J.M.J Stay Awake Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man. Sometimes I wonder whether instead of saying stay awake Jesus might actually need to say to us: WAKE UP! Am I awake and alert to the ways of the Lord or am I like the disciples in the image above? If we decide that we re not yet fully awake then Advent certainly is the time to wake up, sit up and take notice! During this Sacred Season we will be reminded of (i) Who Jesus is (ii) where He came from (iii) How He came to the earth and (iv) why He had to come. We re going to be reminded that we need a Saviour. We ll be reminded that Emmanuel means God-with-us. We re going to be shown how to find Jesus and the correct way to approach Him. We re going to find the Holy Family and so much more. Are you awake? Can you stay awake? Have you returned your form yet? Parish Office: (01420) 472 415 Email: shsjoffice@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk website: sacredheartbordon.co.uk
Year C Entrance antiphon: To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. Nor let my enemies exult over me and let none who hope in you be put to shame. Confiteor I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. First Reading See, the days are coming it is the Lord who speaks when I am going to fulfil the promise I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah: In those days and at that time, I will make a virtuous Branch grow for David, who shall practise honesty and integrity in the land. In those days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell in confidence. And this is the name the city will be called: The-Lord-our-integrity. Psalm: To you O Lord I lift up my soul. Advent is a penitential time in the Church s year as the violet vestments remind us. Although we have the Alleluia during Advent we do not use the Gloria on Sundays. This year, our Scripture Readings at Mass are taken from Year C on Sundays. There are prescribed readings from 17 th 24 th December which focus us specifically on the Lord s Nativity, His First Coming or His First Parousia on earth. Second Reading May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints. Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus. Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help. Alleluia!
The Gospel John 18:33-37 Jesus said to his disciples: There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand. Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man. CREDO I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, (BOW for the next two lines) who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. Communion antiphon: The Lord will bestow his bounty and our earth shall yield its increase. Act of Faith before Holy Communion: O my God, I firmly believe that by the words of consecration spoken during Mass, bread truly becomes the Body of Christ and wine His most Precious Blood, and that Your Divine Son is offered to You upon the altar under appearances representing that separation of His Body and Blood which took place on Calvary. Therefore, I believe with my whole heart, that this holy Victim is the same as that of the cross, whom I am about to receive, in order to unite my sacrifices to His own, by immolating myself with Him for Thy glory. Amen. Prayer after receiving Holy Communion: O my God, as you have given yourself to me, now let me give myself to You. I give you my body that I may be chaste and pure; I give you my soul that I may be free from sin; I give you my heart that I may always love you; I give you every breath that I shall breathe, and especially my last; I give you myself in life and in death That I may be Yours forever and ever Amen. Please remember all those who have asked for our prayerful support: Angus McKay, Chelsea Cooper, Anne Clissitt, Oliver Nga, Gemma & Albert Cloake, Lynda Breakenridge, Caroline Green, Nancy Denne, Liam Park, Ramon Mallari Pat & Joan Hennessey, Kathy Rooney, Carol & Gerald Fox, Donald Blackburn, Marie Lawrence, Fr. Eddie Richer, David Rixon, Nicky Parris, Marie Machin, Janet Cardenas Beale, Anna Nguyen, Brian Labram, Deborah Murgatroyd, Pat Ashley, Mark Boardman and Gerry Goes.
Each Advent I d like our two parishes to focus our mission and outreach efforts on all our brothers and sisters who have fallen away from practising the faith. It s so easy to get out of the habit of prayer, of attending Mass, of going to Confession and once we do fall out of these practises it is very hard to get back into them! We anticipate having many lapsed Catholics with us at Mass over the Christmas period and so I want us to spend Advent getting the message out-there that they are most welcome! I d like to encourage every single member of our parish to be involved (in some way) in reaching out and welcoming back. This is really important. Ways to be involved: Both of our Churches need a tidy-up. We need to make sure that the church building itself is welcoming to visitors or those who are seeking. Would you like to be involved in removing unnecessary furniture / clutter from the church? The Sacred Heart church needs a major project! I d like us to paint the walls, move the tabernacle into the sanctuary (placing Jesus in the centre of the church), to add some curtains to the back of the sanctuary, modify the confessional and to improve the lighting. Would you be willing to help paint? Help with making the curtains? Can you help with the moving of the tabernacle? We need to establish teams for looking after the grounds of our churches. Would you like to be part of the gardening team? Leaflet-dropping, delivering parish leaflets to neighbouring houses. Would you be willing to be involved in posting leaflets? Volunteering to be part of the Welcome Home team, taking responsibility for looking-out for new faces at Mass and to gently welcome them, give them a newsletter, show them to their place, introduce them to Father John. Could you help?
