23 couples came to our marriage preparation day on Saturday. Fr Daniel spoke about the Church’s understanding of the sacrament of marriage, Rupert & Gwen Sheppard gave a beautiful presentation about their 37 years of marriage, Fr Dominic took the participants through the wedding ceremony and they also heard about the advantages and scientific case for Natural Family Planning.
NOVENA & BENEDICTION: 16th-24th May
Weekdays 6.30pm; Sat/Sun 6pm
SOLEMN FIRST VESPERS, BENEDICTION & VENERATION OF THE RELIC:
Sunday 25th May 5.15pm
SOLEMN PONTIFICAL MASS
Monday 26th May 6pm
Celebrated by
the Right Reverend Robert Byrne, Cong. Orat.,
Bishop of Cuncacestre
Much fun was had by our younger parishioners at last Saturday’s Easter fair, which included an Easter egg hunt and a bonnet competition. The fair raised money for this summer’s pilgrimage to Austria and Bavaria and for Mary’s Meals.
With the whole Church we rejoice at the canonisations today in Rome of St John XXIII and St John Paul II; we ask their prayers for our Oratory and Parish.
St John XXIII had a strong personal devotion to St Philip. On his Feast Day in 1903, calling to mind the Mass of St Philip he had just attended at the Chiesa Nuova, he wrote in his journal, “St Philip is one of the saints most familiar to me and his name is linked with so many dear and personal memories. I feel I have a special love for him and I commend myself to him most trustfully … O my good Father Philip, you understand me even if I do not put my thoughts into words. Time is drawing on; where is that faithful copy of you I was to have made of myself? … Blessed Philip, help me to prepare my soul as a dwelling for the Holy Spirit. I lean my frozen heart closer to yours which burns with love and with the Holy Spirit. Make my heart burn too.”
On his first St Philip’s Day as Pope in 1979, St John Paul II went to the Chiesa Nuova to pray for the people of Rome. On that occasion he said, “I could not fail to visit this holy place, loved by the Romans, to venerate the one who was designated ‘The Apostle of Rome’, St Philip Neri, the Joint Patron Saint of this noble city. My coming was a duty, it was a need of the soul and it was also an anxious expectation! … St Philip continues to be our ‘Father’. Let us invoke him! Let us listen to him … convinced that he who loved Rome so much when he was alive, continues to protect and help his sons.”
St John XXIII, St John Paul II, and, of course, St Philip, pray for us!
Divine Mercy Sunday will be even more special this year with the canonisations of Bd John Paul II, who instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy, and Bd John XXIII.
We will be having the usual Divine Mercy Devotions on Sunday afternoon. They will start with the chaplet and blessing of images at 2:40pm. After the three o’clock prayer, there will be Mass, followed by Adoration and Benediction at 4:30pm. Confessions will be heard during that time.
The book of Oratorian propers for the Extraordinary Form Mass and Office has long been difficult to obtain — it has not been reprinted since 1962!
It has now been newly typeset, and is available to buy from Lulu.
It contains the prayers, texts and music required to sing all of the Divine Office on the feast of St Philip Neri, and the Matins readings for Blessed Anthony Grassi, Blessed Sebastian Valfrè and Blessed John Juvenal Ancina.
It also has an appendix containing the longer Matins readings for the three Beati dating from before 1962, which are also difficult to obtain.
Our other books can be seen in the Publications section of the website.
A very happy and holy Easter to you all, from all the Fathers and Brothers.
The wood carver in Germany who is producing a new St Anthony, to replace that burnt on 2nd October, has sent the following pictures of the statue emerging from the wood:
The completed statue should be ready and will be blessed on the feast of St Anthony of Padua, 13th June.
Last weekend we had an appeal at all Masses by Mr Robin Aitken on behalf of our Lent Project, the Oxford Food Bank. From the Second Collection and other donations we have thus far raised £2197.41 (inc. Gift Aid).
The Oxford Food Bank collects good quality fresh food from the local supermarkets and wholesalers, and delivers it for free to numerous local registered charities. For every £1 the Food Bank receives in donations, it delivers at least £25 worth of fruit, vegetables, bread, and dairy products. Whilst the Food Bank is a very efficient operation, it does need funds to keep going. For more information, take a look at the website at http://www.oxfordfoodbank.co.uk
There is still more time to make donations. They should be sent to the Parish Priest, Fr Anton, before Low Sunday (Divine Mercy Sunday), 27th April.
Designed and painted by Mrs Freddie Quartley.
