RC Largs and Millport

Join us -for Chat and Do

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 11:23:34 GMT

Our Chat 'N Do group next meet on Wednesday at Largs - You are very welcome to join us

Join Us - Divine Mercy - Prayers

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 11:14:08 GMT

Join us for Divine Mercy prayers and chaplet - Fridays 2:30-3:30pm - St Mary's, Largs

Holily - Sharon Fleming

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 02:41:28 GMT

I always feel hugely disappointed when, after hearing a splendid eulogy about someone like Sharon, I never actually got to know them in this life. The Sharon whose eulogy only someone like her husband Stuart could produce strikes you as a remarkable human being, as someone you just ought to have known. Then again, as Stuart’s words suggest so perceptively, it’s not given to us to know the “memories that belong only to the two people who lived them.” There is a sacredness to our personal dignity which no-one has a right to fathom, but only to honour and respect. The depths of the marriage bond are likewise sacred, a sacredness expressed in deep and faithful love, a love and a sacredness which take on flesh in the children it generates. What a wonderful and glorious reality is marriage and family! It’s no wonder that the Sacred One Himself has made it the foundation of humanity.

That’s why death is such a desecration of our humanity. It is the ugly and violent cynicism of the Evil One who detests the beauty of true love, who hates the communion of life between us human beings and who abhors God’s love for us. When he tempted our first parents with the fake promise that they would be like gods if they listened to him and sinned, his purpose was only ever to inflict death on humanity. Do what you want, not what God wants, was like a Trojan horse entering the human heart. It looks and sounds good, but it becomes like a parasite in the heart, poisoning it with selfish illusion and the relentless free fall into nothingness. For without God, we return to nothing; without God, our sacredness devolves into profanity; without God, as one of the psalms says, “our thoughts are no more than a breath” and “like grass we spring up in the morning and by evening we wither and fade.”

And so, what is the way out of this nightmare? Are we but a few decades of boom and bust with the likely prospect of being forgotten as if we never had existed? What, then, can secure our life even in death? How can our fleeting existence gain a permanence whereby our life matters, we matter, collectively and individually and personally?

The only answer that has ever been given to this in human history is the only man who has ever died and risen from death never to die again. His Name is Jesus Christ the Lord. He alone is the hope of humanity to live for ever. He alone is the hope we have been given as a race and as individuals to overcome death and its root cause which is sin. He alone opens His arms to welcome anyone who will come to Him and who will abandon the fantasy of believing that what this life offers with all its glitter and glamour is all that we mean, all that we are reduced to, as if our souls and hearts can really be fulfilled by mere things and experiences and personal theories and ideas. In the face of death, all these things mean nothing and reduce us to nothing. In the face of Christ, we mean everything and we will become everything in union with Him.

For life, real life, is about Christ. Life, real life, is Christ. Through the love of our parents, He gave us existence in soul and body. Through the love of His Cross, He gave us new and eternal life. That life is accessible to all who desire it. We gain it first in baptism in which He imparts the power of his death to our souls to deliver us from original sin. Through his Church and the sacraments, He increases, deepens, matures and perfects that life within us. Sometimes those who are immersed in the world think of the Church and sacraments as the illusion, as make believe. But that’s only because the illusion they are themselves living makes them perceive the truth to be a lie and the lie to be true. Immersion in Christ, not the world, is what releases the deepest potential of the human heart and soul for love, for sacrifice, for surrender to what lasts for ever. Christ who created us alone knows what it means to be truly human. Abandon Christ, and you abandon your own humanity, your own identity, your own eternal destiny.

What’s needed to make this connection with Christ is trust in Him, faith in His Word and in His promises. We need to wake up, give ourselves a shake, and open our eyes to see through and beyond the seductive appearances of the easy values and ideas on offer. So much in our world draws us to live on the surface of ourselves and of others. It inculcates in us a consumerist mindset not just in what we buy but also in the way we relate to others, in what we think important and valuable. We can wander through life never trusting, never sourcing the deepest resources of our spirit, and maybe even never truly loving or being loved. But Christ taps what is deepest and most authentic in us and draws it out and leads it to discover the rich depths of beauty, of poetry, of creativity and of heroism latent within us. In doing this, He is preparing us for eternity, for that room in the Father’s house He has reserved for each of us. He invites us not to let our hearts be troubled or afraid but only to trust in Him. His love is demanding. It is absorbing. It is relentless. It tests us as gold is tested in fire. It costs us, sometimes everything. But there is no greater love. For it perfects our very being. It is tender beyond words. It is compassionate and forgiving, patient and understanding. In a word, His love is everything. Whoever loves Him will find all things in Him.

Sharon Fleming lived life with the kind of intensity and purpose which will no doubt have delighted the Heart of Christ. She treasured the sacredness of married and family love, and she seems to have had a sixth sense for the best of everyone and everything, including herself. I have no doubt that Christ will have approved. Her love and her good deeds will go with her. Where she may have failed, we entrust her with confident hope to the mercy of our Redeemer. She is now in His hands and we must let her be there. As each day passes now, we get closer to the time when the future becomes again the present and when all our loved ones who are with Christ will greet us again liberated from the shadows of this life and from sin and death. If our grief is the testimony to our love, let us work so that our love will gradually diminish our grief until it vanishes completely in the Kingdom of God. As we surrender Sharon to you, Lord Jesus, grant us to surrender ourselves to you, too, as we make our way through this valley of tears. May our hearts be that little bit more in heaven each day until the eternal Day dawns and death shall be no more. Eternal rest.

Liturgical Colours

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 02:37:34 GMT

The main colour scheme of the website is blue with the menu yellow, the Blue is representative of Our Lady and the way we perceive her. The blue cloak that Mary wears represents the Virgin’s purity, and her royal status. The red garment that Our Lady is often seen wearing signifies traits connected with motherhood, including love, passion, and devotion. The yellow on the website represents a yellow rose.

Liturgical colours throughout the year and what they represent

White – Stands for innocence, purity, joy, triumph, and glory. We see this colour during Christmas, Easter, All Saints’ Day, Feasts of the Apostles, Feasts of the Lord (other than of His passion), Feasts of Mary, the angels, and saints who were not martyrs; and nuptials. We also see it during Masses for the Dead [Requiem Masses], which happens when the deceased is a baptised child who died before the age of reason. White is the colour of the pope’s non-liturgical dress. We also like to believe that the phrase “White Christmas” stood for this colour – rather than snow, of course.

Red – This colour signifies passion, blood, fire, God’s love, and Jesus’ martyrdom. It is usually worn on the Feast of the Lord’s Passion, Blood, and Cross; Palm Sunday, Pentecost and when the Sacrament of Confirmation is performed

Green – The colour of the Holy Spirit, life, eternal, and hope, this is usually worn by the priest on Sundays of Ordinary Time.

Violet – You see this colour on Sundays of Advent and Lent; and whenever the priest performs the Sacraments of Reconciliation and of the Sick.

Rose – A priest can wear this colour optionally on Gaudete Sunday [3rd Sunday of Advent] and Laetare Sunday [4th Sunday of Lent]. (Mgr. Peter usually likes to)

Black – This is sometimes worn on All Souls’ Day and Masses for the Dead.

Gold – This is interchangeable with the liturgical colors green, red, or white only.

Reflections on the sufferings of Blessed Carlo Acutis (2023)

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 02:07:56 GMT

Suffering of Blessed Carlo Acutis

Limits of talk: personal reflection on some aspects of CA’s suffering on basis of my limited knowledge and understanding of him.

His parents’ lack of faith: a “deprivation” in earliest years. God worked it to his advantage through the believing nannies that came his way.
Perhaps the fact of no siblings? Again God used it.
School life: suffering of his empathy and compassion, of the mockery he received, of standing up for the bullied, the harassed girls, the Church’s teaching, his purity and devotion to Jesus (my life program is always to be near Jesus).
Socially: he felt deeply for the suffering of the poor and the immigrants.
Spiritually: self-denial (non io ma Dio) in self-discipline and in consistency and perseverance in living out his own originality (non fotocopia).

CA clearly underwent a gradual process of realising how different he was from others, not so much in externals as internally. This will have led to a certain inner solitude, humanly speaking. He will have felt misunderstood by others but himself have understood this misunderstanding of him: he will have seen that because they did not have the kind of relationship with Jesus which he had, they would not be able to understand why he acted as he did.

When Christ draws someone closer to himself it always involves a process of detachment from others and from self – not a detachment from loving them, but from attaching to his love for them a greater importance than the love for Christ. This detachment is the way of the Cross: it leads to a turning upside down and inside out of the priorities we humans usually have. When Christ captures the heart, it means a total reassessment of our lives.

In a way known only to Jesus and to Carlo, there must have occurred a critical point of no return. At some point, Carlo realised that he was no longer just to be like Christ for others here below, but to become Christ for others from heaven above. We can only really become Christ for others when we realise we are Christ’s alone. In some way, it reminds me of St. Paul who told the Philippians that he would rather be gone and be with Christ, but that he would probably remain alive in the flesh for their sakes. In another way, of course, it is also true that we can do more for others from heaven than we can do on this earth.

How do we know that Carlo realised that a point had been reached in his life in Jesus that pointed to an early death?

Carlo recorded a video message two or three months before he died in which he explicitly says “sono destinato a morire”: I am destined to die. He wasn’t talking about some date in many decades’ time, because he had already intimated to his mother that he would die young and the exact cause of his death. Christ’s taking of Carlo to himself interiorly translated exteriorly into Carlo’s passion, the physical suffering that would transform him into the crucified Jesus.

I want to approach Carlo’s final suffering by drawing some parallels with the Passion of Jesus himself. Obviously, it is not Carlo, but only Jesus who saves us and equally obviously the passion of a redeemed sinner is only a faint reflection of Christ’s own passion.
Jesus predicted his passion no less than three times, according to the Gospel. “The Son of man is destined to suffer grievously.” Carlo did the same: twice he told his mother and, when he went into hospital he told her again, “I will not be getting out of here.” Then there is his video message in which he uses the word “destined”, to die.
Jesus predicted with certainty how he would die, by crucifixion. Carlo told his mother that he would die of a brain haemorrhage.
Jesus accepted his death in humble obedience to the Father. Carlo accepted his destiny in a similar way. There’s no protest in the video, but serenity and simplicity. Submission to a higher Will.
Both Jesus and Carlo were young, good people, with, as we would say in our all too human fashion, “with their life ahead of them.” Incident in Assisi last week of young father who expressed sorrow that Carlo had died so young).
Jesus describes his death as the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies and yields a rich harvest. The grain of wheat can easily be read as the Eucharist, which is the bread of life because the Lord died. Carlo’s faith in the Eucharist and deep and sustained love for and reception of it conformed him to Christ the Grain of Wheat. Carlo has died, and just look how rich already is the harvest he is yielding by Christ’s power.
Jesus’ sufferings deformed him over night: “He seemed no longer human.” Carlo’s mother writes movingly and poignantly about her horror in seeing Carlo’s physical deterioration in the course of the short period he was in hospital. Looks are no match for the barbaric reality of our mortality.
Jesus offered no resistance and made no complaints, but trusted to God. When the women of Jerusalem wept for him, His response was to deflect and reflect their compassion back upon them. When Carlo was asked about his pain in leukemia, he responded that there were many who suffered more than he. And when the nurse asked him if she should wake his mother to come to him in his final hour, he said to leave her alone, since she was very tired and would only worry more.
Paul tells us that Christ sacrificed himself so that the Church would be spotless and holy. Carlo offered his sufferings explicitly for the Church and for the Pope, that is for the Mystical Body of the same Lord who sacramental body he loved so dearly.
Christ poured out his last drop of blood for our salvation. Carlo’s death was not so bloody, yet it was a brain haemorrhage which took him in the end.
Carlo died on a Thursday, the Day of the Eucharist. But Thursday contains the Friday, the Cross and the Sunday, the resurrection.
An obvious difference between Christ and Carlo is that Christ’s tomb is empty. Carlo’s is yet to be emptied. That it will be emptied one fine day is the basic and certain hope we all have because of Christ. And Carlo knew it. He knew that from heaven he would be able to send signs to his mother. May be what he didn’t realise was the Christ would be sending him to bring so much hope and consolation to so many from one end of this broken world to the other, even to wee places like Fairlie, Skelmorlie, Millport and Largs.
We all love Carlo’s phrase, “non io ma Dio”, not I but God. Now, “io” is IN “Dio”: i.e. who I am is in God’s great I AM. My story can only have meaning to the degree that it is IN God’s story. There is no other story. The story of every saint and of every human being who lives authentically is God’s story of love being told over and over again. That’s especially true of our suffering, as Blessed Carlo has shown us. He joins that immense army of men and women from across the ages who now stand before the Lamb who was slain. May it please the Lord, through Blessed Carlo’s intercession, to join us to them when our highway to heaven reaches its destination. Fr. Peter, 13.10.23

