Wow! It\u2019s like getting a birthday package a month early and marked: ‘Don\u2019t open until\u2026’ Finally, you take it out of the box after waiting so long and find the gift wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with a really nice ribbon, and marked ‘fragile’. Mum wants the ribbon so you must carefully untie it, then she wants the paper too so you have to patiently unseal and fold the wrapping paper. It all takes time and you just want to get it open and see what\u2019s inside.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here we are, nearly 3 months since the churches were locked, revealing, very slowly, the wonderful gift we\u2019ve missed so much. We cannot yet have all we had before and might lose it as quickly as before. We must be patient and careful in how everything proceeds. Even as the 2-metre advice is relaxed we all remain vulnerable. So, be vigilant with hygiene and use PPE, stay shielded if you’re told to, not just for ourselves but for others too. Now is not the time to be careless. The prize is too great to let it slip away from our grasp.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t expect we\u2019ll ever have things as they were, like sharing the Precious Blood from the one chalice (only a very recent permission: VAT II on Concelebration and Communion under Both Kinds First Decreed for use 16 April 1965, extended faculty 29 June 1970<\/em>) but we pray for the day we can communicate as Jesus intended as a community.<\/p>\n Bexley:<\/strong> Mon, Wed, Fri 10-11am<\/p>\n Bexleyheath:<\/strong> Sunday and Tues 11am-12pm, Thurs 3-4pm<\/p>\n Bostall Park: <\/strong>daily 10-11am, plus Sat 6.30-7.30pm; Sunday 9-10 and 10.30-11.30am<\/p>\n Blackfen:<\/strong> Sun, Tues, Thurs, Sat 10.30am-12.30pm; Wed, Fri 5.30-7.30pm<\/p>\n Crayford<\/strong>: Wed and Fri 9-11am and 1-3pm<\/p>\n Erith:\u00a0 <\/strong>daily 10.30am-12.30pm except Sunday 2pm-6pm<\/p>\n Sidcup:<\/strong> daily 10.30am-12.30pm<\/p>\n Welling:<\/strong> Tues 10.30-11.30am, Sat 11-12, Sun 10-11.30am<\/p>\n 1st\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Oliver Plunket\u00a0 Martyr National Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n 3rd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Thomas\u00a0 Apostle<\/em><\/p>\n 6th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Maria Goretti\u00a0 Virgin Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n 11th \u00a0 St Benedict\u00a0 Patron of Europe National Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n 13th \u00a0 St Mildred\u00a0 Diocesan Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n 15th \u00a0 St Bonaventure<\/p>\n 16th \u00a0 Our Lady of Mt Carmel\u00a0 Feast<\/em><\/p>\n 20th \u00a0 St Apollinaris\u00a0 Bishop Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n 21st\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Lawrence of Brindisi<\/p>\n 22nd\u00a0 St Mary Magdalen<\/p>\n 23rd\u00a0\u00a0 St Bridget\u00a0 Patron of Europe<\/em><\/p>\n 24th\u00a0\u00a0 St Sharbel Machl\u016bf<\/p>\n 25th\u00a0\u00a0 St James\u00a0 Apostle<\/em><\/p>\n 29th\u00a0\u00a0 St Martha<\/p>\n 30th\u00a0\u00a0 St Peter Chrysologus<\/p>\n 31st\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Ignatius Loyola<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wow! It\u2019s like getting a birthday package a month early and marked: ‘Don\u2019t open until\u2026’ Finally, you take it out of the box after waiting so long and find the gift wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with a really nice ribbon, and marked ‘fragile’. Mum wants the ribbon so you must carefully untie it, … Continue reading “Reflections for the Month of July”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Opened Churches in the Deanery<\/h3>\n
Calendar for July\u00a0\u00a0 Ordinary Time, Yr A<\/h5>\n
Rev Michael Baldry<\/h4>\n\n\n