News for week of 2nd May

News for week of 2nd May

May, month of Mary

Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

May is here and with it comes the tradition of honouring Our Lady – not just for a day, or even a few days – but for a whole month.

Buy why do we do this? The tradition goes back centuries, but as with many of the traditions surrounding Our Lady it found its modern form in the medieval period. 

May was seen as a month in which the darkness of winter had finally been expelled and the coming of summer, of good crops, of long warm evenings and joyful times with friends outside had finally arrived.

Our Lady (seen here in her Icon – Our Lady of Perpetual Help) has always taken us to her son, Jesus. 

She helps us expel the darkness in our lives and to see the coming of warmth and love in the world. She helps us see the Hope that Jesus brings, she helps us feel the warmth of His love for us. 

So during this month we will be honouring Our Lady by singing the Regina Coeli (Joy to Thee of Queen of Heaven!) after Mass each day and also after Evening Prayer. It’s easy to learn and there will be print outs in the church and online to help. 

It’s also a good month to learn how to pray the rosary if you don’t already know. I’ve printed out some guides and put some rosaries at the back of church for you. Come on Wednesday evenings this month and join in this ancient prayer. 

Pray for Our Lady’s Perpetual Help. 

Fr. Matthew

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Other news

Thank you very much for Fr. Angus for covering whilst Fr. Matthew was away. Thank you also to David for keeping our daily thoughts focused on the WhatsApp group. 

It looks like we’ll be able to start serving coffee and tea after mass from Sunday 23rd May. If you’d like to help organising that please speak to Fr. Matthew

We will have our first bric-a-brac sale for a very long time on Saturday 22nd May. 11am – 1pm 

Fr. Matthew has new rosary guides and rosaries available for anyone who wants to learn how to pray the rosary during Our Lady’s month of May. 

The APCM is on the 9th May immediately after Mass. Keep an eye out for reports over the coming week or so. 

Don’t forget to consider setting up regular giving with the Parish Giving Scheme. Call 0333 002 1271 with your bank details to hand and quote our Parish
Code – 230 623 503 or visit www.stanselm.co.uk/giving