This week's reflections

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 16:06:26 GMT

“O GOD, YOU ARE MY GOD; AT DAWN I SEEK YOU; FOR YOU MY SOUL IS THIRSTING” (Psalm 63:2)

LITURGY THIS WEEK : As well as praying continually for the faithful departed with special Masses on Monday and Friday, the liturgical calendar this week provides us with two notable saints from the 4 ^th -5 ^th centuries: St. Leo the Great (Tuesday), who was a giant and lion of a man as pastor and defender of the unity of the Church (he even persuaded Attila the Hun not to march on Rome in 452!); and St. Martin of Tours (Wednesday), who was a soldier, hermit, abbot, priest and exemplary bishop. It is good to get to know these men and women whom God has put before us as examples of holiness. Their intercession is of great avail to us on our pilgrim way.

Previous Week

The month of November carries the background affection, memory and prayer for those of our loved ones who have died and are being purified by Love before entrance into the Kingdom. As the old hymn put it, “they are waiting for our petitions, silent and calm.” The Mass is the best way to assist them because it takes our love for them and invests it with the Love of Jesus Himself on the Cross. Like Jesus, those in purgatory will hope with certainty to be able to say, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” as they cross the threshold of the Kingdom. There, they will be met by saints such as St. Martin de Porres (Tuesday) and St. Charles Borromeo (Wednesday) and the whole company of heaven. What a moment! What a destiny! Let’s pray for this for Ron Bisset as we perform his burial rites on Thursday. For ourselves, let’s embrace the Cross of Jesus (Friday) in whom alone is our holiness and glory and the power of our own purification.

Our life is about preparing for a banquet to which we have all been invited. Isaiah tells us: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food.” David tells us in Psalm 23: “You have prepared a table before me in the sight of my foes.” Matthew relates the words of the King: “Tell those who are invited, ‘See, I have prepared my dinner. Come to the wedding feast.’” The readings also show two basic responses to this invitation. First, there are those who rejoice in it, as per the words of Isaiah: “‘This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’” Second, there are those who say no, as per the words of Matthew: “they would not come …. they paid no attention and went off … they were not worthy.”

Fr. Peter's Reflections

The Annual Education Mass

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:55:51 GMT

THE ANNUAL EDUCATION MASS will be celebrated by Bishop Frank, in Saint John’s, Stevenston on Wednesday, 25 ^th November at 6pm.

Adult faith Formation (Diocese)

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:54:52 GMT

ADULT FAITH FORMATION IN OUR DIOCESE : Copies of the first leaflet, which adapts the programme for personal use, are at the back of the church. Please take one home an d do what you can to join spiritually with the rest of the Diocese to prepare for the Great Jubilee of 2033 under the Bishop’s inspired guidance. I will produce the second leaflet for Sunday 29 ^th November, the First of Advent.

Anointing of RCIA Candidates

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:53:43 GMT

ANOINTING OF RCIA CANDIDATES : Since our candidates have now completed volume 1 of their program, entitled “My Catholic Faith”, I will anoint them at Masses next weekend, 14 ^th & 15 ^th November, as a way of signifying and promoting their growth in spiritual strength in the Holy Spirit. They are not being anointed with the oil of the sick! Rather, it is a way of bringing them and their courageous efforts to the attention of the parish community so that we can continue to support them with our prayers, our presence and our friendship. Please make a point of encouraging and welcoming them personally!

Right of Christian Initiation

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:52:25 GMT

RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS : Next meeting this coming Tuesday, 10 ^th November, from 7-8pm in St. Mary’s Parish Hall. Everyone is welcome. This week, we begin volume 2 in the our reading program whose title is “My Catholic Worship.” The first chapter we will discuss on Tuesday is “The Greatest Act on Earth.” Here are the sub-headings: The Great Mysterium Fidei – Liturgy 101 – Is the Liturgy Boring? – Who Celebrates the Liturgy? – How the Liturgy is Celebrated – When Do We Celebrate? – Where Do We Celebrate? – Diversity vs. Unity.

No Mass on Thursday Morning

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:51:06 GMT

THERE WILL BE NO MASS ON THURSDAY MORNING either in St. Mary’s or in Our Lady’s, Millport, as I must attend a clergy meeting out of town. I will offer Mass at that me eting for those named on our November Lists. Please remember that there is always Mass at 12 Noon in the Benedictine Monastery.

Mass on monday Morning

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:49:41 GMT

MASS ON MONDAY MORNING, 9 ^th NOVEMBER: St. Mary’s Primary School. The Mass will be offered for all the past staff and pupils of the school who have died. Parishioners may attend the Mass. Please gather outside the main door of Largs Academy between 8.55am and 9.05am. A member of staff will take you to the assembly hall.

Legion of Mary - Join Us

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 11:10:24 GMT

Join us at the Legion of Mary for our next meeting on Wednesday 10:30am in the sacristy meeting room - St. Mary's Largs.

St Matthews Academy Fundraising

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 23:46:08 GMT

ST MATTHEW’S ACADEMY is beginning fundraising for the next visit from their friends in their partner school, St Peter’s, Mzuzu. They will hold a quiz night in St Matthew’s on Thursday 19th November. Ticket prices are £5 for adults and £3.50 for under 18s. Doors open at 6.30pm. All are welcome. To reserve tickets please contact the school on 01294 606680.

Prisoners Week Scotland

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 23:40:40 GMT

NEXT SUNDAY MARKS THE BEGINNING OF PRISONERS’ WEEK SCOTLAND (15–22 NOVEMBER). This year’s theme, Show Mercy, invites us to reflect on a virtue at the very heart of our Christian faith: mercy. Prisoners’ Week invites us to reflect and pray about what mercy means in practice. The public launch takes place next Sunday, 15 November, at Freedom City Church, Cumbernauld, with charity and support-service stalls from 3pm. All are welcome to attend. Find out more at www.prisonersweek.org.uk

St Mary's Primary School - Christmas Fayre

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 15:57:20 GMT

ST. MARY’S PRIMARY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS FAYRE : All parishioners are warmly invited to join us on Tuesday 17th November 2026 from 3pm - 5pm. Entry is via Largs Academy. Ticket price is £3 for an adult and £5 for a child (includes a visit to Santa and the bouncy castle). We are also looking for donations which can be handed in to the school on the following dates: Chocolate for the Chocolate Tombola - Friday 6th November 2026; Bottles for the Bottle Stall - Friday 13th November 2026; Raffle Prizes - dropped off at the school office at any time; Home baking - Tuesday 17th November (handed to the school office on the morning of Tuesday 17th). See poster on the school notice board at the back of St. Mary’s Church.

Galloway Lourdes Hospitalite & youth Lourdes

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 23:50:38 GMT

GALLOWAY LOURDES HOSPITALITÉ AND YOUTH FOR LOURDES are holding a joint Sign-Up Session on Sunday 22nd November at 3pm in St Quivox Hall, Prestwick, KA9 1LU. Please join them to find out more about the fulfilling experience that volunteering in Lourdes is. They are looking for helpers in all capacities - medical team, general helpers and young people from 4th year to 23 years for the Youth for Lourdes team. Whether it is your 1st or 21st pilgrimage, a warm welcome awaits!

Benedictine Monastery Christmas Fayre

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 23:42:47 GMT

BENEDICTINE MONASTERY CHRISTMAS FAYRE : This annual event will take place on Saturday 28 November in the monastery tearoom from 1.15pm to 4pm. Entrance fee £3, children free. Come along and enjoy a fun afternoon, with Raffle, Tombola, Fancy Goods, Knitwear, Baking, and Jewellery stalls. Donation of Prizes and Bottles would be appreciated. Meeting for Helpers will be held on Monday 23 at 3pm. Please come along and support the Mothers in the Monastery.

CHANA (Churches Homeless Action North Ayrshire)

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:28:29 GMT

CHANA (Churches Homeless Action North Ayrshire) is teaming up again with the Night Before Christmas Charity (NB4CC) to provide a Christmas present for those who are homeless & being supported by North Ayrshire Council. Last Christmas, Liz Brown of North Ayrshire Council's Homeless Unit wrote "Through your year-round help and generous donation to The Night Before Christmas we are able to make life easier and bring a little bit of joy to the lives of those who need it most in our communities." If you can help, please put a cash donation in an envelope marked NB4C & put it in the usual collection bag or donate online at nbcc.scot

YOUNG CARITAS SCOTLAND

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:25:23 GMT

SCIAF is launching Young Caritas Scotland, a new movement for young adults who want to put their faith into action, meet likeminded people from the global church, and help build a better world. This movement is about making a real difference – about solidarity and community. A space to connect with young people across in Scotland and across the world and turn frustration into something hopeful. More information and details of how to join our movement can be found at www.sciaf.org.uk/youngcaritas

ST. MARY’S PRIMARY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS FAYRE

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:23:22 GMT

All parishioners are warmly invited to join us on Tuesday 17th November 2026 from 3pm - 5pm. Entry is via Largs Academy. Ticket price is £3 for an adult and £5 for a child (includes a visit to Santa and the bouncy castle). We are also looking for donations which can be handed in to the school on the following dates: Chocolate for the Chocolate Tombola - Friday 6th November 2026; Bottles for the Bottle Stall - Friday 13th November 2026; Raffle Prizes - dropped off at the school office at any time; Home baking - Tuesday 17th November (handed to the school office on the morning of Tuesday 17th). See poster on the school notice board at the back of St. Mary’s Church.

