Sunday 2nd June is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, a day when the Church encourages us to remember and celebrate our fidelity to the Blessed Sacrament with an extended period of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. In the Sacred Heart the Blessed Sacrament will, as usual, be exposed upon the altar from after our 11.00 Mass until 15.00 when there will be a celebration of Evening Prayer and Benediction. At the back of the church there is a ‘sign-up’ list for parishioners to indicate a period of twenty minutes when they undertake to be present before the Blessed Sacrament. Please have a look and ‘sign-up’ accordingly

It’s not often in one week that we celebrate two new feasts added recently to the liturgical calendar, but that is what happens this week, the first week after Pentecost. On Monday, we celebrate the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church but on Thursday we celebrate the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest. There may be over 400,000 ordained priests in the worldwide Catholic Church and, of course, all of us by our Baptism are made priests. But really there is only one priest, our great High Priest, Jesus Christ Himself. He is the mediator between God and humanity. It is in His priesthood that we all share in our various ways. Jesus is also the Victim that is offered, for on Calvary the offering He made was of Himself for the salvation of the world. That Victimhood we too share by offering up ourselves and all that goes into our daily life. Thus the Letter to the Hebrews says: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed throughthe heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  Hebrews 4: 14-16

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Busy, busy, busy all week long! . . . . . Monday, Fr D’s Ministry Support Group was supposed to be meeting here in Cobham but another member was expecting a skip to be delivered (by the diocese) at some point in the morning for him to do a final ‘thinning’ before he retires from active ministry in July. Fr D said that the easiest thing to do was to swop around venues. Said priest is looking forward to his retirement by the coast in Sussex. Before Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday the tiler arrived early to begin re-tiling the toilet in the church ready for it’s refurbishment (walls first); also the new sanitary ware for the toilet was delivered just before Fr D went into the church. After Exposition Fr D was off to Tadworth where this month’s Deanery Clergy Meeting was taking place (the last before the summer). After the meeting the clergy retired to a local restaurant where they had a Turkish lunch! By the time that Fr D got away from the lunch he had to go straight down to Crawley where he was due at a presentation, given by the Catholic Education Service, concerning a number of new things happening in the field of Catholic education. By the time that Fr D got back home in the evening he was glad that he’d eaten at lunchtime and just had a sandwich before going off to bed exhausted! Early on Thursday morning the tiler was back continuing the wall tiles in the church toilet and, after celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass, when he got back in the house, the plumber had arrived to replace the old shower (put in at the beginning of Canon Tony Clarke’s time) in Fr D’s bathroom. Fr D just had enough time to answer some questions about what he wanted before he took off in the car for Crawley wearing his Tribunal cap. When he got back in the evening he met with a family for their third and final Infant Baptism Preparation Session - their child being baptised this weekend after our Sunday morning Masses.  On Friday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D completed his parts of this week’s newsletter and then began to think about the infant baptism on Sunday morning, a baptism during Mass on Sunday morning of an older child and an adult Confirmation taking place during our Saturday evening Mass (Pentecost - a great day for confirming an adult)! He was trying to be very careful about managing not to ‘mix-up’ the three different rites in his head . . . . .

In the first reading today, Luke tells us that the Spirit came upon the disciples dramatically and gave them the gift of tongues-the ability to communicate with foreign visitors who were from all over the known world. It is a scene that is almost an exact reversal of the story of the Tower of Babel found in Genesis. In that story, everyone in the whole world spoke the same language. In their selfish pride, they came together to build a city and a tower to reach to heaven to “make a name for ourselves.” God humbled them by confusing their language so they could no longer understand one another. Their speaking sounded like nothing more than “babbling,” and for that reason, their city became known as Babel. With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the scattering of people and confusion of languages is overcome by the Spirit so that everyone can hear and understand “the mighty acts of God.” In the second reading, St. Paul explains his understanding of how the Holy Spirit works by comparing it to our physical bodies. We all understand that our different body parts have different functions and that all are needed for our health and well-being. St. Paul taught that the Holy Spirit can be understood to work among us in the same way. As individuals, we have all been given certain spiritual gifts that the world needs and which can benefit everyone. The source of all those different gifts is the one Holy Spirit.  In the Gospel reading, we hear John’s account of how Jesus gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples: he breathed on them. That image would have reminded them, and their fellow Jews, of the story of creation when God made Adam out of the dust of the earth and breathed into him, bringing him to life. In one way, when Jesus breathed on the disciples, he was bringing them to life in a new way. Now, instead of being huddled behind locked doors because they were afraid, they are given the courage and strength to go out and spread the Good News with all those who hadn’t yet heard of Jesus and his message of love. Questions of the Week  What are some gifts you feel you have been given in order to serve the world?  In what area(s) of your life right now do you feel the need of the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Children’s Liturgy is a structured time during Mass at which children (typically aged 4-7), are invited to gather separately from our main congregation to hear and reflect upon the weekly scripture readings at a language and comprehension level that is suitable for their age group. In order to consider restarting this in the Parish we are seeking to establish a team of at least 8 (preferably more) parishioners who would be interested in serving the children in our Parish, and who would be able to commit to leading/helping in a team of two/three, after training, during school term time, on a rota basis, during the first part of our 11.00 Sunday Mass.  All leaders/helpers will need to have/obtain an enhanced DBS certificate that we can arrange through the Diocese. Please contact the Parish Office if you could assist in joining this venture for our children.

