Good Shepherd Sunday: Day of prayer for vocations May 7 th Sacrament of Reconciliation: Saturday pm or on request.

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1 Catholic Church of St Kieran in Campbeltown and Islay PARISH BULLETIN Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain Good Shepherd Sunday: Day of prayer for vocations May 7 th th Sunday of Easter St. Kieran s Tuesday-Wednesday: Holy Mass am Saturday Vigil Mass and May Devotions 6.00 pm 4th Sunday of Easter May Devotions and Holy Mass am Sacrament of Reconciliation: Saturday pm or on request. Friday: Memorial of Saint Pancras, martyr Saturday: Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima Islay Sunday 21 May May Devotions and Holy Mass, 4pm Sunday 4 June Holy Mass and Sacrament of Confirmation, 3:45pm Psalm response The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want. Gospel acclamation Alleluia, alleluia! I an the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my sheep and my own know me. Alleluia! Communion Antiphon The Good Shepherd has risen, who laid down his life for his sheep, and willingly died for his flock, alleluia.

2 Invest just five minutes a day, and your faith will deepen and grow a day at a time. MONDAY, MAY 8 EASTER WEEKDAY Clean up your act The notion of what is clean and unclean is important in Judaism, especially among Orthodox Jews. Purification rituals are observed for a variety of occasions, and many of them require the ritual washing of the hands, or at times a full immersion. Some say that Baptism represents a form of ritual purification adapted from Judaism, and that even the dipping of fingertips in holy water upon entering church is part of that tradition. The apostle Peter, however, helped the early church develop a different definition of purity. Spend some time today reflecting on what helps you feel clean and pure spiritually, and then practice it. TODAY S READINGS: Acts 11:1-18; John 10: What God has made clean, you must not call profane. TUESDAY, MAY 9 EASTER WEEKDAY The good book is also a good read If you want to focus on what the church is really about, learning a little something about the first decades and centuries of the church can help, such as reading the Acts of Apostles, the book in scripture that tells the early church s story. Things like preaching and proclaiming the message of Jesus, believing and being faithful, teaching, and gathering together. It s doing things like these that make people Christians, then and now. TODAY S READINGS: Acts 11:19-26; John 10: It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. WEDNESDAY, MAY 10 EASTER WEEKDAY Lighten up Here s a practice you can incorporate into your daily prayer. At the end of your day, recall anything that happened during the day that still troubles you. Rather than carry over the residue of that worry into the next day, try this: Imagine Jesus standing in a beam of light. Now imagine placing your worries into that circle of light into His care. This is a way to practice trust and faith. Try this on a daily basis, and more of your life will be brought out of the darkness and into the light of Christ s love and care. TODAY S READINGS: Acts 12:24 13:5a; John 12: Everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness. THURSDAY, MAY 11 EASTER WEEKDAY Add a dash of forgiveness Home cooking is great, but sometimes we are hurt the worst by the people who share food at our table. Our spouses, our siblings, our children, and our

3 parents often betray the family trust and cause us pain that s hard to forgive. But just as Jesus forgave his closest disciples, those who betrayed him, denied him, and abandoned him in his hour of need, we have the power to forgive our family members for their offenses against us. Peace, like charity, begins at home. Every love, even (especially) if it causes pain, has meaning. TODAY S READINGS: Acts 13:13-25; John 13: The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. FRIDAY, MAY 12 MEMORIAL OF SAINT PANCRAS, MARTYR Listen up In the gospels Jesus words are often directed to a particular group of people to the Pharisees and scribes, the crowd, his disciples. Most of us regularly hear the Word of God in a large group, the liturgical assembly where, Vatican II reminds us, the presence of Christ is as real as the Eucharist. But faith can also be enlivened in other gatherings such as Bible study groups, small Christian communities, during Devotions, in the family. Paying attention to what Jesus says when we pray with an open Bible, or with a group of believers, can help to assure that we are becoming more transparent to the Christ within. TODAY S READINGS: Acts 13:13-25; John 13: Whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. SATURDAY, MAY 13 MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA Hang in there Persecution has been part of the life of Christians since the church began. Paul and the first disciples faced beatings, imprisonment, mockery, and derision. Yet something about their experience of God was so compelling that they couldn t help but preach and live the Good News. The early disciples persevered and, as scripture records, they were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Today we still face emotional and sometimes physical persecution from people who don t quite get the gospel, including those with high standing in our lives. Let us pray for the courage of our forefathers to resolutely live the gospel. TODAY S READINGS: Acts 13:44-52; John 14:7-14. [They]... stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region.

4 Readings for the 4 th Sunday of Easter Acts of the Apostles 2:14, The one whom the world sought to kill has been raised up by God s choice. Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11 (11a) The path of life is revealed, even passing through the netherworld. 1 Peter 1:17-21 The story of Jesus is as old as creation, as new as our present redemption. Luke 24:13-35 Discouraged disciples leave the community, only to encounter the Risen Lord on the road to Emmaus. The Sunday gospel in everyday English Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he s up to no good a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won t follow a stranger s voice but will scatter because they aren t used to the sound of it. Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So, he tried again. I ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of (from John 10). From A New Message 4 Next Week (actapublications.com) based on The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2013). There s a copy in the church porch to look at, and also it s available on Kindle too.

