| St
Mary’s Church Bocan - 21st
December 2008
4th
Sunday of Advent.
The
Oxen
O, to see with
the eyes of a child again! By the
way, ‘barton’ is an old
word for farmyard.
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek
mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few
would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see the oxen kneel
"In the lonely
barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,"
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
Thomas
Hardy
(1840-1928)
 |
I
will sing forever of your love,
O Lord. |
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4th Sunday
of Advent
Parish Missal Readings
(Year 2) p 410 & Proper p 990
First Reading
2 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-11, 16
Daniel wants to build a house for
God, but instead God promises to build
an everlasting dynasty for him.
Second Reading
Romans 16: 25-27
God’s plan of salvation for
Jews and Gentiles has come to fulfillment
in Christ.
Gospel Luke
1: 26-38
God’s promise to David was fulfilled
in Jesus.
MASS
TIMES
Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, 10
am.
Christmas
Vigil Mass, Wednesday, 8 pm
Christmas Day, 8.30
am & 11 am
Friday & Saturday,
10 am.
Saturday, Vigil, 8
pm;
Sunday, 8.30 am & 11 am.
Confessions
Monday, 7 pm-8 pm
Tuesday, 7 pm—8 pm
Wednesday, 12-1 pm
Anniversary
Masses
11 am Sunday: Mary McFeeley,
Bunagee
10 am Monday: Jack
Denny, Bocan
Next Sunday,
11 am: Philomena McFeeley,
Bunagee
Weekly Offering:
€1,509; Retired Priests Collection
[extra], €280;
Development Collection:
€975. Thank you for your generosity.
Priests Christmas Collection will
be taken up at all Masses over Christmas.
Fr McGonagle
gratefully acknowledges the recent
anonymous donations of €500;
€300; and,€500 for the Bocan
Parish Development Fund.
A
very happy and holy Christmas to all
families in the parish and God’s
blessing for the coming year.
A big thank you to everyone for
taking an Advent Calendar. Boxes can
be returned next weekend.
Whist
1st: Betty Houten, Culdaff
2nd: Vera Deeny, Terrawee;
3rd: Phillip McCool, Carn & Ellen
Ann Lafferty, Glengad
Tickets
Matthew Davenport-Doherty, Carn; Mary
McDermott, Falmore; Phillip McCool,
Carn; Hannah Hunter, Malin Head.
Other Winners
Seamus Coyle, Buncrana;
Mickey O'Donnell,
Carn; Annie Hunter, Malin
Head; Carrie McLaughlin,
Culdaff; Ernie McLucas,
Carn & Matthew Davenport-Doherty,
Carn.
Whist Friday, 2nd January
at 8.45 pm in Bocan Hall. Snowball
: €110 for 182 or more.
Annual
Christmas Concert in Carrowmenagh
Sunday, 28th December
at 8 pm. Admission:
€5 and proceeds
are for the upkeep of the Community
Centre.
The following
organisations would like to thank
everyone for their support during
the past year and to wish everyone
a very happy Christmas.
Serenity
House, Moville
Action Inishowen, Millbrae, Carndonagh
Women's Outreach, Carndonagh.
North West
Regional College
A new range of part-time courses
will begin in January. So if you think
you would like to try a new career
challenge in the New Year then call
048 7127 6000 or log on to www.nwrc.ac.uk
Ladies
Badminton takes its Christmas break
now. We look forward to seeing you
on Thursday, 8th January to get fit
in the new year.
Will
of God
The life of the
world goes on through the will of
some one. Some one makes our own life
and that of the universe his own inscrutable
care. To have a hope of understanding
what that will means, we must first
carry it out, we must do what is required
of us. Unless I do what is required
of me, I can never know what that
may be, and much less know what is
required of us all and of the whole
universe.
Leo Tolstoy,
1828-1910
The
Deep End – A Voice in the Wilderness
If the first sign
of maturity is discovering that the
volume knob also turns to the left,
perhaps the first sign of spiritual
maturity is discovering that God knows
how to turn the knob. Today’s
First Reading says as much when God
tells Nathan to say to David ‘Are
you the one to build me a house to
live in?’ [2 Sam 7:5]. In other
words ‘Do you think that I need
you?’
We can forget that
God rules, not us. Our Second Reading
[Rom 16:25-27] shows God at work within
human history as it talks of the mystery
kept hidden for long ages but now
disclosed. God creates the mystery,
keeps it a mystery, and in God’s
own good time reveals it. Our emptiness
may be God’s purpose being fulfilled
– though not as we expect it.
What seems like inactivity, or indifference,
on God’s part in the face of
human tribulation may be God’s
wisdom at work waiting for the opportune
time to act – a time constrained
by human freedom and its consequences.
We need humility to admit that we
don’t know it all and can be
wrong in our judgments. And we need
trust to accept that God’s judgment
is never wrong.
God wasn’t wrong in choosing
a manger instead of a throne, in choosing
faithfulness to the mission over personal
safety, in accepting death on a cross
rather than public acclaim based on
false hopes. God wasn’t wrong
because these ended in resurrection
and glory. But no one could see it
at the time.
This Advent, can we?
Fr Tom
Cahill SVD
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