Newsletter - 22 September
Starting a New Year
Dear brothers and sisters,
Let us start this academic year by being thankful: for the Parish, for our community which gathers regularly, for its previous Parish Priest and for parishioners who have left and who have contributed to this Parish, for the Parish history, the Benedictine monks and their audacity… There is a lot to give thanks for and we can ask the Lord to fill our hearts with a grace of thanksgiving. Sometimes it is not a straightforward exercise, we are more inclined to identify and focus on what is wrong. At the beginning of this year, let us dare to ask for the grace of a thankful heart.
We are used to asking for individual graces to meet our personal needs and difficulties; another thing is to ask for a grace for the Parish community as a whole. We recall that the Lord saved the whole people of Israel when they left Egypt and crossed the red sea. There are certain things that we can experience only together.
I am now starting my ministry as your Parish Priest and I am grateful to the Lord for being here and for the Parish community which welcomed me some two years ago. A Parish community is made up of faces and of lives that we learn to share and to support each other while we walk behind the Lord.
You have made this place become my home. We are now going further together. We will walk together and bring one another to the Lord. On this way, you will become more aware of my weaknesses as I will certainly make mistakes. We will learn to forgive one another, as it is the only way ahead. I do believe that the Lord has called us to follow Him together in this Parish. And if the Lord calls, He provides the means. He has a plan for each and every one of us in the Parish. Let us listen to the words of the prophet Jeremiah which could be addressed to us today as a Parish community “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11.
May the Lord bless you all throughout the year.
Fr Pascal
Focus of the Week
SEASON OF CREATION LUNCH
Sunday 29 September
Season of Creation Lunch Tickets will be available after Sunday Masses or from the Parish office.