Christ the King (Year C) 24 November 2019
ADVENT 2019
HEALING MASSES:
Sacred Heart & St Francis of Assisi, Frinton: Wednesday 4th December at 11.00am Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Dovercourt: Friday 6th December at 9.30am.
RECONCILIATION SERVICES:
Sacred Heart & St Francis of Assisi, Frinton: Saturday 14th December at 10.00am.
Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Dovercourt: Saturday 21st December at 10.00am.
As in the past, there will be three priests at both Reconciliation Services available to hear individual confessions should you feel moved to do so.
Whether or not you intend to make an ‘individual confession’, please come along and take part in this important service of preparation.
May the God of mercy bless you now and always.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
In the good old days the parishes in east London used to get the schoolchildren to church on Ascension Day and then take them off for an outing. The popular place for All Saints, Poplar was Chessington Zoo. When 5.00m came there was a great gathering-up operation by rectors, curates and sisters on the large green. A loud voice called across the green to our lot boarding the coach, “Are you Holy Innocents?” and the shout went back, “No, we’re All SAINTS.”
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 17 November
Fr Frank writes:
My dear friends,
As we approach the end of the Church’s Year our readings take on an apocalyptic feel.
The prophet Malachi reminds us that the day is coming when all the arrogant and evil will become like stubble – God will burn them up leaving neither root nor stalk. But on those who turn to Him he will shine like the Sun with healing in its rays.
In our Gospel reading we are warned not to be deceived by those who come using Jesus’s name to proclaim that “the time is near at hand”. We are warned of terrible events to come, but are told to stand firm as not a hair of our heads will be lost and that our endurance will win us our lives.
Advent is our time of preparation. It is not just ‘the run-up to Christmas’, but principally a preparation for that time when Christ will return. In order to focus our preparation there will be Services of Reconciliation in both parishes and, also, Healing Masses – dates are not settled yet, so please keep an eye our for these in subsequent editions of The Newsletter.
Please note that the email address FrintonCatholic@talktalk.com is inoperative. Please use the address; Frinton@dioceseofbrentwood.org for all communications that you wish to come direct to me.
May our loving God bless you now and always.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
During Mass a little girl had to go outside because she didn’t feel very well. She returned a few minutes later and admitted, “I have been a little sick, but it doesn’t matter, there’s a box at the door marked ‘For the Sick’.”
Thirty-second Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time 10 December
Fr Frank writes:
My dear friends,
Today we remember the War Dead:
Before the beginning thou hast foreknown the end,
before the birthday the death-bed was seen of thee:
cleanse what I cannot cleanse, mend what I cannot mend,
O Lord, All-Merciful, be merciful to me.
While the end is drawing near I know not mine end;
birth I recall not, my death I cannot foresee:
O God, arise to defend, rise to befriend,
O Lord All-Merciful, be merciful to me.
Christina Rossetti (1830-94)
During November we remember the departed (Holy Souls) at all Masses. The usual box will be by the altar in both churches, and squares of paper made available on which you may write the names of your departed loved ones to place in the box.
My thanks, as always, to the Eucharistic Ministers of Frinton who provided services of the Word and Holy Communion in my absence on retreat last week, and to Fr Bill who celebrated the Masses at Dovercourt.
Please note that the email address FrintonCatholic@talktalk.com is inoperative. Please use the address; Frinton@dioceseofbrentwood.org for all communications that you wish to come direct to me.
May the Souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
A catechist was telling how Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. “That’s nothing” said one boy. “My mother was driving the car the other day and she looked back and turned into a telegraph pole.”
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 3 November
Fr Frank writes:
My dear friends,
A prayer for November:
May the Father take you
in his fragrant clasp of love,
when you go across the flooding streams
and the black river of death.
Traditional Celtic
During November we remember the departed (Holy Souls) at all Masses. The usual box will be by the altar in both churches, and squares of paper made available on which you may write the names of your departed loved ones to place in the box.
