FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A
22nd March 2020
Dear Parishioner,
In today's Gospel, the healing of the man born blind invites us to focus on the physical and spiritual aspects of
sight and light. In the first part of today's Gospel, we hear Jesus' response to a prevalent belief of his
time: that misfortune and disability were the result of sin. Jesus does not answer directly their question, but instead
gives the question an entirely different dimension-through this man's disability, God's power will be made
manifest. Jesus then heals the man.
The healing is controversial because Jesus heals on the Sabbath. The Pharisees, the religious authorities, understood
that the Law of Moses forbade work (including healing) on the Sabbath. The man challenges the leaders of the synagogue
about their assessment of the good that Jesus has done. In turn, they expel the man for questioning their judgment.
Having heard the news of his expulsion, Jesus seeks out the man born blind and reveals himself to him as the Son of
Man. In this moment, the man born blind shows himself to be a man of faith and worships Jesus.
As in last week's Gospel about Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman, today's reading has many
allusions to Baptism. The washing of the man in the pool of Siloam is a prototype for Christian Baptism. Through the
man's encounter with Jesus, the man born blind is healed, his sight is restored, and his conversion to discipleship
begins. The man born blind gradually comes to a greater understanding about who Jesus is and what it means to be his
disciple.
May you all have a blessed season of Lent.
SEND, O LORD: HOLY APOSTLES INTO YOUR CHURCH
Fr Sabu Pariyadan RCJ
Notices:
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CESSATION OF PUBLIC LITURGIES: The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, having consulted
the Ordinaries of the Dioceses, has agreed that the cessation of public liturgies should begin from Friday evening
20th March 2020. Because of the situation the Church finds herself in, the obligation for the faithful to attend Holy
Mass on a Sunday or Holy day of Obligation is removed, until further notice.
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CELEBRATIONS OF HOLY MASS: Priests who hold parochial office should continue to Celebrate Mass in a
church within their parish without the faithful on a daily basis. Deacons should not participate in these
celebrations. SO MASSES WILL BE STILL SAID FOR YOUR INTENTIONS REGULARLY BUT PRIVATELY. Any mass requests may
be dropped into the presbytery.
The continuing celebration of Mass ensures that the faithful can join in spiritual communion with the priests of the
Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states (1364): As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which
'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried
out. Daily liturgical resources for those at home, including those for making a "Spiritual Communion"
with the priest, will be available on the CBCEW website. www.cbcew.org.uk
Information about the live-streaming of the celebration of Mass: A fine example of this is from The National Shrine
of Our Lady at Walsingham will continue its full liturgical programme and this will be available to all via the
Internet (www.walsingham.org.uk)
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PERSONAL PRAYER: Our church will remain open every day, for individual private prayer, without any
organised services, and offering prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
Sundays: 9.00am - 1.00pm
Weekdays: 9.30am - 12.30pm
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SACRAMENTS AND SACRAMENTAL: All the above stands cancelled until further notice. In case of
emergency please always ring Fr. Sabu at the presbytery or Rev. Kevin on phone. We will arrange the needed.
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FIRST COMMUNION PROGRAM: is put on hold until further notice and we need to work out how things
evolve under the Covid-19 crisis.
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SYCAMORE FOR LENT - is cancelled with regret. We will look to a future course, when the Covid-19
crisis abates. Please pray for the Sycamore team and the programme at St Augustine's, and for the parish and
wider community in these troubled times.
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CARING FOR EACH OTHER: in this difficult time, we need to support each other to overcome this
difficulty. All will come to pass. So if you are someone isolating, living alone or having difficulties to carry on
with your daily living and would appreciate being supported by someone please do call 01245 465333
or if you are someone who think can offer support in the form of doing shopping for someone else or posting letters
or talking on phone with someone who would love to have a conversation please do let us know your availability by
ringing 01245 465333.
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ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY (SVP) AIM TO HELP ANYONE IN NEED. In the current situation we expect the
need to be greatly increased. In order to keep in touch with people we would like to offer a telephone befriending
service, one of our members will phone on a regular basis for a chat, also if any practical assistance is required
(such as shopping or collecting prescriptions) we will be happy to this. We will also need some new members in order
to facilitate this service, so please do contact us if you can help us by making phone calls or possibly help with
shopping. We will ask you to do a short interview with us (via Skype/Facetime) and we will take 2 references to
ensure we are helping people as safely as possible. Please don't hesitate to contact Jenny for either a phone
call, practical assistance or to volunteer on 07796 393131 or click here to
Email
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200 CLUB We have done the last draw for the 200 Club and we need to start collecting money for next
year's. To avoid unnecessary contact at the moment, we are inviting members to renew their subscription directly.
To do this, pay the money to account number 91082884 on sort code 40-13- 22, account name Catholic Church of St.
Augustine of Canterbury, ref your name, 200 Club, then click here to
Email so that I can mark off your numbers. This was a very popular option last year and is very convenient for
the organisers, but we will collect cash when the infection risk is less if you wish to pay that way. We had 205
members last year and raised over £1,000 for the Parish, but as we have some leaving each year, please take
more shares if you can and we welcome new members.
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POSTPONEMENT OF BRENTWOOD DIOCESAN EDUCATION SERVICE EVENTS Given the evolving situation in relation
to the Corona Virus we have taken the decision to postpone all training and BDES events between Saturday 21st March
and Wednesday 29th April 2020 inclusive. We will review the situation before the Easter break and make a further
decision about training and events after 29th April 2020 at that point. We apologise for any inconvenience this may
cause.
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ALL GROUP EVENTS BETWEEN NOW AND EASTER ACROSS THE DIOCESE - PLEASE CHECK WHETHER OR NOT THESE ARE RUNNING -
THERE ARE MANY CANCELLATIONS.
Please remember to pray for:
Daily for the sick clergy of our Diocese
The sick and housebound
Those who have recently died
Years Mind:
Thursday: Colin Bennett
Friday: Leia Iago
