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PARTNER IN CHURCHES TOGETHER IN SURBITON
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In the film 28 Days, Sandra Bullock plays Gwen, a New York
Socialite. She is very successful as a journalist and writer, and her life
appears to be one long party. On the day of her sisters wedding Gwen turns up
late and drunk, and gradually causes chaos, crashing into the wedding cake,
insulting many of the guests and eventually steals the wedding limousine and
crashes it into the front garden of a house neighbouring the church.
One of the most poignant scenes in the film is the
confrontation between the Gwen and her sister Lily whose wedding day has been
spoilt. Lily coldly stares at her drunken sister and quietly states You make
it impossible to love you.
In this Sundays gospel passage we have part of the
farewell discourse of Jesus. In his last hours with the apostles he spoke
directly about his teaching. Part of his mission was to teach the commandant of
love. Anybody who receives my commandment and keeps them will be one who
loves me.
The command from Christ to us as his disciples is to love
one another. Clearly this takes a great deal of balancing and strength, given
the daily stress and tension of life, especially if we have to deal with
somebody like Gwen or cope with other stressful situations, either at home or
in the workplace. The action of another individual can cause a great deal of
difficulty in finding that strength to love.
It is not easy to live as a disciple of Christ in our
modern world. Jesus always made that very clear to those who chose to follow
him. Its even more difficult in our moments of despair when we feel that
everybody or that everything is against us, or more tragically when we have
lost somebody who is close to us.
One of the elements of Christs teaching to his disciples
was that he would never leave them. By their faith they were able to see him
and be drawn into that Love. For some,
the best way of describing that love is through or being in communion with
Christ.
Sometimes it is only by having this communion and feeling
his presence that we understand the meaning of Christs love for us. The food
that Jesus shared with his disciples can and does fill us with the strength to
deal with the difficult moments in life, and find the strength to fulfil
Christs command to love one another. Part of this process of growing in communion
means that we have to understand that we
too are loved unconditionally.
Sandra Bullocks character eventually is forced into
confronting and challenging her way of life. She spends 28 days in a
retreat/rehab centre and slowly begins to realise how fragile she is, but with
the help of a higher power she begins to realise that she has to learn to
love herself. The film was not a critical success but it does have a message
for each of us, because we all at sometime meet or know somebody like Gwen. Perhaps
the deep question is how are we to deal with hard situations and troubled
individuals, especially when the command to love one another seems so hard?
John Diver
SATURDAY/SUNDAY
26th/27th April 2008
Sixth Sunday of Easter (A)
Sat 6.30pm Timothy Rohan RIP (Catherine Buckley)
Sun 9.00am Ottavio DAgostino RIP( Mrs Agostino)
11.00am People
of the Parish
Baptism
during Mas s Rebecca Fox
12.30pm Baptisms - George JayHarding
& Thomas James Kottler
3.00pm
6.00pm Patrick ODonovan RIP (Sadie
& family)
Daily Masses 28th April 3rd May 2008
Mon St
Peter Chanel, priest & martyr
9.30am Deceased Relations & Friends
of Miss Bridgette. (FM)
Tues St
Catherine of Siena, virgin & doctor of the Church
7am Welfare of Anthony Askew & Family (Rosemary Durkin)
9.30am Noreen Hassett RIP (Ann-Marie Hassett)
Wed St
Pius V, pope
7am John Hurcombe RIP (Monica Guntrip)
9.30am Harry Bell, brother and all descendants (Tessa MacLeod)
7am Welfare of Thepusha
9.30am Noel Lobo RIP (Family)
Fri St
Athanasius, bishop & doctor of the Church
7am Holy Souls
9.30am Welfare of Anthony Rosato (Friends & Family)
10am Exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament
Sat SS
Philip & James, apostles
9am Claire Askew RIP (Rosemary Durkin)
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 3rd/4th May 2008
The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ (A)
Sat 6.30pm Austin Pilkington RIP (Andrea Bennett)
Sun 9.00am Harry Schwarz RIP (Family)
11.00am Teresa
Middleton RIP & Chris DSouza RIP
12.30pm Baptisms - Grace Scarlett King
& Max Sebastian King
6.00pm People of the Parish
Retiring Collection
World Communications Day 4th May
Envelopes and leaflets to be made available
Rest in Peace
We pray for all the faithful
departed who have recently died, especially
May OShea Kay Bloore and
Alice Neale.
We pray also for all those who mourn and those whose anniversaries occur at this time.
We remember all our sick and elderly parishioners,
those in hospital, the housebound and those who
care for them;
Anthony Rosato, Mary Sebastian, Dennis Oddy, Tom Tyler,
Doreen Stanley, Deacon John Sampson, Baby Finn Jordan, Vera Nolan,
Margaret Inskip, Raymond Edlin, Antoinette De Souza,
Heather Trutwein, Dina Marsella, Giancarlo Palermo, Tai Chang, John Gleeson,
Fr Peter Sprague, Tony Whiting, Anna Mary McDermott, Mary
Linstead, Maureen Pawley, Evan Day, Michael Hills, Eva Hansford, Doris Broad,
Annuncia Sheridan-Loughrey, Jeffrey DCruz, Bassey Ambah,
Gordon Cracknell, George Hayes, Trudie Webb, Sadie
O'Donovan,
Michael Hoskins (23 months),
Spike Nolan, Francis Nazareth, Michael Byrne, Juliana Smith, Martin Dray, Kay
Bridgland, Seema Day,
Graham Taylor, Freda
Sirmon, Samantha Nosalik, Mary Howells, Bridie Fillmore, Sybil Durand, Manual Pillai, Fay
Kearney,
Richard Trutwein, Winna Duncan, Jennifer McIntyre, Carl
Williams,
Ann Groves, Vic Carrion, Pauline McGuire, Norma Latham, Josephine Denyer, and Gerry Murphy .
