Advent (2nd Sunday)
Dear Brothers and Sisters.
John the Baptist is the focus of the liturgy on the Second Sunday of Advent each year. His challenge to us to ‘prepare a way for the Lord’ is at the heart of the Advent message. This Sunday also sees a group of our parish children begin to formally prepare for the sacraments. So ‘get ready’ is this weeks theme for them but also for all of us. Use the following prayer this week as you prepare to greet the Lord both at mass and as Christmas Approaches. Pray also for the children preparing.
Alternative Opening Prayer (from 1998 ICEL Missal)
God of our salvation,
you straighten the winding ways of our hearts
and smooth the paths made rough by sin.
Make our conduct blameless,
keep our hearts watchful in holiness,
and bring to perfection the good you have begun in us.
We ask this through him whose coming is certain,
whose day draws near:
your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
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Dates for your Diary
Click <<Here>> for more infommation about this Devotion
This devotion will be held in Musselburgh and Tranent from Sunday 9th January.40 Hours’ Devotion
The 40 Hours’ Devotion began at St Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday and continues this weekend in the churches of St Serf’s Parish in Kirkcaldy and St Mary’s, Haddington/St Gabriel’s, Prestonpans. Our Catechetics Commission has compiled a booklet of prayers and reflections which can be used in your parish and adapted as you see fit for your own Adoration. Please find it attached. To print this document correctly use the ‘booklet’ setting on your printer (if you need assistance, please contact [email protected]
With sincere best wishes
Fr Basil
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Our Lady of Loretto and St Martin’s Primary Schools
PRIMARY ONE ENROLMENT AUGUST 2022 – INFORMATION FOR PARENTS/CARERS
If you have a child or grandchild approach primary school age please see the information attached.
Click–> P1 Enrolment Information
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Sacramental Preparation
I am in discussion with the head teachers of both of our primary schools to establish dates for the various sacraments to be celebrated in 2022. Confirmations are on Tuesday 6th June and so ideally I would wish to have both sets of First Holy Communions celebrated before the Edinburgh marathon on the May 29th. We must aslo encourage families back to Mass, therefor Children’s Liturgy is an essential component of that. I hope to provide you with various dates in the next couple of weeks.
Children’s Liturgy –> Online Resources important resources for sacramental preparation.
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Christmas Masses
As last year you will be asked to register for these Masses well in advance and then tickets provided. While there are no restriction we still need to follow track and trace. The intention then is that you simply bring your ticket along with you and its number (against your prior registration) will record your presence without having queues of people at the door. If possible there will be 4 Masses in Musselburgh and 3 in Tranent. This will allow everyone to attend who wishes to without being over full. Also at least one Mass in both parishes will be put out on YouTube.
Click–> Christmas Mass Registration Form
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Holy Mass
Please check the Newsletter for details of Mass Times at Tranent and Musselburgh. Sunday Mass, from both parishes, will continue to be streames live, recorded and available to the sick and housebound on our YouTube channel
Click here for the Parish Communities YouTube channel
About You Tube
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ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus, I Believe that You are in the Blessed Sacrament.
love You above all things,
and I long for You in my soul.
Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. on you r tablet, phone or
Although You have already come,
I embrace You & unite myself entirely to You;
never permit me to be separated from You. Amen
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OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS (SEE ALSO ARCHEDINBURGH.ORG)
The Catholic Church in Scotland is creating a new safeguarding agency. The Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (SCSSA) will operate entirely independently of the Church. Find out more at www.bcos.org.uk. The latest edition of the Safeguarding Matters magazine from the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland is available at bcos.org.uk/safeguarding
The Catholic App
The Catholic App” is your smart Catholic companion that helps you find Mass, Confession, churches and more in Scotland and London. Download the app for iPhone/iPad or Android by searching for “The Catholic App, Musemantik” in the Apple App Store or Google Play
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For a Synodal Church Communion,
Participation Mission
Synodality!
Sometimes old words fine new prominence in the life of the Church. So, it is with the old word Synod normally a gathering of bishops. In October 2023 the Holy Father has called such a synod where bishops will gather with him to discuss how we form Church. Synodality is therefore the theme.
“Synodality,” literally means “walking together,” and encompasses communion, participation, and mission. Papal biographer, Austen Ivereigh, defines synodality as “a method and process of discussion and participation in which the whole people of God can listen to the Holy Spirit and take part in the life and mission of the Church.”. There is more to come…
Ahead of the action in our Archdiocese in October, the General Secretariat for the Synod has published the Preparatory Document, along with a Vademecum (or handbook) to indicate the guiding principles that will direct the path of the Synod on Synodality. It is intended to facilitate the first phase of listening and consultation of the People of God in the particular Churches, which will take place from October 2021 to April 2022. The preparatory document indicates ten ways that “articulate different facets of ‘lived synodality’”:
* The Journeying Companions
* Listening
* Speaking Out
* Celebrating
* Co-responsible in the Mission
* Dialogue in Church and Society
* With the Other Christian Denominations
* Authority and Participation
* Discerning and Deciding
* Forming Ourselves in Synodality
The 2023 Synod
We have also to respond positively to the Holy Father’s invitation to influence the Synod of Bishops to meet in 2023. Our parish response needs to be completed and returned by Jan 31st. Not a lot of time given Advent and Christmas. I am however determined that we do so. He is encouraging us to Communion. Participation and Mission. Three thing we need to deepen for ourselves. However much or little we influence the Universal Church his call to us to walk together, listening for the Lord’s voice is what we need to do here in Musselburgh and Tranent. The PPC’s of both parishes have a vital role to play in this journey. Material and questions to consider should be available soon. Once I have it it will come out to the parish.
We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in Your name.
With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts;
Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it.
We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions.
Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right. All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time, in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen
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