BULLETIN                         2 MARCH 2008

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT IN
YEAR 1

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY

CHURCH SERVICE
S

Saturday 1 March

Confession on request from 4.30 to 5.15 pm
Vigil Mass at 5.30 pm for Paul Gerard Brown

Sunday 2 March
Sunday Mass at 10.00 am
Sunday Mass at 12.00 noon
Monday 3 March
No Mass in Saint Peter's Church
Requiem Mass at 10.00 am for Elizabeth Higgins  
in Saint John's Church, Stevenston
Tuesday 4 March
Mass at 10.00 am for Eddie Keogh
Wednesday 5 March
Mass at 10.00 am for a special intention
Thursday 6 March
Mass at 7.00 pm for Hugh Henry
Friday 7 March
Mass at 10.00 pm for Bridget O'Neill
Saturday 8 March
Mass at 10.00 am for Cosimo and Arturo Farro  


PARISH CENTRE EVENTS

Sunday 2 March
10.00 am
10.00 am
1.00 to 4.00 pm

Children's Liturgy
Sacramental Preparation
Tea and Coffee after Mass

Monday 3 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.30 am
12.30 to 2.30 pm
5.30 to 6.30 pm
6.30 to 8.00 pm
7.00 pm
7.00 to 8 00 pm

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

Tuesday 4 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
2.00 pm
1.00 to 3.00 pm
7.00 pm
7.00 pm
7.30 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Legion of Mary
Nursery
Ignatian Prayer Group
Thursday Club
Saint Anne's Guild
Keep Fit
Saint Peter's Parent Teacher Association
Wednesday 5 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
6.00 to 7.00 pm
7.30 to 9.00 pm
7.30 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Barakuda Karate
Special Religious Education (SPRED)
Ignatian Prayer Group
Thursday 6 March
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 to 7.30 pm
7.30 to 9.00 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Brownies
Guides
Friday 7 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.30 am
12.30 to 2.30 pm
7.30 pm
Nursery
Parents and Toddlers
Nursery
Asda Staff Dance
Saturday 8 March
7.30 pmEngagement Party

PRAYERS
Please remember in your prayers:
   Charles Conlan, Mary Delahunt (London), James Ronney, Mary Taylor,
   Bessie Murphy, Jane Whittaker, Elizabeth Higgins (Kilwinning),
   John Campbell (United States), Margaret Dorian and
   Andrew Sweeney (West Kilbride) who died recently and
   Maria Gillen 2001, Aldegonda Brogi, Piertro Brogi, Michael Reilly 1995,
   Catherine McCutcheon 2002, Cosimo Farro 1993, Father Charles McLaughlin,
   Bishop Joseph McGee, Isabella McLaughlan 2001, Hugh McGraa 2002
   and Hugh McCluskey 1992 whose anniversaries occur at this time.

SUNDAY COLLECTION
Last weekend's collection amounted to £759.19 - many thanks. Banker's Orders amount to an average of £4300 per month. Each month £4200 is repaid to the Diocese for the building loan and levy.

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

PARISH CENTRE COLLECTION
Last weekend's collection for the Parish Centre amounted to £391.01 - many thanks.

SCOTTISH INTERNATIONAL AID FUND (SCIAF) COLLECTION
The annual collection for SCIAF will take place at all Masses this weekend.

LENT SCIAF BOXES
Boxes for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) Lenten appeal are available at the stall. Please take one home with you and return it at the end of Lent.

LENT EXTRA
Copies of Lent Extra are available at the stall. A donation of £1 would be appreciated.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Stations of the Cross will be said during Lent each Friday at 9.40 am.

SAINT MATTHEW'S ACADEMY
Mass will be celebrated
in Saint Matthew's Academy every Friday at 12.50 pm.

INSTALLATION OF CANONS
Bishop Cunningham has announced that Canons Michael Farrington of Dumfries, Pat Keegans of Ayr, Matt McManus of Ardrossan and Pat McSorley of Prestwick will be installed at the Cathedral in Ayr at Mass celebrated on Thursday 24 April 2008.

IGNATIAN PRAYER GROUP RETREAT
The Ignatian Prayer Group is going on Retreat on Sunday 9 March to Skelmorlie from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.

CHILD PROTECTION TRAINING DAY
All those who have not received up to date child protection training are invited to attend a session in the Parish Centre on Sunday 9 March from 2.30 to 4.00 pm.

SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY 
The Ozanam Centre in Glasgow is run by the Saint Vincent de Paul Society to assist homeless men and women. We have been asked to assist in the collection of toiletries during Lent so these might be distributed as a very practical way of assisting those who use the Centre. Saint Peter's parishioners have donated generously to this appeal in previous years and it is hoped that you will do so once again. The Conference thanks you in anticipation of your kind assistance. A box to receive donations of all kinds of toiletries is available in the Church Porch during Lent.

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
A World Day of Prayer service will take place on Friday 7 March at 2.00 pm in the Park Church.


KIDS ARE DOGS, TEENS ARE CATS - A MOTHER'S STORY
I just realised that while children are dogs - loyal and affectionate - teenagers are cats. It's so easy to be a dog owner. You feed it, train it, boss it around. It puts its head on your knee and gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting. It bounds indoors with enthusiasm when you call it. Then around age thirteen, your adoring little puppy turns into a big old cat. When you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed as if wondering who died and made you emperor. Instead of dogging your doorstep, it disappears. You won't see it again until it gets hungry then it pauses on its sprint through the kitchen long enough to turn its nose up at whatever you're serving. When you reach out to ruffle its head in that old affectionate gesture, it twists away from you then gives you a blank stare, as if trying to remember where it has seen you before. You, not realising that the dog is now a cat, think something must be desperately wrong with it. It seems so antisocial, so distant, sort of depressed. It won't go on family outings. Since you're the one who raised it, taught it to fetch and stay and sit on command, you assume that you did something wrong. Flooded with guilt and fear, you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave. Only now you're dealing with a cat, so everything that worked before now produces the opposite of the desired result. Call it and it runs away. Tell it to sit and it jumps on the counter. The more you go toward it, wringing your hands, the more it moves away. Instead of continuing to act like a dog owner, you can learn to behave like a cat owner. Put a dish of food near the door and let it come to you. But remember that a cat needs your help and your affection too. Sit still and it will come, seeking that warm, comforting lap it has not entirely forgotten. Be there to open the door for it. One day your grown-up child will walk into the kitchen, give you a big kiss and say "You've been on your feet all day. Let me get those dishes for you." Then you'll realise your cat is a dog again.

  A child who is allowed to be disrespectful of his parents  
will not have true respect for anyone.

  There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.  


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           1 Samuel 16:1.6-7.10-13
The Lord said to Samuel, Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen myself a king among his sons. When Samuel arrived, he caught sight of Eliab and thought, Surely the Lords anointed one stands there before him, but the Lord said to Samuel, Take no notice of his appearance or his height for I have rejected him; God does not see as man sees; man looks at appearances but the Lord looks at the heart. Jesse presented his seven sons to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these. He then asked Jesse, Are these all the sons you have? He answered, There is still one left, the youngest; he is out looking after the sheep. Then Samuel said to Jesse, Send for him; we will not sit down to eat until he comes. Jesse had him sent for, a boy of fresh complexion, with fine eyes and pleasant bearing. The Lord said Come, anoint him, for this is the one. At this, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him where he stood with his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord seized on David and stayed with him from that day on.

Second Reading           Ephesians 5:8-14
You were darkness once, but now you are light in the Lord; be like children of light, for the effects of the light are seen in complete goodness and right living and truth. Try to discover what the Lord wants of you, having nothing to do with the futile works of darkness but exposing them by contrast. The things which are done in secret are things that people are ashamed even to speak of; but anything exposed by the light will be illuminated and anything illuminated turns into light. That is why it is said: Wake up from your sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Gospel           John 9:1.6-9.13-17.34-38
As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. He spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man and said to him, "Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam" (a name that means 'sent'). So the blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored. His neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "Yes, it is the same one." Others said, "No, he only looks like him." The man himself said, "I am the man. They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It had been a Sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man's eyes, so when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, he said, "He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see." Then some of the Pharisees said, "This man cannot be from God: he does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How could a sinner produce signs like this?" And there was disagreement among them. So they spoke to the blind man again, "What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?" "He is a prophet" replied the man. "Are you trying to teach us," they replied "and you a sinner through and through, since you were born!" And they drove him away. Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" "Sir," the man replied "tell me who he is so that I may believe in him." Jesus said, "You are looking at him; he is speaking to you." The man said, "Lord, I believe", and worshipped him.