Tuesday, October 30, 2012

All Saints

Thursday 1st November is the Solemnity of All Saints and is a Holy Day of Obligation. The Masses will be

Wednesday 31st October  - All Saints’ Eve at 6.30pm at Saint Joseph’s, Willaston

Thursday - All Saints’ Day at
12.10 - Saint Mary of the Isle, Douglas
7.00 pm - Saint Anthony of Padua, Onchan

 

All Souls Day

Having celebrated All Saints on the First of the Month, we remember All Souls on the Second – and indeed throughout the month of November.

One  Catholic Tradition for the month of November is prayer for the dead – both through our Pious List Masses celebrated in church and  special prayer in our families at home. Here are two familiar prayers which it would be good to use;

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let Perpetual Light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

A lovely custom is also to pay respect and honour to those who have died by making the Sign of the Cross and praying for the one who has died if we pass a Funeral Cortege in the street; often  cars will slow or  stop to let a Cortege pass, which again is a sign of reverence and respect.

 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Treasure Hunt


Come along for a great afternoon’s fun and support the Lourdes Youth Group "Treasure Hunt" on Sunday 18th November. Commences at Saint Anthony’s Car Park at 2.00 pm. Finishing at Columba Club with Refreshments. Adults £5 and Children £3. All welcome.

 

 

Pious Lists

November is the Month of the Holy Souls when we pray particularly for  those who have, ‘gone before us marked with the Sign of Faith’.  If you wish to remember your loved ones, families and friends at the November Masses then please place their names in the envelopes which you will find at the back of the churches. One Mass each day in November will be offered for our November Dead List - sometimes known as the ‘Pious List’.

Any donations you include in the envelopes will be used as stipends for the Masses and will also enable us throughout the Year to have Masses celebrated for the Holy Souls. During November, the public recitation of the Rosary will continue at 11.45am in Saint Mary’s Douglas.

 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Fairtrade Sale

12 Noon until 5.00pm: Fairtrade Sale at Saint Columba’s Church Hall, Port Erin, Homemade soup and roll lunch available 12 – 2.30pm and after that tea/cakes throughout the afternoon.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Hop Tu Naa

We find ourselves again at that time of year when we seem to go out of our way to scare the living daylights out of others by ghoulish costumes and scary turnip lanterns!  The arrival of Halloween may be greeted by the shops as a first bite at the ‘must have’ market which will now crescendo up to Christmas – but it is worth remembering exactly what the name means and how it came about.

The more correct name for Halloween would be All Hallows Eve, that is the day ( or more specifically the night ) before the feast of All Hallows, that is All Saints. As the days grew shorter and the weather less clement (!) the Christian Community would gather to give thanks for all those who bore the Light of Christ is an darkened world – all the Saints. Because the feast of All Saints was such a day of rejoicing and a day of such Goodness, it was thought that the evening before the Feast (All Saints/All Hallows Eve) the powers which were less wholesome and Godly would try to cause as much chaos and disruption as possible – hence the ghoulish costumes, spiders webs and odd looking and smelling foods and drinks.

Thursday – the Feast of All Saints  - is a day when we are called to  gather together  for Mass; it is a Holy Day of Obligation. You will see that we have Masses on Wednesday evening (Willaston) and also Thursday lunchtime (Douglas) and evening (Onchan) so that as many people as possible are given the opportunity to gather together for our HolyDay celebrations.

(If you are having a gathering for the family, and especially the children, on Wednesday evening, why not be a bit different and get them to dress up as a favourite Saint as opposed to a witch, warlock or devil??!!)

 

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Well in Advance Notice

On the weekend of 18th November there will be an appeal in our parishes  made by Mr Tony Hegerty on behalf of APF – Mill Hill. This is not an appeal for money, but for parishioners to take a Red Mission Box in our homes.

The Red Mission Box – which many of us will remember was always a part of any Catholic home – is a great way of supporting the work of the Missions ; we simply empty our pockets of  our loose change and after a couple of weeks, the box is filled ! Our thanks to those who have a Red Box in their homes already – and if you don’t already have one, perhaps give it a thought........

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Harvest Festival Services

Sunday 21st October at 3.00pm in Saint Mary’s – a short Harvest Festival Service.

As last year any donations of food you wish to make will be distributed, via the salvation Army and others, to those who would benefit from and appreciate your thoughtfulness.

 

 

 

Monday, October 01, 2012

CAFOD Family Fast – Room for one more?

We hope that many of you collected the envelopes for the Family Fast Day from the benches in church last weekend. The idea is that on this coming Friday, October 5th we deny ourselves some food or a particular ‘luxury’ (perhaps chocolates or a packet of cigarettes , a pint of beer – or a gin and tonic!)  and donate the money saved to the work of CAFOD for the needy of the world.

God our Father, we give you thanks for the abundance of your creation and the generosity of your gifts.
We are sorry that amongst us are so many people who are excluded from the feast, prepared by you for us.
May your Spirit inspire and lead us as we seek change, so that hunger and poverty are no longer a scar and a scandal in our world.
May your Spirit guide us as we seek change, so everyone has enough food to flourish and a place at the table you spread for all.
Amen.

Month of October – Month of the Holy Rosary.

The rosary will be recited publically each day at 11.45am in Saint Mary’s Church and before the 10.00am morning Mass/Service at Saint Anthony in Onchan.

The Rosary is essentially a Christ-centred prayer; it reflects on the ‘mysteries’ or particular moments of the Lord’s life and, through the eyes of Mary, we are asked to wonder at the marvels of God’s love for each one of us. As Mary says in her great Song of Praise, the Magnificat (see Luke Chapter 2 ), ‘ the Almighty has done great things for me; and Holy is His Name’. True devotion to ,and love of, the Blessed Virgin Mary always leads us closer to her Son, Our Lord Jesus.