Bulletin 16 August 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 BOOK OF THE APOCALYPSE (Apocalypse 11:19,12:1-6,10)
The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne while the woman escaped into the desert where God had made a place of safety ready. Then I heard a voice shout from heaven "Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our God and all authority for his Christ."

REFLECTION
It can be easy to forget that Mary was an ordinary human being just like us. Yes, there were some extraordinary moments of God's grace that touched her life but she still had to face all the joys and sorrows of human existence just as we do - and yet she managed to triumph in trust of God in obedience to God's will and holiness! Mary's humanity is why this feast is so important. We celebrate that moment at the end of her earthly life, which we normally call death, when she immediately shared in the resurrection. Mary has no tomb on earth because her body was taken straight to heaven. We believe we will too, though for us it will not be immediate. We have to wait a while for our bodies to catch up with eternal life as they sleep in the earth. But we will proclaim our faith in a moment and we will say we believe in the 'resurrection of the body'. This is what Mary shows us today = that through Jesus, her Son, 'all will be brought to life in Christ', in our bodies, in a new heaven and a new earth that will never end.

SAINT PETER'S AND SAINT BRIDE'S CHURCH SERVICES

	Saint Peter's - All Masses are live-streamed and public unless otherwise stated.	Saint Bride's - All Masses are public unless otherwise stated.
Saturday 15 August Our Lady's Day The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Holy Mass at 10.00am for Robbie Reid at his anniversary Private Vigil Mass at 5.30pm
Sunday 16 August The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Holy Mass at 10.30am for our parishes	Holy Mass at 12.15pm for our parishes
Monday 17 August	Holy Mass at 10.00am for Cathie Carroll who died recently
Tuesday 18 August Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin	Holy Mass at 10.00am for those suffering through addiction Private
Wednesday 19 August	Holy Mass at 10.00am for Helen Clarke at her anniversary
Thursday 20 August Memorial of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux	Holy Mass at 10.00am for Breda Doyle who died recently and Jim Boyle at his anniversary Private
Friday 21 August Memorial of Saint Pius X	Holy Mass at 10.00am for Matthew McCabe at his anniversary	Holy Mass at 12 noon
Saturday 22 August The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary Twenty-First Sunday of the Year	Holy Mass at 10.00am Private Vigil Mass at 5.30pm for Bridie Maher at her anniversary

SAINT MARY'S AND SAINT JOHN'S CHURCH SERVICES

	Saint Mary's Church, Saltcoats	Saint John’s Church, Stevenston
Saturday 15 August Our Lady's Day The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Vigil Mass at 4.30pm
Sunday 16 August The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Holy Mass at 10.00am	Holy Mass at 11.30am
Monday 17 August
Tuesday 18 August Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin	Holy Mass at 10.00am
Wednesday 19 August		Holy Mass at 10.00am
Thursday 20 August Memorial of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux	Holy Mass at 10.00am
Friday 21 August Memorial of Saint Pius X		Holy Mass at 10.00am
Saturday 22 August The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary Twenty-First Sunday of the Year	Vigil Mass at 4.30pm

PRAYERS
Please remember in your prayers:
John Clarke;
Cathie Carroll, Anita Coyle and Breda Doyle who died recently;
Susan Garland 2011, James O'Neill 1998, Ronald Burns 2011, Kate Gribben 1994, Father John Harkin 1996, Anne Kilday 2011, Margaret McLeod 2007, Patrick Retzbach 1981, James Thomas Taylor 1998, Johnny Thompson 2014, Patricia Trainer 2002, David Walsh 1980, Roberta Breslin 2011, Frank Campbell 2007, Arthur Eamonn Murphy 2014, Stephanie Smith 1999, Elizabeth Taylor 1951, Marietta Da Prato 1997, Beatrice Ketchen 2019, Tommy McCann senior 1976, Desmond McGarvey 1986, Robert Watson 2004, Jim Boyle 2017, William Kelly 2004, Matthew McCabe 2002, Maria McEvoy 2002, Mary McEvoy 1993, Josephine Quadling, Jane Leonard 1998, Andrew McCarroll 1996, Dan Murray 1981, Ellen Tourish 1971, Frances Burns 2017, Father William McBurnie 1953, John McLaughlin 2014, Jimmy McVeigh 2007, Felix Quigg 1994 and Josie Walsh 2003 whose anniversaries occur at this time and those who are sick.
If deceased members of your family are not on our anniversary list, please tell Father Duncan, the parish office or contact WebsiteAuthor@SaintPeterinChains.net. If members of your family or friends are in need of our prayers, please tell Father Duncan or the parish office.

SAINT PETER'S NEWS

FUNERAL SERVICE FOR ANITA COYLE
Please pray for the Repose of the Soul of Anita Coyle who died on 9 August 2020. Her funeral service will be at Holmsford Bridge Crematorium in Dreghorn on Wednesday 19 August at 3.30pm. May she rest in peace and rise in glory!

LIVE-STREAMING OF MASS
All our Celebrations of Mass and other services are live-streamed, starting five minutes beforehand. You can access them every day by going to our websites. On SaintPeterInChains.net, in the top right corner, click on Live Streaming at Mass Times. On SaintPeterInChains.co.uk, click Services in the red menu bar, select Mass Times then scroll down to Click here to view Mass.

