is one that we share with them. It is our duty to care for them as they join us in church, but also out in the world. We do that through prayer, and also in practical ways. Ensuring that they know that no matter what – they have a family in Jesus Christ. 

The Bishop was over the moon at this beautiful display of faith and of love.

The building work nears completion, we’re hoping to announce an opening day soon. But for now, put the 18th July in your diary for a big party, the Bishop will be back, it’s the one year anniversary of my licensing, and my 41st on the 19th!

Fr. Matthew

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A quiet week as Fr. Matthew takes a short holiday in the caravan. He’s not far away so if you need him in an emergency do contact him on the usual number (on the front of the pew sheet).

Fr. Angus will be back with us on Thursday evening offering a mid-week mass (6pm) and Evening Prayer, please do come and support him.

Foodbank runs as usual. 

No Saturday cleaning this week. 

The APCM is on the 9th May immediately after Mass. Keep an eye out for reports over the coming week or so. 

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish
Code – 230 623 503 or visit stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

Timetable for Saturday 17th April

• 8am – Church open for flower arrangers and cleaners
• 10am – Cleaning (please do come and lend a hand)
• 2pm – Church open for prayer for HRH Prince Philip, the bell will toll for one hour
• 3pm – Church open for prayers as we stream the funeral of HRH Prince Philip
• 5pm – Final preparations for Confirmation Services on Sunday (final decorations)

Weekly message from Fr. Matthew

The road ahead,

walking with Jesus.

Our Gospel starts, ‘The disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised Jesus at the breaking of the bread’. 

This is the amazing story of the road to Emmaus. Of the disciples so distraught that they had fled Jerusalem after the death of Jesus, so distraught that they forgot what they had been taught, so distraught they thought Jesus has abandoned them.

But there, walking with them was Jesus. They were so caught up in their own distress that they failed to see who was walking right next to them. 

They were pouring their hearts out – so caught up in explaining to this apparently uncomprehending person their abject misery -that they failed to see who was with them.

But then, in the moment of the breaking of the bread it because clear who was with them all along – Jesus!

This is why daily mass is such a central and import part of many of our lives. It allows us to see Jesus in our daily lives. It enables us to recognise Him in our day to day lives – and no matter how low or high we get we are constantly pulled back to Him and to His work in our lives. 

If you don’t come to a midweek mass, why not try it this week.

Fr. Matthew

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Congratulations to all those being confirmed and being admitted to Holy Communion this Sunday!

Our patronal festival is next Sunday, come in colourful clothes, bring some party food for yourselves and your family, let’s celebrate the achievements of the last 9 months. 

The church will be open from 2pm on Saturday 17th for prayer before and during the funeral of HRH Prince Philip. The funeral will be screened in church (3pm) and the bell tolled for one hour before.

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish Code – 230 623 503. You can now also set up Parish Giving via their website here.

Divine Mercy

Finding peace through mercy.

In the 1930’s a Polish nun called Sr. Faustina (now St. Faustina) experienced a series of visions of Jesus. Amongst her visions Jesus asked her to paint this very special image – an image of the Divine Mercy of God flowing from his Sacred Heart. 

Her visions were centred around Jesus bringing her to a place where she could see the mercy of God at work in the world around her. 

She wrote of her pain at her neighbours being badly treated, about their sufferings and how it physically hurt her. She prayed that their sufferings would fall on her, that she may in some way lessen their suffering in order to help them find a path to grace and peace. 

It is far from easy to love with a love so deep that it causes you physical pain when you see that person hurting. 

Some of us are lucky enough to have experienced a tiny portion of this love – the love we have for our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers – our husbands and wives. 

But what St. Faustina showed us is that Jesus wants us to love everyone with that much love. 

It is that love which must inspire us to try harder. To try harder to defend the weak, to feed the poor, to cloth the naked, to visit the prisoner, to lift up the wretched and say, ‘I love you!’ and to really mean it. 

St. Faustina gave us a gift,  a gift to see the power and depth of Jesus love for all of us. What do we do with that gift?

Fr. Matthew

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Evening Prayer is now at 6pm each day to help those who want to attend when they finish work. 

+Jonathan will be with us next week for the Confirmations and to admit people to Holy Communion. If Fr. Matthew has not spoken to you yet and you’re expecting to be Confirmed – please call him!

There is church cleaning and decorating this Saturday (17th) to get things ready for the Bishops visit.

The PCC meeting has been postponed to the 25th April. 

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish Code – 230 623 503

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!  

It’s often said that we Christians are ‘an Easter people’. What does that mean?

At the most basic level we are Christians because Jesus died for us, he descended into hell and on the third day he rose again. It is this central fact that is at the heart of our faith. 

Without that our faith is hollow. Without that understanding of that ultimate act of Love, without that understanding that he rose again, then who are we? 

Are we a social group here to care for the poor? Are we a group of people who meet once a week for a cup of tea and a chat? (When we are allowed again).

Absolutely not! We are a community of Christians whose faith in Jesus Christ – in his death and resurrection – drive us to acts of good in the world. 

Our faith is at the very heart of who we are and what we do in the world.

On Sunday we welcome four new people to the family of Christ, to the body of Jesus Christ and his Church on earth. 

Their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ means that death no longer has dominion over them. Death has no sting, because they know (as we already do) that they are saved into eternal life in the Love of God. 

Now what do they do with that faith? What do we do? We must take it out into the world and share it with others – we share it because we want more people to come to understand that Love and we want more people to be saved into Heaven! 

This is why I get excited each time we break a new number in church. This is what we are for… this is what Jesus Christ instructed us to do. 

Go and announce the Gospel of The Lord!