CALLED AND SENT - LEADERSHIP FORMATION FOR A SYNODAL CHURCH

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:18:43 GMT

The Bishops’ Conference are excited to offer Called and Sent, formation for Christian leaders. This course will equip people with skills and tools that, while necessary in the Church today, will be even more so in the Church going into the future, where clergy, lay and religious are called to be co-responsible for the ‘the being and action of the Church’. (Pope Benedict). We are looking for people who are prayerful, faith-filled and already involved in the life of the Church in their parish, diocese or organisation. The first formation day will take place on 23 January 2027 at the Ignatian Spirituality Centre in Glasgow, followed by four online evening sessions between February and May. For more information, and to apply for Called and Sent, go to: https://www.iscglasgow.co.uk/called-and-sent

SERVICE OF PRAYER FOR PEACE IN OUR WORLD

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:15:34 GMT

Sunday, November 22nd at 5.00 p.m. in St. Mary Star of the Sea. Organized by the LDCT Justice and Peace Group. Tea in the hall afterwards.

NATIONAL SAFEGUARDING CONFERENCE 2026

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:14:00 GMT

SATURDAY 07 NOVEMBER 2026 , UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE: 'Sacred Spaces - Safer Places: a call to action' is the theme of the SCSSA's 2026 National Safeguarding Conference taking place in Glasgow on Saturday 7th November 2026. The respective parish will pay the expenses of those safeguarding coordinators who wish to attend.

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL (St. Mary’s)

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:08:37 GMT

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL (St. Mary’s): Thursday 5th November , from 7-8pm in the parish hall.

VISITS TO THE SICK

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:04:42 GMT

While I am truly grateful for all of the hard and invaluable work of the Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul Society and of our Eucharistic Ministers (who serve both in the church and in bringing Communion to the housebound), I want to advise that any sick or housebound parishioner who would like a visit from me need only make that known to me, directly or indirectly. It is always a privilege and a joy to see you!

FIRST FRIDAYS & SACRAMENT OF THE SICK

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:01:12 GMT

Please note that, from now on, I will administer the Sacrament of the Sick during morning Mass on First Fridays (2nd November being the next one), unless there is a funeral. Sickness takes many forms and is not always visible. It is not a sacrament to be taken without proper preparation and consideration. Am I truly ill in mind or in body? Has my condition deteriorated in recent days or weeks to the point of danger to my life? Am I ready to go to the Sacrament of Confession for true spiritual healing? Only baptized Catholics can receive the Sacrament of the Sick. According to the law of the Church: “The anointing of the sick is not to be conferred upon those who persevere obstinately in manifest grave sin” (canon 1007).

November Lists

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:57:23 GMT

November Lists are a Catholic tradition where the names of deceased family members and friends are submitted to a parish so that daily Masses can be offered for them throughout the month of November, which the Church dedicates to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Lists and envelopes can now be found at the back of the church. Place your list with any donation for the priest into the envelope and pop the envelope into the box provided.

Our Parish Shrine: SS Carlo, Francis & Clare

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:50:38 GMT

In 2024, Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi granted St Mary, Star of the Sea a first-class relic of Carlo: two small snippets of his hair, sealed in a small golden reliquary with a certificate of authenticity dated 19 June 2024.

The parish is now creating a shrine to Saints Carlo, Francis and Clare at St Mary's. Its centrepiece will be a triptych of three hand-painted icons, written on wood from Serbia, with a display for Carlo's relic. The shrine is due to be completed and blessed by Bishop Frank Dougan in 2027

UPDATE ON PARISH SHRINE TO SS. CARLO, FRANCIS & CLARE:

With the help of an architect in the parish, we have now settled on the exact size of the three icons for the triptych which will form the central feature of the shrine. This will enable the iconographer to begin work once the wood required has been supplied from the source he uses in Serbia.

We are now working on determining the accessories that will be needed for the shrine, e.g. specialised glass coverings for the icons (non-reflective, UV-proof, etc.), lighting, the display for the first class relic of St. Carlo, kneelers, etc..). A list of these, together with an overall description of the project as well as some initial attempt at costing, has been submitted to the Diocese for approval.

Most Recent News: The wood on which the icons will be painted (originating from Serbia) has now been cut and the carver has carved out the size and shape agreed between myself and the iconographer for the three icons. The items are currently in transit to the UK. – Fr. Peter, 20.06.26

This is required for two reasons: first, any expenditure over £10k must receive diocesan approval; second, Bishop Frank has taken a personal interest in this project and so is pleased to be updated on its progress. With St. Carlo’s help, then, things are now beginning to take shape, but again it will be next Spring before we see the work completed and the shrine dedicated and blessed by the Bishop.

Mgr. Peter Magee, PP, 21st March 2026.

Saint of the Week

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:47:03 GMT

Charles Borromeo was a leading figure of the Catholic Reformation.

He was born in a castle on the shores of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, to a powerful family. He was related to the Medici through his mother. As the second son, he was destined for a career in the Church from an early age. He received a doctorate in civil and canon law at the University of Pavia, and when his uncle was elected Pope Pius IV in 1559 he was summoned to Rome and made a cardinal. Among many other responsibilities he was made administrator of the vacant diocese of Milan and protector of the Catholic cantons of Switzerland and of the Franciscans and the Carmelites.

He played a large part in the diplomatic efforts that led to the re-opening in 1562 of the reforming Council of Trent, which had been suspended since 1552. As long as the Church was in a weak and corrupt state, emperors and kings could control it and its assets – and they would not easily give up control.

In late 1562 Charles’s elder brother died, leaving him as head of the family. His relations wanted him to abandon his ecclesiastical career and marry, and even the Pope suggested it; but Charles saw his brother’s death as a sign of the vanity of human wishes. Eventually, in 1563, he settled the argument by secretly being ordained priest. He was soon consecrated as Archbishop of Milan, but the Pope would not let him leave Rome because he was needed there. He worked on the catechism, the Missal and the Breviary, and reformed his own diocese as well as he could from a distance through trusted deputies.

At length Pius IV died and in 1566 his successor permitted Charles to take up residence in his diocese. He began reform from the top, giving much of his property to the poor. He set up the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine to teach children the faith: it was the beginning and inspiration of the Sunday School movement. When famine struck the province, he fed 3,000 people at his own expense for three months and inspired others to do likewise. When plague came, he prepared himself for death, made his will, and went to the hospital where the worst cases were. After enormous amounts of nagging, preaching and persuasion the secular clergy at length followed his example.

As might be expected, Charles encountered determined opposition to his programme of reform. His aunts, in Dominican convents, treated the introduction of grilles as a personal insult. More seriously, the canons of one church slammed the door in his face to prevent him making a visitation and their servants fired at him, damaging the crucifix he was carrying; and the members of a rich and corrupt order of monks were so opposed to being reformed that one of them dressed as a layman, joined Charles’s household at evening prayer, and shot him. The assassin’s bullet did not penetrate Charles’s clothing. (Two years later the Pope had to suppress the order and distribute its assets: a sad end to an order that had done much good and produced many saints in its 350-year history).

The King of Spain, whose jurisdiction included Milan at the time, resisted any diminution of his power, and the next fifteen years are a complex tapestry of arrests, excommunications, denunciations, calumnies, and absolutions – ending at last in peace.

Charles’s final visitation was of the cantons of Switzerland in 1583, where as well as the usual corruptions and abuses he had to deal with senior priests who were practising witchcraft and sorcery, and enemies who claimed that his fight against heresy was a plot to extend Spanish domination into the region.

Charles died on 3 November 1584 at the age of 46.

Bishops of Scotland Office Of Communications & Evangelisation

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 19:23:23 GMT

BISHOPS OF SCOTLAND OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND EVANGELISATION: Our Bishops have recently launched this new office to support our common efforts in proclaiming the Gospel and witnessing to the life of the Church in our nation. It is one of the most encouraging initiatives to date coming from the Bishops’ Conference. As part of this mission, Being Catholic TV will now serve as the official digital platform of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. It will provide video content, livestreamed events, features from around the country, and faith formation resources to assist our parish communities in their work of evangelisation and outreach. To access these resources, visit beingcatholic.org or sign-up to the BCTV social channels.

We are invited to share our parish good news stories by sending them to media@bcos.org.uk We are also invited to consider how digital media can further our own local evangelisation efforts. Parishioners are encouraged to engage with Being Catholic TV and the resources it provides.

YOUNG ADULTS (S5-30) EVENING

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 16:21:21 GMT

The next Young Adults evening takes place from 6.30 pm - 8.00 pm in St Joseph’s, Kilmarnock on Sunday 1st November. This month, Fr Philip Kitchen will be continuing his series on “The History of the Church”. Any young adults welcome to come along and take part. Can’t join in person? Follow online! Register for online participation on the Youth Office website: youth.rcdg.org.uk

Reflections from Fr. Peter

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 16:06:04 GMT

With ALL your heart. Homily Notes

In answering the lawyer who questioned him, Jesus quotes the main part of the commandment God gave to Israel through Moses: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” We are to love God with all our being, nothing less. It is also a commandment, not a proposal or invitation. We must love God with all our being because that’s why He made us. It is our chief mission in life. We are made not for any love, but for the love of God. It is therefore the fulfilment of our humanity. Loving God cannot be a partial concern but all-consuming in every time and place. Whoever we are, whatever we do, whatever our obligations or relationships, our primary duty is to love God above all and with all and through all. If we are married, it is in and through marriage that we are to love God with all and above all; if we are single or celibate or widowed, we accept and embrace our state in life for the sake of loving God with all and above all.

Loving God brings unity and coherence to our lives and loves. It reconciles and harmonizes us and brings deep peace to our inmost self. No matter what ill or problem we have, we can bring it to God and make it serve our obedience to the commandment of loving Him through and in everything. Even in the most painful and overwhelming situations, we can turn to God in trust and surrender them to Him in love. This kind of love is tough and toilsome; it is defiant and determined; it is suffered and sorrowful; but for these very reasons, it is pure gold.

God can rightly ask this love of us because He has first loved us with all His heart and soul and mind and strength. Creating us was the first wave of that love for us. The Cross is the second and final wave since, upon it, God poured out Himself completely in Christ to raise us from the death of our sins and, at the last, from the death of the grave. Through the Cross we have received the Holy Spirit, the Gift of divine Love in person. “Come down, o Love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine and visit it with thine own ardour glowing. O, Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear and kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.” The Spirit is the power we have received to be able to love God above all, with all and through all. He deposits within us the inexhaustible treasure of the love of God. So, when we are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we have the power, we have the reserves to do so. It is God’s love in us with which we return love to Him. Perhaps we could say that He “en-lovens” us to be able to love Him with divine love itself.

What I am describing here is not something to consider as strange or alien to our humanity. God knows and, if we are thinking straight, weshould also know that our humanity’s true and lasting fulfilment can only be found in being loved by God and in loving God. The sin within and around us dulls and blinds us to the love of God. We get distracted by earthly loves. No matter how legitimate many of them may be, and however deeply we may experience them, they cannot fulfil our greatest capacity to love. And if we love our earthly loves more than we love God then, as Jesus says in the Gospel, we are not worthy of Him. The issue is not to deny our genuine earthly loves, but to love them and purify them from within the love of God. The love of a spouse, a child, a friend is surely a beautiful thing, but it cannot end either in them or in us. For if we truly love them, we will want them to come to know and love God. Any true love will seek to open the beloved out to the love of God. It will seek to invest the beloved with the love of God and bring both me and my beloved to find the fulfilment of our love in the love of God. We are to love our neighbour as ourself precisely because we must not love them as if they were God, nor must we love ourselves as if we were God. If our love remains merely human, it must eventually die because that is the fate of the merely human. But if our human love becomes the springboard, the doorway, the launch pad to reach up and out to the love of God, then we are allowing the trajectory of our love for our loved ones to reach heaven, to live for ever. Most certainly we prove our love for God in loving our neighbour, but we cannot say that love for our neighbour is just the same as our love for God. It may prove that love, but it is not that love, because our neighbour is not God.