I shall be on Retreat from Tuesday to Friday this coming week and promise to remember you all in my prayers. My thanks, as always, to the Eucharistic Ministers of Frinton who will be providing services of the Word and Holy Communion in my absence, and to Fr Bill who will be celebrating the Masses at Dovercourt.
Next Sunday is Remembrance Sunday and there will be a Requiem Mass for the War Dead in each parish. If you are attending Mass at Dovercourt, please arrive early and assemble in the car park at 10.35am for the Act of Remembrance.
Please note that the email address FrintonCatholic@talktalk.com is inoperative. Please use the address; Frinton@dioceseofbrentwood.org for all communications.
May the Souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
After an organ overhaul, the organ builder left a note for the lady organist as follows:
“You will now be able to change your combinations without taking your feet off the pedals.”
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 27 October 2019
Fr Frank writes:
My dear friends,
Today’s Gospel parable contains important teaching about prayer. Two men go to the Temple to pray. One is a Pharisee (a cleric) and the other a tax collector (a hated collaborator working for the occupying Roman forces). The Pharisee in his prayer is not interested in God, but only in himself. All the verbs he uses are in the first person: I am not grasping; I fast twice a week; I pay tithes etc. As Jesus put it “he said this prayer to himself.” What God wants is not self-satisfaction from those who look down on others (“I thank you that I am not like this tax collector here”). He doesn’t want boastful prayers, the prayers of those who trust in themselves rather than in God. The prayer of the tax collector, on the other hand, is commended. His prayer is made in faith and humility. He expresses his need of God – his need of forgiveness. His mind and his prayers are focussed on God as he throws himself at the mercy of the “righteous judge”.
On the 1st November we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. This is a Holy Day of Obligation (a day when all Catholics are expected to attend Mass). There are two Masses in each parish that day (including the Vigil at Frinton) to help you to fulfil your Obligation.
During November we remember the departed (Holy Souls) at all Masses. The usual box will be by the altar in both churches and squares of paper available on which you may write the names of your departed loved ones to place in the box.
May the Souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
May our good and merciful God bless you now and always.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
The minister was being carried away by his own exuberance in leading prayers. He began, “O Thou who rulest the raging of the sea, the fierceness of the winds…..” Then he seemed to lose himself for a moment, but soon carried on – “Bless our wives.”
Twenty eighth and twenty-ninth Sundays in ordinary time (year C) 13 and 20 October 2019
Fr Frank writes:
My dear friends,
Today is a great day for the Church in England and Wales as JOHN HENRY NEWMAN IS CANONISED IN ROME. Newman is not only an important figure for Anglicans and for members of The Ordinariate, but for all Catholics.
St John Newman was born in 1801 and raised in an Anglican household. As a young Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford he was drawn to the Catholic Church as a result of his studies into the early Church Fathers. Matters came to a head in 1833 when the Tractarian (or Anglo Catholic) movement was launched by fellow Oxford academic, Rev John Keble (Professor of Poetry). This movement sought to re-discover the Anglican Church’s Catholic heritage. This was a difficult path to follow, and Newman, who faced much criticism, was eventually Received into the Church in 1845 together with a number of his Oxford contemporaries. After studies in Rome he was Ordained and established the Oratory in Birmingham.
Later in life his was made Cardinal for his contribution to the life of the Church in these islands. Among other things he established the Catholic University in Dublin. Newman was a prolific writer. As well as many works of theology he was also a poet and novelist. Newman was a genuine polymath in addition to being a man of great personal holiness.
He was beatified at a beautiful Mass in Cofton Park, Birmingham in 2010 during the visit of Pope Benedict XV1, a Mass at which, together with hundreds of priests, I was privileged to concelebrate. And now, at last, England has another Saint.
St John Henry Newman, pray for us.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
Two professorial types walking past a gothicky building with bikes parked outside. One says:
“If a philosophy lecturer goes on strike and all his students sleep through it did the strike ever take place?”