CHURCH OF SAINT PETER IN CHAINS, ARDROSSAN  •  A Family of Parishes  •  SAINT BRIDE'S CHURCH, WEST KILBRIDE

                                                        

BULLETIN                                          15 NOVEMBER 2020

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME IN YEAR 1

SERVICES AND GATHERINGS
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, public Church services and gatherings are limited till further notice.
Father Duncan will live-stream Holy Mass every day and assures you of his prayers for you and your family.

A READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW (Matthew
25:14-30)
Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples "The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one, each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out. The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more. The man who had received two made two more in the same way but the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. "Sir" he said "you entrusted me with five talents. Here are five more that I have made." His master said to him "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have shown you can be faithful in small things. I will trust you with greater. Come and join in your master's happiness." Next the man with the two talents came forward. "Sir" he said "you entrusted me with two talents. Here are two more that I have made." His master said to him "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have shown you can be faithful in small things. I will trust you with greater. Come and join in your master's happiness." Last came forward the man who had the one talent. "Sir" said he "I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered; so I was afraid and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is. It was yours. You have it back." But his master answered him "You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers and on my return, I would have recovered my capital with interest. So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the five talents. For to everyone who has will be given more and he will have more than enough - but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."

REFLECTION
In keeping with the time of year and our focussing on the second coming of Jesus to judge the world, we have another parable of the Kingdom today. It has two main themes - the abundant generosity of God and our responsibility to use well what is entrusted to us. God's generosity is revealed in the amounts that Jesus chooses for what is entrusted to the servants. A talent is an awful lot of money! Some writers calculate five talents as being worth about two million pounds! Even one talent is worth £400000. What amazing trust the Master shows, handing over that amount of money to his servants! Realising this perhaps makes his anger in the latter part of the story more understandable! But in the parables of Jesus everything stands for something else. This generous trust is about God and us. God gives us so much - this world, the whole of creation, our own skills and 'talents' - even the invaluable gift of life itself. How much does our God trust us! But then we get to the second part of the story. Having been trusted with so much, we will have to answer for the ways we have used it. Simply holding on to things for ourselves, journeying through this life selfishly, will not be enough. God wants us to use all that in entrusted to us wisely, well and above all, generously!

THE LORD'S DAY AT HOME
If you are housebound or self-isolating at this time, please use these prayers to unite yourself with the worship of the Universal Church, and your own parish, this Sunday. If alone, read or say these prayers quietly to yourself. If with another, or in a family, someone should read the Gospel and others respond. It might be suitable to find a special, quiet place at home for your Sunday prayers.

SAINT PETER'S AND SAINT BRIDE'S CHURCH SERVICES
 
Saint Peter's - All Masses are live-streamed and
                          public unless otherwise stated.
Saint Bride's - All Masses are public
                          unless otherwise stated.

Saturday 14 November  
Our Lady's Day  
 
 
Thirty-third Sunday of the  
Year  

Holy Mass at 10.00am for Bob McNeish
  Private

Vigil Mass at 5.30pm for Mary Lindsay
 
Sunday 15 November  
Thirty-third Sunday of the  
Year 
Holy Mass at 10.30am for our parishes Holy Mass at 12.15pm for our parishes
Monday 16 November  
Feast of Saint Margaret of  
Scotland
  
Holy Mass at 10.00am for Hugh Brawley and Martin Taylor who died recently  
Tuesday 17 November 
Requiem Mass at 10.00am for John Higgins
  Private
 
Wednesday 18 November  
Holy Mass at 10.00am for Jake Alcroft and Francie Stalker who died recently  
Thursday 19 November  
Holy Mass at 10.00am for Alice McGrattan and Stephen Munn on their anniversaries and Sister Doreen Grant who died recently
  Private
 
Friday 20 November  
  
Holy Mass at 10.00am for the Faithful Departed Holy Mass at 12 noon

Saturday 21 November  
Memorial of the Presentation  
  of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  
 
 
Solemnity of Christ the King  

Holy Mass at 10.00am for Ian Ayres
  Private


Vigil Mass at 5.30pm for Ellen Bell who died recently and Anne Lafferty
 

SAINT MARY'S AND SAINT JOHN'S CHURCH SERVICES
 

Saturday 14 November  
Thirty-third Sunday of the  
Year  

Vigil Mass at 4.30pm  
Sunday 15 November  
Thirty-third Sunday of the  
Year 
Holy Mass at 10.00am

Holy Mass at 11.30am
Monday 16 November  
Feast of Saint Margaret of  
Scotland
  
   
Tuesday 17 November 
Holy Mass at 10.00am  
Wednesday 18 November  
  Holy Mass at 10.00am
Thursday 19 November 
   
