CHURCH
OF SAINT PETER IN CHAINS, ARDROSSAN • A Family of
Parishes • SAINT BRIDE'S CHURCH, WEST KILBRIDE
BULLETIN 19 JULY 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 13:24-43)
Jesus put another parable before the crowds. "The kingdom of heaven may
be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was
asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat and made off. When
the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner's
servants went to him and said "Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed
in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?" "Some enemy
has done this" he answered. And the servants said "Do you want us
to go and weed it out?" But he said "No, because when you weed out
the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the
harvest and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers - first collect the
darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt then gather the wheat into my barn."
He put another parable before them. "The kingdom of heaven is like a
mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of
all the seeds but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes
a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches."
He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast
a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened
all through." In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables - indeed,
he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy
'I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation
of the world.' Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house and his disciples
came to him and said "Explain the parable about the darnel in the field
to us." He said in reply "The sower of the good seed is the Son
of Man. The field is the world. The good seed is the subjects of the kingdom,
the darnel, the subjects of the evil one - the enemy who sowed them, the devil.
The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are the angels. Well then,
just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at
the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather
out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil and
throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding
of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!"
REFLECTION
Three powerful parables which tell us so much about our God and the mission
of Jesus! The wheat and the darnel are about premature judgment. We, the servants,
think we can 'weed out' the bad in our society and yet Jesus warns us that
our judging may not always be right. We can damage the innocent by judging
too hastily. He tells us to leave the judging to God. This can reassure us
when we feel that people are 'getting away with' evil. It means that no evil
remains unpunished since God sees and knows all - there will be a reckoning.
The other two parables are about the growth and work of the Church. Small
beginnings and often unnoticed work, like yeast in the dough, bring about
great results! A common thread in all three parables is the need to trust
God when our own vision is limited. Perhaps we only see the small seed, the
weeds in the field, the tiny amount of yeast. We need to trust that God sees
- and promises - so much more!
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Saint
Peter's
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Saint
Bride's
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Saturday
18 July
Our Lady's Day Sixteenth Sunday of the Year |
Holy Mass at 10.00am
for Margaret McCabe's intention Live-streamed Vigil Mass at 5.30pm for Robert MacRae at his anniversary Public and live-streamed |
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Sunday
19 July
Sixteenth Sunday of the Year |
Holy
Mass at 10.30am
for Brian Narducci and Beatrice Kitchen at their anniversaries Public and live-streamed |
Holy
Mass at 12.15pm
for our parishes Public |
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Monday
20 July
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Holy
Mass at 10.00am
for Winnie Murray who died recently Public and live-streamed |
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Tuesday
21 July
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Holy
Mass at 10.00am
for John Mullen who died recently Live-streamed |
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Wednesday
22 July
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene |
Holy
Mass at 10.00am for Rose Duffy who died recently Public and live-streamed |
Private prayer from 11.30am to 12.30pm |
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Thursday
23 July
Feast of Saint Bridget of Sweden |
Holy
Mass at 10.00am
for Patricia Lamont who died recently Live-streamed |
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Friday
24 July
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Votive
Mass at 10.00am
for deliverance from the pandemic and Angus MacRae at his anniversary Public and live-streamed |
Holy
Mass at 12 noon Public |
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Saturday
25 July
Feast of Saint James, Apostle Seventeenth Sunday of the Year |
Holy Mass at 10.00am
for John McLaughlin as his month's mind Live-streamed Vigil Mass at 5.30pm Public and live-streamed |
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Saturday
18 July
Our Lady's Day |
Vigil
Mass at 4.30pm Public and live-streamed |
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Sunday
19 July
Sixteenth Sunday of the Year |
Holy
Mass
at 10.00am Public and live-streamed |
Holy
Mass
at 11.30am Public and live-streamed |
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Monday
20 July
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Tuesday
21 July
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Holy
Mass
at 10.00am Public and live-streamed |
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Wednesday
22 July
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene |
Holy
Mass at 10.00am Public and live-streamed |
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Thursday
23 July
Feast of Saint Bridget of Sweden |
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Friday
24 July
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Holy
Mass
at 10.00am Public and live-streamed |
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Saturday
25 July
Seventeenth Sunday of the Year |
Vigil
Mass at 4.30pm Public and live-streamed |
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SAINT BRIDE'S NEWS SUNDAY
MASS |
A
SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF THE MASS - PART 7
This week, let's look at the Eucharistic Prayer in the Mass - the 'centre
and summit of the entire celebration'. It is essentially a statement of praise
and thanksgiving, a proclamation of wonder for God's work of salvation as
well as an action that makes the Eucharist, rendering present both the Body
and Blood of the Lord and the Lord's great redeeming action. On any given
Sunday, the priest can choose from one of ten Eucharistic Prayers. In the
Holy Holy, after the priest prays the Preface, all present join their voices
to all of creation in giving glory to God with words inspired by the vision
of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:3). We join with the entire communion of saints, the angels
and all of creation in giving praise to the God of the universe. Speaking
of the presence of angels during Mass, Saint Brigid writes 'One day, while
I was assisting at the Holy Sacrifice, I saw an immense number of holy Angels
descend and gather around the altar contemplating the priest. They sang heavenly
canticles and ravished my heart. Heaven itself seemed to be contemplating
the great sacrifice - and yet we poor blind miserable creatures assist as
Mass with so little love, relish and respect. Oh! If God would open our eyes
what wonders should we not see.' During the Eucharistic prayer we use the
words Jesus used at the Last Supper over the bread and wine. Since the Middle
Ages, the change of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ has been
called transubstantiation. This means that the substance of the bread and
wine is changed into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ. The appearances
of bread and wine - colour, shape, weight, chemical composition - remain
but the underlying reality, that is, the substance,
is now the Body and Blood of Christ. In this Sacrifice, Jesus seeks to draw
us into his act of total self-giving so that we might give of ourselves in
service to others. In the new translation of the words of Consecration, the
priest proclaims that Jesus poured out his life 'for many'. Does this mean
that Jesus did not die for all people? There are two things to note here.