And so, the greatest commandment is to love God. It is the greatest thing any human being can do, as the martyrs show us. The love of God should be our obsession, our constant motivation, our choicest prize and goal. When Moses conveyed to Israel the great commandment of love, he added that its words “shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” So, when you get up in the morning, let not your first thoughts be about the many things you have to do and get organized. Instead, turn first to the Lord and tell Him that you will do all you can today to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and ask Him to enkindle His Spirit in you to do it. Teach the love of God diligently to your children and grandchildren. It will ground them in God and they will love you for it. Talk about it at home together, talk about it with friends when you walk by the way. Give to the love of God the primacy and the supremacy in your heart, mind, soul, body, home and activity. Remember, too, that the Lord commands us to do this because He knows that it is the royal road to authentic and lasting happiness for us all. Don’t get trapped in the fake priorities and values with which consumerist and materialistic propaganda bombards you and your families. Assert with courage and clarity that the love of God comes first in everything because, after all, that love has put you first. Keep the Cross of Jesus to the front of mind and heart for it is the proof of God’s love for you. And may His love help us all to obey gladly His command to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength, until we see Him, face to face. Let us fall in love with God.

Solemnity of the Saints

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 15:38:15 GMT

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS:

“When He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

Safeguarding - October 2026 Statement

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:02:49 GMT

The Annual Safeguarding Statement for October 2026 has been released and can be viewed via the link below.

One day at a time, sweet Jesus. Homily Notes for the Requiem Mass of Mrs. Mary Rodden McBride, RIP

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 14:49:00 GMT

I want to thank Mary’s family for sharing with us the many good and admirable things about her and who she is. They paint a beautiful picture of a beautiful soul: her love for family and friends, her being a people person in the way she welcomed everyone, listened to their chat and needs and advised them with kindness and understanding. She loved life and she worked hard as a wife, mum and employee. In the hearts of so many, and especially of her loved ones, Mary left an indelible impression by her strength of presence and her unmistakeable love. We also learned from the eulogy that, like all of us, Mary had her share of suffering: she lost her son Neil as a boy to illness and, later in life, she herself succumbed to mental illness before the Lord called her to the next life. But there are three things in the eulogy which struck me in a special way and are worth commenting on further. The first was the lovely phrase the family addresses to Mary, “thank you for being you.” The second was when they said, “the love she gave us will be with us eternally” and the third was Mary’s love for the song, “One day at a time, Sweet Jesus.”

Thank you for being you. The family didn’t say, “thank you for having been you.” No, they don’t see Mary as “having been” but as “being.” And this contains a profound truth. The human person once created is infinite; they are never a “has been.” God created us to be for ever. He never disposes of us as a bygone, as if we were out of date. Those things you buy in the supermarket say “best before” this or that date. God marks our souls with “best for ever.” Death falsely claims to eliminate us, to undermine and undercut our dignity and the good and virtuous we have done in this life. But death is a liar. Hear again the words of the reading from the Book of Wisdom: “In the eyes of the foolish the souls of the righteous seemed to have died and their departure was thought to be an evil thing. And their going from us was thought to be their destruction; but they are at peace.” Death tries to pull the wool over our eyes as if to taunt us that our loved ones no longer exist. It’s true that we no longer see them, but, as the reading says, we are fools if we think that out of sight means out of existence. For our fervent prayer and confident hope is that they are at peace. God’s eyes see what and whom our eyes do not. Whether we are alive or dead to this life, we are all alive to God. The family thanks Mary for being who she is, but it is the Lord who makes Mary who she is and who keeps her as who she is until His mercy purifies and glorifies who she is in His sight, body and soul. Death was never an ingredient in the DNA which God created in any human being. Our true DNA is eternity, not death; our true destiny is not the grave but the throne of God. And so we can go on thanking Mary for being you because she is in the hands of God.

That’s why the second phrase I picked out from the eulogy is perhaps even truer than the family might have realised. They said that the love Mary gave them will be with them eternally. That, too, can only be true if Mary is eternal. By God’s gift we are all created for eternity. Mary’s love is eternal for you, her beloved family, because God’s eternal love for Mary empowers her to love you thus. Without God, our love, like our life, fades and dies. If death is the end of our existence, then our love dies with us and all our memories of love die too. And we rightly protest at such a horrendous thought because we all sense in our guts that love is not meant to die, that it defies and is stronger than death. This is a good instinct. In fact, it is a spark of the divine in us because no one more than God protests against death. No one more than God loves and His love is stronger than death because it is greater than life. In God, Mary’s love will be with you eternally.

And how do we know that God’s love is stronger than death and capable of destroying death and restoring life? Well, Mary’s favourite song gives us the clue. One day at a time, sweet Jesus! It is this sweet Jesus whose love for all of us and for each of us led Him to enter into death and to destroy it from the inside as only He could because He had never sinned but had only ever loved with a love beyond all telling. The love by which He died for us brought Him out of the grave in his resurrection to show and prove that love is stronger than death, not just his own death but all our deaths. He will die no more. All who believe and trust in Him and seek to love Him will likewise be raised from death, will love eternally like Him. He Himself taught us not to worry about tomorrow because the trouble of each day is sufficient to itself. And the reason we need not worry any more about tomorrow, today or yesterday is because the Day He rose from the dead is the eternal Day which frees us from fear and thus from worry and anxiety. So, whether we are poor, are mourning, hungering or thirsting or being reviled or persecuted, our faith in Christ makes us blessed, not because we are suffering those things, but because the Day of liberation and of future and eternal blessedness has already dawned. And it will have no end.

It is our sincerest and most heartfelt prayer that Mary may soon enter into that Day. Who knows? Perhaps it will be Neil who will take her by the hand when her time comes. Mary’s friendly and welcoming face we pray will be met by the equally friendly and welcoming faces of saints and angels, of all her loved ones who have gone before her and most of all by the glorious face of the sweet Jesus of whom she loved to sing. As Mary has now run her race to the end, the spotlight turns back to us as we travel through this life. We cannot return to our lives after the death of a loved one and go back to business as usual. It is madness to lose this opportunity to look again at our lives, our priorities, the values we espouse. Christ alone holds the keys of death and eternity. Since we know that we will most certainly die one day, it is a matter of common sense that we reach out to Him to show us how to live before we die. For our destiny after death is determined by how we live before death. Surely, we want to try and be among the righteous whose souls are in the hands of God and who are therefore at peace. Surely, we want to be among the blessed who will inherit the Kingdom of God. Surely, we want to love eternally both Christ and all who are with Him singing His sweetness in the eternal Day. We want all these things for Mary. Can we want them any less for ourselves? Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord ….

Mission Sunday. Homily Notes. Erring on the side of generosity. 18.10.26

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:33:00 GMT

Three times in the first reading today, God says of Himself: “I am the Lord, there is no other.” In the responsorial psalm, we hear the name of “the Lord” ten times, fifteen if you count the response. And in the Gospel, Jesus basically tells us to give ourselves to God, not to money nor to Caesar. In a word, as Pope Benedict XVI once said, the primary and unique gift which the Church has to offer humanity is God revealed in Jesus Christ.

The mission of the Church is thus to proclaim Christ to humanity. For his part, Pope Leo’s message for this Mission Sunday is “One in Christ – United in Mission.” We start from Christ, together, as One Body, one Spirit in Him. But our unity in Him is for the purpose of mission, to bring Him to the world as He Himself was sent on mission by the Father to bring the world back to God. 100 years ago, Pope Pius XI established that World Mission Sunday would take place on the penultimate Sunday of October. The two aims of Mission Sunday are to pray for and to offer financial help to support the missionary work of the Church throughout the world. In this effort, we are all missionaries and form part of the single great mission to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

The donations you give today to Missio Scotland will go to build much needed infrastructure such as churches, schools, orphanages, clinics and dispensaries where the Church is present in mission lands. The aim is to help local Catholic communities to become self-sufficient. Last year, the donations of Catholics across Scotland funded poor dioceses and parishes, feeding and educating children, educating novices and seminarians and helping catechists and their families. The Church in a total of nine countries was helped, for example, in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka.

This year, Missio Scotland plans to help Church initiatives in Albania and Ukraine. In the Missio magazine for this year, we are informed about the work of the Vincentian Fathers in a town called Grude e Re in Albania. Albania suffered terribly from Communism. From 1967 to 1991 religion was outlawed. Churches became warehouses, cinemas and sports halls. Priests were imprisoned or executed, and the practice of the faith was forced underground. Thirty-seven men and one woman were martyred for their faith and were beatified by Pope Francis in 2016. Although Communism ended more than three decades ago, the effects remain visible in poverty, unemployment, addiction, organised crime and family breakdown. The Vincentians accompany the elderly, families, children, prisoners, homeless and those struggling with addiction or mental illness. They restore dignity and they help people believe once again that their lives have value. They are setting up a men’s refuge in a town called Vinoteke which is supported by Missio Scotland to provide accommodation, pastoral care and professional support for men who have experienced homelessness, imprisonment, addiction or family breakdown. They receive not only a roof over their heads, but the chance to rebuild a life. The Missio magazine tells the moving stories of two men whose lives the Vincentians have been able to turn around completely as a result of the men’s refuge funded by donations from Scotland.

The magazine also tells of the Franciscan Sisters’ community in Shkoder in Albania who have a centre for children beside their own religious house. The centre had been under the threat of closure due to lack of funds, but the help offered by Missio Scotland has stopped that from happening. To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, some 50% of children in Albania have experienced psychological or physical aggression, while 26% between 11-15 have reported being physically abused. The Franciscan centre therefore fulfils a great need.

Help this year will also go to Ukraine to purchase electricity generators to see many poor and elderly through the cold winter (sometimes as low as -25 centigrade) made worse by daily Russian bombardments of energy infrastructure. Major attention will be given to Kharkiv near the front line and generators will be placed in parish and social centres which provide a place for people to receive a hot meal, recharge phones, meet with loved ones and also for children to receive education and socialise.

As Pope Leo says in his message for this Mission Sunday, our material outreach to the people and needs of mission lands must be rooted in our union with Christ. At the heart of every missionary effort is the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The Church is not an NGO, or a philanthropic or humanitarian organization: Her identity is rooted in Christ, nourished through prayer, the Word of God and the Sacraments. It is Christ whom we see in the least of our brethren and it is to Christ that we wish to introduce them or call them back. The work of Missio is a sign of hope and reconciliation in a world marked by conflict, division and mistrust.

We are all aware that the economy is very challenging at this time, and no-one should feel obliged to neglect their own genuine need to give to the special collection after Holy Communion. At the same time, let us err on the side of generosity for Albania and Ukraine. Think what you are prepared to pay for a night out, a holiday, or personal luxuries. What if it were your own grandparent who was freezing because of no electricity, or your own grandchild who was in need of protection or basic education? Remember the widow’s mite, not because it was a mite, a small amount, but, as Jesus Himself commented, because it was all she had to live on. When St. Paul was asking for help from one church community for the sake of another, he said that what gave him joy was not so much the generous amount of money they gave but that, in giving it, interest was mounting up in their account in heaven. Anyway, thank you for what you can and do give and may the Lord reward you as only He can. End with the prayer.

