Thoughts
for the Day for 15 to 10 May are taken from
the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 18 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and William Sheehan senior at his anniversary.
Mary is the 'Mother of God'.
Called in the Gospels 'the mother of Jesus', Mary
is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the
Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as 'the
mother of my Lord' (Luke 1,43). In fact, the one who
she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly
became her Son according to the flesh, was none other
than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of
the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that
Mary is truly 'Mother of God' (Theotokos, Council
of Ephesus, 431) - CCC 495. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A message from Father Duncan
on Sunday 17 May 2020
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass
privately for the Parish. Mary
is 'full of grace'. The angel Gabriel at the moment
of the annunciation salutes her as 'full of grace'
(Luke 1,28). In fact, in order for Mary to be able
to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement
of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly
borne by God's grace. Through the centuries, the Church
has become ever more aware that Mary, 'full of grace'
through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception
- CCC 490-491. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday 16 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and James Joseph Timmons at his anniversary.
One of the defining aspects
of being Catholic is devotion to Mary. I favour no
Marian celebration more highly than May Crowning,
the feast that recognises Mary as queen of heaven
and earth. To a person of any age, this is a mighty
big title but to a child of five or six or seven,
it expands to enchanting, magical proportions. How
many queens does one get a chance to meet in a lifetime,
much less crown? May Crowning marked a new spiritual
season. Our Mary, queen of heaven and earth, lifted
us right out of the last long, cold days of winter
and firmly planted our hearts in the warm and promising
soil of spring. I will be forever grateful to the
Church for bringing me Mary and grateful to Mary for
bringing me her Son. For that was my route. I might
not have discovered the gaze of Jesus if I had not
first felt the maternal, nurturing and safe embrace
of my mother in heaven. Through Mary, I became enamoured
of the holy family. Through Mary, I was invited into
the Catholic fold. It was her feminine presence and
the safety of her motherhood that helped me grow.
My child's heart was so full of love for my mother
in heaven and understood already what my head could
not yet know - Mary would bring me to Jesus. The growing
would be toward Jesus, for Jesus, with Jesus. Through
Mary, Jesus was brought to you and to me. She was
delivered up like an innocent, perfect spring flower
to lighten our spirits, complete our senses, bring
the very aroma of heaven to our world in need of warming,
and welcome our hearts into the eternal mystery of
spring and growing things. This was written by a mum
of three children. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 15 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and John Mullen at his month's mind. The
Knots of Envy and Pride - "What is the law of
the People of God? It is the law of love, love for
God and love for neighbour according to the new commandment
that the Lord left to us (John 13:34). It is a love,
however, that is not sterile sentimentality or something
vague, but the acknowledgment of God as the one Lord
of life and, at the same time, the acceptance of the
other as my true brother, overcoming division, rivalry,
misunderstanding, selfishness - these two things go
together. We must ask the Lord to make us correctly
understand this law of love. How beautiful it is to
love one another as true brothers and sisters. How
beautiful! Let's do something today." - Pope
Francis. Envy and pride can lead us to segregate our
lives into quarters, like the Old City of Jerusalem,
in the sense that we separate the 'haves' from the
'have-nots'. Whether it's property, popularity, talents,
intelligence or something entirely different, we can
be prideful when we have more than others and envious
of those who have more than we do. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 14 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
Mary Durkan who died recently.
The Knots of Grief and Loss
- "Dear young people, let us entrust ourselves
to Jesus, let us give ourselves over to him because
He never disappoints anyone! Only in Christ crucified
and risen can we find salvation and redemption. With
him, evil, suffering, and death do not have the last
word, because he gives us hope and life. He has transformed
the Cross from being an instrument of hate, defeat,
and death to being a sign of love, victory, triumph
and life." - Pope Francis. Every injury, every
one of our pains and sorrows, has been borne on the
shoulders of the Good Shepherd who offered himself
in sacrifice and thereby opened the way to eternal
life. His open wounds are the cleft through which
the torrent of his mercy is poured out upon the world.
Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of the basis
of our hope! Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 13 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
Joseph McIver who died
recently. The Knot
of Hopelessness - "May the Church be a place
of God's mercy and hope, where all feel welcomed,
loved, forgiven and encouraged to live according to
the good life of the Gospel. And to make others feel
welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged, the Church
must be with doors wide open so that all may enter.
And we must go out through these doors and proclaim
the Gospel." - Pope Francis. Pope Francis assured
them of the Lord's goodness and mercy. He gave them
hope. We are all exposed to sin, to evil, to betrayal.
We are fully conscious of the disproportion between
the grandeur of God's call and of own littleness,
between the sublimity of the mission and the reality
of our human weakness. Yet the Lord in his great goodness
and his infinite mercy always takes us by the hand
lest we drown in the sea of our fears and anxieties.