Firstly, the new translation is closer to the biblical text (Matthew 26:28);
and secondly, Jesus did die for all but not all choose to accept Jesus' offer
of salvation. Each of us must choose to accept Jesus' gift and follow his
teachings, so that we can be counted amongst 'the many'. Near the end of the
Eucharistic Prayer, the priest presents the intercessory prayers for a variety
of causes and people - the deceased, the universal Church, the Pope, the local
Bishop, the clergy and all the people of God. Then at the end comes the Doxology.
This means hymn of praise. The Eucharistic Prayer ends as it begins - with
a shout of praise and thanks to God. The congregation responds by singing
the Great Amen. It is the most important acclamation of the whole Mass. Amen
means 'so be it'. It is our yes to all that has been done and proclaimed.
It is our burst of praise to our God who has done such wonderful things for
us. The Great Amen brings the Eucharistic Prayer to its completion. A good
practice suggestion is to develop the practice of offering your whole life,
your joys and sorrows, to Christ during the Eucharistic Prayer.
FOOD
FOR THOUGHT
With people gathering for all sorts of reasons in great crowds, society has
almost been convinced of the overabundance of people. We have forgotten how
to appreciate and reverence the wonderful treasure, the pearl, within each
person.
MY LIFE FOR YOU
There was a family that was experiencing a small tragedy. One of their two
sons had acquired an illness that required a marrow transplant. Of course,
the medical personnel had all the family members tested to see who had the
proper type of blood. It turned out the older brother of the sick boy was
the perfect match. The father sat the older brother down and told what they
needed to do in simplest terms for the young boy. The father told him that
his little brother was very, very sick and that he needed to show his little
brother how much he loved him by having surgery. The doctors need to take
a little piece of him and put it in his little brother’s body so that he doesn’t
die. The young boy thought about it for a couple seconds and then he said
he would do it. So the older brother went through surgery. It was a success
and his little brother was recovering quickly. After the relief and joy passed
over, and the family was just sitting around relaxing, the father noticed
his older son looking a little down and depressed. He took his son aside and
asked him why he wasn’t happy - his brother was getting better. His son said
that he was very glad that his brother was getting better so the father asked
again, why are you so sad? The boy said “When is it time for me to die?” That’s
when the father realised what the boy actually had on his mind. His older
son believed in his heart of hearts that he had to give up his own life so
that his little brother who he loved could live.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)
PRAYER DURING A PANDEMIC
May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home remember those who must choose
between preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools
close remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips remember those that have no safe place
to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market
remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settle in for a quarantine at home remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country, let us choose love.
During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other,
let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbours. Amen. Cameron
Bellm
FOOD
FOR THOUGHT
What the Church needs is youth. Youthfulness is not about being young. It
is about allowing courage to rule over fear. It's about enthusiasm. When the
enthusiasm fades then pessimism begins to set in and people become old. As
Christians our hope sustains our enthusiasm and our youth.
JUST
FOR A LAUGH ...
During a Eucharistic Congress, a number of priests from different orders are
gathered in a church for Vespers. While they are praying, a fuse blows and
all the lights go out. The Benedictines continue praying from memory without
missing a beat. The Jesuits begin to discuss whether the blown fuse means
they are dispensed from the obligation to pray Vespers. The Franciscans compose
a song of praise for God's gift of darkness. The Dominicans revisit their
ongoing debate on light as a signification of the transmission of divine knowledge.
The Carmelites fall into silence and slow, steady breathing. The parish priest,
who is hosting the others, goes to the basement and replaces the fuse.
WEEKLY
BULLETIN
If you would like to receive the weekly bulletin and updates by email, please
get in touch with the Parish Office and send us your email address. If you
know of someone who would like to be included on the mailing list, please
let us know. Thanks!
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.
NEW PARISH WEBSITE
Please have a look at our new parish website which is now up and running.
There are lots of resources for prayer and information, latest news and also
the weekly bulletin. The history section is being expanded step by step and
has really interesting video clips and photos from past events at Saint Peter's.
Have a look at SaintPeterInChains.co.uk.
The older website at is www.SaintPeterInChains.net
and Saint Bride's website is at StBridesChurch.co.uk.
WEEKLY BULLETIN
If you would like to receive the weekly Bulletin and updates by email, please
get in touch with the parish office and send us your email address. If you
know of someone who would like to be included on the mailing list, please
let us know - thanks.
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.