Trinity Sunday – May 30th Our Patronal Festival

Fr Paul is our celebrant and preacher.

Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy.

What is the Trinity? How would you explain this doctrine to someone who has never heard of it? Are there three Gods or only one? Is the Father the greatest God? Did he create the Son and the Spirit? Is each person one-third God or fully God? The questions are almost endless.

Despite the difficulty, Christians should seek to understand the Trinity because it is the doctrine that makes Christianity unique. It is so fundamental to the faith that to miss it means to miss the essence of Christianity. Most Christians believe there is only one God, who is experienced as three persons, also known as the Trinity. These three persons are the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A key source of authority for affirming this belief is the Nicene Creed, which is a statement of Christian belief.

The doctrine of the Trinity is important because God is important. To understand more fully what God is like is a way of honouring God. Further, we should allow the fact that God is triune to deepen our worship. We exist to worship God. And God seeks people to worship Him in “spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Therefore, we must always endeavour to deepen our worship of God–in truth as well as in our hearts.

The Trinity has a very significant application to prayer. The general pattern of prayer in the Bible is to pray to the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). Our fellowship with God should be enhanced by consciously knowing that we are relating to a tri-personal God!

COFFEE AFTER MASS Many people are asking about the resumption of our Coffee Hour after Sunday Mass. Having studied the very latest guidelines as of May 17th, it is still difficult for us to serve coffee and keep within the law. Hopefully by June this will change, and normal service will be resumed.

The Annual Parish Meeting will take place in Church next Sunday June 6th. Official forms for the election of Churchwardens and PCC are now in Church. Will you come support your Church?

CORPUS CHRISTI FESTIVAL 2021 You are all invited to Deal for the annual Corpus Christi Mass and Procession on Thursday June 3rd at 7:00PM. We will be serving a glass of wine in the grounds after Mass.

The Blessing of the Sea – Bank Holiday Weekend MAY 31st. We have been invited by our neighbours at St Augustine’s and St Ethelbert’s Roman Catholic Church to be part of their celebrations for The Blessing of the Sea at 2:00PM. Watch this space for further information.

A NEW CHILDREN’S MASS ON SATURDAYS AT 4:30PM

Until Sunday School begins again later in the year (September), We have now started a very short and child friendly Mass of about thirty to thirty five minutes duration on Saturdays at 4:30PM as a Vigil Mass for the Sunday. This will be an age-appropriate Mass, with only one Gospel reading and a special simple Eucharistic prayer for children.

If you cannot be in Church on Sunday for whatever reason, this Mass is technically also the Sunday Mass. The “vigil mass” is held on Saturday early evening, but is the same as a Sunday Mass obligation. In the Jewish timetable days were measured from sundown to sundown, not from midnight to midnight. (Remember that for the early Church they did not consider themselves “Christian” as distinct from their fellow Jews. It was not until they became violently persecuted that they did distinguish themselves as “other”, as followers of “The Way”.

FRIDAY MASS AT NOON – Go deeper, be more prayerful.

On June 4th our Friday Noon Mass will begin again, but with a difference! This Friday liturgy will be a little more informal by using worship material from the Taize community and the ancient Celtic tradition. In time, when we can all sing again, we shall be exploring new music in the Taize chant tradition to enhance our worship.

Parish Pilgrimage to The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Monday August 16th – 20th. (Monday – Friday). Cost: Full board from Dinner on Monday until after Breakfast on Friday is approximately £292. Children £170. Travel costs will be extra. Travel details will be arranged when we have firm numbers. Please inform Fr Paul as soon as possible to book. 01843 654102 or [email protected]

This is the last day for your bookings!