6th Sunday of Easter (A): April 26th/27th
2008
The Spirit Of Truth. We celebrate the
coming of Christ’s Spirit of truth on the Church, the source of the Church’s
proclamation of the Christian message to the world.
This is a Fairtrade
Parish
Thanks for
last week’s collection which totalled £1028.07. There will be a second
collection next weekend for Diocesan Communications. Yellow Gift Aid envelopes
welcome.
The Congregation will lead the singing at the 10.45 am Mass
today. All are welcome to refreshments in the Hall after this Mass.
Volunteers! We are still looking for a small number of people who would
be willing to help keep the Hall and Kitchen clean and tidy. Please contact Fr.
Walker or the Office if you can help.
Lauriston Forthcoming Events
WEEKDAYS
Mon 28 Feria St. Peter Chanel, PM. St.
Louis
Marie de Montfort,
P. John 15:26-16:4
Tue 29 Mem St. Catherine of Siena,
VD John 16: 5-11
Wed 30 Feria St. Pius V,
Pope John
16:12-15
Thu 01
Solemnity The Ascension of the Lord Matt 28:16-20
Fri 02 Mem St.
Athanasius, BD John 16:20-23
Sat 03 Feast Ss. Philip & James,
Apostles John 14: 6-14
Diary Dates: April 28th-May 2nd 2008
Mon Friendship Group 1.30 pm. Please meet
at Fire Station on Lady Lawson Street at 1.30 pm for a
visit to the museum. Rosary for
the Unborn after the 5.45 pm Mass.
Tue 1.00 pm Over 60s Lunch Club. AA
Group at 7.30 pm in parlour 2.
Wed Legion of Mary 7.00 pm in St.
Catharine’s Convent. Alanon meet at 7.30 pm in the Ogilvie
Room.
Thu
Fri Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3.00
pm.
Thursday of this week is the feast of The Ascension of the Lord and a
Holy Day of Obligation. Masses: Vigil Wednesday 5.45 pm. Thursday 7.45 am,
12.30 and 5.45 pm.
Please Note that
if you have internet access, you can find the Archdiocesan Newsletter and much
other information at:
www.archdiocese-edinburgh.org.uk
The next meeting of the Liturgy
Committee will take place on Wednesday April 30th at 7.30 pm in St.
Catharine’s Convent.
Readers’ Meetings. The meetings for readers, postponed from before Easter, will now
take place on Tuesdays May 13th and 20th at 7.30 pm in the Ogilvie Room. Would
all readers please try to attend one of these evenings; if that proves
impossible, please see Fr. Walker.
Today, Sunday April 27th is our fundraising event for St. Ignatius College, Zimbabwe,
and it is a Bottle Stall/Tombola held in the Hall after the 10.45 am Mass. Please
join us to raise money for this Jesuit school who are in great need of our
financial help.
The next meeting of the SAFE Committee takes
place on Wednesday June 25th at 7.30 pm in the Presbytery.
Elections for the Parish Pastoral
Council. Voting will take place over the next three
weekends. Voting forms and Ballot Box will be available after every Mass.
Elections are required only for the representatives for Administration
and Finance and Social Life. Candidates for the first are
Pat Cavanagh and Tim Myles; for the second, Anna Maria Ambrecht and Pat Walsh.
Great Edinburgh Run. This run will take place on Sunday May 4th, and once again will pass
the Sacred Heart Church at the beginning of the 10.45 am Mass. There will, as
usual, be road closures and restrictions, but we have been promised that there
will be a coned-off access lane for vehicles to bring those who need transport
to the door. Access will be from Lauriston Place, and vehicles will have to leave
by the same route. Please do not attempt to park in the Church forecourt, or
in the access lane.
Christian Aid Week – All the Tollcross churches are asked to help with the annual
street collection for Christian Aid Week, from May 11th to 17th,
and Sacred Heart have been asked to collect in five local streets. If you can
help with this important collection please contact Fr Boles (229 9104) or Jean
Lugton (667 1189). Many hands make light work!
Oberammergau 2010. 42 people have shown interest in a one week holiday which includes
seeing the Passion Play. Only 6 places left. There will be a meeting on April
14th at 7.30 pm in the Small Hall for those who have expressed interest and for
anyone else who would like to know more about this trip.
Sick List. To
put a name on the sick list, please contact the Parish Office. You must be sure
that the sick person agrees or would agree to this. The list is for
parishioners or their close relatives. Please let us know promptly (by
contacting the office again) when the person can be taken off the list.
We pray for the sick and those who care for
them: Joe McCafferty, Bridget Gordon, Catherine Wilson, Maga Maczek, Nilda
D’Agostino, John Donoghue, Margaret Donoghue, Cristovam Graciano Rebello, Rita
Jones, John McPartlin, Jane McPartlin Samantha Carey, Jude Payne, Fiona Giles,
Mary Smart, Eleanor Docherty, Bill Hawkins, Elizabeth Wales, Jim Stanton, Mary
McMillan and Mrs. Farquharson.
