Baptism of the Lord Year C

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“Pilgrims of Hope” – Jubilee Year 2025 (Continued) Pope Francis inaugurated the Jubilee Year of 2025, which is themed: ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, by opening the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica. Every 25 years we have an opportunity to celebrate with greater fervour the gift of faith, by going on pilgrimage to Rome, to pass through the Holy Door. As well as there being many opportunities to receive indulgences (more information here: https://rcdow.org.uk/jubilee-2025/the-jubilee-indulgence-step-by-step/), this is a great opportunity to reflect on the theological virtue of hope.                Christian hope begins with the definitive statement by St Paul: “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5) because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or the sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:35.37-39).                 Here we see the reason why this hope perseveres in the midst of trials: founded on faith and nurtured by charity, it enables us to press forward in life. As Saint Augustine observes: “Whatever our state of life, we cannot live without these three dispositions of the soul, namely, to believe, to hope and to love”.                We might take a moment this week to reflect on what the virtue of hope means in your life. We might ask whether I am a person who is filled with hope and therefore a witness to hope in our world? If not, this is a time to begin praying for the virtue of hope. Fr Francis Please pray for those who are sick: Marion Swiny, Nicanor Abalos, Canice Carson, Laetitia Smith, James Langan, Theresa Chee and Kimberley Collins.   Please pray for those who are recently deceased:  Fr Sean Carroll and Elisa Tafur de Cottle.   Please pray for those whose anniversaries occur at this time:  John Pulton, Catherine Harrisson, Mary Soliman, Sean Swiny, Roseline Harvie-Watt, Alfred Maurer, John Spilstead, Anna Maria Ceriotti. News for Our Lady of Victories Primary School We are pleased that children from Our Lady of Victories Primary School will be participating in the Offertory Procession during the 10:30 am Mass on Sunday, 12th January. This initiative will take place monthly and is an opportunity for the school community to thank the parish for its ongoing support of the parents, teachers, and children.             The Offertory Procession is an important symbolic part of the Mass, and the children’s involvement reflects the integral relationship between the school and the parish. We hope this regular participation will strengthen the parish connection with school life and the faith formation of our children.              It is hoped that the children from the school will soon begin reading at Mass as part of the rolling readers rota, under the care and supervision of Sr Maureen.              To keep parishioners informed about school activities and the Catholic formation of the children, we have established a Noticeboard at the back of the Church. This will display updates from the school, enabling parishioners to stay in touch with news and activities.              The Executive Head Teacher of the School, Ms Karen Wyatt, will speak briefly at the end of the Mass, to promote and encourage enrolment applications to our parish school. Deacon Paul Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be celebrated between Saturday 18th and Saturday 25th January 2025. The theme is: ‘Do you believe this?’ (John 11:26). Please join us for an: Ecumenical Service of Choral Evensong Wednesday 22nd January 2025 at 7pm at St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington, W8 4LA. Preacher: Fr Antony Aziz, of St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church and Convenor, Churches Together in Kensington and Chelsea  All are welcome. See poster for more details. Parish Pilgrimage to Walsingham – Jubilee Celebration: 7th June 2025  Mark your diaries for Saturday, 7th June 2025, as our parish embarks on a special day-pilgrimage to Walsingham, the ancient National Shrine lovingly known as “England’s Nazareth”.           This pilgrimage is a unique opportunity to celebrate the Holy Year Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Francis, a time of renewal, grace, and deepened faith. Please register your interest with the parish office as soon as possible but expect an early start from 7.30 am. A Year of Hope: An Introduction to the Jubilee Year with the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) 2025 is a Jubilee year, but what does that mean? Catholic talk show host and author Nana Churcher, and CAFOD’s Simon Giarchi will be hosting Fr Jan Nowotnik (Director of Mission for the Bishop’s Conference), Christine Allen (CAFOD’s Director) and Kayode Akintola (CAFOD’s Head of Africa) and more for a lively start to the Jubilee. With a special appearance by Catholic band Ooberfuse. Saturday 18 Jan, 10:30am-midday, online. All welcome. Register here for free: cafod.org.uk/jubilee Spiritual Enrichment Lecture Series 2025 The centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality invites you to explore with them this January. On offer is Deepening Prayer Series, Understanding the New Testament, Workshop: Friendship in Spiritual Direction, Twelve Little ways to transform your heart, Zealous for God. All courses on online. Please see here for more details. Santo Niño Feast Day - Sunday 19th January 2025 The annual  celebration of Santo Niño (Infant Jesus) Feast day will be celebrated on 19th January 2025 at 2pm. You are all welcome to join the celebration. Anyone wishing to donate or contribute food or other items please contact Carmen Tanedo directly on 07440 345468 or email: [email protected] Pauline Books and Media The bookshop will be open from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Friday and Sundays.  The shop will reopen on Friday on Jan 18th.The contact number is 07561 456074. Young Married Couples Group Are you a young married couple seeking to build friendships and desiring to connect with other young married couples? Well, a young married couples group is present in our parish. The purpose of the group is to offer support and foster friendship and connection among the many young married couples present in our parish. The ideal age range of the group is under 40. The group meets every month to socialize and foster communion and support. Among the different activities offered are meals together, trips out, games nights and social exercises. If you’re interested in attending, please email Steve and Annie Caprio at [email protected]. You can also join our Whatsapp group using the QR code below: Young Adult Group This is a group for people in their 20s and 30s and aims to build a community in the parish. More events will be coming soon. If there are any questions, please send us an email at: [email protected] or join our WhatsApp group using the QR code:  Welcome to all our Parishioners If you are new to the parish, please come and say hello and complete the parishioner registration form which can be found on our website:  https://www.ourladyofvictories.net/support.html Here you can also find further information on all our parish activities. Weekly Mass Schedule Monday to Friday - 10.00 am Saturday - 6.00 pm Sunday - 9.00 am, 10.30 am, 12.00 pm and 6.00 pm.    All our Masses are live-streamed from our website.    Eucharistic Adoration and Confession On Wednesdays, after the 10am Mass, there is Eucharistic Adoration. This is an opportunity to spend some time in prayer before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. A priest will be available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation from 10.30 to 11.15am. Adoration concludes at Noon with the prayer of the Angelus. Confession also available every Saturday from 5 to 5.45 pm. Parish Team: Fr Nigel Woollen (Parish Priest) Fr Francis Thomas (Assistant Priest) Rev. Paul Hewitt (Permanent Deacon)  Sr Maureen McNamara rsm (Sacramental Programmes) Mrs Rachel Mulira (Parish Secretary) Our Lady of Victories 16 Abingdon Road London W8 6AF 020 7937 4778  [email protected] Support our Parish Financially here