The Epiphany falls on a Tuesday this year.  Last year, when it fell on a Monday, it was kept the previous day, because our bishops have proposed that Holydays of Obligation occurring on a Saturday or a Monday be transferred to the nearest Sunday.  This means that we do not normally have the obligation to attend Mass on two successive days.  We do, however, have an obligation to attend Mass on the Epiphany.  There will be a 7.15am Mass that day and a celebration according to the 1962 Missal at 11am, in addition to the two regular weekday Masses.  The Vigil Mass on 5 January also fulfils the obligation.   The choir will sing at the 6pm Mass on Tuesday 6 January.

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The Order of Malta, as usual, is offering a service of blessing of Holy Water and chalk at 7pm on the eve of the Epiphany, that is to say, on Monday 5 January.  All are welcome.

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The feast of the Epiphany has a much deeper significance than the almost fairy-tale narrative of the visit of the three wise men from the East which forms the Gospel for that day.  It indicates that our Saviour’s birth was good news not only for the people of Israel, but for Gentiles like ourselves and for seekers all over the world who want to understand more about God and his plan for our salvation.  It is a good occasion for us to remember in our prayers the many seekers known to us and perhaps to encourage them to consider joining us.

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One of the customs associated with the Feast of the Epiphany is the proclamation, just after the Gospel, of the date of Easter and the moveable feasts of the year.  In these days of internet, most people can find out easily enough that Easter 2026 falls on 5 April and Ash Wednesday on 18 February, so we do not follow this optional practice here at St James’s.  

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We do, however, offer an Epiphany Carol Service, our final Christmas event, which this year will take place on Saturday 10 January at 4.30pm.  Do come if you can, especially if you were away for the principal Christmas services.  It will be good to gather as a parish community once again.  There will be a reception in the Social Centre after the celebration, to which all are welcome.

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The very short season of Christmastide ends with the feast of the Lord’s Baptism on the following day, 11 January, which happens also to be the day when the children’s liturgy starts up again after the Christmas break.

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Do please note that on Sunday 18 January we will be holding a farewell for Father John Njorteah after the 10.30am Mass.  We are sorry to see him go, but we understand that he was only ever with us on a temporary basis.  It should come as little surprise that his archbishop has decided to recall him.  We wish him well for his future ministry at a school in Nigeria, where we are confident that he will do well.  Before Father John’s departure, we hope to be able to welcome Father Domenico Lando, who is due to arrive in the parish a few days after Father John’s farewell.  Father Lando expects to be with us for three years, and now that he has obtained his visa, he is able to make plans for his period of ministry at Spanish Place.

 

As we begin a new year it is customary to make resolutions.  In the Christian life, it is always appropriate to make resolutions, as we seek to grow in holiness and virtue.  Lent is the favoured time for resolutions, but there is no particular Christian significance to the practice of making resolutions at the start of January.  There is, however, a solemn blessing for the beginning of the year as well as a set of Mass prayers for the “Beginning of the Civil Year” among the numerous “Masses for Various Needs and Occasions”.  These include a Mass “for fine weather”, which seems a highly appropriate intention in this country.

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A particular intention for our prayer at this time concerns our Archbishop Emeritus, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, for whom we pray that he may be granted many years of blessed retirement, not to mention our new Archbishop, Richard Moth, who is to be installed on Saturday 14 February at Westminster Cathedral.  Bishop Richard will be our Archbishop from that day on, though whether he is to become a Cardinal at some point is a personal choice made by the Holy Father.  Vincent Nichols became a cardinal almost five years after assuming the ministry of Archbishop of Westminster and is now likely to remain a Cardinal for the rest of his life.  Once the ceremony has taken place, it is often hard to remember a time when our Archbishop was not yet a member of the Sacred College.

 

So our new Archbishop will be in office for the whole of Lent.  One of his first major public appearances, after the Ash Wednesday liturgy, will be the Rite of Election, held at Westminster Cathedral on the first Saturday of Lent, that is to say on 21 February.  This is the occasion when catechumens and candidates from RCIA programmes around the diocese are formally welcomed and launched into the final stage of intense spiritual preparation for their baptism and/or confirmation at the Easter Vigil.  We pray for our own catechumens and candidates as they take this significant step forward in their journey of faith.

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Father John and I would like to wish all our parishioners and worshippers a very Happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year and to welcome back those who have been travelling.  We renew our thanks for the many kind Christmas greetings we have received and for your generous contribution to the Christmas collection.  Praised be Jesus Christ, praised for evermore.

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