WELCOME
Times of Mass and Devotions |
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| Sat 10 Aug | 5.30pm | HA | First Mass | Eric Gorniok (RIP) |
| Sun 11 Aug | 9.15am | HF | Nineteenth Sunday | Special Intentions of the people of the Parish |
| 11.00am | HA | Special Intentions of Marie Faul | ||
| Mon 12 Aug | NO MASS | NO MASS | ||
| Tue 13 Aug | 9.30am | HF | Week 19 in Ordinary Time | Mark Sackwood (RIP) November List |
| Wed 14 Aug | 9.30am | HA | NO MASS (Transferred to PM) | |
| 7.30pm | HA | Eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Special Intentions of Peter & Brenda Sawyer | |
| Thu 15 Aug | 12.00pm | HF | Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Gloria Craven (RIP) |
| 7.30pm | HA | Mary Dzwig (RIP) | ||
| Fri 16 Aug | 12.00pm | HA | Week 19 in Ordinary Time | Deceased members of the Watkins family (RIP) |
| Sat 17 Aug | 5.30pm | HA | First Mass | Special Intentions of the people of the Parish |
| Sun 18 Aug | 9.15am | HF | Twentieth Sunday | Special Intentions for Francesca |
| 11.00am | HA | (Father Paul Dzwig’s last Mass) | Special Intentions of Father Paul Dzwig | |
Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confessions)
Holy Angels, Ash: First Friday of month after 12pm Lunchtime Mass
Holy Family, Farnham: First Thursday of month after 7.30pm Evening Mass
Special Services with Confessions at both Churches for Advent and Lent
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will commence on Wed. 4th Sept at Holy Family @ 7.00pm (in Church Hall)
(Parish Office Hours: 9.30am – 1.30pm)
Please note: HF = Holy Family, Heath End, Farnham and HA = Holy Angels, Ash
Liturgy
19th Sunday of Year C
Theme: Our Faith prepares us for life’s challenges
Entrance: HA: 456 HF: 109 Christ is made our sure foundation
Offertory: HA: 970 HF: 74 Be though my vision
Final Hymn: HA: 960 HF: 233 Guide me O ..
Holy Family Church Catholic Parish Farnham, Hale, Weybourne & Badshot Lea
Rose Walk
In last weeks newsletter an appeal was made for help with the Rose Walk at HolyFamilyChurch. Unfortunately there has been no response or interest shown so far, so it sadly looks as if we are likely to loose the Rose Walk which has been a much loved feature of the Church.
If anyone knows of a reasonably priced contractor who would remove the old rose bushes, weeds and grass over the flower beds, please let Father David or Rita in the Parish Office know.
There are no plans to start work immediately – we will continue to appeal for help for another two weeks just in case there is someone who is away on holiday who may wish to help keep the Rose Walk.
Mother and Toddler Group – Thursday morning from 9.30am until 11.30am in the Church Hall during school term times.
Holy Angels Catholic Parish for Ash, Nr. Aldershot, Ash Vale, Tongham & Normandy
Mother and Toddler Group – St. Mary’s Room on a Tuesday, from 10.30am until 12.00pm.
Baptisms
Please make an appointment to see the Priest/Deacon to discuss what you need to do to prepare for your child’s baptism. If you are new to the Parish, please complete pink Registration Form and make yourself known to Father David or Deacon John after Mass.
Prayer Requests
If you have someone you would like prayers for, please first check with that person that they are happy for their name to be mentioned in our Prayer Requests. Please remember in your prayers all those who are sick in our two Parishes and for any family members or friends in need of our prayers. Thank you.
Information
Father Paul Dzwig’s Last Mass – Sadly Father Paul’s last Mass will be on Sunday, 18th August at 11am at Holy Angels will be going to St. Josephs in Guernsey. There will be a gathering following Mass with Refreshments. I am sure we will see Fr. Paul again from time to time, but this Mass will be an opportunity for us to say ‘Thank You’ for all the help and encouragement he has given us during his time here.
