Sunday Missal:  5^th Sunday of Lent Year A – Page 177.

 

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.

 

Thank You: Last week’s collection for Papal & Episcopal Charities, including SCIAF, raised £1105.15 – that was £1.05 less than 2025! You are consistent in your giving – thank you!

 

Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) available after Saturday morning Mass, by appointment or on request. There will be a Reconciliation Service on Monday 23 March at 7.00pm. Fr Gabriel Emeasoba, Administrator at St. Agatha’s, Methil and St Giles, Kennoway, will assist.

 

 

200 Club subscriptions are now due: If you have not already renewed, please do so as soon as possible.

 

New Offertory Envelopes are available in the porch. If you can give your contributions through the bank, please consider setting up a Standing Order (RBS - Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh St Josephs Parish – Account: 10417077 - Sort Code: 83 06 08). If you are a UK Taxpayer and are willing to Gift Aid your offerings, please see Fr James.

 

Churches Together Palm Sunday Walk of Witness: Please join us for the Walk of Witness on Sunday 29  March. We will begin at 2.00pm at Burntisland Church at the Kirkgate, crossing the High Street to the Salvation Army hall, Kirkton Road to the Heritage site, pathway to St Joseph’s Church, cross Aberdour Road to St Serfs Church, Ferguson Place to Erskine Church for a short service.

Assisted Suicide rejected in Scotland: From Archbishop Leo: "I am deeply grateful to the MSPs who voted in favour of life on Tuesday at Holyrood. The outcome of the vote reflects a careful and compassionate approach to a deeply sensitive subject, one that touches the dignity and vulnerability of all of us. Well done to everyone who contacted their MSPs about this crucial issue. May we now go forward, committed to making Scotland’s palliative care the very best in the world. Let’s also accompany one another in life and death with humanity and humility.”

Diocesan structures in Scotland: The Holy See has invited the Bishops of Scotland to reflect on how the present dioceses of the Church in Scotland can best serve her mission in the years ahead.  In the coming weeks, therefore, along with the rest of the country, Archbishop Leo would like to hold some consultations on what we might propose to Rome, so that the Church in Scotland might improve cooperation among its dioceses, share resources within our present structures, or consider, as necessary, how we might merge some of our dioceses. Read the full statement at https://www.bcos.org.uk/ 

Save the Date: The national St Margaret Pilgrimage will take place in Dunfermline on Sunday 14 June 2026. Save the date, details to follow. 

Anecdote: A sign of resurrection As Vice President, George H.W. Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (November, 1982).  Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow.  She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed.  Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and Hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed in Communist Russia: she made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all made a gesture suggesting that her husband had been wrong.  She hoped that there was another way of life – a life best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that this same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband and raise him up on the Day of the Judgment. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

Anecdote: “Mike, come out!” “Joe, come out!” Dr. A. L. Jenkins was an emergency-room doctor for 48 years in Knoxville, Tennessee. In this capacity, Dr. Jenkins saw the best and the worst side of the field of medicine. But his most vivid memories are of those moments that are medically unexplainable. Dr. Jenkins recalls one man who was dead on arrival in the emergency room. It was Dr. Jenkins’ policy to attempt resuscitation anyway. After fifteen minutes of CPR, the previously dead man began to show signs of life. The man sat up, looked around him, then said to Dr. Jenkins, “Oh, I wish I was still out there! It was beautiful!” The man would never explain what he meant but would only repeat that the place he had been was “so beautiful, so beautiful.” (Kristi L. Nelson, “From near-death to dynamite,” The Knoxville News-Sentinel, date unknown). — Now, many explanations have been given for so-called near-death experiences, including chemical changes in the brain. But, all explanations aside, it is amazing how these experiences affirm what the Bible teaches us about life beyond the grave. There will come a time when the doctor can do no more for us, but somewhere on the other side, Christ will say, “Mike, come out!” “Joe, come out!” “Sally, come out!” This is a story that affirms resurrection.