PARISH BULLETIN St Kieran’s, the in Campbeltown and Islay Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain 15th December 2019

Gaudete

St. Kieran’s Islay (St. Columba’s Church, Bridgend) Monday to Wednesday Holy 10.00 am Sunday 22nd December – Rorate Mass, blessing of Friday Holy Mass 6.00 pm the Crib, 4.00 pm Saturday Rorate Mass 6.00 pm Sunday 5th January 2020 – Holy Mass, Sunday 22nd December Holy Mass 10.00 am 4.00 pm

Psalm response Come, Lord, and save us. acclamation Alleluia, alleluia! The spirit of the Lord has been given to me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor. Alleluia! Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and he will save us. The Spirit Someone else is needed, Someone different. Who? Revelation, that is watching and listening (seeing and hearing) – this is the joy and happiness of the disciples of Jesus, about which He himself reminds them. Is it also my happiness, my joy? And yet, Jesus does not say that someday, at some time we will see and hear. Also, He says to me as He does to His own disciples – “happy the eyes that see what you have seen” (Lk 10:23). Now they see, now they hear – in the present tense. However, what do I see and what do I hear? Advent is a time of expectation – there’s perhaps nothing to even dispute in that. However, must it last four Sundays and end together with mid-night Mass? Can’t it end earlier, or last longer? Ultimately, can’t we celebrate Advent at some other time of year? But obviously – you can! Advent is waiting for me to finally really see and hear my God coming specifically and personally to me. How is that possible, how can that be? For sure, not by my own power, perseverance or diligence. Someone else is needed, Someone different. Who? The Holy Spirit! It is He who reveals Jesus, allowing Him to be known and to experience Who He really is and why He came, why He wants to be present in my life. The Advent of Israel and of Mary were not without the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is after all He who descended to Mary (Lk 1:35), He was to rest on the Scion from the root of the stock of Jesse. It could not be and my Advent cannot do without the Holy Spirit. And so, I invite You, Holy Spirit, to my Advent this year. You will lead me through this time, You allow me to experience it. Let me receive Jesus. To see and to hear . . . Take Five Invest just five minutes a day, and your faith will deepen and grow—a day at a time. Monday, Dec 16, 2019 third day of the church's week of O , used ADVENT WEEKDAY at evening prayer to count down the final days of Invest in the teachings Advent. Each gives a different depiction of the Magisterium is a mighty big word that means a lot to Messiah; each captures the longing of a people Catholics. The word derives from the Latin for yearning to be saved. Today's imagery comes from “teacher.” It refers to the sacred deposit of faith, which Isaiah 11:1, where God establishes the House of includes both scripture and tradition, that’s been David from beleaguered beginnings: “There shall entrusted to the church. And it is the source of the come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a Church’s authority to interpret this deposit of faith, branch shall grow out of his roots.” David, the which has been divinely revealed by Christ, the “Word youngest son of Jesse, is as improbable a king as the made flesh.” What an immense gift from God, for all Christ Child will be. If you haven’t been praying the O of us to be shown so much. Be faithful to it. Antiphons this week, it’s not too late to start; nor is it TODAY'S READINGS: Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a; too late to decorate