| Sunday
15th February 2009
6th
Sunday of the Year
Jesus,
friend of outcasts
“Whatever
you eat, whatever you drink, whatever
you do at all, do it for the glory
of God.” We often think
of faith and religion only in terms
of prayer. The extraordinary thing
about Jesus and his teaching, as seen
in this passage from St. Paul, is
that true religion is to be found
in the ordinary things of life and
true faith is to be lived in daily
life. This is especially true in the
day-to-day loving that is marriage.
Each couple live out their spirituality
in the ways they tenderly love one
another. And in family life the quality
of love is what makes people holy.
In our life together in our parish
we are called to the spirituality
of being a community in which we care
for one another. We need prayer as
part of it all both to grow in the
power to love and to celebrate the
goodness of love. It is only through
the power of God that we can love
as we should.
Fr. Johnny
Doherty, C.Ss.R.
Sunday, 15th
February 2009
6th Sunday
of the Year
First Reading
Leviticus 13: 1-2.44-46
The leper must live apart: he must
live outside the camp.
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 10: 31-11:1
Whatever you do at all, do it for
the glory of God.
Gospel Mark
1: 40-45
A leper is healed through the compassion
of Jesus.
MASS
TIMES
No weekday
Mass this week.
Saturday, Vigil, 8
pm;
Sunday, 8.30 am &
11 am.
Confessions
Saturday, 7.15 pm-7.45 pm.
Anniversary
Masses
Sunday: 8.30 am: Hugh McGonigle, Ballintroohan
11 am: Mary Gurney, Effishmore
Next Week—Vigil
Mass 8pm: Mick Doherty, Balybawn
Weekly
Offering: €1,580; Development
Collection: €900. Thank you for
your generosity.
N.B. A
collection will be taken up after
communion to help the White Fathers
with their work on the Mission.
Alzheimer’s
Collection – A big thank you
to all who contributed to, or took
up, the recent church-gate collection
for Alzheimers – it realised
€379.
Culdaff Care
of the Aged
The committee of the Culdaff Care
of the Aged ask that you check on
any elderly neighbours living near
you at this time of heightened fear
over the recent spate of break-ins.
“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 tonight,
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
Congratulations to the snowball winners
who shared the top prize: Ellen Ann
Lafferty, Glengad; John Duffy, Derry;
and Seamus Coyle, Buncrana.
Tickets
Pat Mills, Culdaff, Michael Doherty,
Urris, Jams McConalogue, Cashel &
Mick Hirrell, Carn
Other Winners
Dolores O’Donnell, Carn, John
Doherty, Malin Head, Gerard Doherty,
Ourt & Mickey O’Donnell,
Carn.
No Whist next Friday.
Scoil Mhuire
Gleneely
Enrolment Forms are now available
for any parent wishing to enrol their
child in junior infants for the new
school year in September 2009. Forms
can be had by ringing the school on
9367236 or by calling in and collecting
one.
Bocan Defibrillator
All members please note that the AGM
takes place on Tuesday, 24 February
at 8 pm in Bocan Hall to be followed
by a refresher course on the Defibrillator.
Also, a further training night on
Thursday, 26th February. Re-certification
will take place on Monday, 2nd March
at 8 pm.
Serenity
House
Rural Transport –
Inishowen rural transport is a community
transport project operating on a number
of routes in the Peninsula. We offer
a friendly service with pick up from
your own doorstep on request. If you
are in need of transport or want details
of our current routes and timetables,
please contact Noreen on 9322291 or
Cormac on 087 9861606.
Chiropodist –
In Serenity House on Friday 27 February
at 9.30 am. Appointments to 9360363
/086 0666538
Classes – A
few places remain on FETAC level 3
Basic Computer Course beginning Tuesday
24 February from 10.30 am-12.30 pm.
Contact 9382945 for more details.
Improve Maths Skills
– Parents wishing to improve
their math skills to help their children
up to 2nd year level should contact
Mary McKinney on 938548, Moville Family
Resource Centre.
Moville Activities for Men
– Talk on traditional
Gaelic Cultures, given by Iain McKinnon
from the Isle of Skye. New starting
time at 7pm. Contact 9382945 for detail
of venue. All men welcome.
The
Deep End – Compassion Through
Anger
There are two possible images of Jesus
in today’s Gospel reading [Mark
1:40-45]. The obvious one is the compassionate
Jesus who pities a leper [v.42] and
cures him. But then, why the ‘stern
warning’ [v. 43]? It’s
not a warning to keep quiet, because
that order comes after the stern warning.
There’s no information on what
Jesus warns him about. Hence, the
excuse to speculate.
The NRSV Catholic Edition has a footnote
to v.41 stating that ‘other
ancient authorities read anger’.
That’s anger instead if pity.
This makes sense in terms of the ‘stern
warning’.
The NRSV also notes that the term
leper and leprosy can refer to several
diseases. Could the leper’s
disease be caused by a particular
lifestyle? Jesus recognising this
perhaps is angry with him. Yet, he
cures him. Curing a leper who through
no fault of his own contracts the
disease warrants compassion. But Jesus’
compassion could be even greater than
that because he shows compassion to
someone who possibly contracted a
disease through his own fault. This
is an even greater challenge for us
today for it clearly shows that anger
and compassion are not mutually exclusive.
And that giving a stern warning about
risky lifestyles is not out of order.
Could those who fashioned the final
form of the Gospel of Mark have opted
for the softer Jesus? If they did
what criteria did they use for their
preference? And if they did, were
they correct? Could they have had
difficulty with compassion flowing
through anger?
It’s an issue we
too may have to face.
Fr Tom Cahill SVD
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