Newsletter

Pentecost Sunday

June 8th, 2025

 

I hope this finds you and your families well. Our Easter journey has brought us to Pentecost, and I offer the following words from Pope Francis for your reflection:

 

The Feast of Pentecost commemorates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the apostles gathered in the Upper Room. The Acts of the Apostles describes the signs and fruits of that extraordinary outpouring: the strong wind and tongues of fire; fear disappeared, leaving courage in its place; tongues melted and everyone understood the message. Wherever the Spirit of God reaches, everything is reborn and transfigured. Pentecost is the event that signals the birth of the Church and her public manifestation. Two features strike us: the Church astounds and confuses.

 

A fundamental element of Pentecost is astonishment. Our God is a God of astonishment, this we know. No one expected anything more from the disciples: after Jesus’ death they were a small, insignificant group of defeated followers of their Master. There occurred instead an unexpected event that astounded: the people were astonished because each of them heard the disciples speaking in their own tongues, telling of the great works of God. The Church born at Pentecost is an astounding community because, with the force of her arrival from God, a new message is proclaimed – the Resurrection of Christ – with a new language: the universal one of love. A new proclamation: Christ lives, he is Risen; a new language: the language of love. The disciples are adorned with power from above and speak with courage – only minutes before they were all cowardly, but now they speak with courage and candor, with the freedom of the Holy Spirit.

 

Thus, the Church is called into being forever: capable of astounding while proclaiming that Jesus Christ has conquered death, that God’s arms are always open, that his patience is always there awaiting us to heal us, to forgive us. The Risen Jesus bestowed his Spirit on the Church for this very mission. Take note: if the Church is alive, she must always surprise. It is incumbent upon the living Church too astound. A Church which is unable to astound is a Church that is weak, sick, dying, and that needs admission to the intensive care unit as soon as possible!

 

Some in Jerusalem would have liked for Jesus’ disciples, frozen in fear, to remain locked inside so as not to create confusion. Even today, many would like this from the Christians. Instead, the Risen Lord pushes us out into the world. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). The Church of the Pentecost is a Church that will not submit to being powerless, too distilled. No, she doesn’t want to submit to this! She doesn’t want to be a decoration. She is a Church that doesn’t hesitate to go out, meet the people, proclaim the message that has been entrusted to her, even if that message disturbs or unsettles the conscience, even if that message perhaps brings problems and sometimes leads to martyrdom. She is born one and universal, with a distinct identity, but open, a Church that embraces the world but doesn’t seize it; she sets it free, she embraces arms that open to receive, but don’t close to detain. We Christians are free, and the Church wants us free!

Pope Francis

 

I offer here the Schedule for the Daily Liturgy:

 

Monday June 9th: Requiem, Charles Budd at 10am

Confessions at 6.30pm; Novena at 7pm

 

Tuesday June 10th: Mass at 10am

Rosary at 9.40am

 

Wednesday June 11th: Mass at 10am

Rosary at 10am

 

Thursday June 12th: Confirmation Mass at 7pm

Please remember the children from St, Paul’s Primary who will celebrate their Confirmation this evening

 

Credo, the parish faith sharing group, meets this Tuesday in the meeting room at 1 o’clock; members enjoy some tea and biscuits after their meeting.

 

Jubilee Tour to Westport, Knock and Co. Mayo, 7th September 2025, £899: price included flight from Edinburgh, 10kg hold luggage, 4 nights in 4* Castlecourt Hotel, Westport, with dinner, bed and breakfast; full use of leisure facilities. All entertainment, excursions and transport included, Visit Knock Shrine, Galway Cathedral, Irish music night and much more. Contact 01268 762 278 or

email knockpilgrimages@gmail.com.

 

Recently Deceased: Nancy Henry, Charles Budd, Marie McCallum, Margaret Kelly, Joan Hart, Margaret Smith, Raymond Urchell, Mary McVey

                                                                                                

Special Remembrance: James and Sarah McGilvray, James Quigley, Jane Bonner Quigley, and all our own deceased relatives and friends, and all the benefactors of our parish.

 

We welcome Bishop Toal to the parish on Thursday to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with some of the pupils from St. Paul’s.

 

The Charity Mary’s Meals will be visiting the parish on Wednesday evening for a meeting with the volunteers who support their good work.

 

For Reflection: “Together we must look for ways to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges and encourages dialogue, a Church ever open to welcoming, like this Square with its open arms, all those who are in need of our charity, our presence, our readiness to dialogue and our love.”

Pope Leo XIV, on the day of his election, from the balcony of St. Peter’s