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The Brighton Oratory is an Orthodox Catholic faith community of ordinary people diverse in age, background, experience and talents who are committed to deepening their spirituality in, through and with the love of God expressed in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ modelled on the experience of the Apostles and the Early Church described in Acts 2:42-47. As a community we seek to welcome everyone, especially the poor and disenfranchised, whether in spirit or in love. We are simply a faith community seeking to encourage, support and develop individually and together our spirituality and understanding of the Divine, that we may experience both in this life and the next, the Kingdom of God in us.
Quadragesima Sunday or Invocavit Sunday is the Sunday occurring after Ash Wednesday. In Western Catholic tradition, it is the first Sunday during the holy season of Lent. Like on other Sundays of Lent, it is customary to dispense from the fast on Quadragesima, as Sundays are not counted among the forty days of Lent.
This Sunday is called Invocabit, because the Introit of the Mass begins with this word, which is taken from the ninetieth psalm, wherein we are urged to confidence in God, who willingly hears the prayer of the penitent. The Church very appropriately reads on this day this epistle of St. Paul, in which he exhorts the Christians to make use of the time of grace. A special time of grace is Lent, in which everything invites to conversion and penance, a time, therefore, in which God is ready to make rich bestowal of His graces. Christ went into the desert by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to prepare by fasting and prayer, for His mission, and to endure the temptations of Satan, that, as St. Paul says, He might be one tempted in all things such as we are, without sin, and so become for us a High-priest who knew how to have compassion on our infirmities, (Heb. IV. 15.) and to show us by His own example, how we should, armed with the word of God, as with a sword, overcome the tempter. (Eph. VI. 17.)
MASS TIMES THIS WEEK
| DATE | DAY | TIME | OFFICE | MASS INTENTION | NOTES |
| 05 MAR | SUN | 0830 | DOMINICA I in QUADRAGESIMA | Pro Populo Rex Jameson RIP |
Of obligation |
| 06MAR | MON | 0900 | Feria II | Jean Border Micki Strahan RIP |
|
| 07 MAR | TUES | NO MASS | Feria III Com. St Thomas Aquinas |
Janie Thomas Betty Spicer RIP |
|
| 08 MAR | WED | NO MASS | EMBER WEDNESDAY IN LENT | John Hannington +Edward Bostwick RIP |
Of devotion |
| 09 MAR | THUR | NO MASS | Feria V Com. Forty Martyrs |
Brian Cave Victor Cave RIP |
HOLY HOUR 5-6pm |
| 10 MAR | FRI | NO MASS | EMBER FRIDAY IN LENT | Simon Gangloff Nick Gale RIP |
|
| 11 MAR | SAT | NO MASS | EMBER SATURDAY IN LENT | Martin Smith Jim Ryland RIP |
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| 12 MAR | SUN | NO MASS | DOMINICA II in QUADRAGESIMA
Com. St Gregory Pope & Doctor of the Church |
Pro Populo Bryer Houston RIP |
Of obligation |
NOTICES
MASS please note the new times of daily Masses this week. Due to the Provost being away there will be NO MASSES in Brighton from 7-21 March inclusive, daily Masses will resume on Wednesday 22 March.
BULLETIN please check back on this online version for each day any additions/amendments will be made here. If you have any notices or would like the names of loved ones for prayer included, please email
FATHER GEORGE von Abel is looking to move to Brighton & Hove to begin assisting in our Mission’s ministry. To do this, Father needs a new job and a new home! Please keep your eyes peeled for management or supervisor roles in hotels or restaurants locally. Please forward details of any potentially suitable positions via email here. Remember that our priests are bi-vocational and generally need financially to support themselves.
VACATION please note that Fr Jerome will be away from March 7 to 21 on pilgrimage to Ephesus where St Timothy was bishop, St John and the Blessed Virgin Mary resided and he’ll be revisiting the tomb of the Apostle Philip at Hierapolis. There will be no public Masses during this period.
TENTMAKING SERIES in preparation for our missionary endeavour later this year, the Provost is publishing a series of articles about mission. Please do read them and continue to pray and think about how we can spread the Good News to our friends and family in Brighton & Hove! These reflections are also the basis for our Lenten discussions on Thursdays (see below).
LENTEN OBSERVANCE The focus of this Season is the Cross and penance, penance, penance as we imitate Christ’s forty days of fasting, like Moses and Elias before Him, and await the triumph of Easter. We fast (see below), abstain, mortify the flesh, give alms, and think more of charitable works. Awakening each morning with the thought, “How might I make amends for my sins? How can I serve God in a reparative way? How can I serve others today?” is the attitude to have. Because of the focus on penance and reparation, it is traditional to make sure we go to Confession at least once during this Season to fulfill the precept of the Church that we go to Confession at least once a year, and receive the Eucharist at least once a year during Eastertide. In addition to mortification and charity, seeing and living Lent as a forty day spiritual retreat is a good thing to do. Spiritual reading should be engaged in (over and above one’s regular Lectio Divina i.e. Bible study) e.g. reading the biography of one’s Confirmation namesake or the patron saint of one’s profession, or books on spirituality and the spiritual life.
