The Messenger
St George the Martyr, Goodwood
March, 2023
Dear Friend
WELCOME TO LENT. One of the customary hymns of Lent is “Forty Days and Forty Nights,” a good way to remember that we have forty days in Lent. But the original Western Lent was six weeks, giving forty-two days, but as we never fast on Sunday, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, as that is always a day of celebration, that gave only thirty-six days of fasting, which St Gregory the Great describes as “the tithe of the year,” as one tenth of the number of days in the year.
Not long afterwards, however, perhaps by Gregory himself, the four days preceding the first Sunday were added to the fast to bring the number of days to exactly forty, the length of the fast kept by Our Lord Himself, as well as by the prophets Moses and Elijah. In the Eastern rites, Great Lent begins on the Monday of the First Week, two days before the Western Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday has the dramatic imposition of ashes as part of its liturgy, ashes made from the dried palms of last year’s palm crosses. The blessing and imposition of ashes was originally a rite for those who were assigned to do penance publicly during Lent for grave or notorious sins. The extension of this custom to all the faithful began in the later part of the 10th century, and was solidified by the end of the 11th, when Pope Urban II prescribed it at the Council of Benevento in 1091. The rite of “expelling” the public penitents from the church on Ash Wednesday, and receiving them back on Maundy Thursday, gradually faded from use.
I encourage you to consider how you should keep your Lent. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the pointers on how you can discipline yourself. They are important guides to help us. Great sins start with small faults that become habitual, and so also small disciplines become great virtues that help a Christian life.
Organ Works
We have now signed the contract for the repairs to the organ. As a result, parts of the organ will be out of action over the next few months as they are taken away for repairs. Do try and remember to give to support these important refurbishments.
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross will be held every Friday morning in Lent at 8 am.
Lenten Appeal
Our Lenten Appeal once again supports the Diocese of Aipo Rongo in PNG. Sets of envelopes are available at the back of the church. Each set contains an envelope for each Sunday in Lent, plus one for the Good Friday appeal for the church in Jerusalem.
Annual Vestry
The annual Vestry will be on Sunday 26 March. Nomination forms for parish council and warden are available at the back of the church.
Lenten Reading
There are two twentieth century classics for this year’s Lenten Reading – “Mere Christianity” by CS Lewis and “Celebration of Discipline: the Path to Spiritual Growth” by Richard Foster. Pricing and copies are at the back of the church.
Mothering Sunday – 19 March
Mothering, or Refreshment Sunday, is the fourth Sunday of Lent, the traditional turning point. On this day we usually bless and give out pieces of simnel cake, a type of fruit cake, for our earthly mothers and in remembrance of the gifts of Mother Church. The vestments of the day are pink, instead of Lenten purple, to indicate a lightening of the Lenten discipline on the day. After this Sunday we enter the second part of Lent, Passiontide, when the pictures are veiled in purple and shrine lights removed, to concentrate the devotion on the way of the cross.
Magdalene Centre Food
The Magdalene Centre is looking for some extra support to keep up with increased demands on their emergency assistance service. In January this year they saw 50% more clients than in January last year. Unfortunately, they are seeing increased need as the cost of living continues to climb. In particular, they are especially short on baked beans, cereal, milk, tinned tuna, 2 min noodles, tinned fruit, and soap.
Chant App
For those of you using apps on your computers, a new app for chants has been developed, called Neumz. Its full range is only available if you pay for the app, but it has some good chants for the offices of the Roman rite. My thanks to Fr Nicholas Rundle for drawing this to my attention.
God Bless
Fr Scott
“Lenten practices of giving up pleasures are good reminders that the purpose of life is not pleasure. The purpose of life is to attain to perfect life, all truth and undying ecstatic love – which is the definition of God. In pursuing that goal, we find happiness.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Lenten Reflection
The Great Fast is once more almost upon us, and soon once again the Gates of Repentance will be opened unto us. The Holy Fathers teach us that Lent is the tithe of the year which we offer to the Lord, as first fruits and as a sin offering to God. And as Abba Dorotheos exclaims: “Blessed, O brethren, is he who preserves himself well in these holy days as he should. For though it might happen that being human we sin out of infirmity or negligence, still God has given these holy days in order that, striving with heedfulness and humility, we take care of ourselves and repent for all of our sins, and we will be cleansed of the sins we committed during the whole year.”
