BULLETIN
10
DECEMBER 2006
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT IN YEAR 3
CHURCH
SERVICES
|
Saturday
9 December | Confession
on request from 4.30 to 5.15 pm |
|
Sunday
10 December | Sunday
Mass at 10.00 am Sunday Mass at 12.00 noon |
|
Monday
11 December | Mass at 10.00 am for Jim McGlynn |
|
Tuesday
12 December | Mass at 10.00 am for Jim Mathieson |
| Wednesday
13 December | Mass at 10.00 am for Sam Ferguson |
|
Thursday
14 December | Mass
at 10.00 am for
Gerry Rimicans Advent Penitential Service at 7.00 pm |
|
Friday
15 December | Mass at 10.00 am for Thomas Reid |
|
Saturday
16 December | Mass at 10.00 am for Mary McAtee |
PARISH
CENTRE EVENTS
| Sunday
10 December | 10.00
am 10.00 am 11.00 am |
Children's Liturgy |
|
Monday
11 December | 8.00
to 5.30 pm 9.00 to 11.30 am 9.30 to 11.00 am 12.30 to 3.00 pm 2.00 to 3.00 pm 7.00 7.00 to 8.00 pm |
Wrap-around Care for
3 to 5 year olds |
|
Tuesday
12 December |
8.00 to 5.30 pm |
Wrap-around Care for
3 to 5 year olds |
| Wednesday
13 December |
8.00 to 5.30 pm | Wrap-around
Care for 3 to 5 year olds Nursery Nursery Street Dance for 13 to 18 year olds Burakudo Karate Club |
|
Thursday
14 December | 8.00
to 5.30 pm 9.00 to 11.30 am 12.30 to 3.00 pm 2.00 to 3.00 pm 6.00 to 8.00 pm | Wrap-around
Care for 3 to 5 year olds |
|
Friday
15 December | 8.00
to 5.30 pm 9.00 to 11.30 am 10.30 am 2.15 pm 12.30 to 3.00 pm | Wrap-around
Care for 3 to 5 year olds Nursery Nativity Play Nativity Play Nursery |
|
Saturday
16 December | 7.30
pm | Private Christmas Party |
PRAYERS
Please
remember in your prayers:
Eddie Garland, Thomas Reid, David Foy,
Con McNulty,
Nora Ryan and Jenny Cannon who died recently;
Agnes
Stevenson 1992, Ria Cunningham 1997, Jim McGlynn 2004,
Mary Magee,
Catherine McGrattan 1969, Maria Monaghan 1998,
Mary Hall 1999,
James Taylor 2002, Margaret Spencer 1992,
Margaret Newall 1994,
Mary Dunn, James McIntosh 1998,
Catherine McMahon 2005, Harry
McNamara 2002, Ina McKay 1998,
John Taylor 2002, Monsignor Peter
Murphy 1999
and Robert McKay 1993 whose
anniversaries occur at this time;
Ellis Aitken and Robbie
James Mathieson who were baptised recently;
and those who
are sick.
SUNDAY COLLECTION
Last weekend's collection amounted to
£646.65 - many thanks.
Banker's Orders amount to an average of £4000
per month. Each month £4000 is repaid to the Diocese for the building loan
and levy.
PARISH
CENTRE COLLECTION
Last
weekend's collection for the Parish Centre amounted to £298.68
- many thanks.
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.
ADVENT
PENITENTIAL SERVICES
Advent Penitintial Services will be held in the following
Churches at the given times.
Tuesday 12 December at 7.00 pm - Saint
John's, Stevenston
Wednesday 13 December at 2.30 pm - Saint
Mary's, Saltcoats
Wednesday,
13 December at 7.00 pm - Saint
Brendan's, Saltcoats
Thursday
14 December at 7.00 pm - Saint Peter's, Ardrossan
PIOUS
OBJECT STALL
Raffle tickets costing 50p each are on sale at the pious object
stall for a porcelain Nativity Set. The draw will take place at the Sunday Teas
on 17 December.
SAINT
VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY
The members of the Saint
Vincent de Paul Society thank you most sincerely for all your generous support
and regular assistance. As you will appreciate there are many requests for help
at this time of year and in particular we would welcome any gifts of non-perishable,
in-date, foodstuffs to supplement our stock for food parcels and so on. A box
has been placed in the porch for such donations.
