Third Sunday in Lent

Our latest Newsletter is now available here. Alternatively you can follow the link in the left hand sidebar.

Fig trees are supposed to provide figs, to produce the fruit that God made them to produce in the first place. And we, too, have been put on this earth to produce the results for which God gave us life in the first place to produce. A little lesson in Palestinian horticulture: fig trees over there produce crops of figs three times each year. These trees are given every chance to produce; they receive a gardener’s care. Their owners have a right to expect them to produce, not to simply wave their pretty leaves in the air. When the master found this fig tree to be yielding nothing, he had every right, if not the duty, to eliminate that fig tree. All it was doing was soaking up water, minerals and other precious resources needed by the other trees to produce their fruit. This tree was good for nothing.

The response of the owner here in this parable was extra tenderness, extra-ordinary care, and a range of “second chances.” The owner allowed three seasons, nine chances, to be productive, before it was to be cut down. That fig tree was given no room in which to complain that it wasn’t given a chance to produce.

What, then, about us? God has planted us in the midst of His love and grace. Our families and our friends have given us love, our schools have given us education, and our Church has given us God’s holy presence, love, and graces. God has offered us His tender, loving care in abundance. How have we responded? How will we respond? Will we just wave our pretty leaves in the air or will we feed the world’s hungry, care for the outcast, and be about the tasks of bringing order out of the injustices and chaos in the world around us?

God wants us to finish the story for ourselves; the parable of the fig tree had no real ending. It just sort of stopped and we don’t know what eventually happened to that fig tree. The same is true for you and me. God has given us life and launched us out into our world with a script to follow along with a director, Jesus, to guide us. But how our individual life stories are eventually written depends entirely on how we respond to what God has given us. A merciful God has spared us all, many times over, up to this present moment.

Fifth Anniversary Breakfast

We are looking to celebrate our 5th anniversary as the Reading Ordinariate Mission at the beginning of March. On 13th March this will be the anniversary of our first Sunday Mass together and we will celebrate with a Breakfast at Carluccio’s after Mass on this date.

Visit by the Ordinary

We are delighted that the Ordinary of Our Lady of Walsingham, Rt Rev Msgr Keith Newton will be visiting us during Lent and will be celebrating our Sunday Mass on 6th March (Mothering Sunday). Mgr Newton has not celebrated Mass with us for several years and so this will be a good occasion for him to see everyone again. The visit of the Ordinary also coincides with our Fifth anniversary of meeting at St James' Church. The first Mass we attended as a group was the Ash Wednesday Mass on 9th March 2011 and our first Sunday Mass as the Reading Group was celebrated on 13th March by Msgr Andrew Burnham.

Latest Newsletter

Our latest Newsletter is now available here. Alternatively you can follow the link in the left hand sidebar.

Assumpta est Maria

On this feast of the Assumption of Our Lady we are reminded above all that God so loved the world that he found a way to become man so he could unite us to himself. He allowed Mary to be created in such as way that this could happen and her Assumption heralds the path now open to us all. The sign of her Assumption, the Assumption of the first fruit of God's harvest, indicates to us our own 'chosenness' and gives us therefore a reason to rejoice. Here is a rather lovely hymn for the Assumption for you to meditate on.

1. Sing, sing, ye angel bands,

   all beautiful and bright;
for higher still and higher,
   through fields of starry light,
Mary, our Queen, ascends,
   like the sweet moon at night.

2. Oh, happy angels! Look,

   how beautiful she is!
See! Jesus bears her up,
   her hand is locked in His;
Oh, who can tell the height,
   of that fair Mother’s bliss?

3. And shall I lose thee then,

   Lose my sweet right to thee?
Ah! no-the angels’ Queen
   man’s Mother still will be,
And thou, upon thy throne,
   wilt keep thy love for me.

4. Hark! Hark! through highest heaven

   what sounds of mystic mirth!
Mary by God proclaimed
   Queen of Immaculate Birth,
and diademed with stars,
   the lowliest of the earth.

5. See! see! the Eternal Hands

   put on her radiant crown,
and the sweet Majesty
   of mercy sitteth down,
for ever and for ever,
   on her predestined throne.

6. On, then, dear Pageant, on!

   Sweet music breathes around;
And love, like dew, distils
   on hearts in rapture bound;
The Queen of heaven goes up,
   to be proclaimed and crowned.

So that you can hear it in action here is a rendition performed by the group 'Seraphim'.



Baptism and Confirmation

Last week we were delighted to welcome into the Church Emily Prince through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Emily is pictured with Nigel and Sue Bradley who were her godparents and sponsors and therefore helped to sign her with the sign of the Cross, clothed her with her white garment, and presented her with the candle lit from the Paschal Candle. It was a delight to bring to the Season of the Year a little piece of Easter in these ceremonies and to be able to welcome to the Church a new member to fight the good fight.

Walsingham Pilgrimage

For many in our group Walsingham has been a place of pilgrimage for many years while for others this was their first time. This place which, before the reformation, was visited by every English king up to Henry VIII for over three hundred years holds a special place in the hearts of Catholics and indeed Anglicans and Orthodox as well. Modern devotion at this place was revived in the last few years of the nineteenth century when the Slipper Chapel was reopened after Leo XIII had stated that pilgrimage should begin there once more. During the course of the twentieth century Anglicans and Orthodox also established shrines. Benedict XVI established the Personal Ordinariate in these Islands making Our Lady of Walsingham our patron and fittingly so as Walsingham is an important place for bringing Anglicans and Catholics together. We also recall the ancient belief that England is Mary's dowry and the fast of Our Lady of Ransom occurs on the same day as the feast of OLW.


While we were at Walsingham we were able to join the Carmelites for their day pilgrimage celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of St Teresa of Avila, and it was good to see old friends at Walsingham as we recollected over the three days.