He is ever at our side, he never abandons us. And
so, let us not be overwhelmed by fear or disheartened,
but with courage and confidence let us press forward
in our journey and in our mission. Do you think your
situation is hopeless? Are you struggling with a chronic
illness, or an unrelenting burden of circumstance?
Are you suffering from anxiety or depression that
is wreaking havoc in your personal life? Take it to
Mary. Please be assured
of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 12 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and John Ross who died recently. The
Knot of Separation - "The divisions among Christians,
while they hurt the Church, they wound Christ. And,
divided, we wound Christ. The Church is indeed the
body in which Christ is the head. We know well how
much Jesus cared that his disciples remain united
in His love" - Pope Francis. Can you think of
a time when you felt the pain of being separated from
a friend or loved one? At one time or another, most
of us have had such an experience. Rest assured, Our
Lady wants you to place your troubles into her lap,
with confidence and childlike trust. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 11 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Kathleen Cairns. The
Knot of Injustice - "You young people, you have
a particular sensitivity towards injustice but you
are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption
on the part of people who put their own interests
before the common good. To you and to all, I repeat
- never yield to discouragement, do not lose trust,
do not allow your hope to be extinguished. Be the
first to seek to bring good, do not grow accustomed
to evil, but defeat it with good. The Church is with
you, bringing you the precious good of faith, bringing
Jesus Christ, who 'came that they may have life and
have it abundantly (John 10:10) - Pope Francis. What
injustice burdens you? Have you been discriminated
against because of your culture or religion? Perhaps
it was something subtle, like a snide remark whispered
behind your back, or the withholding of some privilege.
That can be painful and disturbing. Injustice becomes
a knot that can trap us in sinfulness and turn us
away from God. We can become caustic and vengeful.
Revenge can lead us to hatred and that's a serious
sin. That's why we need to turn our knot of injustice
over to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots - before it entangles
us in sin and ruin. We might prefer to cling to the
knot, seeking vengeance or believing we deserve restitution.
Please be assured
of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A message from Father Duncan
on Sunday 10 May 2020
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass
privately for the Parish and Ian McCormick on his
anniversary. Knots.
Bumps in the road. Thorns in the side. Rough edges.
Call them what you will, but we all have them - those
difficulties in life that make life knotty, bumpy,
thorny or rough. Some of them are, unfortunately,
of our own creation - we make bad choices and things
get complicated. Others come of the craziness that
is life-illness, misunderstandings, unforeseen situations.
While I certainly couldn't begin to explain the reasons
or solutions for the many knots in life, I can say
with one hundred percent certainty that we all have
them. During his 12 October 2013, catechesis, Pope
Francis revealed to the world his special devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Our Lady,
Undoer of Knots. In his address, he spoke of Mary
as the 'new Eve' who unties the knot of Eve's disobedience.
He is referring to a beautiful image of Our Lady where
she unties the knots of our problems and worries.
Each day this week tackles a different knot-injustice,
separation, confusion, hopelessness, grief and loss,
discord, betrayal, envy and pride and affliction.
Please be assured of my
daily prayers for you and your family.
Thoughts
for the Day for 9 to 3 May are taken from taken from
Answering the Questions of Jesus by Father Andrew
Apostoli.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday 9 May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Michael Bruin at his anniversary. Sixth
question - Do you love me? Peter's reconciliation
with Christ should give us courage. In spite of his
denial, he is still entrusted with the great work
of the Church. We should never use our failures as
an excuse to stop trying to serve the Lord. The Lord
restores us. He gives us the grace and the strength
because we can't do it by ourselves. Like Peter, we
begin again. Pope Saint John XXIII said that when
we die, the Lord will only ask us one question - How
much did you love me? We can prepare for answering
that question by asking ourselves as if Jesus himself
were addressing us - Do you love me? How would we
answer that right now? Do you love me? - that's the
question. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 8 May
2020
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Jean Owens and Nora King who both died recently.
Fifth question - For what
can a man gain in return for his life? We need to
live with the end of our lives in mind. Heaven will
fulfil our every desire. All the happiness, beauty
and joy we can find in this life are but a tiny reflection
of the happiness, beauty and joy of God himself. Heaven
is going to fulfil every hope we've ever had - every
dream will come true. And hell will fulfil every dread
we've ever had - every nightmare will come true. The
stakes are high. It's eternal happiness or eternal
misery. We have to live each day making sure we follow
the way that will lead us to Christ. It can be shocking
to hear Our Lord talk about the lengths we should
go to in order to see Heaven and avoid hell. He famously
said "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck
it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose
one of your members than that your whole body be thrown
into hell." (Matthew 5:29). The point is that
there should be nothing in this life that we should
be unwilling to sacrifice if it stands in the way
of our getting to heaven. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 7 May
2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish,
Lorraine Docherty and Patrick McGuire at his anniversary.
