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St
Mary’s Church Bocan - 19th
August 2007—No 37
20th
Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The Wayfarer - Padraig Pearce
The beauty of the world hath made me sad,
This beauty that will pass;
Sometimes my heart hath shaken with great joy
To see a leaping squirrel in a tree,
Or a red lady-bird upon a stalk,
Or little rabbits in a field at evening,
Lit by a slanting sun,
Or some green hill where shadows drifted by
Some quiet hill where mountainy man hath sown
And soon would reap; near to the gate of Heaven;
Or children with bare feet upon the sands
Of some ebbed sea, or playing on the streets
Of little towns in Connacht,
Things young and happy.
And then my heart hath told me:
These will pass,
Will pass and change, will die and be no more,
Things bright and green, things young and happy;
And I have gone upon my way
Sorrowful.
Responsorial
Psalm
Lord, come to my aid!
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I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!
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Today’s
Readings
First Reading Jeremiah 38: 4-6. 8-10
The preaching of the prophet Jeremiah causes anger in some quarters.
Second Reading Hebrews 12: 1-4
The author of this passage encourages us to continue the struggle, encouraged by the example of the saints.
Gospel Luke 12: 49-53
Jesus promises that division and conflict will be the lot of those who choose to follow him.
Money
Matters:
Weekly Offering €1,790
Development
Collection, €1,045.
Thank you for your generosity.
Pilgrimage to Medjugorje
There are still some places left on the pilgrimage which is from 24th -31st August 2007. You can also book for the pilgrimage departing 29th Sept – 5th October. Contact Marie Furey on 9361625 if you would like to go.
Ceilidh & Old Tyme Dance in Bocan Hall
Friday, 24th August. Music is by The Shed Band. Admission €5 and dancing from 10 pm – 1 am. Everyone welcome.
Bocan Community Defibrillator Group – Meeting on Wednesday 22nd August at 9 pm in Bocan Hall to allocate the envelopes which are to be distributed to all the station areas in the parish.
North West Regional College – Enrolments are now being taken for full-time and part-time courses commencing in September. Enrol in person [Strand Road, Derry] by post [download a form at www.nwrc] or by phone 048 7127 6000.
Irish Scottish Hogmany in August - The Hogmany begins on 24th August with a welcome party in the Plaza, Main St, Buncrana. It will continue for the weekend with various events taking place. All proceeds are in aid of Fr Eddie McGuiness Eastern Orphanage Fund. See the local press for further details.
Letterkenny IT - Information Days at Letterkenny Institute of Technology for prospective students:
Tuesday, 21st August from 10 am – 3 pm [Letterkenny Campus];
Wednesday, 22nd August from 10 am – 3 pm [Tourism College, Killybegs]. The Institute is offering eight new Degree Programmes this September including Creative Digital Media, Architectural Technology & Biomedical Health & Education. Visitors will have the chance to view the facilities for themselves.
Today’s Psalm
Svetlana, daughter of Josef Stalin, the Russian dictator, found redemption in the psalms of suffering. She was deeply depressed and thinking of imitating her mother’s suicide, when a friend introduced her to the psalms. There she found the words that expressed all her pain, anxiety, rejection, despair and worthlessness: but it was pain seen in the larger context of a God who liberates and redeems.
Jeremiah rejected and thrown into a a deep, muddy well. The responding psalm echoes his plight. I waited, I waited on the Lord…he drew me from the deadly pit, from the miry clay.
The psalmist describes how God stooped down to him and heard his cry. In the light of the incarnation we can see the literal fulfilment of how God stooped down. Jesus entered into the miry clay of rejection, the baptismal well of suffering. Total confidence in God puts a new song into the mouth of the psalmist…praise of our God. His final prayer of trust is familiar to us in another translation:
O God, come to our aid,
O Lord make haste to help us.
Fr Silvester O’Flynn
Life’s like that
The little girl inherited her mother’s stubbornness, and there was often a flare-up, when the little one stomped her foot, and just refused to do what she was told. One day, it had gone too far, so the mother decided to get the better of her in some other way. She put a stool in the corner, and told her daughter to sit down there, and stay until her dad came home. She refused to sit, despite all the threats. Eventually, in frustration, the mother put her hand on the child’s head and pushed her down until she was sitting on the stool. Shortly after that, the dad came in, saw her sitting n the stool, and asked ‘Well, what are you doing over there?’ To which he got the teeth-clenched answer ‘Outside, I‘m sitting down, but inside I’m standing up!’
A holy tension
It would be interesting to see how many non Christians identify the Gospel text today as sacred, if it were displayed alongside other contemporary writings. Who knows, some might even think it was Al Quaida rather than words spoken by Jesus, the Prince of Peace. It doesn’t quite fit in, does it, with the image of the love of God the Father Jesus brought before us? Read it again to get the shock of what is being said.
It speaks of opposites, of black and white when increasingly we think of grey, nothing ruled in or out. But Jesus comes not only to bless the world but also to change it. It is a work of transformation so searing it is like fire burning away the old so that something unmistakably new can begin. We are not to be a people or Church of complacency and conformity, but a church that dares to be a source of division and misunderstanding for the sake of justice.
Anyhow, disagreement and frustration with each other comes easy to us. We are divided. That’s true in all families, communities and churches. In this world, there’s no life together without a shadow. In faith circles alone, we argue about God, Jesus , church, morality, worship, spirituality, justice, discipleship. It creates a holy tension, which however uncomfortable is good. We need to carry all together for Christ.
Tom Cox
Mass with Healing Service in Termonbacca on Tuesday, 21st August at 8 pm. All welcome.
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