PARISH OF THE SACRED HEART

Sunday Masses

Saturday 6:00pm (St.F) Int. For the People

Sunday 9:30am (St.F) Int.+Stuart Robin- 11:00am (Con) Int. son

Weekday Masses

Monday BLESSED MARTYRS OF

EAST ANGLIA

9:30am (St.F) Int. +Mary Sullivan (FM)

10:30am (Con) Int.

Tuesday ADVENT FERIA

9:30am (St.F) Int.

Wednesday ADVENT FERIA

No Masses today

Thursday ST.LUCY

11.0am FUNERAL MASS FOR JOAN

EMMERSON

Friday ST.JOHN OF THE CROSS

11:00am (St.F) Int. Ph.P, awaiting surgery

5:00pm (Con) Int.

Saturday ADVENT FERIA

11:00am (St.F) Int.

6:00pm (St.F) Int. For the People

The Daily Office

Lauds (Morning Prayer) is said a quarter of an hour before the first Mass, except Thurs. & Sat.

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

Tuesdays at10.0am Benediction at 10.30am

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Saturday 5.15pm to 5.45pm or by Sunday 9.0am to 9.20am appointment.

The Rosary Friday at 10:15am

The Mass today The readings can be found

on p.85 of the Parish Mass Book, and on p.65 of The Sunday Missal.

At the 6.0pm Mass Eucharistic Prayer 3

Sanctus & Benedictus Parish Mass Book p.16 (Angelus) Hymn 100

At the 9.30am Mass Eucharistic Prayer 2

Kyries Hymn Book 516

Sanctus & Benedictus Parish Mass Book p.16

Hymns : 94, 983, 873, 100

At the 11.0am Mass Eucharistic Prayer 1

Kyries Hymn Book 516

Hymns 92, 768, 801

THIS WEEK OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WEEKDAY ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

in the Sacred Heart Chapel 2.0pm-3.0pm

This week on Friday

Tuesday 11.30am Monthly Service at the Mill Lane Home

2.0pm Fr.John makes a further visit to Papworth Hospital.

7.30pm The Confirmation Group meets at the Presbytery.

Wednesday No Masses today : Fr.John's day off this week.

Thursday 11.0am Funeral Mass for Joan Emmerson RIP, followed by burial in the Felixstowe Cemetery.

7.30pm Deanery Penitential Service at St.Pancras' Church, Ipswich

PARISH NOTICEBOARD OOOOOOOOOO

Anniversaries this week Brenda Davison (2004), Josie Bones (2007), Dorothy Veitch (2015), Victor Durrant (1996), Rita Alexander (1997), Phyllis Garrod (2000), Mary Sutcliffe (2017), Catherine Spencer (2008), Tony Byrne (2001). May they rest in peace.

Money Matters Last Sunday £529.67 was given at the Offertory and £83.86 for CAFOD. Next Sunday there will be a retiring collection for the Dependant Priests' Fund.

C.W.L Teresa Doran writes 'The last meeting of the Felixstowe Section of the C.W.L will take place in the hall on Monday at 7.30pm. Margaret is coming along with her hand bells and I am sure we will all be able to have a go.'

The Posada Very few people have put their names down to receive the Posada this year, which is sad. It is a sign of our welcoming Mary and Joseph into our home and into our family life. The prayers which are said - there are copies of them in the porch - are simple and straightforward. The idea of inviting a few friends or neighbours into ones home to enjoy a small pre-Christmas gathering, and to gently suggest the true meaning of Christmas through the presence of the Posada, and the use of the prayers, seems to be a good one.

It's not too late to put your name down on the rota in the Porch. We don't want Felixstowe to be another Bethlehem, with closed doors!

A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHRISTMAS

I now know when I will be going into Papworth Hospital for heart surgery : it will be on Friday, December 21st ready for surgery on Saturday 22nd. I went to Papworth last week, and met the surgeon, Mr.Ng. He said that my heart is in a bad way, and that unless this surgery takes place my life expectancy will only be something over one year. So it really does need to happen!

I'm obviously sorry to desert you just on the great festival of Our Lord's Nativity. Next week I hope to be able to say what the Christmas arrangements will be here - I'm working on that at present. Likewise, on Mass 'cover' for the weeks following, as the surgeon says that I must do nothing for six weeks after the operation, and then very little for the following six weeks. But I think I will probably be at least partly operational in time for the beginning of Lent - Ash Wednesday is not until March 6th this year, as there is a 'late' Easter.

Of course I'm apprehensive, but also full of anticipation from the spiritual point of view. It will be a strange mixture of Christmas and Holy Week, and I hope by God's grace to enter a little more fully into the mystery of Our Lord's suffering. Neither the Stable nor the Cross were comfortable places, but they are places which lie at the heart of our Faith. A different kind of Christmas, from which I feel that I shall benefit ! Thank you for your prayers so far, and please continue to remember me.

BIBLE SUNDAY

This Second Sunday of Advent is sometimes called Bible Sunday. It reminds us in this season when we are contemplating the coming of the Lord that one of the ways in which Our Lord comes to us now, in the present, is through the words of Holy Scripture. He comes to us in his Sacrament of Holy Communion, and he also comes to us in his word.

The Bible is a record of God's revelation of himself to our world, and one could say that the Old Testament is all about God's preparation for Christmas. That is, his preparing for the Incarnation of the divine Son in the womb of Our Lady, and his consequent birth at Bethlehem. As the Old Testament unfolds, we see how God's ancient people are led little by little to a deeper understanding of his Nature and his Purposes; to a fuller understanding of his moral requirements of them, and of their own spiritual needs. They come to recognise their need for a Redeemer, one who will bring reconciliation between God and his disobedient people. And only then do they become ready for the Messiah, the Christ, to come amongst them.

We Catholics hear much of holy Scripture read in the course of the readings at Mass. But it is good that we also read our Bible at home, pondering on the words of Scripture, and ready to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us in our heart. The words of the four Gospels are of course especially relevant to us - the words and deeds of Jesus himself. If we don't apply ourselves to this discipline already, well Advent would be a very good time to begin!