FASTING & ABSTINENCE traditional Orthodox Catholics follow this pattern of fasting and abstinence during this time (faithful under the age of 14, or suffering ill-health, or over the age of 60 are not obligated to observe, but may do so from choice):
Ash Wednesday, all Fridays, and all Saturdays: fasting and total abstinence. This means 3 meatless meals – with the two smaller meals not equalling in size the main meal of the day – and no snacking.
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays (except Ash Wednesday), and Thursdays: fasting and partial abstinence from meat. This means three meals – with the two smaller meals not equalling in size the main meal of the day – and no snacking, but meat can be eaten at the principal meal.
On days of fasting and abstinence, meatless soup is traditional. As to special Lenten foods, vegetables, seafoods, salads, pastas, and beans mark the Season, in addition to the meatless soups. The fasting of this time once even precluded the eating of eggs and fats hence Shrove Tuesday when all such products were used up.
LITURGICAL NOTES
Tues March 7th St Thomas Aquinas: today is the traditional feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, commonly called the Angelic Doctor, who died on this day in the year 1274 at the Cistercian Abbey of Fossanova, while traveling to attend the Second General Council of Lyons. St Thomas was an Italian Dominican friar, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. He was an immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis. St Thomas’ great contribution to the liturgy of the Church is of course the Office of the Feast of Corpus Christi, which he composed at the behest of Pope Urban IV in 1264, when the feast was formally promulgated by the Pope for the entire Latin Church.
Lent Embertide: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after Quadragesima Sunday (the first Sunday of Lent) are known as “Lenten Embertide,” which is seen as associated with the season of Spring (March, April, May). Liturgically, the lessons for the Wednesday and Saturday Masses focus on the Commandments given to Moses by God, and on the promises to those who keep them well, all ending with the story of the three lads saved by an angel from Nabuchodonosor’s furnace, as is so for all but Whit Embertide. The Gospel readings speak of Our Lord discoursing on the sign of Jonas, and how exorcised spirits can return (Matthew 12:38-50), healing the paralytic (John 5:1-15), and the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9).
Thur March 9th The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste: or the Holy Forty (Ancient/Katharevousa Greek Ἃγιοι Τεσσεράκοντα; Demotic: Άγιοι Σαράντα) were a group of Roman soldiers in the Legio XII Fulminata (Armed with Lightning) whose martyrdom in 320 for the Christian faith is recounted in traditional martyrologies. They were killed near the city of Sebaste (present-day Sivas in Turkey), in Lesser Armenia, victims of the persecutions of Licinius, who after 316, persecuted the Christians of the East. The earliest account of their existence and martyrdom is given by Bishop Basil of Caesarea (370–379) in a homily he delivered on their feast day. The Feast of the Forty Martyrs is thus older than Basil himself, who eulogised them only fifty or sixty years after their deaths.
Sun March 12 Pope St Gregory the Great: (c. 540 – 12 March 604), was Patriarch of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death in 604. St Gregory is famous for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome to convert a pagan people to Christianity, including the sending of St Augustine to the “Angles” (English). Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as pope. He is also known as the Great Visionary of Modern Educational System, for his writings and contribution to the school system of education instead of apprenticeships based learning. The epithet Saint Gregory the Dialogist has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues. For this reason, English translations of Eastern texts will sometimes list him as Gregory “Dialogos” or the Latinized equivalent “Dialogus”. Throughout the Middle Ages he was known as “the Father of Christian Worship” because of his exceptional efforts in revising the Roman worship of his day which is the Divine Liturgy used by Western Orthodox Catholics to this day. His contributions to the development of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, still in use in the Byzantine Rite by Eastern Orthodox, were so significant that he is generally recognized as its de facto author. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the Latin Fathers.
EVENTS THIS WEEK…
NEW Cafe and Charity Shop opens on Monday 6th March at Brighton Congress Hall opens today from 9am! Please consider supporting this new venture in the Annexe building once generously loaned to us for worship.
LUNCHTIME RECITALS Every Tuesday Lunchtime at the Chapel Royal, North Street 1.10 to 1.55 28 Clelia Iruzon & Yoko Ono (Piano Duo) Mozart Debussy Brahms All seats £3.00 at the door. Click here to see this season’s Programme
LUNCHTIME RECITALS Every Wednesday at St Nicholas’ Church, Dyke Road 12:30pm lasting for half an hour. A minimum donation of £3.00 towards recital expenses is appreciated. The recitals provide a perfect break for you to have your lunch and relax before heading back to work. Please bring your own sandwiches. Tea and Coffee is available for a donation.
