Mass 11th February - Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
Mass is available for catch-up on Youtube.
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear friends in Christ
The opening chapters of the Gospel of St Mark give us clear and concise insights into the mission of Our Lord.
Dear friends in Christ
The opening chapters of the Gospel of St Mark give us clear and concise insights into the mission of Our Lord. He begins by proclaiming that the Kingdom of God has come and then gives the signs by His miracles of healing. Every one of us stands in need of healing. This need comes about by our response to hearing the words of Jesus. He has come to address dysfunction at every level: social and personal. Indeed, we may reflect back over almost a year in which we have seen so many cases of suffering in mind, body and soul. We think of the tragic loss of life that has occurred and all those families—many known to us—who have experienced the loss of ones they love. Jesus comes to heal, as much now as He did when He walked on this earth. Healing comes in many forms but the reality is that life is finite, it has a limit, and the ultimate healing for the Christian believer is the healing which comes at death. Death is the final healing which ends the suffering of life on earth. It is a healing, because it brings us into communion with the One who is the object of all our loves and desires. This last year has taught us to let-go of many things that we thought were so precious and needful. There is only one thing necessary: to love God and be united with Him. This relationship will help us navigate all of the trials and pitfalls of life and give us the serenity only He can provide.
With just one more weekend now before Lent—Ash Wednesday is 17th—we ought to be giving some consideration to our personal Lenten discipline, otherwise it will creep-up on us before we know it! We might feel that we have had enough mortification over the last months without inventing more penance, but we all still need the period of Lent to prepare well for Easter. One of the exercises I suggest we could do during Lent in this Year of St Joseph, is prepare to make a Consecration to this great Saint and Patriarch. Begin on Monday 15th February and end on the Solemnity of St Joseph, 19th March. Over thirty-three days we could invoke his intercession by a prayer such as his Litany. An excellent resource I found for this is the new book: Consecration to St Joseph by Fr Donald Calloway; you can find it on Amazon. It will give you a great insight into the Saint and help you perform a great spiritual work this Lent.
Thursday is the Solemnity of Our Lady of Lourdes, our Patroness. Commemorating the date of the first apparition (there were eighteen) in 1858. This is a day on which we can call on the help of our heavenly Mother for protection of our sick and suffering, and all of us, who call upon her help at this time.
May Jesus, Mary and Joseph assist us!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Frank Baynes, RIP & deceased members of Baynes & Gavin Families (AMC)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 7 February
8am Mass , Michael Gregory, RIP
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Ruth Lambert, RIP (PL)
4pm Mass Peter Griffin, RIP (Anniversary) - Ex Form (SG)
(No general Communion)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 8
St Jerome Emiliani, Rel
9am Mass Intentions of Michael O’Sullivan (PO’S)
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Tuesday 9
Feria
9am Mass Charles & Alice Whitefield, RIP (FM)
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Wednesday 10
St Scholastica, V
9am Mass Carmen Ashley, RIP (Anniversary) (JA)
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Thursday 11
Solemnity of Our Lady of Lourdes
Patroness of our Parish & Diocese
9am Mass Fr James Duffy (PM)
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Friday 12
Feria
12Noon Mass Lotsi Hidveghy, RIP (F&JO’B)
11.30-1pm Private Prayer
Saturday 13
Saturday Memorial of BVM
10am Mass Jennifer Garrett, RIP (Anniversary) (JH)
9.30-11am Private Prayer
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 14 February
8am Mass Christopher John Thresham, RIP
9.30am Mass Madelaine Sighe, RIP (Anniversary) (MR)
11.30am Mass Winifred McClafferty, RIP (AMM)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Alan Wilcox, Canon Bernard Manning, Pope Pius XI, Fr Donald Mills, Fr John Garrett, Fr Charles Snell, Rev William Smith, Mary Chatterway, Henry Moores, Catherine Burn, Modge Dutton, Emma Oldham, Veronica Reid, Peter Heritage, Alice Whitfield, Eugenie Ballard, Doris Wenninger, Edmund O’Sullivan, Patrick Jennett, Charles Oldham, John Armstrong, Victor Gosling, Carmen Ashley, John Young, Bernard Ward, Catherine Shanahan, Gordon Watts, Jessie Hempstead, Annie Jackson, Monica Crighton, Cajetan Soarer, Tony Trigg, Eric Wallen, Mary Mulhern, Mary Gleeson, Patrick O’Donnell, Martin Ryan, Daphne Rickard, Ivy Spoatt, Christine Riddell & Jack Pearson.
