Advent Penitential Liturgy 
Come and join together as our new Pastoral area of St Edmond of Abingdon on Wednesday evening.
Congratulations to Canon Christopher Whitehead on his new appointment as Bishop of Plymouth.
Christmas wishes
Just when we though that our brilliant Preschool couldn't be any more lovely, we received this beautiful display. Look out for it when you are next at Mass.
Thank you so much to all the staff, children and families at St Augustines preschool.
Thank you so much to all the staff, children and families at St Augustines preschool.
What a fantastic few weeks it has been here at St Augustine's Church as we prepare for Christmas together.
Here are just some of the things that have been going on.....
*We all enjoyed the annual 'Carols by Candlelight' service last weekend where the church looked beautiful and everyone was in fine voice, particularly our Hong Kong community who joined together to sing some carols from the balcony in their own language. We all then feasted on mince pies and cuppas in the hall whilst the prize draw was announced!
*We also collected loads of gifts for handing out as Christmas presents on the soup run during 'Gift weekend', so a huge thank you to all who contributed and all who work to help those who are living on our streets.
*Our primary school children led us in a lovely Advent Mass and brought up the wishes they had made, hanging on their class trees.
*And on Friday we hosted the Community, Christmas Sing-a-long with the Salvation Army band and Young People's Choir and, afterwards, the Bristol Pan Sonic Steel band entertained everyone in the hall and outside, whilst the church remained open for people to light a candle for peace or for someone they are thinking about this Christmas.
Organiser, Martyn Poole from the Warm Space Community Cafe, had wanted to create a friendly, Christmas sing-a-long event for everyone to enjoy and to feel welcome to attend, whether they were someone with faith or not. He wanted the message of our church being open to all to be heard. This was inspired by conversations he had with a few people at the warm space cafe who were not looking forward to Christmas, as they would have in the past, due to loneliness or bereavement or other life changes and he wanted to make something lovely for the community to bring a smile to people's faces.
You certainly achieved that Martyn - a huge thank you to all the people who worked hard for all of these advent events.
Thanks to Deacon Vincent for these Reflections on the Fourth Sunday in Advent Year B
1st Reading from the second book of Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16.
The first and second book of Samuel deals with the transition from a loose confederation of tribes to a single nation under a King. This is an important moment in the history of the people of God, as they move from judges to monarchs. This move was to cope with the threat posed by the expansion of the Philistines and covers a period 1050-960 BC. The second book of Samuel covers the period when David is king up ntil his later years. The text we have today is concerning David’s feeling of guilt that now he is safely established as King and living in a fine palace the Ark of God is living under a tent. He consults Nathan the prophet, who initially sanctions David’s decision to build a more suitable dwelling place for the Ark of God. However, that night God speaks to Nathan and asks him to question David’s intention as he might not be the right man to accomplish this project. God then instructs Nathan to tell David that his throne is secure and his son will continue to rule and furthermore God promises that his house and his throne will last for ever. God assures David that the Messiah will be of his line, and that rule will last for ever. Hence Jesus’ ancestry will be deemed to be of David’s line through Joseph. God certainly loved David very much.
Psalm 88: 2-5, 27, 29.
This song is about this covenant that God made with David, the covenant which we have just been reading in the second book of Samuel. It is full of David’s love for God and God’s love for David. A wonderful song of joy.
2nd Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans 16: 25-27.
The text we have today is the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Romans, and Paul assures them that the “gospel” he has preached to them, was wrapped in silence for eternal ages, but at last was made known in the prophetic writings as instructed by the eternal God. This has been transmitted to the Gentiles so they can be obedient in faith to the only wise God through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Paul always begins and ends with God and Jesus Christ. His message is made known to all the Gentiles. God is embracing the whole of his creation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To Him be glory for ever.
The Holy Gospel according to Luke 1: 26-38.
This beautiful picture, painted in words by Luke has been attempted by a thousand artists. This needs to be read together with Luke’s account of Gabriel’s message to Zachariah. The message begins with, “Do not be afraid.” Like Zachariah, Mary notes the difficulty of the message, namely how can she have a baby when she is a virgin. It is a very sensible question and shows no sign of doubting the message. Immediately Gabriel explains, then Mary goes along with the message without any hesitation. What is really wonderful in all of this is the fact that Mary is a girl of no status and is from an insignificant village in a third world country. Whilst great men are straddling the world they pale into insignificance when faced with awe inspiring God becoming man in Jesus Christ. There is a silent person in these first wo chapters of Luke and that is the person of God. Luke tells us that the Angel Gabriel is sent, and although no name is mentioned we know that person is God. God is totally in charge of everything. Caesar can order a census to be taken of all his possessions but it is God who uses the occasion to fulfil the prophecies God has been inspiring for generations that the Messiah will be born of David’s line and even more in the city of David, namely Bethlehem. We like to think we are in charge of events but in reality God is monitoring all we do.
May God awaken our Faith as we greet the Newborn Babe on the morrow full of JOY.
Have a truly Happy & Holy Christmas. Deacon Vincent
Christmas Wishes from CAFOD in Clifton Diocese
Wishing you all in your Parish: joyful but peaceful and filled with hope Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ! Thank you for all your support to suffering brothers and sisters around Our Common Home!
I would like to personally thank you and your Parish community for all your inspirational support and missionary effort in evangelising through “remember(ing) the poor” (Gal 2:10) by inspiring your Parish community to be missionary and to help our suffering brothers and sisters around Our Common Home!
Wishing you all in the Parish: joyful but peaceful and filled with hope Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!
A gift from me to all our diocesan community: CAFOD World Gifts: Therapy Through Play for children affected by war.
Remembering you in my prayers.
Mary, Mother of God, Pray for Us!
In Christ,
Bart
Wishing you all in your Parish: joyful but peaceful and filled with hope Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ! Thank you for all your support to suffering brothers and sisters around Our Common Home!
I would like to personally thank you and your Parish community for all your inspirational support and missionary effort in evangelising through “remember(ing) the poor” (Gal 2:10) by inspiring your Parish community to be missionary and to help our suffering brothers and sisters around Our Common Home!
Wishing you all in the Parish: joyful but peaceful and filled with hope Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!
A gift from me to all our diocesan community: CAFOD World Gifts: Therapy Through Play for children affected by war.
Remembering you in my prayers.
Mary, Mother of God, Pray for Us!
In Christ,
Bart
No comments:
Post a Comment