All too often, however, we allow these holy days to pass us by, neglecting the great spiritual opportunity which God in His mercy has granted to us. And it is precisely an opportunity—not an outward or arbitrary obligation, not some sort of debt which we must grudgingly pay to God, but rather a gift that He has given to us for our own spiritual benefit and for the health and salvation of our own souls. The resurrection which we all seek in Pascha must begin even now, in the Lenten springtime of our souls. We must sow now in order that we might have something to reap, and not be as those foolish virgins who were turned away on the night of the marriage feast.
Thankfully, the Holy Church has given us many tools and aids for this task, and many weapons for the spiritual battle which we are about to wage. Fasting, prayer, the beautiful Church services, alms-giving and spiritual reading, all of these can so often soften even the heart most hardened by long and habitual sin. And in the commemoration of the departed, one of the hallmarks of the Lenten season, so many of these virtues are yoked together: prayer for our departed loved ones, almsgiving on behalf of their souls, the church services offered up for their benefit and for the comfort of those who remain behind on this earth. Added to these is a great and inestimable benefit to ourselves: the continual reminder of and meditation upon death, which is a foundation of all virtue and a bulwark against every sin. Indeed, the monk Hesychios tells us that “no one who has the memory of death can ever sin.” The more we call to remembrance those who have departed from this life, the more we dedicate our time and our struggle to their benefit, even so will we more and more realize the vanity and emptiness of all the worldly trinkets and empty pleasures which occupy so much of our attention throughout the year. Our eyes will be opened to the riches of grace which we possess so abundantly in our faith, both now in this world as well as in the age to come.
Anon
Services
Sunday Services
8.00 am Mass
10.00 am Solemn Sung Mass
Weekday Services
Monday Fr Scott’s Day Off
Tuesday 10.00 am Mass,
followed by gardening
Wednesday 8.00 am Angelus & Mass
Thursday 12 noon Angelus &Mass
Friday 8.00 am Angelus &
Stations of the Cross
8.30 am Mass
Saturday 8.00 am Angelus &Mass
Consider giving to the church; our bank details are
BSB 105033 account 151992640
Please put “offering” in the description if that is the purpose.
March
1 David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c601
1 Ember Wednesday
2 Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
3 Ember Friday
4 Ember Saturday
5 LENT 2
7 Perpetua and her Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
8 Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, 1910
8 John of God, Worker among the sick and poor, Spain, 1550
8 Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
9 Sister Emma SSA, Superior of the Society of the Sacred Advent, Queensland, 1939
12 LENT 3
17 Patrick, Bishop of Armagh Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c460
18 Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, Teacher of the Faith, 386
19 LENT 4 – MOTHERING SUNDAY
20 Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Bishop and missionary (d. 687) or 4th Sept.
21 Transitus of Benedict, Abbot of Monte Casino, Father of Western Monasticism, patron of Europe, c550
21 Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1556
22 JOSEPH OF NAZARETH (from 19)
24 Paul Couturier, Ecumenist, 1953
24 Walter Hilton of Thurgartan, Augustian Friar, Mystic, 1396
24 Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, Martyr, 1980
25 THE ANNUNCIATION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
26 LENT 5 – PASSION SUNDAY
31 John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
April
1 Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, Teacher of the Faith, 1872
2 LENT 6 – PALM SUNDAY
6 MAUNDY THURSDAY
7 GOOD FRIDAY
8 EASTER EVE
9 EASTER DAY
16 EASTER 2
17 The Annotine Easter 2022
21 Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher of the Faith, 1109
23 GEORGE, MARTYR, PATRON SAINT, c304
24 The Seven Martyrs of the Melanesian Brotherhood, Solomon Islands, 2003
25 ANZAC DAY
26 MARK, EVANGELIST AND MARTYR
28 Peter Chanel, Religious, missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
29 Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
30 EASTER 4
Our website
Address for correspondence
The Parish of St George the Martyr,
The Rectory
34 Angus Street
Goodwood, SA, 5034
Email: stgeorges8@bigpond.com
St George the Martyr Anglican Church, Goodwood 