31st August, 2008
INVERKEITHING SUNDAY
MASSES: SATURDAY VIGIL: 6.00 p.m.
SUNDAY MORNING: 9.45 a.m.
ROSYTH ST. JOHN
AND ST. COLUMBA’S:
SUNDAY MORNING: 11.30 a.m.
INVERKEITHING WEEKDAY SERVICES:
MONDAY, TUESDAY & FRIDAY: 10.00 a.m. Mass.
THURSDAY evening: 7.00 p.m. Mass.
WEDNESDAY: 10.00 a.m. Communion Service.
DURING HOLY MASS today please pray for the SICK OF THE PARISH: Joe Murphy, Jim McCafferty, Margaret Carberry, Marie Anderson, Susan Casey, James Kelly, Patricia Kerr, Rose Murphy, Ella Hanretty, Dorothy Gaskin, Joe McBride, Theresa O’Donnell, Theresa Pilling, Chic Cunningham, Terry Myles, Betty Davidson, Denis Gillan and Peter Walker.
RELATIVES and FRIENDS of PARISHIONERS: Canon Philip Doherty, Canon Stephen Judge, Moya Dew, Mary Dowling, John Hainey, Lee Joel, Pat Simms, Francis Burke, Jennifer Gray, Daniel Smith, Debbie Gray, Tony Dolaghan, Jacqueline Parry, James Quigley, May Schofield, Chris Aldridge, Alistair and Jan MacNeill, Des Morrissey, Margaret Ann Caffrey, Lesley Ramsden, James Anderson, Beryl McNaughton, Betty Scott, Lee McLeod, Margaret Lee, Craig Pollock, Tom Petrie, Ina Lang, Paul Lafreniere, Catherine Crainie, Georgina Bruce, Alasdair Christie, Michael Cooke, Fabien Gaspero, Geraldine Wheeler, Patricia Dinnie, Joe Lamond, Angela McInnes, Elizabeth Muscat, Sister Margaret Connor, Diana Bacceler-Young, Lena Baxter, Catherine Watkins, Noreen Hunter, Catriona Lamont, Angela McGregor, Frank Vaughan, Paul Collins, Dan O’Connor, Charlie Pearson, Chic Cunningham, James Fleming, Brian Ward, Ruth Laing, Sarah Laing, Annabelle White, Andrew Hershaw, Sr. Agnes Bolan and Caroline Dewbury.
ANNIVERSARIES: Outbreak of World War II and a reminder to pray for all those who died as a result of the hostilities, James McBride, Margo Hodgson, Umberto Vernolini, Donald Steele, June Henderson, Margaret Grady, Noel Finn, Hugh O'Neill, Yvonne Moore, Hazel Fraser, Margaret Bald, William Hunter, Jim Marley, Marie Wells, Philomena Dick, Effie Preston, Maureen Collins and Mary Wells.
FIRST READING: Jeremiah 20/7-9: The prophet has to preach the Word of God to the people even although they will revile and insult him as a result.
SECOND READING: Romans 12/1-2: Paul urges his people not to live like those around him.
GOSPEL: Matthew 16/21-27: Jesus foretells His own suffering and death, and reminds His disciples that they too will have to suffer if they want to follow Him.
MONDAY: St. Giles.
WEDNESDAY: St. Gregory the Great.
THURSDAY: St. Cuthbert.
VOTIVE CANDLES: If you would like to have a candle burning for your intentions all day from morning to evening midweek, or during the weekend Masses, please give James £1 and he will light one for you.
HAVING A BABY? If you have recently had a baby, please let Father Mac know so that remote preparations can be made for the Baptism.
GETTING MARRIED? Remember that, if you wish to get married in the Catholic Church, you should give AT LEAST SIX MONTHS notice to your Parish Priest.
R.C.I.A. That’s the fancy name the Church gives to the process by which enquirers are introduced to the Catholic Faith. It stands for the RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS. Would you know anyone who would like to learn about what we believe? Or would you like to deepen your own knowledge of Catholic Teaching? If so, would you let me know as we plan to begin these sessions again in mid-September if anyone is interested.
WORD FOR TODAY: No matter how much money some people have, no matter how lucky they appear to be in other people’s eyes, their lives will always be like wandering in a dry desert until the moment they discover the Living Spring that is God. Those who have found this fountain never look back.
