PARISH BULLETIN St Kieran Catholic Church in Campbeltown and Islay 6 th January 2019 The Epiphany of the Lord Jesus Christ

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1 PARISH BULLETIN St Kieran Catholic Church in Campbeltown and Islay 6 th January 2019 The Epiphany of the Lord Jesus Christ St. Kieran s Monday-Wednesday Holy Mass am Friday Holy Mass 6.30 pm Saturday Vigil Mass 6.00 pm Sunday: Baptism of the Lord Holy Mass Sacrament of Reconciliation: Saturday pm Islay (St. Columba s, Bridgend): Sunday 20 th January 2019 Holy Mass, 4.00 pm am Psalm response All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord. Gospel acclamation Alleluia, alleluia! We saw his star as it rose and have come to do the Lord homage. Alleluia! Communion Antiphon We have seen his star in the East and have come with gifts to adore the Lord. A Parish of the R.C. Diocese of Argyll and the Isles; Charitable Trust, a registered Scottish Charity, SC Parish Priest: Fr. A. Wood, St. Kieran s, Campbeltown; Tel campbeltown@rcdai.org.uk

2 Invest just five minutes a day, and your faith will deepen and grow a day at a time. Monday, Jan 07, 2019 MEMORIAL OF SAINT RAYMOND OF PEÑAFORT, PRIEST And for your penance... What if you went to Confession and for your penance the priest assigned you a book to write? This actually happened to Raymond of Peñafort ( ), who felt that his life as a university teacher had been too soft and easy. When he asked his Dominican superiors to give him a harsh penance in retribution, they asked for a book to guide confessors. Later, in the creative confessions department, Raymond found himself the pope s own confessor. He assigned the pope the penance of swiftly hearing and expediting all petitions of the poor! Be creative in repenting, and be sure to do it whenever needed (more often than we like to admit). TODAY'S READINGS: 1 John 3:22 4:6; Matthew 4:12-17, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Tuesday, Jan 08, 2019 See God and love No one, scripture says, has seen God and lived. But of course scripture also tells of numerous encounters with God in which someone came away without being reduced to a pair of smoking sandals. Today it s not impossible to see God either: in other people, who are made in the image and likeness of God and carry God s spirit in them like a temple, to use Saint Paul s metaphor; in the sacraments, which make God present in a special way, especially in the Eucharist; in prayer, where we give expression to our relationship to God. Perhaps the most powerful way to pick up on the presence of God, though, is through love in particular the kind of self-giving love that God has for creation, that Jesus has for the world. Where there is that kind of love, there God is. TODAY'S READINGS: 1 John 4:7-10; Mark 6: Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Wednesday, Jan 09, 2019 Walk on The disciples were terrified at the sight of Jesus walking on water. Indeed, God s power as evidenced in Jesus miracles may seem terrifying, perhaps because the display of mastery over the forces of nature reminds us of our own limitations. None of us would last a minute trying to walk on water but is that because of our physical limitations or because of our faith limitations? In the gospel story, Peter actually does manage to take a few steps across the water toward Jesus, until he focuses on his own fears instead of Jesus invitation. Bad move for Peter and for us.

3 TODAY'S READINGS: 1 John 4:11-18; Mark 6: But immediately Jesus spoke to them, Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid. Thursday, Jan 10, 2019 Keep your Christmas present You remember Christmas May your days be merry and bright and all that? Often we think of getting through the holidays rather than savouring, like fine wine, the implications of God with us. What Christmas celebrates is nothing less than the most radical moment in human history: the leap from the divine to the human, piercing the veil, God taking root in skin and bone and changing our destiny forever. The lights may be packed away, the gifts exchanged, but that s the small stuff. How have I been changed by these days? TODAY'S READINGS: 1 John 4:19 5:4; Luke 4:14-22a. News of him spread throughout the whole region. Friday, Jan 11, 2019 Count on God s mercy Can any of us doubt that Jesus would choose the welfare of suffering people who come to him? Still, we often pray and live as if we doubt that God has our best intentions at heart. God s mercy is so clear and tangible, at the crèche and at the cross! If we ever find ourselves wondering if God really cares about the likes of us, we might bow and contemplate Jesus in the straw or nailed to wood. TODAY'S READINGS: 1 John 5:5-13; Luke 5: The leper bowed and begged Jesus, Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean. Saturday, Jan 12, 2019 Back to the future The month of January is named after Janus, the Roman god of portals and doorways, of endings and beginnings. He is traditionally pictured with two faces: one looking back to the past, the other forward to the future. Tomorrow we celebrate the Baptism of the Jesus, which marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of ordinary time. That means today is a good day to look back over the Christmas season now ending and ask ourselves: What were some of the highs and lows? What could I do differently next year? Then look forward into the future: What must I let go of to embrace more fully the present moment? How do I want to live? TODAY'S READINGS: 1 John 5:14-21; John 3: He must increase; I must decrease.

