Message from Canon Kristian

Dear Parishioners

We know we have truly arrived in the Advent Season when we hear the rugged and ascetic figure of St John the Baptist echoing the ancient prophetic clarion call to “Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight,” as we do once again this Sunday! Despite the restrictions of the pandemic and the impact these will have on our usual customs and traditions, I am sure that preparations are well underway in many of our parish households for the celebration of the Feast of the Birth of Christ in less than three weeks’ time. Whilst it is right that we try to celebrate the coming Feast as best as we can this year, it is important that we don’t forget the most important preparation of all – that personal and community spiritual preparation which aims at opening ourselves ever more widely to the coming of Christ into our lives, hearts and minds by making space, clearing away the accumulated debris of the year gone by and setting our sights on the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise – “the new heavens and new earth, a place where righteousness will be at home”.  Ultimately, it was to make this total transformation possible that the Word became flesh, that God chose to be born into our world as a vulnerable child, to transform it from within so that – as the priest or deacon prays quietly when he adds a small drop of water (symbolising us and our humanity) to the wine (which will become the Real Presence of Christ) in the chalice at Mass – “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity”.  Just as that single drop of water becomes one and inseparable with the wine, so the coming of Christ in human flesh and the pouring out of his Blood on the Cross for the salvation of the world reunites creation and our humanity inseparably to God.  It is for the fulfilment of that promise, in the midst of the pain, suffering and vulnerability of our world,  that we wait expectantly, not sitting passively on our hands but, as St Peter urges us, his friends, this Sunday: “…while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace”.  It is this “living lives” in accordance with the teaching and example of Jesus which will bring about the on-going transformation of our own personal lives, the lives of those forced to lives on the margins of our world and of our gravely bruised and battered – but still beautiful – planet.  Hence, the cry of the Prophet: “Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.  Make a straight way for our God across the desert.  Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, let every cliff become a plain, and the ridges a valley; then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all humanity will see it”. So, we have plenty of challenging work to do…Advent is the time to make ourselves ready for it!

There has been some good news this week regarding the availability of a vaccine against Covid-19 and the plans of the Government to roll out a nationwide vaccination program over the coming months.  There are some in the Catholic community who have raised concerns about the origin of some of the cellular material that was been used to develop one of the vaccines, which might impinge on the morality of accepting vaccination.  The latest Statement from the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is available to read online here, which makes it clear that these concerns relate only to the vaccine which has been developed by AstraZeneca (the so-called “Oxford vaccine”), and not to the vaccines developed by Pfizer & BioNTech and Moderna.  However, referring to documents issued by the Vatican Congregation in charge of matters of faith and morals and by the Pontifical Academy of Life, the Bishops make it clear that, even with regards to the AstraZeneca vaccine, Catholics may “in good conscience receive any of these vaccines for the good of others and themselves”.  I hope that this will put your minds at rest if you have had concerns.

As usual, the Newsletter contains lots of usual links to help make the most of the Advent Season both spiritually and practically.  You will recall that, in order to reduce the number of attachments which were clogging up people’s inboxes and causing difficulties with a few of the email servers, most of these links are “hyperlinks”.  If you click on them, they will take you to the place on the internet where the documents/webpages can be found.

Many thanks to all of you who have changed your parish giving from Gift Aid Envelopes to Standing Orders.  This will help the parish enormously to be able to budget our resources better and to protect those parishioners who volunteer to count and bank the weekly collections.  This is the last week for now in which this change can be made because we have to order envelopes for next year soon, so if you haven’t made the switch and you are able to do so, I would urge you to do it this week.  If you don’t have the guidance and forms that have been attached to this email for the last few weeks, do please email the Parish Office and we will email them to you directly.  Likewise, if you have any questions about making the change, we will put you in touch with our Parish Treasurer, Margaret Found, who is more than happy to discuss it with you.

Next weekend, the draw for the Christmas Cake that I made to raise funds for the parish will take place.  I attach a picture here, just in case you haven’t seen it and would like to.  The cake has been steeped in sweet Marsala Wine and – although I have been told that it looks suspiciously like the cake made by the winner of this year’s Bake Off – I didn’t watch the series this year and the cake was decorated before that particular programme aired – promise!! There’s still time to buy raffle tickets if you would like to do so.

Monika Manser has provided a leaflet (read online or download here) for you with some guided “lectio divina” on the First Reading of this Sunday’s Mass, and there will be the usual Zoom Coffee morning this week at 11am on Thursday – please contact the parish for joining instructions.

You will recall that Rosie will be taking bookings for Christmas Masses from this Monday 7 December until Tuesday 22 December.  You can do this either by phone during Parish Office Hours or by email.  As our churches will not be able to accommodate the usual numbers of people who come to Mass at Christmastime, our Bishops are asking that everyone choose ONE Mass over the Christmas Octave, ie from 25 December to 1 January, as their “Christmas Mass” to allow as many people as possible to be able to take part in Mass over this period.  There will be Mass each day at St James, as well as Mass on 25 and 27 December at St Boniface.  Clearly, there may still be spaces for you to come to more than one Mass, but please hold back from asking for a place at additional Masses until after Sunday 19 December.  By then we will have some idea of the numbers wishing to attend Mass at Christmas (although we still have to factor in those who only come to Mass at Christmas and are unaware of the booking system, and who will just turn up on the day).

Finally, as many of us spend a fair amount of time wearing face-coverings these days, I conclude this week’s email with a prayer which was given to a parishioner by a friend about the wearing of face-coverings, which you might find helpful:

O God of Creation,
as I prepare to go into the world,
help me to see the sacrament in the wearing of this cloth
– let it be “an outward sign of an inward grace” –
a tangible and visible way of living love for my neighbours as I love myself.

O Christ,
since my lips will be covered,
uncover my heart,
that people would see my smile in the crinkles around my eyes.

Since my voice may be muffled,
help me to speak clearly,
not only with my words,
|but with my actions.

O Holy Spirit,
as the elastic touches my ears,
remind me to listen carefully
– and full of care—to all those I meet.

May this simple piece of cloth be shield and banner,
and each breath that it holds
be filled with your love.

In your Name and in that love, I pray.

May it be so. Amen

Keep safe and may God bless you all.

Canon Kristian