Just a few weeks ago, while staying with her sister and her husband, Susan accidentally tripped  and as a result  received

a deep cut on her shin which required hospital attention.  She still has to have regular dressings  several times each week,

and so Susan has decided it is time to retire from her work of caring for St. Joseph’s which has been a labour of love over

the passed 20 years. She took over from her sister, Kathleen Kerr,  who previously looked after the church also for 20

Since I came to the parish, almost thirteen years ago, I have deeply appreciated Susan’s devotion and loyalty to St.

Joseph’s and the great pride she had in  assuring everything was as perfect as possible: she took her share in the cleaning

and polishing; she prepared the altar for all the masses, with everything laid out so that the priest had nothing to do when

he arrived; all the linen was washed and carefully ironed; when we had no time clock over a long period, Susan came out

early and faithfully on the coldest of mornings  to switch on the heating to assure the church was warm for mass; she and

Kathleen also took great pleasure in preparing the church for Christmas and Easter, and their floral arrangements were

Before returning to Spean Bridge, Susan had been the devoted housekeeper for 25 years  to the late Canon Iain Gillies at

Arisaig. When I was appointed to Arisaig, I heard of the great work Susan  did in the parish and how she was so well

loved and respected by everyone because of her  kindness. Everyone was always received with great warmth and

I would like to thank Susan sincerely on behalf of  the parish for all the years she has taken care of St. Joseph’s and for

her great support and reverence for the priesthood. We hope she will make a good recovery from her injury, and that she

David MacFarlane has very kindly taken over from Susan, and has assured that the tradition of caring for the church by

parishioners is continued, and I am most grateful to David.

Sister Faustina revealed to her confessor the visions she had of  Christ, the

Divine King of Mercy. An artist painted her description of the vision, and the

many great mystical graces to St. Faustina of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in

Poland. He also gave her a mission - to tell the

world that He is Mercy itself, and that before He

returns as a just Judge, He is coming as a

merciful Saviour. Jesus called Faustina  His

“Messenger of Divine Mercy”, and commanded

her to write everything He told her. In obedience,

Faustina kept a diary, now called "Divine Mercy

After exhaustive investigations, the visions were

accepted by the Church as genuine, for the

message was one of Christ’s compassion and love

and his willingness to forgive our sins. He asked that the Sunday after Easter be

devoted to his Divine Mercy, and on that day the most abandoned souls might seek

his forgiveness with confidence. He also asked to her to encourage the Chaplet of

Divine Mercy to be recited at 3 p.m. on that day also.