CHURCH
OF SAINT PETER IN CHAINS, ARDROSSAN • A Family of
Parishes • SAINT BRIDE'S CHURCH, WEST KILBRIDE
BULLETIN 15 NOVEMBER 2020
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!
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 |
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 |
Holy Mass at 10.00am for Ian Ayres Private Vigil Mass at 5.30pm for Ellen Bell who died recently and Anne Lafferty |
Saturday
14 November |
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 |
Vigil Mass at 4.30pm |
SAINT
PETER'S NOTICES
MASS
BOOKINGS |
SAINT
BRIDE'S NOTICES
CHAPEL
HOUSE |
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.