Please be sure to get this date into your diary now!

As the number of parishioners using the ‘Dona’ electronic giving machine at the rear of the church has been steadily growing, the Parish Finance Committee has decided that a second machine should be available to reduce the queuing that sometimes takes place whilst waiting to access the terminal. When the second terminal arrives we will be positioning both terminals half way down the two side aisles, this will assist access and ‘unblock the exit at the end of Masses. Of course, parishioners do not have to wait until the end of our Masses to use the terminals - after arrival and before taking seats?

Please be sure to put these dates into your diary now!

Although Saint Cecilia is one of the most famous of the Roman martyrs, the familiar stories told about her are apparently not founded on authentic material. There is no trace of honour being paid her in early times. A fragmentary inscription of the late fourth century refers to a church named after her, and her feast was celebrated at least in 545. According to legend, Cecilia was a young Christian of high rank betrothed to a Roman named Valerian. Through her influence, Valerian was converted, and was martyred along with his brother. The legend about Cecilia’s death says that after being struck three times on the neck with a sword, she lived for three days, and asked the pope to convert her home into a church. Since the time of the Renaissance she has usually been portrayed with a viola or a small organ.  Like any good Christian, Saint Cecilia sang in her heart, and sometimes with her voice. She has become a symbol of the Church’s conviction that good music is an integral part of the liturgy, of greater value to the Church than any other art.

While the first reading and the Gospel connect in theme, as usual, the second reading from the Second Letter to the Thessalonians offers practical advice for any age. We can summarize Paul’s words as “Keep busy and mind your own business” as you go about doing God’s work in the world. Like other “apocalyptic” writings of the time, the first reading from Malachi offers a frightening prophecy of the end times while encouraging the faithful to remain steadfast when awaiting God’s justice. Jesus gives more dramatic imagery of the end times but also ends with a note of consolation for the listeners who may be frightened by what is to come. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus preached about the impermanence of material things: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal...” (Mt. 6:19). He consistently reminded his listeners, “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Lk. 12:15). In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses the crowds upon finally entering Jerusalem and its massive Temple, richly decorated and exquisitely built. The Temple building was the pride and joy of the Jewish people, but Jesus sees it from a much broader perspective. Just like every other human-made creation, the Temple will not last forever. It, too, will go the way of other material things: “there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Not even the most magnificent building accomplishment of the people can provide ultimate security to humans.  Jesus gives this speech soon before his death. Four decades later, the Temple building was burned and razed by the Romans as they put down a Jewish revolt in a four year, gruesome war. In the end, the Romans slaughtered thousands of Jews and enslaved or expelled thousands more to foreign lands. The brutal defeat of their people and the destruction of the Temple threw the Jewish people into an existential crisis. Certainly, some of those who suffered remembered Jesus’ warning of impending destruction and were able to hold out trust that what appeared to be the end of this life was not the final ending. Questions of the week  When thinking of Jesus’ teachings on the lack of permanence of possessions and material wealth, what is the lesson for you that you most want to remember?  How do you feel when you hear Jesus’ prophecies about the “end times”? Does anything in his words give you consolation or hope?

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Busy week once more as workmen replacing the roof of The Presbytery removed scaffolding from the front band side of the house and moved some of it to the rear in order to work on the bay window roof and the roof over the dining room. These are more complicated roofs as they join up to the building at different levels. The majority of the works should be completed by this weekend (with perhaps some guttering to be addressed at the beginning of next week. Fr D has been delighted by the work that has been done and is glad that we decided to do it eighteen months earlier than scheduled - there were parts of the main roof that had begun to show signs of rot and the tiles on the back of the house were at the point of crumbling (but given that they were all the original tiles from the 1930’s they’ve lasted well and owed us nothing!). Fr D sincerely hopes that the new tiles will last the same ninety years (becoming someone else’s problem to deal with!). As mentioned in last week’s newsletter remote work is beginning on looking at the next aspects of necessary works (church lighting system and the heating system for the church), research has begun on both these projects with a view to working out the ‘what’ and the ‘when.’ On Tuesday Fr D met with the rest of the deanery clergy, at Our Lady and St Peter’s, Leatherhead, for their regular monthly meeting. Increasingly most of the agenda is taken up with the Bishop’s Pastoral Plan and how this will be put into effect in our area. During Advent there will be postcards given out in each of the present parishes which parishioners will be asked to complete ready for presentations/questions to be asked at a meeting in each parish to be held in the first two months of 2026. Two teams of clergy/laity have been meeting throughout the Autumn working on the Bishop’s plan in our area; it is hoped that these will for the basis of a Parish Leadership Team and a Parish Finance Committee for the new larger Parish of several communities together.  In the evening Fr D gain met with parents of our Reconciliation candidates to look at the work that the children will be doing with their parents on Saturday - this was the penultimate session ready to celebrate First Reconciliation on Saturday 29th November.

