Week beginning Sunday 27th September, 26th Sunday of the Year

St Wenceslaus (Monday 28th), 909 – 929, was Duke of Bohemia which he governed with great patience and mildness, but was martyred in a political conspiracy, by his brother at the church door.

The Archangels Michael, Gabriel & Raphal are honoured together on 29th September. Michael means ‘Who is like God’, Gabriel means ‘Strength of God’, Raphael means ‘Healing of God’.

St Jerome (Wednesday 30th), 341 – 420, lived in a cave beside the place of Christ’s birth at Bethlehem (with his pet lion who is always pictured with him in ancient art) and spent his life translating the Bible which he came to know by heart. He said that “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”.

St Theresa of the Child Jesus (Thursday 1st Oct), also known as St Teresa of Avila (1515 – 58) reformed the Carmelites, had mystical experiences, and is a saint of sound common sense and good humour.

The Holy Guardian Angels (Friday 2nd). Each one of us has a Guardian Angel who is sent to guide and protect us – if we will allow!

When administering the Sacrament of the Sick the priest first anoints the sick person’s forehead, saying:

Through this holy anointing, may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

He then anoints their hands, saying:

May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.

The Gospel at Mass today contains Christ’s words:

If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink, just because you belong to Christ, he will most certainly not lose his reward.

To bring aid to those in need is one of the most pressing of all Christian duties, particularly bringing help to those who are sick. To give a cup of water, a kind word, a gesture of comfort – how much these little things mean when we are frightened and unwell!

The Church believes that Christ left us a Sacrament especially to bring comfort to those who are seriously ill. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness, the Anointing of the Sick

CCC 1511

This Sacrament is referred to explicitly in the New Testament: the letter of St James (5: 14) says

Is there anyone sick among you? Let him call for the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of the faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has forgiven sins, he will be forgiven.

The words of St James neatly summarise all that the Sacrament brings the sick person: firstly, is ‘saves’, bringing the power of the Saviour into that situation. Then it ‘raises’ us. This can refer to physical healing, if God wills, or to a sense of comfort and hope Christ’s presence brings. Lastly, for those unable to make their Confession in the normal way, the Sacrament of Anointing also brings the forgiveness of their sins.

The Sacrament of Anointing can be especially consoling to those in hospital. Yet sadly, many Catholics fail to inform us when they go to hospital, wrongly assuming the hospital will do this for them. Nowadays, a combination of data protection laws and the secular agenda mean this will not happen. If you or a loved one are going to hospital, make sure you tell us yourselves, or you will miss out on the comfort which the Church can offer.

I have reached the end of my first Pastoral Placement as well as first summer at St Joseph’s and return to Rome on Wednesday 23rd September to commence the second year of studies. I am grateful to everyone at St Joseph’s for their support and many kindnesses, especially those who spent time with me explaining how they and their fellow catechists interact with newcomers to their groups (eg. First Holy Communion, Confirmation), and others who went through the minutiae of safe-guarding the young and the vulnerable. I am more than ever thankful to the families who invited me to their homes for dinner: It was very much appreciated and a joy to meet spouses and children.

My time here was made smoother because of the advice of two individuals in particular, Agnes Vella and David Roberts: both were extremely patient in illuminating how the parish functions administratively and financially. Without any hesitation, I am indebted to Fathers Peter and Richard for the pastoral support and didactic advice, the placement planning and the priestly leadership, as they have proved an invaluable, infinite source of information and inspiration. When I have confronted difficulties – pastoral, vocational, and liturgical! – our priests have unstintingly guided my thoughts so that I could assimilate the correct decisions myself. Notwithstanding my gratitude for the pastoral placement here, I am truly thankful for the accommodation and hospitality offered by Frs Peter and Richard during the summer of 2009 and for the next two summers.

May our Almighty God and Father bless you all. St Joseph pray for us.

Week beginning Sunday 20th September, 25th Sunday of the Year

St Matthew (Monday 21st, also known in the Gospels as Levi, was a tax-collector) called by Our Lord to be an Apostle. He is the author of the first Gospel. Read about him in today’s Gospel, Matthew 9: 9 – 13.

Padre Pio (Wednesday 23rd, now canonised as St Pio of Pietrelcina), a Fransiscan friar of our own time, was marked out by the stigmata – the wounds of the Passion.

Our Lady of Walsingham (Thursday 24th, this day was formerly kept as the feast of Our Lady of Ransom) – in the year 1061 Mary appeared to the Lady of the Manor of Walsingham, a little village in Norfolk, and told her to build a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth. The uilding was miraculously completed and many miracles have been granted at the intercession of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Ss Cosmas and Damian (Saturday 26th), twin Arab brothers, martyred under Diocletian. They were physicians who practised their profession without taking money. Their names are inscribed in the First Eucharistic Prayer, the Roman Canon.

In this Sunday’s Goepsl we find Jesus and his disciples journeying towards Jerusalem where He will suffer and die out of love for us. The disciples are so insensitive to the sufferings of Jesus because they are arguing amongst themselves as to which of them was the greatest.

