Churches Working Together in Worksop

presents a Songs of Praise Sunday 19th September 4pm in the grounds of Worksop's historic Priory Church (inside if inclement weather). All welcome to come and join in the celebration Please bring your own chairs Any singers will be welcome at a choir practice at 3pm in church.

Evensong & Benediction will follow at 6pm

Wednesday 8th 7.30pm

The Nativity Our Lady Patronal Festival Mass

Preacher:

The Rt. Rev'd Martin Warner Master of the Walsingham Guardians

Please invite family & friends and anyone who has had Priory connections in the past.

Saturday 18 th September the Priory is hosting the Ecumenical Friends of Fatima Festival. Mass at 12noon followed by lunch (£8 please sign the list in Church).

Then Rosary, Procession and Benediction.

All welcome.

From the Priest In Charge

If I was to give September 2010 a theme it would be “Come ye thankful people come”. Not just because the harvest is being gathered in around us and we are preparing to celebrate it with thanksgiving, nor just because it is the beginning of a new academic year and so new experiences for many of you and yours. “Come ye thankful people” because I feel greatly blessed to be part of the worshipping community here and want others to experience it too, and in experiencing the fellowship and worship, come to know something of the God I seek to serve, and know, and honour.

There is so much going for us here, beautiful buildings, albeit with needs for heating, but we manage; beautiful worship, albeit at times limited by who we are and what we can offer; beautiful people, albeit with times of friction or unrest, or apathy. I have much to be thankful for in the life and community here and want others to have a share in that.

So this month I want you to join with me in inviting people not to be on the coffee rota or to do something, but to simply come and share with us all on a Sunday or to a weekday Mass. First you need to ask God “who should I invite?” It may be a member of your family- often the most difficult- or a friend or work colleague; someone who you know used to worship and has just drifted away. Let God's Holy Spirit direct you to someone and then be bold and say “come and see.”

Why? To learn more about being a Christian in the Church today. To reignite in them that feeling of being blessed again, so they can see what they could become part of, what they are missing out on.

At the Youth Pilgrimage and Ditchingham Celebration, participants were reminded of the inheritance we enjoy; that our forefathers and mothers build beautiful buildings, often in poor places, and invited people in to experience the mystery of being fed by God. This is the Priory's history, and you and I are heirs of it. Let us with God's Spirit make it the Priory story again.

God bless you.

Fr Spicer

Your Favourite Hymns

One hundred and five hymns were nominated in the recent questionnaire as being “my favourite”- all of which but one we have sung in the last year!

The number one favourite came out as Soul Of My Saviour and so will be the Priory hymn at the Songs of Praise on September 19 th . In equal second came Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Be still for the presence of the Lord and Love Divine.

These were followed by Thine be the glory and Tell out my soul.

Thank you to everyone who responded. Fr Spicer will try and get all 105 in again this coming year!

The Feast of OUR LADY of the ROSARY is on the 7th October ( Yes I know it's only September!) I just wanted to share another of my wacky ideas with you and see how many takers I could get to join in! I thought it would be fabulous if we could make a “Rosary Chain” of prayer during the month of October. I'm telling you about it NOW so that you've got chance to come and ask me or Fr Spicer for a “how-to-do-it-leaflet”, a Rosary if you haven't already got one, and a paper “link” to add to the chain which we hope will go round Our Ladys' statue, right down the side of the Church (and through the length of Worksop town centre!?!) All I want you to do is to offer Our Lord and Our Lady just one “decade of the Rosary each day in October ( that's 1 “Our Father”, 10 “Hail Mary's” and 1 “Glory be to the Father...”). I shall leave the paper chain “links” next to Our Lady's statue for you to write your name on. There's no age limit! You can have one link per daily decade. ( 5 for a whole Rosary) I will staple them all together during October.

I know that the young people who went to Walsingham for the Youth Pilgrimage learnt all about the Rosary. As they are all now expert at praying the Rosary I thought that we should put their “praying power” to good use. The rest of us should get our beads rattling so as not to be put to shame by their devotion.

One of the most powerful experiences I have had of saying the Rosary was in Medjugorje, in Croatia some years ago. All the pilgrims and local villagers gather round the Church every evening at 6pm, local time, to say the Rosary. The Rosary was led in Croatian but we all joined in in our own language. I had a German lady in front of me, an Italian on one side, a lady praying in Gaelic next to him and I was praying in English! I always think of that occasion at Pentecost; all of us praying as one without language barriers! Anybody who has been to Lourdes or any other international place of pilgrimage will have shared similar experiences.

I love the Rosary, it helps towards stillness as it occupies our hands, and the repetition is soothing to the mind. Of course, when I first began to use the Rosary I was occupied with the “mechanics” of it, learning the prayers and remembering what the Mysteries were. It's a bit like learning to drive, at first you have to concentrate on what you are doing with your hands and brain, but with practice it becomes second nature and you slip through the decades like changing gear! Before long you've travelled for miles enjoying the company of Jesus and Mary on your road through life. You also bring into your Rosary prayer the events and people you meet along the way.

I usually offer each Mystery for a particular “intention” or purpose related to the meditation. For instance; when I pray the 5th Joyful mystery, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple, I'll think about Our Lady and St Joseph's anxiety over losing Jesus and so I'll offer my prayers for parents of teenage children.

Keep your beads in your pocket and they'll become a favourite companion on a walk as you talk to Jesus. Pop them under your pillow and go to sleep with Our Lady watching over you. Reach for your Rosary beads in a Doctor's waiting room, they'll sooth your anxiety as you have a word with Our Lord about the results you are anticipating. Pray your Rosary on the way to Mass as a preparation for receiving Jesus in Scripture and in the Blessed Sacrament. The chain of prayers reaches all the way to heaven where Jesus, Mary and the Saints receive them, and it goes all around the world to wherever the faithful love the stories of the life of Jesus as seen through the eyes of His Mother.

Sr Briege McKenna OC says that praying the Rosary is “simply walking through the life of Jesus with Mary”.

Get yourselves armed and ready with your Rosary Beads before October arrives!

Sr. Heidi

Patronal Festival Weekend – From Dot Hazlehurst

So far I am really pleased to state that the responce for items to show has been excellent. If we can arrange everything well it will provide a successful attraction. Posters have been circulated and I think will catch the eye of many people. Will it bring them into the Priory? – I pray so!

There will be a need to have stewards and helpers in the church during the three days and I shall be approaching the congregation armed with lists. Do you think you are able to add your name and spend a little time supporting this event?

Refreshments will be available (tea, coffee and fruit drinks with cakes and biscuits). Can you make a cake or perhaps biscuits which can be offered? If there is a good response maybe we could have a table selling cakes – always very popular with visitors.

With your support I think we can have a successful event and welcome visitors into this beautiful and ancient building.