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Dear Friends,
May is the Month of Mary which will help us ponder the great events of the early Church. The day of Pentecost was one of the three major Jewish feasts, a harvest festival of the first fruits of the grain harvest. At some period this festival also became associated with the making of the covenant on Mt Sinai. The twelve in the upper room experienced the traditional, Old Testament signs of the presence of God: wind and fire. In addition the apostles were given the power of ecstatic utterances in a variety of languages which were recognized by the Jews of the dispersion there as the languages of the where they normally lived. It is important to prepare for Pentecost by praying each day from the Ascension. A very prayerful novena has been prepared of which I hope that everybody will receive a copy and be able to ponder with Mary the events of the early Church.
SWANWICK CONFERENCE There has been a reasonable response so far. Do please make a note in your diary – Friday 17th / Sunday 19th September 2010, Sr Monica SM, a Marist Sister, will be the keynote speaker for the conference “The Marist Message for Today” Cost will be £150.00 per person. Booking forms are now available. If you have not booked – NOW IS THE TIME!! These dates were announced at the close of the Swanwick Conference in April 2007. Surely this has been sufficient notice. This will be a very important occasion and we will need your support.
MARIST DAY IN WALSINGHAM Saturday 3rd July. This is always a most enjoyable day with the opportunity to absorb something of the spirit of Nazareth, meet together and return home renewed. Hope to see you there.
YOUR CHARITABLE PRAYERS are requested for the repose of Fr. Geoffrey Graystone who died suddenly (11.04.10). He was a Scripture scholar and taught for several years at Notre Dame, Seminary, New Orleans after the English scholasticate closed. More recently he has been a member of the Sidcup community. He had been out for his usual walk but in the evening he fell down stairs after suffering a brain haemorrhage. He has two brothers, Philip and Henry who are Marist priests. Funeral in Sidcup 11.30 Thursday 29th April. Also Mary Pearson, Harrow, who died recently. May they rest in peace. Amen
Maristway.org is our Website. The website continues to do well and the number of ‘hits’ continues to increase: in 2007 there were 11,070 whilst in 2009 there were 20,177. This is a very valuable means of bringing the Marist Way to other people. Please continue to visit the site and encourage others to do likewise. Many thanks to Paul, our webmaster, for all the hours spent on the internet.
AN ITEM OF NEWS NOT WIDELY REPORTED
CYCLONE TOMAS – March 2010 area of Wallis A report in our General Newsletter:
“Now the phone lines have finally been restored, both Fr Ben McKenna, superior of the Novitiate House in Tutu, and bishop Ghislain de Rasilly from Wallis have written about their experience during and after the passage of cyclone Tomas in March in areas where many Marists live and work. Fortunately all the confreres are safe and well, but the material damagewas huge: broken and fallen trees, destroyed gardens, no communications, no planes and no ships.”
Marist Liturgical Calendar and Mass Intentions 2010
M. Coleman SM, Marist Way Regional Animator
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