Our divided heart is similarly the cause of our disharmony and insensitivity to the things of God and the sufferings of others. Being caught up in our own selfish concerns blinds us to the needs of others.

St James, in today’s second reading, also speaks of disharmony within ourselves:

Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? … in the desires fighting inside your own selves.

These battles needs quelling, and the disharmony needs healing and harmonising – not only within ourselves but, more importantly, between ourselves and God. The Sacrament of Penance brings about this healing and harmony by God’s love and mercy.

Jesus Christ gave his power to forgive sins to his apostles and, through them, to their successors, the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church. While the form of the sacrament has varied over the centuries, the requirement for priestly absolution and (except when the penitent is incapable) verbal confession has remained constant.

Regular Confession stops us from letting our sins fester and deepen their hold on us; it helps to develop a mature conscience; gives us grace to resist temptation, and bestows healing and release from the burden of sin.

Confessions are heard in every Catholic Church, and in St Joseph’s on Saturdays from 10.30 – 11.30am, and 5.15 – 5.45pm.

It’s been a while coming, but the Saints this Week will now appear on the blog (although these are a bit out of date!).

Week beginning Sunday 6th September, 23rd Sunday of the Year

This week there are two Marian occasions – Our Lady’s Birthday on Tuesday 8th, and the optional memoria of her Holy Name on Saturday 12th.

Mary’s Birthday, like our own, is an occasion for thanksgiving and joy, and a celebration of ‘the hope of the entire world and the dawn of salvation’ as Pope Paul VI describes it in Marialis Cultus.

The Holy Name of Mary occurs mid-way between her Birthday and the memoria of Our Lady of Sorrows (on 15th).

On Wednesday 9th the Church commemorates St Peter Claver who became a Jesuit in 1601 and worked for 40 years at the West Indies’ central slave-mart, dedicating his life by a special vow to the service of the outcast Negroes of whom he baptised & cared for over 300,000. He is a patron of the Catholic missions.

Week beginning Sunday 13th September, 24th Sunday of the Year

Today (September 13th) is the Anniversary of the Consecration of our Parish Church (when completed and free from debt in 1951.

This week’s celebrations include the Triumph of the Holy Cross (Monday 14th) and Our Lady of Sorrows (Tuesday 15th) – twin aspects of the power of the Cross and those who are close to the Crucified Lord.

Ss Cornelius and Cyprian (Wednesday 16th), a Pope and a Bishop who died in 253 under persecution, having been effective in championing the Faith.

St Robert Bellarmine (Thursday 17th), a theological adviser to the Popes at the time of the counter-reformation.

St Edith (Friday 18th), a Benedictine nun of royal descent who, rather than accept the throne, or event the government of three abbeys, remained in prayer.

St Theodore of Canterbury (Saturday 19th) did much to establish the Catholic Faith in our land after St Augustine’s mission.

Week beginning 13th September 2009, 24th Sunday of the Year

Sacred Heart: the Nwokedi Family
St Joseph: Children at our schools
St John Fisher/St Therese: Archbishop Kevin
St Thomas More/St Anthony: Politicians
Our Lady (Saturday – Monday): Deacon John Sampson / Deacon John-Simon Lawson
Cure d’Ars: the new Parish Priest of Norbiton

Find out about our Votive Lamps at the Shrines programme.

The Gospel at Mass this Sunday is the famous story of St Peter’s Confession of Faith: You are the Christ, he declares. Jesus accepts his declaration, but also reminds his followers that he will reveal his Messiahship precisely through suffering – and his followers are called to similar selfless serice of others.

The Sacrament of Confirmation complete what was begin in our Baptism, and likewise marks us out for service. St Therese of Lisieux (whose relics will shortly be touring England) wrote about her own Confirmation day as follows:

Oh, how joyful was my soul, as I waited happily, like the Apostles, for the visit of the Holy Spirit…I rejoiced that soon I would be a complete Christian, and above all that I would bear eternally on my forehead the mysterious cross that the bishop imprints as he confers the Sacrament.

Here St Therese links the Sacrament of Confirmation with the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles first received the Holy Spirit. This is the ‘birthday of the Church’. This events reminds us that the Holy Spirit, given to us in Confirmation, is not given to isolated individuals, but rather as members of the Church, and we are to use the gifts and graces of the Spirit in the service of the Church, and, as a consequence of that, to bring Christ’s Gospel to the world.

St Therese also speaks of the lasting change Confirmation makes in our lives – the Confirmed Christian ‘bears eternally’ the imprint of the Spirit given by the Sacrament. Theologically, we call this imprint a ‘character’ – it is God’s mark of ownership on us, which marks us out and sets us apart. Like wax which has been imprinted with a seal, this character can never be effaced.

What, then, of those Christians who fall away from the Faith after their Confirmation? The Church feels their loss very much, but the theology of the Sacrament teaches us that they still belong to God – they are his own people. Our prayers and our sufferings, offered in union with the merits of the Suffering Christ, may be all that are needed to bring them back to the practice of the Faith.

Read more about the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church sections 265-270, or read the CTS booklets Why be Confirmed and Confirmation, The Spirit of Christ (£1.95 & £2.95 respectively) from our Bookshop.