a Jesse Tree, based on the same Matthew 21:23-27. “By what authority are you Isaiah verse. doing these things? And who gave you this TODAY'S READINGS: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a; authority?” Luke 1:5-25. “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, Tuesday, Dec 17, 2019 because your prayer has been heard.” ADVENT WEEKDAY Friday, Dec 20, 2019 Soon and very soon ADVENT WEEKDAY Finally, like a long exhalation during the final week Keep yes in your vocabulary before , we pray the “,” which People who change the direction of their lives give us different ways to image the long-awaited frequently feel they are responding to something Messiah. Some of the more colourful names are: larger than themselves. A person struggling with Wisdom, Root of Jesse’s stem, Key of David, Radiant addiction acknowledges a higher power. A Dawn. Praying with one each day unites us to the professional takes a pay cut to work with people with universal church over many centuries. Check out learning difficulties. A young adult feels the call to YouTube for a video that provides historical religious life. These changes start with one word: yes. background on the Antiphons. Take a moment to In the next year’s Vocation Guide, Brother James watch it as part of your Advent observation. Hayes, F.I.C.P. says: “I had a gut feeling that God TODAY'S READINGS: Genesis 49:2, 8-10; knew best and that responding to God with a ‘yes’ Matthew 1:1-17. “Of her was born Jesus, . . . would lead me on the path to the greatest possible called the Christ.” happiness and fulfilment.” Wednesday, Dec 18, 2019 Unleash the power of yes in your own life! ADVENT WEEKDAY TODAY'S READINGS: Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1:26- Check for the exits 38. “O Key of David, opening the gates of God’s OK, who thinks they know a bit of Latin?: What does eternal kingdom: Come and free the prisoners of the prefix ex- mean? “Former,” as in “Ex-Minister So- darkness!” and-So.” Also “out of” or “from,” as in the major Saturday, Dec 21, 2019 biblical events the Israelites experienced in the ADVENT WEEKDAY Exodus (the “road out”) from Egypt and the Exile Re-form the way you disagree with others (“place of banishment”) to Babylon. Every life has its Mary and Elizabeth both felt the saving grace of share of “ex’s”—things end, people move out of and God pouring over their lives – and were not afraid on from situations; some of these are forced, some to say so. Many of us were raised on the principle voluntary. Some involve loss, some gain. What have that ‘God helps those who help themselves’ and been some of your exoduses and exiles? Just as God that displays of need are out of place in the pursuit did not forget the Israelites through their journeys, of holiness, indeed, society sees need as a God will accompany you on the ins and outs of your weakness and something to be hidden or to life. pretend we do not have. Maybe we need to learn TODAY'S READINGS: Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew again what Elizabeth says so clearly: that God is a 1:18-25. “Jacob called his sons and said to them: gracious God, and it is a blessed thing to believe in ‘Assemble and listen . . . to Israel, your father.’ ” that graciousness, and to receive it. Thursday, Dec 19, 2019 TODAY'S READINGS: Song of Songs 2:8-14 or ADVENT WEEKDAY Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Luke 1:39-45. “O Radiant Lord, come and save us Dawn, splendour of eternal light, sun of justice: "O Root of Jesse’s stem, sign of God’s love for all his Come and shine on those who dwell in darkness people: Come to save us without delay!" Today is the and in the shadow of death.”