Evening Prayer this evening: Whenever we enter into a new season in the Church s year we should gather together in prayer asking God to bless us, our family and our parish. Please do come along this evening to St Joseph s for Evening Prayer, Advent Carols and (non-alcoholic) mulled wine and mince pies. 6:30pm. Opportunities to grow in our faith during Advent: Tuesdays after 7pm Mass at (SH) Bible Study every other Monday after 0930 Mass (SH) Come along - all welcome! Rest in peace: Of your charity, please pray for the happy repose of the souls of Mrs May Berra and Mr James (Jim) Snook who died recently. A funeral service will be held for Jim on Tuesday 4 th Dec at 12 noon at St Joseph s and a Requiem Mass for May on Friday 7 th Dec also at 12 noon at St Joseph s. Our next First Holy Communion session: Just a reminder that the next First Holy Communion session will be on Saturday 15 th December. This will be a parent s session too so please do be prepared to stay. Thank you! Children s Liturgy: will take place on Sunday 2nd December at Sacred Heart. Electronic giving : We ve had a number of parishioners who have very kindly asked about how to increase their giving to the parish via direct debit or standing order. If you would like to increase your direct debit: then this will need to be done through the diocese. All you need to do is call Jean Carter on (023) 92 825 430 with your bank details. If you d like to increase your standing order: then we have forms (at the back of the Church) which need to be filled in and taken into your bank for processing. Thank you as always for your generous support! New Weekday Mass schedule: A reminder that the new (trial) weekday Mass schedule begins this week. The new Adoration times will begin in January. Leaflet dropping in Bordon: If you are happy to take parish leaflets home to deliver to your neighbours, then please fill in the sheet in the parish hall giving details of the streets you are willing to deliver in. (Delivering in Grayshott will take place in the New Year). Painting the Church As you know, we are going to paint the Sacred Heart Church. Can you help? Beginning Tuesday 11 th December
Building and decorating the Jesse Tree is a great thing to do with children! It helps them to begin to understand some of our Salvation History and to find Jesus in the Old Treatment making His way to us from Heaven discovering why He came and how He prepared us, His people, for His arrival. Although the Advent Calendar has been commercialised by all kinds of different businesses and brands today, we as the Church begin to count down the days of Advent in our usual, time-honoured ways. First of all we have the Advent Wreath and (as we said last weekend) the Advent Wreath reminds us of Time and Eternity being united by Our Eternal King entering into time. It is also a good way to introduce children (or even ourselves!) to the Scriptures and how to use them to help us to understand our Faith. We can begin to understand the layout of the Bible and make connections between the New and the Old Testaments. Why not have a go?? There is also another Advent Calendar that we use in the church (but is less popular today) and that is the Jesse Tree. We are going to be hearing a lot about Jesse (the Father of King David) in our Readings throughout Advent but the Jesse Tree is a tree decorated with ornaments symbolising events that took place in the lead-up to the Birth of our Messiah and King. On the page opposite you ll see some examples of the Jesse Tree ornaments. This is a good Advent activity for us: taking an event each day and research it and especially find it in the Scriptures!
Sacred Season of Advent 5:30pm Vigil Mass: 1 st,3 rd,5 th Saturday of the month at St Joseph s (SJ) and 2 nd and 4 th Saturday at Sacred Heart (SH). Sunday 2 nd December First Sunday in Advent Glorious Mysteries Dedicated to: The Resurrection Saturday (vigil): St Joseph s, Grayshott Confessions 1700 SJ Holy Mass 1730 SJ Bernard Knight Holy Mass 0930 SJ Paul Kirrane RIP Holy Mass 1115 SH People of the Parish Evening Prayer 1830 Monday 3 rd December Joyful Mysteries Dedicated to: The Holy Souls Holy Mass 0930 SH Holy Souls SJ Holy Mass 1200 SJ Eamon Dornan RIP Tuesday 4 th December Sorrowful Mysteries Dedicated to: The Holy Angels Holy Mass 1900 SH Margaret Murphy RIP Wednesday 5 th December Glorious Mysteries Holy Mass 0930 SH Jim Ralston RIP Holy Mass 1200 SJ Margaret Costello RIP Friday 7 th December Sorrowful Mysteries Dedicated to: St Joseph Thursday 6 th December Luminous Mysteries Dedicated to: The Blessed Sacrament Holy Mass 1200 SJ Private Intention Dedicated to: the crucifixion Holy Mass 0930 SH Gillian Chandler Int. First Friday A reminder for all those keeping the First Friday Devotion THIS FRIDAY! Our Lord asked us to honour the First Nine Fridays by going to Confession and receiving Holy Communion.why not begin this devotion this Advent? Please complete and return A.S.A.P As you know, Fr John has asked each Parishioner to complete the service leaflet given out last weekend. Please do have a think about ways you might be able to support the parish with your time and talents. If you are already involved: please complete the form ticking the boxes of the activities your are already involved in. If you can t help at the moment: please complete the contacts section so that we can make sure that we have your correct details. THANK YOU! Holy Mass 1200 SJ REQUIEM MASS: May Berra RIP Saturday 8 th December Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception Holy Mass 1100 SJ People of the Parish Sunday 9 th December First Sunday of Advent Glorious Mysteries Dedicated to: The Resurrection Saturday (vigil): Sacred Hear, Bordon Confessions 1700 SH Holy Mass 1730 SH Leo Gibbs Holy Mass 0930 SJ People of the Parish Holy Mass 1115 SH Evening Prayer 1830 SJ Immaculate Conception Feast Day 8 th Dec 11:00am Holy Mass (SJ) 12:30pm Parish Lunch