Newsletter 9 October 2020
Hello everybody.
Hello everybody. It seems to me that the biggest danger at present for most of us is danger to our mental health. Listening to Radio 5 Live for ten minutes this morning I felt totally depressed – but then I heard from a very optimistic friend on the phone who cheered me up no end. Be careful to whom you listen! I also went out alone for a long walk yesterday and that really cleared my head. I’m only saying that all of us can get affected by the rules and regulations and the anxiety they engender, and we have to be careful and take what steps are necessary so we don’t ‘go under’.
There is almost a full house again this weekend at Mass. I must say thank you to all who are making the effort. There is no ban on attending church as yet, mainly I think because of the precautions and care being taken to ensure that everybody is safe. Just phone between 2pm and 10pm on Wednesday afternoon.
Last Sunday I announced at Mass the death of James Comerford of Whitbarrow Road. His funeral is on Friday morning this week, but of necessity it will be a private affair. James will be missed, not just as a collector at 9am Mass, or for his faithful (and voluntary) maintenance of the grass around the church and the presbytery, but for so many other reasons listed in the many tributes paid to him since he died. We offer our sympathy to Angela his wife. May he rest in peace.
Fr Michael Dyson also died peacefully last week at home. Thank you for all your prayers. That October rosary is helping me each day – I hope you can join me. This weekend’s readings take as an image the ‘banquet’, the celebratory meal such as we hold after a wedding. Rarely do people turn down an invitation to attend. Christ’s coming signified no less than the ‘wedding’ of the divine and the human. For the people of Israel, the first invited guests, their refusal of the invitation is serious.
Matthew describes the furious reaction of the king in the parable, probably interpreting, as a punishment from God, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies which had recently taken place. Some were too busy; some reacted with irrational violence, as do the modern enemies of religion. These can be the responses of people today. We Church members are told of the need to wear our ‘Sunday Best’, to be on our best behaviour, if we find ourselves among the lucky people who have accepted the invitation.
Thanks to you generous people from the 87 people at Mass last weekend who managed to give a total of £840 to CAFOD, on top of £313 in the Offertory collection. The latest bank statements show the regular direct debit payments as well. May God continue to bless you all.
The coming week sees the feast days of great saints of England, Wilfrid bishop of York, and King Edward who died the year before the Norman Conquest. Also St Teresa of Avila from the 16th century and St Margaret Mary, the visionary who saw Jesus showing his heart burning with love. I have offered Mass for the Hainville family, for Diane Gurnan who is sick, for the repose of the souls of Sarah Thompson and (this weekend) of Margaret Coffey and Elizabeth Hesketh. God bless you all.
God bless you all.
Fr Tony Elder
