The Parish of
St. Peter,
Bushey Heath
Eastertide 2022
From the vicar
Thankfulness engendering a positive spirit provides the proper response to the receiving of God’s comfort and at no time of the year do we receive more comfort than at Easter. This is the season of grace during which we are invited to reflect on the passion and resurrection of Jesus and to rejoice in our own salvation. The Church proclaims that Jesus lives and that sin and death have been destroyed. If this message is rightly seen as one of comfort (see last month’s letter) then mankind, duly comforted, is enabled through God’s grace to live again: to live a creative life and to seek holiness in the continuing presence of God.
This is the Easter message expressed in our liturgy and hymnody offered in a beautifully decorated building. The proper response of thanksgiving is nowhere better expressed than in the peerless General Thanksgiving of the Book of Common Prayer (1662). This prayer deals with the whole of the creative and salvific work of God summed up in his ‘inestimable love’. Properly this spirit of thanksgiving which undergirds the creativity of the Christian life continues beyond the Easter season to infuse the whole of Christian life. It is with this in mind that I offer a thanksgiving of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish religious who died in 1938 and who was the visionary behind the Divine Mercy movement.
Thank You, O God, for all the graces
Which unceasingly you lavish upon me,
Graces which enlighten me with the brilliance of the sun,
For by them you show me the sure way.
Thank You, O Lord, for creating me,
For calling me into being from nothingness,
For imprinting your divinity on my soul,
The work of sheer merciful love.
Thank You, O God, for Holy Baptism,
Which engrafted me into Your family,
A gift great beyond thought or expression
Which transforms my soul.
Thank You, O Lord, for Holy Confession,
For that inexhaustible spring of great mercy,
For that inconceivable fountain of graces
In which sin-tainted souls become purified.
Thank You, O Jesus, for Holy Communion
In which you give us Yourself.
I feel Your heart beating within my breast
As You cause Your divine life to unfold within me.
Thank You, O Holy Spirit, for the Sacrament of Confirmation,
Which dubs me Your knight
And gives strength to my soul at each moment,
Protecting me from evil.
Thank You, O God, for the grace of a vocation
For being called to serve You alone,
Leading me to make You my sole love,
An unequal honour for my soul.
Thank You, O Lord, for perpetual vows,
For that union of pure love,
For having deigned to unite Your pure heart with mine
And uniting my heart to Yours in the purest of bonds.
Thank You, O Lord, for the Sacrament of Anointing
Which, in my final moments, will give me strength;
My help in battle, my guide to salvation,
Fortifying my soul till we rejoice forever.
Thank You, O God, for all the inspirations
That Your goodness lavishes upon me,
For the interior lights given my soul,
Which the heart senses, but words cannot express.
Thank You, O Holy Trinity, for the vastness of the graces
Which You have lavished on me unceasingly through life.
My gratitude will intensify as the eternal dawn rises,
When, for the first time, I sing to Your glory.
The next thing to ponder as the Easter season continues is what to include in our own thanksgivings.
PRAYER FOCUS
Pray for a renewal of our work amongst young people at St. Peter’s.
Pray too for the people of Ukraine and Russia, especially those who live amongst us.
St Peter’s Spring Fair and Plant Sale
Saturday 21st May from 12 noon to 4.00pm.
Outside for sale of plants, bread, cakes and luncheon bites.
Cream Teas available in the Hall along with a selection of ‘this and that’ items.
Those with green fingers please bring your plants, either on the day or preferably the day before.
(Contact Anne Swerling on 07814 241718). Bakers of delicious cakes please start baking!
All offers of help are welcome.
Proceeds to our charities.
From the diary…
Sunday 24th April First Sunday after Easter
Tuesday 26th April, 10.00am Mass (St. George, Patron of England)
Wednesday 27th April, 10.00am Mass (St. Mark, Evangelist)
Friday 29th April, 7.00pm Mass (St. Catherine of Siena)
Sunday 1st May Second Sunday after Easter
…no midweek services…
Saturday 7th May North London Military Wives concert
Sunday 8th May Third Sunday after Easter
Wednesday 11th May, 10.00am Mass
Holy Hour for the May Devotion with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Thursday 12th May, 8.00pm
Friday 13th May, 7.00pm Mass
Sunday 15th May Fourth Sunday after Easter
Wednesday 18th May, 10.00am Mass
8.00pm Parochial Church Council
Friday 20th May, 7.00pm Mass
Saturday 21st May Spring Fair
Sunday 22nd May Fifth Sunday after Easter
Wednesday 25th May, 10.00am Mass (The Venerable Bede)
The Ascension of the Lord
Sung Mass
Thursday 26th May, 8.00pm
Friday 27th May, 7.00pm Mass
Sunday 29th May Sunday after Ascension
Tuesday 31st May, 9.30am Mass (The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth)
Wednesday 1st June, 10.00am Mass (Justin Martyr)
Saturday 4th June Open Church (details to follow)
Sunday 5th June Whit Sunday
From the registers
Funerals
30th March Anthony Kilmister (90 years)
Annual Meetings for 2022
The Annual Parish Meeting and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place on Sunday 15th May, 11.00am at St. Peter’s Church.
Additional Curates Society Lent boxes
If you have taken an ACS Lent box please return it at Easter so that the money collected can be sent off.
Platinum Jubilee celebrations
Saturday 4th June – a celebration is planned with Open Church, bell-ringing and cake! Further details will appear on the pew sheet in due course.
Bishop Norman’s visit
The bishop will be visiting us on Sunday 29th May to celebrate at the Parish Eucharist at 9.30am.
Hot Cross Buns
Very many thanks to Lyn Walker for baking so many orders of Hot Cross Buns after the famous and distinctive St. Alban’s Abbey recipe. Ł28-50 was raised for church funds.
Collection for Ukraine
Thank you for your support of the Barnabas Fund in its efforts to bring relief to those affected by the war in Ukraine. A full car load of tinned food and warm clothing was taken to the collection point at Tring for the journey Eastwards. Most supplies are going to Moldova and Romania with some going into Ukraine to help internal refugees via Barnabas Fund’s church contacts in the region. Thank you as well to those who made cash donations which Barnabas is using to help churches in the region which are accommodating refugees.
The Return of the Social Round!
Dates for your diary…
- Saturday 30th July – Picnic in the park for Feast of St Peter
- Saturday 17th September – Quiz night in the Parish Hall
- Sunday 16th October – Harvest lunch in the Parish Hall
- Saturday 5th November – Darts night at the Three Crowns
- Saturday 3rd December – Christmas Feast in the Parish Hall
Family Service
At the service in April we heard the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and blessed palms for our own procession. We reflected on different ‘homecomings’ from the Exodus to the recent release of hostages in Iran.
Thank you at Easter!
Thank you to everyone who supported our wonderful celebration of Easter this year. Our cleaners, flower arrangers, organist and servers did a splendid job preparing the church and assisting in the worship.
Contact details:
Vicar: Fr. Andrew Burton SSC, a priest of the Society. (020 8950 1424). Usual day off Monday.
Churchwarden: Mrs. Anne Swerling (020 8950 8923).
www.stpeterbusheyheath.org.uk / www.achurchnearyou.com
