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On Monday 26 June we had the great pleasure of welcoming Bishop Norman Banks, Bishop of Richborough and Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of St Albans, among us for a service of Confirmation and for the dedication of the altar triptych. Bishop Norman celebrated the Mass and administered the sacrament of Confirmation to six candidates. What is Confirmation? Confirmation is a response to God’s love for us, and a special way of receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of the bishop’s hands in preparation for a life of Christian faithfulness and service. Confirmation is also a step of personal faith: the candidates take on for themselves the promises made for them at Baptism, confirming their faith and their membership of the body of Christ, the Church. During the service the altar triptych was formally presented by Mr Terry Payne and dedicated to the glory of God, in memory of Fr Colin Gay, former Assistant Priest in our parish. We are very grateful also to our Town Mayor, Cllr Jimmy Carroll, for attending the dedication. The triptych’s central panel depicts the Lord Jesus Christ in glory with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist. St George and St John the Baptist are one the right section, St Wilfrid and St Theodore of Amasea on the left panel. The piece was painted by Nechita Laurentiu, a talented Romanian icon writer, using authentic gold leaf. The artist has worked for the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and he has several pieces displayed in UK church. The triptych was commissioned in 2007 for Preston Minster and placed above the high altar, encased between the back riddel posts. However, it was sold off in 2020 and purchased by a parishioner.
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On Saturday 10 June we celebrated our Corpus Christi Festival with our friends from the Church of the Holy Cross, Luton. Corpus Christi is the great solemnity in honour of the Holy Eucharist, and its Latin name literally means “Body of Christ”. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body in Blood and, in this Most Blessed Sacrament, the Lord Jesus is present in his fullness – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divine Nature. He is with us in the Eucharist to be our food, our sustenance, and our refuge. The Solemnity falls on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but we have been transferring it to the Saturday of the same week for a few years now to facilitate the participation of both people and clergy from other parishes. Corpus Christi is marked by a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, where the Body of Christ, the Risen Lord Jesus among us under the form of bread, is carried by a priest outside the church accompanied by singing, and preceded by servers with incense, and the scattering of fragrant flowers and petals. At our festival the procession also featured a canopy held over the Blessed Sacrament and carried by members of the choir and congregation. The service ended with Benediction, invoking the blessing of the Lord Jesus on our parishes and all our people. Blessed, praised, hallowed, and adored be Our Lord Jesus Christ in his throne of glory, and in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar! On Saturday 3 June a group of worshippers from our church community and from the Church of the Holy Cross, Luton, travelled to St Albans Cathedral for a short pilgrimage to pray at the shrines of St Alban and of St Amphibalus. Father Diego and Father Richard concelebrated a votive Mass of St Alban and led the people in prayer for Houghton Regis and for Marsh Farm. After Mass the ministries of laying on of hands and anointing took place at the shrine altar. Saint Alban, first martyr of England, Pray for us! Saint Amphibalus, priest and martyr, Pray for us!
To arrange for Baptisms, Weddings, Reading of Banns, please visit us Vestry Hour on Monday evenings at St Thomas' Church. To make an appointment with the Parish Priest, or to book a time for Confession, please contact Fr Diego directly. Contact us here.
The Easter Vigil, which is the greatest and most noble of all solemnities, marks the end of the emptiness and sorrow of Holy Saturday, and leads us into the celebration of Christ’s victory over Death and Hell. The word ‘Alleluia’ (meaning “God be praised”) which has been silent throughout Lent, returns. The Vigil is arranged in such a way that after the Lucernarium (the lighting of the Paschal Candle) and the singing of the Exultet (the Easter Proclamation), we meditate on the wonders the Lord God has done for his people, focusing on the theme of Renewal. After this, we are invited to renew our Baptismal commitments to the Christian life before being called to celebrate the Eucharist, the living memorial of his Death and Resurrection. Photo Copyright: All Saints' PCC Houghton Regis Good Friday's liturgy centres on Jesus’ Passion (his sufferings) and Death on the Cross for our salvation. In order for us to enter more deeply into this great mystery, the “Celebration” is marked by deep silence. The act of Veneration of the Cross, when a wooden crucifix is unveiled before the congregation, is replaced at All Saints' by veneration of a Relic of the True Cross of Jesus, usually kept at St Thomas' Church. On Good Friday and on the following day, by a most ancient tradition, the Church does not celebrate the Sacraments, except for Confession and the Anointing of the Sick. Holy Communion is distributed from the store of Blessed Sacrament reserved consecrated on Maundy Thrusday. The church remains stripped of all decoration. It continues bare and empty through the following day, which is a day without a liturgy: there can be no adequate way of recalling the being dead of the Son of God, other than silence and desolation. But within the silence there grows a sense of peace and completion, and then rising excitement as the Easter Vigil draws near. Photo Copyright: All Saints' PCC Houghton Regis The Thursday of Holy Week, called Maundy Thursday or sometime Holy Thursday, recalls the day when the Lord Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood. The name Maundy Thursday derives from the Latin mandatum, meaning ‘commandment’, because of the use of John 13.34 in the Antiphon. At this Mass, the "Mass of the Lord's Supper", the Priest washes ceremonially the feet of twelve members of the congregation to remember Christ’s washing of his twelve Apostles at the Last Supper. This Mass stresses the importance Jesus puts on humility and service within the Church. Also emphasised are the fundamental importance of the Eucharist and the sacrifice of Christ’s Body, which we now find present in the Blessed Sacrament. O Bread of Heaven, beneath this veil Thou dost my very God conceal: My Jesus, dearest treasure, hail! (St Alphonsus) At the conclusion of the Mass, people are invited to continue adoring the Blessed Sacrament at the Altar of Repose, just as the disciples were invited to watch with the Lord during his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Photo Copyright: All Saints' PCC Houghton Regis Photo-post from the Parish Mass with Blessing of Palms in Houghton Regis on 2 April 2023. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, and it recalls the triumphant entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem a few days before his blessed Passion. On Palm Sunday it is customary to bless Palm Crosses and leafy branches for people to carry in procession. Photo Copyright: All Saints' PCC Houghton Regis On Tuesday 28 March we celebrated Mass with Thomas Whitehead Academy for the first time. Our regular Tuesday worship was replaced by a School Mass for Key Stage Two pupils and the school staff. This was a joyous occasion filled with prayer and singing. Each class composed a prayer to be offered during the Intercessions and the children rehearsed the sung parts of the Mass with our talented Music Teacher before attending the service. Photo Copyright: Thomas Whitehead Academy  Every Sunday we celebrate the Day of Resurrection and gather to participate at the Eucharist. We are also called to worship together on other days dotted through the year, as we rehearse the story of our salvation in Jesus Christ and consecrate each year to him. These special days are a collection of “feasts” and “solemnities” (or Festivals, or Red Letter Days in former times) marking key moments in the life of Our Lord, Our Lady, and important saints. Solemnities are days of greatest importance, and a few of these are also “Days of Obligation” (marked with *) when attendance to church is a moral requirement similar to Sundays. On solemnities there will be two celebrations of Mass (one in the morning, one in the evening) to give the opportunity to come to church to greatest possible number of people. The list below in not complete and it does not include Sundays but it contains the most important feasts which we will celebrate in the parish on weekdays. Please, make a note of these in your calendar and make every effort to attend church on these days. Feasts and Solemnities
falling on weekdays (March-June 2023) Friday 17 March - Saint Patrick (Feast) 10:00am Sung Mass (All Saints’) Monday 20 March - Saint Joseph (Solemnity) 10:00am Sung Mass (All Saints’) 6:30pm Silent Prayer (St Thomas’) 7:30pm Mass (St Thomas’) Sat 25 March - Annunciation of the Lord (Solemnity) 12:30pm Sung Mass (All Saints’) The Easter Triduum (The three days before Easter Day) Thursday 6 April - Maundy Thursday * 8:00pm Sung Mass (All Saints’) Friday 7 April - Good Friday * 11:00am Family Service (All Saints’) 3:00pm Good Friday Liturgy (All Saints’) Saturday 8 April - Holy Saturday 8:00pm Easter Vigil (All Saints’) Wednesday 3 May - Ss Philip and James (Feast) 10:00am Sung Mass (St Thomas’) Thursday 4 May - The English Martyrs (Feast) 10:00am Sung Mass (All Saints’) Thu 18 May - Ascension of the Lord (Solemnity) * 10:00am Mass (All Saints’) 6:30pm Silent Prayer (All Saints’) 7:30pm Sung Mass (All Saints’) Wednesday 31 May - Visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary (Feast) 10:00am Sung Mass (St Thomas’) Saturday 10 June - Corpus Christi (Solemnity) * 2:00pm Sung Mass and Procession (All Saints’) Friday 16 June - Sacred Heart of Jesus (Solemnity) 10:00am Mass (All Saints’) 6:30pm Silent Prayer (All Saints’) 7:30pm Sung Mass (All Saints’) Tuesday 20 June - Saint Alban (Solemnity) 10:00am Mass (All Saints’) 6:30pm Silent Prayer (All Saints’) 7:30pm Sung Mass (All Saints’) Sat 24 June - Nativity St John the Baptist (Solemnity) 12:30noon Sung Mass (All Saints’) Thu 29 June - Ss Peter and Paul (Solemnity) * 10:00am Mass (All Saints’) 6:30pm Silent Prayer (All Saints’) 7:30pm Sung Mass (All Saints’) |
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