Dearest friends,
Sometimes praying for one person to come to know Jesus is the most powerful prayer there is.
This week we celebrate the life and work of St. Monica. She is one of the lesser know saints – which is a huge shame because the example of her life and her prayers are vital to our understanding of what being a christian is all about.
She was born in Africa to a Christian family and married quite young to non-Christian family. She retained her faith and had several children. One of those children was called Augustine.
Augustine was a very intelligent child, but as he grew his morals came more from his father than his mother. He was… shall we say… wayward.
Monica watched her son and cried for him. Through those tears she prayed that her son would come to know Jesus and would leave his wayward life behind.
She didn’t just pray for a short while. She didn’t pray for him during lent or advent. She didn’t offer a novena for him. She prayed for him each and every day, several times a day every day of his life.
Shortly before she died Augustine came to her and offered himself to Jesus. He converted to Christianity on her deathbed and in that moment her prayers were answered.
Thanks to her unceasing prayer for the conversion of one man The Church was given one of its greatest thinkers, theologians and apologists.
Without her love for her son and her faith in prayer we would be so much poorer.
Who are you praying for?
Fr. Matthew.
Notices
Service Times
|From Sunday 7th September service times will move to 9am and St. John’s and 11:15am at St. Luke’s. I continue to work on a solution that would allow both churches to return to a 10am mass.Thank you for your support in making this work.
Autumn / Christmas Meeting
On the 25th September at 7pm in Wickham Hall we’ll hold our termly planning meeting for the Autumn Term and for Christmas services. We learnt much last year and I’ll publish those notes ahead of the meeting. If you would like to see something happen over the Autumn or have ideas of what kind of services you’d like over Christmas, this is a must attend meeting.
Refreshing the prayer list
Next Sunday I’ll be refreshing the prayer list. I’ll remove everyone from the list and start with a new one, if you’d like someone to remain on this list please speak to me this week.
Explorers Planning Meeting
In September we’re planning on holding our first ‘Explorers’ service at St. Catherine’s School in Heathfield. This is vital to the future of St. John’s as it will be our primary path to talking and walking with families across the area. It’ll be a place for us to try new ideas and get things wrong, a place to play and a place to learn. We need as much wisdom and prayer as possible and that’s where you come in. Can you help be part of a dedicated group who will meet each month to pray for Explorers? This will be a virtual prayer group on WhatsApp. Can you come and help set up tables or move things around? Can you come to the planning meeting and offer your thoughts or encouragement. Whatever it is you have to offer, please consider coming to the planning meeting on Thursday 21st at 6pm in Wickham Hall.
Sunday 24th August
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 🟢
9:15am – Sung Parish Mass [SJ]
11am – Sung Parish Mass [SL]
Divine Office Psalter Week 1, C(I), Trinity 10, Proper 16
Upcoming Dates
August
21st – Explorers Planning Meeting, 6pm [SJ]
31st – Joint Mass, 10am [SJ]
Summer BBQ, 12pm – 5pm [SJ]
Evensong, West Ogwell Church (TQ12 6EW), 5:30pm
September
25th – Autumn / Christmas Planning Meeting, 7pm, [WH]
No Ladies Group in August
No midweek mass during August instead, Coffee & Natter, Tuesday’s [SJ] & Wednesday’s [SL] 10am
St. Luke’s Men’s Group meets every Friday for mass at 10am anddiscussion afterwards. [SL]