JUNE IS THE MONTH OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
CORPUS CHRISTI/ THE TENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
Dear parishioners,
THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI
We are living in a time of loss in the parish with the deaths of so many good parishioners and deaths too of your family members who are not of this parish, but for whom I’ve been prayed. It seems that just as I am making arrangements for one funeral another call comes and our sorrow continues and deepens as we prepare for another. But thank God, we bring our losses to the mass, we have the Body of Christ to sustain us, to feed us in our journey through this Vale of Tears.
That is how life is in a Eucharistic Community, for the promise of Jesus at the Last Supper that the bread he took, broke and shared, and the wine poured and drank would be his body and blood was accomplished by Christ on the Cross from which his body hang, his most precious blood poured from his side, and his life was given for us. ‘The sacrifice of Christ and the Sacrifice of the Mass are a single sacrifice: the victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner is different. In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an un-bloody manner’
The mass is also our sacrifice. It is the sacrifice of the Church. We are the body of Christ and so participate in the offering of Christ our Head. With Him, we the church offer ourselves whole and entire and unite ourselves with Christ in his offering on the Cross to God the Father. At the mass, the sacrifice of Christ is also the sacrifice of us, members of his body. ‘the lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire new value. Christ’s sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be united with his offering’
All of us who are now mourning departed parishioners bring our loss to the mass. The sacrifice of Jesus was his life given. We join our loss and sorrow with his sacrifice to the Father. This offering unites us one with another in communion but also with the church in Heaven, with Mary and the Saints. We are ‘as it were at the foot of the Cross with Mary’.
The emptiness of loss becomes filled with the love of God which is the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. The pain of loneliness in loss is filled by communion with our fellow parishioners and fellowship with Mary and the Saints. The abyss within us is filled with the Body of Christ in Holy Communion and we are comforted too that the sacrifice is offered for the ‘faithful departed who have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ’.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians ‘But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead’
The loss we bring to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is gain for us, gain for our departed parishioners and family and gain for the world because we believe that at the mass our loss is filled with The Body of Christ, ‘Corpus Christi’, the gift Our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us for which we thank and praise Him at the Solemnity this Sunday.
‘Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord, and drink the holy blood for you outpoured. Saved by that body and that holy blood, with souls refreshed, we render thanks to God. Mankind is ransomed from eternal loss by flesh and blood offered upon the cross. Salvation’s giver, Christ, the only son, by his dear cross and blood the victory won. Offered was he for greatest and for least, himself the victim, and himself the priest. Victims are offered by the law of old, which in a type this heavenly mystery told. He, ransomer from death, and light from shade, now gives his holy grace his saints to aid. Approach then with faithful hearts sincere, and take the safeguard of salvation here. He, that his saints in this world rules and shields, to all believers life eternal yields; with heavenly bread makes them that hunger whole, gives living waters to the thirsting soul. Amen. (The Sancte, Veni: the most ancient prayer to the Blessed Sacrament from the Bangor Antiphonary).
(all other quotations from ‘The Catechism of the Catholic Church’)
HALL APPEAL CLOSED.
We’ve made it! Our second appeal to complete the works on the Hall has raised a total of £4, 455 through BACS payments, the justgiving page and good old cash and cheques. Any excess money will go towards the works needed on the Lady Chapel roof and some renovation to the porch.
Thank you very much for your support. The hall can now be finished in the next two or three weeks hopefully. Thanks too to the contractors who have done such first class work. We now have a hall we can be proud of which I think you will want to hire and use for many types of activities. It will be an asset for our parish both socially and financially.
Deaths
For all our brothers and sisters who ate the Body of Christ, the bread of Life, that they may be raised up on the Last Day. (Drawn from the intercession of the Funeral Mass)
Please pray for the souls of:
Maria Pereira who died on Tuesday 27th April. Her funeral was on Thursday 20th May .
Joseph Peter Bowman who died on Saturday 8th May 2021. His funeral was on Wednesday 26th May.
Des Leahy who died on Thursday 20th May, his 92nd birthday at Abbotsleigh Nursing Home in Sidcup. Des was born in Dublin and was a parishioner of St Thomas More’s for 60 years. He was one of the first extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist in the Parish and carried out his duties with great devotion. He was in the Knights for over 60 years and undertook many duties in Council 380 and was a Provincial Treasurer at one stage. We pray for his dear wife Kath and his two daughters, Tess and Imelda and their families at this time. Reception at church on Thursday 10th June 6.00 p.m. Funeral Requiem on Friday 11th June at 12.00 noon followed by committal at Eltham Crematorium.
Tom Brady, son of Nora Brady and brother of Cath and Teresa, who died on Thursday 20th May aged 60.
Placida D’Souza who died on Saturday 8th May aged 89. The Funeral mass is on Wednesday 9th June at 11.00 a.m. with private committal at Brook Street Cemetery.
Albert Da Silva who died on Monday 31st May. Funeral arrangements awaiting confirmation.
Mark John Norris Paxton who died on Thursday 27th May aged 60. The Funeral Mass is on Thursday 17th June at 10.00 a.m. followed by committal at Eltham Crematorium.
(Numbers permitted at Funeral Requiems are still limited due to current regulations. This is estimated on the size of the church building. The same rules applying to all public services in our church apply also for funeral requiems)
May the divine assistance remain with them always, and may their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
MASSES AND INTENTIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK: THE TENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
Please come to mass once a week only, on any day of your choosing, to help with numbers and social distancing.
Mass intentions booked for masses cancelled or replaced with a funeral will be moved to another day.
Saturday 5th June THE MOST HOLY BODY & BLOOD OF CHRIST (CORPUS CHRISTI)
6.30 p.m. Delia Loftus W.B.
Sunday 6th June
9.00 a.m. Natasha Pereira T.G. on her birthday.
10.30 a.m. Norma and Arthur Whittle and Family W.B. With Benediction for Corpus Christi.
Week 10 of Ordinary Time.
Monday 7th June feria
NO PUBLIC MASS TODAY
Tuesday 8th June feria
9.00 a.m. Deacon Fintan Phelan R.I.P. (month’s mind) (please note earlier time)
5.00 p.m. Reception at church of Placida D’Souza R.I.P.
Wednesday 9th June St. Columba, Abbot
11.00 a.m. Funeral Requiem of Placida D’Souza followed by private committal at Brook Street.
Thursday 10th June feria
11.00 a.m. An hour with the Lord in thanksgiving to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. With Adoration, the Litany of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Benediction.
6.00 p.m. Reception at Church of Des Leahy R.I.P with Funeral Vigil Mass for the Knights of St. Columba and parishioners.
Friday 11th June THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS (B) Solemnity.
12.00 noon. Funeral Requiem of Des Leahy followed by committal at Eltham Crematorium.
7.00 p.m. Mass of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Albert Da Silva R.I.P. (This mass was originally to be offered for the well- being of Albert and Vera. Albert had a life- long and absolute devotion to the Sacred Heart. May he now rest in peace with his Lord)
Saturday 12th June The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, memorial.
10.00 a.m. Ferdie Rodrigues R.I.P.
6.30 p.m. ELEVENTH SUNDAY (B) Bernie Fernandes in T.G. for the intercession of St Anthony)
JUNE PRAYER
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.