Fourth
question - Do you know what I have done to you?By
performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy,
we will not only be fulfilling Jesus' teaching in
this Gospel story but will also be building the 'civilisation
of love' that Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict
and Pope Francis have talked about. Remember the old
saying, 'It is better to light one candle than to
curse the darkness'. If we see all the problems in
the world and just throw up our hands and walk away,
then we're avoiding our responsibilities. But if we
light one candle, others will be encouraged to do
the same. We can change the world, as Mother Teresa
would say, one person at a time. The second way we
can answer this question of Jesus is by honestly asking
ourselves - what has Jesus done for me?
Please be assured of
my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 6 May
2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, Noelle
Collins at he anniversary and Shirley Currie who died
recently. Third question
- Will you also go away? Jesus is telling his Apostles
that if they can't handle His teaching on the Eucharist,
then they should walk away as well. That's how insistent
he is on this teaching - and that's why we say in
the Church that the Eucharist is the source and centre
of the Christian life. In response, Peter, acting
as a spokesman for the apostles, affirms their faith
and trust in Jesus. At this point they probably did
not understand how Jesus could possibly feed them
with His flesh and blood - just as we don't often
understand what Jesus wants from us. Even so, they
believed He was the one whom the Father had sent,
so they trusted him. Unlike the disciples who left,
they believed without seeing the proof with their
own eyes. That faith was rewarded at the Last Supper,
hen Jesus formally instituted the Eucharist. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 5 May
2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Jean McLellan in thanksgiving and John McLaughlin
who died recently. Second
question - Why are you afraid, have you no faith?
Faith also has a second aspect, this one related to
the heart - or, more specifically, the confidence
we have to live according to the faith. In this sense,
faith is like trust. This is a similar message that
we read in Paul's Letter to the Hebrews. Again, let's
take the idea of Heaven. Not only do we believe it
exists, but we also have confidence - 'assurance'
- that we will achieve the Kingdom of Heaven with
God's grace. When Jesus dealt with people, he wanted
them not only to believe in the truth that he taught,
but also to have confidence in organising their lives
around those truth. Jesus had to teach that kind of
trust to his disciples. If the people were going to
follow him, they had to trust him. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 4 May 2020
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass
privately for the Parish Geralyn McGarvey and Mandy
Dillon. First question
- Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?
When Jesus asks his parents why they didn't go directly
to his 'Father's house,' he is, first of all, as we've
said, revealing His relationship to his Heavenly Father.
He continues to be Mary's and Joseph's son. As we
saw in the Gospel, he went back to Nazareth and 'was
obedient to them.' This is a great reminder that Christ
spent three decades with the Holy Family, living in
Nazareth. He was getting ready for his mission work.
But He was also the Son of the Eternal Father. His
parents can't quite grasp this but Mary ponders it
in her heart - and there's a second takeaway from
this question of Jesus - He is telling us where to
find him. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Sunday 3 May 2020
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass
privately for the Parish. Pope
Francis has said that our Faith is found not just
in lists of doctrines but in relationship with a person
- Jesus Christ. What better way to deepen that relationship
than to enter into conversation with him? And what
better way to enter into conversation with Jesus than
to answer the questions he asked throughout His ministry?
Every day this week, we will reflect on some of the
questions asked by Jesus that gently guides us into
a deeper understanding of the wisdom of who he is
and what he is asking of each one of us.
Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
Thoughts
for the Day for 2May to 26 April are taken from taken
from A Quiet Place - How Daily Prayer Can Change Your
Life by Father John Bartunek.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday 2
May 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish and
James Terence O'Toole and Moira Gowrie who
both died recently. One
of the most concise and moving expressions
of this essence of Christian prayer is found
in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
the entire fourth part of which is dedicated
to explaining and describing the rich mystery
of Christian praying. Here is how it defines
Christian prayer: "Great is the mystery
of the faith! This mystery, then, requires
that the faithful believe in it, that they
celebrate it, and that they live from it
in a vital and personal relationship with
the living and true God. This relationship
is prayer. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 1 May
2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish and
Theresa McLaren and Hilda O'Toole who both
died recently. God
is a Trinity, and through the Incarnation
God did become man and has taken human nature
to himself for all eternity. Therefore,
when we communicate with God, we mustn't
simply communicate through ritual and reverence.
An additional dimension is essential. Christian
prayer, at its very core, is the kind of
communication that happens between two persons
who know and love each other. It is a conversation
that happens in relationship. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 30
April 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish and
Andy Dougan who died recently. For
us, prayer is never just a dry and sometimes
fearful duty, or a complex and somewhat
self-absorbed technique, as it is and has
been for so many other religions throughout
the expanse of human history. For us, the
essence of prayer is relationship. It's
not primarily about doing something, but
about getting to know someone. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday
29 April 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish and
Louis Ferguson who died recently.
A life of prayer
is the soil in which the seed of grace can
quicken, grow, and flourish, bearing the
spiritual fruit that we all yearn for, because
it's what we were made for. And every single
one of us can develop a life of prayer.
All we have to do is decide. Understanding
what prayer really is can help make the
decision a lot easier. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 28
April 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish and
John McLaughlin who died recently.
If the right conditions
for an acorn to become an oak tree are good
soil, water, sunlight and a healthy climate,
what are the right conditions for the seed
of grace to produce spiritual maturity?
What makes it possible for this seed to
grow, flourish and yield its marvellous
fruit? One essential element is a life of
prayer. In a sense, prayer is the soil in
which grace can grow. The other sacraments
- the Eucharist, confession, marriage, and
so on - are like the water and the sunlight.
Moral integrity and virtue are like the
good climate. But the soil, the very ground
that enables our spiritual potential to
quicken, unfold, mature, and thrive, from
the beginning of our spiritual journey until
its very end, is prayer. If we want to experience
in our own lives, ever more abundantly,
the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit,
and if we want to contribute through them
to our loved ones and to the world around
us, we simply must develop a life of prayer.
Please be assured
of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 27
April 2020
Today,
I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish and
John Mullen who died recently. This
is what is so attractive, so mysteriously
inspiring, about the lives of the saints.
They are our older brothers and sisters
in Christ, in whose lives grace truly flourished.
They found and fulfilled their most genuine
identity by living in communion with God,
by living a real, unique, and dynamic relationship
with him. They are the spiritual oak trees
that fully show forth the magnificence of
authentic human greatness and beautify the
landscape of human history. Mother Teresa
of Calcutta, Francis of Assisi, Mary Magdalene,
Augustine, Catherine of Siena, John Paul
II - none of them started out as saints.
But God's grace entered their lives, purified
them of their brokenness and sin, and allowed
them to flourish. The same grace that worked
wonders in them is at work, like a seed
waiting to grow and flourish, in every baptised
soul - including yours. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A message from Father Duncan on
Sunday 26 April 2020
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately
for the Parish. Prayer
is so much more than just 'saying your prayers'. Prayer
is a spiritual adventure. It brings interior depth and
meaning that can come from nowhere else - absolutely no
where else. Imagine you have an acorn in the palm of your
left hand and a stone the same size and shape as an acorn
in your right hand. Look at these items. They look similar,
feel similar and weigh almost the same. What's the difference
between them? If you plant one of them in the right conditions,
it will begin to put out shoots and roots and start to
grow. And, once again given the right conditions, that
growth will continue unabated for perhaps two centuries.
A gorgeous oak tree will emerge from the acorn, giving
beauty and fruitfulness to the world for hundreds of years.
But if you plant the stone in the same soil, under the
same conditions, nothing will happen. The stone will just
stay a stone. It will not sprout, or grow, or beautify
the landscape or give food and shelter and shade to people
and animals and birds for centuries. The acorn bears within
itself the mysterious force of life. It is a seed - small,
vulnerable, but full of magnificent potential. All it
needs in order to fulfil this potential are the right
conditions - good soil, water, sunlight and a healthy
climate. The stone, on the other hand, is inanimate. It
is dead matter. It has no life, no potential to grow and
organically develop into something magnificent and wonderful.
Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and your
family.
Thoughts
for the Day for 25 to 19 April are taken
from the Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi - for
the city and for the world - blessing of
Pope Francis.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday
25 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on the Feast of Saint Mark,
l celebrate Holy Mass privately
for John Mullen who died recently
and Anthony Raymond Downes at his
anniversary. Dear
brothers and sisters, indifference,
self-centredness, division and forgetfulness
are not words we want to hear at
this time. We want to ban these
words for ever! They seem to prevail
when fear and death overwhelm us,
that is, when we do not let the
Lord Jesus triumph in our hearts
and lives. May Christ, who has already
defeated death and opened for us
the way to eternal salvation, dispel
the darkness of our suffering humanity
and lead us into the light of his
glorious day, a day that knows no
end. I wish you all a happy Easter!
Please be assured of my daily prayers
for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 24
April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately
for the Parish, Agnes Ward and Alice Lynn
at their anniversaries. This
is not a time for forgetfulness. The crisis
we are facing should not make us forget
the many other crises that bring suffering
to so many people. May he warm the hearts
of the many refugees displaced because
of wars, drought and famine. May he grant
protection to migrants and refugees, many
of them children, who are living in unbearable
conditions, especially in Libya and on
the border between Greece and Turkey and
I don't want to forget the island of Lesbos.
Please be assured of my daily prayers
for you and your family.
A message from Father
Duncan on Thursday 23 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately
for the Parish and Archie and Jane McFarlane
at their anniversaries. This
is not a time for division. May Christ
our peace enlighten all who have responsibility
in conflicts, that they may have the courage
to support the appeal for an immediate
global ceasefire in all corners of the
world. This is not a time for continuing
to manufacture and deal in arms, spending
vast amounts of money that ought to be
used to care for others and save lives.
