Shortly, the \u2018Year of St Joseph\u2019 will end. It has not had the impact that was hoped for, but maybe in its final week we could reflect on the life he had and on his guardianship of the child Jesus growing up in Nazareth. The skills that his trade might have engendered, the patience, endurance, imagination, accuracy, plus strength, honesty and the generosity one would expect of his role. We hear so little of him in the Gospels, but we do know his family took refuge in Egypt, so he would understand the plight of today\u2019s refugees. His loyalty to Mary when her child was conceived shows us a wise and honourable man, willing to go the extra mile for those in his care. All men, fathers especially, would not find a better example to imitate.<\/p>\n
With COP26 still in our minds I found an imaginative guide to things we could all do in our parishes, based on Pope Francis\u2019 Laudato Si<\/em>. It is still being built, but is full of ideas for ecology, energy saving and more: https:\/\/journeyto2030.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n The polling stations in Old Bexley and Sidcup open on December 2nd<\/sup> to elect a new MP. The new member of the House of Commons will need our prayers and trust, whatever our allegiances, so that they will bring real change in our society and the wider world. It is a Christian duty to vote and support whoever is elected if we want to keep a free and charitable country.<\/p>\n May this season leading to Christmas be holy and joy-filled. Don\u2019t forget those saddened by tragedy and loss so that our care might show them the true meaning for our celebrations with friends and family.<\/p>\n 3rd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Francis Xavier<\/p>\n 4th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St John Damascene<\/p>\n 7th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Ambrose<\/p>\n 8th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Immaculate Conception of Mary\u00a0 Solemnity<\/em><\/p>\n 10th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our Lady of Loreto<\/p>\n 13th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Lucy\u00a0 Martyr<\/em><\/p>\n 15th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St John of the Cross<\/p>\n Christmastide<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n 25th \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nativity of Our Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n 27th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St John\u00a0 Apostle & Martyr, Feast<\/em><\/p>\n 28th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Holy Innocents\u00a0 Martyrs<\/em><\/p>\n 29th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St Thomas of Canterbury\u00a0 Martyr,<\/em> Feast<\/em><\/p>\n 30th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mary, Holy Mother of God\u00a0 Solemnity<\/em><\/p>\n Shortly, the \u2018Year of St Joseph\u2019 will end. It has not had the impact that was hoped for, but maybe in its final week we could reflect on the life he had and on his guardianship of the child Jesus growing up in Nazareth. The skills that his trade might have engendered, the patience, endurance, … Continue reading “Reflections for the Month of December”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-884","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\/884","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=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":908,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions\/908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.saintstephens.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Calendar for December, Ordinary Time II, Year C<\/h5>\n
Deacon Michael Baldry<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"