St Anthony of Padua Anerley

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Page 129 – 132

Order of Mass: Pages 6 – 60

First Reading:  after the return to Jerusalem of the people from exile Ezra the scribe reads from the Book of the Law from a wooden dais.  This would become the way in which the scriptures were read in the synagogue, and the way in which the scriptures are proclaimed from the Ambo at Mass.

Psalm:  a psalm of praise of God, of his word, and of the Law which contains his word.

Second Reading:  for Paul the Church is not merely like a human body; it is Christ’s Body.  We become members by Baptism.  And although we are different parts of the Body of Christ, we are all equally necessary.  Preface VIII of Sundays expresses and develops this concept.

Today – as we continue the Jubilee Year of Mercy – we start Gospel Readings from Luke (known as ‘the evangelist of mercy’).  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61 – and applies it to Himself – a passage which could well be the basic text by which to understand this Jubilee Year.

Today is Racial Justice Day and a Day of Prayer for Justice and Peace in the World. 

Today is also in the Church Unity Octave, and a Day of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Fr David Gibbons,

Centre for Catholic Formation

Sunday Teas:

This and next Sunday’s teas will be served by the volunteers.

Thank you to all those who help out with the Sunday Teas.

 Last Sunday’s collections: The 1st collection was £1013.71p (including Gift Aided £574.00p). The 2nd collection for Parish Funds was £44.36p. Thank you for your generosity. The 2nd collection is for Racial Justice.

Baptism Preparation: The last (of three) Baptism Preparation session will be held on the on Monday 25th January at 7.30pm in the Church. It is important to have attended all three sessions.

London Evenings of Faith- January 2016: All are welcome to a series of talks on ‘Jesus Christ the key to life’ which will take place on alternate Tuesdays at 7:30pm. The next dates are: 26th January, 9th February, 23rd February and 8th March. Talks are held in the basement of 24 Golden Square, London W1F 9JR (Tube: Piccadilly Circus). Full dates and details are available at www.faith.org.uk/events/evenings-of-faith.

Jubilee Year of Mercy: Prayer and Study Day – On Saturday 30th January at 10.30am until 4pm at the Centre for Catholic Formation, 21 Tooting Bec Road, London SW17 8BS. Cost is £5 including a light lunch. Please register at the CCF (office@ccftootingbec.org.uk or 020 8672 7684). Nearest tube: Tooting Bec. Ample parking available.

Knights of St Columba Food Bank Collection: The Knights of St Columba collect for the Penge Food Bank on the last weekend of the month. The next collection will be next weekend (30th/31st January). Thank you for your kind donations.

UCM: Please note that the next UCM meeting will be on Monday 22nd February (one week later than usual due to the February half term school holiday).

Stations of the Cross Donation Envelopes: Please give these envelopes to the priest. If you are a gift aider then please put your gift number or name on the envelope. Do not put them in the Parish collection bags.

Faith and Mercy: Cymfed Adult Leaders’ Congress 2016 – the 2016 Congress takes place on Saturday 6th February 2016 at the Friend’s Meeting House, Euston Road, London.  The keynote speaker will be Fr. Andrew Small, the Head of the Pontifical Mission Society in North America – a post once held by Fulton Sheen.  Doors open at 10am ending at 4pm.  Book tickets for £11.49 each at https://t.co/mgtifBDy0W or for groups of 10 or more fill out a booking form (tickets at £10 each).

 Year of Mercy at St Anthony’s: There will be a series of presentations from Father Saju (from St Josephs Parish, Bromley) for the Year of Mercy.  The dates for these talks are Thursdays 25th February, 3rd March and 9th March at 7.30pm in the Parish Centre.  Please put these dates in your diary and come along.  All are welcome to attend.

The Women’s World Day of Prayer: The Women’s World Day of Prayer Service for Penge and Anerley will be held at Salvation Army, Maple Road, Penge on Friday 4th March at 7.30pm.  The service has been prepared by the Christian Women of Cuba and the theme for the service is ‘Receive children – receive me’ using the reading from Mark 10 v13 – 16.  Posters will be distributed to Churches in the next few weeks. We look forward to being part of this World Day of Prayer as a great wave of prayer encircles the earth as an estimated 3 million men, women and young people, in 170 countries and islands, join together in a day of prayer.

Job Vacancies: Ten Ten Theatre Company are looking for 4 actors aged between 18 and 45 to join the company throughout 2016.  Following a three-week rehearsal period in North London you will embark on a 9 month tour throughout the UK performing 3 very different but challenging plays.  You will be paid a professional actors rate.  Please email your cv, photo and covering note to Ten Ten Theatre explaining why you would like to be considered for this role.  Email: office@tententheatre.co.uk.

Please visit the Bishop Challoner school website (www.bishopchallonerschool.com) or contact 020 8460 3546 for information on several current vacancies at the school.

Notices for the newsletter need to be emailed/posted to the presbytery by 6pm on Thursdays.

MASS TIMES AND INTENTIONS (24 –  31st Jan 2016) (Year: C)