Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament this Monday 10.30am to 6pm
Parish Office opened Monday to Friday this week 9.30am to 12.30pm
Forgiveness.
Jesus followers are to follow his example of forgiving others. to be a Christian is to forgive. To forgive is an act of the will, it is something we choose to do. While we may not always feel it we are called to choose it. In choosing forgiveness,, the heart open up and it too forgives. Jesus forgave Peter his betrayal and entrusts him with feeding and looking after the flock. Jesus who forgave on the Cross calls on his disciples to do the same.
Take up your Cross: Peter who proclaimed Jesus as the Christ is now seeking to prevent Jesus from fulfilling his Mission. Jesus has the harshest words for Peter. After the Resurrection of Jesus, Peter takes up the cross and proclaims the way of Jesus as the way of life and the way to eternal life. He himself will take up the cross and die on the cross. In the face of difficulties and trials, let us seek the way of Jesus and behave according to his will.
Jesus Healing is not confined to the few or those of community. This woman is remarkable extra ordinary on many levels. She breaks down barriers, is courageous, determined and has a heart to love. Firstly she is a Canaanite, a group considered enemies of the people of Israel, she is a woman and she dares to approach Jesus on her own. She is not put off by Disciples or by Jesus. She loves her daughter dearly and that is why she approaches Jesus. We see this in many parents whose children are sick or in need, they will do anything for them, because no price can be put on love. This woman is even willing to be like a house dog to go down before Jesus to seek the crumbs that fall from him. What extraordinary humility and faith. Jesus seeks something from the woman for him to heal her daughter unlike the disciples who want Jesus to deal with her to get rid of her so to speak. Jesus seeks faith, belief in him. He leads the woman into a deeper faith. He responds to this faith with healing. Indeed the woman has ‘great faith’.
Prayer: Jesus having had a busy day of preaching, teaching and feeding the multitude seeks refreshment in prayer. From this prayer he walks on water. He has told us that his disciples will do greater things than they have seen. Peter sees the Lord and at his command walks on water, for a moment. With our focus on Jesus we can do great things. The disciples battle a head wind on their own but with Jesus all becomes calm again. We cannot go it alone, the storms of life can be too much for us, but with the Lord our fears are quietened. Let us follow the Lord’s example and pray, let us say like Peter, ‘Lord, save me’, and feel the hand of the Lord raise us up. Let us pray for those who are finding life difficult and burdensome and bring them to the Lord in prayer as we are together in the boat with Jesus. The Lord has saved us and brought us through the waters of Baptism into life and into the Church which is his body.
The thee disciples had this wonderful encounter with the Lord. There are three aspects from the encounter that teaches us about our lives. See, Hear, Contemplate. The Disciples saw the true Face of the Lord, The Heard the Voice of the Father, they contemplated on this encounter as Jesus demanded until the Cross and Resurrection. We see, we hear, but it in the contemplation that we understand and come to know God’s action within us and his plan for us.
The disciples of the Kingdom. As disciples of the Kingdom may we treasure the gift of faith. It is through sacrifice and the willingness to take a risk like the one who is willing to sell everything to have the field where the treasure lies. The gift of faith in Jesus is the great treasure. What sacrifice am I willing to do to preserve it and share it for this treasure is to be shared.
The virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!’ Christians are called to be lights to the world, to share the Light of Christ with others. In a world where the bad news and darkness makes the headlines, let us be conscious of be a light to someone this week. As we celebrate the day for Grandparents and the elderly let us share the light of hope with them and gratitude for their lives.
Jesus is the Sower who is generous in sowing the seed of the Word. God believes and hopes in humanity that he is generous with sharing his Word, even when he knows that there will be some who receive the Word but will not treasure the Word, believe the Word or live by the Word. Jesus as the Sower gets involved in sowing the Word. He is the example to follow. The Disciples draw encouragement never to give up when the Word is not accepted, but to continue to sow the seed of the Word. In Baptism the Seed of the Word is sown into a persons heart, that it may bear fruit one day.
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE THIRD WORLD DAY FOR GRANDPARENTS AND THE ELDERLY
“His mercy is from age to age” (Lk 1:50)
Dear brothers and sisters!
