News and Views for week beginning November 8th
Sunday November 8th is Remembrance Sunday. Sadly, we will not be able to commemorate this in the way we have done in years past. At Holy Trinity we will “live” stream our Requiem Mass with the reading of the names of the fallen from our Church War Memorials at 9:30am.
“Do this in memory of me.” These words of Jesus at the Last Supper were more than a simple command to commemorate. They are a call to awakening that in this life this important historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth, has left his mark on the world. As we would normally come to the altar to follow this command the effects of that first Good Friday are not only called to mind, but are brought to effect in our lives.
The human ability to remember actually forms us as people, it has an impact on who we are as individuals and as a society.
The Early Church Fathers spoke of the memory as being ‘a power of the soul’; the great philosopher, Aristotle referred to it as being the ‘scribe of the soul’, such is its effect. Memory informs, rightly or wrongly, and impacts our decision making and therefore our future. It also keeps the events of the past effective in our lives. The greatest and only offering, to redeem both living and dead, has already been made by Christ, and if we want to celebrate our loving connection on both sides of the veil, we need only now to make gifts for and to the living.
Today we especially ‘remember’ those who have given their lives through war in service of our country. They have left home and family often to foreign lands in the search of justice, freedom and peace; the effects of which we feel in our society today. The world could have been a very different place for us without their sacrifice, which cannot and should not be forgotten.
The memories we recall this Remembrance Sunday should spur us forward in the search for true harmony and peace throughout the world. As the Lord commanded the apostles to “Do this in memory of me” we gather this day praying for the graces of the great sacrifice of Calvary to engulf the whole world that we may live in the harmony for which Christ prayed; and to our fallen we say “We will remember them”.
St Andrew’s Deal. Advent 2020 will see Fr Paul licensed as Priest in Charge of St Andrew’s Church in Deal. This is a temporary measure by the Diocese and will hopefully not affect his ministry here at HTR too much, but one Sunday per month Fr Michael Morris will preside at HTR to allow Fr Paul to preside at Mass in Deal. Other calls on his time will be mainly on weekdays and evenings and hopefully there will be as little disruption as possible to parish life at HTR.
ORGAN NEWS Thanks to your amazing generosity, work will begin on the main organ repairs and maintenance on Monday January 4th 2021. The organ will be silent for two to three weeks, but we very much look forward to having all the work completed before Easter next year.
