This Week's News

A message from our Primary School:

In memory of our beloved teacher, Mrs Bowen, we invite you to help us create a beautiful Remembrance Garden on 9th November at 10am in St Augustine's School courtyard.

Please bring tools and be ready to dig... those unable to dig are most welcome to help supply the diggers with tea/coffee and biscuits (refreshments supplied).

For more information please pop into school & ask for Mrs Dow or Mrs Hodges or email esther.dow@staugustinesprimary.org.uk.

Mrs McCann, school governor, can also be found on the playground most days.
Thank you for your support.






We are delighted to launch this year's COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS EVENT!

On Saturday 16th November our annual community afternoon is back!

Join us from 12noon-3pm in the school for festive fun
~ come & have lunch, enjoy mulled wine, Irish coffees & delicious cakes,
~ get some Christmas shopping done at our amazing stalls, (more info on who is joining us, very soon!)
~ play fun games & ‘try your luck’ on the bottle stall & tombola,
~ have your face painted, decorate biscuits or try some crafts,
~ listen to some talented musicians,
~ have something mended at Bella’s ‘stitch it’ stall
~ & more.
There’ll even be an early visit from the big guy in red! (We've booked him before he gets too busy!)
Invite your friends and family and come along for a lovely afternoon, celebrating our wonderful community together, all whilst raising money for our School/PTFA, our Pre-school, our Parish and the Guiding units and other charities ❤️

(If you would like to help with the event please contact the office.
If you can donate a bottle or new gift for the tombola stalls please bring items to the presbytery. We’d also love donations of cakes on the day (please label ingredients))


We'd love to highlight some of the local traders who will be there for your Christmas Shopping delights on the day.
Today, please check out Daisydebs Glass Gifts whose handmade stained glass gifts are made with love, and it shows! They are really beautiful!

We are so pleased to have Karen from Mustard Cuts with us again for her amazing cards, pictures and gifts - hand made / bespoke / individual / designed from her clever mind! Always so much to see on her stall. (Her beautiful wooden tree decorations are very much worth a visit!)
So delighted to be welcoming back 2 stalls raising money for great causes - our local 'Men in Sheds' group will be selling fantastic wooden items they have made, and the Polish Scouting Association always have beautifully crafted items which make great Christmas gifts!


The lovely MJG Customs are back, selling their brilliant personalised gifts and we will be able to stock up on all things 'Pickled' with Rogers fruit and veg stall! Please come and show your support and 'Buy Local'!
 

S48 CATHOLIC SCHOOLS INSPECTION REPORT.
We are all very pleased with the report, which is ‘good’ overall with elements of ‘outstanding’. Sincere thanks go to Bella & Fr Barnabas for their time during the inspection & to the wider parish for their ongoing support of the school. It really is appreciated by all of us.
Mark Hilliam–Head Teacher

See the full report on their website here:
https://www.staugustinedownend.org.uk/catholic-life/section-48-catholic-school-inspection

So... how many of you know that we have a shop at the back of church...?
Some of you? ..... Not many of you? Well, that might be because we have not been able to devote much time to it over the past few years.
However, thanks to some lovely new volunteers (thank you to Simon and Anne and thanks in advance to Oliver and Wendy) we have been able to start a reorganisation over the last few months.

We are now delighted to 're-Launch' the shop which will be open for both weekend Masses.
There is more work to do on organising the stock and 2nd hand items/books in there and we will assess how much stock is sold as to when/whether we start buying in new stock again. (Feedback is welcomed on the shop's future.)
Please give the shop a visit this weekend before or after Mass and see if there is anything to catch your eye.
New stock is priced individually and you can make a donation for any 2nd hand items. Cash can go into the secure box in the Narthex (under Our Lady's statue) and the bank details are up in the shop if you wish to pay by bank transfer.

* There is no Christmas stock on sale yet as we have that for the Countdown to Christmas event - the Prayer group will be running a Christmas stall for us * Anything not sold will then go into the shop *




Reflections for Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

1st Reading from the book of Deuteronomy 6: 2-6. Deuteronomy is known in Hebrew as “Debarim”, which simply means “Words”. Most of us know it as “Deuteronomy”, which means a “a second lawgiving”, or a “repeated law”. It offers a vision of how Israelite society ought to be. Israel was supposed to be the People of God, caring particularly for widows, orphans and immigrants, as a sign of God’s undying love for Israel and guidance of them. It can be read as a sermon delivered by Moses to the people before they entered the promised land. It might have been written early or late it is not certain which. Our reading today is part of the “Shema”, a prayer that is supposed to be ingrained in every Jewish heart, and indeed in ours as brothers and sisters of Jesus, by adoption. We are summoned to love God with all our hearts, and souls and with all our strength, it is to be our prime motivation for our lives in God. Deuteronomy encourages us to love God with a cheerful heart for when we are at one with God, we are at one with each other and God’s creation. It is to be a joyous experience all our lives.
Psalm 17: 2-4, 47, 51. This is supposed to be a song composed by the Lord’s servant David after defeating his enemies and being delivered from the hand of Saul. It is a song of total trust and love of God who had protected his “Anointed One”.

2nd Reading from the letter to the Hebrews 7: 23-28. We continue with our study of this letter to the Hebrews, and the theme is declaring the radical superiority of Jesus’ priesthood, because Jesus has risen from the dead and is a priest forever, living forever to intercede for all who come to God through him. Because he is not subject to death he does not need to be replaced. He is a priest for ever! We are truly blessed to have such a saviour interceding for us because he understands us and lived with us and died for us. He became the Sacrificial Lamb and took all our sins upon himself, to purchase us for God his Father.
The Holy Gospel according to Mark 12: 28-34.
At first sight this appears to be an entrapment for Jesus, but remarkably it turns out to be a meeting of like minds. “What is the most important commandment?” the scribe asks. Jesus responds from the Old Testament reading we had today, which every prayerful Jew says three times a day, “The Shema”. Then Jesus adds a second, “You must love your neighbour as yourself”. Jesus concludes that there is no greater commandment than these. The scribe replies in my translation as, “Beautifully spoken, Teacher.” He agrees wholeheartedly with Jesus’ response. Jesus, seeing that the scribe replied thoughtfully, exclaims, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Not all the priests and scribes of Israel disagreed with Jesus, there were many who followed him. Jesus’ knowledge of the scriptures enabled him to respond in their own words which was their mental furniture This is what annoyed the leaders and encouraged them to rid themselves of him. It is important for us to not only listen to his words, but to put them into action. Notice in his answer, that because we will love God with our everything, it will enable us to love our neighbour as ourselves for God’s sake. The action of loving God encourages us to mitigate the sufferings of our neighbours. Our faith always leads to action, it is not a passive experience.
God grace us to love you with our hearts, souls and strength and our neighbour as ourselves for your sake. Deacon Vincent.

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