Category: Latest News

This Sunday is All Saints Day and is the day on which we honour the memory of countless unknown and uncanonised saints who have no feast days in the Church’s Calendar. All baptised Christians who have died and are now with God in glory are considered saints. So, today, we thank God for giving ordinary men and women a share in His holiness and Heavenly glory as a reward for their Faith. We honour them in two ways: firstly by imitating their lives and secondly by asking them to intercede for us through Christ, who, as Timothy tells us in his first letter is the only mediator between God and man. The Church reminds us today that  we are all called to live in His love and to make His love real in the lives of those around us. We can all do this by living lives of integrity, truth, justice, charity, mercy, and compassion, sharing our blessings with others.

Three saints each gave us a guide to how we can follow the teaching of the Church. St. Teresa of Avila said: Recharge your spiritual batteries every day by prayer, listening to God and talking to Him. St.Therese of Lisieux said: Convert every action into prayer by offering it to God for His glory and for the salvation of souls and by doing God’s will to the best of your ability. Thirdly, St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) said: Do ordinary things with great love. Do something beautiful for God.

These are three sound methods which we can all follow in our endeavours to live the lives of the saints. The Church gives us over 300 days in the year when we can remember a particular saint. Every now and again the Church changes the calendar and a new saint is entered into the calendar. I want to suggest that we all create our own list of men and women who have been influential in our lives and so are worthy of being included in the calendar if there were enough days in the year. 

The following day is All Souls Day when we pray for all who have died— our loved ones, and also those people around the world whom we will never meet— that through the mercy of God, they will rest in peace.   There will be Mass at St George’s at 10am and at St Wilfrid’s at 11.30am. Following the Mass at St George’s I will bless the graves in the Memorial garden and then at Willingdon Cemetery. I go to all graves, including those of ashes, I know about and all those of which I have been told. Anyone is welcome to accompany me. At each grave we say together the following prayer: “Almighty God, we remember before you today your faithful servant ……… may he/she share in the eternal victory of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” We then sprinkle the grave with holy water. If the weather is inclement we do all graves collectively from the big tree.  With my love and prayers for you all. DJ

Thank you very much for your donations to World Mission Sunday last week.  Your prayers and contributions will help missionaries work alongside communities throughout the world that are poor or in need, regardless of their background or belief.  Please pray for the work of Missio and all those working to offer the love of Jesus, that we may remain strong in our witness to Christ’s love for all peoples.  To continue supporting mission throughout the year, please go to missio.org.uk or call 020 7821 9755 (office hours).

St George’s Church:  As usual the Memorial book will be placed near the altar.  However, due to the Coronavirus this year we will unfortunately not be able to invite our parishioners to add the names of their deceased friends or relatives.  If you would like your friends/relatives names added to this book please email or send to the office.

The month of the Holy Souls’ is November and traditionally people have Mass offerings for the repose of the souls for friends and family.

Many of you will have heard that St John’s Seminary in Wonersh is to close in its present form. The Seminary has served the Church for 130 years and there is great sadness that formation must now end at the site.

Unfortunately there was no new intake this September. With the seminarian body numbering just 17 the community is small, with the building and staffing costs too high to sustain. Arrangements have been made for the remaining seminarians to join the community at Allen Hall, Chelsea in September 2021.

Archbishop John Wilson and Bishop Richard are committed to providing priestly formation that will serve the people of our Dioceses and parishes into the future. St John’s will remain a legal entity so that consideration can be given to the ways in which the tradition of priestly formation established at Wonersh in 1891 will continue.

The Trustees of St John’s are extremely grateful to rectors, staff and seminarians, past and present, and to all those who have supported the Seminary over the years. We ask our Diocesan church family to pray for vocations to the priesthood, keeping our seminarians in their thoughts and prayers over the coming months.

Monday Nov 2nd is All Souls’ Day and Mass at St George’s will be 10am followed by Deacon John blessing graves in the Memorial Garden and then at Willingdon Cemetery.  Mass at St Wilfrid’s will be 11.30am.  Fr Rory will celebrate the Mass for St Wilfrid’s Community.   Please inform Margaret Piegrome on 870990 if you wish to attend the 10am Mass at St. George’s On All Souls’ Day.

