The celebration of our Sunday Eucharist forms the highest part of the week. At Mass we gather as a community of believers, and fulfill Our Lord’s command to “do this in memory of me”. We open ourselves up to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who seeks to strengthen us, enabling us to proclaim the Good News in the world to the people we meet.

Music Group at Christ the King

In an effort to enhance the dignity of our celebration, I am looking to establish a regular music group for the 6pm Saturday Mass at Christ the King, and, being a musician, I am willing to assist in the establishment of such a group. The Fathers of Vatican II remind us of the importance of singing as a fundamental component in our Mass: “Therefore sacred music is to be considered the more holy in proportion as it is more closely connected with the liturgical action, whether it adds delight to prayer, fosters unity of minds, or confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites. But the Church approves of all forms of true art having the needed qualities, and admits them into divine worship.” If you are able to contribute to establishing a music group for the Saturday evening Mass, whether in playing the piano, organ, or another musical instrument, or through singing in a choir, to lead and maintain the singing, please speak to me, Deacon Daniel directly, or to Fr Matthew.

Serving at St Brigid’s

It is a great privilege to assist the priest and the deacon at the altar during the Mass. The role of the altar server within the Mass is essential, not only to prepare the sanctuary, but also to ensure that distractions are kept to a minimum, and so enable people to pray and participate in the Mass. Over recent years, there has been a decline in servers to assist in our celebrations, particularly the 11am Mass at St Brigid’s. If you have made your First Holy Communion, and would like to serve Mass, in any of the 3 Churches, please speak with Canon Matthew or me Deacon Daniel after Mass. I should add that we hope to have a get-together for all our servers soon, something like a fish’n’chips supper!

Deacon Daniel

Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
– William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

Ask a lot of people which is their most un-favourite month and they will say February. It’s a short month but it seems like the long drawn out tail-end of winter. It’s either sunny-but-cold or slightly- warmer-but-grey-and-depressing. Basically, at the end of the month we are glad to see the end of poor old February, aren’t we?

But, of course, February does give us the opportunity to long for spring, a season we don’t really appreciate enough in this country. When I studied in Canada the transition from winter to summer seemed to be over in a few days. Fr James and Fr Tomy would often say how in Kerala there are no real seasons except the monsoons. Here we all look out for the first signs of the coming spring. The snowdrops peep out, the daffs start to push up, the mornings start to get a little lighter. It’s good sometimes to have to wait, to be forced to long… There’s something very spiritual about the emergence from winter into spring. No wonder St John in particular often talks of dark and light in his Gospel. So Advent made us wait for the Coming. Lent will make us wait for the Dying and Rising. Here are a few lines I found about February.

“Away in a meadow all covered with snow
The little old groundhog looks for his shadow
The clouds in the sky determine our fate
If winter will leave us all early of late.” – Don Halley

I love the idea of waiting for our shadow to return with the sun. Where has it gone for the last few months? Will it ever come back? Yes… it will be back, the sun will shine again, February will soon give way to spring…

Fr Matthew