✠ Please remember in your prayers ✠

Those who died recently: George Brannigan of Whitehills Care Home, (Service of Committal at Phillipshill Cemetery on Friday 8th January at 2.00pm), Mary Doherty of Chalmers Crescent (Funeral Service at South Lanarkshire Crematorium on Thursday 7th January at 12 noon), John Kelly (Renfrew, formerly of Rockhampton Ave), Seamus McKeon (Dublin), John McEnaney, Jim Sheerin.

Christmas Remembrances, the Months Minds and Anniversaries of: Bridget O’Hara, Bridget McLean, Jimmy McCabe, Joseph McCabe, Bruce Cairnduff, John Murphy, Sally Anne Murphy, The Conway, Collins, O’Donnell, Sweeney and Tennyson families, Jean Rumble, Father Joseph Brannigan, Margaret Lennon.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

Please remember the sick and housebound in your prayers. Thank you.

SECURITY, EXTERNAL LIGHTING AND CAMERAS

Before Lockdown in late March, our Finance and Fabric Team had discussions about improving the security in the Parish House and in the church as well. Just before Christmas, we managed to have the security in both locations updated and in working order. So, the parish house and church now have proper security for use overnight and when both buildings are not in use. We also took advice about the suitability of the external lighting around the whole property, especially in the light of the Pandemic when the parish hall has to have a Way-In and a Way-Out in order to comply with current protocols. The lighting is poor on the side of the Hall that looks on to Murrayhill and that side of the Hall has to be used as an exit when groups are permitted to operate outside of Tier 4 restrictions. This work will be completed after the holiday season - early to mid January.

The external cameras on the church building and parish house are largely redundant and they are very old technology - mind you, if they don’t work, it doesn't matter about the technology, old or new! We are looking into upgrading these as soon as possible with a view to keeping people and property safe. Once the Finance and Fabric Team have some quotes to look at, we hope to be able to make a decision and have the upgrade completed by late January or early February.

THE LOCAL FOODBANK AND KILBRYDE HOSPICE

There have been so many calls on your charity in recent weeks and the burden of that has fallen mainly on those able to take part in Mass on Sundays and weekdays. The incredible support and generosity to the Local Foodbank in 2020 is a credit to the parish community of Our Lady of Lourdes, surpassing all contributions in previous years. Thank you for a genuine care and love for many of the poorest in the wider community of East Kilbride who benefit greatly from your charity.

And again, a very generous response to the Appeal to help and support Kilbryde Hospice with donations totalling £1036.38 during the month of December. We have to add to this the many individuals within our parish who actively assist and support the work of the Hospice throughout the year. All round, we are a parish which tries to put its faith into practice. Thank you for willingly giving your support to the Foodbank and the Hospice.

GARDENS

Fr Charles and his team of helpers and outside contractors

have more or less completed all the upgrading work that was

approved several months ago. The garden area on the Brisbane Terrace side of the church is completed and all the drainage points around the garden have been cleaned and some upgrading work has taken place. In fact, all drainage points around the property have been cleaned out and inspected so that all rain water drains off the property with no flooding, even in the garden area. We also hope the fence and locked gate will be completed in early January - that’s on the kitchen side of the house - and provide some privacy for the clergy in the better weather. (Just before Christmas, we also had a new door installed on the kitchen side of the house which matches the other external doors of the house. This also provides better security and the new windows are triple glazed which will considerably reduce the heat loss previously suffered in that area of the house).

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the financial help you give to the parish. Thank you for that high level of giving and support. Our thanks go also to the Parish Finance & Fabric Team for their professionalism in maintaining our whole property to a high standard.

Monsignor Millar, Father Charles and Christopher wish all our parishioners every blessing and happiness for this New Year of 2021.

The Epiphany of the Lord 3rd January 2021

BOOKING FOR ALL MASSES

MASS WITH A CONGREGATION OF

20 PERSONS NEXT WEEKEND

Phone bookings for all Masses next weekend can be

made from today/Sunday between

3.00pm and 5.00pm & Monday between 12noon and 2.00pm - or later in the week,

if you wish.

On-line bookings are suspended during the

Tier 4 restrictions.

