Lending a helping hand

You can say it boldly: “mind your own business” or you can be a little more amusing: “Hey, I found your nose, it was in my business again!” But the idea is the same, we don’t like it when people cross the boundaries into our private sphere. This is a very natural and good intuition. Unlike animals, we are persons, we have a unique identity, a personal inner life, a conscience, intimate thoughts, plans, memories, data… all of which we ought to protect in order to preserve our dignity and our freedom.
However, freedom has limits. Limits after which freedom stops being freedom to become something else. And how do we know if we have trespassed those boundaries? When we hurt ourselves or others, or if you prefer, when we choose something other than our good and the good of others.

The question is, what to do when someone chooses evil? Should we intervene and invade their personal life to warn them? Or should we mind our own business, and just stand back and watch? The readings this Sunday are unanimous in their answer: we have the duty of care; we have to correct our brothers and sisters. And not only that, the invitation of the Gospel is clear, if we truly love them, we must make our best to help our brothers and sisters recognise their error to the end, even if they are obstinate.

But many would ask: what about their freedom then? Well… Pope Francis put it once like this: “To be free is to choose always the good”. So, if someone is acting against their good and the good of others, they are not very free, so by correcting them we are not eliminating their freedom; we are actually making them freer. And, of course, we must not forget too, that when we ourselves receive good correction, it is not somebody poking their nose into our affairs, it is someone stretching their helping hand holding an invitation to true freedom.

​Fr Daniel Herrero Pena

Revised provision of Mass during the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
Mass timetable for this weekend 29th/30th August: 
Saturday: 6.00pm
Sunday: 9.30 am, 11.00am
Monday – Friday: 10am
 
From Sunday September 6th our Mass timetable is revised as follows:
Saturday: vigil/anticipated  6.00pm
Sunday: 9.00am, 10.30am, 12.00 noon
Monday – Friday: 10am.
 
Confessions  
at request. 
 
We are limited by the use of the 2 metre rule to 68 persons or households. A Household or family can sit together.   It is essential that you register for a place at Mass. You can do this via our microsite: https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/kensington1/events/  With the number of parishioners returning from Holidays we anticipate greater demand for places.  We will have to give priority to those who have pre-registered.  
 
If you do not register and simply turn up you may have to wait to see if the number of pre-booked palaces have been exceeded. It may be necessary to ask you to come back later.  We ask your patience and cooperation.
 
There is at current no obligation for the faithful to attend Sunday Mass. You can attend Mass on any weekday. All our Masses are live streamed on the main page of our website.
We will keep the provision of Mass under review so as to provide an opportunity for as many parishioners as possible to attend.
Don’t forget you face covering, if you are able to wear one