“His mercy is from age to age” (Lk 1:50). This is the theme of the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, and it takes us back to the joyful meeting between the young Mary and her elderly relative Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:39-56). Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth addressed the Mother of God with words that, millennia later, continue to echo in our daily prayer: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (v. 42). The Holy Spirit, who had earlier descended upon Mary, prompted her to respond with the Magnificat, in which she proclaimed that the Lord’s mercy is from generation to generation. That same Spirit blesses and accompanies every fruitful encounter between different generations: between grandparents and grandchildren, between young and old. God wants young people to bring joy to the hearts of the elderly, as Mary did to Elizabeth, and gain wisdom from their experiences. Yet, above all, the Lord wants us not to abandon the elderly or to push them to the margins of life, as tragically happens all too often in our time. This year, the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly takes place close to World Youth Day. Both celebrations remind us of the “haste” (cf. v. 39) with which Mary set out to visit Elizabeth. In this way, they invite us to reflect on the bond that unites young and old. The Lord trusts that young people, through their relationships with the elderly, will realize that they are called to cultivate memory and recognize the beauty of being part of a much larger history. Friendship with an older person can help the young to see life not only in terms of the present and realize that not everything depends on them and their abilities. For the elderly, the presence of a young person in their lives can give them hope that their experience will not be lost and that their dreams can find fulfilment. Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and their shared awareness that the Lord’s mercy is from generation to generation remind us that, alone, we cannot move forward, much less save ourselves, and that God’s presence and activity are always part of something greater, the history of a people. Mary herself said this in the Magnificat, as she rejoiced in God, who, in fidelity to the promise he had made to Abraham, had worked new and unexpected wonders (cf. vv. 51-55). Read full text www.vatican.va – Pontifical Messages
Christ: Courage to choose Christ. Jesus is the Anointed One, the Promised Saviour, the King riding on a colt. He is the Lord of all. How blessed are those who believe that Jesus is the Christ. This belief is a gift given from the Father. The Son Jesus makes known to us the Father, the mystery of God is revealed in Christ, Son of the Father. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Choose: Jesus calls us to choose him before all others and before all things. In the midst of so many choices today it can be difficult for some to make a choice. But it is only in choosing that we give direction to our life. In making life decisions, moral decisions we need to listen to the Lord and ask if this is choice is in tune with following the Lord.
In choosing Christ yes we close doors but more so we open ourselves to a wonderful meaningful, fulfilled life. Yes there will be the Cross but in following Jesus we are promised eternal life. No one else can offer this.
Choose Christ and he will give you the courage to live by that choice. Choose kindness, generosity and hospitality over closed doors, selfishness, arrogance and violence. Choose to give a cup of cold water to another, choose to make a person welcome, choose to listen, choose to care. Choose Jesus.
Courage: The Scripture readings for Mass calls us to have courage to speak God’s Word to others. The prophet Jeremiah had courage to speak God’s Word to the King and leaders of society of his day, even though they did not wish to listen, even though they had made up their own minds about what to do in the situation they were in. Though they sought to follow their own way, Jeremiah spoke to them of God’s way. Jesus tells the Apostles not to be afraid but to proclaim his message from the rooftops, that it may be heard by all. As Christians we are called to have courage in our day, in our time to speak up for our values, to speak about our beliefs. Jesus tells tells us how precious we are to the Father, that the Father knows us intimately. Every human being is precious to God from the moment of conception when a human being comes into life. As Christians we can never tire of proclaiming this truth. May we have the courage to speak of the beauty of our belief in life, in family, in marriage between man and woman, of the beauty of motherhood and fatherhood, of the wonder of male and female, a reflection of God. In our society which often wishes us to adhere to the prevailing trends of values as the way to go, let us have Courage to speak in love with respect of our belief in God which teaches us the beauty of life.
Behold the bread of angels, sent For pilgrims in their banishment, The bread for God’s true children meant, That may not unto dogs be given: Oft in the olden types foreshowed; In Isaac on the altar bowed, And in the ancient paschal food, And in the manna sent from heaven.
