Dear brothers and sisters,
May I ask those requiring confessions this weekend to email me by Thursday evening. I shall hear local confessions on Saturday afternoon in St Mary’s, and the timing will depend on the number of those confessing.
As some of the faithful are in London on the March for Life, on Saturday, I will arrange an alternative time for their confessions. Anyone else not free on Saturday should also email me (realistically needed by Wednesday lunchtime to allow weekday arrangements to be made).
Several Sundays each month will see Father Luke celebrating in Llanelli, so please do not presume that it will simply be possible to turn up to church on Sundays and join the confession queue. On these Sundays, once the proskomedia begins, there will be no confession queue, as the only priest will be celebrating Liturgy.
Also, I will be limiting confessions after Liturgy, as the parish priest MUST be able to spend time with the faithful. Once again, this is becoming difficult, as shown by the Sunday before last, when I did not finish till 15:30, by which time everything was packed away and parishioners gone.
This coming Sunday, with no deacon, as per last Sunday, I must lay the prokomedia table and arrange the altar, limiting my time to hear confessions. I already have four confessions to hear, with the possibility of a few more. However, these should be confessions for non-locals, who travel a significant distance to Liturgy or our older parishioners.
As this Sunday will be the Sunday after Dormition, we will celebrate the icon of the Mother of God ‘Прибавление ума / Pribavlenie Uma’, known in English as the ‘Giver of Reason’ or ‘Addition of Mind’. A short moleben to the Mother of God in honour of her icon will be offered at the end of the Liturgy.
May God bless you, and may your week continue in the joy of the Dormition.
In Christ – Fr Mark
