You must book Mass through the Mass Booking System; if you have not booked you will not be allowed in the church.
Safety
Will the church be clean?
There is a cleaning regime in place.
Will I have to wear a mask?
Yes – everyone over the age of 5 years is required to wear a face covering in the Church.
How will social distancing be achieved?
The church will be marked out so that seating will be at 2 meters.
Will there be hand sanitisation available?
There will be hand sanitisation at exits and entrances and you will be expected to use that on arrival and departure.
Do we enter by any door?
No, – for private prayer entry will be by the side door at the front, car park side and exit will be by the side door front, church hall side.
Seating
Can I sit anywhere in the Church?
No. The stewards will show you to an allocated seat to ensure social distancing
We are a family of 4 – can we sit together?
Yes – the stewards will ensure you sit together and that anyone not in your household will be seated 2 meters away
Funerals
My neighbour has passed away – can I attend the funeral?
Scottish Government Regulations (2020) state that only 20 mourners can attend. The mourners should include the deceased’s family and close relatives. If there are no family or relatives then close friends can attend. The Undertaker will provide a list of names and only these people will be admitted.
Will there be music and singing?
There can be music and a cantor but there will be no communal singing.
Let us pray for the holy people of God:- That the Church may be open at all times to the transforming light of the Christ’s gospel.
For world leaders :- That they may care for their people in these days with true wisdom and integrity.
For all who are sick, especially those suffering from Covid 19.
For all those who care for the sick at home and in hospital.
For all fathers and those who have shown us a father’s love:- That God will grant them good health, guide them in being good examples, and help them to be a source of encouragements to their children.
For scientists and researchers:- That their work may bear fruit and bring true healing remedies to people throughout the world.
For those who have been injured by gossip:- that their reputations may be restored and their spirits healed.
For all who have died, especially David Coles and Bill Hannah, for the month’s mind of Mark Dolan and for the anniversary of Damian Jacko:- That they may all come to the fullness of life and joy in the kingdom of God.
“Every hair on your head has been counted”. But, I wonder, do you know what the overall number might be? In terms of providing fairly close to useless information, the average number of hairs on the average human head is evidently about 100,000. Some of us, it is fair to say, have a fair bit less than the 100,000. However, you can always console yourself if you recognise that the rest of the human body has around 4.9 million hairs, so it is not all about your head!
In these days of closed hairdressers and barbers, the worry is maybe not so much what number of hairs we have on our head, but what length our hair is or what colour is it showing.
Anyway, Jesus uses this image of the hairs on our head being counted in order to deliver a vitally important and profound truth. He uses this image to describe the infinite love of God for each one of us.
Sometimes we can carry the image of a God who is of such greatness and power that he only really concerns himself with the big picture, with the global situation. A God who therefore cannot really spend time considering countless, inconsequential individuals such as myself. Jesus words give the lie to this way of thinking. Once you begin to consider what it really means for God to be infinite, it tells of a God who, precisely through his infinite nature is able to care for, love and guide everyone, individually and without exception. God’s greatness and God’s care of each of us go together in perfect and total harmony. God is infinite and therefore has an infinite level of time and space for each person on this earth.
God is so great that He scoops the oceans in the palm of His hand, and yet He is so close to us that He can number each hair on our head. Even the falling of a little sparrow will never escape His attention. Jesus encourages us that if our Father is intimately involved in the falling of one sparrow, how much more is He involved in our everyday lives!
So we are invited to be able to recognise more deeply the God who constantly wants to come into our lives.
Could this be something that we can reflect upon in these days? How often recently have we heard that people are discovering more and more what is truly important, what really matters, what truly gives us life?
People are finding that their inner selves are being revealed in ways that are not always forthcoming. They are finding themselves being able to decipher the truly important from the unimportant, being able to distinguish the things that matter from those that are ultimately irrelevant. Often that is taking us into the realm of relationships and to the preciousness of family life.
Look again at today’s gospel. It contains a mantra like phrase that repeats itself not only here but in so many instances throughout the gospel – “Do Not Be Afraid. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; do not be afraid because you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows –
In front of this truth of the care and love of God for each individual, we surely must reflect on the way in which we position ourselves to be able to receive the love of God. Do we believe that we are created to be a dwelling place for God and his love? Do we welcome then the daily invitation to allow the way of God to overtake me and to bring us more and more to life in him?
