| Sunday
8th February 2009
5th
Sunday of the Year
CHRIST
WHO HEALS US
“The
fever left her and she began to wait
on them.” One of the
lovely features of the Gospels is
the number of healing stories they
contain. Nothing is too big or too
small to bring to Jesus. He raised
Lazarus from the dead; he healed Peter’s
mother-in-law from a fever. That same
Jesus is with us and among us with
the same power and the same longing,
to heal us into wholeness. All we
have to do is ask him for what we
need for ourselves and for one another
and know that he will answer. We all
need his healing power in so far as
we set limits to our love for one
another because his great commandment
is to love. Husbands and wives often
need to stretch their love into forgiveness
if they are to go forward together.
Parents need to grow in understanding
of their children. And in our parish
we need Christ’s power to help
us to take true responsibility for
those in need.
Fr. Johnny
Doherty, C.Ss.R.
Fifth Sunday
in Ordinary Time
Sunday 8th
February 2009.
First Reading
Job 7: 1-4.6-7
Job describes his life without God;
empty, a drudgery, wishing it could
all end.
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 9: 16-19, 22-23
Though I am not the slave of anyone,
I have made myself the slave of everyone
so as to win as many as I could.
Gospel Mark 1: 29-39
Jesus said, ‘Let us go elsewhere,
to the neighbouring country towns,
so that I can preach there too, because
that is why I came.’
MASS
TIMES
Monday,
10 am.
No weekday Mass for the
rest of the week.
Saturday,
Vigil, 8 pm;
Sunday,
8.30 am & 11 am.
Confessions
Friday, 7.15 pm—7.45 pm; Saturday,
7.15 pm-7.45 pm.
Anniversary Masses
Sun 11 am: Fr Barney Duffy
Next Weekend
Sunday: 8.30 am: Hugh McGonigle, Ballintroohan
11 am: Mary Gurney,
Effishmore
Weekly
Offering: €1,600;
Development
Collection: €1,005. Thank you
for your generosity.
Missionaries of Africa
[White Fathers]
Fr Joe McMenamin, a native of Aghyaran,
Castlederg, will be speaking at all
Masses next weekend [15th/16th February],
on their mission work and a collection
will be taken up after Holy Communion
to aid them in their efforts.
“Love
and Land”
Bocan Drama Club proudly presents
‘Love and Land’ a four
act play that tells the story of a
bachelor farmer and his quest for
marriage!
Opening Night in Bocan Hall on Sunday,
15th February at 8 pm. Tickets on
sale at door priced €8; Children
€5. Shows too on Friday, 20th
February and Sunday 22nd February
at 8 pm.
A great
night’s craic is guaranteed
so come along and support them on
this their first production.
Whist
1st: Mickey O’Donnell, Carn
2nd: Tommy Doherty, Redcastle
2nd: Patricia Harkin, Culdaff
Tickets
James McConalogue, Cashel; Seamus
Harkin, Gleneely & Fr McGonagle,
Bocan.
Other Winners
Phyllis Lloyd, Gleneely; Seamus Harkin,
Gleneely; & Betty Houten, Culdaff.
Whist every Friday at 8.45pm in Bocan
Hall. Snowball : €170 for 176
or more.
Youth
Club Rota: Youth Club Closed until
27th February.
A big
thank you to all who contributed or
helped to take-up the recent Church
gate collection for St Nicholas’s
Pre-School for children with special
needs – it realised €403.
Serenity
House
Health Clinic –
As part of the National Cervical Cancer
Smear Programme, Moville Health Centre
will hold a Smear Clinic on Tuesday,
10 February between 9.30am and 12
pm. This is an open clinic and no
appointment is necessary.
Book Club –
Meeting on Tuesday, 10 February at
7.30 pm. All welcome to attend.
Bible Study –
Meeting on Monday, 9 February at 10.30
am at Serenity House, Moville. All
women are welcome to attend.
Patience
.. give God a chance. Take your
problem, whatever it may be, to him
in prayer. Tell him all about it –
just as if he didn’t know a
thing. In the telling be absolutely
honest and sincere. Hold nothing back…believe
that God will hear you…Next,
you must be willing to wait patiently
for the Lord. He does not answer every
prayer on Sunday afternoon. You may
have to wait until Friday. But wait.
God is never in a hurry…[The
reply] generally comes through our
own conscience in a sort of growing
conviction that such and such a course
of action is the one he wants us to
take. Or it may be given you in the
advice of friends of sound judgment…God
speaks sometimes through our circumstances
and guides us, closing doors as well
as opening them.
Peter
Marshall 1902-1949
The
Deep End – Bad Will Hunting
The street-wise say that God created
man in his own image and likeness,
and then man returned the compliment.
The incident in today’s
Gospel [Mark 1: 29-39], where Simon
and his companions go out ‘hunting’
for Jesus, reminds me of that quip.
The Greek verb used in verse 36 is
katadiókó. A very strong
word, it usually implies a hostile
intent. So, ‘hunting down’
Jesus more accurately conveys what
Simon was doing.
While people slept,
Jesus made his way unhindered by the
darkness to a deserted place to pray.
People considered such places, devoid
of human beings, as abodes of demons.
Having just cast out many demons he
now follows them to their dwelling.
He has no fear. No evil can touch
him. For Jesus, even an abode of evil
is a place for prayer! That’s
a powerful and dramatic message: there
are no God-free or prayer-free zones
in life.
Back to the hunt
again. Why would Simon want to hunt
down Jesus? Well, he has just left
everything to follow him, and now
Jesus has disappeared. This doesn’t
fit the image of Jesus that Simon
has. Finding him gone in the morning
is a shock. This is the first time
it has happened. What does it mean?
Has Jesus run off? Is he a fraud,
or a loony? Has Simon made one awful
fool of himself in abandoning his
livelihood for him? So, in doubt,
frustration, and anger he sets out
to find him. He’s looking for
Jesus, but on his own term.
Fr Tom Cahill SVD
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