WELCOME
Times of Mass and Devotions |
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| Sat 24 Aug | 12.00pm | HA | Baptism of Tobias Getting | |
| 5.30pm | HA | First Mass | Mary & Gerald Leahy (RIP) | |
| Sun 25 Aug | 9.15am | HF | Twentieth First Sunday | John Rutland (RIP) |
| 11.00am | HA | Special Intentions of the people of the Parish | ||
| Mon 26 Aug | NO MASS | NO MASS | ||
| Tue 27 Aug | 9.30am | HF | St. Monica | Father Robert Brett (RIP) |
| Wed 28 Aug | 9.30am | HA | St. Augustine | Edd Turnell (sick) |
| Thu 29 Aug | 7.30pm | HF | The Passion of St. John the Baptist | For all those facing terminal illness |
| Fri 30 Aug | 12.00pm | HA | Week 21 in Ordinary Time | For Tobias Getting on his Baptism |
| Sat 31 Aug | 5.30pm | HA | First Mass | Special Intentions of the people of the Parish |
| Sun 1 Sep | 9.15am | HF | Twenty Second Sunday | People of Egypt and Syria |
| 11.00am | HA | 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
21st Sunday of Year C
Theme: Who will be part of God’s Kingdom
Entrance: HA: 648 HF: 631 Lord about thine Altar
Offertory: HA: 937 HF: 249 He’s got the whole..
Final Hymn: HA: 807 HF: 602 Praise my soul..
Holy Family Church Catholic Parish Farnham, Hale, Weybourne & Badshot Lea
Looking to share a house? Professional lady (non-smoker) likes quiet life and is looking to share a 3 bedroom house in Farnham. (If you are interested in finding out more details, please ring Helen on 01252 713968.
Church Garden Meeting: Wed, 25th Sept. 8pm.
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 would like prayers for, please first check with that person that they are happy for their name to be mentioned in our Prayer Requests
News from the Editor
Last Sunday’s Mass at Holy Angels was Father Paul’s last Mass with us before he takes up his new appointment on the island of Guernsey.
I am sure that we will all miss Father Paul and have really enjoyed the precious time that he spent with us over the last couple of years. I know that I personally have been moved many times by Father Paul’s wonderful spiritual homilies and found him to be a very gentle and holy man. I feel sure that the people of Guernsey will take him into their hearts and will certainly appreciate what a lovely Priest they have in him.
I know that my chocolate brown Labrador, Finbar, will certainly miss him, as Father Paul loved Finbar, having had Labradors himself as a boy growing up. Actually, it may well also have had something to do with the many Good Chocs that Father Paul would love to give Finbar when he came to Holy Angels and Father Paul would always insist that it was a special Saints Day – which meant extra chocolate drops for Finbar!
Just to let you know that Father Paul is delighted with his new iPod which Father David presented to him last Sunday which was our gift from our two Parishes to Father Paul in appreciation for the many Masses he covered during his two years spent in England.
At first, Father Paul like a lot of us who are faced with a computer or some new technical devise for the first time, was a little nervous at the thought of using new technology, but realising that he needed to keep up with the times, embraced it and was delighted with himself when he managed to turn his iPod on!
The following day, he was well away and sent his very first email to the Parish Office. I told Father Paul that I will email him a copy of our weekly Newsletters so that he can keep in touch with our two Parishes and see what we are up to and likewise through the Parish Office we can keep in touch with Father Paul and can update you in the Newsletter as to how he is settling into his new Parish in Guernsey.
We all wish Father Paul every happiness in his new Parish and will keep him in our prayers.
Today’s Gospel
Suffering is part of our training – In the old days the methods used in educating the young were based on endurance: the more inhuman tests a child survived, the better the child would be prepared to meet the hazards of adulthood. We see a good example of this is the rites of initiation found among Indian tribes, rites which were designed to help the young take their place in the adult world.
One such rite, the youth is taken at dusk by his father to a clearing in the forest. He is told that he must spend the night there on his own, armed only with a spear. Then the father withdraws. When the youth comes out of the forest he will no longer be the child he was.
What a daunting challenge the youth faces. There is the impenetrable darkness. There are the innumerable sounds, the most innocuous of which assume a menacing tone. There is the feeling that some animal is lurking nearby, waiting to pounce, a feeling which causes a cold sweat to break out all over his body. If only he had a friend by his side, how different things would be. But he is on his own.
Time goes by ever so slowly. Every minute is like an hour. But somehow the night passes, and finally the dawn begins to brighten the sky. As the shadows retreat, the youth’s fears evaporate, and he begins to breathe again. Then from the dense forest a human figure emerges. It is his father.
The youth runs to his father, throws himself into his arms, and exclaims, “Oh, thank God you’ve come!” Then it is the father’s turn to embrace his son. As he does so he says, “Son, I am proud of you. You conducted yourself like a true adult”. What the youth did not know was that the father had been sitting close by all night long, keeping an eye on him. Everybody who wishes to grow up has to face the ‘dark forest’ in some shape or form.
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews talks about the kind of training God gives us. We are trained in the school of life’s challenges, new experiences and suffering. Many of our young people face new challenges every day in their lives. Starting a new school, exams, moving onto University and having to learn to fend for themselves for perhaps the very first time in their lives. This at times could be seen as a time of uncertainty, fear and yes sometimes suffering but our Lord always is with them and helps them through.
There is no point in being sentimental about problems we might go through in our lives. People can get so hurt that they become bitter and will not accept being redeemed.
Yet life’s challenges and new experiences together with suffering can be a great opportunity. The value of these experiences lies not in the pain of it, but in what the person makes of it. Life’s experiences can purify one’s soul and transform one’s character. Life’s challenges can enable us to bear fruit. It is an indispensable part in our becoming truly human, that is, people of maturity, depth and compassion.
Suffering also is a necessary ingredient in building up a mature Christian person. We must not see suffering as a punishment from God. God punishes no one. Suffering is part of the human condition. God allows us to suffer, yes, but only because good can come from it. Our pain can bring us closer to him. In it we experience his power and love. There are truths which only sorrow can teach. One of those truths is compassion for fellow sufferers. Compassion is not learned without suffering.
God never wants any of us to suffer and in the majority of cases it is us who hurt one another and cause suffering. Sometimes we may not be aware that we have caused offence and suffering by perhaps something we have said or done. Only recently we have heard of about three cases of young people taking their lives due to something another person has said about them on the Internet which has caused them such distress and fear, but if only they had known that God was there in the midst of their pain to reach out to them and to help them had they only but called on him.
From the Editor: Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain!
Reflection
Jesus said that there are two roads we can follow.
The first is wide and easy to travel. It is downhill most of the way. It is the way of comfort and ease, pleasure and self-seeking.
Many are fooled and travel down this road.
But in the long run it leads them nowhere. They die in the desert.
The second road is narrow and difficult.
It is uphill a lot of the way. It is the way of struggle and sacrifice.
Few take this road. But they are the lucky ones.
This road leads to the Promised Land.