Celebrating Christmas early or

fancy treating yourself to a fuss

-free roast Our turkey dinner

is just the ticket Tuck into ten-

der British turkey crispy roast-

ies stuffing pigs in blankets a

Yorkshire pudding and veggies

ndash YUM

Parish of St Wilfrid Burgess Hill

and St Edward the Confessor Keymer

with

St Georgersquos Convent Ditchling

and St Annersquos Convent Burgess Hill

Parish Priest Father Rick McGrath with Father Maksym Krat

Deacon Liam McIlvenny liammcilvennyabdioceseorguk

Priestrsquos House Station Road Burgess Hill RH15 9EN

Tel 01444 232358 email burgesshillabdioceseorguk wwwstwilfridsbhcom

Parish Office open 9am - 3pm Tuesday Thursday Friday

Sunday 31 January 2021 ~ Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary Cycle B - Year I

~ RIP ~

Of your charity please pray for the Repose of the Soul of

Father Martin Jakubas

Retired priest of Haywards Heath who died on Friday morning

29 January 2021

We offer our sympathy and prayers to his family friends and Sisters at

St Georgersquos May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the

mercy of God rest in peace Amen

First Holy Communion 2021 Thank you to those parents who have collected their childrsquos First Holy Communion workbook As mentioned previously we have decided to distribute the FHC workbooks to the children and families on the programme This way the parents and children can start familiarising themselves with the programme at home Our FHC Team have also emailed guidance and instructions plus additional resources and ideas to help the children engage with their faith

The most important part of the programme is attending Mass with your child (and possibly revisiting it yourself) Please do take time to schedule both the workbook topics and Mass into your week weekend We appreciate itrsquos after a week of home schooling but hopefully this can be presented in a recreational way itrsquos not homework and the book is presented in a friendly format So with you as parents showing your commitment to the workbook and attending Mass online or actually the message you send to your child about faith will be visible

You can join the live streamed Mass at 630 pm Saturdays and 930 am Sundays via the website link If yoursquore running late or miss it our Masses stay on the YouTube channel indefinitely so you can always find one

Please do share this information with other parents who may have missed the original FHC email Thank you

Confirmation 2021

Just to reassure you we have not forgotten the Confirmation programme and candidates Details of where and when Confirmation will take place to

be advised

The work at St Edwardrsquos continues As I need to write these lines early I have to say that the painting should be done by the time you read this but if there are problems or delays possibly not They will need to come back anyway to touch up after the new lighting is installed which will be on a day here and a day there over the next two weeks Masses as usual and when the lighting and painting are finished we will think about the floors Meanwhile we should have ldquopermissionrdquo from the Diocese to proceed with the very expensive project of the roof This should have been done first of course but we had to lsquograbrsquo the work force when we could At least the roof doesnrsquot seem to be leaking much so hopefully no harm will be done You may or may not have noticed that the large trees behind the church have disappeared A great shame as the cedar particularly was magnificent - but the retaining and boundary wall is collapsing more and more with each rain storm and quite dangerous It urgently needs to be replaced We will also take out a few small trees on our side and then proceed in cooperation with our neighbours to replace the wall though probably not with brick

Irsquove mentioned this before when I was studying French in school each chapter of our French grammar had a saying which we were always required to memorise I still remember ldquoPetit a petit lrsquooiseau fait son nidrdquo ldquoLittle by little the bird makes its nestrdquo Thatrsquos what all these projects feel like The various lockdowns have probably helped more than hindered in the process so ldquoit is an ill windrdquo etc but thatrsquos enough of folk sayings Wersquore getting there Stay careful stay well and God bless you all Father Rick

Diocesan Announcement Lent starts on Ash Wednesday 17 February 2021 You are Invited to join our diocesan mission taking place on Mondays and Thursdays during Lent How can we encourage people who have disengaged from their faith how can we offer solace and comfort to those who are on the fringes We will explore our own relationship with God to help us discover who we are in the eyes of God This exciting free programme is open to people of all ages and backgrounds For more information on the content of the programme please visit wwwabdioceseorguknewsinvited-lent-2021

On Tuesday 2 February the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of The Presentation of the Lord which occurs forty days after the birth of Jesus It is an early episode in the life of Jesus described in St Lukersquos Gospel The narrative combines Maryrsquos purification rite with the Jewish ceremony of the redemption of the firstborn officially inducting Jesus into Judaism It is also known as Candlemas Day with many Christian countries holding candlelit processions The blessing of candles on this day recalls Simeons reference to the infant Jesus as the light for revelation to the Gentiles (Luke 232)