BETTER THAN LIFE ITSELF? PSALM 62, used in our liturgy today, is the prayer of someone who desperately longs to know God better and to feel God’s presence in his or her life. In fact, without being in close touch with God they feel like dry, weary, waterless soil in a desert. Although they can’t always feel God close to them they sit and gaze at the sanctuary to sense God’s strength and glory.
We have so many distractions in our lives, but the truth is that many of them are necessary. We have to work in order to be able to live; our lives with each other inevitably uncover problems and difficulties; and the danger is that we will end up missing the real point of why we’re here on earth.
But how much we are considered successful by others doesn’t really matter one wee bit. In our heart of hearts we know that we will always feel empty if we have not found a prominent place for God in our lives.
Jeremiah says as much in our first reading. God is so important to him that he
experiences a fire in his belly driving him on to tell people about God even
although it will certainly attract ridicule to himself. Jesus goes even further
in the Gospel today asking the rhetorical question, “What’s the point in
possessing even the whole world – money riches, status, power, if it means that
you will never be able to enjoy the true purpose in life, and He reminds us
that the only way to enjoy life to the full is to renounce self, to put aside
all selfish interest so that we are able to follow Him alone. If we allow
anything to come between us and God then we have effectively cut ourselves off
from the only Source from which we can have our needs satisfied. .
One of the lines of Psalm 62 is quite extraordinary. It states simply,
“Your love is better than life”. Better than life? The psalmist is saying that
if our life is not firmly centred on what is really important then it’s not
worth living. If and when we find God we will realise that our lives are very
short indeed, and the only thing that ultimately matters is that we possess God
for eternity.
The temptation is to live only half a life, to conform to what our world tries
to convince us is the meaning and purpose of life. Yet with all its
superficial glitter and gloss we know that this sort of shimmering existence
can never meet our real needs and aspirations. And those who have found God’s
love have no need of this tinsel. For, as the psalmist says, “Your love is
better than life.”
It makes you think, doesn’t it?
FAITH IN FOCUS: In last Sunday’s account of Peter’s wonderful Profession of Faith, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” what stands out is not so much JESUS and the mystery of who He is, as Peter, the DISCIPLE. Today’s incident confirms this impression. The contrast between Peter’s faith and his lack of faith is just as striking as on the occasion when he walked on the water.
Jesus has just been acknowledged by Peter as the Christ. But how did Peter understand the Christ? Almost certainly he sees Jesus in the glory of a triumphant Kingdom. Yet here is the Master revealing Himself as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, redeeming His people by His Passion and Death. Also of course, and above all by His RESURRECTION, but what He means by that none of them could know. Then Peter, impulsive as ever, carried away by a love which lacks understanding, rebels against the apparent cruelty of the divine plan. We see his position suddenly reversed. Jesus has just said to him after his Profession of Faith, ‘You are a happy man,” and now He rebukes him scathingly with the words, ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ He, who a while ago was called a Rock, solid enough for Jesus to build His Church on, is now treated as an obstacle, a stumbling-block in the path of the Messiah. Whereas before Jesus had said,” It is my Father who has revealed this to you,” He now states: “The way you think is not God’s way!”
‘Get behind me!’ Every Christian should understand this order addressed to Peter as: “Walk behind me; you are only a disciple and every disciple must follow his Master.” The Christian cannot eliminate the cross of salvation from his life, no more than Christ could. Truly the way God thinks is not the same as the way man thinks. “One must not save one’s life as one would save a treasure, but as one would lose a treasure, by spending it’ (Charles Peguy).
SOME THOUGHTS FOR TODAY: Not a soul pauses to think how well they may live, only how long. Yet a good life might be everybody’s whereas a long one can be nobody’s. (Seneca)
Life can be worth the energy it takes to live it, only if it is governed by something that is stronger than death. (J Neville Ward)
No conceivable life can be so interesting, so stimulating, as that which we live in Christ. (William Little)
200 CLUB: The two lucky £100 winners last week were Joe McBride (41) and May Ayres (3) You too could win £100 if you’ve paid up your subs. See Brian or Kate after Mass today.
NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE TO CARFIN
IN HONOUR OF ST. MARGARET
SUNDAY, 7th SEPTEMBER
at 3.00 p.m