Roman Catholic Parish of Lincoln's Inn Fields

MASS TIMES: MONDAY – FRIDAY 6pm.
SATURDAY 6pm and SUNDAYS 10am & 6pm.
EXTRA MASS! As from SUNDAY 6th NOVEMBER, there will be an additional Mass (In Latin) on Sundays at 8:30am
ADORATION 5pm, ROSARY 5.20pm, Mass at 6pm
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION (CONFESSIONS)
MONDAY-FRIDAY 5.30pm-5.50pm, SATURDAY 5.00pm – 5.40pm or by appointment,
(020 7405 0376).
EACH MASS WILL BE LIVE STREAMED https://www.churchservices.tv/lincolnsinnfields

CHURCH OPENING TIMES (for Silent Prayer)
7.30am DAILY (Monday – Friday), (Saturday 12 Noon) and (Sunday: 8am)
CLOSING AFTER EVENING MASS EACH DAY

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THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT MASS SHEET
Sunday 22nd March 2025 PARISH BULLETIN

THE GARDENER, THE FIG TREE AND THE PROMISE
TODAY’S GOSPEL: When people die, especially in tragic or premature circumstances, we are left with a sense of injustice. There are some who will question what kind of God we have who can allow such unfairness. But the bottom line is that life simply isn’t metered out to us in equal proportions. We don’t die in order. Death simply happens. There is no intent behind a natural disaster or a critical illness, and because there is no intent there can certainly be no injustice. In biblical days people imagined that fatal disasters and terminal illnesses were sent as some kind of punishment from God. Had the victims brought about their own fate by living sinful lives? What will Jesus’ answer be? No, of course untimely death is not sent as a punishment! But whilst we are pondering the fragility of our lives, Jesus reminds us that any one of us could die in similar circumstances. We only have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. None of us can bank on living to a ripe old age, and so we must consider how well we are prepared to live and how well we are prepared to die.

At first, today’s reading feels uncomfortable. The parable of the fig tree reads like a threat. The tree is not bearing any fruit and so the master commands that it should be axed. A compassionate gardener begs that the tree be given a second chance, and so the master grants another year. It feels like a threat… bear fruit or else! But Jesus knows that threats don’t bring out the best in us. Like the gardener who tends the tree and nurtures it, so Jesus is there for all who need a second chance. For those of us who make a commitment to live life in a better way, Jesus is there to support and guide us towards our goals. The parable has moved from something that sounds like a threat to something that sounds like a promise…. something inspirational!

Lent is a time to address some begging questions. How many years have we spent making the same old mistakes? What must we do to make life different? It sounds obvious, but to achieve different results, we must do something different. We are invited to ask God for help in setting new priorities, and we must achieve results that reflect God’s love for us, and our love for God.

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FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION – 25^th March 2025

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you.  As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you.  Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence!  You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Yet we have strayed from that path of peace.  We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars.  We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations.  We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young.  We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns.  We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons.  We stopped being our neighbour’s keepers and stewards of our common home.  We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters.  We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves.  Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!
Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life.  He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity.  By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.
We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart.  We are your beloved children.  In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion.  At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort.  Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”  You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times.  In you we place our trust.  We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.
That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs.  To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded.  We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace.  We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness.  How greatly we need your maternal help!
Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.

Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.
Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.
Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.

O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts.  May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew.  Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace.  May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs.  May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land.  May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.
Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26).  In this way he entrusted each of us to you.  To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother” (v. 27).  Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history.  At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ.
The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.
Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine.  Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love.  Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world.  The “Fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace.  We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more.  To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.
Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days.  Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God.  May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts.  In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion.  You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace.  Amen.
Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione – Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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MASS INTENTIONS  22nd – 30th March 2025

Saturday 22nd March:
6:00pm Vigil Mass
Greta Jen Gap RIP

Sunday 23rd March:
3^rd Sunday in Lent
8:30am Mass (In Latin)
10:00am Mass
Pro Populo
6:00pm Mass
Pio & Desolina Costella RIP

Monday 24^th March:
6:00pm Mass
David King RIP RD

Tuesday 25^th March:
Annunciation of the Lord
6:00pm Mass
Private Ints

Wednesday 26^th March:
6:00pm Mass
Holy Souls RIP

Thursday 27^th March:
6:00pm Mass
Eileen & Patrick Connole RIP

Friday 28^th March:
6:00pm Mass
Angela Madronero Vargas – RIP

Saturday 29^th March:
6:00pm Vigil Mass
Arturo Balbin RIP (Anniv)

Sunday 30^th March:
4^th Sunday in Lent
8:30am Mass (In Latin)
Pro Populo
10:00am Mass
Kathleen Carrick RIP
6:00pm Mass
Kennedy Mcewan RIP

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