Rather, may this be a time for finally
ending the long war that has caused such
great bloodshed in Syria, the conflict
in Yemen and the hostilities in Iraq and
in Lebanon. May this be the time when
Israelis and Palestinians resume dialogue
in order to find a stable and lasting
solution that will allow both to live
in peace. May the sufferings of the people
who live in the eastern regions of Ukraine
come to an end. May the terrorist attacks
carried out against so many innocent people
in different African countries come to
an end. Please be assured of
my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday
22 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for
the Parish and Francis Smith at his anniversary
and John McLaughlin who died recently. This
is not a time for self-centredness because
the challenge we are facing is shared by
all, without distinguishing between persons.
Among the many areas of the world affected
by the coronavirus, I think in a special
way of Europe. After the Second World War,
this beloved continent was able to rise
again, thanks to a concrete spirit of solidarity
that enabled it to overcome the rivalries
of the past. It is more urgent than ever,
especially in the present circumstances,
that these rivalries do not regain force,
but that all recognize themselves as part
of a single-family and support one another.
Please be assured of my daily prayers for
you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 21 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for
the Parish and Duncan Lyon and Janie Aitken
at their anniversaries. This
is not a time for indifference because the
whole world is suffering and needs to be
united in facing the pandemic. May the risen
Jesus grant hope to all the poor, to those
living on the peripheries, to refugees and
the homeless. In light of the present circumstances,
may international sanctions be relaxed,
since these make it difficult for countries
on which they have been imposed to provide
adequate support to their citizens and may
all nations be put in a position to meet
the greatest needs of the moment through
the reduction, if not the forgiveness, of
the debt burdening the balance sheets of
the poorest nations. Please be
assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 20 April
2020
Dear Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Francis McEvoy junior at his anniversary. May
Jesus, our Passover, grant strength and hope to
doctors and nurses, who everywhere offer a witness
of care and love for our neighbours, to the point
of exhaustion and not infrequently at the expense
of their own health. Our gratitude and affection
go to them, to all who work diligently to guarantee
the essential services necessary for civil society,
and to the law enforcement and military personnel
who in many countries have helped ease people's
difficulties and sufferings. Please be
assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Sunday 19 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish.
Like a new flame this Good
News springs up in the night - the night of a world
already faced with epochal challenges and now oppressed
by a pandemic severely testing our whole human family.
In this night, the Church's voice rings out "Christ,
my hope, is risen!" - Easter Sequence. This is
a different 'contagion', a message transmitted from
heart to heart - for every human heart awaits this
Good News. It is the contagion of hope - "Christ,
my hope, is risen!" The Risen Lord is also the
Crucified One, not someone else. In his glorious body
he bears indelible wounds - wounds that have become
windows of hope. Let us turn our gaze to him that
he may heal the wounds of an afflicted humanity.
Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
Thoughts
for the Day for 18 to 12 April are taken from a wonderful
spiritual classic Searching for and Maintaining Peace
by Jacques Philippe. We pray for the gift of inner peace
in this time of pandemic.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday 18 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish, Andrena Donnelly and George McDowall who
both died recently. With
regard to what we have just considered, it is
important to know how to unmask a frequent and
very clever trick of the devil to trouble and
discourage us. Faced with certain goods that we
possess - a material good, a friendship, an activity
that we enjoy, et cetera - the devil, in an effort
to prevent us from abandoning ourselves to God,
causes us to imagine that if we put everything
in God's hands, God will effectively take everything
and 'ruin' everything in our lives! And this arouses
a sense of terror that completely paralyses us.
But we must not fall into this trap. Very frequently,
on the contrary, the Lord asks only an attitude
of detachment at the level of the heart, a disposition
to give Him everything. But He doesn't necessarily
'take' everything. Please be assured
of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 17 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish, Bridget McLellan at her anniversary and
John Craig who died recently. Abandonment
inevitably requires an element of renunciation
and it is this that is most difficult for us.
We have a natural tendency to cling to a whole
host of things - material goods, affections, desires,
projects et cetera and it costs us terribly to
let go of our grip, because we have the impression
that we will lose ourselves in the process, that
we will die. Saint John of the Cross expresses
this same truth in other terms - All things were
given to me from the moment when I no longer sought
them. Please be assured of my daily
prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 16 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish, Michael MacLean and John McLaughlin who
both died recently. In
order that abandonment might be authentic and
engender peace, it must be total. We must put
everything, without exception, into the hands
of God, not seeking any longer to manage or to
'save' ourselves by our own means - not in the
material domain, nor the emotional, nor the spiritual.