Hopefully we do and that we recognise in faith that there must be the constant activity of preparing in my life the way of God. If that is so, it flows from that truth that the greatest value in our lives is simply to continually receive the love of God, To believe that God in His infinite care for us asks us to open our lives to his grace and his gifts. Alongside this channel of receiving, there must also be the possibility of our giving – of giving what we have received, of channelling to others what is given freely to us. This process must be constant, fundamental to who we are and vital in relation to who we are to become.
Everyone about to start this role should view the online safeguarding training session which will be provided on the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Service website. Those who cannot access the training should email SCSS to request a paper copy. For further information on Safeguarding please visit Safeguarding section of our parish website .
For deeper communion with Christ: that, as we long to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we may take on the mind and heart of Christ and continue the mission of Jesus
For Christian unity: that Christ’s Body and Blood given for us may heal all the divisions within the Christian community and bind us together into one body in love and service
For all who hunger spiritually: that through the manna of God’s Word, they may be nourished and find the way to live in peace and wholeness of life
For all who have experienced violence: that God will protect them from further harm, right the injustices that have occurred, and give them hope
For all who have experienced violence: that God will protect them from further harm, right the injustices that have occurred, and give them hope
For all who are ill and those care for them, especially Bridget Sharkey: that God will send healing to the sick, strength and wisdom to those who care for them and inspiration to those researching treatments and vaccines
For all who have died, praying especially for William Hannah, Archie McGregor, Helen Orr and Neil Grant for the months mind of Michael McCreadie and for the anniversaries of Helen Kelly and Joe Kearney:- That they may come to share in the joy of the heavenly banquet.
In the course of Jesus’ preaching and in his teaching, there are so many aspects of living and loving and forgiving and praying that he brings before his followers. If you want to be my disciple, then these must be among the hallmarks of your life
You must by people of love and mercy; you must understand what forgiveness means for you; you must do all you can to try to ensure that your life is free of prejudice and intolerance and bigotry. You must be generous to those who need your help; you must have a special consideration for the poor.
We could very easily continue this list of prescriptions, these demands of Christian living.
The global response of Christians in relation to these commands, down through the years and the centuries, has all too often been lacking. Sometimes this is displayed in a way of life that so easily exempts itself from really trying, or worse still, by placing a false façade on an inner life that ends up avoiding the challenge and call of the gospel in a serious way.
It is surely good, then, in spite of individual and communitarian weaknesses, to at least be able to recognise that the Church has remained faithful continually to the Lord’s invitation and command:- Do this in memory of me.
We have a constant pattern of two thousand of the coming together of the Body of Christ to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist. That pattern of life and worship is deserving of our reflection and our thanksgiving. We don’t do it perfectly and never will; the weakness and sinfulness of the human aspect of the Body of Christ still clings to us even in offering this most Holy mystery. However, it is still one of the most precious achievements of the life of the Church to continually celebrate Eucharist and to receive this vital nourishment for the Body of Christ every time we do so.
The truth of the above we can readily and happily acknowledge. However, since this is so, it surely means that our present inability to gather physically together over these last thirteen weeks affects us so deeply. The Sunday assembly is something which is so deeply embedded in the spiritual psyche of the Body of Christ; something vital to the very existence of the Church.
Therefore it means that we can come to a greater and deeper appreciation of the Eucharist even as we miss it and are unable to give our “Amen” to the body and blood of Christ.
It would seem that we may be coming close to the reopening of our Churches and eventually to the possibility of celebrating Sunday Mass together. However, in the immediate time ahead, this experience we know will be very different. The limit of our gathering will mean that every Mass will, of necessity, have a lot less people present. The liturgy itself will be reduced both in terms of prayer and scripture. Even our singing will disappear, albeit temporarily. Ironically, at the same time, of course, we will require an active involvement and support by many volunteers so that we can safely begin to gather together for the Eucharist The longing that things could be as they were before has begun to give way to yet another of our current expressions “the new normal”. We may not actually care for the concrete specific differences which will make for this new normal, but they will give us hope that we can continue to move to the ritual pattern of worship which was ours immediately prior to this time of emergency and pandemic.
“Do this in memory of me”. The Church has responded to those words in all times and situations. They have been heard by a Church in time of persecution; they have been fulfilled by the Church in situations of war and conflict. They are being heard today in the Church in another crisis time and they will be lived by the Body of Christ, nourished by and faithful to Her Lord until the end of time.
