| St
Mary’s Church Bocan - 3rd
August 2008
18th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
The
Lord who feeds us
Jesus said to his
disciples: “Give them something
to eat yourselves.” These words
of Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel
are a clear reminder that we, as his
followers, have to develop a new mentality.
Instead of always looking for what
we can get we are called to be people
who look for what we can give. All
the gifts we have are given to us
for others. This is especially true
of the gift of love. The main question
for couples is not “Are we alright?”
but “How do we need to be with
one another so that others will be
alright?” The love of a married
couple is full of power for all those
who meet them. This is particularly
true for their children. It is the
quality of the love of the couple
that creates the quality of the atmosphere
of the home. This command of Christ
is also given to us as a community.
The gift of faith that we celebrate
is given to us so that others may
believe. This can call us to radical
change as a parish community.
Fr. Johnny
Doherty, C.Ss.R.
 |
You
open wide your hand, O Lord,
you grant our desires. |
 |
Sunday 3rd
August 2008
Eighteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Parish Missal Readings
(Year 1) p 329 & Proper p 1076
First Reading Isaiah 55: 1-3
Come to the water all you who are
thirsty.
Second Reading Romans 8: 35.37-39
Nothing can come between us and the
love of Christ.
Gospel Matthew 14: 13-21
Jesus feeds those who hunger.
MASS
TIMES
Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, 10 am;
Thursday:
Wedding Mass at 12.30 pm;
Friday:
8 pm [Memorial Mass for Dr. Joe Enright];
Saturday, 10 am.
Saturday,
Vigil, 8 pm;
Sunday, 8.30 am & 11 am.
Confessions
Saturday, 7.15 pm—7.45 pm.
11 am Mass on Sunday is
offered for Tom Quigley. [Anniversary].
Weekly Offering €1,600
Development Collection,
€1,000.
Thank
you for your generosity.
All
the sick of the parish will be attended
on
Wednesday
& Thursday at the usual times
Pilgrimage
to Medjugorje, 4-11 October ‘08
Departing from Belfast Airport.
Places are limited so for
information and booking
contact
Marie Furey
9361625; or, Pat Mullan, 04871 301474.
The monthly
devotions, in honour of Our Lady,
will take place in the Carmelite
Retreat Centre, Termonbacca, Derry
on Tuesday 5thAugust starting with
confessions at 7.30 p.m. followed
by Rosary and Mass, finishing around10.00
p.m. All are welcome to attend.
Cancer
Support & Social Club
Are
you a Male or Female affected by cancer?
Would you be interested
in joining the Cancer Support &
Social Club and get involved in fitness
classes, swimming [or learn to swim]?
Then contact Rita on 086 6028993 or
Deirdre on 087 7634596 [in strict
confidence] before Wednesday 20th
August.
Serenity
House
Art & Craft Exhibition,
3rd & 4th August from 12 noon
– 5 pm. Admission is free. Why
not come along and see what you too
could achieve under the tuition of
expert tutors.
Would you like to learn some
piano keyboard skills? Free
lessons available [Monday 11th August
– Friday 15th August]. Places
are limited so if you are interested
contact Mary or Rosaleen on 9385548.
Summer Programmes
with the Moville & District Family
resource Centre
Music & Movement for 4-10 year
olds. Begins Monday 28 July –
Friday 1st August, 10 am – 1
pm. Please book by telephoning 9385548.
Garden Fete Moville
Presbyterian Grounds on Saturday,
16th August at 2 pm. Glamorous granny
& handsome granddad competition
takes place at 3 pm. All proceeds
in aid of the proposed hall building
fund.
‘Each person
unjustly makes himself or herself
the centre of their world.’
Blaise Pascal
The call of Christianity is indeed
to do the opposite. Christianity is
the religion of reversal, where the
last shall be first and the first
shall be last. As Christians we are
called to go the extra mile, to put
the centre of our world outside ourselves,
to love God with all our heart, all
our soul, all our mind and all our
strength and our neighbour as ourselves.
To truly live out the Gospel calling
is to put oneself in the margin at
the service of others. It is, following
the story of Matthew 25, to feed the
hungry, to give the thirsty water,
to clothe the naked, to care for the
sick, to visit the prisoner and to
welcome the stranger.
It is this last calling
that is coming more and more to the
fore in modern Ireland. As the face
of Ireland changes, with an increasing
number of people entering the country
from other nations, we need to meet
the challenge to welcome them at both
a national and local community level.
It is more than appropriate for Irish
people to step outside their comfort
zone and offer cead mile failte to
the stranger in our midst.
Francis
Cousins
The
Deep End – Faith’s Strength
I’ve just finished
reading The God Delusion by Richard
Dawkins with my faith intact despite
running the gauntlet of rational,
and at times seemingly irrational,
assault. I think that his approach
to eradicating religion is rather
like fighting fire with wind. It may
blow it out, but then again it may
just fan the flames.
Anyway, today’s Second Reading
[Rom 8:35, 37-39] reminds us of a
very important fact with regard to
our faith. It’s not primarily
a matter of our relationship with
God, but of God’s relationship
with us. That’s its strength.
Paul puts it boldly as he asks: ‘Will
hardship, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword’ separate us from Christ?
To which he gives a resounding No!
Neither will ‘death, nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers, nor things
present, nor things to come…’
[including science and Dawkins’
book? – nothing, simply nothing
can separate us from the love of God.
In other words nothing can touch God’s
love for us. That’s what we
believe, wonderfully unscientific
though it may be.
And the faith we have – or,
more accurately, that has us –
is not for hoarding but for sharing.
It’s a gift to improve the quality
of human life by bringing out all
the is good within and around us.
That’s the point of today’s
Gospel reading [Matt 14:13-21] too.
The crowds are hungry, in a barren
place. Jesus tells his followers –
those with faith in him – to
feed the crowds.
Once the faith is present, the
miracle happens.
Fr Tom Cahill SVD
|