We cannot divide human existence into various
sectors - certain sectors where it would be legitimate
to surrender ourselves to God with confidence
and others where, on the contrary, we feel we
must manage exclusively on our own. And one thing
we know well - all reality that we have not surrendered
to God, that we choose to manage by ourselves
without giving carte blanche to God, will continue
to make us more or less uneasy. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your
family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 15 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Seamus Reilly senior and Pauline Grear who both
died recently. The goodwill,
the habitual determination to always say "yes"
to God, in the great things as in the small, is
a sine qua non for interior peace. As long as we
have not acquired this determination, a certain
uneasiness and sadness will not cease to abide in
us - the uneasiness of not loving God as much as
He invites us to love Him, and the sadness of still
not having given all things to God. Because the
man who has given his will to God has, in a certain
fashion, already given Him everything. We cannot
truly be at peace as long as our hearts have not
found their unity and our hearts cannot be unified
until all our desires are subordinated to the desire
to love God, to please Him and to do His will.
Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 14 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Joseph Murray and John Mullen who both died
recently. One of the most
common strategies of the devil in his efforts to
distance us from God and to slow our spiritual progress
is to attempt to cause the loss of our interior
peace. Here is what Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, one of
the great spiritual masters of the 16th century,
who was highly esteemed by Saint Francis de Sales,
said: 'The devil does his utmost to banish peace
from one's heart, because he knows that God abides
in peace and it is in peace that He accomplishes
great things. Please be assured of my
daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 13 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today,
l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and Pamela
Devine and Joe Howie who both died recently. The
more our soul is peaceful and tranquil, the more God
is reflected in it, the more His image expresses itself
in us and the more His grace acts through us. On the
other hand, if our soul is agitated and troubled, the
grace of God is able to act only with much greater difficulty.
How can I communicate this peace to others, if I myself
do not have it? How can there be peace in families,
in societies, between individual people, if there is
no peace first in peoples' hearts? Acquiring and maintaining
interior peace, which is impossible without prayer,
should consequently be considered a priority for everybody,
above all for those who claim to want to do good for
their neighbour. Otherwise, more often than not they
would simply be communicating their own restlessness
and distress. Please be assured of my daily
prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Easter Sunday 12 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Easter Sunday, l celebrate Holy Mass privately
for the Parish. It is essential
for us to come to understand that the way to God and
the perfection that is demanded of us is shorter and
more efficacious, markedly easier too, when one has
learned, little by little, how to conserve, in all circumstances,
a profound peace of heart - because then the heart allows
itself to be driven by the Holy Spirit and God is able
to do more with it by His grace than the heart could
do by its own effort. It is of the greatest importance
that we strive to acquire and maintain an interior peace,
the peace of our hearts. Please be assured
of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Holy Saturday 11 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Holy Saturday, l celebrate the Easter Vigil
privately for the Parish at 7.30pm. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city
and the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis said "The
Lord is calling on people to put into practice that
solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support
and meaning to these hours when everything seems to
be foundering. The Lord awakens so as to reawaken and
revive our Easter faith. We have an anchor - by his
cross we have been saved. We have a rudder - by his
cross we have been redeemed. We have a hope - by his
cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing
and no one can separate us from his redeeming love."
Pope Francis told people watching around the world that
he would "entrust all of you to the Lord, through
the intercession of Mary, health of the people and star
of the stormy sea. May God's blessing come down upon
you as a consoling embrace. Lord, may you bless the
world, give health to our bodies and comfort our hearts.
You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak and
we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at
the mercy of the storm." Please be assured of my
daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Good Friday 10 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Good Friday, I celebrate the Lord's Passion
privately for the Parish at 3.00pm. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city
and the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis preached "In
the boat, when the disciples plead with Jesus to do
something, Jesus responds 'Why are you afraid? Have
you no faith?" Lord, your word strikes us and is
meant for us, all of us. In this world that you love
more than we do, we have gone ahead at breakneck speed,
feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for
profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things and
be lured away by haste. We did not stop at your reproach
to us, we were not shaken awake by wars or injustice
across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the
poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless,
thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick.
Now that we are in a stormy sea, we implore you 'Wake
up, Lord!' Please be assured of my daily prayers for
you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Holy Thursday 9 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Holy Thursday, I celebrate the Mass of the
Lord's Supper privately for the Parish at 7.00pm. Pope
Francis gave an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing
- to the city and the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis
listed "doctors, nurses, supermarket employees,
cleaners, caregivers, providers of transport, law and
order forces, volunteers, priests, religious men and
women and so very many others who have understood that
no one reaches salvation by themselves. How many people
every day are exercising patience and offering hope,
taking care to sow not panic but a shared responsibility
and how many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers
are showing our children, in small everyday gestures,
how to face up to and navigate a crisis by adjusting
their routines, lifting their gaze and fostering prayer.
