Thoughts
for the Day for 12 to 18 April are taken from a wonderful
spiritual classic Searching for and Maintaining Peace
by Jacques Philippe. We pray for the gift of inner peace
in this time of pandemic.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday 18 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for Andrena
Donnelly and George McDowall who both died recently.
With regard to what we
have just considered, it is important to know
how to unmask a frequent and very clever trick
of the devil to trouble and discourage us. Faced
with certain goods that we possess - a material
good, a friendship, an activity that we enjoy,
et cetera - the devil, in an effort to prevent
us from abandoning ourselves to God, causes us
to imagine that if we put everything in God's
hands, God will effectively take everything and
'ruin' everything in our lives! And this arouses
a sense of terror that completely paralyses us.
But we must not fall into this trap. Very frequently,
on the contrary, the Lord asks only an attitude
of detachment at the level of the heart, a disposition
to give Him everything. But He doesn't necessarily
'take' everything. Please be assured
of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 17 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish, Bridget McLellan at her anniversary and
John Craig who died recently. Abandonment
inevitably requires an element of renunciation
and it is this that is most difficult for us.
We have a natural tendency to cling to a whole
host of things - material goods, affections, desires,
projects et cetera and it costs us terribly to
let go of our grip, because we have the impression
that we will lose ourselves in the process, that
we will die. Saint John of the Cross expresses
this same truth in other terms - All things were
given to me from the moment when I no longer sought
them. Please be assured of my daily
prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 16 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish, Michael MacLean and John McLaughlin who
both died recently. In
order that abandonment might be authentic and
engender peace, it must be total. We must put
everything, without exception, into the hands
of God, not seeking any longer to manage or to
'save' ourselves by our own means - not in the
material domain, nor the emotional, nor the spiritual.
We cannot divide human existence into various
sectors - certain sectors where it would be legitimate
to surrender ourselves to God with confidence
and others where, on the contrary, we feel we
must manage exclusively on our own. And one thing
we know well - all reality that we have not surrendered
to God, that we choose to manage by ourselves
without giving carte blanche to God, will continue
to make us more or less uneasy. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your
family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 15 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Seamus Reilly senior and Pauline Grear who both
died recently. The goodwill,
the habitual determination to always say "yes"
to God, in the great things as in the small, is
a sine qua non for interior peace. As long as we
have not acquired this determination, a certain
uneasiness and sadness will not cease to abide in
us - the uneasiness of not loving God as much as
He invites us to love Him, and the sadness of still
not having given all things to God. Because the
man who has given his will to God has, in a certain
fashion, already given Him everything. We cannot
truly be at peace as long as our hearts have not
found their unity and our hearts cannot be unified
until all our desires are subordinated to the desire
to love God, to please Him and to do His will.
Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 14 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Joseph Murray and John Mullen who both died
recently. One of the most
common strategies of the devil in his efforts to
distance us from God and to slow our spiritual progress
is to attempt to cause the loss of our interior
peace. Here is what Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, one of
the great spiritual masters of the 16th century,
who was highly esteemed by Saint Francis de Sales,
said: 'The devil does his utmost to banish peace
from one's heart, because he knows that God abides
in peace and it is in peace that He accomplishes
great things. Please be assured of my
daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 13 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today,
l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and Pamela
Devine and Joe Howie who both died recently. The
more our soul is peaceful and tranquil, the more God
is reflected in it, the more His image expresses itself
in us and the more His grace acts through us. On the
other hand, if our soul is agitated and troubled, the
grace of God is able to act only with much greater difficulty.
How can I communicate this peace to others, if I myself
do not have it? How can there be peace in families,
in societies, between individual people, if there is
no peace first in peoples' hearts? Acquiring and maintaining
interior peace, which is impossible without prayer,
should consequently be considered a priority for everybody,
above all for those who claim to want to do good for
their neighbour. Otherwise, more often than not they
would simply be communicating their own restlessness
and distress. Please be assured of my daily
prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Easter Sunday 12 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Easter Sunday, l celebrate Holy Mass privately
for the Parish. It is essential
for us to come to understand that the way to God and
the perfection that is demanded of us is shorter and
more efficacious, markedly easier too, when one has
learned, little by little, how to conserve, in all circumstances,
a profound peace of heart - because then the heart allows
itself to be driven by the Holy Spirit and God is able
to do more with it by His grace than the heart could
do by its own effort. It is of the greatest importance
that we strive to acquire and maintain an interior peace,
the peace of our hearts. Please be assured
of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Holy Saturday 11 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Holy Saturday, l celebrate the Easter Vigil
privately for the Parish at 7.30pm. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city
and the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis said "The
Lord is calling on people to put into practice that
solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support
and meaning to these hours when everything seems to
be foundering. The Lord awakens so as to reawaken and
revive our Easter faith. We have an anchor - by his
cross we have been saved. We have a rudder - by his
cross we have been redeemed. We have a hope - by his
cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing
and no one can separate us from his redeeming love."