5 Questions Catholics ask What are visions? Saint Francis, Saint Julian of Norwich, Saint Dominic, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the children at Fatima, Saint Faustina, and many others have had visions of Jesus or Mary. But perhaps the best reply to this question would come from Doctors of the church Hildegard of Bingen and Catherine of Siena or John of Patmos, human author the Apocalypse. Visions are understood to be the product of God s self-communication. As Carmelite Father John Welch puts it, all of Christianity depends on divine revelation, so the jump to visions is not all that unusual for people of faith. Nonetheless they are an extraordinary event. Visions that include a tangible dimension are considered extremely rare. Mystics agree that visions that are intellectual or intuitive are less likely to be distorted by unreliable human senses. Mystics are also the first to say that visions are not the goal of the spiritual life the point being, for the saints and for the rest of us, that we shouldn t measure ourselves against these experiences or long for them. Church teaching does not make specific visions matters for doctrinal acceptance for believers. Most of us have, though, have inexplicable episodes when we perceive things we have no way of knowing and yet we do. If we pay attention, we might see more than we think. A tale: about a handful of rice Far away in India in a certain very small village there lived a beggar. He was a genuine beggar, he had no home, sleeping on the streets, had no family. He lived off what he could beg. Each day he managed to beg enough to get

6 one handful of rice. He could never bring himself to eat it straight away, but always kept it to eat the following day just in case eating it at about noon. Then, in the afternoon and evening, he begged to get enough for a handful of rice for the next day. One day he heard that through his small village the emperor himself would be passing. It cheered him up no end, because he thought that if could manage to meet the emperor, he would give him something more than a handful of rice. Maybe, he hoped, he would give him enough to keep him for a year whole year. This hope made him very cheery and he eagerly waited. When the day came, the beggar sat the side of the road, so as not to miss the emperor riding in his coach. How amazed he was when the coach stopped right by him, and the emperor got out and came up to him. And to his surprise he gave him nothing but asked if he could have a little rice. The beggar was outraged and taken aback. How can it be that the emperor who has everything, incredible riches, would ask him, a poor beggar, who has only one handful of rice for some rice. He didn't want to give him any, but in the end, since he was decent man, he went to his bowl of rice and took out five grains of rice and gave them to the emperor. The emperor thanked him, sat in his coach and rode away. The whole evening the beggar sat incredibly disappointed and very sad. The emperor instead of giving to him, had taken away from him a part of his small portion for tomorrow s meal. That evening he went to prepare the remaining rice for the next day. He was amazed, because he saw among the rice grains a grain of gold. It was large, much bigger than the rice grains. When he started to search through the bowl, he found five large grains of gold. The beggar looked into his bowl, looked into the distance and thought: why didn't I give him the whole bowl of my rice? This is probably the oldest principle to live by: the more you give, the more you, the less you keep for yourself, the more you receive, when you lose your life, you receive it. Is this your principle of life?

7 The Holy Father s prayer intention for May That Christians in Africa, in imitation of the Merciful Jesus, may give prophetic witness to reconciliation, justice, and peace. Prayers Please pray for all those who are in need or have asked for our prayers: James Hawkins (Stoke-on Trent), Canon Donald MacKay (Daliburgh), Shirley Finn, Mrs. Isa Durnan, Irene O Neil, Margaret Wilson. Please remember in your prayers all those, whose anniversaries occur at his time, Doreen Clark, Mary Meenan, News and Event Marian consecration: there are a few copies of 33 Days to Morning Glory, which may be borrowed. This book is designed to be a do-it-yourself guide to Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary (Marian consecration). Start soon and end (34 th day) on the Solemnity of Saint Columba (begin this Sunday) or at Corpus Christi (begin 16 th May). Film Night: This year is the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima. The first was on 13 th May, The two younger seers, Francisco and Jancita Marto, who died during the out-break of Spanish flu, will be canonised by Pope Francis during his pilgrimage to Fatima on 13 th May. Watch on EWTN see the schedule in the porch. The next film night will be the recent film (2009) The 13 th Day A Story of Hope. A dramatisation of the appearances of Our Lady based on the journal of Lúcia Santos, the eldest seer who died in Tuesday 23 rd May at 6.30pm. Advance notice: Fr Tony is not having a break after Easter, but will be taking a short trip in May. Monday 15 May 20 May. If there is a flight delay returning on Saturday 20 May, he may not make the Vigil Mass. So, these are the rearranged Vigil Masses for May.

8 Saturday 13 May, 6pm Saturday 20 May NO VIGIL MASS Saturday 27 May, 6pm. Also, Fr. Tony will be away in Edinburgh from Wednesday evening 10 May, returning Friday night 12 May. Website: please note that parish website is regularly updated with daily reflections and the daily readings as well as Mass times. The website has a face lift! Take a look at stkieransrc.org and suggest (or even better contribute) an entry. Prayer for vocations to the priesthood and religious life Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we pray for an increase of vocations to the Priesthood, the Diaconate and the Consecrated Life, that you may renew your Church in our land. We pray for the Community of the Scots College, for the Seminarians, Formation Staff, Administration and Personale and all who work in the seminary, that a community of goodness, love and zeal for your mission may be fostered. We pray for the benefactors of the college and for the souls of the faithful departed who belonged to this college. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place our trust in you. 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 , anthonywood5@icloud.com, website: stkieransrc.org