Catholic Church in Guernsey
Individual Confession will be heard in the garden at Ampthill House. Please telephone to arrange a time.
Mass intentions continue to be fulfilled for those already booked.
Please note that Mass on Tuesdays and Thursdays’ will be postponed while Fr Inna self isolates they will resume after the two weeks isolation period is over.
The National Novena to St Joseph will take place from 10th- 18th March 2021 at St Joseph’s Church in Maidenhead. In this Year dedicated to St. Joseph, the Mill Hill Missionaries are preparing for the Feast of St Joseph, their patron, with a special Novena of Masses and prayers to ask for God’s blessing on their Society’s missionary outreach, and for the intentions of all those who support their work.
Please send in your petitions and/or to request a printed Novena prayer leaflet. Please write to the Novena Director, 41 Victoria Road, Liverpool, L37 1LW, or email novenamhm@gmail.com
To join in from home, for the first time this year, Masses from St. Joseph’s Church will be available to follow on Zoom and You Tube via the parish website: stjosephsparish.co.uk and the Mill Hill
website: www.millhillmissionaries.com/novena, where you will also find the Novena prayer leaflet.
MASS DATES & TIMES AT ST JOSEPH’S CHURCH IN MAIDENHEAD
Wednesday 10 March – 7.30pm
Thursday 11 March – 7.30pm
Friday 12 March – 7.30pm
Saturday 13 March – 10.00am
Sunday 14 March – 11.00am
Monday 15 March – 7.30pm
Tuesday 16 March – 7.30pm
Wednesday 17 March – 7.30pm
Thursday 18 March – 7.30pm
With our churches closed at the moment we have not been able to contribute to the food bank there as previously. Guernsey Welfare have reported that the demand for food help has increased considerably during this present Lockdown. Please continue your generous hewelp by contributing to the food banks in the supermarkets.
The Catholic Church has always supported the Fairtrade Movement. Please look for the Fairtrade logo on goods and opt for buying goods that support communities in developing countries. When we buy Fairtrade we are helping people to self sufficieincy and away from the grasp of huge multinationals whose main aim is profit not the welfare of communities or the environment.
Monday 1st March is the Feast of St. David (Dewi), the Patron Saint of Wales.
“David was the son of a noble family in Ceredigion in Wales. His mother Non-was a holy woman and also later declared a saint. David was ordained a priest and lived in a monastery, but he
decided to leave the monastery and settle at Mynyw. There he established a community of monks that lived a simple life. They farmed the land by hand, without cattle and lived austerely,
having only bread, vegetables, salt and water. He told his monks to maintain a rule of silence, speaking only one necessary, and also taught them to practice constant mental prayer. When a
synod was held at Brefi to combat the dangers of the heresy of Pelagianism, which was spreading in the area, David spoke so eloquently that his fellow leaders unanimously elected him as
their primate. Although his predecessor was happy to resign in his favour, David accepted the position only on the condition that his episcopal see would be transferred to the quiet town of Mynyw. He became a renowned preacher, founding monastic settlements and churches in Wales, Brittany and southwest England, including, possibly, the abbey at Glastonbury. He died in 589. There are many stories showing his love for God. NOTE. The daffodil is the national flower of Wales and is traditionally worn on St David’s Day. The wild daffodil has been a symbol of Wales
since the 19th century.
Jennifer Geach a Parishioner, suggests that we should be doubling our prayer efforts for an end to the pandemic…
In the most recent lockdown, I have been virtually present with the Dominicans in Oxford. This community does something which ought not to be striking, but is. After the sermon, the celebrant
offers a prayer (the same one each day, not an extempore effort) asking God to ‘deliver us from the ‘pestilence which currently afflicts us.’ It seems to me that we should all be doing this, both in
our private prayer, and in public liturgy. This is not an exercise in superstition, but a true practice of our faith. We know that ‘Our God is in the heavens, and does whatever he wills’, and that ‘he hears the cry of the poor’. Such prayer is also an act of obedience to Our Lord; for he tells us to ask, to knock, even to be importunate, like the woman faced with the unjust judge. We lived such comfy lives before Covid that we may have had an illusion of independence, an illusion that we were masters of our fate, and that science and technology would provide an answer to all our problems. How utterly changed things are! We are being told that even after we are mostly vaccinated, the pandemic disease will continue to restrict our interactions with one another, our freedom of movement and perhaps even divine worship. And while technology provides us with substitutes for these things, so that lockdown is made more tolerable, nevertheless the pandemic has given us a forceful demonstration of how pitiably weak and helpless we are.
