St
Mary’s Church Bocan
10th June 2007—No 27
Body & Blood of Jesus Christ
Responsorial
Psalm
You are a priest forever, a priest
like Melchizedek of old.
We all have
our own ideas about life after death.
For this poet it’s a return
to the precious simple joys of life
with those we love.
RESURRECTION
Is it true that after
this life of ours we shall one day
be awakened by a terrifying clamour
of trumpets?
Forgive me, God, but I console myself
That the beginning and resurrection
of all of us dead
Will simply be announced by the crowing
of the cock.
After that we’ll
remain lying down a while….
The first to get up
Will be mother...we’ll hear
her
Quietly laying the fore,
Quietly putting the kettle on the
stove
And cosily taking the teapot out of
the cupboard.
We’ll be home once more.
Vladimir Holan
[1905-1980]
Today’s
Readings
1st Gifts of bread
and wine are blessed by the Hebrew
priest of Old Testament times, Melchisedeck;
2nd Paul recounts the story
of the Last Supper;
Gospel Luke’s gospel
paints a picture of the miraculous
feeding of five thousand people with
just five loaves and two fish .
40 Hours Adoration
Saturday & Sunday, 24th/25th June:
Saturday, 10 am -7 pm; Sunday, 12
Noon – 6 pm. Holy Hour from
6 pm-7 pm. A rota system to make sure
that adorers are present throughout
will be in operation. Please put your
name down in the sheets available
next week.
Pioneers
Gold & Silver Pins, and also Probationer
Badges will be presented on Friday,
22nd June, Feast of the Sacred Heart,
at 7.30 pm.
Bocan Youth
Club Rota – 15th June
Stephen Canning, May Doherty, Des
Mills, Mary O’Kane.
Community Defibrillator
Meeting to discuss the start of a
first aid class in Bocan Hall on Tuesday
12 June at 9 pm. All welcome
Readers
If you would be willing to help out
with this important ministry then
contact Fr McGonagle this week as
the new rota is being drawn up.
North West Institute
Part Time Enrolments Now Open…you
can enrol in person at Strand Road
College or online at www.nwrc.ac.uk
or by telephoning 04871276000.
Columba –
Colmcille of Derry
Lecture in at Canice’s Oratory
in the New Celtic Garden in Muff.
For details contact 9384866.
Pilgrimage
Season.
Lourdes
Pilgrimage
There are still 23 places remaining
on this Pilgrimage. If you would like
to go then contact 04871260293 as
soon as possible.
Knock
Summer Youth Festival – 26th-29th
July at Knock Shrine.
Theme: ‘God is offering “Life
to the Full”. Cost is by donation
and free buses will be available.
Log on to www.geocities.com/knock_shrine
for more details.
Trip
to Knock
The Annual Pioneer trip to Knock takes
place on Sunday, 15th July. Cost is
€42 including 2 meals. For bookings
contact 9382709.
Today’s Psalm
This is a psalm for the coronation
of a king. The consecrating priest
speaks in God’s name to the
new king, sit on my right, as he pointed
to the royal palace which was to the
right of God’s Temple in Jerusalem.
Victory over his enemies is promised.
Then the new king is reminded that
as mediator between God and the people,
his role is priestly. He is not a
cultic priest like the descendants
of Aaron, but a king-priest like Melchizedek
of old.
Melchizedek, in the
first reading, offered bread and wine
before blessing Abraham. This offering,
recalled in the First Eucharistic
Prayer, prefigured what Jesus did
with bread and wine at the last supper.
In today’s second reading, Paul
writes of that supper, with the injunction
to ‘do this as a memorial of
me.’
Through anointing
with Chrism in baptism we share in
the kingship and priesthood of Jesus
Christ, the true mediator between
God and people. We exercise our priestly
privilege particularly in the celebration
of the Eucharist.
You are a priest forever, a priest
like Melchizedek of old. Fr
Silvester O’Flynn OFMCap
Gospel Reflection
for Corpus Christi
A Banquet
for the Multitudes
The feeding of the five thousand….no,
its not just about Jesus miraculously
feeding a bunch of hungry people,
if it was, a famous fast food chain
or a magician might do just as well.
In the context of today’s solemnity,
today’s gospel reading links
the ordinary food that God provides
at our regular meals to the extraordinary
food we receive in Holy Communion.
The feeding of the five thousand is
prophetic. Jesus is showing us that
God's reign is about satisfying both
human and physical need. The importance
of the miracle is not so much about
the multiplication of food, but the
message that God can provide for all.
This claim might raise a few third
world eyebrows, but the truth remains;
God has provided for all, it’s
left to us to make sure it is shared
fairly around the world. Today’s
real miracle would be in the change
of our materialistic attitudes. The
real miracle would be a change that
would enable us to eradicate poverty
and hunger simply by organising a
system of sharing. The scale of the
problem the disciples faced on the
day of the feeding of the five thousand
must have seemed impossible, but the
message that they should get on with
the job of sharing and leave the rest
to God, could be as miraculous today
as it was then.
Jesus was all about
sharing. He gave his time, his love
and finally his body and blood. When
we receive Holy Communion in Mass
our action is twofold. The Eucharist
is a banquet for the multitudes in
which we remember Jesus’ sacrificial
self-giving. More than this, we remember
the promise that anyone who eats his
body and drinks his blood will share
eternal life.
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