Applications are now available for our Infant Baptism, First Reconciliation, and First Eucharist Preparation Programmes for the next academic year (Confirmation Applications will be made available once Bishop Richard provides a date for the celebration). PLEASE NOTE that these programmes are only for candidates from families who are Registered Parishioners who are actually regular members of our worshipping community - if this is not the case at present then talk to Fr Daryl about what can be done to rectify the situation for some point in the future.

The theme of asking God with boldness for what one needs runs through the first reading and the Gospel today. As a Jewish boy growing up, Jesus would have learned the stories of the many Old Testament figures who were unafraid to ask God directly and boldly for what they wanted: Isaiah, Moses, Hannah, Jeremiah, and here, Abraham, to name just a few. Jesus internalized the message, came before his Father with honestly and boldness (“take this cup from me”), and taught his disciples they can ask with confidence for what they need too. For all Christians out there who believe it is selfish to pray for what they want and need, today’s Gospel reading challenges that. First, Jesus teaches his disciples, and us, some brief lines we can always use when we don’t know what to pray. The Lord’s Prayer is a brief summation of praise, openness to God’s will, request for what we need, and desire for forgiveness as well as a willingness to forgive. It is a perfect prayer to focus on or to fall back upon when we are otherwise at a loss for how to pray.  Jesus also gives us great freedom in not limiting us to the words of the Our Father. He gives us permission to ask, seek, and knock, without telling us what we can or can’t ask for. Fifteen hundred years later St. Ignatius taught that our deepest desires are also God’s deepest desires for us and it is okay to ask for them! The challenge is to identify the true desires beneath the superficial desires. Sometimes we desire food when we aren’t hungry, or mindless entertainment when we are lonely. In those situations, we can ask “What is the desire behind those desires?” and then bring that to prayer. “God, what I really want is a greater sense of meaning and fullness in life,” or “I want a friend, a partner, a companion.” God may not answer us with chocolate cake or a Netflix series, but Jesus assures us that we will find what we are really asking for. Questions of the week  When have you asked God for something and received it, even if it didn’t come in the form you imagined?  What are you asking God for these days? Or, what do you want to ask God for that might seem like a “big ask”?

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Things around The Presbytery are beginning to slow down a bit, with schools now all on holiday and Bishop Richard and around eight hundred people from around the diocese on pilgrimage to Lourdes . . . . . . . After our morning Masses on Sunday Fr D was visited by a parishioner from one of his former parishes who took him out for lunch locally. As always the parishioner brought a number of Mass Offerings that Fr D agreed to celebrate over the next month or so. On Monday Fr D’s Ministry to Priests Support Group arrived for midday and were in the church for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament. When they went into the house they celebrated Midday Prayer of the Church together before moving off to a local hostelry for lunch. In the evening, after the other priests had left Fr D found himself writing a list of ‘To Do’s’ that he wanted to get completed during the rest of the week. After celebrating Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition Fr D re-read the contract that we have with Euro Car Parks to administer the Car Park for us. This was because the Parish Priest of Horsham was due at midday to have a meeting with Fr Daryl, Sarah, and our Treasurer to find out how things operate; Horsham as a large car park that has become difficult to administer. In the afternoon Fr D was preparing for a requiem for a parishioner next Friday (readings, prayers, music etc.). Wednesday, after Morning Prayer and Mass Fr D Fr D continued with the preparations for the requiem before going off in the car to meet with Fr Ruslan (Walton-on-Thames) for lunch. When he arrived back home Fr D began his sections of the newsletter for the weekend. Following Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D was off to the diocesan office in Crawley where he continued work on a current penal case he is working on. Arriving back home in the late afternoon Fr D worked some more on the requiem and completed his parts of the newsletter ready for Sarah to complete and print/publish.  After Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday Fr D was out visiting a parishioner to anoint them before getting back and going through the weekend events with Sarah to make sure that all was ready. In the afternoon he spent time getting his homiles for the Masses during next week . . . . .