| St
Mary’s Church Bocan - 17th August
2008
20th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Wishfulness”
Give me good digestion, Lord,
And also something to digest.
Give me a healthy body, Lord,
With a sense to keep it at its best.
Give me a healthy mind, Good Lord,
To keep the pure and good in sight,
Which, seeing sin, is not appalled,
But finds a way to set it right.
Give me a mind that is not bored,
That does not whimper, whine or sigh.
Don’t let me worry overmuch
About the fussy thing called ’I’.
Give me a sense of humour, Lord,
Give me the grace to see a joke,
To get some happiness in life,
And pass it on to other folk.
Sir Thomas More 1478-1535
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Let
the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
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Sunday 10th
August 2008
19th Sunday
in Ordinary Time
Parish Missal
Readings (Year 1) p 333 & Proper
p 1078
First Reading
Kings 19:9.11-13
God speaks to Elijah in the whisper
of a gentle breeze.
Second Reading
Romans 9:1-5
Paul speaks of the sacrifices he is
willing to make to help his brothers
come to faith in Christ.
Gospel Matthew
14:22-23
Jesus calms the fears of his disciples.
MASS
TIMES
Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday & Thursday,
10 am;
Wedding Mass on Friday
at 1 pm;
Saturday, 10 am.
Saturday,
Vigil, 8 pm;
Sunday, 8.30 am &
11 am.
Confessions
Saturday, 7.15 pm—7.45 pm.
Weekly Offering €1,710 Development
Collection, €1,005. Thank
you for your generosity.
A
big thank you to the Ceili Club Ladies
for their donation of €500 for
the Development Fund.
St
Vincent de Paul Society
Help is available to parents of 2nd
& 3rd level students. Apply
to Mickey on 9367218.
Charity
Football Match
There will be a charity football match,
today, Sunday 17th August at 2pm,
in the Illies in memory of the late
Thomas McLaughlin, Cashel. All proceeds
in aid of St Luke's Hospital, Dublin
and the Oncology Unit, Letterkenny
Hospital. Come along and give your
support for this worthy cause.
Blood
Donors Needed in Carndonagh
The Unit will be at Carndonagh Community
School on Wednesday,
27th August from 3 pm – 4.45
pm & 7 pm – 9.30 pm; Thursday
28th August, 2 pm – 4.45 pm
& 7 pm – 9.30 pm. Your support
is urgently needed.
Whist
Congratulations to Seamus Harkin,
Gleneely on winning the snowball.
2nd: Mary B McLaughlin,
Carn
Gerard Doherty, Gleneely
Tickets: John Duffy, Derry; Seamus
Harkin, Gleneely & Collette Carlin,
Castlefin.
Other Winners
Anne McColgan, Colette Carlin, Paddy
McLaughlin, Seamus Coyle.
Whist every Friday night at 8.45 pm
in Bocan Hall. New Snowball starts
at €30 for 190 or less.
TEACH
Laptop Project – Computer Course
Inishowen Development Partnership
is currently recruiting participants
to complete a certified computer course
FETAC Level 4 [Computer Applications].
This course will delivered from the
convenience of your own homes using
laptop computers. The tutor can accommodate
up to 4-6 participants per group.
It will run for 15 weeks, one day
per week for 2½ - 3 hours.
It commences in September. For more
information contact Sinead McDaid
on 086 8216306 / 9362218.
Carndonagh
Community School
School
reopens as follows:
Tuesday, 26th August for First Years,
TY and VTY until 12.30;
Wednesday 27th August for Third &
Fifth Years;
Thursday 28th August for Second Years;
Friday 29th August for Fourth Years
Monday 1st September for Sixth Years
and P.L.C.
Letterkenny
Institute of Technology -
Information Days for prospective students:
Tuesday, 19th August, 10 am- 3 pm
[Letterkenny campus]; Wednesday 20th
August 10 am – 3 pm [Tourism
College, Killybegs]. Three new degree
programmes are available this year:
Veterinary Nursing, Health & Social
Studies and Multimedia & Digital
Entertainment Technology. Staff and
members of the students union will
be on hand to answer questions on
these and existing programmes.
Carmelite
Retreat Centre
A Mass of the sick with Eucharistic
Blessing takes place in Termonbacca
on Tuesday, 19th August at 8 pm. All
are welcome to attend.
The
Deep End – Method in the Madness
It’s
not often that Jesus’ language
seems crude, but in today’s
Gospel [Matt 15:21-28] it does. Using
the common Jewish designation for
Gentiles, viz, ‘dogs’,
he says ‘It is not fair to take
the children’s food and throw
it to the dogs’ [Matt 15:25].
Perhaps knowing it’s common
coinage removes some unease at its
use. Perhaps. Perhaps being so removed
from the language and culture of Jesus’
time the word sounds harsher now than
it did then. Perhaps. Perhaps the
diminutive form of ‘dog’
that’s used, softening it to
‘puppy’, removes the harshness.
Perhaps.
But what about Jesus’ tone of
voice, facial expression and body
language as he utters those words?
Is he surly, spiteful, or cruel? Hardly.
We can all too easily picture him
as almost terminally serious, without
a laugh in his body. Well, if Jesus
has no joy in his heart, no lightness
in his spirit, no humour on his lips,
then whatever else he brings it’s
not ‘good news’, and it
isn’t the fullness of life.
I suspect a mischievous, yet friendly,
banter here between Jesus and the
woman; also, that Jesus orchestrates
the entire encounter to teach his
disciples a lesson. She’s a
Canaanite, despised by Jews. Yet,
she doesn’t take offence in
the least at what Jesus says. She
even turns the tables on him and [dare
one suggest it?] makes him chuckle
at her wit and bowls him over by her
good humour.
Clearly, that’s a winning combination,
for Jesus tells the ‘chosen’
ones that this despised one has great
faith, and grants her what she wants.
Nothing crude there!
Fr Tom
Cahill SVD
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