QUIZ & FISH SUPPER on Saturday March 11 at Brighton Congress Hall hosted by the Salvation Army an opportunity to join other Christians for an informal evening with food and fellowship. Teams of six persons – don’t worry, people will be put together to form a team(/s)! Sausages are available as an alternative to fish! Tickets are £10 including supper. Telephone 01273 607095 to register your team or express interest!
UPCOMING EVENTS…
HOLY HOUR resumes on Thursdays 23 & 30 March, April 6th open to our ecumenical friends in Churches Together, a meditative service from 5-6pm in the Chapel at Brighton Congress Hall. This will be a reflective service by candlelight affording the opportunity to “sit and be still” in the presence of The Lord.
LENT DISCUSSION “Caritas” the NEXT ecumenical discussion group will be held from 7.30pm, on Thursdays March 23rd & 30th, April 6th in the Prayer Room. An opportunity once again to meet other Christians and share and discuss thoughts and life stories around the study of Biblical themes concerning discipleship. Please feel free to invite anyone you know may be interested in either or both of these events and don’t forget to put them in your diary!
CAMEO LUNCH for senior citizens Thursday 30 March at The Mad Hatter Inn, Rock Street (Kemptown) our monthly lunch supporting the work of our apostolate “Cherubs Kitchen“. A very reasonable “prix fixe” set menu of homemade traditional dishes with the opportunity to meet other people of a similar age! “We had a most beautiful lunch laid for us in the Snug, a red tablecloth, beside a log fire. I wish I could describe the homemade fish pie, freshly made & cooked by our chef, Fr Jerome. It was absolutely delicious. We all had two helpings each! So wish I’d taken a picture, but I had the honour of being “mum” and forgot.” Contact Shirley to reserve a place on 07773 991670.
VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES
THE HUB HOMELESS DROP-IN We’ve created a welcoming environment for our guests and serve them with dignity and respect and so we are seeking volunteers willing to serve at table and help us create a welcoming café like environment every Wednesday.
We also need help in the kitchen too for, as the suburban proverb says, “many hands make light work” and we’d like to lighten the load of existing volunteers by having enough people to have a roster! That way everyone can enjoy giving of their time and not feel overly burdened or committed! We need volunteers anytime between 0830 and 1400 for all or a couple of hours, we’d be grateful for any time you can give!
If you’d like to join our existing team of faithful volunteers and help us serve the most needy and often deserving of humanity struggling to get by without the security that most of us enjoy with a roof over our heads… please text/phone Fr Jerome on 07423 074517 or just turn up on a Wednesday!
TIME TO TALK BEFRIENDING Volunteering as a befriender provides much needed friendship for older people who might otherwise be alone and feel cut off from society. Befriending is a mutually rewarding experience which is life giving – so if you have a heart for older people, live in Brighton and Hove, Adur or Worthing, and would like to make a difference to help reduce feelings of loneliness among the older population then please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Tel: 01273 737710 or email info@timetotalkbefriending.org.uk
COFFEE SHOP & CHARITY SHOP in The Annexe, Salvation Army opens on Monday 6 March for which volunteers are needed to help serve customers, sort and rotate stock, etc. Phone: 01273 607095
INTERCESSIONS
Of your charity please pray for the following for whom prayers have been asked…
General intentions: Janie Thomas, Karen Knight, Debbie Gaston, Nik Wooller, Connor, Remi, Sarah Daniel,
Thanksgiving: Neveah born 01:03 on 22/02/2017 (parents, Libby & Freedom) John & Jean Marchant (62nd Wedding Anniversary year) Joyce & Jim Babcock (65th Wedding Anniversary year), Fr Jerome (various)
Health & well-being: Stefan Bell, Patrick Hannibal, Jessie Wise, Jesse, Margaret, Frazer & Albert McCue, Sarah Hannington, Maureen, Marge, Kerry Potter, Joy Gale, John Marchant
Discernment: Matt Timmis, Darren, Paul Schofield, Lou Regan, Kamal Abdallah, Simon Gangloff
Vocations: Tom Gierke, Jamie Alaniz, Fr George, Fr Emilio
CHANTRY THIS WEEK…
Of your charity please pray for the souls of…
RECENTLY DEPARTED
Sam d.02/02/2017 funeral 03/03/2017
Kerry
Betty Spicer d.13/02/2017
Marilyn Belvin Brown d.21/02/2017
Stanley Horsey d.27/02/2017
YEAR’S MIND THIS MONTH
05/03 JAMESON Rex
08/03 BOSTWICK James Edward (archbishop)
10/03 GALE Nick
19/03 RYLAND Edwin
25/03 WARDLEY Stanley
26/03 DUARTE-COSTA Carlos (bishop)
26/03 GILBEY Alfred Newman (priest/monsignor)
27/03 CLEMENT Robertson
30/03 PRICE William John
Photo: members of the Brighton Oratory with fellow Christians serving homeless guests at The Hub, Brighton Congress Hall our joint apostolate with the Salvation Army
The Brighton Oratory 
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