4 Readings for the Epiphany of the Lord Isaiah 60:1-6 Jerusalem will be a light to the nations by the glory of the Lord. Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, In the day of the anointed one, justice and peace will flower. Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 What is revealed to this generation has been a mystery until now. Matthew 2:1-12 The Magi bring gifts, while Herod harbours violence in his heart. Thoughts on the readings Isaiah 60: though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples. Above you the Lord now rises and above you his glory appears. The nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness. Many Christians do not see the light which they receive, do not know how to remain in it, and maybe even feel bad in it and prefer the night and darkness. Many behave like disoriented people in shock, not able to distinguish the light and brilliance among the hundreds of lights and glitter, the chaotic flashes on all sides. They don t go to the light, don t head towards the brilliant rising sun. Isaiah points out: Above you the Lord now rises. I have to go above myself not circling myself around the world and other people. You need to lift your sights a little higher, accustom the eyes to that special brilliance of God s glory, which despite everything shines out in each daily life. How can something be seen, if a person does not learn to come out above themselves and does not lift up their gaze in prayer? Psalm 72 In his days justice shall flourish and peace till the moon fails. He shall rule from sea to sea, from the Great River to earth s bounds. Great peace and justice are the fruit of God being revealed among us (epiphany), which we ourselves are not able to produce, bring about, share. For it to be brought forth, Homage and honour needs to be given to Him, offering ourselves to Him, desiring to serve. This attitude is shown to us by the three kings. Thanks to their attitude they became open to the direct intervention of God in their hearts, who directed their way.

5 Homage, self-offering, service give great peace in the heart, because everything else is suddenly expressed as relative. At that time we easily perceive the importance of justice, e.g. what is due to each person as a person. Ephesians 3:2-3,5-6 You have probably heard how I have been entrusted by God with the grace he meant for you, and that it was by a revelation that I was given the knowledge of the mystery. Every spiritual matter understood is a grace of God, that is something given freely, without any merit on the part of the receiver. It is a grace given not only for the person who receives it but for the community in which that person lives. Even if the truth understood in this way does not affect other people, the fact itself revealed is an important witness to the action of God and His care for every person who belongs to Him. This is why we are invited to share our experience of faith and understanding of God s mystery. In this way we can build a community having a truly spiritual dimension. Matthew 2:1-12 Where is the infant king of the Jews? they asked. We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage. When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. For sure we don t associate the birth of Jesus with being perturbed. The contemporary celebration has a sentimental character. Perhaps, in a certain way, it has been deprived of its dramatic dimension. In reality, the birth of God among people should shock, should make us dumbfounded, should perturb us, who so concentrate on ourselves so much, who place ourselves at the centre of things. If the God-King really was born as a human baby in Jesus, we have to tear away from ourselves and with all our energy and life concentrate on Jesus. The appearance of God on earth means the necessity of moving the centre of attention from ourselves to God, it necessitates the relativization of our position in the universe. Maybe this is why humanity has long tried in various ways to neutralise the event of God s birth in history. Bearing gifts Thank God for those three kings! (if there were only three?) For those of us who can t bear to see the holidays end and chronically have a hard time

