“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light”.

These were the inspiring words from the first letter of St Peter that our priest, Fr Keith Hodges, preached about at the service in which he enrolled ten people into the Mothers’ Union at St Augustine’s Church, Aldershot. A truly wonderful occasion with cause for great celebration, especially as there is to be another member enrolling in May. We really felt that the Holy Spirit was at work in our parish and that our prayer for new members had been answered in abundance!

We had been worried that if the membership did not grow soon there would be a real chance that our branch would have to close, and we all felt a great responsibility about its future especially as it had been in existence since 1910. We just couldn’t let it close without a fight!!

As a group we talked about what to do and after a conversation with our priest, we invited Margaret Berringer, the Diocesan President, to come and talk to our parish. Her presentation at our Sunday Mass was brilliant and during the weeks that followed her visit, the numbers of ‘soon to be members’ started to ‘grow like topsy’. – Yes truly an answer to our prayers – we now had eleven people who wanted to enrol into the Mothers’ Union!

Our branch feels truly blessed by God and we have much to thank Him for, so I suppose the best way we can do that is to get on with the job and  ‘reach out as His hands across the world’.

In essence this was the message of Fr Keith’s sermon and his charge to us all. ……. “Go into action – speak out - care! We can all do good! We can make a difference – it just takes courage. But never forget – we are not on our own”!

Janet Warren

Mothers’ Union Link for St Augustine’s, Aldershot.