Dear brothers and sisters,
Here we are at the end of another busy day in Cardiff, having welcomed more new people to our Sunday Liturgy, including visitors from Weston-Super-Mare.
Having been baptised in Chippenham, on Saturday, our newly-enlightened brother, James, was ‘churched’ just before the Hours, and we were so pleased to welcome him to the chalice before everyone else to partake of the Holy Mysteries. It was also a joy for us to welcome his mum, with the journey bringing her to her native soil.
We congratulate James on his first Holy Communion, having chanted ‘Many Years’ at the end of Liturgy, also praying that God will bless his supportive family and sponsors, Oswald and Despina.
From one James to another – it was our other James’s 6th birthday, and we were very happy to congratulate him at the beginning of trapeza, singing Happy Birthday and Many Years.
This will be a quiet week, as there will be no Friday gathering in St Mary’s or midweek service in Llanelli, as Fr Luke will be visiting family. However, I shall still be ‘on the road’ catching up with parishioners during the week.
May I ask for requests for confessions by Wednesday, 22:00, hoping to hear the majority of confessions on Saturday.
As announced at Liturgy, we look forward to celebrating the feast of the Kazan Icon in St Mary’s on Friday 4th November, with the Hours around 10:30, after the Anglican service, and Liturgy at 11:00.
We shall continue our celebration the following Sunday, and hope that this will be a Liturgy in which our vastly geographically-scattered flock will be united for our altar-feast..
Tomorrow morning will see the funeral of Mother Germana, the last of the nuns of the Convent of the Annunciation (in Willesden), which had a very special place in ROCOR history, although the sisterhood rejected the rapprochement with the Moscow Patriarchate. With Mother Germana’s death, a chapter has closed and an era has ended. Please remember her in your prayers, together with the Abbesses Elizabeth and Seraphima, of blessed memory.
May the Lord God remember them in His Kingdom. Memory Eternal!
May God bless you all.
In Christ – Fr Mark