St. Martin’s Vicarage

Upper Wellington Road

Brighton

BN2 3AN

February 2026

My dear friends,

As I began to write for this edition a hymn line came to my mind, ‘Rejoice the year upon its way’, it is the Office Hymn ascribed for Pentecost in the English Hymnal. Not that I am wishing the year to speed by , though the thought of warmer weather is appealing, it dawned on me how as Pentecost is the triumphal culmination of Eastertide each year, if we were to look at Ash Wednesday in a more triumphal way, our keeping of Lent may well lead us to even greater joy at Easter!

By its very nature ,for some, the thought of Lent and its disciplines can to say the least be onerous and for this reason over the years we have opted for but one of the latter—the Stations of the Cross on Saturdays as the penitential act for that day’s Mass. In its turn this is a good reminder to us all that there is a penitential act before every Mass and that we might make more careful use of preparing for it. This links to my final thought on the gift of the Lenten Season—the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament before Sung Masses, when we have time to quietly reflect with Jesus before he strengthens us with his life to be his witnesses today.

Witness is of course the theme of the Feast of The Presentation. It can not be helped that this year this Feast , naturally celebrated forty days after Christmass falls on a Monday: well this might also be a gift as having celebrated last year on a Sunday more may be encouraged this year to join the Wagner Group for the traditional ceremonies at S Pauls at 6pm.

Many folk here were involved in the 150th celebration of the Foundation of the
Society of the Holy Cross on February 28th 1855. This year we celebrate Founders Day the day before and you will see that the local Chapter meets here to celebrate at 12noon, a celebration you are most welcome to join in.

With my love and prayers,

Fr. Trevor