THIS SUNDAY, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, marks the end of the Christmas season in our calendar, although like many other churches we keep the crib in place, this year in front of the altar, until the feast of Candlemas at the beginning of next month. This
Continue readingAs this newsletter covers the next fortnight, I will take the opportunity on behalf of the clergy and staff here at St Edmund’s, to wish you a very holy, joyful and peaceful Christmas and I extend this wish for the New Year. Enough has been said of the fear and
Continue readingONE OF THE VERY GOOD THINGS we can say about the year 2020 now drawing to an end, and there aren’t perhaps many such things, is that God has given the Church and the world a tremendous pope for this trying time. From the very beginning of the pandemic Pope
Continue readingFIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, one of the final documents of the Second Vatican Council contained these words: ‘Humanity judges rightly that by his intellect he surpasses the material universe, for we share in the light of the divine mind. By relentlessly employing his talents through the ages we have indeed made
Continue readingJesus Christ demonstrated great power. Pope Benedict XVI emeritus enlightens us on this special power unlike any other. But in what does this ‘power’ of Jesus Christ the King consist? It is not the power of the kings or the great people of this world; it is the divine power
Continue reading‘Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God’s help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. The virtuous person is happy to practice them’. This is a quotation
Continue readingREMEMBRANCE SUNDAY takes place as always on the Sunday in November closest to the 11th, so this year it will be on this coming Sunday, the 8th of November. The traditional annual service at the Cenotaph is still taking place, but for the first time in just over a hundred
Continue readingSOME OF YOU will recognise this picture as being of a cemetery in Poland at this time of year: filled with candles and other religious objects as an act of prayer for those buried there. I don’t know whether under current restrictions this tradition is possible this weekend. All over
Continue readingWELCOME! Last Saturday at 2.30 in the afternoon I was very blessed to celebrate a Mass of Baptism and Confirmation. On this memorable occasion, which we would normally have celebrated earlier in the year at the Easter vigil, but due to the pandemic was delayed, four people were received into
Continue readingThere is a lovely story told about Pauline Baynes who was invited to illustrate the pictures for the book by C.S. Lewis ‘The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.’ Pauline said that she had great difficulty drawing Aslam the lion; as she would break down and cry and could not finish
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