St Wilfrid’s Celebration Mass 15th August 10.30 am:
This Mass is to celebrate us coming back together as a community. After Mass refreshments will be available and there will be a tombola to help raise funds. We are asking for items for the tombola; bottles, alcoholic and soft drinks also any unwanted gifts that are in good condition. Please at this time no bric a brac as we do not have the room to store. Please leave items in the church porch.
The Rosary group will re-start on Monday, 9 August 2021, at 2:30p.m. in St. George’s hall. Parishioners from both churches are welcome. Please contact Martin 01323 485474.
Beginning Experience Weekend: October 8th – 10th, Sion Community, Brentwood, Essex. For those who find themselves single again following divorce, separation or bereavement.
Beginning Experience is a weekend programme to help you move from the darkness of your grief into the light of a new beginning. More details at [email protected] .
St Wilfrid’s Community Lunch at the Treacle Mine – 12 noon on the 5th August:
After our very successful meal together in June, we have decided to have another on Thursday the 5th August at 12 noon at the Treacle Mine. If you are interested, please contact Joan tel: 07873390944. We invite all our friends from St George’s and St Wilfrid’s and look forward to seeing you there. This Sunday is the very last date you can book a place at this social event. If you would like to get to know other members of our community then this is a good opportunity to do so. We look forward to meeting you. “BON APPETITE” to all of you.
In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus speaks about food. The two biggest sellers in any bookstore, according to Andy Rooney, are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food, and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it! Orson Wells once said, “My doctor has advised me to give up those intimate little dinners for four — unless, of course, there are three other people eating with me.” Champion archer Rick McKinney confesses that he regularly eats chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. He refers to “the basic four food groups” as a Big Mac, fries, a shake and a lemon tart. A California scientist has computed that the average human being eats 16 times his or her own weight in an average year, while a horse eats only eight times its weight. This all seems to prove that if you want to lose weight, you should eat like a horse. (Sunshine Magazine). — That’s a subject most of us know too much about. A recent survey found that 41% of men and 55% of women consider themselves overweight. In one way or another, many of us are obsessed with earthly food. Think what a difference it would make in our lives if we were equally obsessed with Heavenly Food, the Food that Christ gives us!
Diocesan Youth Service – 40th Anniversary Celebration – 4 September 2021 – Arundel Cathedral – We are delighted to be able to celebrate our Youth Service, which has impacted many people in the last four decades and we want to invite anyone who has ever attended an event hosted by the service to come along and join the festivities. Whether it was a Maryvale Retreat, a World Youth Day Pilgrimage, Youthgather, Lourdes Redshirts, or you are a member of our new online community BeCome, or one of our other virtual networks, everyone will be welcome to give thanks for all that has been done and to pray for the success of the Youth Service in the future. Reminisce with old friends, and meet new friends in person (not just on a screen!). A thanksgiving Mass will be said by Bishop Richard, followed by a chance to chat over refreshments. Please click here for more information and to register.
Redundant iPads and Laptops are desperately needed by the Gatwick Detainees’ Welfare Group. An IT company has agreed to ‘clean’ devices to remove any data. These devices can enable a person whether in detention or after release, to help themselves; to access classes for speakers of other languages, to communicate with friends, family, our staff, their volunteer visitor and to access resources such as Food Banks and to join our post detention services. Contact Josie at: [email protected]. Thank you.
Volunteers are needed at St Wilfrid`s: There are forms being handed out after Mass and are available on the table in the church porch, listing the areas where we need your help. Please consider very carefully as to where you can contribute to the successful running of our church and community, Please return to the presbytery
Are you able to recognise the God-given signs in your lives? One way of doing this is to examine your conscience and try to see God’s presence in yourself and in others. Look for the presence of God’s hand in any of the small and big events in our lives. Look for his care behind some event that has occurred. Open your ears to hear His message which has been sent to you through a stranger or a friend or perhaps through nature. If you read the Bible either regularly or from time to time you should find His message in something you read. Let it sink into your mind and adjust your life in accordance with what you have read.
Let us all try during this coming week to open our hearts to God and be receptive to His Spirit through our active participation in the liturgy, instead of looking for signs in television or our neighbours.
The parable of the sower which we heard in the daily readings this week was intended as a warning to those who were listening to be attentive and to the apostles to be hopeful receivers, living out Jesus’ teachings and ideas. The sower is God, while we, the Church, are the teachers. The seed sown is the word of God, which has a cutting edge like “a sharp sword” and a purifying and strengthening power like “fire and hammer”. The hardened soil on the foot path represents people with minds closed because of laziness, pride, prejudice, or fear. The soil on rock represents emotional types of people who go after novelties without sticking to anything and who are unwilling to “put down roots” surrendering their wills to God. The soil filled with weeds represents people addicted to evil habits and evil tendencies and those whose hearts are filled with hatred, jealousy, and greed. They are interested only in acquiring money by any means and in enjoying life in any way possible. The good and fertile soil represents well-intentioned people with open minds and clean hearts, earnest in hearing the word and concentrate on putting it into practice.
Let us all try this week to become the good soil and produce hundred-fold yields by hearing, faithfully taking it on board and daily cultivating the word of God we have received, so that the Holy Spirit may produce His fruits in our lives
Diocesan Youth Service – 40th Anniversary Celebration – 4 September 2021 – Arundel Cathedral – We are delighted to be able to celebrate our Youth Service, which has impacted many people in the last four decades and we want to invite anyone who has ever attended an event hosted by the service to come along and join the festivities. Whether it was a Maryvale Retreat, a World Youth Day Pilgrimage, Youthgather, Lourdes Redshirts, or you are a member of our new online community BeCome, or one of our other virtual networks, everyone will be welcome to give thanks for all that has been done and to pray for the success of the Youth Service in the future. Reminisce with old friends, and meet new friends in person (not just on a screen!). A thanksgiving Mass will be said by Bishop Richard, followed by a chance to chat over refreshments. Please click here for more information and to register