To ‘dedicate’ a place to God is a ritual that is found in every religion. To ‘reserve’ a place for God is an act of recognising His glory and honour. When Emperor Constantine granted full liberty to all Christians in 313 AD, they did not spare in order to construct places for the Lord - numerous are the churches constructed at that time. Constantine also constructed churches, one of which was a magnificent basilica on the Caelian Hill in Rome, over the ancient Lateran Palace, which Pope Sylvester I dedicated to Christ the Saviour (318 or 324). A chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist was built inside it which served as the baptistry. This moved Pope Sergius III to dedicate it to St John the Baptist as well. Lastly, Pope Lucius II also dedicated it to St John the Evangelist in the 12th century. Thus, the name of the Basilica is the Basilica of the Most Holy Saviour and of Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran. Christians consider this Basilica to be the mother church of all churches in the world . The church was destroyed several times in the course of history, and always rebuilt. The final reconstruction took place under Pope Benedict XIII. The church was rededicated in 1724. It was at that time that the feast celebrated today was established and extended to the universal Church.

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Once more a very busy week around The Presbytery as building works begin to wind down and scaffolding begins to be removed . . . . . . . On Monday Fr D was making sure that everything was ‘in place’ for the Blessing of Graves to be celebrated this weekend (Sunday 15.30 Cobham Cemetery). Parishioners are asked to meet at the chapel end of the car park so that we can have a prompt start. There will then be a short formal service of prayer before parishioners go and stand by the graves of their relatives (acting as markers for Fr D to come to). When Fr D gets to each grave he will sprinkle it with Holy Water and say a prayer. Once all the graves have been blessed parishioners are invited to return to the Parish Centre for Tea & Scones. After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning Fr D was off to the diocesan offices at Crawley where he was interviewing a new Plaintiff who is asking for an annulment investigation. These interviews are quite involved and obviously very personal to the persons concerned and usually take between two and three hours of questioning. In the evening Fr D began the second half of the Reconciliation Programme for this year with the parents; these sessions prepare the parents for the work that they will be undertaking with their children on the Saturday morning following (hopefully able to give answers to any questions that their children might ask). After this week there will only be two more sessions for the group before the celebration of this great sacrament of God’s love on Saturday 29th November. Following Morning Prayer and Mass on Wednesday Fr D had someone coming to see him in one of the rooms in the Parish Centre. By the time this meeting was over several sections of the scaffolding around the Presbytery were coming down to reveal a great transformation of the main roof! The works now started to turn to the smaller sections of roof projecting from the house (front door canopy, utility room, bay windows at the rear, along with some hanging tile work).  In the evening at the Parish Finance Committee meeting work began on working out the running order for the next larger building projects that we need to face in the next couple of years - adapting the church lighting system for life without halogen bulbs, and what to do about the aging gas heating boiler for the church heating . . . . .

Our readings today are connected by their images and references to temples: a temple Ezekiel saw in a vision which was the source of renewal and healing, Paul’s teaching that we are each a temple of God with the Holy Spirit residing in us, and the story of Jesus cleansing the Jerusalem temple of the merchants. Such readings were specifically chosen for today when the Church celebrates the anniversary of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. There are four major basilicas in Rome, of which the oldest is St John Lateran. It is also the official cathedral of Rome (although the pope lives next to St Peter’s Basilica). So we might think of the Lateran Basilica as the “mother church” of the world. It was originally dedicated in 324 AD during the reign of Constantine when Christianity went from being a persecuted religion to being the official religion of the Roman Empire. Whether or not you appreciate the history, architecture, and beauty of ancient temples and churches, today’s readings offer images and metaphors to reflect upon in light of our faith. All of the scripture writers this week were aware of the corruption that can creep into religious practices and worship. They were also aware of the value and beauty in having a physical place where people can come together to pray, praise God, and be renewed in spirit.  Clearly Jesus was upset that the Temple, which was supposed to be a place of holiness, refuge, and peace, had become a profane marketplace. The requirement for Jews to offer animal sacrifices at the Temple was a financial burden for many poor people. If the Jews didn’t own such animals themselves, they had to pay a higher rate to buy them within the Temple precincts. Also, Jews had to pay a Temple tax and the tax had to be paid with coins minted in Israel rather than the more typical Roman coins. Money changers, of course, could exploit the pilgrims and worshippers by charging fees to change their coins. All this added up to exploitation of the worshippers which invoked Jesus’ anger. The Temple had been transformed from a place of prayer to an unjust marketplace. It would do us well to regularly ask ourselves if and how our modern churches might get twisted from their original purpose into places of hypocrisy or injustice sometimes too. Questions of the week  Would Jesus be angered about anything if he entered your place of worship today? Why or why not?  What is the most beautiful or most moving place where you have had the chance to pray and to worship God?