This coming week is a special one for the parish, because it is our Patronal Feast of the Annunciation on Tuesday, and then on Thursday the Deanery Station Mass for the Holy Year celebrated by the Bishop with the priests of the Deanery.

The Solemnity of the Annunciation, to which our church is dedicated, marks the moment when the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and bear the Son of God (Luke 1:26-38). It’s a very important feast, because without the Annunciation, there would have been no Incarnation, no Christmas Day and no Easter Sunday. Without Mary’s “fiat”, or “yes”, there would have been no saving sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, and hence no Holy Eucharist; there would have been no Resurrection and therefore no  hope of salvation. God, Who could not die, became man precisely so as He could suffer and die on the Cross in order to save us. And for this He needed a human body, and it was Mary who gave it to Him. For this reason, on this Solemnity we kneel at the words in the Creed, “and became man.” There will be an additional Mass on Tuesday at 6.30pm.

On Thursday at 7pm, we are very privileged to be able to host the Deanery Station Mass celebrated by our Bishop Patrick as part of the Holy Year. A Station Mass is a Lenten tradition that dates back to the early centuries of the Church. In ancient Rome, Christians would gather at different churches for Mass called ‘stational churches’, often celebrated by the Pope, as a sign of unity and spiritual renewal. To this day these Masses are celebrated in Rome, when a different church of historical significance hosts the Mass each day throughout Lent.

With St Mary’s being one of the designated Jubilee Churches in the Nottingham Diocese, there is the possibility of gaining the Holy Year Indulgence if you do the following things:

1. Attend the Station Mass at St Mary’s.
2. Make a sacramental confession. Priests will be available for confessions before Mass from 6pm until 6.45pm.
3. Receive Holy Communion in a state of grace (ie, no unconfessed mortal sins).
4. Pray for the intentions of the Pope (Our Father and Hail Mary suffice).
5. Be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin.

If you fulfil all these requirements, you may gain the Plenary Indulgence which removes all temporal punishment due to sin. Temporal punishment is the debt we have to pay for sins already forgiven in Confession. If you don’t manage to fulfil the requirements perfectly, the Indulgence is partial, which can still be a lot! You may apply the Indulgence to yourself or to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, but you may not apply it to another living person, because each person is responsible for the state of their own soul before God, and have to work out their own salvation. The Holy Souls, on the other hand, are no longer able to merit graces for themselves, and rely on our prayers and sacrifices.

So this is a rare and wonderful opportunity for spiritual renewal. As we celebrate 100 years of our present church, let us come together as a family and give thanks for our history and embrace the graces we’re being offered in this Holy Year.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC