OCTOBER IS THE MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
Dear parishioners,
Today, Friday, we have celebrated the memorial of St Therese of the Child Jesus, who is patron of missions. It may seem surprising that she, who spent her childhood in a safe middle class home from which she entered the novitiate of the enclosed Carmelite Convent in her home town of Lisieux, can be patron of missions. Doesn’t mission mean ‘being sent out’? How can someone who never went anywhere be the patron of the church’s mission to the world and of missionaries everywhere? In her prayers and letters and writings Therese supported the missions, but this doesn’t explain it. Missionary activity must come from somewhere, and this place is what pope St John Paul II called ‘the contemplative heart of the church’. All the activity of the church must come from the heart. This is the still small voice of calm which for the catholic soul, must be the centre in the whirlwind of our activity. In our interior stillness, the Holy Spirit will guide each of us to pray, then to act and support others in actions for Christ, either through our works or through our giving. This prayer finds it’s centre point, direction and motivation when we kneel before the Real Presence of the Lord, the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; the contemplation of whom may be extended in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.
This month has two dedications. It is month of World Mission and the month of the Holy Rosary. In honour of World Mission, we will be welcoming a speaker from Missio (the Red box charity) at Sunday masses on the 16th/ 17th October. And on Sunday 10th at 4.00 p.m. we will have our annual October Parish Rosary and Benediction. At this service we will sing hymns of devotion to Our Lady, say the Rosary together and join St Therese by contemplating the Eucharistic Heart of the Church, present at the Altar, and with her, pray for the mission of Holy Church. Please bring your families for a lovely service. We too, like St Therese, even if we never leave Bexleyheath, can support the mission of the church through our prayer and contemplation and the Holy Spirit will guide our good works from there.
Thank you.
We give our thanks to the parishioner and anyone else who helped out for cleaning so thoroughly and effectively the votive candle stands and surrounding areas. They were in a terrible state before. Thanks for taking the initiative and just getting on with it and for the superb results. See a job that needs doing? Helpful initiatives taken and acted on in service of your parish are always welcome. And if you’re no longer able to do the work, the back wall of the church AND the porch are both needing professional work done, for which we still require the funds. Thanks to those of you who have already given. God bless you.
First Holy Communion 2022
Arrangements forthcoming. Please watch this space, listen out for a notice at the end of mass and check the school newsletter.
Parish Pilgrimage to Walsingham 2022 by coach, spending a couple of nights at the Pilgrim House in the village. Some of you have already expressed an interest. Please let me know if you would like to come too. Dates to follow and coach or mini -bus will be booked.
Church & Hall Redecoration
In order to complete the repair of the Wall Areas to the rear of the church (the entrance wall) we need to raise £2,000, including the necessary hire of two men and a tower scaffold. If you can help with this, please make your donation online with reference to Church Redecoration or in an envelope marked the same.
NATWEST
ACC NO. 21361606
SORT CODE 517014
for the credit of: RCAS ST THOMAS MORE - BOSTALL PARK
Ref: church redecoration
Macmillan Coffee Morning 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. SUNDAY 3rd OCTOBER 2021. IN THE HALL. With Coffee, Tea, Cakes, sandwiches, hot snacks, bingo and live music. Come along and support the great work of Macmillan nurses for people with cancer.
Deaths For all our brothers and sisters who ate the Body of Christ, the bread of Life, that they may be raised up on the Last Day. (Drawn from the intercession of the Funeral Mass)
Please pray for the souls of:
Helen Gaskin. who died on Tuesday 24th August aged 69. The funeral was on Thursday 16th September.
Johannes Franciscus Gerritsen who died on 26th August 2021 aged 94. The Funeral was on Monday 20th September 2021 at 2.30 p.m.
Sandra Nourse who died on 3rd September 2021. The Funeral was on Wednesday 22nd September.
John Joe Corbett who died on 23rd September 2021, aged 73. Funeral Requiem at 10.00 a.m. on Wednesday 13th October 2021 followed by committal at Eltham Crematorium.
Patrick Joseph Flynn who died on Saturday 25th September, aged 93. Funeral Requiem at 11.30 a.m. on Monday 25th October followed by committal at Eltham Crematorium.
Raymond Frank Hawkins who died on Thursday 30th September, aged 91. Funeral details awaited.
May the divine assistance remain with them always, and may their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
MASSES AND INTENTIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK: THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
Psalter week 3 Ferial cycle 1 at mass.
Saturday 2nd October THE TWENTY- SEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME (B) CAFOD COLLECTION.
6.00 p.m. Confessions
+ 6.30 p.m. MASS [said] Derek D’Souza T.G.
Sunday 3rd October
8.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 9.00 a.m. SUNG MASS. Albert D’Souza R.I.P.
+ 11.00 a.m. SOLEMN LATIN MASS [with English Readings] Adams Afegbai R.I.P. (Bisi’s dad’s first anniversary)
6.00 p.m. Social Evening in The Hall with games and conversation. Bring your own refreshments.
Monday 4th October St. Francis of Assisi, memorial.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 10.00 a.m. Adoracion Alaminos R.I.P.
Tuesday 5th October St. Faustina Kowalska, virgin.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 10.00 a.m. Eleanora Brogna R.I.P.
Wednesday 6th October St. Bruno, priest.
The Daily Rosary at home.
(Mass said in private for Bruno Castanha R.I.P)
Thursday 7th October Our Lady of the Rosary, memorial.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 10.00 a.m. P.I. in thanksgiving to Our Lady of the Rosary.
2.00 p.m. Thursday Lunch Club Afternoon Tea.
Friday 8th October feria.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 10.00 a.m. Joe Bowman R.I.P.
6.00 p.m. choir practice
Saturday 9th October St. John Henry Newman, priest, feast.
9.30 a.m. The Daily Rosary
+ 10.00 a.m. [Latin] priest’s P.I.
12.00 noon. Baptism.
[+ 6.30 p.m. THE TWENTY- EIGHTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME. Oliver Fernandes & family W.B.)
OCTOBER PRAYER
The Rosary in October
Those who recite five decades of the Rosary in church, or as a family, a religious community, or as a group of the faithful, may gain a plenary indulgence daily; in other circumstances a partial indulgence. A partial indulgence may be obtained daily by reciting the Litany of Loreto and the Prayer to St. Joseph. (Southwark Directory p215)
Pray the Rosary Daily this October! See the daily times above and come to the October Parish Rosary and Benediction at 4.00 p.m. on Sunday 10th October.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
God bless,
Fr. Jonathon