As the weather becomes colder, we’re all too conscious that summer is over and the autumn will soon be with us. The children’s liturgy starts up again this weekend. If you think your children would benefit from catechesis intended for those below First Holy Communion age, then do consider bringing them to the 4pm Mass on Sundays and taking them down to the Catechism Room before the start of Mass. Many thanks to the catechists for providing this service. Mass can seem rather “grown up”, and children often benefit from something tailored more towards their needs.

 

If your children are slightly older, and you would like to enrol them for the First Holy Communion course or the Confirmation course this year, then do collect the forms from the back of the church, or from the parish website, and see that they are returned to the Parish Office, duly completed, by the first weekend of October. The same applies to adults interested in learning more about the Catholic faith - forms for the RCIA course are available at the back of the church and on the website.

 

October, of course, is the month of the holy rosary. The reason is that the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary falls on 7 October, this being the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, when the victory of the Christian powers was attributed to the fervent prayers offered to Our Lady. During the month of October, the rosary will be recited in the Lady Chapel after the evening Mass on weekdays. If you would like to help lead this devotion, please hand in your name to Mark Carter at spanishplacelegion@rcdow.org.uk or else leave a note in the Parish Office.

 

On Monday 7 October there will be a “rosary pilgrimage” from St James’s Church to the Rosary Shrine in Haverstock Hill, organised by Radio Maria, England. It is expected that the participants will assemble for the lunchtime Mass at St James’s and then take a picnic lunch in Regent’s Park before beginning the 3-mile walk to the Rosary Shrine, praying the rosary on the way. In the evening, at the Rosary Shrine, there will be Adoration at 5pm followed by Mass at 6 pm and rosary at 7pm transmitted on Radio Maria. There will be a reception in the Hall there afterwards.

 

Tragically, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is also the anniversary of the outbreak of the current conflict in the Holy Land. In order to help raise funds for the support of Christians in the Holy Land, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (Lieutenancy of England and Wales) is holding the ninth Jerusalem Ball on 12 October. Full details can be found at https://jerusalemball.org.uk.

 

The Holy Father is now back in Rome, having completed his 11-day Apostolic Visit to south-east Asia. Some of the countries he visited there have been described as the most religiously diverse in the world. He was eager to emphasise the positive contribution that Christians in general, and Catholics in particular, can make to the national dialogue, while fully respecting the different religious convictions of the majority of their conationals. Now the Holy Father will be preparing for the next phase of the Synod, to be held in Rome during the month of October. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the participants so that the Holy Father’s desire to offer young people a “listening Church” can be realized.   

 

Next Saturday, 21 September, sees the feast of Saint Matthew, an important occasion for the Holy Father, as it was on that day, in 1953, that he had a powerful experience of God’s mercy and felt called to enter the Society of Jesus. The famous Caravaggio painting of the call of Matthew, housed at the church of Saint Louis des Français in Rome, speaks powerfully to the Holy Father, and indeed the motto he has chosen for his Papacy, “miserando atque eligendo”, comes from Saint Bede’s commentary on the call of Matthew. It means “looking at him with mercy and choosing him”, and it conveys something of the mystery of vocation.

 

In this coming week, our former intern, another Matthew, begins his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, which was the parting gift offered to him by the parish. We accompany him with our prayers and we commend him to the intercession of Saint James as he makes this journey and we pray that the experience will bring many graces and blessings. Meanwhile, we are pleased to welcome Simon Cochrane, who is now working here as Parish Assistant. Many of you will have had an opportunity to meet him already. Father John Njorteah is about to depart for a well-earned break in his native Nigeria, but we look forward to welcoming him back early in October. In the meantime, we are most grateful to the local priests who provide such generous assistance while one or other of us is absent. The work of building up the Kingdom of God continues apace in London WI!