Today’s
Readings
1st Reading : Joshua
leads the Israelite people to the
chosen land of Canaan.
Now there is no further need for manna.
They live on the produce of the
land;
2nd Reading : Paul
reminds us that we are all ambassadors
for Christ;
Gospel : We listen
to the parable of the Prodigal Son.
Today’s
Psalm
Taste and see that the
Lord is good.
This line is an appropriate response
to the first reading’s account
of the first meal of the Israelites
on the produce of the land of their
destiny.
It is fascinating to hear these verses
as the prayer of the forgiven prodigal.
The banquet for his return was rendered
all the more tasty by the father’s
goodness. This father figure gives
a human face to the mercy of God.
Picture the relief and joy in the
son’s face, reflecting the radiance
of the father at the head of the table.
Look towards him and be
radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
The prodigal recalls the doubts and
anxieties he had experienced before
he was embraced in the father’s
forgiveness. He makes his own the
lines of the psalm:
This poor man called;
the Lord heard him and he rescued
him from all his distress.
The radiant face of the Father invites
us to an honest confession this Lent.
Father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you.
Taste and see that the
Lord is good.
Fr Silvester O’Flynn
OFMCap
Youth
Club Rota - Friday, 23rd March
Marion Keddy, Jimmy McLaughlin, Sandra
McLarky, Elizabeth O’Brien.
Money
Matters
Weekly Offering €1,655;
Development Collection, €1,100;
Clerical Education and Ongoing Formation
Collection, €1,270.
Thank you for your generosity.
Parish
Council Meeting
Monday, 26th March at 8 pm in Bocan
Old School. All members are asked
to attend.
With
Deepest Sympathy
The whole community was shocked at
the sudden death of Patrick
McCarron last week. We extend
our deepest sympathy to Helen, Margaret
& Patricia; to his grandchildren,
sisters and brother and the wider
family circle. May he rest in the
peace of Christ.
First
Communion & Confirmation
Confirmation on Thursday, 10th May
at 5 pm; First Communion on Saturday,
26th May at 11 am. A meeting for parents
of the children receiving these Sacraments
on Wednesday, 25th April at 7.30 pm
in the Assembly Room of Gleneely School,
conducted by Fr Paul Farren &
Therese Ferry.
Serenity
House
Daffodil Day – This
event in aid of the Irish Cancer Society
will take place on Friday, 23rd March.
Moville Garden Club –
There will be a talk on Growing
Perennials on Friday, 23rd March at
8.30 pm in Serenity House. The guest
speaker will be Iris Doherty of White
Castle Nurseries. All are welcome
Active Retirement Meeting
–The next meeting of
the Active Retirement Group will be
on the third Wednesday in April.
Are you caring for
an older person?
The Carers Development Officer Service
is a service for carers of older people
in Donegal. If you would like information
regarding entitlements, support groups,
respite or training then contact Diane
Donnelly on 087 2770103.
Pilgrimage to Medjugorje
– [leaving from Derry Airport]
7th – 14th June with Spiritual
Director Fr John Murray. Fare £399
inclusive of free travel insurance.
For more information and booking contact
Adele McCauley on 04871377965.
Blood Donations
In Carndonagh Community School on
Wednesday, 28 March from 3pm –
4.45 pm & 7 pm – 9.30 pm.
Thursday 29th March, 2pm-4.45pm &
7 pm – 9.30 pm. Donors urgently
needed.
Race against Waste
Lent in more traditional times was
a period of self-purification, purging
the body to elevate the soul to a
higher plane. In a funny way, the
busy recycling centres of modern Ireland
have replaced the confessional. You
bring your consumerist excess and
in return for a charge [penance?]
you drive off lighter and freer, with
even a possible smugness that some
of your deposited items can be recycled.
But God in his centuries-old tangled
dance with humanity has a more radical
idea of us. He doesn’t make
junk and he doesn’t like waste.
We get a glimpse of God, of ourselves
and our attitudes in what we call
the parable of the prodigal son. ‘Prodigal’
means ‘wasteful’ but that
title came much later. He didn’t
tell the story to relate how wasteful
we are – but to show us how
lavish, how prodigal God’s love
is for his children.
Despite the reputation Christians
sometimes have for carrying round
a burden of guilt, Lent isn’t
a masochistic display of how bad we
are –it is a celebration of
our father’s prodigal, wasteful
love. God doesn't stand at a distance
and say – ‘if you change
– then I’ll love you’.
‘No’ says Jesus. He breaks
into a divine trot at the first glimpse
of you. Even a recycling centre will
deem some of your cast-offs as general
waste – beyond recycling, but
in the divine way of looking at things,
grace is a powerful thing. It changes
lives and worlds; and can never be
wasted.
Fr Tom Cox
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