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St
Mary’s Church Bocan
2nd
March 2008
Fourth
Sunday in Lent
A very Happy
Mother’s Day to all the mothers
in the parish.
MOTHERS
When the good Lord was creating mothers,
he was into his sixth day of overtime
when an angel appeared and said, ‘You’re
doing a lot of fiddling around on
this one.’ And the Lord said,
‘Have you read the specifications
on this order?’ She has to be
completely washable, but not plastic...have
180 moveable parts– all replaceable...run
on black coffee and left-overs...have
a lap that disappears when she stands
up...a kiss that can cure anything
from a broken leg to a disappointed
love affair… and six pairs of
hands.’
The angel shook
his head slowly and said, ‘Six
pairs of hands? No way. ‘It’s
not the hands that are causing me
problems,’ said the Lord. It’s
the three pairs of eyes that mothers
have to have . ‘That’s
on the standard model?’ asked
the angel. The Lord nodded. ‘One
pair that sees through closed doors
when she asks ‘What are you
children doing in there?, when she
already knows. Another in the back
of her head that sees when she shouldn’t
but what she has to know. And, of
course, the ones in font that can
look at a child when he gets himself
into trouble and say, ’I understand
and I love you’, without so
much as uttering a word.’
‘Lord, said
the angel, touching his sleeve gently,
’go to bed. Tomorrow is another
…’ I can’t said,
the Lord. I’m so close now.
Already I have one who heals herself
when she is sick, can feed a family
of six on one pound of mince, and
can get a nine year old to have a
bath.’
The angel circled the model of a mother
very slowly. ’It’s too
soft,’ he sighed. ’But
tough! Said the Lord excitedly. ’You
cannot imagine what this mother can
do or endure.’ Can it think?
Asked the angel. ‘Not only think,
but it can reason and compromise,
said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran
his finger across the cheek. ‘There’s
a leak, ‘ he pronounced. ‘It’s
not a leak,’ said the Lord.
‘It’s a tear.’ ‘What’s
it for?’ ‘It’s for
joy, sadness, disappointment, pain,
loneliness and pride.’ ‘You’re
a genius,’ said the angel. The
Lord looked sombre. ‘I didn’t
put it there.’ [Anon]
Mass
Times
Tonight's Vigil Mass is
the Month’s Mind of Nellie O’Donnell,
Drumaville.
Monday,
7.30 pm [Anniversary Mass of Willie
Doherty],
Tuesday, Wednesday
& Thursday, 9.30 am;
Friday, The
First Friday of the Month,
8 pm [Anniversary Mass of Donal McCarron,
Ballyharry]; Saturday, 9.30 am.
Monday, -
Friday, 11 am.
Next Weekend
Vigil Mass, 8 pm[Anniversary Mass
of Neil & Mary Ann Duffy]
Sunday,
8.30 am; 11 am
Confessions
Friday, 7.15 pm—7.45 pm; Saturday,
7.15 pm—7.45 pm.
Responsorial Psalm
The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want.
Collection
Weekly Offering €1,940
Development Collection, €1,010.
Thank you for your generosity.
Today’s
Readings
1st Disappointed
in Saul as king, God sends Samuel
secretly to Bethlehem to anoint Saul’s
successor from among the sons of Jesse;
2nd God calls us
to open our eyes and live in his light,
leaving darkness [sin] behind;
Gospel Blindness
in scripture often refers to a spiritual
state and not just a physical one.
The blind man receives the light of
Christ and is changed.
Station Mass
Saturday, 8th March, 10 am [Bocan,
Laraghirrel, Kindroyhead etc], in
the home of Danny and Mary Collins,
Bocan.
Youth Club
Rota
7th March: Stephen Canning, Philomena
O’Brien, Sandra McLarkey, Linda
Doherty.
The care
of the Aged Groups in each
parish throughout Inishowen are distributing
a limited supply of Lagging Jackets
and Low Energy Light Bulbs which they
received from Action Inishowen . Please
contact any member of the Care of
the Aged or St Vincent de Paul if
you would benefit from these offers.
Donegal Diabetes
Association
Annual Church-gate collection this
weekend, 1st/2nd March.
Culdaff Care
of the Aged
There will be a meeting of the Culdaff
Care of the Aged Committee on Tuesday,
4th March at 8 pm in Bocan Old School.
All members are asked to attend and
new members are very welcome.
Bocan Defibrillator
Group AGM
Meeting in Bocan Hall on Tuesday,
18th March at 8 pm.
Job Fair
The Job Fair takes place this Wednesday,
5th March from 10.30 am – 6.30
pm in the Inishowen Gateway Hotel,
Buncrana.
Whist
1st Congratulations
to Dolores O'Donnell, Ballybeg and
Tommy Doherty, Redcastle on winning
the Snowball. – they each received
€40;
3rd
Eamon Donaghy, Effishmore.
Draw: Gerard Doherty,
Ourt, Paddy McLaughlin, Gleneely &
Betty Houten, Culdaff.
Other Winners: Catherine
McGilloway, Malin, Margaret McGilloway,
Malin, Ellen Anne Lafferty, Malin.
Snowball next week:
€30 for 190 or more
Whist every Friday
night in Bocan Hall at 8.45 pm.
Carmelite
Retreat Centre, Derry
Monthly Devotions
in Honour of Our Lady take place on
Tuesday, 4th March beginning at 7.30
pm. All welcome to attend.
1-Day Retreat for senior Citizens
and their friends form Donegal
on Thursday, 13th March beginning
at 10.30 am and ending at 5.30 pm.
Cost: €18 and includes a 4-course
lunch.
The
Deep End - Living with Ambivalence
In Confronting Power and Sex in the
Catholic Church, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
writes: ‘In the First Book of
Samuel there are two stories of the
appointment of Saul as the first king
of Israel’. One favours it;
one doesn’t, thus indicating
the Bible’s ambivalence towards
kingly rule over Israel. He concludes,
‘The perfect religious organisation,
with the divine and human in total
harmony, never has and never will
exist.’ The same is true for
any individual.
Take David in today’s first
reading. God shows no ambivalence
in choosing him as king [1 Samuel
16:12]. But, later David grossly misuses
his power to have Bathsheba’s
husband, Uriah, killed so he can have
her for himself. Yet, God does not
disown him. God ‘does not see
as mortals see’[1 Samuel 16:7].
He knows that with the evil there
is also much good in David.
We to must love with
ambivalence – in ourselves and
in others. Black and white may be
easier on the eye than grey, but perhaps
compassion is best of all. For as
Timothy Radcliffe OP claims in his
book, Sing a New Song, ‘Compassion
surely trains the eye to see the loveliness
of God in unexpected places’.
Fr Tom
Cahill SVD
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