Come then, good shepherd, bread divine, Still show to us thy mercy sign; Oh, feed us still, still keep us thine; So may we see thy glories shine In fields of immortality; O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best, Our present food, our future rest, Come, make us each thy chosen guest, Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest With saints whose dwelling is with thee. Amen. Alleluia.
Sincere Thanks to all who organised and helped at the Corpus Christi Procession today Sunday and to all who participated. A wonderful day of prayer and community was had by all as we gathered around the Lord in the Eucharist and with one another as the Body of Christ for some food afterwards. A lot of work went into this day and many hands made the day prayerful and joyous. Thanks to all. Fr. Patrick
Most Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
I adore Thee profoundly.
I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul
and Divinity of Jesus Christ,
present in all the tabernacles of the world,
in reparation for the outrages,
sacrileges and indifferences whereby He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart
and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners. (Fatima Prayer)
Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Holy Trinity
As we gather for the Eucharist, we do so in the Name of God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We gather to give praise to God the Father, through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to reconcile us to God the Father and sent us the Holy Spirit to empower us to continue His Mission.
“The first element of Eucharistic faith is the mystery of God himself, Trinitarian love. The Eucharist reveals the loving plan that guides all of salvation history. There the Holy Trinity who is essentially love, become fully part of our human condition. God is a perfect communion of love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God’s whole life encounters us and is sacramentally shared with us. The mystery of faith is a mystery of Trinitarian love, a mystery in which we are called by grace to participate.” (Sacramentum Caritatis) As we receive Christ in Holy Communion, Christ shares his life with us and brings us into the love he shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Become aware of the prayers that reflect the Trinitarian life in the Eucharist as you celebrate Mass.
Come Holy Spirit , Creator Come
Lord, pour out your Spirit of wisdom on all students doing exams at this time. Help them to remain calm, to attend carefully to the questions asked, to think clearly, to remember accurately, and to express themselves well. Grant that they may reflect the best of the work they have done, and the best of the teaching they have received. When the results come out may they be satisfied that they did their best, and may whatever path they choose in life bring them happiness. May your love be upon them O Lord as they place all their trust in you. Amen
“The world in which we live is the work of the Creator Spirit. Pentecost is not only the origin of the Church and thus in a special way her feast; Pentecost is also a feast of creation. The world does not exist by itself; it is brought into being by the creative Spirit of God, by the creative Word of God. For this reason Pentecost also mirrors God’s wisdom. In its breadth and in the omni-comprehensive logic of its laws, God’s wisdom permits us to glimpse something of his Creator Spirit. It elicits reverential awe. The Holy Spirit, makes us sons and daughters of God. He involves us in the same responsibility that God has for his world, for the whole of humanity. He teaches us to look at the world, others and ourselves with God’s eyes.” Pope Benedict XVI homily Pentecost Vigil 2006
Let us pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit to renew us in faith
Prayer
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
Let us pray for the Protection and care for the Life in the Womb and of Pregnant Women.
Five Years Since the Abortion Referendum
“Today, we reaffirm our conviction that the innate dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death, is a value for the whole of society, rooted in reason as well as in faith. No matter what legislation is passed in any country, the fundamental right to life for all human beings at every stage of development still prevails.”
Catholic Bishops of Ireland 14May 2023:
www.prayforlife.ie – become involved
Best wishes to all who are undertaking their exams in the coming Weeks.
Catholic Schools in the Parish
Scoil Mhuire Naofa, Scoil Clochair Mhuire, St. Aloysius College,
Catholic Ethos – Carrigtwohill Community College
We thank the principals, teachers and all staff of the Schools for their work in Catholic Schools and their commitment to the Community.
Mission Prayer for the Parish
We thank you Lord for the gift of faith which enriches our lives and community. Christ Jesus, the Corner Stone of our Faith, send us the Holy Spirit to guide and enlighten us. May Your Holy Spirit give us courage to be witnesses of your joy and love to others. With Mary, the Mother of Jesus to walk with us, we give glory to God the Father in all we do. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
St. Vincent de Paul
Please continue to support the local Society who continues to offer help and resources to those in need. Contact 085 8544426
