| St
Mary’s Church Bocan
4th
January 2009
2nd
Sunday after Christmas
The Small
Beatitudes by Joseph Folliet, b.1972
Blessed are those
who can laugh at themselves;
they will have no end of fun.
Blessed are those
who can tell a mountain from a molehill;
they will be saved a lot of bother.
Blessed are those
who know how to relax without looking
for excuses;
they are on the way to becoming wise.
Blessed are those
who are sane enough not to take themselves
too seriously;
they will be valued most by those
about them.
Happy are you if you
can take things seriously and face
serious things calmly;
you will go far in life.
Happy are you if you
can appreciate a smile and forget
a frown;
you will walk on the sunny side of
the street.
Happy are if you can
be kind in understanding the attitudes
of others even when the signs are
unfavourable;
you may be taken for a fool but this
is the price of charity.
Blessed are those
who think before acting and pray before
thinking;
they will avoid many blunders.
Happy are you if you
know how to hold your tongue and smile,
even when people interrupt and contradict
you or tread on your toes; the Gospel
has begun to seep into your heart.
Above
all, blessed are you who recognise
the Lord in all whom you meet;
the light of truth shines in your
life for you have found true wisdom.’
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The
Word was made flesh, and lived
among us. |
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MASS
TIMES
Monday, 10 am:
Tuesday, Feast
of Epiphany
[Holyday
of Obligation]
Vigil Mass Monday,
8 pm; Tuesday 8.30 am & 11 am.
Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday & Saturday, 10 am.
Saturday, Vigil,
8 pm;
Sunday, 8.30 am &
11 am.
Confessions
Monday, 7.15 pm-7.45 pm;
Saturday, 7.15 pm-7.45 pm.
Anniversary
Masses
Tonight’s
Vigil Mass: Mary Ellen McConalogue,
Carrowmore.
8.30 am:Rose
McLaughlin, Gleneely
11 am: Cassie
Doherty, Camara
Tuesday 11
am: Neil McDaid, Gleneely
Next Sunday’s
11 am Mass:
Denis Doherty
Weekly
Offering: €1,530; Development
Collection: €1,000. Thank you
for your generosity.
Any one who hasn’t received
a weekly offering envelope yet, and
would like one, please see Fr McGonagle
in the sacristy after Mass.
Today’s
Readings
1st [Eccles. 24;1-2,8-12
This poem describes the wisdom of
God as a person who dwells forever
with his people;
[Ps. 147] A song of
praise to God who cares for his people;
2nd [Eph. 1:3-6, 15-18] God has chosen
us to live in His presence through
love;
Gospel [Jn. 1: 1-18]
John tells us how God speaks to us
through his Word, his Son, so that
we too can become sons of God.
All the
sick of the
parish will be attended
on Wednesday &
Thursday at the
usual times
Whist
1st: Seamus Coyle, Buncrana
2nd: John Duffy, Derry
3rd: Fr McGonagle, Bocan
Tickets
Ernie McLucas, Carn; Phillip McCool,
Carn & Mickey Doherty, Urris.
Other Winners
Phillip McCool, Mickey Doherty, Ernie
McLucas & Vera Deeney.
Whist every
Friday at 8.45pm in Bocan Hall. Snowball
: €120 for 181 or more.
Yoga
Yoga resumes in Carrowmena Centre
on Wednesday, 14th January at 7.30
pm. For more details contact Lyn on
087 328 7194
ACCORD Pre-Marriage
Courses
Courses will run from 8 pm –
10 pm on Friday evening and 10 am
– 5 pm on Saturday. [you must
attend complete course in order to
receive your Certificate]
Courses in Pastoral
Centre, Barrack Hill, Carndonagh
Friday 30th and Saturday
31st January 2009
Friday 27th and Saturday 28th February
2009
Friday 27th and Saturday 28th March
2009.
Application
forms from the Parochial House.
The Epiphany
The Epiphany is the manifestation
of Jesus the Messiah of Israel, Son
of God and Saviour of the world. The
great feast of Epiphany celebrates
the adoration of Jesus by the wise
men [magi] from the East, together
with his baptism in the Jordan and
the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee.
In the magi, representatives of the
neighbouring pagan religions, the
Gospel sees the first-fruits of the
nations, who welcome the good news
of salvation through the Incarnation
[CCC528]
The
new Readers-Rota is now available
in the Sacristy.
Truth
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and
friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all – to thine own
self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the
day,
Thou canst not then be false to any
man.
William Shakespeare 1564-1616
Time
God, I spend so much time reliving
yesterday or anticipating tomorrow
that I lose sight of the only time
which is really mine – the present…That’s
all I have – all I ever will.
Give me the faith that knows that
each moment contains exactly what
is best for me. Give me the hope that
trusts you enough to forget past sins
and future trials. Give me that love
that makes each minute of life an
anticipation of eternity with you.
The
Deep End – Wisdom
A Chinese proverb
tells us that the first step towards
wisdom is getting things by their
right names. What more important name
to get right than ‘God’?
So, is our response to that name chilly,
wary or warm? In Things Hidden, Richard
Rohr points out, ‘Most people
do not realise that humanity did not,
by and large, expect love from God
before the biblical revelation.’
Capricious pagan gods were to be placated.
Those who submitted to them, though
intelligent, lacked wisdom in naming
them ‘gods’ instead of
‘illusions’.
Our God is not an
illusion, or capricious. God is steadfast
in love. Made in God’s image
and likeness, so too are we. Any response
to God on our part other than love
would be unworthy of God. God gives
love, wants love; is love.
Today’s First
Reading [Sir 24: 1-4, 8-12] calls
God ‘the Most High’ [24:3].
That’s where we set our sights:
high.
We don’t lower
them to near worship of superficial
entertainment, or to escapist busyness
that blinds us to the past, locks
us to the present and numbs us to
the future. Instead let us use right
names and call the past ‘teacher’,
the present ‘opportunity’,
and the future ‘hope’.
Then life can bring
us wisdom, and fashion us in full.
Otherwise, the words of Greek tragedian
Aeschylus [525-456 BCE] may haunt
us by their beauty and their dread:
‘Even in our sleep, pain which
cannot forget falls drop by drop upon
the heart until, in our despair, against
our will, comes wisdom through the
awful grace of God.’
.
Fr Tom Cahill SVD
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