STANDING ORDERS - PLEASE THINK ABOUT IT
The Parishes have taken quite a 'knock' through lockdown when public Mass was not available for sixteen weeks. This has had a huge impact on our parish finances. Could you consider taking out a Standing Order? It would be of great benefit to our parish. Forms are available from the Parish Office and here. Thank you

CHURCH PIETY STALL
If you should require anything from our Stall, for example, Mass Cards, religious items, et cetera, please ask Betty Craig and she will organise it for you. We hope you can still support our Piety Stall.

USED POSTAGE STAMPS
We have been asked to donate our used postage stamps to fund Medical Science. Please hand your used stamps in to the Parish Office or give them to Alfie Agostini.

BOOKING FOR MASS
It is wonderful to see so many people attending Mass. Due to the Scottish Government restricting the number of people attending Church to fifty, we now ask you to book if you would like to attend Mass. You can book on a weekly basis, from now until further notice, by calling the Parish Office on 01294 464063 on Mondays to Fridays from 9.00am to 11.00am.

SAINT BRIDE'S NEWS

VOLUNTEERS
We are obliged to provide two stewards for each Mass. If you can help out at any of our services, please get in touch on HowiePhyllis@yahoo.co.uk or 01294 822320. Thank you.

100 CLUB
Subscriptions are now due and still only £12 for the year! Please put your payment in an envelope, marked 100 Club, together with your name and put it into the collection box, as you leave the Church. Thank you.

SCOTTISH CATHOLIC INTERNATIONAL AID (SCIAF) FUND WEE BOX APPEAL
We are still collecting for the Wee Box appeal. If you have not returned your Wee Box yet, please bring it with you when you come to Church.

THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY
The Assumption of Mary into Heaven, celebrated today, is one of the oldest in Church history. This wonderful summer feast, honouring Our Lady, was first celebrated in Palestine in the year 529 AD. It was such a strong tradition in the Church, needing no confirmation, that it wasn't until 1 November 1950 that Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of the faith. An ancient and beautiful legend about the Assumption of Mary tells the story this way. When Our Lady felt her time on earth coming to an end, she sent word to all the Apostles that she would like to see them for the last time on earth. They were out preaching the Good News of her Son 'to all the corners of the world' as Jesus had commanded them. When they received her message, of course, they paid their respects to their new congregations and disciples and left so as to hurry to her side. After long sea voyages and treks over land, they arrived just in time to say goodbye and pray with her one last time. Then she died. Only the apostle Thomas was late. He had been delayed by some way or another and had been travelling day and night since to try and catch up but he was too late. When he finally arrived, hot and travel-stained, he was grief-stricken to learn that she had been laid to rest in a tomb. He wept bitterly and begged the Apostle's permission to open the tomb so that he could see her beloved face one last time. At first, the other Apostles were reluctant. After all, she had been dead for three days and it was a hot country. Finally they yielded to his tears and rolled away the stone. To their amazement, the tomb was filled with flowers, all giving off a sweet fragrance. They felt happier and healthier just smelling the beautiful scent that came wafting out of that tomb. Where they had placed her body was now only her shroud, filled with more flowers. Her body had been carried up to heaven by her Son and the angels to join her soul. Now, it must be remembered that after the great Fall, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the Fruit of the Tree of Life and were cast out of the Garden, all the flowers lost their scent or perhaps we lost the ability to smell them. The herbs lost their healing powers too and were only good for flavouring our food. Not that that's not a good thing, mind you, but to be able to heal sickness and mend broken bones, well that's something more important that a nicely flavoured stew. It's only right that one the day of her Assumption, Our Blessed Lady's last gift to us should be the restoring of the scent of flowers and the healing power of herbs. In many European countries, on the Feast of the Assumption, they have the tradition of blessing herbs for use at home in Church.

A SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF THE MASS - PART 11
At the Breaking of the Bread - see last Sunday - the priest places a small portion of the Host in the chalice to signify the unity of the Body and Blood of the Lord in the work of salvation. This mingling of the Body and Blood of Christ is an expression of our faith that the Body of Christ is not without the Blood of Chris, and the Blood of Christ is not without the Body of Christ. That is Christ is totally present in both the bread and wine. The congregation sings or recites a short litany - the Agnus Dei or Lamb of God - "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us." In his First Letter, Peter reminds us that we are 'saved, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a spotless, unblemished lamb'(1 Peter 1:18).

PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in this Holy Sacrament of the altar. I love you above all things and I passionately desire
to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come spiritually into my soul so that I may unite myself wholly to you now and forever. Amen.

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
When I was little, if I was travelling on a train with my father he would hold on to my ticket and would only give it to me just as I was about to go through the barrier. Similarly, God will unfold his plans little by little and often supply your needs only a moment before you require them.

JUST FOR A LAUGH ...
Late one night, a burglar broke into a house he thought was empty. He tiptoed through the living room but suddenly he froze in his tracks when he heard a loud voice say "Jesus is watching you!" Silence returned to the house so the burglar crept forward again. "Jesus is watching you" the voice boomed again. The burglar stopped dead again. He was frightened. Frantically, he looked all around. In a dark corner, he spotted a bird cage and in the cage was a parrot. He asked the parrot. "Was that you who said Jesus is watching me?" "Yes" said the parrot. The burglar breathed a sigh of relief and asked the parrot. "What's your name?" "Clarence" said the bird. "That's a dumb name for a parrot" sneered the burglar. "What idiot named you Clarence?" The parrot said "The same idiot who named the Doberman Jesus."

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.

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.