From the Vicar…
Dear Friends,
Yesterday was Waitangi Day, our national holiday, the day on which we celebrate the birth of our nation that took place when the Queen’s representative signed the Treaty with the chiefs of the various Maori tribes. That there is such a Treaty as a declaration of intention for national life is a blessing for us all as we try to make our country a good place for all who live here. We shall mark this in an appropriate way at the Sunday Masses.
The first hymn at the Sung Mass was written especially for Waitangi Day by Shirley Murray and is set to the very fine tune Dunedin, composed by Vernon Griffiths. Griffiths also composed today’s opening organ voluntary. From 1928 until 1932, early in his outstanding career as a music educator, Griffiths was Music Director here at S. Michael’s. Though he was the son of an Anglican vicar, he had become a Roman Catholic before he came to New Zealand in 1926.
There will be no School Mass at S. Michael’s this week as some classes will be away at a School camp. Instead we shall celebrate a Mass at the camp, at Living Springs, Governors Bay.
We now have three catechumenal candidates who are preparing to renew their baptismal promises at Easter. The first meeting of the group will be on Monday evening, 15 February. The programme is very responsive to the needs and questions of the participants. Here is a chance to ask all the questions you have been too afraid to ask before. Please speak to me if you would like to have a part in this.
May God bless you all.Fr Peter Williams
The prayer of praise
One form of prayer that may help make the presence of the Risen Saviour more real in your life and give you a reassuring sense of being supported and surrounded by God’s loving providence, is the Prayer of Praise. It can bring you great peace and joy. This simple form of prayer consists of thanking and praising God for everything whatever in your life. Its basis is the belief that nothing happens in your life that is not, or at least cannot be turned to God’s glory—absolutely nothing, not even your sins— not even the murder of Jesus Christ.
When you have repented, you can praise God even for your sins because he will draw great good from them. Too often people carry a lifelong burden of guilt in their hearts for sins they have committed. Even when convinced of God’s forgiveness, many are unable to shake off their feeling of guilt. If you can express heartfelt thanks and praise to God for having sinned, you may feel that all is well, that all is in God’s hands, and that your labours will be fruitful as a result.