“Without the Sunday Eucharist, we cannot live.” Homily notes, 11.10.26

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 10:37:00 GMT

What is this wedding banquet? It is the eternal celebration in heaven of the new and everlasting covenant between God and redeemed and risen humanity. It is made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He died to swallow up sin and death and to raise us up to live for ever with God and in God. This banquet was first anticipated in the Jewish Passover. It was fulfilled in the sacrament of the Last Supper, the institution of the Eucharist, the Mass. And it will be fully revealed in the supper of the Lamb. To it, all humanity is invited.

This is why the Mass is so important. It’s not just an external action or event, however holy, which we can take or leave as we choose. The Mass literally prepares us for eternity; it spells out for us what will happen in eternity. For there, we will come to know evermore profoundly the living Word of God, Christ Himself, and in response, as we do in the first part of the Mass, we will praise and thank Him for His truth. We will also worship and commune with Christ and with the whole of redeemed humanity and creation in a bond of everlasting love and joy, as we do in the second part of the Mass.

The Mass shows us the truest form of God’s love and life, how God “ticks”, His utter self-sacrificing love. But it also draws and absorbs us into God. As children learn and absorb the words and actions of love of their parents by being with them and trusting in them, so at Mass we are invited to be just as open, as sons and daughters of God, to take on God’s mind, God’s heart, God’s style, God’s life. At Mass, we learn God, we are educated in God. Through the simplicity of the words and gestures we perform together, we are letting ourselves be transformed by God into His chosen people. We are not a group of isolated individuals standing, kneeling and sitting in parallel to one another, as if we were not connected with one another at the deepest spiritual level. Rather, as Jesus once put it, “when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself.” Well, the Mass is Christ’s being lifted up, first on the Cross, then in the Ascension, drawing us together in Him and upwards with Him to the throne of God.

This can only mean that all we are and have, our whole lives and loves, our sufferings and joys, our efforts to repent, are likewise drawn into the Mass. Before Christ we cannot divide our lives into private, social, professional, religious or whatever. Our entire lives lie open to Him and He desires us to want to immerse that entirety in the redeeming power and logic of the Mass. We are called to make the Mass our way of being in response to His way of being. The Mass heals our lives and who we are ; it draws our fragmentation into order and harmony. It gives us a way of thinking and acting which can resist and dismiss the false narratives on the meaning and purpose of life (secularism, materialism, atheism, workaholism, etc.). Naturally, this requires of us a positive act of faith and trust in the King and in his invitation. It requires us to want to study and learn more about the Mass. Above all, we need to ask for the grace truly to love the Mass, that is, to love Christ and what He has done for us, to love the banquet of the Mass so as to be ready to celebrate the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb. Going to Mass should stir our hearts with joy of belonging to Christ and make of us eager messengers who run to the highways and byways to invite others to come, too.

In His parable, Jesus warns us though, against three things: the refusal to accept the invitation, inattention to it and violent anger against the messengers who press the invitation. There are those who refuse to come. Who are they? Only they and Jesus know. Why do they refuse? Again, only they and Jesus know. We can be quick to list some reasons: scandals in the Church, the pull of materialism, self-will, the mania of being busy, I don’t like the church, I don’t like the priest, I don’t like the congregation. But only the people involved truly know if the reasons they give are the true reasons. Yet what they must also understand is that, whatever their reasons, they are at risk of refusing God. Then there are those who are indifferent or who pay no attention. The parable tells us that they prioritize other things such as a farm or a business. Today, it could be sport, holidays, shopping or a screen. This amounts to idolatry, when mere things or sheer selfishness are preferred to God. Then there are those who want to suppress the messengers who bring the invitation. To silence the messenger is to silence the God who sent him.

It is a precept of the Church that baptized Catholics are to attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation, unless there is truly an objective and proportionate reason not to attend. This precept is, yes, rooted in the third commandment, keep holy the sabbath day; but more importantly it is rooted in the invitation of the Lord to praise and worship Him for the mighty deeds of His love in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Mass makes those deeds present for us here and now. It is no wonder that, in the year 304 AD, the 49 Martyrs of Abitene in modern day Tunisia preferred death rather than fail to attend Sunday Mass. Under interrogation, one of them said, “without the Sunday Eucharist we cannot live.” Where would I stand if faced with the same choice?

Sharon Fleming, RIP. Homily: The only answer.

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 13:54:00 GMT

That’s why death is such a desecration of our humanity. It is the ugly and violent cynicism of the Evil One who detests the beauty of true love, who hates the communion of life between us human beings and who abhors God’s love for us. When he tempted our first parents with the fake promise that they would be like gods if they listened to him and sinned, his purpose was only ever to inflict death on humanity. Do what you want, not what God wants, was like a Trojan horse entering the human heart. It looks and sounds good, but it becomes like a parasite in the heart, poisoning it with selfish illusion and the relentless free fall into nothingness. For without God, we return to nothing; without God, our sacredness devolves into profanity; without God, as one of the psalms says, “our thoughts are no more than a breath” and “like grass we spring up in the morning and by evening we wither and fade.”

The only answer that has ever been given to this in human history is the only man who has ever died and risen from death never to die again. His Name is Jesus Christ the Lord. He alone is the hope of humanity to live for ever. He alone is the hope we have been given as a race and as individuals to overcome death and its root cause which is sin. He alone opens His arms to welcome anyone who will come to Him and who will abandon the fantasy of believing that what this life offers with all its glitter and glamour is all that we mean, all that we are reduced to, as if our souls and hearts can really be fulfilled by mere things and experiences and personal theories and ideas. In the face of death , all these things mean nothing and reduce us to nothing. In the face of Christ, we mean everything and we will become everything in union with Him.

Mr Ronald Bissett, RIP (St. Mary’s)

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 19:40:09 GMT

Very sorry to announce the death of Ron at Crosshouse Hospital this morning, 5th October. Duly fortified by the Rites of the Church, may he now rest in peace. May the Lord sustain with His merciful love the entire family and all his many friends in Largs and beyond. The Requiem Mass will be on Thursday 5th November at 10am in St. Mary’s, and thereafter to the Brisbane Glen Cemetery.

Forgiveness and the Sacrament

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 02:43:06 GMT

How hard it can be to forgive! And yet the Lord commands us to forgive. For if we don’t forgive, we won’t be forgiven. It’s clear; it’s simple; it’s uncompromising. And, yes, it can demand heroism. The parable of the wicked tenant really elaborates the words of the Our Father: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus instructs us in the parable on what true forgiveness means both for the one who forgives and for the one who is forgiven.

We see that, before anything else, the one who forgives, the master in the parable, is just. He calls his servants to account. He wants to know what their debts are. His justice also makes the punishment fit the crime for the extravagant wastefulness and thievery of the wicked servant. Ten thousand talents would be equivalent today to £200 million if the talents were of silver, or tens of billions if they were of gold. The Master is also compassionate and ready to forgive whenever a plea for mercy comes to him. He listens to the plea of the guilty servant and is moved to forgive him his entire debt. And yet, his compassion and mercy don’t annul his justice. For when he later hears that the one he had forgiven so generously did not in turn forgive his colleague, he withdraws both compassion and mercy from him and, in justice, inflicts the original punishment with even more righteous anger. God will not be mocked or taken for a fool. Mercy does not mean that injustice can have free reign, that we can do anything because God, the old softie, will forgive us. God will forgive the sincere plea for mercy, but He expects it to lead to conversion of life. Showing mercy to others, who likewise ask sincerely for it, is a central part of that.

From the perspective now of the one who has done wrong and wants forgiveness, he must first admit to that very wrong and show sincere sorrow for having done it. To run up such a huge debt, the wicked servant must have spent years at it. Whether or not he knew or cared about it at the time, he was certainly forced to face it when he was called to account. When he was, and saw the punishment due for it, he pleaded for mercy. Maybe his plea was at first sincere, but no sooner is he absolved than he reverts to type. He goes back to his old ways of injustice using violence and intimidation and using the very justice system itself to inflict on his colleague the prison sentence he had himself been spared. The 100 talents he was owed would be worth about £150 today or, at the most, £3,000.

The wicked servant shows no real remorse for stealing and wasting his master’s property. His plea for mercy was a show. In his own mind, he neither needed nor wanted mercy. Opportunist that he was, he only wanted to abuse the master’s compassion to be free to go on doing what he always did. The master’s mercy ran off him as water off a duck’s back. His heart was closed, dark and vengeful, with no pity, no compassion, no mercy.

Brothers and sisters, God’s justice, God’s law, matters. It is His gift of love to us to teach us how to live authentically, since only He knows the right way for us to live. It is God’s law, not ours to squander or throw away as we please. Anyone who goes through life violating it squanders it. Some might protest they didn’t know better, so they can’t be considered guilty. But God’s law is written on our hearts. Our conscience testifies to it and reproaches us, if we haven’t totally silenced it. Those of us who have been given the gift of faith know it even more fully in the Scriptures and in the Teaching of the Church. Whether we claim to know it or not, God will call each of us to account for how we have used all of the great gifts He has given us. Not just His law, but also His grace, His sacraments and all the rest. That’s what the particular judgment is that we will all receive immediately after death.

The wicked servant was insincere. Even more than the property, he squandered the mercy of the Master. Christ invites us to approach Him confidently to ask for mercy and compassion, but to do so sincerely and to take it truly to heart. Proof that we have taken it to heart is that we show mercy and compassion to others who ask us for them. God is always ready to forgive but we don’t have access to that forgiveness if we do not ask for it. And we will only ask for it if we admit and confess to Him the sins that we have committed. The forgiveness of sins pertains to Christ, but He has chosen to exercise it through His Body the Church, especially in the sacraments of baptism and confession. If we really want to be sure that our sins have been completely forgiven, especially any mortal sin, after receiving Baptism the Sacrament of Confession is the royal way.

Like Christ, we must always be ready to forgive if we are asked for it. In forgiving we are not condoning any injustice done to us or to others. Rather our love is extending to the other the hope and the opportunity to live a more just existence. If we are not ready to forgive, even if it takes time and courage and effort, then it means that we have not yet let the forgiveness of Christ penetrate our hearts. The sacrament of confession intends to go beyond forgiving our sins. It intends to instil in us a habit and culture of mercy and compassion, one which permeates not only our individual lives but also our relationships, our mindset and way of looking at people and situations. Married and family life in particular can benefit hugely from the practice and grace of this sacrament. It teaches us to know how to ask humbly for pardon, to say sorry, and so to give it generously to one another, to say it’s ok. It weeds out often hidden resentments and hurts which are left unspoken and which can become real sources of pain and brokenness in a household. I encourage everyone to rediscover the power and beauty of this Sacrament of the Cross, so that we can experience the freedom and joy of Divine Mercy and pray more deeply and more sincerely those words of the Our Father: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Eucharistic Testimony of Padre Pio (2026)

Thu, 07 May 2026 02:30:14 GMT

One of the greatest saints of the twentieth century was Padre Pio. His devotion to the Eucharist both taken in itself and in its celebration, the Mass, gives us a greater insight into this great sacrifice. Padre Pio has taught us that when we attend Mass, it is not just a memorial of The Last Supper, a past event, but also a partaking here and now in the eternal sacrifice made by Jesus for us at Calvary. Padre Pio suffered the wounds of Christ, the stigmata, during the fifty years of his priestly life and experienced a sharing in the pain suffered by Jesus during His passion. This was especially visible to all present during his celebration of Holy Mass.

