A Lent Penitential Service will take place here at St Augustine's on Wednesday 26th March at 7.30pm.
2 Priests will be hearing Confession and there will also be Prayer Ministry available for those who would like it.
Come and be part of the Service, even if you are not going to go to Confession. All are welcome.
2 Priests will be hearing Confession and there will also be Prayer Ministry available for those who would like it.
Come and be part of the Service, even if you are not going to go to Confession. All are welcome.
Congratulations
Congratulations to St Joseph's for their successful celebration last evening, their hospitality and very good reception afterwards.
From St Augustine's, the daughter church.
The Diocesan Jubilee Celebration of Hope on Saturday 19 July at Downside School & Abbey is getting nearer. Bookings are filling up fast so don’t miss out on this opportunity, we only have a limited number of tickets left for the day. I do hope you can join us for the day.
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Jubilee Celebration of Hope: Our keynote speakers will be: Sr Jane Livesey CJ, Eddie Gilmore and Simon Uttley.
Children and Teen-Age Jubilee Programme - A full programme of activities will be run by experienced group leaders for our children and young people ranging in age from 3-16. Update: We are delighted to announce that Rise Theatre Company will be offering the workshops for our 12-16 age group. Rise Theatre Company is a well-established Catholic Theatre Company who work extensively with schools and parishes to offer meaningful programmes, performances, and retreats. More details about Rise Theatre Company can be found on their website: www.risetheatre.co.uk/about
Programme for the Day - Arrivals and Refreshments from 10am. Our programme of Prayer, talks and reflections will commence at 10.30am.
Refreshments - In addition to coffee and tea breaks, a free hot two course lunch will be provided for adults and a lunch box for the children/young people.
Mass - Our Jubilee Celebration of Mass will take place in the Abbey Church at 3pm. With Bishop Bosco MacDonald as our Principal Celebrant and joined by the Abbot of Downside Dom Nicholas Wetz OSB.
Booking - If you would like to join us for the day, booking through Eventbrite is essential. Please register via this link: https://jubileedayofhope.eventbrite.co.uk for your free ticket. For the purpose of catering to the right numbers, a printed or mobile ticket from Eventbrite is required for the day. If you have difficulty accessing Eventbrite, please contact our office (email: adult.education@cliftondiocese.com) and we will help you with this. All are most welcome; we look forward to seeing you!
Craft sale
With Mother's Day approaching, Petra will be in the parish hall after Mass this Sunday (23rd) with some beautiful crafts on sale - all in aid of our 2 Parish projects. You may wish to treat yourself to something beautiful or to treat another lovely person in your life with a gift, all whilst helping our church and helping the Chhanv Foundation. Please come along and browse Petra's shop!
Please email the office or find Bernadette to discuss if you think you may have an hour or so every couple of months to help us keep it looking its best.
Thank you.
Thanks to Deacon Vincent for his Reflections for Third Sunday of Lent Year C
1st Reading from the Book of Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15.
Exodus is a remarkable book telling the story of God and God’s people. The first fifteen chapters deal with God freeing the people from oppression in Egypt and then disciplined in the desert. Moses is caught between God and the people, a very difficult place to find oneself. In this selection, we see how Moses first encounters God. We need to remember that Moses has been brought up an Egyptian and has not encountered God until this moment. The bush was on fire but not consumed, so Moses went to explore this phenomenon. God speaks directly to Moses, he must take off his shoes, for he is on holy ground. It is a great sign of respect in the presence of the Lord, which is something we ought to take on board when we enter the presence of the Lord in our churches. We are on Holy Ground and should behave accordingly. God instructs Moses to go and address his people, but Moses wants to know God’s name, and here we encounter a dilemma. God’s name is a very strange expression; we have “The God of your Ancestors”, “the One who Is”, “I Am Who I Am.” It is almost saying mind your own business, but God is not going to give us any power over what he is called. God is Who He Is, we will know him by his powerful fatherly care for all his people. His name is so sacred it must never be misused, only honoured for all time.
Psalm 103(102): 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11.
This psalm is singing of God’s goodness, his compassion and graciousness. It sings of his compassionate forgiveness and kindness to his people, how he entered our lives through Moses’ action at God’s command, leading the people to the promised land free from enslavement.
2nd Reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12.
Paul is explaining to the Corinthian Jewish Christians who are perturbed about the dietary code differences between the people of the Covenant and the Gentiles. He explains that although in the wilderness they all ate the same food and drink it did not stop them from making the golden calf to be worshipped and brought upon themselves a terrible reaction from God. (Exodus 32: 6) Our diet does not control our spirituality, unless we overindulge, even when we obey the dietary laws of the Jews we are still prone to fall. We must be single minded in following Christ, who will lead us to the Father.
The Holy Gospel according to Luke 13: 1-9.
This is an age-old problem whereby we always assume that when something terrible happens that maybe they brought these things upon themselves because they were sinners. Jesus is adamant that this is not the case. Accidents happen because of building problems or terrible things happen in war, but those innocents who suffer, are innocent and not bringing condemnation on themselves by their sins. We are called to repentance, and must respond, otherwise, spiritually we will pay a far higher price than our lives. God alone is the judge of all, and so we should leave those things that happen to his great mercy and concentrate upon getting ourselves right with God. We must avoid being in two minds about following God, if we concentrate upon the Gospel life, then the Holy Spirit will guide us safely to the Father’s glory.
God help us to repent and believe the Gospel.
Deacon Vincent
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