Wednesday, New Year’s Day, is the Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God.  There will be Mass at 10.00am, a good way to start a new year by praying for God’s blessings in 2025.

Nest Sunday is the Solemnity of the Epiphany and a Day of Prayer for Peace. The second collection will be in support of the work of Justice & Peace.

200 Club Christmas Draw: Sincere congratulations to the lucky winners - £1,000 Aileen McHale (68); £250 Gayle Hall (102); £200 Sandra Wheatley (52); £150 Elizabeth Douglas (141); £100 Hannah Gray (195); £100 Euan Lamond (9); £100 John & Val Crossan (137); £100 Jack Lascelles (69); £100 Winifred Edie (73); £100 Adrian Hewson (159). Thank you to all members and to our promoters, Wayne and Ruth.

 Mass for the Opening of the Jubilee Year: Archbishop Cushley will solemnly open the Jubilee Year 2025 for the Archdiocese with Holy Mass and the blessing of the Jubilee Cross at St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, at midday on Sunday 29 December. Follow 'Holy Year Scotland 2025' on Facebook and visit www.iubilaeum2025.va for more details about this special year.

Lourdes 2025: The Archdiocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes for the Holy Year 2025 takes place from 11-18 July. For more details please visit https://www.edinburgh-lourdes.com/lourdes25

Anecdote:  Grandparents are a treasure: Pope Francis said that as a child, he heard a story of a family with a mother, father, many children, and a grandfather. The grandfather, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, would drop food on the dining table, drop and break bowls, and smear food all over his face when he ate. His son considered it disgusting. Hence, one day he bought a small table, a wooden bowl and spoon and set it off to the side of the dining room so the grandfather could eat, make a mess and not disturb the rest of the family. One day, the Pope said, the grandfather’s son came home and found one of his sons playing with a piece of wood. “What are you making?” he asked his son. “A table,” the son replies. “Why?” the father asks. “It’s for you, Dad. When you get old like Grandpa, I am going to give you this table.”  After that day, the grandfather was given a prominent seat at the dining table and all the help he needed in eating by his son and daughter-in-law. “This story has done me such good throughout my life,” said the Pope, who celebrated his 88^th birthday on December 17. “Grandparents are a treasure,” he said. “Often old age isn’t pretty, right? There is sickness and all that, but the wisdom our grandparents have is something we must welcome as an inheritance.” A society or community that does not value, respect and care for its elderly members “doesn’t have a future because it has no memory, it has lost its memory,” Pope Francis added. (http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/11/19/grandparents-are-a-treasure-says-pope-francis/)

Anecdote 2: Dying of loneliness: In an audience, Pope Paul VI told how one day, when he was Archbishop of Milan, he went out on parish visitation. During the course of the visitation, he found an old woman living alone. “How are you?” he asked her. “Not bad,” she answered. “I have enough food, and I’m not suffering from the cold.” “You must be reasonably happy then?” he asked. “No, I’m not,” she said as she started to cry. “You see, my son and daughter-in-law never come to see me. I’m dying of loneliness.” Afterwards he was haunted by the phrase “I’m dying of loneliness.” And the Pope concluded: “Food and warmth are not enough in themselves. People need something more. They need our presence, our time, our love. They need to be touched, to be reassured that they are not forgotten.” (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies).

Thank you for your Christmas cards, gifts and good wishes. I appreciate your kindness and support very much. Have a blessed and happy New Year. Keep safe and well.

Father James