| Sunday
22nd February 2009
7th
Sunday of the Year
Our God of
forgiveness
Seeing their faith,
Jesus said to the paralytic: “My
child, your sins are forgiven.”
The sick man in the Gospel
came to Jesus looking for health and
he was offered forgiveness, good health
followed. We often look for wealth
and we are offered peace, our possessions
then don’t seem just as important.
We look for pleasure and we are offered
joy, the ordinary things of life are
so pleasurable. We look for power
and we are offered love, the greatest
power of all because it helps us to
forget ourselves. The sins we most
often need forgiveness for are found
in the ways we look for the wrong
things in life and miss out on the
really important ones. Those important
things are first of all to be found
in the intimate relationships we have
in marriage and family life and secondly
in the wider community that can bring
us life.
Fr. Johnny
Doherty, C.Ss.R.
Day of Prayer
for Temperance
First Reading
Isaiah 43:18-19.21-22.24-25
I it is who must blot out everything
and not remember your sins.
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 1:18-22
Jesus was never Yes and No: with Him
it was always Yes.
Gospel Mark
2:1-12
The Son of Man has authority on earth
to forgive sins.
MASS
TIMES
Monday & Tuesday,
10 am;
Wednesday, Ash Wednesday,
10 am & 7.30 pm [Ashes will be
distributed at both Masses];
Thursday, Friday &
Saturday, 10 am.
Saturday, Vigil, 8 pm;
Sunday, 8.30 am &
11 am.
Confessions
Saturday, 7.15 pm-7.45 pm.
Anniversary
Mass
Vigil Mass 8 pm: Mick Doherty,
Ballybawn
Priests
Collection: €1,600; Development
Collection: €965. Thank you for
your generosity.
Fr McMenamin,
who was with us last weekend, wishes
to thank everyone for their extremely
generous response to the collection
to help the White Fathers with their
missionary work. It realised €1,948
& £72.
Temperance
Sunday
Today is designated by the Church
as Temperance Sunday. It is to increase
awareness of excess consumption of
alcohol in today’s society.
It is also hoped, with Lent beginning
this week, that it will inspire people
to reduce alcohol intake and therefore
heighten the visibility and importance
of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association
in their valuable work and commitment.
Youth Club
Rota – 27th February:-
Mary Collins, George Murphy, Sharon
O'Donnell, Mary O’Kane, Elizabeth
Long & Gretta Doherty.
“Love
and Land”
Bocan Drama Club proudly presents
‘Love and Land’ a four
act play that tells the story of a
bachelor farmer and his quest for
marriage!
Opening Night in Bocan Hall tonight,
Sunday, 15th February at 8 pm. Tickets
on sale at door priced €8; Children
€5. Shows too on Friday, 20th
February and Sunday 22nd February
at 8 pm.
A great night’s
craic is guaranteed so come along
and support them on this their first
production.
A big
thank you to John and his team of
FÁS workers for painting the
main hall and getting the set ready
for the Bocan Players. Their efforts
are much appreciated.
Whist
resumes this Friday at 8.45 pm in
Bocan Hall.
The new
snowball begins €30 for 190 or
less.
Scoil Mhuire
Gleneely
Enrolment Forms are now available
for any parent wishing to enrol their
child in junior infants for the new
school year in September 2009. Forms
can be had by ringing the school on
9367236 or by calling in and collecting
one.
Bocan Defibrillator
All members please note that the AGM
takes place on Tuesday, 24 February
at 8 pm in Bocan Hall to be followed
by a refresher course on the Defibrillator.
Also, a further training night on
Thursday, 26th February. Re-certification
will take place on Monday, 2nd March
at 8 pm.
Serenity
House
Need help coping?
– With anxiety, depression or
panic attacks? For further information
contact Serenity House on 9382945.
Names are also being taken for a Person
Development Course which is due to
take place in Serenity House –
contact the above number for details.
Chiropodist –
In Serenity House on Friday 27 February
at 9.30 am. Appointments to 9360363
/086 0666538
Classes – A
few places remain on FETAC level 3
Basic Computer Course beginning Tuesday
24 February from 10.30 am-12.30 pm.
Contact 9382945 for more details.
Prayer to
God
O God, may you support us all the
day long,
till the shadows lengthen
and the evening comes,
and the busy world
is hushed, and the fever of live is
over, and our work is done!
Then in your mercy,
may you give us safe lodging,
and a holy rest and
peace at the last.
Cardinal JH Newman
1801-1890
The
Deep End – Netting a Fisherman
Jesus’
‘choice for Pope’ was
a strange one: an unlettered fisherman.
His followers were quick to change
the gene pool. Had Jesus made a mistake?
Unlikely! Was Peter a failure? Hardly!
So why the shift? Who knows!
But first: the ‘why’ of
Jesus’ choice. Were there no
academics around in his time, no doctors
of the Law, no scholars, no intellectuals?
No doubt there were. But God has the
disconcerting habit of choosing unlikely
people to do his work: Sarah, Moses,
David, the prophets, Job, Zachariah
and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph. The
rationale being that it’s God’s
power that must shine through what
is being done, not the brilliance
of the person doing it.
Jesus was a carpenter, not a scholar.
None of his disciples were scholars
either. God’s choice to get
the ball rolling, if you’ll
pardon the expression, was unlettered
people. I wonder how the Church would
have developed had we had tradesmen
as popes instead of scholars. As the
prospect of ever having such a pope
again is remote – though knowing
Who’s behind the scenes not
impossible – harbouring such
a thought seems ludicrous.
How different would Christ’s
Church be today had persons with trades
under their belt instead of letters
after their name been leading her?
This speculation is interesting and
useful for it brings to focus the
biblical imperative that regardless
who leads, God is head, and God’s
power must shine through those who
lead.
Fr Tom
Cahill SVD
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