This week's News

1st Holy Communion 2025. The deadline for the new applications has just passed and we will be contacting those parents shortly with details of the parent's meeting and course dates etc. The course will start this Autumn and run monthly until the Sacramental Mass takes place next Spring/Summer. **** If you haven't yet submitted a form for your child (new school year 3 / aged 8 + during this new school year), please get that to us ASAP so they don't miss out.

Print the form attached here or request a paper version from the office and return this week.

Thank you.

email: bristol.staugustine@cliftondiocese.com

CAKE SALE TIME!

The beloved Sunday morning Cake Sale is back!

Join us in the parish hall after Sunday morning Mass on 15th September for a cuppa and to buy some cakes, all in aid of our 2 Parish Projects, Brandon Trust and Little Sisters of the Poor St Joseph’s Care Home Bristol .
Please donate cakes if you are able to (please label ingredients if home made) to help us raise as much as possible for our charities and to give everyone a delicious selection!
And now... for your added delight this rainy morning... some cake based puns!
*Why couldn’t the teddy bear finish his cake? He was stuffed
*What do you call a cake that takes lots of chances? A whisk-taker.
*Why do French bakers only use one egg to make a cake? because one egg is un oeuf.
*Local cake factory was just robbed. They took a huge slice of the profits.
*I was on the beach and got hit by a massive wave of cake It was a tiramisu-nami. (Yes, ok - that is dessert not cake but I thought it was good!)

St. Nicholas of Tolentino RC Church, Bristol are hosting their monthly celebration of the Eucharist for LGBTQ+ Catholics, friends, family and allies on 15th Sept. See poster for details.

Thanks to Deacon Vincent for his Reflections for Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

1st Reading from the prophet Isaiah 35: 4-7.
Isaiah is the most quoted or alluded to in the New Testament, and it has certainly helped to form the Christian identity. His name is Isaiah ben Amoz and he lived in the 8th century BC. He was a prophet from an upper-class family. The scroll of Isaiah is not the work of one man, roughly one can say that chapters 1-39 are the work of the first Isaiah, chapters 40-55 are the work of the second Isaiah, a disciple of the first Isaiah and chapters56-66 are the work of a third disciple of Isaiah’s school of prophecy. We have before us an extract of the first Isaiah. He is relating to the people of Israel in captivity at Babylon that God will come and take them home again to the land of their fathers, and what a joyful time that will be. Do not lose heart trust in God’s justice. Support one another help those who are in despair and losing heart. It is an appeal to keep the Faith. It could be written for us today, we need to support each other, especially those who are struggling in this materialistic age. God is faithful he has redeemed us, he will not desert us. We need to keep the Faith with great joy, confidence and Hope.

Psalm 145: 7-10.
A joyful song of praise for the Lord; it describes perfectly what Isaiah is telling the exiles in Babylon. God puts right the wronged and lifts up the broken hearted. He brings back song and gladness. When we call on God to come close Joy follows in his presence. We need to bring the Lord close within our lives.

2nd Reading from the letter of St. James 2: 1-5.

James (like Jesus) is not afraid to be direct when discussing the hypocrisy of believers. If we make the affluent more comfortable in our assemblies than the poor, then we are making ourselves judges and corrupt judges at that. It is the rich who oppress the poor, the poor cannot afford to go to court for judgement. It is a grave misinterpretation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ when we make distinctions based on wealth or education. We are to build each other up; not make the underdog feel even lower, for God’s heart goes out to the poor and downtrodden, if, as we profess are followers of the Lord, then let us follow the Lord’s example, and love our neighbour as ourselves. James, just like Jesus, pulls no punches when speaking on this subject. We need to pay attention to the warning.

The Holy Gospel according to Mark 7: 31-37.
We have an echo from our first reading today as the people in astonishment at Jesus effortless healing of the deaf and dumb person. They quote “He has made the deaf to hear and the blind to see. He has done all things well.” As quoted by Isaiah; when God is close joy follows in his footsteps. Jesus makes no distinction in his healing or in his peaching. He teaches the uneducated and struggles with those who are steeped in their own intellectual pride, for they cannot open their hearts to accept this working man as God’s only Son. St. Augustine of Hippo, who was a great pagan philosopher struggled to come to terms with the simplicity of the Gospels; but God kept whispering in his ear till he opened the eyes of his mind to come close to God. “You stir us up, O Lord, and make us find joy in praising you, since you have made us for yourself; and our hearts find no rest until they rest in you.

God open the eyes of our minds and hearts to recognise your only Son. Deacon Vincent.