St. Benedict’s R.C. ChurchOwen Street, AtherstoneWarwickshire CV9 1DGTele:01827 713177Parish Priest: Mgr. Paul Watsonwww.st-benedicts-church-atherstone.org.uk

Finance Secretary: Jo Howe 01827 750214Newsletter: Brian Ingram 01827 704858email: brianingramocds@gmail.com

DATE TIME MASS INTENTION READINGS

Sat 13th Feb 4:00pm

Vigil Mass 1st Sunday of

Lent

Joe & KevinNally

Deut 26:4-10Ps 90

Rom 10:8-13Lk 4:1-13

Sun 14th Feb 09:30am

1st Sunday of

LentParish As Saturday

Vigil

Mon 15th Feb - Lent

Feria ParishLev 19:1-18

Ps 18Mat 25:31-46

Tue 16th Feb

2:00pm7:00pm7:30pm

Lent Feria

Funeral ServiceMass

Unwrapping Scripture

Is 55:10-11Ps 33

Mat 6:7-15

Weds 17th Feb 10:00am Lent

Feria ParishJonah 3:1-10

Ps 50Lk 11:29-32

Thur 18th Feb 7:00pm

Lent Feria Parish

Esther 4:17Ps 137

Mat 7:7-12

Fri 19th Feb 10:00am Lent

Feria ParishEze 18:21-28

Ps 129Mat 5:20-26

Sat 20th Feb 4;00pm

Vigil Mass 2nd Sunday

of Lent

Bocarro Fam-ily

Gen 15:5-18Ps 26

Phil 3:20-4:1Lk 9:28-36

Sun 21st Feb 09:30am

2nd Sunday of

LentParish As Saturday

Vigil

MORNING OFFERING

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my

prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout

the world. I offer them for the in-tentions of your Sacred Heart, the salvation of souls, reparation of sin, and the reunion of all Chris-tians. I offer them for the inten-tions of our Bishops and of all

apostles of prayer, and in particu-lar for those intentions recom-mended by our Holy Father for

this month. Amen

The Liturgy & Ministry of the Church Readers this week Sat: K. Doran

Sun: M. HeathReaders next week Sat: M. Bourne Sun: M. Reed

Offertory Procession: M & V HeathNext week : M & J ReedEucharistic Ministers: D. Leaper T. WillmottNext week : T. Wright D. DickensChurch Cleaning : Mr & Mrs. WrobelAltar Society : No flowers during LentCounters Next Week : L. Callery A. Baines

1st SUNDAY of LENT

The Sick and their CarersPlease pray for:Father Paul, Father Andrew, Pat & Maureen Burke, Bridie Sim-mons, Ada Russell, Winifred Jones, Charlotte Smith, Kath Ford, Ursula Cope, Patri-cia Carter, Christina Chetwynd, Olive Fortune, Victor John Zeslawski, Bridie Hoban and Michael Chetwynd Please remember our housebound parishioners in your prayers, Marion Burrows, Marie Ahern and John and Ann Kelly.

AnniversariesWe pray for all of our deceased relatives and friends, especially those who’s an-niversaries fall at this time. Andrew Hall, Norah Simpson, Joe Nally, Dennis Free-man, Frances Taylor, Alf Foster, Sister Gabriel, Jim, Norton, Mary Margaret Dieg-nan, Louisa Emily Charnell, Mary Philomela Marsh, Marjorie Nolan, Cecelia Fel-lows, Bernard Charnell, Joe Clinton and Susan Anne Eaves. May they Rest in Peace.

Money MattersCollections last week: 1st. £186:10 Maint. Fund £82:96Direct Debit Nov: 1st. £432 Maint. Fund £54Tote: £ 10:83 Snowball Other:

With Fr. Paul’s return, we can now fulfil Mass Intentions once again.

THE NEW ROTAS ARE NOW ON THE NO-TICE BOARD, THANKS TO MIKE HEATH AND MAUREEN REED FOR THEIR HARD WORK IN COLLATING AND PRINTING THEM.MORE VOLUNTEERS ARE STILL NEEDED FOR VARIOUS MINISTRIES, PLEASE SEE MIKE HEATH IF YOU CAN HELP!

Thank you for your continued support of the Food Bank at Bedworth Salvation Army, Envoy John Vale and his team are doing a fantastic job, no one in need is turned away. All donations of food are gratefully received, if you can help, the green container is in the church porch, THANK YOU.

URGENT APPEAL:

MICHAEL CHETWYND IS BEING ADMITTED TO UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL COVENTRY ON THE 17TH FEBRUARY AND IS DUE TO HAVE AN OPERATION FOR CANCER ON THE 18TH, CAN ANYONE PLEASE GIVE CHRISTINA A LIFT ON THE DATES BETWEEN 18-19TH AND 21ST - 23RD FEB. VISITING HOURS ARE BE-TWEEN 2:00 - 4:00PM EACH DAY. CHRISTINA WILL BE HAPPY TO PAY PETROL AND PARKING FEES.IF YOU CAN HELP PLEASE SEE CHRISTINA AFTER MASS, OR SEE BRIAN INGRAM.WITHOUT OUR HELP CHRISTINA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO VISIT MICHAEL DURING THIS VERY TRYING TIME!