Reflection: “I will not leave your orphans; I will come back to
you”. John 14:18
Feasts of the
week:
Monday, April 28th. St. Peter Chanel. In St. Peter Chanel,
Priest and Martyr (Feast day - April 28) The protomartyr of the South Seas, St. Peter Chanel was
born in 1803 at Clet in the diocese of Belley, France. His intelligence and
simple piety brought him to the attention of the local priest, Father Trompier,
who saw to his elementary education. Entering the diocesan Seminary, Peter won
the affection and the esteem of both students and professors. After his
ordination he found himself in a rundown country parish and completely
revitalized it in the three year span that he remained there. However, his mind
was set on missionary work; so, in 1831, he joined the newly formed Society of
Mary (Marists) which concentrated on missionary work at home and abroad. To his
dismay, he was appointed to teach at the seminary at Belley and remained there
for the next five years, diligently performing his duties.
In 1836, the Society was given the New Hebrides in the
Pacific as a field for evangelization, and the jubilant St. Peter was appointed
Superior of a little band of missionaries sent to proclaim the Faith to its
inhabitants. On reaching their destination after an arduous ten month journey,
the band split up and St. Peter went to the
Island of Futuna accompanied by a laybrother and an English layman, Thomas
Boog. They were at first well received by the pagans and their king Niuliki who
had only recently forbidden canabalism. However, the kings jealousy and fear
were aroused when the missionaries learned the language and gained the people's
confidence; he realized the adoption of the Christian Faith would
lead to the abolition of some of the prerogatives he enjoyed as both highpriest
and sovereign.
Finally, when his own son expressed a desire to be baptized,
the king's hatred erupted and he dispatched a group of his warriors to set upon
the saintly head of the missionaries. Thus, on April 28, 1841, three years
after his arrival, St. Peter was seized
and clubbed to death by those he had come to save. And his death brought his
work to completion - within five months the entire island was converted to
Christianity. Catholic on Line
St. Louis Marie de Montfort. Louis's life is inseparable from his efforts to promote genuine
devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus and mother of the Church.Totus tuus (completely
yours) was Louis's personal motto; Karol Wojtyla chose it as his episcopal
motto.
Born in the Breton village of
Montfort, close to Rennes (France), as an adult Louis identified himself by the
place of his Baptism instead of his family name, Grignion. After being educated
by the Jesuits and the Sulpicians, he was ordained as a diocesan priest in
1700.
Soon he began preaching parish
missions throughout western France. His years of ministering to the poor
prompted him to travel and live very simply, sometimes getting him into trouble
with Church authorities. In his preaching, which attracted thousands of people
back to the faith, Father Louis recommended frequent, even daily, Holy
Communion (not the custom then!) and imitation of the Virgin Mary's ongoing
acceptance of God's will for her life.
Louis founded the Missionaries of
the Company of Mary (for priests and brothers) and the Daughters of Wisdom, who
cared especially for the sick. His book, True Devotion to the Blessed
Virgin, has become a classic explanation of Marian devotion.
Louis died in
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, where a basilica has been erected in his honor. He was
canonized in 1947. American Catholic. org. Tuesday,
April 29th. St. Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine
of Siena, Doctor of the Church
The 25th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy, St.
Catherine started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing
guardian angels as clearly as
the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and
continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. St. Catherine was
one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had
any formal education. She persuaded the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon,
in 1377, and when she died she was endeavoring to heal the Great Western
Schism. In 1375 Our Lord give her the Stigmata, which was visible only after
her death. Her spiritual director was Blessed Raymond of Capua. St, Catherine's
letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the
most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died when
she was only 33, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430. Catholic on
Line.
Wednesday, April 30th. St. Pius V. Pope
from 1566-1572 and one of the foremost leaders of the Catholic Reformation.