When I was quite young, I happened to overhear a woman praying before a statue of the Sacred Heart, saying over and over ‘Jesus, let me get another job!’. This pandemic should make us cry
out to God for our needs; like that woman, we should be simply and directly asking God to save us, and bring an end to this affliction. We might say: ‘Please God, free us from this pandemic.
Cure those who are sick; receive those who have died into your heavenly kingdom. Comfort those who mourn. Support those who are working in the health service, and those who labour to provide
us with essentials. Above all, O God, have mercy on us.’ For the present situation is a sharp reminder of how little control we have over our world, or even our own lives; a reminder that we
are utterly dependent on God, that absent from his merciful care we have nothing and can do nothing. I am not suggesting that we stop taking physical precautions; but that we should
allow God to speak to us through this present trouble. As C.S. Lewis put it “…pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our
pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” May our present agony rouse up a deeper faith, a greater love, and more willing service to God and our neighbour.
“The Fellowship of Catholic University Students” Discipleship Goes Digital. Here is an exciting invitation from our FOCUS missionaries in Southampton … starting now.
Are you a university student/young adult? R U searching for more meaning during lockdown? Want to encounter Christ and build community with other young Catholics? What can you get
involved with?
A weekly men’s and women’s virtual small group Bible studies. Virtual accompaniment through SEEK21 (virtual conference) taking place from 18th – 21st March. A virtual weekly
Encounter with Christ in prayer (teaching and praying together). Monthly virtual fellowship nights with Catholic students across the Diocese. A journey through Lent virtually, the group meeting
virtually each week.
Find out more by contacting Kaitlin – Email: kaitlin.gilday@focus.org
In this short series of catechises on aspects of the Easter liturgy, we come this week to the Oil of Chrism.
At the Easter Vigil, those who are being initiated into the Church are ‘chrismated,’ that is, anointed with the oil of chrism. As the Bishop says: Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit and he
makes the sign of the Cross on the person’s forehead with the holy oil. So what is this holy oil or chrism? Chrism is made from olive oil mixed with a sweet perfume called balsam. It gives off a
very distinctive and pleasant aroma. The chrism is then blessed and consecrated for use at a special Mass during Holy Week called The Chrism Mass. In fact, at that Chrism Mass, all the chrism needed for all the parishes and churches of the Diocese for the following year is blessed. It’s usually in a big container and brought up in procession. Once blessed, it is then distributed in
smaller sacred vessels and taken across the Diocese. It’s always been treated with special reverence in the Church and is often reserved in a secure place of honour.
In the ancient world, like sometimes today too, athletes would cover themselves in oil to give them strength, and that’s the simple symbolism of the use of chrism for the Christian life. Chrism is used at the ordination of priests and bishops, during the dedication of churches and altars, and for the Sacrament of Confirmation. The fragrance of the oil and its strengthening effect symbolise the presence of the Holy Spirit. As we recall this, let us pray for all those who are to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this year at either the Easter Vigil or during Eastertide. And let us pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit that many more people may come to faith and salvation in Jesus Christ.
Bishop Philip
Fr Nishan sadly departs Guernsey Monday 1st March to take up his new appointment at Portsmouth Cathedral as part of his ongoing training.
We thank Fr Nishan for his great ministry here and his dedication and commitment to all the Parishioners. Fr Nishan you will be sorely missed by all.
We wish you well Fr Nishan.
God Bless you on your new ministry.
Fr Inna will join us on the 1st March and will be in self isolation for two weeks.
Join Deacon Mark on the website this Sunday at 3:00pm to continue our prayers on the third ‘Way of St Joseph’ which will remain on line until next Sunday.