BULLETIN                         9 MARCH 2008

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT IN
YEAR 1

CHURCH SERVICE
S

Saturday 8 March

Confession on request from 4.30 to 5.15 pm
Vigil Mass at 5.30 pm

Sunday 9 March
Sunday Mass at 10.00 am
Sunday Mass at 12.00 noon
Monday 10 March
Mass at 10.00 am for Bernard and Susan Burns  
Penance Service in Saint Palladius' Church, Dalry at 7.00 pm  
Tuesday 11 March
Mass at 10.00 am for Maria Gillen
Wednesday 12 March
Mass at 10.00 am for Hugh Kelly
Penance Service in Saint Mary's Church, Saltcoats at 2.00 pm 
Thursday 13 March
Mass at 10.00 pm for John H Fellows
Penance Service at 7.00 pm
Friday 14 March
Mass at 10.00 pm for Agnes Martin
Saturday 15 March
Mass at 10.00 am for May Conlan


PARISH CENTRE EVENTS

Sunday 9 March
10.00 am
10.00 am
1.00 to 4.00 pm

Children's Liturgy
Sacramental Preparation
Tea and Coffee after Mass

Monday 10 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.30 am
12.30 to 2.30 pm
5.30 to 6.30 pm
6.30 to 8.00 pm
7.00 pm
7.00 to 8 00 pm

Nursery
Parents and Toddlers
Nursery
Rainbows
Brownies
Saint Vincent de Paul Society  
Weight Watchers

Tuesday 11 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
2.00 pm
1.00 to 3.00 pm
7.00 pm
7.30 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Legion of Mary
Nursery
Thursday Club
Saint Anne's Guild
Keep Fit
Ignatian Prayer Group
Wednesday 12 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
6.00 to 7.00 pm
7.30 to 9.00 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Barakuda Karate
Special Religious Education (SPRED)
Thursday 13 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.00 am
12.30 to 3.00 pm
2.00 to 3.00 pm
7.00 to 7.30 pm
7.30 to 9.00 pm
Nursery
Kindergarten
Nursery
Cardiac Rehabilitation
Brownies
Guides
Friday 14 March
9.00 to 11.30 am
9.30 to 11.30 am
12.30 to 2.30 pm
Nursery
Parents and Toddlers
Nursery

PRAYERS
Please remember in your prayers:
   Charlie Davidson and James (Buster) Convery who died recently and
   Luke Gargan 2001, Stephanie Turner 2001, John Carroll 2004, Alice Bell 2005,
   Jean Walker 2001, Monsignor Edward Traynor 2006, Hessie Hyslop 1998,
   Lilia Agostini 1969, Canon Charles Matthews 1996, Catherine Stewart 2004,
   and Grace Jamieson 2005 whose anniversaries occur at this time.

SUNDAY COLLECTION
Last weekend's collection amounted to £677.47 - many thanks. Banker's Orders amount to an average of £4300 per month. Each month £4200 is repaid to the Diocese for the building loan and levy.

BANKER'S ORDERS
Paying your collection by monthly or quarterly banker's order makes money handling much safer. Banker's Order forms are available in the porch.

SCOTTISH CATHOLIC INTERNATIONAL AID FUND (SCIAF) COLLECTION
Last weekend's collection for SCIAF amounted to £1181.81 - many thanks.

LENT SCIAF BOXES
Boxes for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) Lenten appeal are available at the stall. Please take one home with you and return it at the end of Lent.

PASSOVER
The Passover will be celecrated on Wednesday 20 March at 7.00 pm.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Stations of the Cross will be said during Lent each Friday at 9.40 am.

SAINT MATTHEW'S ACADEMY
Mass will be celebrated
in Saint Matthew's Academy every Friday at 12.50 pm.

50-50 CLUB
Congratulations to the following 50-50 Club prizewinners:
January: James McLaughlin 176, Greg Madine 38, Robert Cavens 126, Robert Murray 230
February: Eoghan Hughes 96, Jean Smith 193, Jeanette McGreer 277, Jennifer McAdam 15
A few members still need to renew their membership of £15. Please try to do this before the end of March. The Club has given our annual cheque to the Parish Funds for £1750.00. Many thanks to all our members. New members are welcome at any time during the year. Please contact the promoter, Myriame Sammons. Winners' lists are available in the porch and foyer of the Parish Centre as well as in the bulletin after each monthly draw.

