Eighth Sunday In Ordinary Time 02.03.2025

MASS TIMES AND INTENTIONS

Sun 2nd Mar​​

8.30am​​​​ Graziella Salvoni, RIP

10am​​​​ Ninfa Norohna, RIP

12noon​​​​ Margaret Clifford, RIP

Mon 3rd Mar​​ ​Feria

10am​​​​ Martin Flanagan, RIP

Tues 4th Mar​​​ Feria

10am​​​​ Cornelius and Mary Sullivan, RIP

Weds 5th Mar​ ​​Ash Wednesday

10am​​​​ People of the Parish

1.40pm​ Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes School, Bow Lane, N12

7.30pm​​​​ Carmen & Gilbert Sarthal, intentions

Thur 6th Mar​​​ Feria

10am​​​​ A private intention of thanksgiving

Fri 7th Mar​​​ Feria

10am​​​​ NO MASS

Sat8th Mar​​​ First Sunday of Lent

5pm​​​​ In thanksgiving to Our Lord and Our Lady

4.30pm – 5pm: Confessions and Exposition

YOUR PRAYERS:

Let us keep in our prayers: Julius Lipner, David Ryan, Margaret Ryan, Michael O’Boy, Christina Cahill, Eric Nicholas Darwent, Therese Kemp, Jose Luis Pérez, Karina McKiernan, Jonathan Heller, Izabela Lissowska and Sveta Valeri – all unwell at this time. We also pray for: Kitty Heenan, Nora McGlynn, Fr Sean Carroll, Fr David Barnes, Gerry Stenson, Luis Goncalves, Arcangela Moretto, Patrick Jean Noel Louis-Auguste, Jose Barreto, Piera, Gianpiero Gallian, Mary Teresa Foran, Martin Flanagan, Noeleen Hare and Noreen McGlynn and James McCormack whose anniversaries occur at this time or have died recently. May they Rest in Peace.

OFFERTORY

The offertory collection for the week ending 16th February 2025 - Offertory Collection was

£ 700.13 and Contactless was £ 80.63 Many thanks for your generosity.

ST MARY’S LENT COURSE – 2025

“WHEN YOU PRAY”

You know prayer is important but still find it challenging. Perhaps it’s hard to find time, or you’re unsure what to do when you pray. Or maybe you feel discouraged by your weaknesses and your inability to overcome them.

If you have any of these feelings, you are not alone. Many of the saints struggled in prayer. They were like us. But each time they fell, they got up again and learned to rely more on God’s grace.

What God did in the lives of countless saints, he wants to do in our lives. And that’s what this study is about: the journey of prayer God wants to take us on.

Authored and presented by Dr Edward Sri, When You Pray also features Fr. Jacques Philippe, Fr. Josh Johnson, Fr. Gregory Pine, Sister Josephine Garrett, Fr. Donald Haggerty, and Sister Maris Stella.

Course begins Monday 3rd March at 7:30pm in the small hall and will continue every Monday until Monday 7thApril. Each session is an hour.

Make it one of your Lent commitments for 2025.

ASH WEDNESDAY MASSES

There are 3 Ash Wednesday Masses which you can attend: 10 am Mass and 7.30 pm at St Mary’s and 1.40 pm in our parish school of Our Lady of Lourdes in Bow Lane. Fr Peter will also be celebrating Mass in our parish secondary school – Bishop Douglass.

CAFOD FAMILY FAST DAY

CAFOD Family Fast Day is on Friday 14th March.  Consider having a lighter, frugal meal on this day (if you are well enough and able to) and with money that you would have spent on food today, why not donate it to CAFOD as part of your Lent almsgiving for those in hunger and poverty across the globe?  Food for thought.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION FAMILIES

First Holy Communion Classes continue on Tuesday 25th February in the small hall beginning at 3:45pm. Please bring a copy of your child’s baptism certificate and £25. Please give these to Margaret either before or after the class.

CONFIRMATION CLASSES 2025

For those who have registered - Confirmation classes will begin on Thursday 6th March at 7:30pm in the small hall of the parish centre. They aim to end by 9pm. The date of the Confirmation Mass is 10th June at 7PM celebrated by Bishop John Sherrington.

OUR LADY OF LOURDES, BOW LANE, N12 – NURSERY PLACES

Our Lady of Lourdes, Bow Lane, N12 still has spaces available at their Nursery in September 2025.  This is for children born between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024.  Please contact the school office – 0208 346 1681 – or visit the school website for an application pack.

ST THERESA’S PRIMARY SCHOOL, EAST END ROAD, N3 – NURSERY PLACES

St Theresa’s Primary School, East End Road, N3 – A new nursery is now open and spaces are available immediately, as well as for September 2025.  Please contact the school office or visit the school website for an application pack.

MONDAY MORNING “BINGO:”

The “Bingo twins” – Mark & Christopher – host Bingo in the small hall every Monday after the 10am Mass. There is always a cup of tea and a slice of cake and the company of others. All very welcome.

THURSDAY PRAYER GROUP

There will be no prayer group meeting on Thursday 27th February.

JUBILEE YEAR – “PILGRIMS OF HOPE” and LENT

 “The greatest hope of Lent is the discovery that it’s not only about penance, deprivation, spiritual struggles, and rooting out sin in our lives. Those are often the things we do during Lent. But the hope of Lent lies in what God does. 

People often remark on the way our churches are filled on Ash Wednesday. It’s not a holy day of obligation. No one is required to attend Mass or receive blessed ashes. But there’s something about the beginning of this season of Lent that draws us in, calls us to return to sanity, to a bit of austerity, to a change of heart and mind. It’s a second chance at our new year’s resolutions, long since broken and forgotten. It’s a second chance at making changes in our lives. For some people, it’s no less than a second chance at life. That something that draws us is God’s grace. And it’s drawing us back to God’s merciful embrace.

There’s something attractive about Lent beginning in the middle of an ordinary week, catching us in the midst of our daily occupations and asking us to take time out to find God there. Lent doesn’t take us away from our ordinary lives, but rather it invites us to bring a new and holy attention to those activities. This should be the way with all of our spiritual practices. We take time apart in order to return to our daily activities with new inspiration. God will always surprise us with possibilities when we least expect them.

Let this Lent be one of those surprises.”

 DAY TRIP TO ROME:

A unique opportunity to visit Rome for the day in this special Jubilee year and to enter St Peter’s through the Holy Door. Tuesday 13th May – early morning flight from Heathrow to Fiumicino, then minibus transfer direct into Rome. Visit and tour (skip the queue to get in) of St Peter’s, lunch (included at nice restaurant), and more sights before return flight at 9:05pm arriving in Heathrow at 11pm. Based on minimum 18 people the price would be £290pp. Those interested, please sign sheet at back of the church.