Born Antonio Ghislieri in Bosco, Italy, to a poor family, he labored as a
shepherd until the age of fourteen and then joined the Dominicans, being
ordained in 1528. Called Brother Michele, he studied at Bologna and Genoa, and
then taught theology and philosophy for sixteen years before holding the posts
of master of novices and prior for several Dominican houses. Named inquisitor
for Como and Bergamo, he was so capable in the fulfillment of his office that
by 1551, and at the urging of the powerful Cardinal Carafa, he was named by
Pope Julius III commissary general of the Inquisition. In 1555, Carafa was
elected Pope Paul IV and was responsible for Ghislieri’s swift rise as a bishop of Nepi and
Sutri in 1556, cardinal in 1557, and grand inquisitor in 1558. While out of
favor for a time under Pope Pius IV who disliked his reputation for excessive
zeal, Ghislieri was unanimously elected a pope in succession to Pius on January
7, 1566. As pope, Pius saw his main objective as the continuation of the
massive program of reform for the Church, in particular the full implementation
of the decrees of the Council of Trent. He published the Roman Catechism, the
revised Roman Breviary, and the Roman Missal; he also declared Thomas Aquinas a
Doctor of the Church, commanded a new edition of the works of Thomas Aquinas,
and created a commission to revise the Vulgate. The decrees of Trent were
published throughout all Catholic lands, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and
the New World, and the pontiff insisted on their strict adherence. In 1571,
Pius created the Congregation of the Index to give strength to the Church’s
resistance to Protestant and heretical writings, and he used the Inquisition to
prevent any Protestant ideas from gaining a foot hold in Italy. In dealing with
the threat of the Ottoman Turks who were advancing steadily across the
Mediterranean, Pius organized a formidable alliance between Venice and Spain,
culminating in the Battle of Lepanto, which was a complete and shattering
triumph over the Turks. The day of the victory was declared the Feast Day of
Our Lady of Victory in recognition of Our Lady’s intercession in answer to the
saying of the Rosary all over
Catholic Europe. Pius also spurred the reforms of the Church by example. He
insisted upon wearing his coarse Dominican robes, even beneath the magnificent
vestments worn by the popes, and was wholeheartedly devoted to the religious
life. His reign was blemished only by the continuing oppression of the Inquisition;
the often brutal treatment of the Jews of Rome; and the
ill advised decision to excommunicate Queen Elizabeth I of England in
February 1570, an act which also declared her deposed and which only worsened
the plight of English Catholics. These were overshadowed in the view of later
generations by his contributions to the Catholic Reformation. Pope Clement
beatified him on May 1, 1672, and Pope Clement XI canonized him on May 22,
1712. Catholic on Line
Thursday, May 1st St. Joseph
the Worker. Apparently in response to the “May Day”
celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pius XII instituted the feast
of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. But the relationship between Joseph and the
cause of workers has a longer history.
In a constantly necessary effort to
keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary human life, the Church has from the
beginning proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by
Joseph in both the satisfactions and the drudgery of that vocation. Humanity is
like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make
a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind,
ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ. American Catholic.org
Friday, May 2nd. St. Athanasius. St.
Athanasius, the great champion of the Faith was born at Alexandria, about the
year 296, of Christian parents.
Educated under the eye of Alexander, later Bishop of his native
city, he made great progress in learning and virtue. In 313, Alexander
succeeded Achillas in the Patriarchal See, and two years later St. Athanasius
went to the desert to spend some time in retreat with St. Anthony.
In 319, he became a deacon, and even in this capacity he was
called upon to take an active part against the rising heresy of Arius, an
ambitious priest of the Alexandrian Church who denied the Divinity of Christ.
This was to be the life struggle of St. Athanasius.
In 325, he assisted his Bishop at the Council
of Nicaea, where his influence began to be felt. Five months later Alexander
died. On his death bed he recommended St. Athanasius as his successor. In
consequence of this, Athanasius was unanimously elected Patriarch in 326.
His refusal to tolerate the Arian heresy was the cause
of many trials and persecutions for St. Athanasius. He spent seventeen of the
forty-six years of his episcopate in exile. After a life of virtue and
suffering, this intrepid champion of the Catholic Faith, the greatest man of
his time, died in peace on May 2, 373. St. Athanasius was a Bishop and Doctor of
the Church. Catholic on Line
Saturday, May 3rd. St. Philip
& St. James. James, Son of Alphaeus: We know
nothing of this man but his name, and of course the fact that Jesus chose him
to be one of the 12 pillars of the New Israel, his Church. He is not the James
of Acts, son of Clopas, “brother” of Jesus and later bishop of Jerusalem and
the traditional author of the Letter of James. James, son of Alphaeus, is also
known as James the Lesser to avoid confusing him with James the son of Zebedee,
also an apostle and known as James the Greater.
Philip: Philip came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida
in Galilee. Jesus called him directly, whereupon he sought out Nathanael and
told him of the “one about whom Moses wrote” (John 1:45).
Like the other apostles, Philip took
a long time coming to realize who Jesus was. On one occasion, when Jesus saw
the great multitude following him and wanted to give them food, he asked Philip
where they should buy bread for the people to eat. St. John comments, “[Jesus]
said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do” (John
6:6). Philip answered, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be
enough for each of them to have a little [bit]” (John 6:7).
John’s story is not a put-down of
Philip. It was simply necessary for these men who were to be the foundation
stones of the Church to see the clear distinction between humanity’s total
helplessness apart from God and the human ability to be a bearer of divine
power by God’s gift.
On another occasion, we can almost
hear the exasperation in Jesus’ voice. After Thomas had complained that they
did not know where Jesus was going, Jesus said, “I am the way...If you know me,
then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen
him” (John 14:6a, 7). Then Philip said, “Master, show us the Father, and that
will be enough for us” (John 14:8). Enough! Jesus answered, “Have I been with
you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen
me has seen the Father” (John 14:9a).
Possibly because Philip bore a Greek
name or because he was thought to be close to Jesus, some Gentile proselytes
came to him and asked him to introduce them to Jesus. Philip went to Andrew,
and Andrew went to Jesus. Jesus’ reply in John’s Gospel is indirect; Jesus says
that now his “hour” has come, that in a short time he will give his life for
Jew and Gentile alike. American Catholic.org