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St
Mary’s Church Bocan 18th November
2007—No 50
33rd
Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Reflection
The Gospel for this weekend puts before
us a sobering lesson. Speaking to
his disciples Jesus lets them know
that they will experience persecution,
imprisonment, betrayal, the hatred
of many and some will be put to death.
This will be on account of him and
his name. But despite the opposition
they will face, Jesus reassures them
that ‘not a hair on your head
will be lost’. He invites them
and indeed us all to see that there
is always the loving care of God for
us in each and every situation of
our lives. Our Father’s care
and concern for us reaches into the
most difficult and darkest situations
that we are undergoing. We are never
alone or indeed left alone by God.
In the face of all that life throws
at us, God goes before us smoothing
our path and directing our steps in
the way of His peace.
Responsorial
Psalm
The Lord comes to rule the peoples
with fairness.
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Your endurance
will win you your lives.
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Today’s
Readings
First Reading
Malachi 3: 19-20
For you who fear my name, the sun
of righteousness will shine out with
healing in its rays.
Second Reading Thessalonians
3: 7-12
Do not let anyone have food if he
refuses to work.
Gospel Luke 21: 5-19
Your endurance will win you your lives.
Money
Matters:
Weekly Offering €1,635;
Development Collection
€1,035. Thank you
for your generosity.
Thank You
Fr McGonagle wishes to acknowledge
the anonymous donation of £2,000
for the Development Fund from a Castlederg
parishioner. It is a very welcome
contribution to our fund-raising efforts.
Congratulations to
Neil McGrory, Culdaff, on the publication
of his book ‘Inishowen –
a journey through its past revisited.’
Copies cost €10 and it is an
excellent and informative read.
Parish Council
General Meeting of Parishioners this
Monday night at 8 pm in Bocan Hall.
A summary of the Council’s work
over the past three years will be
presented and discussed. Also, arrangements
for the election of a new Council
will be proposed. Everyone welcome.
Whist Winners
1st Hannah Mclaughlin, Gleneely;
2nd Betty Houghton, Culdaff;
3rd John Doherty, Malin Head.
Lowest Score: Eamon Donaghy,
Effishmore;
Highest Score, Phyllis Lloyd,
Gleneely.
Draw Winners: [1st] Betty
Houghton, Culdaff; [2nd] James McConalogue,
Cashel [3rd] Gerard Doherty, Ourt.
The Whist is on every Friday night
at 8.45 pm in Bocan Hall.
Snowball €75 for
a score of 181 or better.
Christmas Bazaar
Bocan Hall- Sunday 2nd December [2pm
– 6 pm]
All kinds of everything wanted –
bric-a-brac; toys; computer games.
Items for auction and home-baking.
We are looking for volunteers to help
work stalls. If you can help contact
Angela on 9379303 or leave a message.
Good Morning/ Evening Inishowen
This twice daily service will make
calls to elderly people who are living
on their own to ensure they are alright.
Volunteers are needed to man the telephone
lines and if you can help contact
9321598.
Bocan Youth Club - Rota
Friday, 23rd November –
Marian Keddy, Mary Collins, Sandra
McLarkey & Rosanne Bradley.
Congratulations
We congratulate local badminton players,
Oliver & Michelle Ruddy and Janice
McCandless who were part of the winning
team that lifted the Roy Elder Cup
in Lisburn last weekend.
Bereavement
And then one or other dies. And we
think of this as love cut short; like
a dance stopped in mid career or a
flower with its head unluckily snapped
off- something truncated and therefore,
lacking its due shape. I wonder. If
as I can’t help suspecting,
the dead also feel the pains of separation
[and this may be one of their purgatorial
sufferings], then for both lovers,
and for all pairs of lovers without
exception, bereavement is a universal
and integral part of our experience
of love. It follows marriage as normally
as marriage follows courtship or as
autumn follows summer. It is not a
truncation of the process but one
of its phases; not the interruption
of the dance, but the next figure.
We are ‘taken out of ourselves’
by the loved one while she is here.
Then comes the tragic figure of the
dance in which we must learn to be
still taken out of ourselves though
the bodily presence is withdrawn,
to love the very Her.
C.S.Lewis, from A Grief Observed
Lovebirds
A little poem of enduring
love—heart-breaking but inspiring.
So she moved into
the hospital the last nine days
to tend him with little strokes and
murmurs
as he sank into the sheets. Nurse
set out a low bed for her, night times,
next to his.
He nuzzled up to her as she brushed
away the multiplying cells with a
sigh,
was glad as she ignored the many
effluents and the tang of death. The
second
last morning of his life he opened
his eyes, saying, ‘I can’t
wake up’
but wouldn’t close them for
his nap
until he was sure she was there.
Later he moved quietly to deeper sleep.
as Professor said he would, still
listening
to her twittering on and on until
the last.
By Jo Shapcott
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