For the Church: that the unconditional love of the Trinity may strengthen and inspire each of us, deepen our love for one another, and help us to witness God’s love and mercy to others
For our parish communities: that the life-giving love of the Trinity may flow through us so that we may be untiring in supporting the lonely, consoling the grieving, encouraging the struggling, and forgiving those who have injured us
For the grace of discernment: that we may recognize more clearly our true goals in life and follow Jesus on the path to everlasting life
For all who have experienced violence: that God will heal their suffering, ease the pain of their memories, and give eternal peace those who have died
For all who are ill, particularly those with Covid-19: that God will free the world from the virus, heal those who are afflicted, and protect others from the disease.
For a new experience of grace and mercy in our lives: that God’s love will free us from our past failures, give us courage to make amends, and help us renew and rebuild our significant relationships
For all who have died: – we remember especially Kathleen Ring and all our loved one:- That they may come to share in the eternal glory of heaven.
For a new Pentecost: that God will pour out the Spirit in a new and abundant way to renew humanity and all of creation
For a Spirit of unity: that God will destroy all the divisions that separate the human family and restore our ability to work together against disease, famine, and injustice
For a Spirit of love: that we may fulfil Christ’s command to love one another by placing our time, energy, and gifts at the service of others and helping them to carry their daily burdens
For a Spirit of truth: that we may open our minds and hearts to all the ways that truth is manifest particularly in the scriptures, tradition, the wisdom of those who have gone before us, and in the humanities and the sciences
For a Spirit of hope: that all who are overwhelmed by life may find new reasons to live this day and be gifted with a vision of all that could be tomorrow
For the Spirit of healing: that God will touch all who are ill, particularly those with Covid-19, strengthen their minds, bodies, and spirits, and restore them to wholeness
For all who have died: we remember especially Jim Magee and Margaret Martin who have died recently
And for Rev Jim Byers, Elizabeth Kean and James and Betty McAlpine whose anniversaries are at this time:-
Pandemic, Test and Trace, Furloughing, Social Distancing, Lockdown, R-numbers, Modelling, Covid 19,
We quickly develop new patterns of vocabulary and expressions to cover new situations and crises. The coronavirus pandemic is certainly no exception to this rule. Lots of the above words and phrases would simply not be grasped or understood if we had heard them just a few months ago. One of the words which is very much to the fore in these days is “lockdown”. It’s easy enough to comprehend its meaning but maybe a lot more difficult to deal with personally, both in its imposition and in carefully and gradually emerging from that situation.
For us, though, the word “lockdown” can surely also be used in relation to where the first Christian communities found themselves following the death of Jesus,. They indeed had locked down together in their fear of the consequences of being discovered. They initially lacked the necessary courage and power of witness to transmit the message of new life which the Spirit of God brings.
The feast of Pentecost binds together for us Easter Day and Pentecost Day, initially through the locked doors and the closing in of the disciples. It goes from that lockdown situation to bring before us such a profound change in all of those disciples. They are made able, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, to communicate with people from “every nation under heaven”. The combining of these events shows us that it is from the whole of the Easter mystery that the Church is called into life, vitality and mission.
The language, of course, which they were called to master is the language of the Spirit. And to be fluent in that tongue is to submit your life to the way of the Spirit. This, surely is what those first disciples were able to do so that their message was able to triumph.
What they brought to the world through their deepest and innermost communication was the truth that “Jesus is Lord”, the Lord of their lives. Jesus is Lord was ultimately what their lives proclaimed. It was the sign that they had opened their lives to the power of the resurrection.
In life, we may do a lot of talking. However, we also communicate constantly at a level which is much deeper than words. It is at this level where the truth or otherwise of our spoken words come through. While we listen to what people say to us, we know that there is more than just the verbal aspect. There is the language of the heart. The heart reads the heart and the spirit recognizes itself wherever it sees itself as manifest. In our relationship to God, this level should be reflective of our lives being under the influence of the Holy Spirit, as Paul puts it in our second reading. That language of the Spirit has to take full hold of our way of living, Thus charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, longsuffering, fidelity, gentleness, and chastity will be the true hallmarks of our lives.
Today is the feast of the sending of the Holy Spirit. It represents then much more than some sort of static remembrance of the third person of the Holy Trinity. It is dynamic and active. It is continuing today in the Church. It is to be lived by the Church, the Body of Christ in every time and situation. It is to be proclaimed by us even in this time of pandemic and pain.
The Spirit can never be locked down and we are never in lockdown in relation to the gifts of the Spirit given to us. They are to be seen in us, lived by us, in these days too. Let us implore our God to help us to treasure the precious gifts he has given to his children. Let us ask him to bring us to say “Jesus is Lord” in every aspect of our lives and through every situation we have to face.
