PRAYER FOR CHRISTMAS DAY
Mother Mary, let me receive your Divine Child. Don't take as His manger the cold and desolate stable - take my heart! My heart is prepared and decorated just that little bit. My heart longs for your Child. Let my heart be His manger. Mother Mary, let us all receive your Child this day. And we promise, that in our hearts, He will be warm and secure. We promise you that we will love Him and welcome Him just as you loved and welcomed Him! You kneel in adoration before your Divine Son and I too kneel to adore that that same Child in my heart. You gave Him all the emotions of your heart, you gave Him your love, you give Him your willing-ness to sacrifice. I also want to give Him today all my love and these same emotions. And I will gently pour all my suffering and all the pain of my guilt into the heart of this little Child. Then in future I will never be alone any more. It is not my strength, that carries me - It is Mary's Child who carries me still! Father Joseph Kentenich
Please pray for the Repose of the Soul of Agnes Tomelty. Her Funeral Rites will be on Wednesday 27 December at Holmsford Bridge Crematorium at 12 noon. May she rest in peace and rise in glory!
REQUIEM MASS
Please pray for the Repose of the Soul of John Welsh. His Requiem Mass will be on Friday 29 December at 10.00 am and will be followed by his interment at Ardrossan Cemetery. May he rest in peace and rise in glory!
BANNS OF MARRIAGE
We are delighted to announce the Banns for Marriage for Aileen Bannatyne and Callum Fyfe who will be married at Glasgow University Chapel on Friday 29 December. We wish them a love for a lifetime.
THANK YOU EVERYONE!
Father Duncan would like to thank everyone sincerely for the cards and special gifts at Christmas. They have warmed the heart. Thank you for all your support and friendship. It is most appreciated! A big thank you to all our helpers who made the Church look so beautiful - cleaners, florists, sacristans, stable builders, tree decorators, designers, tidy-upers, et cetera, et cetera. May God bless your efforts and generosity! Thank you.
SAINT PETER'S PARISH CENTRE
Saint Peter's Parish Centre celebrates its twentieth anniversary on Saturday 23 December 2017. Since its completion on 23 December 1997, the Centre has been used for many meetings and social functions, chtirtening, wedding and funeral receptions, parish socials, dances and birthday parties.
Missio Scotland would like to thank the parishioners of Saint Peter's for the donation of £356.01 on Mission Sunday. Please accept our thanks together with the gratitude of those who will benefit.
SILENT NIGHT
Father
Joseph Mohr sat at the old organ. His fingers stretched over the keys, forming
the notes of a chord. He took a deep breath and pressed down - nothing. He lifted
his fingers and tried again. Silence echoed through the church. Father Joseph
shook his head. It was no use. The pipes were rusted and the bellows mildewed.
The organ had been wheezing and growing quieter for months, and Father Joseph
had been hoping it would hold together until the organ builder arrived to repair
it in the spring. But now, on 23 December 1818, the organ had finally given
out. Saint Nicholas' Church would have no music for Christmas. Father Joseph
sighed. Maybe a brisk walk would make him feel better. He pulled on his overcoat
and stepped out into the night. His white breath puffed out before him. Moonlight
sparkled off the snow-crusted trees and houses in the village of Oberndorf.
Father Joseph looked out over the Austrian Alps. Stars shone above in the still
and silent night. Silent night? Father Joseph stopped. Of course - Silent Night!
He had written a poem a few years before when he had first become a priest and
he had given it that very title - Silent Night. Father Joseph scrambled down
the mountain. Suddenly he knew how to bring music to the church. The next morning,
Father Joseph set out on another walk. This time he carried his poem. And this
time he knew exactly where he was going -- to see his friend Franz Gruber, the
organist for Saint Nicholas' who lived in the next village. Franz Gruber was
surprised to see the priest so far from home on Christmas Eve and even more
surprised when Father Joseph handed him the poem. That night Father Joseph and
Franz Gruber stood at the altar of Saint Nicholas' Church. Father Joseph held
his guitar. He could see members of the congregation giving each other puzzled
looks. They had never heard a guitar played in church before and certainly not
during Mass on Christmas Eve, the holiest night of the year. Father Joseph picked
out a few notes on the guitar and he and Franz Gruber began to sing. Their two
voices rang out, joined by the church choir on the chorus. Franz Gruber's melody
matched the simplicity and honesty of Father Joseph's words. When the last notes
faded into the night, the congregation remained still for a moment then began
to clap their hands. Applause filled the church. The villagers of Oberndorf
loved the song! Father Joseph's plan to bring music to Saint Nicholas' Church
had worked. A few months later, the organ builder arrived in Oberndorf and found
the words and music to Silent Night lying on the organ. The song enchanted him
and when he left, he took a copy of it with him. The organ builder gave the
song to two families of travelling singers who lived near his home. The travelling
singers performed Silent Night in concerts all over Europe and soon the song
spread throughout the world. Today, cathedral choirs and carollers from New
York to New Zealand sing the simple song that was first played in a mountain
church in Austria on Christmas Eve nearly two hundred years ago. JUST FOR A LAUGH … QUESTIONS THAT HAUNT ME...
Can you cry under water? How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered? Why does a round pizza come in a square box? What disease did cured ham actually have? How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours? Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV? Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp which no decent human being would eat? If corn oil is made from corn and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from? Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead? Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet? Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard? Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest but ducks when you throw a revolver at him? Why is it that no matter what colour bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white? Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance? How come you never hear father-in-law jokes? The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons are suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you!