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Father Stewart's Thought for the Week |
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5th February 2012
Are Struggles & Trials Always Bad?
Coming back from retreat I’m always struck by the sheer “busyness” of people’s lives. For many of course this is exacerbated by what we call, “the struggles and trials of life”. For some, it seems to be one thing after another and so the cry goes out “Why? Why is life like this?” There are of course lots of reasons – but all struggles are not necessarily bad.
There’s a story of a boy who found a chrysalis with an opening in it. The boy could see a butterfly struggling to come out. He decided to help the process along and so split the chrysalis, freeing the butterfly. The butterfly had a swollen body and shrivelled wings. He waited and waited for the body to contract, the wings and open and fly … but nothing happened!
The butterfly could never fly. What the boy did not know, is that it is the struggle required for the butterfly to get of the chrysalis. That is nature’s way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings, which will eventually strengthen the body to fly.
Trials or struggles, are sometimes those things which we simply have to go through in life to get to where we want to be. We try to find short cuts… but they aren’t there. We simply have to go through the process. This is just as true of studying for something or going through the awful pain of bereavement or any sense of loss.
By going through struggles and trials, we can learn how better to cope with them in the future. We develop our life skills as well as our experience. In all this too, we learn things through our difficulties and struggles, which will help us to be more understanding of others whom we observe experiencing similar trials; we might even be able to help.
One thing is certain, if we didn’t have struggles and trials, then like the butterfly we will not grow and we certainly won’t fly! |
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Stewardship Campaign 2011-2012 Update |
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 “Become a Friend of St Bridgets……..” In December, the Stewardship Campaign opened with these words urging parishioners to become more involved in the life and work of the parish. The early response to Phase I: Faith and Church has been encouraging, a good start, with some 25 new people offering to give of their time and talents to keep St Bridget’s fully functional in this vital area. A new idea behind the campaign is the voucher scheme, to enable volunteers to commit themselves to one or more tasks for a specific number of hours across the course of a year. We will invite volunteers to renew their commitment annually. Volunteers are always needed and most tasks can be made flexible to fit around busy schedules. It is possible to volunteer at any time outside this campaign period.
Indeed St Bridget’s is always grateful to all those others who contribute their gifts to the church be it financially, through prayer, helping out in a myriad ways or being there and joining in with us.
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 5th February 2012
Lead item:
The Shelter Project
Is now 3 weeks in with 9 weeks to go. Churches in Hounslow, Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth are offering 15 homeless guests shelter, breakfast, dinner, warmth, safety and emotional solace for six nights of the week. From January to the end of March. Each church involved opens its doors to the appreciative gentlemen from 8pm to 8am. We at St Bridget's are volunteering time, specific items and expertise. This coincides with Action Week 2012 to break the barriers that trap people in poverty and homelessness. Churches and community projects can break these barriers. They can challenge prejudice, enable excluded people to live full lives, and build a fairer world. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 06 February 2012 09:19 |
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Children’s Liturgy Art Gallery |
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We are pleased to include a Children’s Liturgy Art Gallery on our parish website. You can submit your artwork to this site in a number of ways. The easiest way will be to either scan or photograph your art work and get your parents to email them to the following address:
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Please give us your first name , age and if possible a brief description of the artwork.
Alternatively, a box will be made available at the back of the church where you can leave your artwork and we will scan it in. Please write your first name and age , either on the front or back of your artwork.
Please be as creative as you possibly can with your artwork. The only thing we ask is that your artwork is about something that was discussed in children’s liturgy that week.
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New Translation of the Mass
On September 4th we began using THE NEW TRANSLATION OF THE MASS. Everyone will need one of the New Mass Books for the readings. The New Mass is at the back of book. If you wish to follow the Preface & Eucharistic Prayers, you will find the page numbers on the front of the newsletter. There is also a card which has all the people’s parts of the Mass on it. For those who come to week day Masses you will need one of these and they can be found in the porch or on the table the offering gifts are placed on. There are also Mass Cards in the porch for children. Finally if you have not taken one already, there is a sheet containing the people’s parts of the Mass, with explanations for the changes. These are for you to take and read at home.
Please join in all the parts as best you can. We will all make mistakes, so please don’t worry. It will take time to get used to the new words. Please note that the New Parish Mass Books we are using are themselves in transition, as the new Mass has begun half way through, and so some of the references refer to the old Mass. There are also one or two printing errors.
The responses plus the Creed and Gloria will be the only changes that will affect your participation. There will also be new Eucharistic prayers. The readings, however, stay the same. Other changes, notably, that of music will follow later. Please take a letter from Fr Stewart from the back of the church.
Or you can download Fr Stewart's letter about the New Mass from here.
New Mass Translation - printed copies available
We have now received copies of the New Translation and they are available if you would like one. They are priced £1.95 and can be found where the papers are kept. The money can be put in the same slot in the wall.
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