Fr Peter Writes: Third Sunday of Lent

“Thank you” is a great pair of words! So often one hears a parent saying to their child “…and what do you say”, as a gentle reminder to say those two important words.

So, it is time for me now to say ‘thank you’ to all of you for your great kindness and generosity for my recent 70th birthday.

I received more cards than I think I have ever received, either at Christmas or birthday… how wonderful is that ! You’ll see some of the ones that children in the Parish especially made for me, individuals and also classes at St Joseph’s School – they were all very special, thank you.

And then there were presents – an awful lot of them have resulted in waistline problems, but, really, you will understand, they all had to be tasted, and one has to taste more than once to fully appreciate the gift, don’t you ? – they were lovely, thank you.

And then there were video messages, such kindness and kind words, and also much humour – they were ‘tickling’, thank you.

And then there was a Parish gift, about which I knew absolutely nothing – an incredibly well kept secret, and now I have lots of time to decide what to spend it on, thank you.

And then there was the Birthday Cake – finely wrought by one of our parishioners – what a challenge to demolish (there is still some left carefully sealed against the air and crying out ‘eat me, eat me’ (and…I will…) – thank you.

And then there were BALLOONS – LOTS of them, everywhere I looked – around the front door, in the Church, in the Sacristy, inside the Vestment cupboards….. wonderful, thank you.

And then there were the secret little fairy elves that swooped down on No 3 in the depths of the night, it seems, and decorated around the front door so that NO ONE in the whole town did not know that it was Fr Peter’s birthday… amazing, thank you.

SO – all in all a dirty great big “THANK YOU” to all of you. Amen.