Today we read from the letter of 1 John and the pel of John. In the first letter, John makes the simplest of all statements: “God is love.” He reminds his readers that we are called to remain in love, just as Jesus has been calling his disciples to do during the last few Sunday Gospel readings. The theme continues: we are to remain in Jesus, Jesus remains in us, and Jesus remains in the Father. Some translations use the word “abide” instead of remain, but the meaning is the same. We are to stay centred and grounded in Jesus who is love because God is love.  How do we know if we are remaining or abiding in Jesus? All we have to do is honestly ask ourselves, “Are we speaking, acting, and living with love?” If so, then we are following Jesus’ supreme command to love one another. If our word or actions are not loving, then we are not living in God. Jesus knew that it is difficult to always choose love because we live in a world where sin is a reality. There is darkness and evil, and Jesus acknowledges that. In his prayer in the Gospel today, he doesn’t ask that God take us out of this world. The point isn’t to have things made easy for us, but for God to give us what we need to be in this world without being “of the world.” It is yet another call to remain and rest in God, not in the things of this world. Jesus sends us out into the world so that we can transform it with love, not so that it will transform us. Questions of the Week  Do you know anyone who is not a Catholic or a Christian but still behaves as a follower of Jesus would because he/she is rooted in love? How do you see God at work in that person?  Have you ever had the experience of feeling that you are in this world yet not of this world? How so?

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A very busy week around The Presbytery as all sorts of projects begin to come to realisation . . . . . On Monday evening Fr D had a phone call from a contractor who is dealing with the refurbishment of the church toilet saying that he wanted to come early on Tuesday morning to strip out the old tiling and sanitary ware. Fr D was not expecting this to happen so soon so was delighted that this was happening. He also rang his godson to discuss new sanitary ware (with the appropriate discount!) for the project. Before Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning (08.00) the workmen were ripping out the said tiles and removing the units. Whilst the workmen were in the church the order for the new shower unit to replace the failed one in the Presbytery was made (the old one had been fitted very early on in Canon Tony Clarke’s time as parish priest, so it didn’t owe us anything!). Fr D also went off in the car to celebrate two ‘House Blessings’ in the Parish. In the evening Fr D met with the parents of this year’s First Eucharist group teaching them about the part of the Mass that we call the Eucharistic Prayer - they will then be teaching their children about it on Saturday morning. After Morning Prayer and Mass on Wednesday the IT engineer was back to continue the install of the telecom/IT system which will reduce the number of business telephone accounts that are presently in use (saving £1,200 a year!). One of the ‘side benefits’ of the new install is that WiFi will now be available throughout the Parish Centre instead of just the Parish Office. Thursday was, of course, the Holy Day of the Ascension and after celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass in the morning Fr D met with the IT engineer once more as he continued with the install. By the end of the morning the wiring and equipment side of things was complete and it will now be left for a fortnight to let the broadband settle down before deleting one account and going with a new provider for the other.  Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday were followed with Fr D finishing off his parts of the newsletter ready for Sarah to complete. Sadly part of the newsletter was having to make some points about behaviour at our Masses; mobile phones, getting to Mass on time and not leaving straight after receiving Holy Communion . . . . .

After Jesus rose from the dead, he “presented himself alive” (Acts 1:3) to the women near the tomb (Matt. 28:9-10), to his disciples (Luke 24:36-43), and to more than 500 others (1 Cor. 15:6). In the days following his resurrection, Jesus taught his disciples about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus and his disciples went to Mount Olivet, near Jerusalem. There, Jesus promised his followers that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit, and he instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit had come. Then Jesus blessed them, and as he gave the blessing, he began to ascend into heaven. The account of Jesus’ ascension is found in Luke 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9 -11.  It is plain from Scripture that Jesus’ ascension was a literal, bodily return to heaven. He rose from the ground gradually and visibly, observed by many intent onlookers. As the disciples strained to catch a last glimpse of Jesus, a cloud hid him from their view, and two angels appeared and promised Christ’s return “in just the same way that you have watched Him go” (Acts 1:11).

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A very busy week around The Presbytery this time round . . . . At our Sunday 11.00 Mass last weekend we were joined by this year’s Confirmation Candidates, their families, and their sponsors as they celebrated a Lucenarium (Service of Light) before being sent off by the community to celebrate their Confirmation with Bishop Richard this Saturday. During the service the candidate’s parents lit the Baptismal Candle they were presented with on the day of their child’s Baptism and solemnly handed it over to their child as a sign that they are now considered adults in the Church and are responsible for themselves for keeping the flame of faith alive in their hearts. After celebrating Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning Fr D had several specialist engineers coming in: - the electrician was around to replace a failed ‘Fire Exit’ sign in the main hall of the Parish Centre, check on a failing fire escape ceiling light in the back corridor of the Centre, confirm the death of a tea urn in the Centre kitchen, and finally, to connect-up a ‘penny heater’ for the airing cupboard in the Presbytery - the LiveStream engineer came up (from Cardiff) to re-instate the set-up after some sort of an energy spike caused a failure two weeks ago; whilst here he serviced the security alarm in the Presbytery and replaced a camera on the church CCTV system that had failed. - By the time that all the workmen had departed in the middle of the afternoon Fr D was quite exhausted! Wednesday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D needed to make a start on the newsletter as he was losing both Friday and Saturday with events involving the bishop, so would not have the time he usually has. In the afternoon Fr D and a workman were sorting out which replacement shower he needed for his bathroom the old one that Canon Tony Clarke had put in having ‘given up the ghost’ last week (Fr D has been dashing across the landing to the guest bathroom since it failed!), Between them they worked out what the new version was and are now looking for a supplier before fitting it.  After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D was down in Crawley, working on his marriage cases. When he came back he was meeting with a family whose child will be baptised later in May . . . . . .