Notices
Please see the Church Bulletin and Porch notice boards for
further notices of events and dedications in our parish.
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION: (Confession) is available
after Mass on
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and at other times by appointment.
EXPOSITION & ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT:
there will be no Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Fridays until further
notice.
SCRIPTURE CLASS: there will be no Scripture sharing on
Wednesday evenings until further notice.
St Michael’s Cleaning - Group 4 - M Rigby, E Smith &
K Svajcova
DAY OF REFLECTION: for all ministries will be held at Ushaw
College on Saturday 28th September 2019 from 10.30am until 3.30pm, led by
Fr Mark Millward. Booking is essential and further details can be found
on the notice board in the porch. The day will cost £10 which includes tea,
coffee and a light lunch. Please add your name to the list on the porch
if you are interested in attending.
LOURDES 2020: A group of our parishioners are planning
to go Lourdes with the Diocesan Pilgrimage next year from Friday 31st July
until Friday 7th August 2020, flying direct from Newcastle.
If you might be interested in joining them, and would like further details
when they become available, please get in touch with Iain and Marie Bowater
on 07971 321237, or Kathryn Jones on 07731 815325*.
It is hoped to provide the option for a regular savings facility for anyone
who might be interested.
*Please note corrected number.
OSWIN (Feast Day—Monday): was cousin of St. Oswald, a king
in Northumbria, whose reign was short due to treachery. St. Bede tells us
that he was courteous in manner and generous to all, and “among his other
qualities of virtue and
moderation the greatest was humbleness.” He was greatly loved and ruled
his province successfully. He worked with St Aidan who said that he was
a man of handsome appearance and great stature; pleasant in speech and courageous
in manner. He was deeply involved in tribal warfare. Ultimately, realising
that he was outnumbered, he disbanded his army and he himself took refuge
in the house of a friend. He was betrayed and killed on 20th August 651.
Oswin, always
popularly regarded as a martyr, was later buried at Tynemouth priory.
Daily Prayer This Week
This week we can be moved by the powerful fidelity of a woman like Ruth.
And the familiar gospel stories will guide us through the week most with
practical advice and challenging ideas.
It is good to begin by recognizing our own issues with God. For many of
us, the graces with which we will be asking God to bless us have to do with
our freedom from being so independent. For some of us, it will be to ask
to keep our priorities straight this week. It may mean that we let this
be a week when we ask what “success” really means for us. It could be a
week to try to name more clearly what our purpose, our mission in life is:
what the Lord calling us to do with our lives.
The real grace of finding intimacy with God in the midst of our busy everyday
lives is that is helps keep us focused. When we get really busy, it can
be like being on a tread mill. We begin our day in the morning, go where
the day takes us and jump off at night. Our desire here is to live with
more choice, more freedom. We want to live each day more reflectively.
So, if I know the gospel is going to ask me to ponder how the lure of having
more and more money can become an impediment to my salvation, or how generous
and merciful God is, or how my busyness leads me to forget or lose my priorities,
then I can choose to let those reflections shape my week. The way I can
do that is by beginning each day with focus. What gives focus is recognizing
and naming a desire, a grace or gift I ask of God, for that day, conscious
of what I will be experiencing, what will challenge me, what opportunities
will be offered me. What really makes this effective, is to keep talking
with Jesus about those desires in the small, quiet moments that are tucked
into each day, the “in between times” of the day. The effect is that more
and more of the details of our lives are interacting with the Word of God
and the desires which God is inspiring in our hearts. As we move toward
the weekend, we can prepare to hear Jesus ask us who we say he is - who
he is for us. Connecting with Jesus in our daily lives allow him to become
my Saviour and the intimate friend who knows me through and through and
is helping me come to know myself with great honesty, integrity, freedom
and peace.