We Pray for our Sick
Norbert Widera, Margaret Bartle, Tony Downey, Kristy Monferrari, Fred Ring, Ian Irwin, Russell Short, Marie Karaf, Gilberte Cook, Garry Pearman, Anne Owen, Adrian Barclay, Patricia Ann Darroch, Peggy Larman, Sylvia Langley, Patricia Vanner, Amy Louise Fox, Sarah Savage, Bill O’Connell, Janet Weale, Charlotte O’Neil, Ella Williams, David Kislingbury, Mark Shepherd, Eileen Bines, Breege McCaffrey, Mark Hartley, Austin Butler, John Lavery, Paul Keane, Rosemary Bragard, Pat Lynch, Maureen Gooding, Ben Wilson, Christian Ryan, Mike Rubbert, Tina Doveaston, Addi Brady, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Rose Craft, Nan Carrit, Eileen Wilson, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Mary Boyce, Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Janet Woods, Lynne Hilkene, June Moncaster, Laura & Anne Breen, Breda Lynch, Maria Clark, Roy Widdecombe, Johanna Lynch, Anthony King, Chas Taylor, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Johnnie Pool, Edward Martin, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Hugh Isaacs, Josephine Griggs, Dawn Deleigh, Lorraine Hart, Linda Dean, Georgina Cornwell, Antonella McConalogue, Eddie McConalogue, Sharon Levill, Annie Holland, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Bernadette Lane, Irena Solecki, Ianto Bellis, Doreen Troughton, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith, Keith Maliff, Bradley & children: Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price & Frazer Gregory.
We Pray for the Repose of the Souls of
CLAUDIO CATINO, RIP who died recently.
ANDREW SHANAHAN, RIP who died tragically in a car accident on 28th January.
DANNY COX, RIP who died recently.
IAN SKEETS, RIP who died on 28th December.
Music at 11.30am Mass on Sunday
Adagio (Symphonie V) - Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
Communion, Op. 8 - Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
Prelude in B minor, BWV 544 - J S Bach (1685-1750)
First Holy Communion 2021
If you have a child in Year 3 or above and would like them to make their First Holy Communion this year, please complete the online registration form available from the Parish website under ‘Sacraments’ and submit it no later than Sunday 21st February. Please note that you must include a copy of your child’s Baptismal certificate when submitting this form.
The usual first Parent’s meeting will be replaced by a talk given by Fr. Kevin on the Parish YouTube channel (accessible by clicking the ‘Live’ button on the website homepage) on Monday 22nd February at 6pm.
World Day of Prayer
The World Day of Prayer Service would normally be taking place on Friday 5th March. This years’ service is prepared by the women of Vanuatu on the theme “Build on a Strong Foundation”. Given the current problems of scheduling a public service in a church the local committee in Southend have put together a video of the service which can be viewed, at any time, on YouTube. Here is the link
If you enjoy the service and would like to donate to World day of Prayer please go to their website Homepage | World Day Of Prayer (wwdp.org.uk) . Your gifts are then sent across the world to help those in need. We hope you enjoy the service and thank you for watching.
St Thomas More High School
We are looking to recruit to our team of Learning Support Assistants to work alongside Teachers and specific students with particular needs. This is a one year contract. If this role might be of interest to you, please visit the school’s website www.st-thomasmore.southend.sch.uk for further details or telephone the school on 01702 344933.
A Journey of Lenten Prayer for 2021
Copies of the Lenten Booklet, Walk with Me, are now available at the back of Church at £1 each. For safety, the booklets are all wrapped separately. Please pay for these online in the usual way, stating what your payment is for. Alternatively, put your money in the box provided. Thank you.
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear friends in Christ
There are some occasions in the Gospels that are rather shocking and which may often be outside of our direct experience.
Dear friends in Christ
There are some occasions in the Gospels that are rather shocking and which may often be outside of our direct experience. One of these might be when Jesus saves a person from demonic possession. A possessed and tormented man from Capharnaum encounters Jesus and cries-out in desperation. He is in need of deliverance from control of the devil. Pathological signs often accompany diabolical possession which is why the man is brought to Jesus for exorcism and healing. This type of sickness is rare, even if the Church recognises the need for exorcism in certain extreme cases. In this specific historic case which St Mark relates, we are supposed to see in that possessed man, every sinner who wants to be converted to God; every person, who wants to be free from sin and control of the Evil One. St Augustine writes: Jesus has not come to free us from dominating nations, but from the devil; not from the captivity of the body, but from the malice of the soul (Sermon 48). Each and every one of us needs this liberation, often on a daily basis, so that we are not controlled by evil. We are all addicts of sin and dysfunction in one way or another. Jesus has come to show us how to live unenslaved by external forces, so as to live in the glorious freedom of the children of God. One of the helps in this is the prayer—as we say at the end of weekday Mass—to St Michael the Archangel. At the end of a weekly Audience (13.viii.’86) Pope St John Paul II offered this invocation: Deliver us, Lord, from evil, from the Evil One; lead us not into temptation. Grant in your infinite mercy that we should not give in to the infidelity to which the one who has been unfaithful from the beginning endeavours to seduce us.