Prayers for the sick Mass Intentions ~ from Saturday 30 January 2021

Sat 30 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

500 pm St Edwardrsquos People of the Parish

630 pm St Wilfridrsquos Doris and Graham Thorne RIP

Sun 31 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

930 am St Wilfridrsquos For vocations to the priesthood from

our parish and our diocese

1100 am St Georgersquos Renata Sapieha RIP

Mon 1 Feb Feria in Ordinary Time Week 4

915 am St Wilfridrsquos Alison Riley RIP

1000 am St Georgersquos Nancy and Ernie Gray RIP

Tues 2 Feast ~ The Presentation of the Lord

930 am St Edwardrsquos Kurt Carey RIP

1100 am St Annersquos Pauline Allen RIP

100 pm St Edwardrsquos Funeral Service for Lorna Betts RIP

Wed 3 Feria in Ordinary Time Week 4 915 am St Wilfridrsquos Gillian Morewood RIP

1000 am St Georgersquos Bernard Bryan RIP

Thurs 4 Feria in Ordinary Time Week 4

915 am St Wilfridrsquos Intentions amp well-being of Natalie Malevsky

1000 am St Georgersquos Robert Kerwin RIP

Fri 5 Memorial ~ Sister Agatha Virgin and Martyr First Friday Day of abstinence

915 am St Wilfridrsquos Jogravesef i Wiera Dziedzic RIP

1000 am St Georgersquos Intentions of Sister Mary Agatha Feast Day

Sat 6 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

500 pm St Edwardrsquos Terence Howlett RIP

630 pm St Wilfridrsquos Intentions of Her Majesty the Queen

on the 69th anniversary of her succession

to the throne

Sun 7 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

930 am St Wilfridrsquos Alec Fulton RIP

1100 am St Georgersquos People of the Parish

Please remember in your prayers those from our community who are unable to join us for Mass Michael Breden Joan de Lacey Daniel Dempsey Dorik Frantz Father George Vincent (India) Haslum Owen Gotting Pam Hocken Anne Johansson Mary Klimek Pearl Makayi Zoltan Mundi Alex Murray Sister Pat (Convent of the Poor Clares Crossbush) Caroline Powell Damian Sewell Barry Sexton Ann Walsh Patricia (Pat) Weatherseed Sheila White Angela Wilkinson Fiona Wright and all those with long term illnesses

In order to keep the Prayer List up to date - names will remain on for six months If you have a name you would like added please advise the parish office Thank you

The harvest is rich but the labourers

are few Our Mass Intention this Sunday is for vocations to

the priesthood and religious life We have students studying for the priesthood at Wonersh Seminary (which is due to close later this year) so please see the Prayer for Vocations below and pray for them and for those answering the call to religious life

Lord grant to our Diocese the gift of priests filled with zeal for your Word and with dedication in the service of your people that your Church may be nourished through the Sacraments and strengthened for the mission to which you have called us Grant also the courage to answer the call to religious life to men and women who will share in that mission of love and service For you are Lord for ever and ever Amen

Diocesan Announcement AampB Lourdes Pilgrimage Each year around 700 pilgrims journey to Lourdes with the Arundel amp Brighton Diocesan Pilgrimage This yearrsquos pilgrimage is in discussion For those who wish to donate on-line to the AampB Lourdes Pilgrimage Appeal Collection the following information shows how this can be done using the AampB Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage website Go to the website using this link AampB Lourdes Pilgrimage Website or the website address httpswwwabdioceseorguklourdeshome Click on the button on the right-hand side of the screen Please then click on the button in the middle of the page and follow the instructions If you have any questions please contact the AampB Lourdes Pilgrimage Office either by email on lourdesofficeabdioceseorguk or call 01403 740110 Thank you

Homily The theme of this weekrsquos readings seems to be ldquoteachingrdquo Of course we listen to the cycle of readings every day and every week precisely to be taught so it is fair to say that all the scriptures to a greater or lesser extent are there to teach us In the passage from Deuteronomy Moses is leading and teaching the people and part of that teaching is to remind them that God will raise up other prophets but that they need to be careful to weigh what they hear carefully because there are false prophets It is interesting to note that he refers to those who speak in the name of ldquoother godsrdquo and we are reminded that Godrsquos revelation of himself was gradual and cumulative The Jews of Mosesrsquo time knew that God was their God and that they could worship no others but they assumed that other people had their own gods perhaps less powerful perhaps less personal and loving but nevertheless real It took time and patience and lots of teaching to bring them to the understanding that only God was God and there were no other gods

Paul is teaching as well Remember that he like most of the early church thought that Jesusrsquos return to the earth to bring all things together in the Kingdom of Heaven was probably imminent and the fewer ldquoworldlyrdquo distractions we had the better This passage also of course sums up one of the Scriptural (as opposed to practical) reasons for clerical celibacy a married man has got to be concerned about his wife and family first Paul seems to criticise this only from the point of view of serving the church and in other places talks about how good Christian husbands and wives behave also to the glory of God and the service of the church

There is a wonderful line is our Gospel passage ldquoHis teaching made a deep impression on them because unlike the scribes he taught them with authorityrdquo That is crucial If we do not think that God speaks with authority that the Scriptures speak with authority that the Church speaks with authority then we can have no confidence and therefore no sense of direction This does not mean we cannot question or challenge but it does mean that at some point we have to have the humility to understand that perhaps we are not the final authority and to look to God the scriptures the Church as the place where we find authority Not always easy His teaching made a deep impression on them because unlike the scribes he taught them with lsquoauthorityrsquo