Pope Francis told people watching around the world that
he would "entrust all of you to the Lord, through
the intercession of Mary, health of the people and star
of the stormy sea. May God's blessing come down upon
you as a consoling embrace. Lord, may you bless the
world, give health to our bodies and comfort our hearts.
You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak and
we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at
the mercy of the storm." Please be assured of my
daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Good Friday 10 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Good Friday, I celebrate the Lord's Passion
privately for the Parish at 3.00pm. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city
and the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis preached "In
the boat, when the disciples plead with Jesus to do
something, Jesus responds 'Why are you afraid? Have
you no faith?" Lord, your word strikes us and is
meant for us, all of us. In this world that you love
more than we do, we have gone ahead at breakneck speed,
feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for
profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things and
be lured away by haste. We did not stop at your reproach
to us, we were not shaken awake by wars or injustice
across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the
poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless,
thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick.
Now that we are in a stormy sea, we implore you 'Wake
up, Lord!' Please be assured of my daily prayers for
you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Holy Thursday 9 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Holy Thursday, I celebrate the Mass of the
Lord's Supper privately for the Parish at 7.00pm. Pope
Francis gave an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing
- to the city and the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis
listed "doctors, nurses, supermarket employees,
cleaners, caregivers, providers of transport, law and
order forces, volunteers, priests, religious men and
women and so very many others who have understood that
no one reaches salvation by themselves. How many people
every day are exercising patience and offering hope,
taking care to sow not panic but a shared responsibility
and how many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers
are showing our children, in small everyday gestures,
how to face up to and navigate a crisis by adjusting
their routines, lifting their gaze and fostering prayer.
How many are praying, offering and interceding for the
good of all. Prayer and quiet service - these are our
victorious weapons." Please be assured of my daily
prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 8 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Seamus Reilly senior who died recently. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and
the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis preached "It
is a time to decide to live differently, live better,
love more and care for others and every community is filled
with people who can be role models - individuals, who,
even though fearful, have reacted by giving their lives.
The Holy Spirit can use the pandemic to redeem, value
and demonstrate how our lives are woven together and sustained
by ordinary people - often forgotten people - who do not
appear in newspaper and magazine headlines, but are serving
others and making life possible during the pandemic."
Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and your
family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 7 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish
and Joseph Murray who died recently. Pope Francis gave
an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and
the world - on 27 March. Pope Francis said "We find
ourselves afraid and lost. Like the disciples in the Gospel
we were caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm.
However, the pandemic storm has made most people realise
that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented.
And it has shown how each person has a contribution to
make, at least in comforting each other. On this boat
are all of us. The pandemic has exposed our vulnerability
and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around
which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects,
our habits and priorities. In the midst of the storm,
God is calling people to faith, which is not just believing
God exists, but turning to him and trusting him. As Lent
and the pandemic go on, he said, God continues to call
people to 'convert' and 'return to me with all your heart'.
" Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and
your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 6 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
Bridget McLellan on her anniversary. Pope Francis gave an
extraordinary Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and the
world - on 27 March. Pope Francis prayed that the Almighty
and Merciful God would see how people are suffering and
give them comfort. He asked to care for the sick and dying,
for medical workers exhausted by caring for the sick and
for political leaders who bear the burden of making decisions
to protect their people. Pope Francis included the Gospel
of Mark's account of Jesus calming the stormy sea. "Let
us invite Jesus into the boats of our lives. Let us hand
over our fears to him so that he can conquer them. Like
the disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee, we will experience
that, with him on board, there will be no shipwreck, because
this is God's strength - turning to the good everything
that happens to us, even the bad things. The passage from
Saint Mark's Gospel begins with the words, 'when evening
had come'." Pope Francis said that with the pandemic
and its sickness and death and with the lockdowns and closures
of schools and workplaces, it has felt like 'for weeks now
it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over our
squares, our streets and our cities. It has taken over our
lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a
distressing void that stops everything as it passes by.
