Newsletter 5 February 2021
Hello again.
Perhaps like me you can’t help reflecting on and marvelling at the weirdness of the present defensive life we are leading due to Covid: no pubs, no buses, no shops, no cinema, no theatre, no visiting, no cafes or restaurants, no weddings, no parties. Wait a minute, that was my life at seminary!…to which one could add no TV, no newspaper, no radio, no girls, no telephone, no babies or small children, and obviously no internet. I survived! We did have lots of sport, pleasant company, singing practice, skating in season, excellent study facilities, as much bread as you could eat, and of course prayer. Nothing however was quite like this universal lockdown. They couldn’t think of everything! Please God it will come to an end before too long.
There will be no 9.00am Mass on Sunday this week. There is still room at the 10.30am Mass. Keep phoning 752224 on Wednesday between 2.00pm and 10.00pm to book.
Do any of you remember the names the church used to give to the three Sundays before Ash Wednesday? Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima? The words meant seventy, sixty, and fifty days (before Easter). It wold be Sexagesima Sunday this weekend. One more Sunday to go before Lent. Ash Wednesday signifies the start of the penitential season, with ashes placed on heads with the prayer ‘Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return. Repent, and believe the Good News.’ We can start thinking about ways to keep an effective Lent, scrutinizing Prayer, Fasting, and Almsdeeds – ways in which we might take the opportunity to tighten up our spiritual behaviour. Might our use of time be in need of discipline? Ask God during these next ten days what he wants you to do.
Shrewsbury Lourdes Hospitality Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes will be live streamed on Church Services TV: https://www.churchservices.tv/svdpknutsford at 9.30am on Thursday February 11 2021. A recording will also be available to watch. That evening at 8pm there will be a zoom social evening. If you would like to join in then ask for details on email secretary@teamshrewsbury.co.uk or call 07451 249267.
Both the offers of hosting a zoomed discussion programme during Lent have had to be withdrawn. We might get invitations from people from the other Christian Churches.
Please pray for the repose of the souls of Norman Frazer, of Albany Road, and Stan Beardwood, of Woodlands Crescent, who died this week. Their funerals are the week after next. I have offered mass for Mike Clayton and Rose Livesey who are unwell, for Teresa Wright’s intentions, and for the repose of the soul of Agnes McIntyre.
Her Majesty the Queen begins the seventieth year of her reign this weekend (Feb 6 1952). Our Bishop Mark Davies was ordained priest 37 years ago on February 11 1984. May God bless them both, and we pray through the intercession of St Josephine Bakkhita for all the victims of human trafficking (her feast is on Monday).
Stay safe.
Fr Tony Elder