Readings for the 3rd Sunday of Advent Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10 It’s springtime in the desert, a time of wonder for the unfortunate. Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 Note in a bottle: Lord, come and save us! James 5:7-10 Farmers are patient for the harvest, and so are the faithful of God. Matthew 11:2-11 Even John isn’t sure of Jesus: Where’s the Messiah movement? Thoughts on the Readings

Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10 come to you, you have be conscious that you need “Let the wilderness and the dry-lands exult, let the Him, that is to name your poverty and begin in its wasteland rejoice and bloom, let it bring forth depth to call to God. Then not only will you flowers like the jonquil, let it rejoice and sing for theoretically know that a Saviour exists somewhere joy”. Wilderness, dry-lands and wasteland is a good but a space will form so that His power will appear. description of the interior “life” of many people. James 5:7-10 And add to it weakened hands and weary knees – “Think of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the from constant chasing and care. Sometimes we are precious fruit of the ground until it has had the close to doubting whether anything creative and autumn rains and the spring rains! You too have to beautiful will come out of this. And yet the be patient; do not lose heart, because the Lord’s wilderness landscape can become a place of new coming will be soon”. Sometimes we meet a person creation, a place where beautiful flowers grow. Only who says that they have had enough of waiting for there’s one condition, that God is admitted there. the coming God into their lives, for His saving Isaiah rightly reminds of complying to the action in illness, stress, the hardships of temptation of doubt: “Courage! Do not be afraid” (Is relationships, the worsening conditions of life. The 35:4). God truly is the creator, and therefore calls waiting becomes unbearable among the others when into existence from nothing! How often we fall into we don’t notice and value the fruits which they pettiness, how we fail to appreciate God . . . Allow themselves bring. Whereas if practiced with trust, that the strong assurance of Isaiah, that “He is they form in a person a valuable attitude, important coming to save you”, will arouse hope in you. for living faith: and bring a deep desire and longing Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 as well as an attitude of perseverance and “It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever, who is just mindfulness. On its own interior expectation to those who are oppressed. It is he who gives bread transforms us. This is why the apostle James to the hungry, the Lord, who sets prisoners free. It is encourages us to patience. If our sense of the Lord who gives sight to the blind, who raises up expectation is extended then it may be that we those who are bowed down, the Lord, who protects should become transformed “reworked” through the the stranger”. The psalmist lists various difficult power of expectation. situations, in which people are sometimes Matthew 11:2-11 imprisoned: being oppressed, hungry, in prison, “John in his prison had heard what Christ was doing being in darkness, bowed down, an orphan or a and he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the widow, in other words individuals who have no one who is to come, or have we got to wait for support and help from other people. Even if someone else?’ ”. Saint lived physically we do not now experience such events, entirely in the great Promise of God. He announced we often feel like people in similar circumstances. it in his life and words. However, this does not mean Try to realise which of these situations in your that he managed to clearly identify its fulfilment. He internal sense are close to you, which you most needed confirmation. A person can never envisage often experience. If it seems to us that we are self- how specifically God realises what He promised. sufficient and content, and hang onto this illusion, One thing is certain: He does it in a way totally God cannot become our Saviour. For the Messiah to exceeding human expectations, in a surprising way. It is not a surprise which brings disillusion, but eloquent way teaches us this mysterious incarnation which leads to a state of amazement and captivation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. by the abundant mystery of Divine grace. And in an Rorate The Rorate Mass takes its name from the opening words of the Entrance Antiphon, which comes to us from Isaiah 45:8: “Rorate, caeli, desuper, et nubes pluant justum, aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem.” “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened and bud forth a Saviour.” The Rorate Mass is lit only by candlelight, principally in the Sanctuary, the holy place because of the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. In the dimly lit setting, the priest and faithful prepare to honour the Light of the World, Who is soon to be born, and brings the light to our dimly lit lives. We offer praise to God for the gift of Our Lady, who like us awaited His birth. The readings and prayers of the Mass foretell the prophecy of the Virgin who would bear a Son called Emmanuel, and call on all to raise the gates of their hearts and their communities to let Christ the King enter; asking for the grace to receive eternal life by the merits of the Incarnation and saving Resurrection of Our Lord. Spiritually, Advent is the dawn. It is still not the bright light of Christmas. Advent is a time of preparation for something exceedingly joyful that is yet to come. It is a time of penance, when our souls are still struggling through the darkness, seeking the Light. There is a longing and expectancy in Advent. Our candles and lanterns at a Rorate Mass are symbols of our longing for the coming of the Saviour whose light is already dawning Prepare yourself by adding to your daily prayers this prayer to Our Lady: O Mother of our Advent, be with us and see to it that He will remain with us in this difficult Advent of the struggles for truth and hope, for justice and peace: He, alone, Emmanuel. If you have a small lantern bring it with you to light your way. You may wish to use a small torch to help you read the hymns and prayers. Prayer Please pray for those who are in need or have asked for our prayers: Ken McCoy and Russell Carroll. Please remember in your prayers the soul of Patrick Brannigan and all whose anniversaries occur at his time. News and Events Tea and coffee in the hall after Sunday Mass. Our visitors are most welcome, please come along. Welcome to Bishop Brian on this . Fr. Brown will be available for Confession after Mass on Wednesday this week. Rorate – a light comes into the darkness. The Mass will be the Vigil Mass next Saturday 21st Dec. Please bring along your own lantern or light, if you wish. Coffee Morning: the last Coffee Morning raised £300. Thanks to all. Seasonal Liturgies: Saturday 21st (Vigil) Rorate, 6.00pm; , Vigil Mass, 9.00pm; Christmas Day, 10.00am. (Blessing of the Tree at the Rorate Mass; Blessing of the Crib at the Christmas Eve Mass)

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A Parish of the R.C. Diocese of Argyll and the Isles; Charitable Trust, a registered Scottish Charity, SC002876 Parish Priest: Fr. A. Wood, St. Kieran’s, Campbeltown; Tel. 01586 552160