How many are praying, offering and interceding for the
good of all. Prayer and quiet service - these are our
victorious weapons." Please be assured of my daily
prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 8 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Seamus Reilly senior who died recently. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and
the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis preached "It
is a time to decide to live differently, live better,
love more and care for others and every community is filled
with people who can be role models - individuals, who,
even though fearful, have reacted by giving their lives.
The Holy Spirit can use the pandemic to redeem, value
and demonstrate how our lives are woven together and sustained
by ordinary people - often forgotten people - who do not
appear in newspaper and magazine headlines, but are serving
others and making life possible during the pandemic."
Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and your
family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 7 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Joseph Murray who died recently. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and
the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis said "We find
ourselves afraid and lost. Like the disciples in the Gospel
we were caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm.
However, the pandemic storm has made most people realise
that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented.
And it has shown how each person has a contribution to
make, at least in comforting each other. On this boat
are all of us. The pandemic has exposed our vulnerability
and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around
which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects,
our habits and priorities. In the midst of the storm,
God is calling people to faith, which is not just believing
God exists, but turning to him and trusting him. As Lent
and the pandemic go on, he said, God continues to call
people to 'convert' and 'return to me with all your heart'.
" Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 6 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
Bridget McLellan on her anniversary. Pope Francis gave an
extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and the
world - on 27 March. Pope Francis prayed that the Almighty
and Merciful God would see how people are suffering and
give them comfort. He asked to care for the sick and dying,
for medical workers exhausted by caring for the sick and
for political leaders who bear the burden of making decisions
to protect their people. Pope Francis included the Gospel
of Mark's account of Jesus calming the stormy sea. "Let
us invite Jesus into the boats of our lives. Let us hand
over our fears to him so that he can conquer them. Like
the disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee, we will experience
that, with him on board, there will be no shipwreck, because
this is God's strength - turning to the good everything
that happens to us, even the bad things. The passage from
Saint Mark's Gospel begins with the words, 'when evening
had come'." Pope Francis said that with the pandemic
and its sickness and death and with the lockdowns and closures
of schools and workplaces, it has felt like 'for weeks now
it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over our
squares, our streets and our cities. It has taken over our
lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a
distressing void that stops everything as it passes by.
We feel it in the air, we notice it in people's gestures
- their glances give them away'. Please be assured of my
daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Palm Sunday 5 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Palm Sunday, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for
the Parish at 10.30am. Pope Francis gave an extraordinary
Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and the world - on 27
March. Popes usually give this blessing only immediately
after their election and on Christmas and Easter. "The
worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God's judgment on
humanity, but God's call for people to judge what is most
important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now
on. Lord, it is not the time of your judgment, but of our
judgment - a time to choose what matters and what passes
away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is
not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard
to you, Lord, and to others." Please be assured of
my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday 4 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Our Lady's Day, l celebrate Holy Mass privately
for the Parish and Annie and Andrew Murphy. Our second 'touchstone'
is Our Lady's Protection. From the cross, Jesus gave us
his Mother to be ours. In every age - from the days before
Pentecost until today - the Church has been blessed through
the Mother of God interceding for us, from her being close
to us with her care and protection. Let us renew our commitment
to 'fly to her protection'. I invite you to join with me
in praying the Memorare every day to commend, not only the
Church, but also our country - indeed the whole world -
to the loving care of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Please be
assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 3 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
that the Church continues to guide and lead us. Our first
'touchstone' Is Spiritual Communion. During this time when
the public celebration of Holy Mass has to be suspended,
we need the graces of the Eucharist more than ever - for
these are the graces whereby the Holy Spirit works in our
lives that dying to self and living for the Father that
is Jesus's Paschal Mystery. These graces can be available
to us through Spiritual Communion. Please be assured of
my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 2 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
for those who have died due to Coronavirus. We are called
to accompany our neighbours. Each of us, especially in our
families, faces fears about what the future holds as the
spread of the virus unfolds. The pains caused by the pandemic
will fall particularly hard on the poor, the elderly and
the chronically ill. We Christians have a particular duty
to care for them. One simple but much needed work of mercy
will be to stay in touch - perhaps by phone - with the elderly
who are quarantined. We should be sure that social distancing
doesn't result in losing spiritual closeness. Please be
assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 1 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
those mourning loved ones. Now is the hour of the Domestic
Church. The Christian family, as the Domestic Church, has
to be at the centre of the New Evangelisation. In these
days when our large public gatherings for prayer and catechesis
are suspended, the Domestic Church is all the more clearly
'ground zero' for our response. Now it falls squarely on
families to make their homes places to hear the Word of
God, and to offer him praise, especially in acts of Spiritual
Communion and entrustment to the protection of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. Please be assured of my daily prayers for you
and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 31 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, the
sick and those who care for them. It's still about living
the gospel. Right now all of us, are focused on responding
to the Coronavirus pandemic. Yes, but that doesn't mean
that living out our faith has been abandoned - quite the
contrary. We still must be about evangelisation. That's
always our mission. This is a providential time for us to
witness to our sure confidence in Jesus as Lord of history,
to manifest to the world that we face this challenge with
unshakeable trust that the Lord will sustain us. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 30 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, key workers
and their families. No time Is without its grace. Christs
death and rising is a grace that should shape every day of a Christians
life and above all in these days. In this time of trial we are called
to seize the grace of showing ourselves, by the power of the Spirit
of Christ, to be, like Christ, filled with faith in Gods care
for us. Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Sunday 29 March 2020
Dear Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, key workers
and their families. This Is the Lent God our Father wants us to have.
