The Nativity of The Lord 25.12.2022

MASS TIMES AND INTENTIONS

Sun 25th Dec

8.30 am People of the Parish

11 am People of the Parish

Mon 26th Dec St Stephen, The First Martyr

10 am David Kinsler, RIP

Tues 27th Dec St John, Apostle and Evangelist

10am Mary Stretton, RIP

Weds 28th Dec NO MASS

Thurs 29th Dec St Thomas Becket, Bishop & Martyr

10am Larry Hughes, RIP

Fri 30th Dec 6th Day in the Octave of Christmas

10 am Sarah McCarthy, RIP

Sat 31st Dec The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

5pm Kitty Smith, anniversary

12 Midnight Eileen and David Scott, RIP

There will be no 10am-11am confessions and holy hour on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve.

Your Prayers:

Let us keep in our prayers: Agnes Day, Christna Cahill, Eric Nicholas Darwent, Therese Kemp, John O’Shea, Rekha, Bina, Jose Luis Pérez, Alice, Lilian Murphy, Karina McKiernan, Izabela Lissowska and Florida Regina Karawgodage – all unwell at this time. We also pray for:: Gino Tomei, James Meally, Peter Sartori, Noel Ryan, Donato Merola, Aurora Lobo–Buckland, Christine Pavlou, Tom Lohan, Siobhan Lynch, Dennis Lennane, Susan Wren, Geraldine Day, Catherine Kelly, Josephine Okuyiga, Betty Murray, Jane Ikwueke, Gail Yates,Ronald Kinsella, Maureen O Sullivan, Patrick Reilly, Ann Gourdarznia, Nina Cole, Lorenzo Marcantuono, Pat McMahon, Michael Walsh Esther Ampomah Arhin, Peter McHugh, Marguerite Kyunga, Kathleen Molloy and Maria Pini, whose anniversaries occur at this time or have died recently. May they Rest in Peace.

Offertory:

The offertory collection for week ending 18th December – £621.73. Many thanks. Please do not forget, that arranging a standing order is the easiest way to support St Mary’s.

A St Mary’s Pilgrimage to Lourdes 2023

Fr Peter writes: “I am looking into planning a 5-day, 4-night weekday full board pilgrimage to Lourdes departing 24th April, returning 28th April for approximately £609 per parishioner and I need a minimum of 20 parishioners! The hotel on offer is 3 star and flights are from Stansted to Lourdes airport (making your own way to Stansted). I know Lourdes very well, can arrange Masses and tours to suit a 4-day trip. I have put a sign-up sheet at the back of the church for those who would like to come.

Once a Catholic?

On that first Christmas the shepherds were the first to learn of the birth of Jesus. Those shepherds felt outcast and not welcome. The birth of the Saviour showed them to be at the very centre of things. If you were baptised into the Catholic Church but have not practised for some time and are here for Christmas then you are very welcome. Please consider introducing yourself to Fr Peter and perhaps making an appointment to see him in the New Year. You can be assured of a warm welcome.

Calling all Altar Servers – and those who would like to learn.

Please sign the list at the back of the Church if you are able to serve over the Christmas Holiday. For those who would like to be an altar server (you need to have made your First Holy Communion) please sign the alternative list and Deacon Dom will teach you. Adult parishioners can also sign up to be servers!

Serving Altar Servers:

There is a Christmas gift for those who have served this year in the sacristy.

New Year’s Eve 2022

Fr Peter writes: “For the past few years I have tried to celebrate a New Year’s Eve Mass in honour of Our Lady at midnight on 31st December. I see it as a way of beginning the New Year in the presence of Christ, who I know, will be accompanying us through 2023. So on New Year’s Eve I will be celebrating a quiet informal Mass in the Church beginning at Midnight – and you are most welcome to join me.”

St Mary’s Special Commemorative Calendars

The special St Mary’s colanders celebrating 125 years of the parish are available to collect or buy (we printed some extra copies) this weekend. Cost per calendar is £7:50.

Christmas Offerings:

The collection at all Masses on Christmas Eve & Day is your gift that contributes to the salary of your priest. Alternatively, you may wish to give Fr Peter a personal gift.

Holocaust Memorial Day – Sunday 29 January 2023

This will take place at the Rickett Quadrangle, Middlesex University, The Burroughs, Hendon NW4 4BT at 2 pm. Please be seated by 1.45 pm. This is a commemorative service to remember the victims of genocide. Entry is free – Tube: Hendon Central, Buses – 143, 113, 83, 183, 186 and 326. Disabled parking facilities and access. For more information call: 0208 359 2652 or email mayor@barnet.gov.uk or visit www.barnet.gov.uk/holocaust

Nursery and Primary School Application Forms:

Fr Peter writes: “If your child needs their Catholic Certificates of Practice” stamped and signed, please attend one of the Sunday Masses with your child, bringing their nursery or primary school application forms. Please make sure you have completed address and dates of birth before coming to see me.”

Another thought for Christmas….

“Along with you, my dear brothers and sisters, I too need to receive the good tidings tonight. As shepherd I must announce it, but as shepherd I must also be one of those shepherds of Bethlehem and receive from the angels the news that stirs our hearts. Let us receive it, you and I, with the same simplicity and humility as those shepherds did. The more simple and humble, the more poor and detached from ourselves, the more full of troubles and problems we are, the more bewildering life’s ways, all the more must we look up to the skies and hear the great news: "A Saviour is born to you." And let us listen in chorus to that great news, sung throughout the universe: "Glory to God in the heavens, and on earth peace to those whom God loves." (Luke 2:11, 14.)”

St Oscar Romero

2022 St Mary’s “Names & Others” Christmas Quiz

1. Who gets to the stable first? Is it the angels or the shepherds?

2. What are the names of the parents of John the Baptist?

3. What does the word “Messiah” mean?

4. What is the baptismal name of Pope Benedict XVI?

5. When Mary went to visit Elizabeth, which village did she go to?

6. Which year was St Mary’s Parish established in East Finchley?

7. What does the word “Christ” mean?

8. How many years does it take to train to be a priest?

9. What is the only day in Advent the Gloria is allowed to be sung or said at Mass?

10. What are the traditional names of the Three Wise Men?

11. What does the name “Emmanuel” mean?

12. What is the last book in the Old Testament?

13. What is the first book in the New Testament?

14. How are they connected?

15. What are the two names of Joseph’s father?

Next week - quiz answers, prizes, along with 2023 winning lottery numbers.!!!!