| Sunday
19th April 2009
Second
Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy)
My
Lord and my God
Jesus said:
“Peace be with you. As the Father
sent me, so am I sending you.”
We are all very familiar
today with the idea of peace processes
– in Northern Ireland, the Middle
East and so on. Jesus needs us to
engage in a peace process with one
another so that we can be his disciples
and true witnesses of his resurrection.
We need first of all to put away all
weapons of mass destruction like criticism,
anger, coldness, selfishness etc.
We need to put in place of these the
qualities of God’s Spirit, namely
love, joy, peace, patience etc. This
week we should practice these qualities
first of all in our homes as wife
and husband, as parents and family.
We also need to practice them as we
build our parish community to the
glory of God.
Fr. Johnny
Doherty, C.Ss.R.
 |
My
God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?
|
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Sunday, 19th April 2009.
Second Sunday
of Easter
First Reading
Acts of the Apostles 4: 32-35
The unity and charity of the first
Christians.
Second Reading
John 5: 1-6
Whoever believes that Jesus is the
Christ has been begotten by God.
Gospel John
20: 19-31
The Risen Christ brings faith, forgiveness
and peace to his disciples.
.
MASS
TIMES
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 10
am.
Saturday, Vigil, 8
pm;
Sunday, 8.30 am &
11 am.
Confessions
Saturday: 7.15pm—7.45
pm.
Anniversary Masses
Saturday Vigil Mass:
Willie Joe Ruddy
8.30 am: Agnes
& James McGonigle, Balintroohan
Sunday 11 am: Phil
Doherty, Gleneely.
Next Week
Vigil Mass:
Willie Joe Gurney, Effishmore
11am: Memorial Mass
for Rose Doherty,
Glasgow [Sister of Mrs Evelyn Ruddy,
Kindroyhead].
Weekly
Offering: €2,000; Development
Collection: €1,535. Thank you
for your generosity.
Our deepest sympathy
to Geraldine and John, sister and
brother of Terence McCullagh,
Glenkeen, who died after a courageous
battle with illness. Also to his friends
and wider family circle. May
he rest in the peace of the risen
Christ.
Dual-Purpose
Draw
Everyone is welcome to our Big Draw
on Friday night in Mac’s Backroom,
Culdaff and to the Golden Oldies Disco.
Some tickets are still available -
so don’t miss out.
The Draw
will take place at 11pm. Admission
free.
Whist
1st Gerard Doherty,
Ourt
2nd: Aengus Stewart,
Lifford
3rd: Vera Deeny,
Terrawee
Tickets
Brian Diver, Gulladuff; Seamus Coyle,
Buncrana & Nellie Carlin, Castlefin.
Other Winners
Nellie Carlin, Colette Carlin, Seamus
Coyle, John Duffy & John Doherty.
Whist every
Friday night at 8.45 pm . Snowball
€100
for 18 or more
Parish Council
Meeting
Monday night at 8 pm in Bocan Hall.
All members are asked to attend
Bocan Drama
Club - The AGM of Bocan Drama
Club will take place on Wednesday,
22nd April at 8 pm in Bocan Hall.
Any interested parties are invited
to attend.
The Ladies
Badminton Club
The Thursday night club has stopped
for the season.
INISHOWEN
GARDENING CLUB
The next meeting will
be held in Wesley Hall, Bridge Street,
Carndonagh at 8pm on Monday 27th April.
The talk entitled "Be Happy -
Plant a Garden" will be given
by Colm Grant. All welcome to attend.
Where Was
Thomas?
John's version of the Easter event
includes a story not mentioned in
the other gospels. Only ten apostles
are present. Judas is dead and Thomas
is absent.
If John's version is correct we must
ask why Thomas did not
join the group? We cannot fathom his
motives, but John may give a clue.
He says that Thomas was called "Didymus,"
which is the Greek word for "twin".
Some have suggested that he was often
divided or "of two minds"
in making decisions. Actually, the
name "Thomas" itself means
"twin", so to call him "Thomas
Didymus", means "Twin twin,"
or really dubious.
Irish Sign
Language
Course - Would you like to learn to
Sign? Subject to demand the intention
is to hold a 10-week introductory
course in Malin Town.
All are welcome, it is not necessary
to have a hearing loss to avail of
this course.
For more information and to register
your interest contact Michael MacHugh
on 087 6735184.
DACC
The general public
are invited to attend the next meeting
of Donegal Action for Cancer Care
(North Inishowen Branch) in McClure's,
Bridge Street, Carndonagh, on Monday
27th April, at 7.30pm. Please lend
your support to retain and develop
all the cancer services at Letterkenny
General Hospital.
The
Deep End – Locked Doors
I don’t know if you’re
into symbolism, but try this for size:
locked doors that mean nothing to
the resurrected Jesus. Signifying
security to the disciples, they are
of no hindrance whatsoever to the
power of Jesus’ resurrection
entering that sealed room in today’s
Gospel reading ‘John 20:19-31],
or to that same power going out.
John doesn’t describe Jesus
as walking through the doors. No Hollywood
special effects here. He states simply
that Jesus ‘came and stood among
them’ ]v. 19]. Such simplicity
conveys clearly just how insignificant
locked doors are.
So how about our ‘locked doors’?
God’s word is telling us that
God’s power can be with us even
though we are locked into ourselves.
We don’t have to open them first
for God to enter!
Just think of that and what it implies!
We can burden ourselves with all sorts
of baggage on our journey through
life. We can lock out people and events
from our mind and heart to preserve
our sanity or our comfort. We can
circle the wagons and live in fear
of life’s threats and dangers.
We can run from life and its challenges.
Our locked doors can be all sorts
of things: prejudices, fears neuroses,
me-fein-ism, anger, whatever. Now
this is the important bit of the symbolism.
We don’t have to unlock those
doors for God to come and stand with
us. In fact, we shouldn’t be
able to.
Mission doesn’t demand perfection.
The disciples got their mission behind
locked doors. So do we: to proclaim
that God stands among us.
Fr Tom Cahill, SVD
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