PENTECOST AND THE QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE:

As we rejoice with Her Majesty on her Platinum Jubilee, we can thank God for the inspiration she continues to be. I think this is the correct word. Christ promised his apostles that he would send the Spirit, who would lead us to the truth. When a bishop blesses the oil of Chrism, he breathes into the oil, reminding us that this is the sign of God’s Spirit, the Breath of God. From the beginning of her reign, Queen Elizabeth has been deeply conscious that she was anointed to serve her people and she has never been afraid of acknowledging her deep faith in Jesus as her Lord. We pray that she will be comforted by the Spirit in a very special way this weekend. We might also pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire (breath into) us those great gifts, which will enable us in turn to inspire others. We need the wisdom, knowledge and understanding to enable us to discern what the Lord wants. Hopefully, this will lead us to make the right judgements about how to speak and act and the courage to do so. And finally, we will have the grace to stand in awe of God’s creation and to reverence everyone and everything.

A VERY HAPPY PENTECOST TO YOU ALL

CLERGY COMMITMENTS:

Fr Andrew is at present at a European Meeting of Marriage Encounter in Portugal. He then flies to Rome for a meeting about the Federation of Redemptorist Parishes in Northern Europe.

Fr Tim: I was due to go to Rome as well, but decided it would be just too much with all my other commitments. Indeed, from next weekend I will be sharing a mini-mission at Erdington Abbey with Fr Charles Corrigan and Fr Charles Randall. This is to mark the centenary of the Redemptorists in Birmingham. You may recall that both Fr Corrigan and I were parish priests there in the 1970s and 1980s. Please pray for the Lord’s blessing on this venture.

Fr Maurice has kindly offered to lead a Triduum of Prayer in preparation for the Feast of Pentecost. Please see the details in this bulletin. (Click here for full details)

WEBCAMS IN THE CHURCHES:

I am delighted to report that the months of waiting have been worth it. Church Services have installed their system in both our churches and the quality is magnificent. All the services at St Mary’s are now being live-streamed and are available as recordings for viewing later.

Bishop Eton will go live in a couple of weeks,when we have acquired the necessary licences and Hayley, who will be supervising the equipment, has returned.

PENTECOST AND KEEPING SUNDAY HOLY

In my messages I have drawn attention to the statement from the Bishops of England and Wales, encouraging us to see Pentecost as the moment when we try to return to the tradition of attending Sunday Mass in person. There is no doubt that from the earliest days of the Church, because of the Resurrection, Sunday became the new Sabbath and gathering for the Eucharist was the perfect way of making it holy. Likewise, in the complicated times in which we live, I have made no secret of my hope that we can move away from talking about obligations, but rather rejoice in the fact that the Lord is inviting us to be one with him.

Fr Michael Henesy has unearthed for us the most wonderful quotation from Dom Gregory Dix, an Anglican Benedictine monk, who published a book in 1945 called The Shape of the Liturgy.

I quoted it in my recorded message and am making copies available from this weekend. Click here to read.

I hope it will resonate with all of you.

THE QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE: 

CONGRATULATIONS TO HER MAJESTY: ENJOY THE COMING BANK HOLIDAYS AND CELEBRATE WITH HER SHE HAS GIVEN US A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT WAITING FOR THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We are now in those nine days of prayer between the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost, when we think about the apostles, accompanied by the women, including Mary, waiting in prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Of course, this is the origin of the tradition of a Novena of Prayer, which has been such a feature of the devotional life of the Church down through the centuries. I suggest we use these days quietly to pray for discernment regarding our own Novena Devotions in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and the associated potential of developing some Shrine Ministry in our parishes. In due course, we will have some meetings to discuss these matters and reflect on how we should move on after all the disruption of these past years.

A WORD OF SINCERE THANKS:

MANY NEW POSSIBILITIES

Last weekend I was writing my notes before the Friday evening celebration and everything I anticipated happened. Indeed, the occasion was more than I could possibly have imagined. Both in the church and in the school afterwards the atmosphere was joyful and inclusive. While at times hopelessly embarrassed, again I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you: those who conceived the idea and arranged the events with such meticulous care and those of you who, while not able to be there, joined us on-line or in spirit. I have received umpteen cards, gifts and messages of good will: I hope this will suffice as my ‘thank you’ letter!