Recently we listened to a reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes about time.  It included the lines: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under the heavens.” 

Time is a gift from God.  In a little booklet called Living Faith, with a reflection for every day of each year,  Sr. Melanie Svoboda suggested a simple activity as a means of appreciating this gift: “Find a ticking clock.  If you do not have a ticker and if you have access to the Internet Mr Google will find you one if you search “ticking clock sound” Listen to the ticking for several minutes. Do nothing else. Just listen. Do no work of any sort.  Be aware of the ticking sound and the silence between each tick.  Remember, every tick indicates the passing of a moment of time and a moment of your life.

After listening, ask yourself how the experience felt.  Was it calming? Irritating? Boring? Interesting?  Assuming that every tick represents one second, how many ticks have you lived so far? (One year=31,536,000 seconds) How many ticks do you estimate that you have left to live? How have you chosen to spend your ticks so far: sleeping, working, eating, relaxing, talking, listening, reading, playing, praying? Now ask yourself this question: “Is there something you would like to devote more ticks to in the future?”

Sunday 18th October 2020 – Today is World Mission Sunday

World Mission Sunday supports missionaries who work alongside communities that are poor or in need, regardless of their background or belief.  By supporting Missio, the Pope’s charity for world mission, you will help missionaries like Sr Nilcéia share the love of Christ with those most in need.  Please pray for the mission of the Church throughout the world and give what you can to this very important collection which will sustain the future of our Church. Please call 020 7821 9755 (office hours) or visit Missio’s website to give a single gift, set up a Direct Debit and Gift Aid your donation, if possible: mission.org.uk

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives a list of lame excuses from the invited guests which they used as reasons for not attending.

The Toronto Star invited teachers to submit excuses they had received from their students as part of a competition. They received these examples: A student explaining why he was late: “I was kidnapped by aliens and interrogated for three hours.” Another student, telling why he had failed to turn in his essay: “The bus driver read it and liked it so much he kept it to show to his passengers.” Another: “I got mugged on the way to school. I offered him my money, my watch, and my penknife but all he wanted was my essay.” Mike, a 14-year old, came up with a “watertight” excuse for arriving at school an hour late with his pants soaked to the knees: “I was just about to board the bus when I found I’d lost my ticket. Since it would take too long to walk to school, I hopped a fence onto a golf course. I headed for a creek that criss-crossed several fairways until I found a likely spot for lost balls. Retrieving three balls from their watery graves, I then made for the clubhouse where I sold the balls for bus fare! And that’s why I’m late.” Mike’s entry won.

We have all been given our wedding garment through our Baptism.We need to keep wearing the wedding garment of holiness. This means we must do good for all the people we know and meet in our everyday lives. We are helped in our efforts through the graces which receive through the other Sacraments. When we attend Mass either through live streaming or in Church and receive Holy Communion we are strengthened in our lives. Our personal prayers at any time of day or night help us to recharge our own spiritual batteries and guide us in our efforts of doing good for those we meet. Listening to God’s Word when we hear the readings nourishes us and help us in our actions. 

Yes, we have all been given our wedding garment ready for the banquet waiting for us in heaven so we must take care to wear it at all times in preparation for the event. Just remember that we do not have automatic entry. We can, however, succeed through our actions.

The St George’s Children’s Liturgy group enjoyed a, Covid-safe, extended session on Sunday 27^th September when they went Rosehip picking.  A glorious crisp sunny day in the fresh air was had by us all and Rosehip Syrup has since been made and will be placed at our altar alongside other delicious homemade conserves for our Harvest service on October 11^th. During this pandemic, and within the Covid guidelines of the National Youth Association there are still activities that can continue, and this was one of them thankfully.  All the children involved will carry memories of these types of days out for many years to come, an invaluable way of sharing our faith together during such difficult times.