“Your Attention” It is one of God’s most special gifts. Sometimes things may demand our attention, one of them being this pandemic. How we exercise this attention brings us to another gift “Our Responsibility”. When confronted with many different things demanding our attention, priority becomes an important factor. Our hope that we can move on from this pandemic must be treated with caution and care with making responsible choices. Even though I thought with my periodical visits to care homes provided me with sufficient testing, a person got home to me that I should go to the chemist shop and get the means provided free, and to make two tests a week.
Because the need to move forward with caution, it is right that we do this. Priorities are most important. So a special important need is for our parish finance committee to meet. A meeting with six members is being established, and I am most grateful to Gerry Palmer for offering his services and progressing this. I have been encouraged along the way to raise the need to appeal for more contributions to our Sunday collections. So our gratitude to all those who attend and who contribute. The parish finance committee is an essential requirement, constituted in Canon Law and now with Health and Safety, also Child and Vulnerable Adults Protection, it is essential to get back on our way.
We are blessed with those who have committed themselves to our Children’s Liturgy and preparation for the sacraments, and this please God, will develop and grow. We will be truly blessed when it flourishes. Obviously a large question mark remains over how we can continue to progress the returning to normal life and so remaining cautious, but at the same time becoming more prepared is essential. Proposed events will be cautiously prepared for and with the help of God may be well celebrated. So does anybody remember my final note last week? Well please God, we will begin with it again next week.
Also next week we have a most important event on Saturday 12th June at 5pm, when our children preparing for their First Holy Communion will make their First confession. Today it will take the form of a Pentecost Service on Saturday. This is a supreme gift of Jesus, “your sins are forgiven”. All through the ages this has a key role to play in our lives. In the early church to deal with this people began to postpone their baptism until their death bed. Through the centuries this sacrament has evolved, and an excellent experience of it is our Penitential Service, and we will do our very best to celebrate this in the best way we can. If we are getting enough response we will have another priest with us to help us with our celebration of this great sacrament.