Parish Newsletter – Sunday 16th November 2025

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, we reflected on the dignity of work in this Sunday’s readings. Saint Paul reminds us that every task becomes meaningful when carried out with faith and love, and the Gospel encourages us to remain steady in the midst of life’s uncertainties.

Our heartfelt thanks to the 60+ Club, especially to Chrissie, whose movement and dance sessions on the second and fourth Wednesdays have brought great joy. Last week’s session was outstanding and deeply appreciated.

The double glazing work in the presbytery is progressing very well, and the building is already becoming warmer and more efficient. We hope the work will be completed within the coming week.

Looking ahead, on 30th December, at the start of the new liturgical year, there will be a blessing of the renovated priest’s house after Mass. All are warmly welcome.

On 7th December at 5.00 pm, we will celebrate our Christmas Lights Switching-On Mass, followed by refreshments for everyone.

May this time of preparation help us grow together as a parish family, rooted in faith, hope – a place of solace, and love.

Upcoming Events

• Kids’ Christmas Party: Sat 22 Nov, 3–5 p.m. (Register by 15 Nov)
• Family Mass: Sun 30 Nov, 10:30 a.m.
• Crib Competition: Send entries by 21 Dec
• Play “Prickly Hay”: Mon 8 Dec, 2:15 p.m., Holy Cross Prep School

60+ Club

Wednesdays 10:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m. | St Ann’s Hall
Gentle chair exercises, yoga, bingo, raffles, and refreshments.
Contact Anna – 07872 694535
26 Nov: Clay Making Workshop

St Ann’s Campus – Well-being

• Yoga & Meditation: Wednesdays 6–7 p.m.
• Reflexology & Healing Touch: with Koffi – 07365 387299

A space for harmony of body, mind and spirit.

Deanery Mass for Deceased Clergy

Fri 21 Nov 2025 | 7 p.m. (arrival from 6:30)
At St Ann’s Catholic Church. “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.” (Wis 3:1)
Tea and light refreshments after Mass.

Christmas Preparation Appeal

As we begin preparing for Christmas decorations and celebrations, your contributions are most welcome. You can use the QR code in church or support any of the following:

• Altar candles – £120
• Mass bread and wine – £150
• Advent candles – £50
• Christmas flower decorations – £150
• Post-Mass refreshments – £80–£120
• Gifts for neighbours and those in need

Your generosity helps make St Ann’s a place of beauty, welcome, and prayer this Christmas.

Regular Parish Activities

Saturdays: Adoration & Confession at 11:15 am, Pilgrims’ Mass at 12:00 noon

60+ Club: Wednesdays, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm, in the Parish Hall. Gentle chair exercises, bingo, and social time.

Weekly Pilgrim Devotions:

Tuesdays: Adoration & Confession at 6:15 pm, Mass at 7:00 pm

Visit Our Website

Stay connected with parish updates, upcoming events, homilies, and registration forms at:
www.stannskingstonhill.org.uk

Homily – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

As we come to the final steps of our liturgical year, the Word of God speaks to us with clarity and strength. Saint Paul, in today’s second reading, gives us a message that is both simple and profound: “We were not idle… we worked night and day so as not to be a burden” (2 Thess 3:8). Here is a saint, a missionary, a preacher of the Gospel, but also a man with calloused hands — a man who understood that work is holy.

Saint Paul left everything once he encountered the truth. The moment Christ touched his heart, he began a new journey — not half-hearted, not idle — but fully committed. “If anyone is unwilling to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess 3:10). These words are not harsh; they are loving. Paul is reminding us that life is a gift, and every gift demands responsibility.

To enter this reflection, let me take you to a small story.
A man sat by a river in the dark of night. Beside him was a little bag of stones. To pass the time, he picked up each stone and threw it into the rushing water — one after another, without thinking. When dawn came, he picked up the last stone — only to see it shine. It was a diamond. And he realised: all night long, he had been throwing diamonds into the river, thinking they were ordinary stones.

My dear friends, life is like that.
Time is like that.
Opportunity is like that.
When we treat life casually, we throw away precious diamonds. When we waste our days in idleness of mind, body, or spirit, we lose what God has placed in our hands.

Today is an invitation: value the gift.

1. The Spirituality of Work — God Himself Worked

From the first pages of Scripture, we see God as a worker:
“The Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth” (Genesis 2:7).
The Divine Potter shaping clay.
The Shepherd seeking the lost.
The Vine-dresser tending His vineyard.

Even Jesus reached out to people in their working places — fishermen mending nets, a tax collector at his booth. God meets us where we work because work reveals who we are.

A wise saying reminds us:
“Your work is the visible extension of your invisible self.”

When we work — whether in the parish, office, home, kitchen, school, hospital — we reveal something about our soul.

2. Idleness vs. Holy Labour

Saint Paul warns against idleness, not because he wants us to be busy for the sake of being busy, but because idleness steals the dignity God has placed in us. Idleness creates bitterness, comparison, jealousy, gossip. It weakens the soul.

But work — honest work — strengthens.
Jesus Himself says in today’s Gospel:
“By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:19).
Endurance is a kind of work — the daily faithfulness that shapes holiness.

3. A Word on Physical Labour and the Ground Beneath Our Feet

Many of us think for hours, sit for hours, and work mentally. But our bodies, created from the dust, also long to touch the dust.

Physical work — gardening, cleaning, sweeping, trimming, planting — grounds the mind, humbles the heart, heals the soul. When your hands touch soil, something in you returns to Eden.
That is why monasteries keep the rhythm: ora et labora — pray and work.

I invite you, gently, lovingly:
Do not be afraid of simple work.
A little sweat is a prayer.
A little labour is a blessing.

When you come for Gardening Sundays or help in the parish, it is not just an activity — it is spirituality.

4. A Final Thought

If you eat the bread that someone else worked for, be grateful.
If you receive good things from another’s effort, be humble.
If God has given you strength, use it.
If He has given you time, spend it well.
If He has given you life, do not throw its diamonds into the river.

As Malachi says today:
“For you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Mal 4:2).

May that healing rise in your work, your family, your heart, your purpose.

God bless you.