FR DAVID WRITES
Today at Mass we hear the parable of the wheat and the tares. In the parables, Jesus reveals the hidden mysteries of God's Kingdom, foreshadowed in our life in the Church. In our own lives, we continue to sense the tension whereby the good crops and the weeds continue to grow alongside each other.  We must not let the persistent effect of sin to discourage us from doing good: from living the good life of virtue. In the end, we will be judged on how faithful we have been despite the difficulties we experience, and on how much we have loved.

ATTENDING MASS
Thank you to everyone for your cooperation with the procedures for attending Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes. It has been lovely to see so many of you here and things have mostly worked very smoothly. We continue to pray with and for those who cannot come back to church yet. Please remember: you must sanitise your hands on the way in and you must wear the face covering. Children under 11 (primary school age) are not required to wear face coverings anywhere because of the issue with fitting. If you suffer from underlying health conditions to such an extent that you cannot wear the face covering, then perhaps this is a sign you should remain at home as far as possible.

TELEPHONE MESSAGE FROM CHURCH
Please remember that you can listen to the daily message from church by dialling the telephone number 020 8016 2207.

END OF TERM
This week we marked the end of the school term and the end of the academic year. We know this has been a difficult year and we send our thanks and best wishes to all children, parents, staff and governors involved in our schools. We wish everyone a good summer and look forward to returning to school life in September.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION, CONFIRMATION, & BAPTISMS
Please wait for information on First Holy Communion 2020. These will likely take place in the autumn term but we will give notice of when and how they will be celebrated. Confirmations remain deferred for now until the diocese gives notices on how they will be celebrated in the parishes. We are beginning to receive information about the celebration of Baptisms. However, they will not be rescheduled until the beginning of the autumn term when we will contact the families involved. Please don't worry about the logistics of inviting family and guests from far afield. It is likely that all these sacraments will need to be celebrated with immediate family only. Registrations for next year's programmes will not begin until next term. Thank you.