Dear Parishioners,

I hope you and your family are staying safe and well.

We will not be able to gather to celebrate the Holy Week ceremonies, but each parish priest in his church will be doing so across the UK, in order to ensure that nothing is omitted from the worship of Almighty God and the carrying out of the special rituals of the Sacred Triduum (Mass of the Lord’s Supper on holy Thursday evening; the Celebration of the Passion of our Lord on Good Friday afternoon at 3.00 pm; the Easter Vigil & the first Mass of Easter on Saturday evening; Easter Sunday morning Mass).

So whilst you may be participating in liturgies on the Internet, please remember to be spiritually close to your own church and priest on these sacred days for our Faith.

You will not be able to receive Holy Communion or go to Confession as part of your Easter duty this year. But please be reassured by both statements from Bishop Robert and Cardinal Nichols. We can still deepen our faith and have spiritual communion with our Lord during the Easter season.

Please remember to keep Good Friday as a Day of Fasting and Abstinence from meat (or some other act of abstaining/self-denial) and so associate ourselves more closely with the suffering and self-sacrifice of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who willing endured the Passion to redeem us from our sins and to open the gates to eternal salvation for us all.

Sunday this weekend is, of course, Palm Sunday, and I will be blessing some palms. A few will be available for collection from the yellow bin to the side of the Presbytery door at St Augustine’s. Also copies of this newsletter with the bishop’s pastoral letter will also be there for collection for anyone not able to receive my emails.

I am sure that we will keep the doctors and nurses in our prayers especially during this Holy Week, as they battle with this pandemic across our country, and we will especially pray for all those who are suffering from the disease.
Let us also remember to commend to Almighty God’s mercy all those who have lost their lives because of this terrible infection.

I hope you will have a prayerful and very spiritual Holy Week.
Lett us keep each other in our prayers at this very difficult time.

Christ has died.
Christ is Risen.
Christ will come again!!

God bless you all,

Father Paul Zielinski