Friday 20 November  
Requiem Mass at 10.00am for Theresa Loudon  

Saturday 21 November  
Solemnity of Christ the King  

Vigil Mass at 4.30pm  

PRAYERS
Please remember in your prayers:
John Clarke, Anthony Brennan, Cathie Currie and Maria Hilferty;
Norma Donlevy, John Finnigan, Hugh Brawley, Martin Taylor, John Higgins, Jake Alcroft, Francie Stalker, Sister Doreen Grant, Ian Ayres, Ellen Bell, Anne Lafferty, Kathleen Fraser and Theresa Loudon (Saltcoats) who died recently;
Rose Floyd 1992, Vivien Friel 2004, Canon Patrick Gunning 1987, Mary Harrigan 2016, Karen Small 2015, Hugh Welsh 1986, Peter McCann 2019, Robert McGee 1996, Margaret Ogilvie 2016, Francis Brady 1943, George Hilferty 2013, Hugh Madine 1997, Letitia Smith 2001, Setti Cavani 1997, Catherine Keogh 2016, Margaret Lee 1984, Linda Jackson 2009, Alice McGrattan 2013, Stephen Munn 2011, Annie Boyle O'Hare 1967, Alice Tomelty 2000, Susan Hamilton 2009, Father Frank Kiernan 1989, Joseph Smith 2002, Robert Stevenson 1962, Matthew Ssenyondo, father of Father Charles 2015 and Andrew Steven 1998
whose anniversaries occur at this time and those who are sick.
If deceased members of your family are not on our anniversary list, please tell Father Duncan
, the parish office or contact WebsiteAuthor@SaintPeterinChains.net. If members of your family or friends are in need of our prayers, please tell Father Duncan or the parish office.

SAINT PETER'S NOTICES

MASS BOOKINGS
To book for Mass, please call the Parish Office on 01294 464063 between 9.00 and 11.00am on Mondays to Fridays. Thank you.

REQUIEM MASS FOR JOHN HIGGINS
Please pray for the Repose of the Soul of John Higgins who died on 4 November aged fifty-nine years. His Requiem Mass on Tuesday 17 November at 10.00am will be followed by his interment at Ardrossan Cemetery. May he rest in peace and rise in glory!

'CEMETERY MASS' IN NOVEMBER
Usually we celebrate a special Mass for our deceased loved ones at Ardrossan Cemetery in November. Due to the Covid restrictions for outside gatherings, this won't be possible this year. Instead, we will celebrate a special Mass for the Deceased on Friday 20 November at 10.00am in Church. We can book for the Mass as usual. This date is exactly 30000 days since the opening of the Church of Saint Peter in Chains.
     It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins. (2 Mach 12:46)

PARISH STEWARDSHIP
The Offertory Collection last weekend amounted to £489.18 - many thanks.

CHURCH PIETY STALL
We now have lovely Christmas cards in stock at the stall.

LIVE-STREAMING OF MASS
All our Celebrations of Mass and other services are live-streamed, starting five minutes beforehand. You can access them every day by going to our websites. On SaintPeterInChains.net, in the top right corner, click on Live Streaming at Mass Times. On SaintPeterInChains.co.uk, click Services in the red menu bar, select Mass Times then scroll down to Click here to view Mass.

USED POSTAGE STAMPS
We have been asked to donate our used postage stamps to fund Medical Science. Please hand your used stamps in to the Parish Office or give them to Alfie Agostini.


SAINT BRIDE'S NOTICES

CHAPEL HOUSE
We are delighted to announce that Father Gerry Hamill, a retired Mill Hill Father, will be taking up permanent residence in the Chapel house. He is very keen to be involved in both our village life and parish life. Please give him a warm Saint Bride's welcome. No doubt you will see him around and he may even say a Mass or two. I'm sure Father Duncan will introduce him to our parishioners.

OFFERTORY COLLECTION
The Offertory Collection last weekend amounted to £138.00 - many thanks.

LET'S TALK
If you would like to get in touch with our parish, to ask a question or give us some news for our website, please get in touch. News should be sent to post@StBridesChurch.co.uk and questions and comments to WestKilbride@GallowayDiocese.org.uk Please visit us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/StBridesChurchWK.

NOVEMBER LISTS
November is our month to remember family and friends. Please put their names into the envelopes which are at the back of the Church.

PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in this Holy Sacrament of the altar. I love you above all things and I passionately desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come spiritually into my soul so that I may unite myself wholly to you now and forever. Amen.