Padre Pio had an amazing devotion to the Holy Eucharist –during the Mass he would be completely united to Jesus in His Passion and Death. He clearly saw Jesus there with him, dying crucified on the cross, and truly and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament. He would frequently remain in contemplation while holding Jesus in the Eucharist in his hands.

Padre Pio was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, on May 25th,1887, and died in San Giovanni, Rotondo, Italy on September 23, 1968. While the lives of every saint contain many extraordinary events, the life of Padre Pio is especially marked by the presence of the supernatural. Right from his childhood, the young Pio used to see and speak regularly with his guardian angel and this was so natural to him, that he thought everybody else had this same experience. God gave many amazing gifts to this saint. He had the capacity to “read souls”- that is, to know ahead of time the sins of those who came to him for confession. He was able to “bi-locate”- be in two places at the same time, knowing what was going on in faraway places, and doing things in more than one place at the same time.

His devotion to the Holy Rosary was only surpassed by his devotion to Eucharistic Adoration. Padre Pio is the patron saint of Eucharistic Adorers because of the many hours he spent in Adoration. In adoration was the place he was to be found when his fellow friars were looking for him. He was so happy during his many hours of Adoration that he wrote, “When I am close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I feel as if my heart is bursting out of my chest.” He tells us, too, to kneel down in humble devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Confide all your needs to Him, along with those of others. Speak to Him with total abandonment, give free rein to your heart and give Him free rein to work in you as He thinks best.

For Padre Pio, the Holy Eucharist was far more than a symbol. It was a powerful reality that fuelled his life and ministry. Padre Pio’s Masses became famous for their length and intensity, often lasting over two hours as he immersed himself in prayer, especially during the consecration. His unwavering faith in the real presence of Jesus drew thousands to witness these moments of grace. Padre Pio’s deep adoration of the Eucharist wasn’t only lived privately but also taught fervently. He encouraged his spiritual children to receive Communion frequently, seeing it as essential nourishment for the soul. As he wrote to one of his spiritual daughters: “It is illusory to want to convince yourself that you can take even one step towards perfection without frequent Communion.” However, Padre Pio stressed the importance of approaching Communion with the right spirit. Receiving the Eucharist out of habit, indifference, or without due preparation can harden the heart instead of nourishing it. Following the wisdom of Pope St. Pius X, we are reminded to receive Communion in a state of grace and with a sincere intention—to please God, deepen our union with Him, and seek spiritual strength.

According to some estimates, approximately 20 million people attended the Mass celebrated by Padre Pio. Concerning the value of the Mass, Padre Pio said: “If men only appreciated the value of one holy Mass they would need traffic officers at church doors every day to keep the crowds in order.” Padre Pio was asked what his Mass meant to him. He responded: “It is a sacred participation in the passion of Jesus. All that the Lord suffered in His passion, I suffer, to the extent that it is possible to a human being. And that is apart from any merit of mine, but entirely due to His goodness.” He would say: “Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvellous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know. It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”

On July 25, 1915, Padre Pio wrote a letter to Annita Rodote on how to properly attend the Holy Mass: “The Divine Master calls the church the house of prayer. In order to avoid irreverence and imperfections I exhort you in the Lord to: Enter the church in silence and with great respect. Take the holy water and make the sign of the cross carefully and slowly. At your pace, kneel down and render to Jesus the tribute of you presence. Confide to him all your needs, and those of others. Speak to him with filial abandonment. Be very composed when standing up, kneeling down, and sitting. Carry out every religious act with the greatest devotion. Be modest in your glance. Don’t turn you head here and there to see who enters and leaves. Don’t laugh. Don’t speak to anybody, except when requested for charity or other strict necessity. Say the words distinctly, observe the pauses, and never hurry. Behave in such a way that all those present are edified by you. Don’t leave without asking Jesus for his blessing, and forgiveness for your shortcomings. Leave the church recollected and calm.”

From his own handwriting to his spiritual directors and the spiritual daughter Cleonice Morcaldi, we know that Padre Pio experienced during Mass the Passion of Jesus, including the Agony in the Garden with the sweat of blood, the scourging, the crowning of thorns, the hostile crowds, the Via Crucis, Veronica, Simon of Cyrene, the Crucifixion, the seven words, the sipping of the gall, the death and deposition. “My Mass is a sacred accomplishment of the Passion of Jesus.” “In knowing the Passion of Jesus, you will also know my Passion.” “The Mass is the complete union between Jesus and me.” “All of Paradise is close to the altar when I say Mass.” “The angels attend my Mass In legions.” “The angels around the altar adore and love.” “The Holy Virgin assists me.” “During the Consecration a new, awesome and wonderful annihilation and creation happens.” “I suffer all what Jesus suffered, from the Garden to the Cross.” “I inadequately suffer to the extent a human creature can possibly suffer.” “I suffer the agony of death like Jesus in the Garden Gethsemane.” “The sufferings are so acute that they can neither be described nor imagined.” “I suffer the bitterness of gall very often during the Mass.” “I suffer the most from the Consecration to the Communion.” “My suffering is insignificant compared to the suffering Jesus experienced.” “I don’t want my Calvary to be alleviated; rather to make it harder. We must suffer.” “The offertory is the moment when the soul becomes detached from all that is profane.” “I suffer the crowning of thorns during the Holy Mass and also before and after it.” “Without the crown of thorns the immolation would not be complete. The thorns are around the whole head.” “The crown of thorns is never taken away. The head and the heart are the wound that hurt the most.” “I suffer the scourging from the beginning to the end of the Mass, but more intensely after the Consecration.” “I also speak the “seven words” that Jesus stated on the Cross.” “During the Way of the Cross I am Jesus Himself. Jesus himself helps me like Simon of Cyrene and Veronica” “At Calvary, there were screams, blasphemies, loud clamour, and threats . . . that was really an uproar.” “I find my rest on the Cross.” “In His last gaze the dying Jesus looked towards His Holy Mother.” “I put last gaze on my brothers in exile.” “In the Communion I ask the Lord to let me be another Jesus, all Jesus, always Jesus.” “My Communion is a fusion. Like two candles that fuse together and cannot be distinguished one from the other.” “I die mystically, at the Holy Communion. The Communion is the culminating point of my suffering.” “In the communion Jesus put his delight in his creature.” “The Eucharist gives an idea of the union we will have in heaven.” “How could I live failing even for a single morning to receive Jesus in the Communion?” “Help me carry the cross. I who carry it for all.” “O Lord, don’t strike my poor brothers, strike me.” “I want to expiate the sins of all, like Jesus did on the cross.” “I take all iniquities on myself, as it is part of the Divine Sacrifice.” “I see all my children who come to the altar, as if in a mirror. I tell Mary: Here are the children of your Son.” “If we only knew how God regards it, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass.” “The Mass gives to God an infinite glory.” “Mass is redemption of your soul and reconciliation with God.” “Listen to the Mass the way the virgin Mary stood at the Calvary” “The holy Mass regenerates the world.” “The fruits that we receive at Mass cannot be enumerated. We will know it only in Paradise.” “I want to save my soul at any cost.” “I live for Jesus Christ, I live for his glory, I live to serve him, I live to love him.” “If it depended on me I would never leave the altar”

14 Wonders of the Power of Holy Mass

1 – At the hour of death, your greatest consolation will be the Holy Masses that you devoutly attended during your life.

2 – Every Holy Mass you have heard will accompany you to the Divine Court and will advocate for you to obtain forgiveness.

3 – With each Holy Mass you can lessen the temporal punishment that you deserve for your sins, in proportion to the Fervour with which you listen.

4 – With the devout participation of the Holy Mass you pay the greatest homage to the Most Holy Humanity of Our Lord. The well-attended Holy Mass supplies your greatest negligence and omission.

5 – For the Holy Mass well heard forgive all your venial sins that you are determined to avoid, and many others that you do not even remember. The demon also loses control over you.

6 – By offering the Holy Mass, you offer even greater comfort to the blessed souls of Purgatory.

7 – A Holy Mass devoutly attended while you live, will bring you much more benefit than many offered for you after your death.

8 – You are freed from many dangers and misfortunes in which you might fall, if it were not for Holy Mass.

9 – Remember also that with Holy Mass you reduce your purgatory.

10 – With each Holy Mass you increase your degree of glory in Heaven. In it you receive the blessing of the Priest, which God ratifies in heaven.

11 – During the Holy Mass you kneel in the midst of a multitude of angels invisibly attending to the Holy Sacrifice.

12 – You get blessings in your business and temporal affairs.

13 – When we hear Holy Mass in honour of a particular saint, giving thanks to God for the favours requested of this saint, we gain his protection and special love, for the joy and happiness that his works follow.

14 – Every day that we hear Mass, besides the other intentions, we must honour the Saint of the day.

Prayer of St. Pio of Pietrelcina after Holy Communion

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak

and I need Your strength,

that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life,

and without You, I am without fervour.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light,

and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice

and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You

very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is,

I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes; death, judgment, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You.

It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers. I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You,

if not by communion, at least by grace and love.

Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it,

but the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.

With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth

and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen

______

Reflection.

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted both the Eucharist and the ordained Priesthood (“do this in memory of me”). The priest exists for the Eucharist. At ordination, I remember well the words of the Bishop: “conform your life to the mystery of the Lord’s Cross.” Well, all these truths find an emblematic and exemplary realization in Padre Pio. His own mystical experience as recounted before and the experience of those who witnessed Him celebrate Mass lead to an inevitable conclusion: that you could hardly distinguish between Padre Pio and the Mass. In him, priesthood as being for the Eucharist attained a sublime degree of perfection.

There were many criticisms of Padre Pio during his life and after his death that he was a fake, a play-actor, a showman. Were that true, it would have been impossible for the deceit in his soul in such sacred matters to have survived. In other words, the fact of his 81 years of life and utter fidelity to the priesthood, as well as the multiple signs of true holiness of his life, is what lays to rest the criticisms.

As well as that, there are the wisdom, depth and insightfulness of his words concerning the Eucharist and the Mass. The many quotations I gave of his Eucharistic sayings bear witness to the depth and authenticity of his Eucharistic life. And, if we remember that the sacrifice of the Mass is offered for the forgiveness of sins, his astonishing ministry in the confessional provides further and irrefutable evidence of his mystical life.

In conclusion, and while we marvel at the gift of grace which God has given us in Padre Pio, the call to us is not to admire him only, as if a museum piece, but to seek to emulate and imitate him in our own Eucharistic life. Sincerity of intention, depth of faith, readiness to sacrifice to be at Mass, determination to be spiritually prepared for the act of Holy Communion, the discipline of behaviour and attitude at Mass and at adoration and, above all, a genuine desire to love Christ in the Eucharist so truly as to share in His sufferings for our own salvation and for those of the world. The Eucharist, if well received, opens us up and out in love to the world and draws us away from the narrow confines of our own limited circle. And that’s as it should be, for the Eucharist is the same Christ who died for all humanity and rose for its resurrection. Padre Pio, draw us into the Eucharist and the Mass so that we may be drawn out of ourselves and live in loving service to others after the example of the One who came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.

