Will run on a Tuesday morning from 11 am for about an hour as of 24th Feb . This Lent we will follow the booklet entitled ‘We dare to ask’ which ‘comprises of five sessions which reflect on the Baptismal promises we make or renew at Easter. Accompanied by beautiful sacred art, the sessions include passages of Holy Scripture, prayer and reflective meditations to explore how our baptism is not only rooted within God’s plan of salvation but also a calling to a new way of life.’
Our thanks to all those of you who contribute to the parish through the ‘Gift Aid Scheme’ by whatever means. As you may be aware, for every declare £1.00 contributed by a tax-payer to the parish as part of a Registered Charity, generates a further 25 pence, so your £4.00 becomes £5.00 at no extra cost to you. As we approach a new tax year, and if you are a tax-payer contributing to the parish and are not in the gift aid scheme, might we encourage you to join it, please? Many thanks.
Begins on Wednesday, 18th February, so we should be thinking and praying about what to do during this penitential season, both for our own conversion, to conform ourselves more readily to the person of Christ Jesus, but also for the conversion of the world. Perhaps rather than giving things up we should take things on! Should we be giving things up for Lent, we should not make our abstinence someone else’s penance! This means that if giving something up is going to make us miserable and unbearable for others, then we should do something else. Of course, in our modern era, we might give up 'social media', computer gaming or 'window shopping' on the internet and give that time to the Lord in prayer or the corporeal works of mercy! If we are giving things up, food, drink, the commercial coffee, the bought sandwich,(which could be made at home) the money saved should be given to charity, and thereby become 'a more pleasing offering to the Lord'. Remember, our Lenten self-denial is not about losing weight or improving our lung or liver function, but it is about uniting ourselves with the Passion of our Lord and making an effort to conform ourselves more fully to His person. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence, i.e. no meat or indulgent food, simply enough for the day. During Lent there will be Stations of the Cross on Friday evening at 7.00 pm . The Lent CAFOD family fast day is on February 27th.