LILIES OF THE FIELD
I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two - your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree. There will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living - but you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life = your particular life, your entire life. Not just your life at a desk or your life on a bus or in a car or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account but your soul. People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit - but a resume is a cold comfort on a winter night or when you're sad or broken or lonely or when you've got back the test results and they're not so good. Here is my resume. I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today because I would be a cardboard cut-out - but I call them on the phone and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten, or at best mediocre at my job, if those other things were not true. You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are. So here's what I wanted to tell you today - get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay-cheque, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over the rocks on the shore, a life in which you stop and watch how a hawk circles over the water or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a toy with her thumb and first finger. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love and who love you. Remember that love is not leisure - it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous - and realise that life is the best thing ever and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well - but if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough. It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the colour of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned, by telling them this - Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy - and think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.
                  From a speech made by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Anna Quindlen, at Villanova University

JUST FOR A LAUGH ...
Jock, the painter, often would thin his paint so it would go further. When the Church decided to do some deferred maintenance, Jock was able to put in the low bid and got the job. As always, he thinned his paint way down with turpentine. One day, while he was up on the scaffolding with the job almost finished, he heard a horrendous clap of thunder and the sky opened. The downpour washed the thinned paint off the Church and knocked Jock off his scaffold and on to the lawn among the gravestones and puddles of thinned and worthless paint. Jock knew this was a warning from the Almighty so he got on his knees and cried "Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?" - and from the thunder, a mighty voice said "Repaint, repaint and thin no more!"

THE SEASON OF ADVENT STARTS SOON
The Advent Season offers us special graces and an opportunity to allow the Lord to transform our hearts with the joyful anticipation of the coming of his Son. Wouldn't you like your Advent to be different this year? How would you feel about an Advent that was more peaceful, more joyful and more meaningful than ever before? This year, I would like to invite you to journey with the Holy Family through this special season. This year, prepare to welcome a person and not just a day. The First Sunday of Advent is 29 November 2020.


SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING - NEXT SUNDAY
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. On this day, we contemplate the kingship of Jesus our Redeemer. Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925 to remind Christians that their allegiance was to their spiritual ruler in heaven as opposed to earthly supremacy claimed by dictators at that time. It leads into Advent when the Church commemorates the arrival of the newborn king. The Liturgical Year will begin with the First Sunday of Advent, 29 November.

CHURCHES HOMELESSNESS ACTION NORTH AYRSHIRE (CHANA) AT CHRISTMAS TIME
CHANA usually coordinates donations of gifts to help the most vulnerable in communities across North Ayrshire. Covid restrictions mean a different tack is required this year and CHANA has teamed up with the Ayrshire-based charity Night Before Christmas. CHANA is asking people to support Night Before Christmas by donating to the Just Giving page which is already up and running https://www.JustGiving.com/nb4cc or people could put cash in an envelope marked CHANA and put it in the collection. Presents for those in need will be bought and distributed by Night Before Christmas. CHANA has donated £400. Thank you.

SUNDAY OBLIGATION
Sunday obligation to attend Holy Mass remains suspended for the time being and availability is restricted for those wishing to attend. Some of our parishioners are working during the week and can only attend at the weekend. Therefore, to make Holy Mass available to everyone we would be grateful if you wish to attend Mass and are able to attend on a weekday please do so, leaving seats for those parishioners working during the week. Thank you.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT
It is now possible to make online donations to Saint Peter's. Details are on the Donations page and this News page. Thanks for your generosity.

STANDING ORDERS - PLEASE THINK ABOUT IT
The parishes have taken quite a 'knock' through lockdown when public Mass was not available for sixteen weeks. This has had a huge impact on our parishes' finances. Could you consider taking out a Standing Order? It would be of great benefit to our parish. Forms are available from the Parish Office and here. Thank you

HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY
If a member of your family or a friend is sick, please let us know and give us the details. Deacon Bill Corbett (01292 521208, 07904 248948, Rev.BillCorbett@btinternet.com) is the Chaplain to Crosshouse Hospital and is assisted by the Priest on call each week.


ADVERTISER SUPPORT
Our advertisers would welcome your support. We are grateful for their continuing sponsorship. We are grateful for the support of Mr and Mrs Sohal, Nisa Stores, Glasgow Street for the weekly donation of tea, coffee and milk for the Sunday teas.

PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE ADULTS - MISSION STATEMENT
The Catholic Church in Scotland is concerned with the lives, safety, wholeness and well-being of each individual person within God's purpose for everyone. It seeks to safeguard the welfare of people of all ages who are involved in whatever capacity
with the Church and its organisations. As a Church community, we accept that it is the responsibility of all of us, ordained, professed, paid and voluntary members, to work together to prevent the physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect of children, young people and vulnerable adults.