Weekly Email – Trinity 7
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Fr Alan writes:
Dear Friends,
What peace and joy our pilgrims have brought back with them from Walsingham, following our annual parish pilgrimage last weekend. Walsingham in Norfolk – England’s Nazareth – can feel like a world away, but its real effect on those who make that journey is always palpable on their return.
At the final liturgy of the weekend, pilgrims gather in the Holy House to sing that somewhat saccharine, but always moving, hymn to the familiar tune Repton:
O Holy House of Walsingham!
Here would we ever dwell.
But Jesus calls us to the strife
And tumults of our daily life,
Our Lady’s Shrine, “farewell” –
Our Lady’s Shrine, “farewell”.
It’s a place to which we take the cares of life, and a place from which, having received its special blessings, we are sent back into the world. Our Lady’s little house is both a place of peace and respite, and one of industry and commission. Rarefied, and yet entirely practical.
Just think of the serenity and tension combined in the best paintings of the Annunciation – of the little house where heaven and earth are met and reconciled in girl and angel –
“Immediacy
Of strangest strangeness is the bliss
That from their limbs all movement takes.
Yet the increasing rapture brings
So great a wonder that it makes
Each feather tremble on his wings”
In the words of the poet Edwin Muir.
This August marks a century since the inauguration of the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham by Fr Alfred Hope Patten, a society intended to keep pilgrims in touch with the work of the Shrine throughout the year – to continue to find succour and comfort in Our Lady’s graces and intercession – and to commit themselves to the work of prayer for others, and for the continued witness of “England’s Nazareth”.
We have a “cell” of the Society here at All Saints’ – and I want to encourage its revivification in this anniversary year. Especially given the interest in the Lent and Advent retreats at Walsingham, one of which I was privileged to lead last year; the success of our trip to the National Pilgrimage, and the good number of young people we sent to Adoremus in November, I hope there will be renewed interest in joining this cell.
Members receive a membership badge and card, as well as the Shrine’s twice-yearly magazine. The Society of Our Lady of Walsingham is prayed for daily at the Holy House. The cost is £20 per year.
Here at All Saints’, we will continue our pattern of offering the noon Mass on the second Saturday of each month as a Mass of Our Lady. There will also be a number of new Low Masses with hymns, followed by refreshments, on Marian feasts during the year. The first will be on Wednesday, September 24th, at 6.30pm, for the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham itself. I hope many of you will be able to attend, and consider enrolling. Then, once we’ve gathered interest and commitment, we might plan together the next steps of this hopefully devotional, and practical, endeavour.
Our Lady always points us to the Lord, and offers us assistance in living up to his call. Our Assumption procession on August 17th is one of the parish’s most visible witnesses to our Faith — and so I encourage those interested and able to assist in any way they can on that great day, giving back something to her whose generous “yes” cleared a path for our salvation.
With love,
Fr Alan
Volunteers for the Assumption
We need volunteers who are willing to act as stewards for the Procession of Our Lady that takes place on Sunday 17th August. This task involves wearing a hi-vis vest and ensuring the procession takes place in an orderly and safe fashion. There is a full briefing before the procession so all the stewards know what to do. If you are able to volunteer, please email the office (office@asms.uk) or Fr Alan.
Our parish pilgrimage group in Walsingham last weekend.
August Bible Study
Our August Bible study will focus on St Luke’s Gospel this year. Sessions will take place on 13, 20 and 27 August after the evening Mass. You can sign up for all the sessions, or just those you are able to make, here.
Many congratulations to former parishioner of All Saints’, Samantha Parker, who has begun her time as a novice with the Community of St Francis! She has taken the name Sister Mary Clare. Please keep Sister Mary Clare in your prayers over the coming months as she explores this new vocation and calling.
Assumptiontide celebrations 2025
Friday 15th August 2025
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm High Mass
Preacher: Fr Peter Anthony
Sunday 17th August 2025
6.00 pm Assumptiontide Evensong and Benediction with Procession of Our Lady down Oxford Street.
Preacher: The Revd Philip Corbett, Vicar of St Silas and Holy Trinity, Kentish Town.
Our parish pilgrimage to Walsingham last weekend – with Fr Ben Eadon the Priest Administrator in the Pilgrim Refectory.
Courtyard Dinner
There will be a dinner for our younger adults on Thursday, 21st August after the 6.30pm Mass. Weather-permitting we’ll be in the courtyard. Please contact Fr Alan to sign up.
Our pilgrim group enjoy a drink together in the Shrine bar on their pilgrimage to Walsingham last weekend.
Attendance last Sunday
The Saturday night procession of Our Lady during our parish pilgrimage to Walsingham last weekend.
For your prayers
The Friends of All Saints Margaret Street
3rd – Ingrid Slaughter, Naomi Slippe, Vaughan Snook, Harvey Solomon-Brady
4th – Jonathan Spelman, Richard and Louise Stallwood, Iain Stewart, Robert Stoltz, Madeleine Storer, Ian and Veronica Summers, Colin Symes, Ann Tacchi
5th – Sebastian Taite-Ellis, Michael Taylor, Kitty Thompson, Charles Thomson, Dr James Thomson, Jeremy Thorp, Jane Turner, The Rev’d Roger Turner, Dr Christine Vaughn Lillie
6th – Christopher Walsh, Philip Wayne, Fr Benjamin Weitzmann, Fr Mats Wendt, Michael Westcott
7th – Sandra Wheen, Matthew Whittaker, Tim Widdowfield, David Wilcox, Samuel Wildy, T. Bradford Willis, Ian A. Wilson, Fr Michael Witcombe
8th – Martin Woods, The Rev’d John Wylam, William Yale, Michael Young
9th – Mark Allan, Martin Amherst-Lock, Robert Austen, Richard Ayling, James Babington Smith, Ruth Baker
The sick
Biddy Baxter, Jean Castledine, David Craig, Yvonne Craig, Fr Michael Gudgeon, Sheelagh Gudgeon, Lesley Jones, Elizabeth Lyon, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Lionel Persey, Fr Peter Roberts, James Rodger, Fr Jim Rosenthal, Ingrid Slaughter, Juliet Windham.
The recently departed
Lynn Persey
Anniversaries of death
3rd – Harriet Brownlow (Mother Foundress)
4th – Donald Scott, Mona Morgan
5th – Julian Davies
6th – Jessie Graves, David Archer
7th – George Albert Young
8th – Harriet Gray, Derek Mathews
9th – Michael Goldin
Services this week
Saturday 2nd August – Feria
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 3rd August – TRINITY VII
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction
Monday 4th August – St John Mary Vianney
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Tuesday 5th August – Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Wednesday 6th August – The Transfiguration
12 noon Low Mass
5.30 Holy Hour
6.30 pm Low Mass
Thursday 7th August – Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Friday 8th August – St Dominic
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Saturday 9th August – St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 10th August – TRINITY VIII
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction