Newsletter - 9 October 2022
Remembering to Return in Thanksgiving
October 9 is the feast day of St John Henry Newman. Below is a reflection he wrote which fits well with the Gospel reading at today’s Mass - Luke 17:11-19. (Taken from the October issue of The Magnificat).
It would be well if we were in the habit of looking at all we have as God’s gift, undeservedly given, and day by day continued to us solely by his mercy. … He gave us all we have:
life, health, strength, reason, enjoyment, the light of conscience, whatever we have good and holy within us, whatever faith we have, whatever of a renewed will, whatever love towards him, whatever power over ourselves, whatever prospect of heaven. He gave us family, friends, education, training, knowledge, the Bible, the Church. All comes from him.
Let us then view God’s providences towards us more religiously than we have done. Let us try to gain a truer view of what we are and where we are, in his kingdom. Let us humbly and reverently attempt to trace his guiding hand in the years we have lived. Let us thankfully commemorate the many mercies he has granted to us in time past, sins he has not remembered, the many dangers he averted, the many prayers he answered, the many mistakes he corrected, the many warnings, the many lessons, the much light, the abounding comfort he has from time to time given. Let us dwell upon times and seasons, times of trouble, times of joy, times of trial, times of refreshment. How did he cherish us as children! How did he guide us in that dangerous time when the mind began to think for itself and the heart to open to the world! How did he with his sweet discipline retrain our passions, mortify our hopes, calm our fears, enliven our heaviness, sweeten our desolation, and strengthen our infirmities! How did he gently guide us towards the straight gate! How did he allure us along his everlasting way, in spite of its strictness, in spite of its loneliness, in spite of the dim twilight in which it lay!
He has been all things to us.
St John Henry Newman
Focus of the Week
ALPHA
Thursday 13 October, 7:30 to 9:00 pm
Alpha is a series of session exploring the Christian faith.
Each talk looks at the different question around faith and is designed to create conversation.
The evening will consist of a meal, a film and sharing time.
Cockfosters Sunday evening Mass
Sunday evening Mass will continue at 5:30 p.m on 16 October and 20 November and every third Sunday of the month there after.