Fifteenth Sunday of the Year 15th July 2012
40 hours devotion and a Solemn Mass for our Patronal Feast
This coming Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday we will have 40 hours of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. It will bring great graces to our parish and we urge everyone to spend at least some time in adoration during this period.
Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote “The worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass is of inestimable value for the life of the Church. … and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness.” The Pope told us how often he had drawn ‘strength, consolation and support’ from periods of adoration. St Alphonsus Liguori, wrote: “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us”
The ‘40 hours’ will be like a mini-retreat for the parish, where we can all come away from our busy and stressful lives and spend just a short time in the presence of Jesus. And Jesus can give us a peace that no one else can give.
As well as nourishing our own love of Our Lord, three special aspects have surrounded this devotion from its origins: the protection from evil and temptation; reparation for our own sins and for the Poor Souls in Purgatory; and deliverance from political, material, or spiritual calamities. We should ask our Lord to pour out His abundant graces not only on us, but on our neighbours, and those we see living lives far from God. Jesus told us to be persistent in prayer – well 40 hours of continuous prayer will surely bear great fruit.
And this period of intense prayer will then lead us into celebrating the Feast of St Mary Magdalen, our parish patron saint.
And then Our Special Mass to celebrate the Feast of St Mary Magdalen.
In the past we have celebrated our parish feast day with family fun days at the Willesden Sports Centre; this year it will be different and we will celebrate the Sunday Masses, which all will be of St Mary Magdalen, with greater solemnity. And this will be most noticeable at the 12:00 noon Mass which will be even more glorious as we will have a professional choir singing Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Great music has a way of lifting our hearts and many will certainly experience the Mass in a new way when we celebrate it with such awe inspiring music. Why not encourage someone who has been away from Mass to come with you? With the graces of the preceding 40 hours devotion still flowing, who knows what conversions might take place?
Deacon Michael
This coming Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday we will have 40 hours of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition. It will bring great graces to our parish and we urge everyone to spend at least some time in adoration during this period.
Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote “The worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass is of inestimable value for the life of the Church. … and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness.” The Pope told us how often he had drawn ‘strength, consolation and support’ from periods of adoration. St Alphonsus Liguori, wrote: “Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us”
The ‘40 hours’ will be like a mini-retreat for the parish, where we can all come away from our busy and stressful lives and spend just a short time in the presence of Jesus. And Jesus can give us a peace that no one else can give.
As well as nourishing our own love of Our Lord, three special aspects have surrounded this devotion from its origins: the protection from evil and temptation; reparation for our own sins and for the Poor Souls in Purgatory; and deliverance from political, material, or spiritual calamities. We should ask our Lord to pour out His abundant graces not only on us, but on our neighbours, and those we see living lives far from God. Jesus told us to be persistent in prayer – well 40 hours of continuous prayer will surely bear great fruit.
And this period of intense prayer will then lead us into celebrating the Feast of St Mary Magdalen, our parish patron saint.
And then Our Special Mass to celebrate the Feast of St Mary Magdalen.
In the past we have celebrated our parish feast day with family fun days at the Willesden Sports Centre; this year it will be different and we will celebrate the Sunday Masses, which all will be of St Mary Magdalen, with greater solemnity. And this will be most noticeable at the 12:00 noon Mass which will be even more glorious as we will have a professional choir singing Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Great music has a way of lifting our hearts and many will certainly experience the Mass in a new way when we celebrate it with such awe inspiring music. Why not encourage someone who has been away from Mass to come with you? With the graces of the preceding 40 hours devotion still flowing, who knows what conversions might take place?
Deacon Michael
posted by Sinead Reekie at 11:40 am