The office will be staffed from Monday 3 August but will NOT be open to personal callers yet. Please email us on beckenham@rcaos.org.uk or telephone 020 8650 0970. You can also drop a note through our door and we will get in touch with you. If you would like to book
Continue readingToday is the feast of St Martha, the name day of my older daughter. This painting by Rembrandt depicts her with her sister Mary at their house in Bethany, with Martha serving Jesus, (Luke 10: 38-42). The simplicity of this scene is worth reflecting on (and because of later legends
Continue readingWhen I was a student and learning about the Old Testament, I remember our tutor (Fr Nicholas Turner) saying that he found Jeremiah such an intense figure that he almost found it impossible to teach people about him: we were encouraged simply to try and experience the raw emotion, and
Continue readingToday’s gospel contains a number of short parables from Jesus in Matthew’s gospel (13:44-52), including that of the pearl of great price, shown here. The Holy Father’s catechesis from the Angelus in St Peter’s square earlier today, can be seen at https://www.vaticannews.va/…/2020-07/pope-angelus-26-july-2…. Please remember that from this weekend we are
Continue readingToday is the feast of St James the Great (there were two disciples with this name, or rather Jacob), the first apostle to be martyred (Acts chapter 12) – some of you will have been to his great shrine at Compostella in Spain, which houses the famous ‘botafumeiro’, the large
Continue readingToday is the feast day of St Sharbel Makhluf. He was a nineteenth century Maronite priest and hermit in Lebanon. His feast is an affirmation of the Christian communities in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, which have suffered so much in recent years. Please pray for them and for Christians from
Continue readingFrom tomorrow we are asking people to wear masks at Mass in church – please co-operate. This will enable us to increase capacity in the church and the hall. Initially if you don’t have one we will provide one. God bless and take care Fr Ashley
Continue readingToday is the feast of St Bridget (or Birgitta in Latin and Swedish) of Sweden, one of the patron saints of Europe. I wrote about her in my booklet about them published in 2005. One of the most important woman mystic saints of the Middle Ages, she also, before founding
Continue readingToday is the feast day of St Mary Magdalen (which was upgraded a few years ago by Pope Francis). A problem is that sometimes the woman so identified in the gospels is conflated with other unnamed characters, forming a useful but inaccurate composite picture. The liturgy for today focusses on
Continue readingThank you for the many good wishes I received yesterday. Remember that from this week the morning Mass is back to the usual time of 10am and the 6pm Mass every day is open to worshippers. We’re hearing at Mass from the fourth of the great prophets of the 8th
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