Fr. Matthew

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An enormous thank you to everyone who has cleaned, done the flowers, tidied up, moved chairs and just about every other job to make the church so clean, tidy & beautiful for Easter Sunday – thank you!

A very quiet week for public services as Fr. Matthew takes a couple of days leave and then ties himself to his desk to catch up with admin that has caught up over Holy Week & Easter. Fr. Matthew is available throughout the week via his usual number & email. 

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish Code – 230 623 503

Light

before & after the darkness.  

Palm Sunday has always struck me as a delightful and fun day. I can so easily get caught up in the expectation and the joy of the people of Jerusalem as Jesus enters the city. 

I can see and hear the children as they run to meet him. This great teacher, this man who is God, Jesus who has given us so many signs and such wonderful love. 

The noise, the smells, the hands held high waving palm branches crying out ‘Hosanna in the highest!’

But in the midst of that joy there is a deep darkness. It is harder for us to experience fully the joy of the people of Jerusalem because know the story, we know what comes next. 

We know the agony that awaits Jesus and his disciples. 

We know the darkness of the garden at Gethsemane (where we will join the Disciples in their Watch on Maundy Thursday). 

We know the pain of the arrest and His condemnation. His struggle to carry the cross, His falls, the reversal of the joy of the crowds to jeers, hatred and spittle. 

Palm Sunday marks the start of that journey of darkness. 

It also, and this is the vital part of the story, marks the start of the journey towards the light. 

We KNOW that Jesus will come again, that He will rise three days later, that He will save us all – and in that joy we share a large part. 

This week, accept and see the darkness… then let the light destroy it utterly.

Fr. Matthew

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Wear red! This Sunday we remember the throng at the gates of Jerusalem, calling out toJesus ‘enter the King of glory!’ Join in with that throng and wear something red. Although we can’t have a procession this year, we will have palm crosses and we will be blessing them at the start of the service. 

The electoral roll is still open and will close next Sunday. Do take a form or contact Fr. Matthew to be added.

We’ll be following a Polish tradition on Good Friday and blessing baskets of food. This is at the request of our builders and it would be lovely for our congregation to come as well with Easter Eggs and Easter Food to be blessed. Just bring it in a basket at 11am.  

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish Code – 230 623 503

Passiontide

Veiling the statues.  

This Sunday we enter a period of time in the church calendar called Passiontide. It starts the Sunday before Palm Sunday and ends on Holy Saturday.

We’ll keep the crosses covered until the end of the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday (3pm), but we’ll keep the statues veiled until the start of the Easter Vigil (in our case that means we’ll remove them during the Gloria at the 10am Mass on Easter Sunday).

But why do we do this? Why cover those things that draw us to Christ the rest of the year?

Partly we do this because it serves to heighten our experience in church in the last two weeks of Lent – calling us physically to the importance of this period of time and pulling us towards the inevitability of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. 

We do that by covering the statues so that we’re physically reminded to pay attention to the words that are being spoken in mass. 

We are denied the pleasures of our eyes so that our ears may more fully engage with the Word. 

The point is that it pulls us into a new state of excitement and anticipation – we are denied the beauty of the statues, the security of the crucifixes and we’re edged towards the reality of what is to come. 

Then, beautiful – the veils are removed and we are thrown back into the richness of our faith. 

During Passiontide we should pay close attention to how our feelings draw us to – or push us away from – God. 

Listen, watch, pray, He will soon be gone, only to return in Glory. 

Fr. Matthew

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We welcome Fr. Yaro to preach this Sunday – he joins us from St. Martin’s in Ruislip where he is the Assistant Curate – I know you’ll make him feel welcome.

The Electoral Roll is now open ahead of our APCM on May 9th. The Roll is open for 14 days. If you wish to be added to the Roll take a form at the back of church or speak to Fr. Matthew or Gleta Murray. 

If you can’t get to this Confirmation Class, then another will be run on April 11th. 

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish Code – 230 623 503

Feast or Lament?

Celebrating with joy.  

This Sunday we will be celebrating Mothering Sunday. It is a very old feast and comes on Laetare Sunday – a time in Lent when we take a moment to remember that we are already an Easter People, that we have already been saved, that we have already seen the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

We take a breath and view the hard work we have undertaken so far, before girding ourselves for the coming weeks of sacrifice and pain. 

Even our liturgical colour shifts from deep, dark purple to the lighter and more joyful rose vestments. 

It is important to enjoy the feasts when they come. It is tempting to see in a feast the pain that being joyful can cause. 

There are many moments of lament and hardship in our liturgical calendar – when we remember the pain and hurt that we as a community and as individuals have suffered. 

But, on days such as this Sunday we should lift our hearts heavenward and whatever our personal circumstances, whatever our particular pains and hurt we should ask God to help us find joy and hope in our lives.

That joy and hope can be hard to find for some on Mothering Sunday, especially when one doesn’t easily have a model of motherly love, or where that earthly model is no longer with us. 

That gives us even more reason to cry out in joy for those gifts we have received. 

For the women in our lives who have lifted us up, for the women in our lives who have cared for us, loved us, held our hands, smiled at us, taken us to church, held us before God in prayer. 

Mothering Sunday is a day of celebration and of joy. Lift people up in that joy and love.

Fr. Matthew

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We have been asked to close the church for three days next week to enable the builders to replace a section of the power unit and for them to demolish the concrete stairs into the boiler room, which will create a great deal of noise. Church will be closed Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday and Fr. Matthew is taking the opportunity to have a few quiet days of rest. 

With children back at the altar from this Sunday (14th), do come along and encourage them. There will be a special present and blessing for all mothers – offered by the children. 

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish Code – 230 623 503