SAINT PETER'S CHILDREN'S CENTRE
Anna Sweenie and Michael Donnelly represented the Children's Centre at Saint Matthew's Academy on Friday 28 February when they received a Health Promoting Schools Award. Congratulations.

HCPT THE PILGRIMAGE TRUST
Esther Coulter would like to thank everyone who helped and contributed to this year's Race Night for HCPT, The Pilgrimage Trust. £1,800 was raised. Six children from the local area will be travelling to Lourdes this Easter. Mass will be offered for all. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us.

IGNATIAN PRAYER GROUP RETREAT
The Ignatian Prayer Group is going on Retreat on Sunday 9 March to Skelmorlie from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.

CHILD PROTECTION TRAINING DAY
All those who have not received up to date child protection training are invited to attend a session in the Parish Centre on Sunday 9 March from 2.30 to 4.00 pm.

SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY 
The Ozanam Centre in Glasgow is run by the Saint Vincent de Paul Society to assist homeless men and women. We have been asked to assist in the collection of toiletries during Lent so these might be distributed as a very practical way of assisting those who use the Centre. Saint Peter's parishioners have donated generously to this appeal in previous years and it is hoped that you will do so once again. The Conference thanks you in anticipation of your kind assistance. A box to receive donations of all kinds of toiletries is available in the Church Porch during Lent.

COMPUTER GEEK NEEDED
Canon Matt requires a computer geek who could undo stupid mistakes, upgrade his computer, tweak a network, clean up a registry, sort out a few RJ45s and other non-theological tasks. Pay is in prayer.

MALAWI
A Scottish Ceilidh in aid of Malawi is being held in Saint Matthew's Academy on Friday 28 March. Tickets cost £10 including a buffet and are available from Mrs M T Hughes in the school office. This event is always a sell out so get your tickets now.

A LENTEN STORY
An Irishman moved into a tiny hamlet in County Kerry, walked into the local pub and promptly ordered three beers. The bartender raised his eyebrows but served the man three beers which he drank quietly at a table, alone. An hour later, the man had finished the three beers and ordered three more. This happened yet again. The next evening the man again ordered and drank three beers at a time, several times. Soon the entire town was whispering about The Man Who Orders Three Beers. Finally, a week later, the bartender broached the subject on behalf of the town. "I don't mean to pry but folks around here are wondering why you always order three beers at a time?" "'Tis odd, isn't it?" the man replied. "You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America and the other to Australia. We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers whenever we drank as a way of keeping up the family bond." The bartender and the whole town were pleased with this answer and soon the Man Who Orders Three Beers became a local celebrity and a source of pride to the hamlet even to the extent that out-of-towners would come to watch him drink. Then one day, the man came
in and ordered only two beers. The bartender poured them with a heavy heart. This continued for the rest of the evening. "Each time he orders only two beers" the word flew around town. Prayers were offered for the soul of one of the brothers. The next day, the bartender said to the man, "Folks around here, me first of all, want to offer condolences to you for the death of your brother. You know - the two beers instead of three and all...". The man pondered this for a moment then replied "You'll be happy to hear that my two brothers are alive and well. It's just that I, meself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent.".


  Great opportunities to help others seldom come
but small ones surround us every day.


READINGS
The readings for this weekend's Masses are shown below in English. They are available in eleven other languages
including French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish by clicking on this link.

First Reading           Ezekiel 37:12-14
The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this - it is the Lord who speaks.

Second Reading           Romans 8:8-11
People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

Gospel           John 11:3-7.17.20-27.33-45
There was a man named Lazarus who lived in the village of Bethany with the two sisters, Mary and Martha, and he was ill. It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. The sisters sent this message to Jesus, "Lord, the man you love is ill." On receiving the message Jesus said, "This sickness will end not in death but in God's glory, and through it the Son of God will be glorified." Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed where he was for two more days before saying to the disciples, "Let us go to Judaea." On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you." "Your brother" said Jesus to her "will rise again." Martha said, "I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" "Yes, Lord," she said "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world." Jesus said in great distress, with a sigh that came straight from the heart, "Where have you put him?" They said, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept; and the Jews said, "See how much he loved him!" But there were some who remarked, "He opened the eyes of the blind man, could he not have prevented this man's death?" Still sighing, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening. Jesus said, "Take the stone away." Martha said to him, "Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day." Jesus replied, "Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: "Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. I knew indeed that you always hear me, but I speak for the sake of all these who stand round me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me." When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, "Lazarus, here! Come out!" The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, let him go free. "Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what he did believed in him.