I encourage you to persevere in prayer during these hard weeks and follow the pattern of prayer that continues in the Parish as appropriately as you can. Encourage one another to faith, optimism and good humour as we, hopefully, go into the final furlong of the pandemic.
God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil George Fernando, RIP (AF)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions by St Joseph
Sunday 31 January
8am Mass Terence & Maisie Renehan, RIP (MH)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Maria Diana, RIP (Anniversary) (LM)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 1 February
Feria
9am Mass Larraine Moore, RIP
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Tuesday 2
The Presentation of the Lord
9am Mass Edward & Esther Martin & Margaret Martin, RIP (Anniversaries) (A&JM)
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Wednesday 3
St Anne Line, M
9am Mass Intentions of Ellen Fadian (100th birthday) (MI)
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Thursday 4
Feria
9am Mass Barrington Gray RIP (Anniversary) (JH)
8.30-10am Private Prayer
Friday 5
St Agatha, V, M
12Noon Mass Rev Fr Terry Fellows, RIP (PM)
11.30-1pm Private Prayer
7pm-8pm Holy Hour
Saturday 6
St Paul Miki & Comps, Mm
10am Mass Peter O’Sullivan, RIP (PO’S)
9.30-11am Private Prayer
Confessions by St Joseph
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Mass Frank Baynes, RIP & deceased members of Baynes & Gavin Families (AMC)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions by St Joseph
Sunday 7 February
8am Mass Michael Gregory, RIP
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Ruth Lambert, RIP (PL)
4pm Mass Peter Griffin, RIP (Anniversary) - Ex Form (SG)
(No general Communion)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Joseph Burns, Fr Eric Bindloss Smith, Fr Francis Richardson, Florence White, May Keane, William Moroney, Cissie Burnham, Elizabeth Ray, Peter Griffin, William Gannon, Patricia Robinson, Robert Jones, Kathleen Jennett, Francis Faulkner, Mary Quinn, Pamela Woodley, Myrtle Conridge, Edward Atherton, Florence Miller, James Kerr, Teresa Phelan, John Dickens, Bernard Pycroft, Winifred Wallen, Michael Shrapnel, Teresa O’Brien, Lilian Abbott, Elizabeth Judge, Margaret O’Connor, Robert Roberton, Margaret Pearson, John Hanna Manna, Victor Maguire, Joseph Ruggiero & Barbara Blaker.
We Pray for our Sick
Danny Cox, Margaret Bartle, Tony Downey, Kristy Monferrari, Fred Ring, Ian Irwin, Russell Short, Marie Karaf, Gilberte Cook, Garry Pearman, Anne Owen, Adrian Barclay, Patricia Ann Darroch, Peggy Larman, Sylvia Langley, Patricia Vanner, Amy Louise Fox, Sarah Savage, Bill O’Connell, Janet Weale, Charlotte O’Neil, Ella Williams, David Kislingbury, Mark Shepherd, Eileen Bines, Breege McCaffrey, Mark Hartley, Austin Butler, John Lavery, Paul Keane, Rosemary Bragard, Pat Lynch, Maureen Gooding, Ben Wilson, Christian Ryan, Mike Rubbert, Tina Doveaston, Addi Brady, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Rose Craft, Nan Carrit, Eileen Wilson, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Mary Boyce, Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Janet Woods, Lynne Hilkene, June Moncaster, Laura & Anne Breen, Breda Lynch, Maria Clark, Roy Widdecombe, Johanna Lynch, Anthony King, Chas Taylor, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Johnnie Pool, Edward Martin, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Hugh Isaacs, Josephine Griggs, Dawn Deleigh, Lorraine Hart, Linda Dean, Georgina Cornwell, Antonella McConalogue, Eddie McConalogue, Sharon Levill, Annie Holland, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Bernadette Lane, Irena Solecki, Ianto Bellis, Doreen Troughton, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith, Keith Maliff, Bradley & children: Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price & Frazer Gregory.
We Pray for the Repose of the Souls of
LOUIS MOONEY, RIP who died on Wednesday, 30th December. His Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Monday 1st February.
CLAUDIO CATINO, RIP who died recently.
ANDREW SHANAHAN, RIP who died tragically in a car accident on 28th January.