6 taking down the Christmas tree each year, the Feast of the Epiphany supplies one more excuse to keep the holiday spirit going. Just as the pine needles and poinsettia leaves are dropping like flies, and about the time the last wrapped box has been passed over to the latearriving holiday visitor, the Magi arrive to save the day and keep the celebration alive. They are like the fashionably late folks who show up after the first guests have already left and the cheese balls are eaten down to the crumbs. As we know, the Magi famously bring gifts, and they also bring their homage. But perhaps the most important thing they bring, as far as our liturgical year is concerned, is one more reason to keep the party going. Epiphany and epiphanies It s no wonder that Epiphany feels like the last gasp of the Christmas holiday. Technically speaking, Epiphany used to be Christmas to half of the known Church, and the two celebrations share a common beginning. Historically, the Feast of the Epiphany is only belatedly about the arrival of the astrologers from the East with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The original celebration has its roots in the unreliable early calendars that differed from one end of the known world to the other. Today we presume uniformity in our secular and sacred calendars alike. But for the early church, that was not the case. Our current feast of Christmas, as we know, was celebrated as a Christian response to the pagan rituals of the winter solstice observed since the third century on December 25. As the empire worshipped the invincible sun god of winter s dying light, Christians adored the invincible Son of God who brings light to the people who walk in darkness. But that was true only according to the calendar of the West; in the East, the solstice was celebrated on January 6. And so two Christmases arose in the early church, lending us the 12 days of Christmas we know from the song. And what was commemorated on this Christian solstice, East and West, on either date? It varied from one community to another. Some honoured the

7 Incarnation of Jesus in the Nativity; others proclaimed the revelation of Jesus as God s son in his Baptism; still others celebrated the arrival of the Magi and their acknowledgment of Jesus as literally the King of Kings ; while some preferred to recall the miracle at Cana through which Jesus revealed the first sign of his divinity. It wasn t until the fourth century that December 25, regularized as the Feast of the Nativity in the West, was similarly adopted in the East. At that time, the East claimed January 6 as the Feast of the Epiphany, most frequently celebrating what we now call the Baptism of the Lord on that date. By the fifth century, the West claimed January 6 for Epiphany as well, preferring to honour the arrival of the Magi on that day. Yet Armenian rite churches today still celebrate Christ s Nativity on January 6. The scrambled roots of this feast are hardly untied. One seamless celebration But why should we untie them? Why not acknowledge what the early Church perceived: that all of these events speak of one and the same revelation? These four feasts Nativity, the coming of the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord (which we celebrate next Sunday), and the miracle at Cana (which we celebrate the week after that) are all Epiphanies; that is, they all manifest the eternal and ongoing presence of God in our midst. God chooses to be known to us as the Word-made-flesh of Jesus born in Bethlehem. The divine is revealed before the nations symbolically in the visitation of foreign wise men bearing gifts. A voice from heaven claims Jesus as the divine Son at his Baptism. And the power of heaven is manifested by Jesus in the water-madewine of his first miracle. All four events speak of the same extraordinary truth! Applying the word Other epiphanies close to home If we learn nothing else from the Church s early scramble to define one precise experience as epiphany, it s that there are lots to choose from. God is always lifting the veil between heaven and earth and affording us a lookand-see! The beauty of the natural world is an obvious and ongoing epiphany: When was the last time a night sky or a birdsong or a purple-mountainmajesty lifted your heart wordlessly? The encounter of love is another: Is there a face above all others that softens you the moment you catch sight of it from a distance? Or how about the experience of rescue, otherwise known as salvation: the second after a near-miss on the A83 or being dragged choking from the sea because you misread the strength of the waves does not that first minute of gratefulness for just being alive feel like a new lease on life?

8 We have the hour of sacrament; the rare but palpable experience of being met in our prayer; the very real miracles of healing and forgiveness and compassion; you can probably add more. The Wise Men brought three gifts, but Epiphany brings multitudes. God wants to be known to us. Look! Listen! Be amazed! And celebrate. Prayers Please pray for all those who are in need or have asked for our prayers: Willy Robertson, Russell Carroll, Ken McCoy, and Richard Fox. Please remember in your prayers George Williams(2013), Fr. John Bentley(2011), and all those whose anniversaries occur at his time. News and Events Sunday (Epiphany): there is a special collection for Justice and Peace. The Epiphany meal: all welcome to drinks and an audio-visual entertainment prior to the mealtime. Blessing of Chalk and Frankincense responses Our help is in the Name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit.