August 2007

"Holy Father Bertram pray to God for us!"

In this Issue

Confession
Building work
Pilgrimage to St. Bertram at Ilam

Confession

“I am afraid to receive Communion often; I do not get better; my sins are always the same”.

From St. Barlaam the New Confessor: “Well and good, but you wash your clothes often, and do not get angry because they don’t get better, but are always covered with the same dust and dirt. So look in the same way at the purity of the soul: the more a man takes care of it, the better; the more often he washes away the dirt, the more pleasing to the Lord. And do not be disturbed that the dirt is always the same – it is good enough that it doesn’t get worse. It makes no difference what it is that has soiled the purity of the soul; the time comes when one must clean it and wash away the uncleanness with repentance. And to the Lord a single repenting sinner is more pleasing than ten self-satisfied men”.
I found this in the newsletter from Fr. David for St. Edward’s, Aethelhampton.

Building work

There is some dry rot in the refreshment room at church. Since we will need to replace some floor timbers and check the rot before it gets any worse and spreads into church, we are looking at the cost of dropping the floor to the level of the pathway. This would remove the steps and make the refreshment room easily accessible to everyone, something we have had in mind for some time. The Trustees are putting out feelers for reliable builders. We hope to be able to pay for this through donations from our own people. We will have to dig deep, but we can do it, by the grace of God.

Pilgrimage to St. Bertram at Ilam

Make the pilgrimage to St. Bertram’s Tomb this year a special day to pray for others and yourself. It will be our tenth parish pilgrimage to St. Bertram.

Holy Father Bertram pray to God for us!

If you have any items for the newsletter, please e-mail Simon Harvey at simon.harvey@stoke.gov.uk or else leave a copy of your submission with Father Samuel or with Simon at church. Ideally, submissions should be made by the 15th of the month to get into the following month’s edition. Exceptions may be made in emergencies.