_____

Sources:

https://www.stfrancisadoration.org/st%20padre%20pio.htm#:~:text=He%20is%20a%20Patron%20Saint,me%20come%20near%20the%20Tabernacle%22 .

https://followingpadrepio.org/padre-pio-and-the-living-presence-of-christ-in-the-eucharist/

https://issuu.com/irdduhallow1/docs/issue_123_final_for_web/s/57481602

https://www.theworldofourlord.com/daily-mass/st-pio-the-value-of-holy-mass

https://padrepiodevotions.org/stay-with-me-lord/

test news

anthony@everydaychristianmarketing.co.uk (Anthony Evans) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 12:38:39 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Test Coffee and Tea

anthony@everydaychristianmarketing.co.uk (Anthony Evans) — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:31:56 GMT

Coffee and tea - session

Mass for Young people

anthony@everydaychristianmarketing.co.uk (Anthony Evans) — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 12:44:16 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Make a list

Lists are great ways to stay on track. Write down some big things you want to accomplish and some smaller things, too.

Check the list regularly

Don’t forget to check in and see how you’re doing. Just because you don’t achieve the big goals right away doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.

Reward yourself

When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively

Positive thinking is a major factor in success. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.

Blessed Carlo Acutis - Notes on his Eucharistic life (2024)

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 01:53:53 GMT

Blessed Carlo Acutis: Some notes on his Eucharistic life, 19.09.24

Posted on 20/09/2024 Posted By: Peter Magee Categories: B. Carlo ,

Eucharistic Awakenings

Carlo’s Parents were not practising, but had a basic faith; they had Carlo baptized.
Many fathers of the Church speak of the “natural desire for God” in the human being, and even to see the face of God. As we know, it gets suffocated by so many things in this life. In the baptized, like Carlo, this natural desire is enhanced, heightened by divine grace. This, too, sadly, can get suffocated.
Carlo would have followed so many today who fall away but for his Polish nanny, Beata. She had a lively faith, was practising, and had great devotion to JP2.
Children of 3-4 years begin to ask big questions about life. Carlo did the same to his mother and to Beata. Beata was first to take him to Mass and to speak of Holy Communion to Carlo. He accepted as a child does that what he was taught is true especially because it was Jesus who said, “this is my body.”
Before going to school even, Carlo pestered his mother to take him to see Jesus. These awakenings morphed into pestering and persistence and insistence. He would make the sign of the Cross in passing the church, possibly learning this from Beata or from the Irish or Scottish nannies he also had.
Such was the strength of his baptized desire to receive the Eucharist, he managed to convince everyone who mattered that he could receive it two years sooner than normal. He was a daily communicant by the age of seven.

We are disheartened by the number of parents who don’t practice and may not believe. We see the deleterious effect of that on children: no-one speaks to them about the things of God in direct, convincing and simple terms. Yet a child is constitutionally open to God, to faith, like Carlo. Carlo’s intensity of desire was probably unusual, a gift of Christ preparing him for his call to holiness, but the desire is still there and needs fed and educated by believing parents or godparents.

Eucharistic Engagement

By engagement, I mean Carlo’s participation in daily Mass and his adoration before and after Mass and at other times.
The Mother Superior of the monastery where Carlo received his first holy communion at age seven said that: “while Carlo was reverent during the Mass, as the time drew near for him to receive the Eucharist, he began to show signs of ‘impatience’ and he began to move as if he could no longer sit still. After receiving Jesus for the first time, it seemed that something had happened to him, only known to him, something so big that he could not contain.” From fidgeting, he entered a calm stillness, evident to all around him.
After the powerful experience of his first Communion, Carlo made a personal resolution to go to Mass every day. He would make the effort to wake up early and do whatever was needed to make it to Mass. In addition to bringing his parents along with him, he frequently invited others to join him as well. He said that “you go straight to heaven if you participate in the Mass each day.” And, boy, did he long to go straight to heaven! Another of his teachings is: “The more we receive the Eucharist, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.”
Carlo recognized that the soul who commits to daily Mass is brought daily closer and closer to heaven and to the gift of salvation. After receiving Jesus in the Eucharist each day, the simple prayer that Carlo would say was “Jesus, come right in! Make yourself at home!” This humble prayer to Jesus as a close friend shows us the simplicity of eucharistic faith.
Pope St. John Paul II refers to the “Eucharistic amazement” we should both ask for from God and seek to develop in ourselves. For Carlo, that amazement grew through the practice of eucharistic adoration. Before or after Mass, Carlo would spend long periods of time adoring Jesus in the Eucharist. He would make a point to attend eucharistic adoration two to three times each week to speak simply to Jesus about the desires of his heart.
Carlo realised that it is the Eucharist which draws out of us the true original person we are meant to be. He would see many around him try to be their own individual selves, but without their noticing it, most, if not all, were simply just following the crowd, being just like everyone else. That’s where his little teaching came from, “everyone is born original, but most die as photocopies.” Maybe I could adapt another of his phrases: the Eucharist is not only the highway to heaven but also the highway to being your true, original self.
Being the original person God wants you to be is really just another way of talking about personal holiness. Another little Eucharistic teaching of Carlo is that “people who stand before the sun get a tan, but people who stand before the Eucharist get holiness.” The Eucharistic wisdom of Carlo was not learnt from books, but from living a Eucharistic life.
Carlo’s engagement with the Eucharist also led him to see that devotion to it and to the Sacred Heart are one and the same thing. He had a great devotion to St. John, the Beloved Disciple, because he leaned on the heart of Jesus at the Last Supper. For Carlo, this was an act of Eucharistic adoration.

Carlo’s engagement with the Eucharist both in the devout participation in daily Mass and in frequent adoration, both before and after Mass, as well as 2-3 other times in the week, beckons us to consider a number of things. People today talk a lot about hygiene: sleep hygiene, dental hygiene, food hygiene. What is my Eucharistic hygiene? For example, prayerful preparation for Mass and Communion at home or in the church. What quality of time do I give to thanksgiving afterwards? Is the atmosphere in the church before and after Mass conducive to prayer? If not, what can we each do to improve that, and what can we do as a community? Do I have any kind of commitment to Eucharistic devotion outside of Mass, whether the Blessed Sacrament is exposed or not? Carlo did whatever he could to arrange things so that the Eucharist came first and his own convenience and routines came second. I know myself how easy it is to say to myself, “oh, I have to do this, or must do that” which is sometimes true, but other times it’s not actually so necessary. We must all consider these things for ourselves, of course, but maybe Carlo invites us to give the benefit of the doubt to the Eucharist, to arrange or rearrange things to give priority to the Eucharist.

Eucharistic Action

The real test and therefore proof of the authenticity of Carlo’s Eucharistic life was the fact that he lived out the Agape love, the self-sacrificing love, of the Eucharist in loving action in favour of others.
He befriended everyone and anyone, from schoolmates, to the down and out, to the immigrants, to the door-keepers, to those he met of whatever state in life. He defended the underdog and literally put his money where his mouth was, spending his allowance on caring for the needy and poor around him, and depriving himself of excess and extra even in his own personal clothing, food and comfort.
The Eucharist was a veritable engine of charity and action which impelled him to teach younger children the faith and give witness to the teaching of the church among his peers even at the cost of ridicule.
Because he wanted everyone to know and share his own love for the Eucharist he went to extraordinary measures to teach himself computer science so that he could build a website that would provide the scientific evidence for Eucharistic miracles.
Even in the face of death, he imitated the Eucharistic Christ in offering his sufferings and death for others, for the Church and for the Pope. All of his short and intense life revolved around the Eucharist, was lived for it and from its power. Most of us take the long, winding road to eternity, but Carlo most certainly took the most direct and fastest highway, or rather, he let Christ take him on that highway. If I may dare to say this: if I were Christ, why wouldn’t I want to bring this boy home to me a.s.a.p., both because of the intensity of my love for him, and because of the enormity of the work I have in store for him to do in interceding for mankind?

So, Lord, in your presence, we ask you to hear Carlo’s prayers for our parish in this time of Festival in honour of your Mother, for the children and the sick, for the lapsed and the lost, for the married and the single, for the confused and the despairing, for the hard of heart and for the broken-hearted. Send Carlo to lead us more deeply into your Holy Eucharist, to revive our awakenings, our engagement and our action. By your grace, banish all that in us is mere photocopy and restore us through holiness to be the original images of yourself which you created and redeemed us to be.

Relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 01:57:39 GMT

THE FIRST CLASS RELIC OF BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS (1991-2006)

GRANTED TO THE PARISH OF ST. MARY, STAR OF THE SEA, LARGS

BY THE MOST REVEREND DOMENICO SORRENTINO

ARCHBISHOP-BISHOP OF ASSISI-NOCERA UMBRA-GUALDO TADINO

The relic consists of two snippets of Blessed Carlo’s hair. The Latin inscription on the relic reads “ex capillis Caroli Acutis” which translates as “from the (head) hair of Carlo Acutis.” The Certificate, signed by Archbishop Sorrentino, is in Latin, and translates thus:

“To one and all who will read this document, we guarantee and witness that, for the greater glory of Almighty God and the veneration of his Saints, and from the authentic remains which are kept with us, we have extracted from the authentic place this particle (i.e. the hair) from the body of BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS, and we have reverently placed it in a small, round, golden container, protected by crystal, securely closed, tied with a red, silk cord and marked with our seal, and have given it over with the faculty to keep it and to expose it to the public veneration of the faithful, in accordance with Canon Law. As a sign of authenticity, we have provided this testimonial document, signed with our own hand and marked with our seal. Given in Assisi on the 19th day of the month of June in the year 2024. +Domenico Sorrentino, Bishop.”

Future opportunities for veneration of the relic will be announced as appropriate. In due course, a simple shrine in honour of Blessed Carlo, who is to be canonised during the Holy Year of 2025, will be erected in St. Mary’s Church.

The veneration of relics hails from earliest times in the Church. St. John Henry Newman, who was at first sceptical of the devotion of relics, later came to believe that their importance can be associated with defending the Incarnation of Christ. As God became flesh and dwelt amongst us, so the bodies of the Blesseds and Saints were Temples of the Holy Spirit to the extent that they have been formally beatified or canonised by the Church.

It is not the relic itself which is of primary importance. We need to avoid superstition or magical notions in this matter. Rather, we are asking God to grant a grace or favour through the intercession of the Blessed or Saint whose relic we venerate. We are praising and thanking God for the power of His grace in the life and witness of the Saint or Blessed in question. We are also being reminded of our own vocation to holiness of life in our own spirit and body, something for which we need the help and assistance of our brothers and sisters who are already in the Communion of Saints.

Recently, in 2017, and with the full approval of Pope Francis, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has written the following:

“Relics in the Church have always received particular veneration and attention because the body of the Blesseds and of the Saints, destined for the resurrection, has been on earth the living temple of the Holy Spirit and the instrument of their holiness, recognized by the Apostolic See through beatification and canonization. The relics of the Blesseds and of the Saints may not be displayed for the veneration of the faithful without a proper certificate of the ecclesiastical authority who guarantees their authenticity.” (Instruction, “Relics in the Church: Authenticity and Preservation”).

Official Prayer for the Canonisation of Blessed Carlo:

O God our Father,
we thank you for giving us Carlo,
a model of life for young people,
and a message of love for all.
You made him fall in love with your son Jesus,
making the Eucharist his “highway to heaven.”
You gave him Mary as a beloved mother,
and you made him, through the Rosary,
a cantor of her tenderness.
Receive his prayer for us.
Look above all upon the poor, whom he loved and assisted.
Grant me too, through his intercession, the grace
that I need (mention your intention).
And make our joy full, raising Carlo among
the saints of your Church,
so that his smile shines again for us
to the glory of your name. Amen.