A Parish of the Diocese of Motherwell Scottish Charity No. SC011041

PARISH CLERGY

Monsignor Thomas Millar • Father Charles P. Coyle

Parish House: 01355 224511 • Hall Enquiries: 07800981354

30 Canberra Drive, East Kilbride, G75 8DG

ourladyoflourdes@rcdom.org.uk @ololrcek

ourladyoflourdeschurch.org.uk ourladyoflourdesek

O U R L A DY of L O U R D E S

JUSTICE AND PEACE SCOTLAND

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If slogans could change the world then the world would indeed be a better place.

In the midst of the Covid pandemic we heard the slogan: Build Back Better. Expressing the desire that, when we come out of this, we don’t want to go back to the way things used to be, but we want to make the world a better place. Many charitable organisations prefer the slogan: a Just and Green Recovery. A reminder that, for a better world to be achieved, all people need to be treated justly and fairly. ‘Green’, of course, reminds us that the environmental crisis we faced before Covid still remains to be dealt with.

In order to overcome the coronavirus we have had to make changes to our lifestyle which a year ago we would not have thought possible. Now, as we work for a better future, we have to recognise that the way we have lived our life in the past has to change, if we are to see that people are treated with justice and that the world we live in is treated with care.

As we begin a new year and as we celebrate the day of prayer for justice and peace, we need to ask ourselves: how prepared are we to make the changes necessary to our own lifestyle? Otherwise, our desire for a better world remains but a wish. Society cannot live the way it lived before and expect that the hungry will be fed, that the homeless will be housed, that refugees will be welcomed, that weapons of war will be put aside, that grievances will be settled by discussion, and that peoples and nations will live in peace. And, of course, the world, our common home, cannot continue to be exploited and polluted without a care for tomorrow.

Today is a day of prayer, for we need to pray. For the better world begins in each of our hearts. May God touch our hearts and deepen our love for the brother and sister we do not know and have not met, yet who needs our help. May God help us appreciate the gift of creation that he has given us. A gift to be shared by all God’s children, whether in this generation or in generations to come.

Many people in Scotland are engaged in the work of justice and peace because they recognise that to change the world for the better is not a solo effort - we need to work together. We need to encourage others, including those who govern our country, to be concerned for the welfare of all our brothers and sisters and to be committed to look after our common home. We need to encourage by our word, but above all by our example, so that together we do build that better, just and green world.

With my prayers and best wishes for peace and justice in the coming year,

✠ William Nolan, Bishop of Galloway; President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland Justice and Peace Commission

LIVE STREAMING

This week, Masses are live-streamed on YouTube at the following times:

Vigil Mass (Saturday)5.00pm

Sunday 11.30am

There are no public Masses from Monday

to Friday or live-streaming this week.

It’s a quiet week, giving the stewards and clergy a wee break from the normal routine.

THE SEASON OF CHRISTMAS

COLLECTION & DONATIONS

Sunday Offertory & £3852.40 +

Christmas Collection GiftAid/Standing Orders £900.00

Votive Candles £25.00

Stall £192.60

Flowers for the altar £10

Donation £100

Kilbryde Hospice Total for December- £1036.38

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Your Offertory Collection and donations to SSVP can be made at Sunday Masses and also at weekday Masses.

The Christmas Collection for the Parish can be made at anytime. Please place your Christmas Offering in the Box marked CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

ABORTION CONSULTATION

The Scottish Government’s consultation on whether to make the current temporary arrangement allowing ‘DIY’ home abortions to take place in Scotland permanent closes at 11.59pm on January 5, 2020. It is vital that as many people as possible make a submission to the consultation.

Right To Life UK have set up an easy-to-use tool which makes it simple to make your submission. Make your submission using the tool which can be accessed by visiting www.righttolife.org.uk/ScotlandConsultation

‘Every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person

has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy God.’ CATHECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 2319

SATURDAY 2ND JANUARY (Readings: 1 John 2:22-28; Psalm 97; John 1:19-28)

10.00am Morning Prayer of the Church & Mass for the Memorial of St Basil & St Gregory Nazianzen

(live-stream only)

4.15pm Evening Prayer of the Church on live-stream only

4.45pm Church open for 5.00pm Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (also on live-stream)

5.45pm Church open for 6.00pm Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

SUNDAY 3RD JANUARY (Readings: Ecclesiasticus 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm 127; Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23)

8.45am Morning Prayer of the Church on live-stream only

9.15am Church open for 9.30am Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

10.15am Church open for 10.30am Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

11.15am Church open for 11.30am Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (also on live-stream)

MONDAY 4TH JANUARY (Readings: 1 John 3:22-4:6; Psalm 2; Matthew 4:12-17,23-25)