God in Christ is the Lord of history. He's in charge. His providential
plan for our salvation and happiness cannot be defeated. If he has
permitted us to have to be for a while without our public celebration
of the Holy Eucharist and our usual Lenten devotions, his Spirit offers
us other means to prepare ourselves for Holy Week and Easter. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A message from Father Duncan on Saturday 28
March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Our Lady's Day, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish, Gerry Swan as a month's mind and David Russell's special
intention. 'I have a dogmatic certainty - God is in every person's
life. God is in everyone's life. Even if the life of a person has
been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything
else, God is in this person's life. You can, you must try to seek
God in every human life. Although the life of a person is a land
full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good
seed can grow. You have to trust God. Pope
Francis
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 27 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish Brian Meechan
and Lettie Anderson who both died recently. The saints throughout
the ages have witnessed to the value of spiritual Communion. In
a vision, Our Lord explained it to Saint Catherine of Siena by showing
her two chalices - 'one made of gold, the other of silver' she wrote.
'He told her that her sacramental Communions were preserved in the
gold chalice and that her spiritual communions were in the silver
chalice.' Saint Teresa of Jesus wrote 'When you do not receive Communion
and you do not attend Mass, you can make a Spiritual Communion,
which is a most beneficial practice. By it, the love of God will
be greatly impressed on you.' Many of the saints practiced this
throughout the day such as Padre Pio, who encouraged everyone to
do so frequently for a closer union with God. In Seven Secrets of
the Eucharist, author Vinny Flynn explained 'If you practice the
holy exercise of Spiritual Communion several times each day, within
a month you will see your heart completely changed.' He also related
that 'Saint Francis de Sales resolved to make a Spiritual Communion
at least every fifteen minutes so that he could link all the events
of the day to his reception of the Eucharist at Mass.'
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 26 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and the Ketchen
family on an anniversary. It is only during the Mass at the consecration
that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Thus, cancelling Masses is monumental. As explained in the Catechism
of the Catholic Church, the Eucharist is 'the source and summit
of the Christian life. The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical
ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist
and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained
the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our
Pasch' (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324). Through this sacrament,
'we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body
and Blood to form a single body' (Catechism of the Catholic Church
1331). The Church encourages frequent, even daily, Holy Communion,
but because we cannot go to Mass in or out of this season of the
coronavirus, we can still unite ourselves to the Eucharist through
making a Spiritual Communion. By making an Act of Spiritual Communion,
we express our faith in Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist
and ask him to unite himself with us. Here is the Act of Spiritual
Communion written by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori - My Jesus, I believe
that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above
all things and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot
at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually
into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there and unite
myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you.
Amen.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 25 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on the Solemnity of The Annunciation of Our Lord, I celebrate
Holy Mass privately for the Parish, Andrew McCance and Betty Toner
who died recently. 'During this Lent, especially, let us all take
the opportunity to deepen our relationship with God. As your bishops
and with our priests and deacons, we assure you of our continuing
commitment to your spiritual, pastoral and sacramental needs. We
want to maintain and foster the life of faith in every way we can,
while also being informed by the advice and guidance of Government
and health professionals. Over the centuries, the Church has often
been a source of comfort in times of trial and transformed sadness
and fear into peace and joy. We want the same to happen now.' Pastoral
Letter of the Scottish Bishops, 18 March 2020
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 24 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, Isabella
Connor for her anniversary and Annmarie Dickie who died recently.
'In this time of trial, we, the Bishops of Scotland, wish to send
you a word of reassurance and encouragement. We are all facing much
uncertainty, anxiety and an unpredictable future. This situation
touches on every aspect of our lives, individually and collectively.
Sacred Scripture calls us repeatedly not to fear and to look to
the help that comes to us from above. We are called to support one
another in every way we can, especially those who are most vulnerable,
through age or underlying conditions. Even in the midst of any necessary
distancing we must stand by each other. We ask you to pray for the
sick, those caring for them, for those in positions of responsibility
with difficult decisions to make, indeed for our whole country and
the entire human family. Most of all, we are being asked to put
our trust in the living God who has created everything to be and
to flourish and whose providence guides the course of world events.
We put our trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead,
and the true physician of our souls and bodies.' Pastoral
Letter of the Scottish Bishops, 18 March 2020
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 23 March 2020