Dearest friends,
Each year on or near 3 February, the Church remembers St Blaise, bishop and martyr, and celebrates the Blessing of Throats. This simple but striking rite connects our everyday human vulnerability with God’s healing grace.
St Blaise was a bishop in Sebaste (in modern-day Turkey) in the early fourth century. Very little is known about his life, but what has been handed down tells of a pastor devoted to prayer and to the care of those who were sick or suffering. According to tradition, while Blaise was being taken to prison during a persecution of Christians, a desperate mother brought him her child who was choking on a fishbone. Blaise prayed for the child, who was immediately healed. From this story grew the Church’s long-standing association of St Blaise with illnesses of the throat.
The Blessing of Throats developed from this tradition and has been celebrated for many centuries. Using two candles held in the form of a cross, the priest prays that God will protect us from diseases of the throat and from every other illness. The words of the blessing remind us that God cares not only for our souls but for our bodies as well.
This blessing is not a guarantee that we will never be ill. Rather, it is a sign of trust: that in sickness and in health, God is with us.
This blessing has been very much on my mind over the last few weeks! I think I needed it last month!
I’m away at Walsingham for the Priest & Deacons retreat this week where I’ll be praying for healing for me, and will take all your prayer requests with me. (I’ll also be bringing home holy water from the well to aid in your blessings at home and healing prayers).
In love,
Fr. Matthew
Notices
Bread of Life Lent Course
Please sign up for the Lent Course at www.slsj.co.uk/bread or let me know directly as I need to order books. The first evening is on 19th February, 7pm and Wickham Hall. It runs for 6 weeks across Lent. It’s the ideal way to learn about the Eucharist and how it forms the model for everyday Christian Living.
New Mass Setting
We launched our new mass setting last week and I thought it went really well. If you’d like to practice, head to the website at www.slsj.co.uk/newmass/ where you can find the sheet music and music to sing along to.
Dates for the diary
Looking further ahead a few dates for your diary.
- 10th April, Bingo at St. Luke’s – eyes down 7pm.
- 2nd May, Quiz with fish & chips, 7pm, St. Luke’s.
- 5th September, Glastonbury Pilgrimage
Lent Course
Our Lent Course this year will be “Bread of Life’ – a six-week look at the Eucharist and why it forms the model of a good Christian Life. It’s great if you want to know WHY we do certain things at mass, and WHY they are important to your life everyday, not just Sunday. Starts 19th February, 2026
Funerals
We have two funerals in the coming weeks and I promised to share as soon as I had dates.
- Barbara Butler, 11th Feb’, 11am [SL]
- Linda Caunter, 12th Feb’, 11:30am [SJ]
Sunday 1st February
The Presentation of the Lord ⚪️
9am – Sung Parish Mass [SJ]
11:15am – Sung Parish Mass [SL]
Psalter Week 4, A(II), Epiphany 4 / Presentation
Upcoming Dates
February
7th – Chorals, Coffee, & Cake, 10am [SL]
18th – Ash Wednesday, Mass, 10am [SL], 6pm [SJ]
19th – Lent Course, Bread of Life, 7pm [WH]
21st – Table Top Sale, 10am [WH]
22nd – Stations of the Cross, Adoration & Benediction with Evening Prayer, 4pm [SL]
26th – Lent Course, Bread of Life, 7pm [WH]
March
5th – Lent Course, Bread of Life, 7pm [WH]
Stations of the Cross, 6pm [SJ]
8th – Explorers, 3pm [SC]
Stations of the Cross, Adoration & Benediction with Evening Prayer, 4pm [SL]
12th – Lent Course, Bread of Life, 7pm [WH]
15th – Solemn Evensong with Adoration & Benediction, 6pm [SJ]
19th – Stations of the Cross, 6pm [SJ]
Lent Course, Bread of Life, 7pm [WH]
21st – Table Top Sale, 10am [WH]
Rosary Group, 10:30am [SL]
22nd – Stations of the Cross, Adoration & Benediction with Evening Prayer, 4pm [SL]
26th – Oswestry Chrism Mass, Exeter Cathedral, 11am – 3pm
Lent Course, Bread of Life, 7pm [WH]
28th – Easter LIVE!, 2pm [SL]
29th – Palm Sunday Processions 10am [SL & SJ]
April
2nd – Maundy Thursday, 6pm Joint Mass [SL]
Watch at both churches until 10pm
Light arrives and Watch begins at St. John’s, 8:30pm
3rd – Liturgy of Good Friday, 3pm [SL & SJ]
4th – Vigil Mass of Easter, 7:30pm [SJ]
5th – Dawn Mass of Easter & Breakfast, 5:30am [SL]
Easter Sunday Mass, 10am [SL & SJ]
18th – Table Top Sale, 10am [WH]
25th – Oswestry Regional Festival, Truro Cathedral
St. Luke’s Women’s Group meets first Wednesday of every month.