We feel it in the air, we notice it in people's gestures
- their glances give them away'. Please be assured of my
daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Palm Sunday 5 April
2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Palm Sunday, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for
the Parish at 10.30am. Pope Francis gave an extraordinary
Urbi et Orbi Blessing - to the city and the world - on 27
March. Popes usually give this blessing only immediately
after their election and on Christmas and Easter. "The
worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God's judgment on
humanity, but God's call for people to judge what is most
important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now
on. Lord, it is not the time of your judgment, but of our
judgment - a time to choose what matters and what passes
away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is
not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard
to you, Lord, and to others." Please be assured of
my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Saturday 4 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Our Lady's Day, l celebrate Holy Mass privately
for the Parish and Annie and Andrew Murphy. Our second 'touchstone'
is Our Lady's Protection. From the cross, Jesus gave us
his Mother to be ours. In every age - from the days before
Pentecost until today - the Church has been blessed through
the Mother of God interceding for us, from her being close
to us with her care and protection. Let us renew our commitment
to 'fly to her protection'. I invite you to join with me
in praying the Memorare every day to commend, not only the
Church, but also our country - indeed the whole world -
to the loving care of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Please be
assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 3 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
that the Church continues to guide and lead us. Our first
'touchstone' Is Spiritual Communion. During this time when
the public celebration of Holy Mass has to be suspended,
we need the graces of the Eucharist more than ever - for
these are the graces whereby the Holy Spirit works in our
lives that dying to self and living for the Father that
is Jesus's Paschal Mystery. These graces can be available
to us through Spiritual Communion. Please be assured of
my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 2 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
for those who have died due to Coronavirus. We are called
to accompany our neighbours. Each of us, especially in our
families, faces fears about what the future holds as the
spread of the virus unfolds. The pains caused by the pandemic
will fall particularly hard on the poor, the elderly and
the chronically ill. We Christians have a particular duty
to care for them. One simple but much needed work of mercy
will be to stay in touch - perhaps by phone - with the elderly
who are quarantined. We should be sure that social distancing
doesn't result in losing spiritual closeness. Please be
assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 1 April 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and
those mourning loved ones. Now is the hour of the Domestic
Church. The Christian family, as the Domestic Church, has
to be at the centre of the New Evangelisation. In these
days when our large public gatherings for prayer and catechesis
are suspended, the Domestic Church is all the more clearly
'ground zero' for our response. Now it falls squarely on
families to make their homes places to hear the Word of
God, and to offer him praise, especially in acts of Spiritual
Communion and entrustment to the protection of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. Please be assured of my daily prayers for you
and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 31 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, the
sick and those who care for them. It's still about living
the gospel. Right now all of us, are focused on responding
to the Coronavirus pandemic. Yes, but that doesn't mean
that living out our faith has been abandoned - quite the
contrary. We still must be about evangelisation. That's
always our mission. This is a providential time for us to
witness to our sure confidence in Jesus as Lord of history,
to manifest to the world that we face this challenge with
unshakeable trust that the Lord will sustain us. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 30 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, key workers
and their families. No time Is without its grace. Christs
death and rising is a grace that should shape every day of a Christians
life and above all in these days. In this time of trial we are called
to seize the grace of showing ourselves, by the power of the Spirit
of Christ, to be, like Christ, filled with faith in Gods care
for us. Please be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A
message from Father Duncan on Sunday 29 March 2020
Dear Parishioners
Today, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, key workers
and their families. This Is the Lent God our Father wants us to have.
God in Christ is the Lord of history. He's in charge. His providential
plan for our salvation and happiness cannot be defeated. If he has
permitted us to have to be for a while without our public celebration
of the Holy Eucharist and our usual Lenten devotions, his Spirit offers
us other means to prepare ourselves for Holy Week and Easter. Please
be assured of my daily prayers for you and your family.
