First Sunday of Advent 28.11.10

CENTENARY OF MOTHER TERESA’S BIRTH - 26.08.1910
EXHIBITION OF HER LIFE AT BACK OF CHURCH
Going from right (near door) to left (near repository). It will be here for two weeks
It has been loaned to this parish by the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity based in Kilburn.
Some profound words which she uttered are in bold on the exhibits.

During her lifetime, Mother Teresa achieved worldwide fame and acclamation for her good works. Our exhibition, however, highlights areas of Mother Teresa’s life which were not known until after she died: the very direct nature of her call to serve the “poorest of the poor”, and the immense spiritual darkness she experienced for many years after she founded her religious congregation.

The biography on the Missionaries of Charity website tells us that Jesus revealed directly to Mother Theresa “the desire of His heart for ‘victims of love’ who would ‘radiate his love for souls’... He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love...”

Inspired and strengthened by these revelations, Mother Teresa left the convent school where she was teaching and went, initially alone, into the slums of Calcutta to tend to the many broken bodies and souls she found there.

As the work and the number of nuns supporting her expanded, Mother Teresa started to experience a spiritual darkness from which she would only once, briefly, emerge. “The whole of Mother Teresa’s life bore witness to the joy of loving... But there was another heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death. Hidden from all eyes... was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, abiding and painful feeling of being separated from God... Through this experience she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus – His painful and burning longing for love – and shared in the interior desolation of the poor”.

Please take some time to visit and meditate on the exhibition. Let us pray that, through the intercession of Blessed Mother Teresa, we also may radiate that same love for our families, friends, and the poorest of the poor.

CHRIST THE KING Year C 21st November 2010

The yearning
for Christ...

of Creation
Friday 26th November – Fr Hugh MacKenzie
“the Son of Man is coming...”- from the Gospel of the 1st Sunday of Advent


...of the human heart
Friday 3rd December – Fr Kevin Douglas
“the Kingdom of God is close...”- from the Gospel of the 2nd Sunday of Advent


...of fallen Man
Friday 10th December – Fr Roger Nesbitt
“the blind see again... the dead are raised to life...” - from the Gospel of the 3rd Sunday of Advent


...of the human body
Friday 17th December –Fr Dominic Rolls
“Joseph son of David... Mary has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit...”- from the Gospel of the 4th Sunday of Advent


You are very welcome to join us for prayer and talks based on the Sunday Gospels of Advent:

7:00pm Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
7.30pm Talk
8:10pm Discussion and light refreshments
9:00pm Finish

November 14th 2010

FIVE ANGLICAN BISHOPS TO BECOME ROMAN CATHOLIC
This was announced last week. Three of the Bishops are active and two retired. They are to become part of a special non-geographical diocese (“Ordinariate”) for those Church of England members who would like to become Catholic but retain some of their prayer and organisational traditions. All those doing so will pledge allegiance to the full Catechism of the Catholic Church. They will probably be ordained as Catholic priests but not as Bishops.

A number of complete Anglican parishes are already declared as becoming Catholic, for instance one in Folkestone.

Most of those considering this change already believe in the Mass and quite a lot of Church teaching. It was the Anglican Church’s decision to change traditional teaching of Christ through the Church, such as the reservation of the priesthood to men, and the reservation of sex for heterosexual marriage in openness to children, which has made them recognise that the Church of England is not a full part of the Church of Christ. Please pray for them during what is likely to be a difficult time for them and their families.

NEW PARISH YOUTH CO-ORDINATOR

My name is Rachel Kidd, I am 23 years old and I come from Dundee in Scotland. In September I was delighted to take up the position of Youth Co-ordinator for the this Parish, St Mary Magdalen’s. As well as working here 2 days per week, I will also work 2 days in St Benedict’s, Ealing Abbey.

I was raised in a Catholic family. My journey in youth ministry began five years ago when, at the age of 18, I had an experience of a deep encounter with Christ through which I felt a strong call to work in youth evangelisation for the Church. I began working alongside the Diocesan Youth Co-ordinator for over a year and then I was officially employed for a period of seven months. From there I went on to join a Catholic Community in the West Highlands of Scotland called Craig Lodge Community, where I spent one year as a volunteer. There I helped to run retreats each weekend, was involved in chaplaincy work in the local Primary and High School and received a great deal of formation in my own faith, through the prayer life and catechesis in the Community. I then went on to study at the Emmanuel School of Mission in Rome, doing a nine-month course in missionary, spiritual and doctrinal formation, run by the Emmanuel Community under the patronage of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. After completing this course I began a BA in Applied Theology at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham and I am now in my 2nd year of this degree.

Under the direction of Fr Hugh and Deacon Michael, who is my “line manager”, I will begin by working with the Post-Confirmation Group, which has been running here for several years, the Youth Clubs for years 5-6 and 7-8, and in collaboration with Ealing Abbey, we are starting a Young Adults Group, for parishioners aged 18-30. This latter group will begin on November 28th. We also hope to offer the Young Adults Group and some of the Post Confirmation Group, the opportunity to go to World Youth Day in Madrid in August 2011 will be preparing for this pilgrimage throughout the coming year. With all of the groups we will be looking at how to develop them, to help the young people to continue to grow in their faith and as part of the Parish Community.

I would like to ask you all kindly to keep me and this work in your prayers; it is a great joy and an exciting new challenge for me to work in this lively parish community. I look forward to meeting you all.

God Bless, Rachel Kidd N.B. Rachel will introduce herself after Masses next w/e

ALL SAINTS –Year C – 31st October 2010

YET MORE ON HALLOWE’EN
The local shops are full of pumpkins and there are many adverts for children’s ghoulish masks. It may be that some children have asked if they could go as a group knocking on doors saying ‘trick or treat’, and expecting a small gift. Sadly some have experienced that if no treat was given, then an egg may be thrown at the door.

But do we know the ancient Christian tradition of Halloween? Do we know where the name comes from? And why is it that it is now a completely secularised, even pagan, festivity which is promoted to make money for our industries.

The name Halloween is in fact a corruption of ‘All Hallows Eve’. In the Our Father we say ‘Hallowed be thy name’ – so Hallow means to make holy, to sanctify or to honour as holy. So ‘All Hallows Eve’ is the evening before ‘All Hallows’, which we better know as ‘All Saints’. So the true Christian tradition of Halloween is the vigil to mark the feast of All Saints, which we celebrate on the 1st of November, although this year the feast is being moved to the Sunday (31st Oct).

All Saints is the feast in which we as Catholics celebrate the glory of God in His saints; the victory of light over darkness in the lives of God's holy ones in heaven. Jesus is the “Light of the World”. The saints lived by that light, and became a beacon in their own generation. Everyone is called by Jesus to live out this vocation - to be the “Light of the world” for others today.’

As we highlighted last week, in his pastoral letter after the Pope’s visit, Archbishop Vincent Nichols wrote:- “‘Making faith visible is so much a part of the invitation the Holy Father has extended to us all.’ Therefore we have been invited that instead of marking Halloween in its secular form, we should reclaim its Christian roots and celebrate it as a Night of Light. Possibilities include
• Attending a vigil Mass for the Feast of All Saints
• Spending some time before the Blessed Sacrament
• Providing treats and fun for children in celebration of All Saints and the Light of Christ; e.g. a bonfire or dressing up as saints.
• Placing a light in your window (safely) as a sign to passers-by that yours is a Christian household and Christ is your light.
• Some may like to wear a white item of clothing as a symbol of their allegiance to Christ, Our Light.