MASS
TIMES
Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday & Thursday, 10 am;
[Memorial Mass for
Gabrielle Conaghan on Wednesday
at 12 Noon];
Friday, First Friday
of the Month and Feast of Mary,
Mother of God, 8 pm;
Saturday, 10 am.
Saturday
Vigil: 8 pm;
Sunday: 8.30 am
& 11 am.
Confessions
Friday, 7.15 pm—7.45 pm;
Saturday, 7.15 pm—7.45 pm.
This
Week’s Anniversary Mass:
Saturday Vigil 8 pm: Philomena McFeely,
Bunagee.
Next Week
Saturday Vigil Mass 8 pm: Mary Ellen
McConnalogue, Carrowmore
Weekly
Offering: €1,500; Development
Collection, €500. Thank you
for your generosity.
Weekly Collection
Envelopes
for the New Year will be available
at the
Parochial House from Wednesday.
All Parish
Councilors are asked to collect
them.
Feast
of The Holy Family (Year C )
27th December, 2009.
Many people would think of the Holy
Family as a happy peaceful family,
where nothing ever went wrong. Not
so.
Like every family
before or since, Joseph and Mary
had their problems. Remember how
they searched for a place in which
Mary could give birth to her child,
Jesus. Then came their hazardous
journey to Egypt to escape Herod.
They were refugees in a foreign
land.
Jesus was only
twelve years when He went missing
for three days. How did Joseph and
Mary feel then? When they found
Him, they must have been puzzled
by His explanation - that He was
about His Father’s business.
His father’s business??
As of now, we are the new family
of Jesus - His sisters and brothers.
He calls on us to be His co-workers
in building a new creation, a better
world for everybody. We might well
ask ourselves what contribution
are we making.
Have we stories
of goodness and generosity, of life
and love to tell? The feast of the
Holy Family is a reminder to us
of what Christmas is all about.
It is about family - where we first
learned about love, and where we
experience God’s love for
us through our parents, our sisters
and our brothers.
1st
January
WORLD
DAY OF PEACE
‘If you want to cultivate
peace, protect the creation’
is the theme chosen by Pope Benedict
XVI for his message for the 43rd
World Day of Peace. The theme aims
to raise awareness about the strong
bond that exists in our wonderful
world between protecting the creation
and cultivating peace. This close
and intimate tie is further accentuated
by the many problems concerning
our natural environment, such as
the use of resources, climate change,
the application and use of biotechnology,
and the increase in the world's
population. If the human family
is unable to face these new challenges
with a renewed sense of social justice
and equity, and of international
solidarity, we run the risk of sowing
seeds of violence among peoples,
and between current generations
and those to come.
The protection of the environment
is a challenge for all humankind.
It is a shared and universal duty
to respect a collective asset destined
for everyone. Ecological questions
must be faced, not just because
of the dreadful prospects that the
misuse of the environment brings
about; they must be translated,
above all, into a strong motivation
to cultivate peace [see Caritas
in Veritate 48-51].
The
Deep End – Gift-Wrapped from
God
Fr Tom Cahill SVD
A news item in The Irish Times of
September 2009 caught my eye. It
was headed, ‘Couple marry
at son’s funeral.’ It
told of a couple from New York State
who got married at their son’s
funeral. His name was Asa and he
was only seven when killed. He was
travelling as a passenger in his
grandfather’s car when it
crashed into a multiple car pile
up. His one wish in life was that
his parents should marry. He had
frequently asked them why they weren’t.
Strange that one so young could
feel what was most appropriate while
the adults concerned couldn’t.
Out of the mouths of babes…[Ps
8:3].
In today’s Gospel Reading
[Luke 2:41-52] another child also
asks his parents a question . It
too reveals what he finds most appropriate:
that he be in his Father’s
house. Telling his parents that
his place is in his Father’s
house confuses them. Even his mother,
who presumably knows, full well
his extraordinary origins, doesn’t
grasp what he’s implying or
revealing about himself. This makes
one wonder what the Annunciation
actually was and what it conveyed
to Mary.
Mary and Joseph had with them the
One whom no human mind can fathom
. So, if even they who are closest
to him don’t recognise who
he is - and indeed how can they
– then we shouldn’t
be too disappointed at our inability
to recognise him at times either.
This holds even for members of our
own families. We may think we know
them, but deep down they’re
a mystery gift-wrapped from God.
