2 AUGUST TO 16 AUGUST 2015
Once upon a time a little sparrow lay on its back in the road, its legs flailing desperately in the air. A motorist came driving by, stopped abruptly, wound down their window and asked, ‘what do you think you are doing?’ ‘I heard that the sky will fall in today,’ said the sparrow, ‘and I am trying to hold it up.’ The motorist retorted, ‘and do you really think that you, feeble and pathetic creature that you are, can make any difference to that?’ ‘One does what one can’ replied the sparrow.
All our actions towards good can seem as lost and inconsequential as that of the sparrow in my story. As a gardener I have lately been impatient that my efforts to transform my garden into another Eden seem hampered by bindweed. As a parish we bring items of food to be passed on to a local foodbank but I have heard some wonder why we bother providing what they described as a ‘bandage to a social wound.’ As a city we strive to treasure the variety of nationalities who have chosen to live here but wonder what we’re not doing right when a fourth Jihadist from Portsmouth is said to have been killed in Syria fighting for ISIS. As a nation we continue to try and build a healthy economy but worry at being partners in the construction of a global market which freezes out so many. It can seem that whatever our efforts, all is futile.
Perhaps we all need to lie on our backs – the road is not really a suitable place but I’m sure that like me you can find someplace else that is. Gazing upwards whilst remaining mindful of all we believe is worth striving for, perhaps we should reflect again on the hardest part of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’ If we can lie still for a moment, perhaps with only our legs flailing desperately in the air in imitation of the sparrow in my story, we might see anew that our mission in this life is not to seek our own fulfilment nor that of any family, city or nation except in doing what we can to inaugurate new ways, new experiments, new signs of the coming Kingdom of God. In such activity, we imitate Jesus Christ our Saviour who came not to seek our admiration but our imitation. The gospels do not record him lying on the ground with his feet flailing in the air (what an image!) but they do record his passion for proclaiming, ‘the kingdom of God is close at hand.’ It is not a kingdom for later; it’s a kingdom for now. Our many and varied efforts, however seemingly inconsequential, do bring it to birth. Even when the world resists us there remains an eternal value in doing what we can to make real our prayer, ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
Canon Dominic Golding
Vigil Mass of 18th Sunday
of Ordinary Time / 1800 / St John’s Cathedral / Murphy and Meehan RIP
Our Lady of Lourdes / People of the Parish
St Joseph / Joseph & Annie Old P
St Colman / Ellen Mollinson RIP (PM)
SUNDAY 2 AUGUST
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY
OF ORDINARYTIME
Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15
Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
John 6:24-35
Parish Mass Book p 114 / 0800 / St John’s Cathedral / Intentions of Stephen and Maria
0830 / St Swithun / Lau Lawrence Warren RIP P
0900 / St Joseph / People of the Parish
0930 / St Colman / Winifred Cummings RIP (FM)
1000 / St John’s Cathedral / Angela and Allan INT
1015 / St Swithun / Coleen and Doreen Smith Golden Wedding Anniv
1100 / Corpus Christi / Canon Richard INT
1100 / St Paul / Veronica Tremain RIP (BR)
1200 / St John’s Cathedral / People of the Parish
1600 / QA Hospital / W Win & Tome Cummings RIP (CC)
1800 / St John’s Cathedral / Donor’s Intentions (DG)
MONDAY 3 AUGUST
Feria 18th Week of Ordinary Time / 0915 / St Colman / Maria & Peter Mason Good Estate (PM)
1000 / St Swithun / Sr Joan Kullander RIP
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Helen Tumba RIP
TUESDAY 4 AUGUST
of the 18th Week of Ordinary Time
St John Vianney, Priest, memorial / 0915 / St Colman / Private Ints (Priests, Nuns & Religious) (CC)
1000 / St Swithun / Sr Bernadette Duggan
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Intentions of First Community (DG)
1900 / St Swithun
WEDNESDAY 5 AUGUST
Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary
Major, Rome, optional memorial
or Feria[18th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0730 / St John’s Cathedral / Deceased Benefactors
0915 / St Colman / Hope & Derek Whittaker Good Estate (PM)
1000 / St Swithun / Ted and Micheline Thompson INT (P Groom)
1200 / Corpus Christi / Molly Sweeney RIP
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Jose Gabriel Rodrigues Correia RIP
THURSDAY 6 AUGUST
THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD,
feast / 0915 / St Colman / Private Ints (Friends, Relatives, Alive & Dec’d) (CC)
0930 / St Joseph / Sydney Curtis P
1000 / St Swithun / Frank Linington RIP F
1200 / Our Lady of Lourdes
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Donor’s Intention
FRIDAY 7 AUGUST
St Sixtus II, Pope & Companions, Martyrs, optional memorial
or: St Cajetan, Founder, optional memorial or: Feria [18th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0730 / St John’s Cathedral / Audrey Dowling RIP
0930 / Corpus Christi / Patrick John William Louge P
1000 / St Swithun / Agnes Mary Loasby RIP F
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Patricia Ethel O’Connell RIP F
1830 / St Colman / Julia & Gary Ward – Good Estate (PM)
SATURDAY 8 AUGUST
of the 18th Week of Ordinary Time
St Dominic, Founder, memorial / 0900 / Corpus Christi / Canon Reginald Raab & Deceased Relations P
1000 / St Swithun / Mary Ann Glyson RIP P
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Holy Souls
SATURDAY 8 AUGUST
Vigil Mass of 19th Sunday
of Ordinary Time / 1800 / St John’s Cathedral / Donor’s Intentions (DG)
Our Lady of Lourdes / People of the Parish
St Joseph / Bishop John Baptist Cahill P
St Colman / Ray Bonner RIP (CB)
SUNDAY 9 AUGUST
NINETEENTH SUNDAY
OF ORDINARY TIME
1 Kings 19:4-8
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
John 6:41-51
Parish Mass Book p 117 / 0800 / St John’s Cathedral / Intentions of Paul and Kate
0830 / St Swithun
0900 / St Joseph / People of the Parish
0930 / St Colman / Mike Webber RIP (HW)
1000 / St John’s Cathedral / Intentions of Pauline Christina Skinner
1015 / St Swithun / Harry & Madge Murray’s Intentions (P Groom)
1100 / Corpus Christi / Kathleen Doyle RIP
1100 / St Paul / Murphy Family RIP (TK)
1200 / St John’s Cathedral / Donor’s Intentions
1600 / QA Hospital / PaoP Pat Smith – Good Estate (PM)
1800 / St Swithun / Mass in Polish
1800 / St John’s Cathedral / People of the Parish
MONDAY 10 AUGUST
ST LAURENCE,
Deacon, Martyr,feast / 0915 / St Colman / MMa Mark Litrizza (FM)
1000 / St Swithun / T Tudor Family F
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Funeral Mass of William Moran RIP
TUESDAY 11 AUGUST
of the 19th Week of Ordinary Time
St Clare, Foundress, memorial / 0915 / St Colman / Bridie Cooper – Good Estate (PM)
1000 / St Swithun / Norah Hester Warren RIP P
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Sister Ann Doyle RIP
WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST
St Jane Frances de Chantal, Foundress, optional memorial or:
Feria [19th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0730 / St John’s Cathedral
1000 / St Swithun / Elizabeth Enoch Carrew RIP P
1200 / Corpus Christi / John Jefferd RIP & Mary Jefferd RIP F
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Patrick and Angela Welton INT
THURSDAY 13 AUGUST
St Pontian, Pope, & St Hippolytus,
Priest, Martyrs, optional memorial
or: Feria [19th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0915 / St Colman / Bridie Taylor (Good Estate) (PM)
1000 / St Swithun / Miss Clare de Harnel & Parents RIP F
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Donor’s Intentions (DG)
FRIDAY 14 AUGUST
of the 19th Week of Ordinary Time
St Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Priest, Martyr, memorial / 0730 / St John’s Cathedral
0930 / Corpus Christi / Bridget & Michael Harte P
1000 / St Swithun / Kevi Kevin MacDonald RIP F
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / Anne Munt RIP F
1830 / St Colman / Private Ints (Priests, Nuns & Religious – Two parishes)
SATURDAY 15 AUGUST
Our Lady on Saturday
or: Feria [19th Week of Ordinary Time] / 0900 / Corpus Christi / Father Frederick Freely P
1000 / St Swithun
1215 / St John’s Cathedral / CWL Rota Mass INT
SATURDAY 15 AUGUST
Vigil Mass of
The Assumption of Our Lady, solemnity / 1800 / St John’s Cathedral / Johanna and Timothy Short RIP
Our Lady of Lourdes
St Joseph / People of the Parish
St Colman / Jennifer Shields – Good Estate (PM)
SUNDAY 16AUGUST
THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY, solemnity
Apocalypse 11:19; 12:1-6, 10
1 Corinthians 15:20-26
Luke 1:39-56
Parish Mass Book p 180 / 0800 / St John’s Cathedral / Mary Cecilia Coghlan RIP
0830 / St Swithun / People of the Parish
0900 / St Joseph / William Mullane P
0930 / St Colman / Joan and Bill Hudson RIP (BH)
1000 / St John’s Cathedral / NNN North Family Deceased F
1015 / St Swithun
1100 / Corpus Christi / Violet Elizabeth Lee F
1100 / St Paul / Kkkk Kelleher Family RIP (TK)
1200 / St John's Cathedral / Do People of the Parish
1600 / QA Hospital / Mass Mass for the Sick (MS)
1800 / St John’s Cathedral / Don Donor’s Intentions (DG)