Fr Frank writes:
My Dear Friends,
October is the month of the Holy Rosary. To mark the special character of this month each weekday Mass in both parishes, except on those occasions when Mass is followed by Adoration, will end with a recitation of one decade of the rosary (another exception – on Thursday at OLQH the tradition of reciting five decades will continue). At Sunday Masses we will mark ‘the month’ by concluding with a hymn to Our Blessed Lady.
On Wednesday we celebrate the Memorial of St Francis of Assisi. As a Franciscan Secular, this is a special day for me, as it is for the parish of Frinton and Walton. When the church at Walton-on-the-Naze closed 12 years ago its dedication to St Francis of Assisi was added to the title of the church at Frinton-on-Sea. We rejoice on the 4th October, therefore: rejoice that the dedication to St Francis lives on, and we pray not only for the church at Frinton but for all those who faithfully served the former parish of Walton.
On Friday this week we hold our Harvest Fast Day. The object of this is to deepen our awareness of the needs of the many poor in this world by eating less, and, prompted by this, offering our prayers and donating the money we save to CAFOD. There will be retiring collections at the end of all next weekend’s Masses for the work of CAFOD. I am grateful to our CAFOD parish representatives, Tony Lee at Frinton & Walton and Carolyn Dobner at Harwich & Dovercourt, who will be speaking at our Masses this weekend.
May God our loving Father bless you, and may Our Lady and St Francis of Assisi pray for you.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile : A Methodist minister was walking down the street when a very well-dressed man ran up to him and shook him by the hand. ‘Reverend,’ he said. ‘I’ll never forget that brilliant sermon on temperance you preached five years ago. How you told us of the poor working man, spending his wages in the pub with his children dressed in rags, while the publican was driving round in a Jaguar with his family in fur coats and dressed in the height of fashion!’ The minister nodded solemnly. ‘And did my sermon reform your life?’ ‘Oh it did, it did,’ said the man, ‘transformed it beyond recognition! I decided to become a publican.