The Triangle Christian Book Shop and Café, Farnborough (www.thetriangle.org.uk) is appealing for help. Please take a look at their web site and see if there is anything you can do to help support this joint Christian venture which has representatives of all the main Christian Denominations. A copy of their latest Newsletter is available on the information table at the back of both Churches.
Two Parishes Prayer Group for both Holy Angels and Holy Family Churches takes place once a month on a Tuesday. The next Prayer Group meetings are as follows: 10th September, 8th October and 5th November at 7.45pm in Parish Office at Holy Angels.
Big Issue Article
by Paul McNamee
A photo went viral last week. An arresting image, it was picked up and galloped around twitter. It featured a young boy, may be six or seven, curled in a foetal position against a chalk drawing on the floor of a darkened room. This image, said the tweets, was of a boy who lost his mother in an attack in Iraq. He missed her so much that he drew a simple picture of her and lay down beside it.
You can see why it gained so much purchase.
The genesis of the image is unclear. It appears to have emerged around November 2011 and may indeed have been taken in Iraq. It may be that the child did, in fact, lose his mother. The rest has been filled in.
Context is everything – and it draws some interesting questions. If that image is stripped of the life-and-death context, does it have the same emotional punch? If we came to it without any history, would tears still prickle thinking of the horror that leads a child to behave in such a way?
Maybe, maybe not – there is an air to it that, like a great painting, speaks of loss. However, the fact that for a time it made people stop and think of what is happening in some desperate place, that it made them empathise and yearn to reach out and make a grieving child feel better, might be enough. Because it reminds us of what observers tell us constantly. This is happening. This is happening in Palestine, it is happening in Syria, it happened massively in Iraq and it may be happening in the Central African Republic and dozens more nations.
If this picture tells a human and horrific narrative in a simple, quiet way, then it has done a job.
We have voices and we can make our voices heard.
Today’s Gospel
Death is the greatest event of life, yet it catches many people unawares. To some it comes literally like a thief in the night. It may come early on in the night, or in the middle, or towards the end. However, this unexpectedness can be a grace – it keeps us on our toes, it forces us to be prepared at all times.
To be prepared doesn’t mean to have accomplished everything one wants to accomplish. It means to be true to one’s responsibilities in the present moment. One day a monk was sweeping a floor in the monastery when someone asked him what he would do if he knew he was going to die within the hour. “I’d go on sweeping the floor”, was his reply. In other words, he would go on attending to the duty of the moment.
Many people believe that happiness lies in having no commitments, no one to answer to, no one whose needs or problems will ever tie them down. But this is not so. In fact, the opposite is the case. A person’s happiness and fulfilment lie, not in freedom, but in the acceptance of duty. But it has to be a duty, not grimly accepted, but lovingly accepted.
Whoever performs only his duty is not doing his duty. The more difficult the task to which we devote ourselves out of love, the more it will exalt us. The greatest grace in life, the greatest freedom, is when what we have to do is what we love to do.
It would be nice if when death comes all our work was done, all our tasks were completed and neatly bound together like a sheaf of wheat. But we can’t be sure if this will be the case because the moment of death is hidden from us. However, we might remember this: it’s not how or when we die that matters, but how we live. We should strive to live fully and intensely, and not wait for illness or disaster to bring home the fleeting nature of human life.
Reflection – Beatitudes of life
Blessed are the faithful:
they are like safe anchors in a world of broken moorings.
Blessed are the just:
they are to society what leaven is to bread.
Blessed are the generous:
they keep alive our faith in the essential goodness of people.
Blessed are the caring:
they shine like beacons in a world darkened by indifference.
Blessed are the genuine:
they glow like gems in a world of falseness.
Blessed are those who are not afraid of sacrifice:
on the day of the harvest they will sing for joy.
And blessed are those who refuse to look back:
they will be found worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.