Carlo acutis - News Article by Fr Peter Magee

Sat, 18 Nov 2023 02:01:25 GMT

A news article published by Fr. Peter Magee on the 15th November edition of the Largs and Millport Weekly News

Homily to conclude the Blesses Carlo acutis Tridum

Sat, 14 Oct 2023 02:04:30 GMT

Homily to conclude the Triduum for Blessed Carlo

The King sends servants to call those invited. These can be many: prophets, apostles. But also saints, including Bl. Carlo. Carlo had already gained a profound spiritual experience of the banquet: he did not just know it from the catechism, but very deeply. He saw crowds queuing up for pop concerts and football. “If they only realised …”, he would remark, what they are missing!
The Eucharist is the foretaste of that wedding banquet which has been prepared for all peoples. The mountain of God with those rich juicy foods, fine strained wines and fresh and green pastures is right here. There is nothing we shall want. God is lavish, prodigal, excessive, abundant in what He gives. It is the Eucharist, Christ Himself who is our food, wine and pasture. He is the reviver of our drooping spirits and mortal bodies. He is our Eucharistic Reviver.
The thing which can truly prevent us from being wined and dined by Christ is our indifference. The Gospel translation we have says that the invited guests were not interested. The original suggests more that the guests didn’t even hear the servants. It says that, not paying attention one went to his farm, etc.. Their attention was absorbed in other things such that it was as if no call ever reached them. God was no longer on their radar; he was just irrelevant, if there at all; he doesn’t enter into it. He is superfluous.
But God won’t be mocked. The reaction He metes out in the parable is rather grim. By describing it as such, Jesus clearly wants to stir a response from his listeners. If the carrot doesn’t work, then the stick might! More deeply, the Lord is telling us that the stakes are, not just high, but eternal, when it comes to His invitation. Not our farms or businesses, but the eternal wedding banquet is what our lives are about in the end. The Eucharist is the principal means He gives us to keep alive His invitation, His call and our willingness to respond. He desires attentiveness to it, alertness!
And what will that banquet look like in heaven? What will it entail? Is there really to be a kitchen large enough and tables long enough to prepare and consume an eternal eating and drinking session? As Jesus Himself is our food and drink in the Eucharist, so He Himself will be our food and drink in eternity. We eat and drink to stay alive, but when death is no more, we simply live with and from the life of God. He fills us in ways that surpass our understanding this side of death. Just as with our gaze we often feel fed by the beauty of someone or something we look upon, the beauty of Christ will fulfil and surpass all our hungers and thirsts, all our yearnings and needs, all our clamour for love, all our longing for peace and for joy. And He will feed us not as isolated individuals, but in the holy communion of all the redeemed. As we are fed by Him, we will feed one another with Him. He will be all in all and we will all be in Him and in all. There is nothing we shall want. Death, shame, tears, sin will be gone and forgotten.
And without being too pious, I hope it is reasonable to say that, in these past few days, in our Triduum of celebrations around the Eucharist in Blessed Carlo’s company, we have experienced a little something of heaven. So many of you have opened up to the Lord: from the infants in the school with their spontaneous wonder and joy in welcoming Carlo and befriending him; from Margaret’s and Tommy’s witness before us to the power of the Eucharist in healing their woundedness; from those of you who have opened your hearts to the Lord in confession; from our sick who brought the blessing of their witness to the Cross among us; from those of you who have dared to hope for something new, something more in your spiritual lives by coming to the events of these days. All this openness, this willing vulnerability to the Lord, to Carlo and to one another is a foretaste of that transparency that is the hallmark of true communion.
But we have also had rich food, wine and pastures in the richness of the input during the two holy hours, the Eucharistic Rosary and the Marian Via Crucis. No two wines taste absolutely the same, no two juicy roasts are of an identical flavour. The variety and the quality of what the Lord has dispensed through our friends in these days have been deeply nourishing. And Father Darren’s spiritual and pastoral leadership has brought the crook and the staff of the Good Shepherd to bear on our souls. He has sounded the bugle, and the cry of it has been unmistakeable in its clarity, its encouragement and its inspiration. His care and blessing for the individual sheep and lambs has been a particularly moving sign of the Lamb of God among us.
My final thought has to go to Blessed Carlo. In a Church which has today often become so complicated and polarized, so driven by opinion and partisanship, the Lord has raised Carlo up like a flame of fire, almost like Elijah. Elijah pointed to the essential, to God, away from idols and self-concern. Carlo, in his adolescent, boyish directness, freshness and vitality is a prophet of the same ilk. Non io, ma Dio; not I, but God; happiness is looking upward, sadness looking downward; my life programme is to remain close to Jesus. He calls us back to the essential, to the bigger picture, to the transient nature of our mortal life. And he focuses all of this on the Eucharist as the highway to heaven. We could perhaps even say, the Eucharist as the true synodal highway to heaven. He knows he is only a slip-road onto that highway, as are all of the saints of the Church. And the Lord has given him to the Church of our time to direct us away from the winding and aimless roads of life which often lead nowhere. It’s not for nothing that devotion to him has spread like wildfire across the worldwide Church and that he appeals to people of all ages, cultures and conditions. Carlo, thank you for finding your way here, to us. Help us follow your highway to Jesus and to sit some day with you and all the others you are leading to him at the heavenly banquet of the beauty of the living God.

A new shrine to blessed Carlo in the USA

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 02:10:28 GMT

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255552/carlo-acutis-mother-places-his-first-class-relic-in-new-diocesan-shrine-in-new-jersey

Coincidentally...a fine article on Eucharistic Revival (2023)

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 02:13:06 GMT

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/06/notes-toward-a-eucharistic-revival

Coincidentally …. a fine article on Eucharistic Revival, 12.06.23

Corpus Christi Homily - The Launch of Eucharistic Revival

Sun, 11 Jun 2023 02:16:30 GMT

Like so many parishes in our diocese and in the West, so in ours, death notifications now vastly outnumber baptism notifications; marriages have dwindled to a trickle; confessions are petering out; confirmations and first communions have dropped dramatically and we hardly ever see most of the children or their parents again. You know yourselves the situation when it comes to Sunday observance. The Scottish Catholic Directory records 1500 as the number of Catholics in St. Mary’s Parish (although I think the electoral register would give a higher number). I think we average 180 at Mass on Sundays. The vast majority of these are over 60 years of age. About 23% of children in St. Mary’s Primary are identified as Catholic. Of these, very few are brought to Mass every Sunday.

The causes of this situation are many and complicated. There are no quick fixes. There is no pastoral programme, analysis or document of the Pope that can adequately explain or, even less, deal with them. Our society today is more pagan than in pre-Christian times, for at least then there was a general openness to the possibility of gods or a god. In many instances today, though, it is not even that we are just faced with atheism: we encounter outright anti-theism. People who do believe in God can be viewed as anti-human because they won’t recognise man, woman, the human being as supreme. The new blasphemy is to suggest that a person cannot be or do anything he or she wants just because he or she wants it, including the choice no longer even to be a he or a she.

The picture can seem crushing and even desperate. And while we must see these realities for what they are, they are not the whole reality. They are not what counts most. It is Christ who counts the most; in fact, only Christ counts. “In the world you will have trouble. But be brave, I have conquered the world”, he says. What is our victory over the world? Our faith, St. John tells us. And at the heart of our faith in Christ stands the simple and majestic gift of the Eucharist. So, with absolute confidence we can say that the Eucharist has conquered the world. And if it has conquered the world, then there is nothing in the West or in our own little parish which the Eucharist cannot conquer. If the Eucharist is the heart of the cosmos, as Pope St. John Paul II wrote, then it is the heart of the whole Church, of every parish community and of every believer.

We risk worsening Church or parish problems if we think we can solve them on our own. We have to go to the source and that source is the Eucharist. It is only by drawing nearer to Christ in the Eucharist and by letting Him show us the way, and empower us to take it, that new life will spring up again and renewed love and hope will flourish. What we need is a Eucharistic conversion or revolution of heart and soul, to allow the Lord to turn us each into whatever His love desires for His own kind purposes. Holiness rooted in the Eucharist is not about having visions or witnessing miracles, interesting though these may be. Since the Eucharist is the living memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus, Eucharistic holiness is about learning to sacrifice ourselves in love for Him and for one another. To die to self and live for Christ is the only way that we will attract others to Him, or back to Him. It is deep personal love for Jesus in the Eucharist, who is my brother, my friend, my Lover and my Lord, which will sanctify me. The Church needs living saints to revive and rejuvenate her for mission. She does not need more books, structures, laws or programmes. She needs witnesses, people in love with Christ – in other words, saints.

I am confident that the Eucharistic Revival launched and proposed to you today is a gift of Christ’s own heart to us as individuals and as community. It is an opportunity of grace calling us to believe every more firmly, to hope ever more unflinchingly and to love ever more deeply and completely the Holy Eucharist. We begin on a feast day which became part of the Church’s calendar as the result of a vision of St. Juliana of Liège in 1208. Before and after her, many saints and martyrs gave witness to the reality and grace of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. There was the 3rd century boy-martyr St. Tarcisius, stoned and beaten to death when carrying the Eucharist to a prisoner. There was St. Ignatius of Antioch, the 2nd century Bishop Martyr, who called the Eucharist the medicine of immortality and had what can only be described as a passionate love for the Sacrament. There was 14thcentury Imelda Lambertini, patron saint of first communicants, who so longed for the Eucharist as a young girl that, when she first received it at the age of 11, she died making her prayer of thanksgiving. There is St. Peter Julian Eymard, 19th century founder of the Congregation and Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.

And then there’s Blessed Carlo Acutis. A bit like Elijah the prophet, he arose like a fire out of nowhere. He exemplifies in his own youthful way the words of Christ: “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!” Carlo caught the fire of the Eucharist early in life and it consumed him early in life. Because of it, he reached out to the poor and the migrant with real sincerity and friendship; because of it, he defended the boys at school who were bullied, the girls who were harassed, the unborn child and the virtues of charity and chastity. His heart was won over by Jesus in the Eucharist, and he gave Him top priority in his day and week, lots of time before and after Mass, and devoted himself to the love and honour of his Blessed Mother, of St. Francis of Assisi and many other friends of Jesus. Carlo’s life was so complete so soon because he was so full of Christ. I have a burning hope, and pray that it will not be vain, that Carlo will find the way to reach the youth in our parish and win them over to Jesus, with authenticity, with realism, with joy.

But there are millions of ordinary, unnamed Catholics, probably including many of our own parents and grandparents and, indeed, many of you here present, whose lives have been vibrant with grace as the result of steadfast faith and deep spiritual love for the Holy Eucharist. “Whoever eats me will draw life from me”: these words of Jesus explain why his eternal life in us feeds not only our own lives but, through us, the lives of others. Parish revival can only come from the life of the Eucharist. Christ will work in our minds, hearts and bodies to make us more alive with Himself and from that, as from the mustard seed, there will grow new life, new love, new hope. He is ever ancient and ever new. He does not run out of ideas or surprises. His mercies and his works are not exhausted. He changes night into day, deserts into running streams. The plans of His Heart endure for ever. He has come to revive us, to give life in abundance to us and through us. And so, good Jesus of the Eucharist, come to us with your saints and revive our love for you, revive our faith, waken us up from the nightmare of a world without you. Free us from wherever habit and routine, apathy and the burden of life, have stolen our joy in loving you. Woo us once more as only you can. In you alone we hope. Let not our trust be in vain! Be our Highway to Heaven!