TUESDAY 5TH JANUARY (Readings: 1 John 4:7-10; Psalm 71; Mark 6:34-44)

WEDNESDAY 6TH JANUARY (Readings: 1 John 4:11-18; Psalm 71; Mark 6:45-52)

THURSDAY 7TH JANUARY (Readings: 1 John 4:19-5:4; Psalm 71; Luke 4:14-22)

FRIDAY 8TH JANUARY (Readings: 1 John 5:5-13; Psalm 147; Luke 5:12-16)

SATURDAY 9TH JANUARY (Readings: 1 John 5:14-21; Psalm 149; John 3:22-30)

JUSTICE & PEACE COLLECTION

This weekend there is an offerings box marked JUSTICE & PEACE for donations to support the work of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland’s Justice and Peace Commission- see the letter on the front page from Bishop Nolan, outlining their work.

REMINDER

With the recent substantial increase in cases of Covid-19 and the apparent virulence of the ‘new’ strain, it may be appropriate to remind ourselves of the following:

Sanitise hands on entry to and exit from Church

Wear a face covering (ideally a mask) Maintain social distance of 2 metres

Thank you for your continued cooperation.

SATURDAY 9TH JANUARY (Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7; Psalm 28; Matthew 3:13-17)

4.15pm Evening Prayer of the Church on live-stream only

5.00pm Vigil Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (also on live-stream)

6.00pm Vigil Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

SUNDAY 10TH JANUARY (Readings: Ecclesiasticus 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm 127; Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23)

8.45am Morning Prayer of the Church on live-stream only

9.15am Church open for 9.30am Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

10.15am Church open for 10.30am Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

11.15am Church open for 11.30am Mass for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (also on live-stream)

ST MARGARET’S CHILDREN & FAMILY CARE SOCIETY

The offerings box for St Margaret’s will return next Sunday, and will remain until the end of January.

The Epiphany of the Lord transforms us by His love

We celebrate the Solemnity of Epiphany in memory of the Magi who went to Bethlehem from the Orient, following the star, in order to visit the newborn Messiah. At the end of the Gospel story, it says that the Magi, ‘being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, ... departed to their own country by another way’ (Mt 2:12). By another way.

After travelling a long time, these wise men from distant lands find the one they wished to meet, after seeking him for so long, undoubtedly through exertion and danger. And when they finally reach their destination, they prostrate before the Child, they praise him and offer him their precious gifts. After that, they resume their

journey without delay to return to their lands. But that encounter with the Child has changed them.

The encounter with Jesus does not hold back the Magi. Indeed it instills in them a renewed thrust to return to their countries to recount what they had seen and the joy they had felt. There is a demonstration of God’s style in this, of his way of manifesting himself in history. The experience of God does not block us, but frees us. It does not imprison us, but rather puts us back on a journey and delivers us to the familiar places of our lives. The places are and will continue to be the same. However, after the encounter with Jesus, we are no longer the ones we were. The encounter with Jesus changes us, transforms us. The Evangelist Matthew highlights that the Magi returned ‘by another way’ (v. 12). They were led to change their path after the angel’s warning, so as not to run into Herod and his network of power.

Each experience of encounter with Jesus leads us to take a different road because from him comes a good power that heals the heart and separates us from evil.

There is a wise dynamic between continuity and newness: the Magi return ‘to their own country’ but ‘by another way’. This indicates that we are the ones who have to change, to transform our way of living albeit in our everyday environment, to modify our criteria of judgment over the reality that surrounds us. Here lies the difference between the true God and treacherous idols such as money, power, success ... between God and those who promise to give you these idols such as clairvoyants, fortune-tellers, sorcerers. The difference is that idols tie us to them, they make us idol-dependent and we take possession of them.

The true God does not hold us back, nor does he allow himself to be held back by us. He opens paths of newness and freedom because he is the Father who is always with us so that we can grow. If you encounter Jesus, if you have a spiritual encounter with Jesus, remember you must always return to the same places but by another way, with another style. It is so. It is the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives us that changes our hearts. Let us ask the Blessed Virgin that we may become witnesses of Christ wherever we are, with a new life transformed by his love.

POPE FRANCIS, Angelus for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, 6 January 2020

THE SEASON OF CHRISTMAS

FOODBANK COLLECTION

A reminder that there is no collection for the Foodbank for January. Our next collection will be the weekend of 6/7th February 2021.