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St
Mary’s Church Bocan 16th December
2007—No 3
Third
Sunday in Advent
Christmas Wayfarers
Redden the hearth and sweep the floor,
let the candle-light through the pane
be showing,
bring sweet well water, and leave
the door
loose on the hasp, for who would be
knowing
what poor soul, lonely and travelled
far,
walking the world on the naked highway
might follow the gleam of the Candle-Star
,and its welcome win in this lonesome
byeway.
So, for sake of two
who went out from the city
by bridle lanes down to Bethlehem
and who failed to find there, for
love or pity,
a kindly soul who would welcome them,
redden the hearth, let the comfort-sharing
glow of the peat-fire shine fair and
bright,
and may a tired, poor Man and a Maiden
wearing
a mantle of blue, be our guests to-night.
Cathal O’Byrne
Responsorial
Psalm
Come, Lord, and save us.
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‘Are
you the one who is to come,
or have we to wait for someone
else?’
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Today’s
Readings
First Reading
Isaiah 35: 1- 6.10
God himself is coming to save you.
Second Reading James 5: 7
- 10
Do not lose heart for the Lord’s
coming will be soon.
Gospel Matthew 11: 2 - 11
Happy the man who does not lose faith
in me.
Money
Matters:
Weekly Offering, €1,475;
Development Collection, €1,050.
Thank you for your generosity.
Deaths
The Burial of Bernadette Corrigan,
Belfast, took place in Bocan last
Tuesday after Requiem Mass in Belfast.
She was a member of the O’Doherty
family from Derry with close family
connections in Culdaff. Our deepest
sympathy to her son and daughters
and the wider family circle. May she
rest in peace.
Bocan Youth Club
– Rota. Friday, 21st December
– Marian Keddy, Eilish Bell,
Denise Cunningham, Greta Doherty
Whist Winners
1st Eamon Donaghy, Effishmore;
2nd Vera Deeny, Terrawee;
3rd John Doherty, Malin Head.
1st Half: Paddy McLaughlin,
Gleneely;
2nd Half: Mary McDermott,
Falmore.
Lowest Score: Phyllis Lloyd,
Gleneely;
Highest Score, Father McGonagle,
Parochial House.
Draw Winners: [1st] John
Doherty, Malin Head [2nd] Patricia
Harkin, Muff [3rd] Fr McGonagle, Parochial
House
The Whist is on every Friday night
at 8.45 pm. Snowball this week: €95
for a score of 177 or better + Special
Prizes this week for Christmas.
Everyone welcome
Culdaff Care of the Aged Committee
wish to thank all the business people
of Culdaff & Gleneely for their
generous contributions to their Christmas
Party Fund. They also would like to
thank McGrory’s Hotel for providing
a beautiful meal enjoyed by everyone
at the party.
Serenity House
Food Safety Class: Names are being
taken now for this class which commences
in January 2008. For information contact
9382945.
Chiropodist Deirdre Britton in Serenity
House on Tuesday, 18th December at
9.30 am. For an appointment ring 086
0666538 / 9360363.
Pre-Marriage Courses
Available in the Pastoral Centre,
Carndonagh on the following dates:
25th/26th January 08; 22nd/23rd February
08; 28th/29th March 08; 25th/26th
April 08; 30th/31st May 08. Courses
are from 8pm-10 pm on the Friday nights
and from 10 am – 5 pm on the
Saturday. Application forms from Fr
McGonagle or ring the Pastoral Centre
on 9374103 [between 10.30 am –
12.30 pm], or log on to www.accord.ie
A living masterpiece
To be dead is to stop believing in
the masterpieces we will begin tomorrow.
So claimed Patrick Kavanagh as cited
in John O’Donoghue’s book,
Eternal Echoes (p.19). Too good to
be true about the masterpieces, you
might think. Well, that depends on
how you eye a masterpiece. We can
all too easily sell ourselves short.
There is more to each of us than meets
the eye especially our own.
Have you ever surprised yourself?
Have you ever done something you thought
you never could, shown a humanity
you didn’t know you had, opened
to an insight that took your breath
away, gone that extra mile exhausted
yet finished quite refreshed? And,
have you discovered that exquisitely
subversive truth that the more you
give, the more you realise you have
to give?
If so, Isaiah’s words today
(35:5-6a) will make sense to you:
Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened , and the ears of the deaf
unstopped, then the lame shall leap
like a deer, and the tongue of the
speechless sing for joy. But they
will make sense in a way you never
dreamed of.
You’ll gasp as you grasp that,
in fact, they refer to you!
Fr Tom Cahill SVD
Old Christmas Customs
by Michael J Murphy
Christmas brought
a festival of holiness and tradition.
Lighted candles were placed in every
window. This is a symbol of traditional
hospitality to unfortunate wayfarers;
and while it signifies the Light that
Christ brought into the world, it
proclaims the people’s undying
memory of the time when Mary and Joseph
were refused shelter in Bethlehem.
It expresses, too, the characteristic
hope of those with exiles far away
that they shall see them again before
taking to their death-bed.
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