Sunday Missal:  1^st Sunday of Lent Year A – Page 153.

 

Teas and Coffees available after Mass on Sunday and Service on Thursday.

 

Stations of the Cross will be celebrated on the Fridays of Lent at 7:00pm.

 

SCIAF WEE BOXES for Lent 2026 are available in the porch.

 

Burntisland and Kinghorn Churches Together Quiz Night: Friday 27^th February, Erskine Church Hall, 7:00pm.

 

World Day of Prayer: Friday 6^th March, 2:00pm.  As we are hosting the Service this year it would be nice to have a good representation from the parish. The guest speaker will be Fr Daniel Magaji, a priest of the Diocese of Bauchi in Nigeria who is currently assisting in the parishes of St Peter’s and St Columba’s in Edinburgh.

 

 

Stations of the Cross: The Archdiocese hosts online Stations of the Cross each Monday in Lent. The first one is on Monday 23 February at 7:45pm and will feature a reflection from Archbishop Leo. The annual event is to pray for unborn children, their mothers and all pro-life intentions. Register at bit.ly/stations26

Remembering Service: A prayer service those who have suffered the loss of a child, from the beginning of pregnancy onwards, together with those who wish to come in love and support. Ecumenical and open to all. Sunday 22 February at 5.00pm in St John the Baptist Church, Corstorphine, 37 St Ninian’s Road, Edinburgh, EH12 8AL.

What's Happening at Mass: Mass is the climax of Catholic life. Join the Archdiocese’s Catechetics Commission to explore what we are ultimately doing with God at Holy Mass. What’s Happening at Mass takes place at The Gillis Centre,100 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB, on Saturday 14 March, from 9:30am-4:00pm. Register: bit.ly/archmass

Anecdote: “A man who has no more temptations.” In the stories of the Desert Fathers there is one concerning Abbot John the Dwarf. Abbot John prayed to the Lord that all passion be taken from him. His prayer was granted. He became impassible. In this condition he went to one of the elders and said: “You see before you a man who is completely at rest and has no more temptations.” The elder surprised him. Instead of praising him, the elder said: “Go and pray to the Lord to command some struggle to be stirred up in you, for the soul is matured only in battles.” Abbot John did this, and when the temptations started up again, he did not pray that the struggle be taken away from him. Instead, he prayed: “Lord, give me strength to get through the fight.” [Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert (New York: New Directions, 1960), p. 56-57.] (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

Another Anecdote: “The Lesson of Lough Derg” I don’t know any other place on earth that better exemplifies purgative suffering than Lough Derg. Otherwise known as St. Patrick’s Purgatory, this Irish island was purportedly visited by St. Patrick in the 5th century. The saint came there   in order to embark on a penitential retreat of forty days and forty nights.  There, pilgrims from the Middle Ages to the present day, have journeyed there, in imitation of Patrick, to do penance and to pray. When the retreatants arrive, they are instructed immediately to take off their shoes and socks, and they endure the three-day process barefoot, regardless of the weather. That first day, they fast (eating nothing but dry bread and a soup composed of hot water and pepper), and they move through a series of prayers and spiritual exercises. The first night, they are compelled to stay awake, fasting from sleep. If someone dozes off, his fellow pilgrims are expected to wake him up. The following day, they continue with their fast and their exercises, but they are allowed to sleep that night. The third day involves still more prayer and culminates with confession and Mass. After the liturgy, the pilgrims put their shoes back on and are ferried across to the mainland. Those who come to Lough Derg take their spiritual lives with utter seriousness, and that is precisely why they are willing to endure hardship – even imposing it on themselves – in order to deepen their communion with God. They know that there are certain tendencies within their bodies and souls that are preventing the achievement of full friendship with God and therefore they seek, quite sensibly, to discipline themselves. — St. John Henry Newman commented that the ascetical principle is basic to a healthy Christianity. He meant that Christians, at their best, understand that our sinful nature has to be chastised, disciplined, and rightly ordered. When the ascetical instinct disappears (as it has in much of Western Christianity), the spiritual life rapidly becomes superficial and attenuated, devolving into an easy “I’m okay and you’re okay,” attitude. The whole point of the Christian life is to find joy, but the attainment of true joy comes, in a sinful world, at the cost of some suffering. (Bishop Robert Barron). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)