A message from Father Duncan on Saturday 28
March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on Our Lady's Day, l celebrate Holy Mass privately for the
Parish, Gerry Swan as a month's mind and David Russell's special
intention. 'I have a dogmatic certainty - God is in every person's
life. God is in everyone's life. Even if the life of a person has
been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything
else, God is in this person's life. You can, you must try to seek
God in every human life. Although the life of a person is a land
full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good
seed can grow. You have to trust God. Pope
Francis
A
message from Father Duncan on Friday 27 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish Brian Meechan
and Lettie Anderson who both died recently. The saints throughout
the ages have witnessed to the value of spiritual Communion. In
a vision, Our Lord explained it to Saint Catherine of Siena by showing
her two chalices - 'one made of gold, the other of silver' she wrote.
'He told her that her sacramental Communions were preserved in the
gold chalice and that her spiritual communions were in the silver
chalice.' Saint Teresa of Jesus wrote 'When you do not receive Communion
and you do not attend Mass, you can make a Spiritual Communion,
which is a most beneficial practice. By it, the love of God will
be greatly impressed on you.' Many of the saints practiced this
throughout the day such as Padre Pio, who encouraged everyone to
do so frequently for a closer union with God. In Seven Secrets of
the Eucharist, author Vinny Flynn explained 'If you practice the
holy exercise of Spiritual Communion several times each day, within
a month you will see your heart completely changed.' He also related
that 'Saint Francis de Sales resolved to make a Spiritual Communion
at least every fifteen minutes so that he could link all the events
of the day to his reception of the Eucharist at Mass.'
A
message from Father Duncan on Thursday 26 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish and the Ketchen
family on an anniversary. It is only during the Mass at the consecration
that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Thus, cancelling Masses is monumental. As explained in the Catechism
of the Catholic Church, the Eucharist is 'the source and summit
of the Christian life. The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical
ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist
and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained
the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our
Pasch' (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324). Through this sacrament,
'we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body
and Blood to form a single body' (Catechism of the Catholic Church
1331). The Church encourages frequent, even daily, Holy Communion,
but because we cannot go to Mass in or out of this season of the
coronavirus, we can still unite ourselves to the Eucharist through
making a Spiritual Communion. By making an Act of Spiritual Communion,
we express our faith in Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist
and ask him to unite himself with us. Here is the Act of Spiritual
Communion written by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori - My Jesus, I believe
that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above
all things and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot
at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually
into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there and unite
myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you.
Amen.
A
message from Father Duncan on Wednesday 25 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, on the Solemnity of The Annunciation of Our Lord, I celebrate
Holy Mass privately for the Parish, Andrew McCance and Betty Toner
who died recently. 'During this Lent, especially, let us all take
the opportunity to deepen our relationship with God. As your bishops
and with our priests and deacons, we assure you of our continuing
commitment to your spiritual, pastoral and sacramental needs. We
want to maintain and foster the life of faith in every way we can,
while also being informed by the advice and guidance of Government
and health professionals. Over the centuries, the Church has often
been a source of comfort in times of trial and transformed sadness
and fear into peace and joy. We want the same to happen now.' Pastoral
Letter of the Scottish Bishops, 18 March 2020
A
message from Father Duncan on Tuesday 24 March 2020
Dear
Parishioners
Today, I celebrate Holy Mass privately for the Parish, Isabella
Connor for her anniversary and Annmarie Dickie who died recently.
'In this time of trial, we, the Bishops of Scotland, wish to send
you a word of reassurance and encouragement. We are all facing much
uncertainty, anxiety and an unpredictable future. This situation
touches on every aspect of our lives, individually and collectively.
Sacred Scripture calls us repeatedly not to fear and to look to
the help that comes to us from above. We are called to support one
another in every way we can, especially those who are most vulnerable,
through age or underlying conditions. Even in the midst of any necessary
distancing we must stand by each other. We ask you to pray for the
sick, those caring for them, for those in positions of responsibility
with difficult decisions to make, indeed for our whole country and
the entire human family. Most of all, we are being asked to put
our trust in the living God who has created everything to be and
to flourish and whose providence guides the course of world events.
We put our trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead,
and the true physician of our souls and bodies.' Pastoral
Letter of the Scottish Bishops, 18 March 2020
A
message from Father Duncan on Monday 23 March 2020