MASS INTENTIONS and FEASTS:
Saturday, 22nd July, 6pm: Ellie Clarke & Daniel Di
Francesco, Wedding Day
Sunday 23rd July, 10am: Ana Francesca & Vicente D’Souza
RIP
11.30am:
Tuesday 25th July, St James, Apostle, 10am: John
Andrews RIP
Wednesday 26th July, Ss Joachim & Anne, 10am:
Margaret O’Hara RIP
Thursday 27th July, 10am: Joan Halpin, special
intention
Friday 28th July, 10am: John Andrews, RIP
Saturday 29th July, St Martha, 10am: Liturgy of
the Word with Holy Communion
REFLECTION
Forty
five years ago I spent the summer working in London. It was my first time
hearing Alice Cooper, and ‘School’s Out’ was big that year.
Today
in Hastings school’s out again and I was up in Sacred Heart to celebrate the
Leavers Mass – the senior boys and girls who are mostly moving on to St.
Richards Catholic School in Bexhill.
I
love children. And the whole school of them was there, plus the parents of the
leavers. Yet still I have to brace myself when going into a school. Brace
myself and stretch myself beyond what I think I’m capable of. It must be
something unresolved from my own childhood, though I won’t be going into that
too much.
Asking
the children what they remember from their first day at school, one lad said
that he felt scared. And I said that’s what I felt on my first day. And they
all laughed when I told them that I spent the whole day screaming. Which is
true! I never liked school from the first moment to the last.
At
the start of Mass I asked the children, “are you all happy?” and they responded
with a resounding “yes”. “And why are you happy?” I asked and one boy put up
his hand and said, “because you’re here!” What more could you ask for!
It’s
a Catholic school but most of their faces and those of their parents are
unfamiliar. And I wonder why it is that people are so eager to have a Catholic
education but don’t participate in the Eucharist. I ask the question, not as a
criticism but, my love for Jesus in the Eucharist, my experience of Jesus in
Holy Communion makes me want everyone to experience it. In the words of Bishop Richard, “all of
redemption is in Holy Communion!” That’s a reality I like and I would love
everyone to be in touch with all of the redemption that is available to them at
Mass. Not just redemption for the next life but for now in this present
reality.
I’m
wondering how to get this message across and I look down and see some of the
children with hands joined, eyes shut and focused. You know that something
profoundly spiritual is going on inside them, that they somehow “get it” and,
maybe that’s it – that some people get it and others don’t and it can’t be
forced. Maybe we who get it are meant to live it on behalf of those who don’t,
as a kind of leaven in the world.
So school’s out for Summer! One last
thing! I went to get my hair cut the other day. The pricelist on the window
said £9 and that seemed not too bad for the little bit I have left. He’s a
Turkish barber and an artist who would leave Edward Scissorhands in the shade!
He flew around my head with such speed, yet not in a hurry. He took quite a
while getting me in shape. And the “piece
de resistance” was something I never saw or felt before. He had what looked
like cotton wool on top of a longish stick, dipped in something, set it alight
and came at my ears with the flaming thing. He said it was to get rid of the
fuzz on my ears. And I’m all for getting rid of fuzz on every level of life!
Eamonn Monson SAC
JOB VACANCY:
PARISH FAMILY GROUPS PROJECT
A vacancy exists
for a part-time (.5FTE) project worker to assist with the diocesan Parish
Family Groups Project, which is a part of the national Celebrating Family
project and is being funded through the Catholic Bishops’ Conference for
England and Wales. The post is fixed-term (18 months from appointment) and will
involve working with parishes which have Parish Family Groups and others
seeking to introduce them. The post-holder will be based at the Christian
Education Centre, Crawley. For further information please contact Dcn Andrew
Bayes at andrew.bayes@dabnet.org
or on 01293 651150
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