CHRISTMAS VIGIL MASS
Stephen
Cowan is planning the music for the 8.30 pm Christmas Vigil Mass. He is looking
for the help of past, present - and new - choir members. There is a rehearsal
on Tuesday at 7.00 pm.
ARDROSSAN CHURCHES GROUP
The Ardrossan Churches
Group Carol Service will be held in the Civic Centre on Sunday 17 December at
6.00 pm.
ADVENT
EXTRA
Advent Extras are available at the stall at a cost of 50 pence.
CATHOLIC
DIARIES 2007
This is the first year you have been asked to pay for your diary
as the publishers were unable to attract any local advertising resulting in no
free copies. The cost is £1.
LIVING
WATER MINISTRY
The Living Water Ministry is
conducting its monthly 'Saturday in Saltcoats' Youth Day at Saint
Brendan's Church Hall, Saltcoats on Saturday 16 December from 11.00 am to
5.00 pm. Mass follows for those who can stay. Young adults aged 15 to 25 are invited
to a day of faith, fun, discussion and prayer. Our theme this month is 'Good Decisions
and Standing Out'. Please bring a packed lunch.
DIOCESAN CAROL SERVICE
The
annual Diocesan Carol Service will be held in the Good Shepherd Cathedral, Ayr
on Wednesday, 20 December at 7.30pm led by Bishop John Cunningham. Tea, coffee
and mince pies will be served in the hall afterwards.
REFURBISHING
THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
CHAPEL
The second Fund Raising Supper, which has a Polish theme, will take
place in the Presbytery on Friday 29 December. Numbers are limited to twenty persons
and the cost is £25 per head. A few tickets are available from the Parish
Office. A donation of £100 from a parishioner was gratefully received on
4 December. The total is now £1525.
NOT WHAT
BUT WHO
It was nearing the holiday season 1994 - time for our orphans to hear,
for the first time, the traditional story of Christmas. We told them about Mary
and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, they went to a stable
where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the
children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Completing the
story, we gave the children many things to build their own manger. All went well
until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about six years
old and as I looked at the little boy's manger, I was startled to see not one,
but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the
lad why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him
and looking at this completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story
very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once,
he related the happenings accurately - until he came to the part where Mary put
the baby Jesus in the manger. Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own
ending to the story as he said, "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger,
Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no
mamma and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me
I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn't, because I didn't have a gift
to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much,
so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe
if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, "If I keep
you warm, will that be a good enough gift?" And Jesus told me, "If you
keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me." So I got
into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with
him - for always." As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full
of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face,
his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed.
The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone
who would stay with him - for ALWAYS. I've learned that it's not WHAT you have
in your life, but WHO you have in your life that counts.
| O
God of the second chance, here I am again. |
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 Baruch
5:1-9
Jerusalem,
take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of
God for ever, wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the diadem
of the glory of the Eternal on your head: since God means to show your splendour
to every nation under heaven, since the name God gives you for ever will be, Peace
through integrity, and honour through devotedness. Arise, Jerusalem, stand on
the heights and turn your eyes to the east: see your sons reassembled from west
and east at the command of the Holy One, jubilant that God has remembered them.
Though they left you on foot, with enemies for an escort, now God brings them
back to you like royal princes carried back in glory. For God has decreed the
flattening of each high mountain, of the everlasting hills, the filling of the
valleys to make the ground level so that Israel can walk in safety under the glory
of God. And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade for Israel
at the command of God; for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory
with his mercy and integrity for escort.
Second
Reading Philippians
1:4-6.8-11
Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how
you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right
up to the present. I am quite certain that the One who began this good work in
you will see that it is finished when the Day of Christ Jesus comes. God knows
how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you. My prayer is that
your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your
knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognise what
is best. This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for
the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ
produces in us for the glory and praise of God.
Gospel
Luke
3:1-6
In
the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar's reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor
of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands
of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate
of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the
prophet Isaiah: A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord, make
his paths straight. Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill be
laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth. And all
mankind shall see the salvation of God.