BULLETIN                 2 DECEMBER 2007

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT IN YEAR 1


CHURCH SERVICE
S

Saturday 1 December

Confession on request from 4.30 to 5.15 pm  
Vigil Mass at 5.30 pm

Sunday 2 December
Sunday Mass at 10.00 am
Sunday Mass at 12.00 noon
Monday 3 December
Feast of Saint Francis Xavier
Mass at 10.00 am for Alex Stewart
Tuesday 4 December
Mass at 10.00 am for Tom, Hannah and Marie Reid  
Wednesday 5 December
Mass at 10.00 am for Stephen McPolin
Thursday 6 December
Mass at 10.00 am for Michael Swanson
Friday 7 December
Feast of Saint Ambrose
Mass at 10.00 am for Mary Clarke
Saturday 8 December
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Mass at 10.00 am for Margaret Hughes


PARISH CENTRE EVENTS

Sunday 2 December
10.00 am
10.00 am
11.00 am

Children's Liturgy
Sacramental Preparation
Tea and Coffee after Mass

Monday 3 December
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.30 am
12.30 to 2.30 pm
5.30 to 6.30 pm
6.30 to 8.00 pm
7.00 pm
7.00 pm

Nursery
Parents and Toddlers
Nursery
Rainbows
Brownies
Saint Vincent de Paul Society  
Weight Watchers

Tuesday 4 December
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
1.00 to 3.00 pm
7.30 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Legion of Mary
Nursery
Thursday Club
Keep Fit
Wednesday 5 December
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
7.00
7.30 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Special Religious Education (SPRED)
Ignatian Prayer Group
Thursday 6 December
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
2.00 to 3.00 pm
6.30 to 7.30 pm
7.30 to 9.00 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Brownies

Girl Guides
Friday 7 December
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 2.30 pm
Nursery
Parents and Toddlers
Nursery

PRAYERS
Please remember in your prayers:
   Agnes Burns, Mary Houston and Sammy McFarlane who died recently and
   Gordon Smith 1997, Isabella McGoogan 1998, Mary Martin 1983,
   Margaret Shanks 1990, Jean Graham, Alexander Merrick 2001,
   Rose Smith 1999, Robert Shanks 1996, Sarah Braniff 1961,
   John McKay junior 1972, James Mathieson 1999, John Tracey 1999,
   Gerard McCulloch 1990 and Margaret Hughes 2006
   whose anniversaries occur at this time
.

S
UNDAY COLLECTION
Last weekend's collection amounted to £688.29 - many thanks. Banker's Orders amount to an average of £4300 per month. Each month £4000 is repaid to the Diocese for the building loan and levy.

BANKER'S ORDERS
Paying your collection by monthly or quarterly banker's order makes money handling much safer. Banker's Order forms are available in the porch.

PARISH CENTRE COLLECTION
Last weekend's collection for the Parish Centre amounted to £341.45 - many thanks.

MASS ON THURSDAY
During December Mass will be offered at 10.00 am on Thursdays instead of 7.00 pm.


SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION
The children of Primary 4 who are preparing for the Sacraments will celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Wednesday. Please pray for them and their families.

ADVENT PENITENTIAL SERVICES
Advent Penitential Services will be held in the following Churches at the given times.
  Monday 10 December at 7.00 pm - Saint John's, Stevenston
  Wednesday 12 December at 2.00 pm - Saint Mary's, Saltcoats
  Wednesday, 12 December at 7.00 pm - Saint Brendan's, Saltcoats
  Thursday 13 December at 7.00 pm - Saint Peter's, Ardrossan
  Friday 21 December at 7.00 pm - Saint Mary's, Largs


CHOIR PRACTICE
All members of the choir are invited to a practice in the Church on Thursday at 7.30 pm in preparation for Christmas. New members would be very welcome.

NATIVITY SET RAFFLE
Raffle tickets for a Nativity Set with Shed costing 50p a strip are on sale at the stall. The draw will take place at the Sunday Teas on 23 December.

ADVENT EXTRA AND 2008 DIARIES
Advent Extras and 2008 Diaries are available at the stall at a cost of 50 pence.

SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY
The Saint Vincent de Paul Society would welcome any gifts of non perishable, in-date foodstuffs to supplement its stock for food parcels and so on. A box has been placed in the porch for such donations. K
eyrings at £1.00 and fridge magnets at £1.50 are for sale. They hold photographs of Saint Peter's Church.

LEGION OF MARY
Auxiliary members of the Legion of Mary and their friends are invited to a Tea and Coffee afternoon on Tuesday in the Parish Centre from 2.00 tp 4.00 pm to share ideas and enjoy the afternoon together. Anyone requiring transport please call Anne or Elaine.

THANKS
Kathleen Chapman would like to thank everyone for thoughts, prayers, gifts and cards over the past year. It was very much appreciated and God Bless you all.

DIOCESE OF GALLOWAY CAROL SERVICE
The Annual
Diocesan Carol Service will take place in Saint Margaret's Cathedral, Ayr on Wednesday 19 December at 7.30 pm. It will be led by Bishop Cunningham. Tea, coffee and mince pies will be served in the hall afterwards. All are welcome.

SCOTTISH INTERNATIONAL RELIEF
The amount raised by selling raffle tickets for Mary's Meals on Sunday was £496.90. Added to September's income, the total is£1098.40. On behalf of the people you have helped, a huge thank you.

CHILDREN'S LITURGY
The Child Protection Rules from Disclosure Scotland mean that parents who ha
ve not been through the disclosure process are not able to take part in the Liturgy in the Parish Centre. If you have not filled in the disclosure form then simply take your child to the group and leave them. If you think your child will not settle, then you might have to wait for a month or two until you think they are ready to be left. The simplest way to deal with this is to get a disclosure form and go on the rota. More helpers make for a better rota.


SAINT PETER'S PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL
Minutes of Saint Peter's Primary School Parent Council meeting on 30 October are on the notice board.

SAINT PETER'S CHILDREN'S CENTRE BINGO
A big thank you to all who attended last week's fundraising bingo. The fabulous amount of £450 was raised.

CHILDREN'S LITURGY ADULT HELPERS
      3 to 5 Year Olds: Maria and Karen
      Primary 1 to 3: Jacqueline and Michelle
      Primary 4: Andrena and Elaine

BE ENTHUSIASTIC
To the woman who complained that riches hadn't made her happy, the Master said "You speak as if luxury and comfort were ingredients of happiness; whereas all you need to be really happy, my dear, is something to be enthusiastic about."



  O God of the second chance, here I am again.  

 It's not that some people have willpower and some don't.
  It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.  



READINGS
The readings for this weekend's Masses are shown below in English. They are available in eleven other languages
including French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish by clicking on this link.

First Reading           Isaiah 2:1-5
The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the days to come the mountain of the Temple of the Lord shall tower above the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills. All the nations will stream to it, peoples without number will come to it; and they will say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths; since the Law will go out from Zion, and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many peoples; these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war. O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Second Reading           Romans 13:11-14
You know 'the time' has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon - let us give up all the things we prefer to do under the cover of the dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people do in the daytime: no drunken orgies, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy. Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ; forget about satisfying your bodies with all their cravings.

Gospel           Matthew 24:37-44
Jesus said to his disciples: "As it was in Noah's day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. It will be like this when the Son of Man comes. Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left. So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
".