I sense that we are now ready to move on with renewed enthusiasm for the mission the Lord has given us at this time and there are further providential signs that things are falling into place. For example, we are almost ready to go live with our new webcams in the churches. The work is complete in St Mary’s and the wiring is underway at Bishop Eton even as I write. The quality of both the pictures and the sound is outstanding and will provide us with a range of new opportunities to reach out to those who cannot get to church, not to mention the wider world. I am sure that we have made the right decision in going ahead with this technology and ensuring that we employed a highly professional firm to provide it for us.

You will appreciate that this will mean that soon I will not need to record Mass each week from the Community Oratory. However, until we are fully functional, I will continue to do so, and I anticipate continuing to record a weekly message because it provides me with an opportunity to explore certain issues in more detail than I can simply in the written form or even in a homily at Mass. In my last recorded message, I touched on a remarkable meditation on the Mass, written by Dom Gregory Dix, an Anglican Benedictine monk, who died in 1952. I am indebted to Fr Michael Henesy for drawing my attention to it. As the Bishops of England and Wales encourage us to resume more regular attendance at Mass from Pentecost, I plan to use this meditation as our focus. Hopefully, it will provide us with an approach which concentrates more on the wonder of God’s invitation to us than on obligations and sins. Meanwhile, may I remind you that this coming Thursday is the Solemnity of the Ascension. Accordingly, we will have four Masses between the two parishes, including a Vigil Mass at St Mary’s on the Wednesday evening. Please see the Mass timetable in this bulletin.

A WORD OF SINCERE THANKS:

I am writing this before the event, but I know how much effort has gone into preparing for the celebration of my Investiture on Friday evening. I am sure that, by the time you read this, we will be looking back on a wonderful evening, which, will have cemented that sense of our communion with one another in the Lord.  As I thank those of you who conceived the idea and organised it, I want you to know that I am deeply touched by your thoughtfulness in wishing to affirm and encourage me and the Redemptorist Community at this particular time. I would like to stress the role of the Redemptorist Community. My whole life has been associated with the Redemptorists and the Congregation has provided me with a rich variety of opportunities to minister in the life of the Church. These past eleven years have been possible, only because of the support of all my confrères, albeit that so many of them have been struggling with the health problems that accompany the aging process.  We will continue to do all we can to continue to serve you in the months and years ahead and they join me in thanking you for your many expressions of love and affection, which sustain and encourage us from day to day.

I would also like to thank Bishop Tom Neylon for being Principal Celebrant and for standing in for Archbishop Malcolm McMahon who unfortunately had to cancel, and to all the clergy who joined us for the Mass, including our own Bishop Ralph Heskett and the Provincial, Fr Richard Reid, as well as the Dean, Fr Joe Kendall and my predecessor at St Mary’s, Fr Pat O’Brien.  Let’s now head into the future full of hope that the Lord will continue to bless our efforts to be the Church, he wants us to be a Church that is welcoming and available and reaching out to evangelise a badly wounded world.

We always end our Redemptorist celebrations with the greeting: AD MULTOS ANNOS (to many more years!). THANK YOU

BLESSING OF THE NEW ICON:

This will take place at the noon Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (Wednesday 8 December). We will also begin the Perpetual Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour at the same Mass.

THE NEW ICON (Bishop Eton):

For those of you who are able to come to church, you will be able to see the new icon, THE VIRGIN OF TENDERNESS, in place in the Lady Chapel. It will be a special focus for our prayer that we may come through the pandemic safely and peacefully. In the fullness of time, we will have a special blessing ceremony, but in the meantime, we once again thank the artist for this wonderful gift.

THE DEATH OF OUR DEACON, JOHN KEELEY RIP

Within hours of the news of the death of Prince Philip, we learnt of the death of John Keeley, who served the parish of Bishop Eton as a deacon for over thirty years. Firstly, on behalf of both our parishes, I want again to extend our condolences to Maureen and the family. John’s death was a complete shock: he had been working during the week and had taken on his usual role as Friday chef (a visit to the chippy!) that evening. Feeling unwell he retired early and died that night. He will be remembered with affection by us all and I know that there are countless numbers of you who will be eternally grateful for his selfless ministry. He had a down to earth approach to everything which meant that he easily related to others. This was especially reflected in his preaching: there were many occasions when I was profoundly moved by his insights and his stories. MAY HE REST IN PEACE.