Parish of the Assumption of Our Lady, Old Harlow, Essex CM17 0HA

​THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY
Old Harlow, Essex CM17 0HA
01279 434203
www.catholicchurchoftheassumption.co.uk
email: [email protected]
Pentecost Sunday
 
8th June 2025​

 
CHURCH HEDGES
 
Our hedges, roadside, are now a public nuisance, and are in urgent need of PRUNING. Some have even become a safety hazard, causing pedestrians, in certain areas to step into the road.
 
And so, we plan to BLITZ this on Saturday 14th of JUNE, starting at 10.00am.
 
We need able-bodied helpers for the CUTTING.....SWEEPING.......CLEARING UP. If you can help, and are available, please put your name on the list (at the church entrance) with a contact phone number. Also, add if you can bring any useful tools.
 
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CONFIRMATION
 
We offer our heartfelt congratulations to ANTHONIA and LAWRENCE as they receive the Sacrament of Confirmation at this Sunday’s 10am Mass. We also pray for God’s blessings for them as they prepare for their forthcoming Marriage, on the 19th of July; that their union will reflect the joy of Christ’s love for them both; and that they may know the fulness of happiness in their shared life together.
 
An observation. – It would appear that the Church’s Sacraments have something in common with London buses. – You wait, and you wait, and then two come along at once!
 
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STELLA MARIS
 
Stella Maris (formerly called Apostleship of the Sea) is seeking one volunteer from this parish to help with SEA SUNDAY (which falls on 12/13 July this year). This is the day when the Church comes together to pray for seafarers, fishers and their families, and takes a second collection to support the work of Stella Maris. The volunteer will read out the appeal (which Stella Maris will provide) at the end of Masses that weekend. If you can kindly do this, please contact:
[email protected] or call 07887 893 763.
 
Related to that, all parishioners are warmly invited to an online webinar being run by Stella Maris on Thursday 19th June from 7:30pm to 9pm. You will hear about the work that Stella Maris has been doing with seafarers and fishers over the past year or so, including the use of the funds kindly donated on Sea Sunday last year. To attend this webinar, please sign up at:       www.stellamaris.org.uk/thankyouwebinar
 
MASS TIMES THIS WEEK
 
Sunday 8th             10:00 Solemn Mass – Pentecost – Year C.
                                (Day of Prayer for the Church)                  Nora Moran - RIP
 
                                18:00 Solemn Mass                           People of the Parish
 
Tuesday 10th         10:00 Mass – Feria
 
Wednesday 11th    10:00 Mass – St Barnabas, Ap          Fr Jon’s Int
 
Sunday 15th           10:00 Solemn Mass – Most Holy Trinity – Year C.
                                (Day for Life)
 
                                18:00 Solemn Mass                            People of the Parish
 
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GOSPEL REFLECTION
 
« “Receive the Holy Spirit” »
 
Today, on Pentecost, the promise that Christ made to the Apostles is fulfilled. On the evening of Easter Sunday, He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22). The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost solemnly renews and brings to completion this gift with outward manifestations. Thus, the Paschal mystery is culminated.

The Spirit that Jesus conveys creates a new human condition in the disciple and fosters unity. When arrogance led people to challenge God by building the Tower of Babel, God confused their languages, and they could not understand each other. At Pentecost, the opposite occurs: by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles were understood by people of the most diverse origins and languages.

The Holy Spirit is the inner Teacher who guides the disciples towards truth, who motivates them to do good, who comforts them in pain and transforms them internally, giving them new strength and capacity.

On the first Pentecost of the Christian era, the Apostles were gathered together with the Virgin Mary, and they were in prayer. Solitude and a prayerful attitude are essential to receive the Spirit. "And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them" (Acts 2:2-3).

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to preach boldly. Those men, once fearful, had been transformed into courageous preachers who did not fear imprisonment, torture, or martyrdom. It's not surprising; the power of the Spirit was in them.

The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, is the soul of my soul, the life of my life, the being of my being; He is my sanctifier, the guest of my innermost self. To mature in the life of faith, it is essential that our relationship with Him becomes increasingly conscious and personal. On this Pentecost celebration, let us throw open the doors of our inner being.
 
 
Mons. José Ángel SAIZ Meneses, Archbishop of Seville(Sevilla, Spain)
 
Courtesy of Evangeli

                                           www.catholicchurchoftheassumption.co.uk
                                                                       01279 434203

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