The Roman Catholic Parish of St. Charles Borromeo

St. Charles Borromeo RC Church

8 Ogle Street, London, W1W 6HS Tel: 020 7636 2883

Saturday Vigil Mass: 6pm and 8:30pm with the neo-catechumenal communities

Sunday Mass: 9am 11am 6pm

Weekday Mass

Monday & Tuesday: 12.30pm

Ash Wednesday Liturgy of the Word and Distribution of Ashes 12.30pm 1.10pm 6pm

Thursday & Friday: 6pm.

Confession: after masses or on call

Lent 2012

THE SEASON OF LENT begins on WEDNESDAY which is a day of fasting and abstinence; the start of the forty day journey to the celebration of the Easter Passover.

ASHES will be distributed during the Liturgy of the Word at 12.30PM, 1.10PM and 6PM

MORNING PRAYER DURING LENT
At 6.30 AM on weekdays, starting on the first Monday of Lent, 27th February. An early start – necessary for those who need to get to work!

LENT GROUPS Our diocese of Westminster has produced a helpful booklet of reflections for groups. Sparks of light will be used on our parish over four Mondays, immediately after the 12.30PM Mass. February 27th, and March 5th, 12th 19th. All are welcome. Sessions will last one hour and may even include a cup of tea!!

CAFOD FAST DAY The Lenten Cafod Friday Fast Day is on March 2nd. Special envelopes are available for the following weekend’s collection

SUNDAY 11AM MASS Again this weekend Bob will be around after Mass. If you feel you could help as a Server [preparing the altar and gifts]; Reader [proclaiming the Word of God] or Minister [distributing the Blood of Christ], please give your name and contact details to Bob. Thank you.

FEEDING FATHER! Volunteers cooks are still needed to provide lunch on a weekday on a regular basis. If you can help please speak to Father Michael or Vincent

CHURCH CLEANERS There is a rota on the notice board in the porch. Feel free to join in.

Waiting for the next bus

Cardinal John Henry Newman, quoting Saint Bonaventure, wrote, "never trust a first suggestion - you cannot tell whether the voice is from above or from below. The rule is, not to attend to it but to go on as usual. At first shrink from it. If it is of God, it will in due time return".

The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud recommended that "one should examine and explore difficult matters at least three times, to escape misleading first impressions and over hasty conclusions".

Yet everything about our modern lifestyle promotes immediacy and so called spontaneity. Hesitation is not recommended. We are encouraged "to go for it". If it doesn't work - then move on to the next person/place or situation. Life becomes an endless menu of possibilities. Simply scroll down to your preferred option! This was described by Pope Benedict as the "tyranny of choices".

As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to wait and listen; pray, then listen again. The world of ideas and fantasies may urge something attractive and different; the truth of our faith opens a different horizon. Blessed John Henry Newman tells us that, "we cannot have everything in this world, but we can have the greatest of all; God's presence, God's guidance". Here is the deepest truth. When we actively seek the Lord's guidance, being prepared for him to overthrow our own desires and projects, then we discover something remarkable. We find that God's plans are always better, sweeter and ultimately 'easier'.

Wait for the next bus; the one driven by the Lord!

Litany of Humility

O Jesus! Meek and humble of heart…. Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed…..  Deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being loved…..   Deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being extolled…..  Deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being honoured…..  Deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being praised…..   Deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being preferred to others….. Deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being consulted…..  Deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being approved…..  Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being humiliated…..  Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being despised…..   Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of suffering rebukes…..  Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being forgotten…..   Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being ridiculed…..   Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being wronged…..   Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being suspected…..   Deliver me, Jesus

That others may be esteemed more than I…. Jesus grant me the grace to desire it
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease…. Jesus grant me the grace to desire it
That others may be chosen and I set aside…. Jesus grant me the grace to desire it
That others may be praised and I unnoticed…. Jesus grant me the grace to desire it
That others may be preferred to me
in everything…. Jesus grant me the grace to desire it
That others may be loved more than I…. Jesus grant me the grace to desire it
That others may be become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should..Jesus grant me the grace to desire it

An Ego Diet! More or Less!

Tired, weary, anxious? The usual advice is a tonic, a holiday, an indulgent luxury or a night out. The problem is that even after these solutions the condition continues.

GK Chesterton wrote that this world alone makes us inwardly weary. Life becomes a struggle and we are dissatisfied. Life’s mysteries fail to inspire or touch us. We may even be pulled in to what Chesterton termed the heresy of “repeated excess”

Our forefathers and foremothers in the Faith understood from the teaching of Christ himself that real life is a question of less, rather than more.
Excess twists the soul and empties the heart. We may even experience what the twelfth century visionary Hildegard of Bingen called WORLDLY SADNESS.

The cause is self-centred original sin, which promotes in us the conviction that we are alone and must simply grab what (or who) we can.