On Friday 9th October we celebrate the feast of St John Henry Newman, with a sung Mass in his honour at 5.30pm followed by a reception in the hall. Please RSVP to the parish office by Monday 5th October.
Please join us for this joyful occasion!
There will also be Masses at 06:30 and 08:30 and an Extraordinary Form (Latin) Mass at 13:10 on that day.
The Triduo of prayer in preparation for Newman’s feast will take place in the Church from Tuesday 6th October to Thursday 8th October. If you can, do also join the Fathers and Brothers for these times of prayer and preparation for the feast.
“… if it is true that each one of us has a mission, namely to offer one’s own contribution to improve the world and forge society, I like always to remember that it is not an external task entrusted to our lives, but a dimension that involves our very nature, the structure of our being man-woman in the image and semblance of God. Not only has a mission been entrusted to us, but each one of us is a mission: ‘I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission. People in love never stand still: they are drawn out of themselves; they are attracted and attract others in turn; they give themselves to others and build relationships that are life-giving. As far as God’s love is concerned, no one is useless or insignificant’ (Message for World Mission Day 2019).
An eminent intellectual and spiritual figure, Cardinal Newman, has illuminating words on this. I quote some of them: ‘I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name. God has created me to do Him some definite purpose; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission… Somehow I am necessary for His purposes’. And he continues: ‘[God] has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling’ (J. H. Newman, Meditations and Devotions, No 1, “Hope in God—Creator’)
From the Address of Pope Francis to Participants in the International Conference “Man–Woman: Image of God. Towards an Anthropology of Vocations”, 1st March 2024.