Tuesday 16th Feb - Tuesday 22nd March. Tuesday evenings after Mass, a series of meetings to unveil the Scriptures. Final meeting followed by shared supper. All Welcome

2:00pm Tuesday 16th February there will be a funeral service for Andrew Hall, followed by Committal at Nuneaton Cremato-rium at 3:00pm

when they gathered on the sanctuary and I opened the taberna-cle for them to see where the Blessed Sacrament is present.  

They were filled wonder and reverenced Our Lord in the tabernacle - even though one or two, on seeing the white host, were distracted by the thought of white chocolate drops!!

We also looked at the various statues and the reason for the can-dle stands beside the statues of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart. Before leaving the two classes lit candles and prayed for any children who were missing that day as well as for their families especially if they are sick. It was a great joy to see the children having experiences of exercising the "Spiritual Works of Mercy" (Praying for the Sick). It was an appropriate moment for this be-cause the day before in School, all of the children began the sea-son of Lent by receiving the Ashes as a sign that they were going to do some acts of mercy, as well as acts of self-denial, during this time.  The Ashes this year were particularly black, so that crosses on their foreheads were especially evident.  I suspect that the children were just pleased that on one day of the year, at least, they were allowed to have dirty faces!

Perhaps we can take example from the little children and think about ways in which we can exercise the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy as part of our Lenten discipline and penance. The Corporal Works of Mercy are the more concrete, practical acts of providing for those who are hungry or thirsty in our world - and more generally, acts of kindness and generosity in the face of any kind of neediness that we might meet day by day. Let's be on the lookout to do such an act each day.  Such positive acts, can be underpinned by our private acts of self-denial, as well as spiritual works such as prayer, reading Scripture (Walk with Me or Bible Alive), devotions such as The Stations of the Cross or a Mass during the week, and giving forgiveness to those who may have offended us in some way.  This Lent can be a time of great blessing; a time to grow in mercy!

I want to thank you all for your prayers for me. A recent scan shows that I am clear of anything sinister.

God bless,

Sat/Sun 13/14th FebruaryFrom Paul to the Benedictines

Well I managed to get away for a break a week ago. I had origi-nally planned two weeks, but at the beginning of the first week I managed to get a chest infection. And so, armed with antibiotics I laid low in the presbytery feeling a bit sorry for myself. How many times does it happen that when you are ready to take a break and stop everything, your body decides to throw a span-ner in the works and tells you it's got other ideas than the ones you had planned - Que sera, sera!  However, in the second week, I did go to Tenerife, which was lovely and helped with recharging the batteries.  I would say that it is really good to be back, ex-cept that this week has felt really cold! I was reflecting on the fact that our word "Lent" comes from an old English word for "springtime" (Lenctern - I think!). Not very appropriate, this year at least - and I gather that there's snow on the way this week-end. The gritters were out on Friday evening - you don't see many of those in Tenerife!

In my previous letter, before my break, I mentioned that the Re-ception Class from St Benedict's School were going to make a pilgrimage to the Church for the Holy Year of Mercy. Well, it took place on Thursday. Actually, the children of Year 2 also came along with them to hold their hands. It was a really special time that we spent in the Church - exploring a number of the different items in the Church. They were quite excited about various things - including the Hymn Board!!!  I must say that I hadn't planned on talking about that!  We did talk about the Baptismal Font and I showed them the Baptism Register which contained the record of their baptisms and many more besides. The first entry in the Register we are using at the moment was made in 1945! I told them too that it will eventually also record the de-tails of their getting married no matter where in the world that might happen.  I wonder if it gave them a little insight into a sense of belonging to the very history of their parish. We cer-tainly wanted them to know that this is their Church - and the place where they can come and meet Jesus. One highlight was

Chinthowa Development Trust is look-ing for computers for the school in Malawi, if you have upgraded you computer/laptop and could donate your surplus machines, please see Brian or Margaret Ingram. You could make a big difference in our school!

Prayer for Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy

Lord Jesus Christ,You have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,

and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.Show us your face and we will be saved.

Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;

made Peter weep after his betrayal,and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.

Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samari-tan woman:

“If you knew the gift of God!”You are the visible face of the invisible Father,

of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.

You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weaknessin order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:

let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,

and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Amen

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OCTAVE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY18th - 25th JANUARY 2016

Preacher to the Papal Household, Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., writes:"Lent is not just a time of self-deprivation; it is also a time for correcting one's path, for rectifying one's intentions. This, perhaps, is the best spiritual exercise that we can do during Lent."

MANY THANKS TO VAL DICKENS AND HER HELPERS FOR THE WONDERFUL EVENING OF PANCAKES AND FANTASTIC FILLINGS.