We welcome into the Church
Charlotte Cheryl
Hayden &
Gabriel Oisin Goodman
who were both baptised last Sunday.
Mass
This Week : Sixth Sunday of Easter
First
People who hear the apostles preach welcome the message of
Christ, and receive the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.
Second Reading 1 Peter
3:15-18
People will hear and recognise the Gospel of Christ through
actions as well as words.
Gospel John 14:15-21
We are not alone, or abandoned; the Spirit will be with us,
to comfort, advise and protect us.
Next Week : The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ
First
Jesus ascends into heaven, from where he will return at the
end of time.
Second Reading Ephesians
1:17-23
Christ enthroned above all things is the hope of his people.
Gospel Matthew 28:16-20
Though hidden from view, Christ continues to be Emmanuel
God with us to the end of time.
ATTENTION ALL SERVERS
Servers are needed for the Confirmation Mass on Sunday 11
May at 11.00 am.
If you can help please put your name on the list in the RDJ
room.
Servers would need to be in the sacristy no later than
10.15am.
Jobs will be allocated then followed by a short rehearsal.
Mass for New Catholics
There will be a special Mass of Thanksgiving to welcome all
New Catholics on Saturday 17th May 2008 at 11am in
Bishop John Hine will preside at this Mass and he looks
forward to meeting all new Catholics received into the Church this Easter -
along with their godparents, sponsors, relatives, clergy, catechists and
friends.
All are welcome to come and take part in this thanksgiving
Please see the poster in the church porch for further
details.
If you would like to
come, then please let your parish priest know.
Baby Sitter Available
16 year old currently studying for AS Levels at Holy Cross.
Please call Sarah on 0208 786 8414.
HCPT Pilgrimage
During their recent pilgrimage to Lourdes, HCPT Group 7
leader Christine Edwards wrote to the Knights:
"Thank you so much for your letter and generous
donation of £600. It is really very kind of you and very much appreciated by
our group...... This year the cost to send a child to
Anthony Charlton accompanies Group 7 as its spiritual
director. Separately, we received a postcard from David,
one of the handicapped children we supported, postmarked
"Having a good time, thank you. I am very happy. Thank
you very much."
Knights pass on their thanks to OLI parishioners who
generously donate money to HCPT through the box at the back of the church and
through their
support of the KSC's fund-raising events.
Mass in Support of Migrant Workers
This will be held on Monday 5th May at 11am at Westminster
Cathedral with
Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-OConnor,
Kevin McDonald Archbishop of Southwark and
Thomas McMahon Bishop of
The bishops hope that this Mass will remind us all of the
rich diversity of the Catholic community in the 21st Century.
We encourage all migrant communities to join the
celebration.
Parish
Lenten Project Bedding Plant
If you did not receive an order form
last week there are some available in the church porch. Take one for your
friends and neighbours as
the more plants sold, the more we can give to
the Parish Project.
There are also pictures of the
plants for sale to help you decide what to order.
For more information call Sandra on 0208 241 8148
Human Fertilisation & Embryology Bill
For anyone wishing to sign the e-petition to allow M.P.s a
free vote on the embryology and fathers component of the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, this is how to go
about it online:-
Google:
Click on:
Click on: Interactive Downing Street petitions
Search petition: Embryology
The closing date for signing the petition is 13th May 2008
and over 10,000 have signed the petition already.
Thank you for your help in this matter.
Sunday 11th May 2008
11 am Mass
In two weeks Bishop
Paul Hendricks will attend
Our Lady Immaculate parish to celebrate the SACRAMENT OF
CONFIRMATION.
The candidates will be at Mass this evening Sunday 6pm
All the young people who are part
of the confirmation programme will be present with their sponsors, friends and
families.
On a practical note benches will be reserved for
those to be confirmed at this
They will be marked accordingly so
that as little inconvenience as possible may be caused, and all those attending
will be able to share this happy occasion with them.
200 Club
Unfortunately the numbers are down this year and although
you have missed the Spring Draw, we
would welcome any new members.
Thanks to the UCM who carried out the draw.
The
winners are as follows:
No 47 Mrs Houston £30
No 147 P Hoban £25
No 61 Tony Fisher £20
No 74 Tony Schwarz £15
New members can complete the slip
below with cheques payable to OLI 200 Club or contact Gerry Hague on 0208 241
0879.
.
200 CLUB
Name
.
Address
Tel No
...
Subscription £20 enclosed
(Please tick)
.
MASS INTENTIONS - IMPORTANT NOTICE
We currently have a long list of requests for Masses which
are now fully booked until July, especially at weekends.
We will try to celebrate the Masses requested as soon as
possible, but in many cases this will not be possible for several weeks.
We thank you for your patience and understanding.
If you are a member of the Gift Aid scheme, please remember to tick the box on the label on the back of the envelope.
PARISH PROJECT JUMBLE SALE
The KSC and UCM are holding a Jumble Sale on Saturday
10th May at 1.30pm in the Catholic Hall in aid of the Lenten Parish
project, admission 30p.
If you have any jumble to donate - especially good quality
household items, glassware, ornaments, pictures, books, other bric-a-brac and
clothing
please bring it to the Hall before 10.30am on the
day of the sale.
If you need someone to collect it before the Saturday, please contact Tom on 8399 3170 or Alex on 8399 0833.We regret we cannot accept any furniture.