CLONMACNOIS PARISH NEWSLETTER JUNE 14th 2020

Clonmacnois Parish

Fr. Tom Cox (Adm) Tel. 090 9674125/  0868319500

Email: clonmacnoiseparish@gmail.com

     WEB  shannonbridge.blogspot.ie

www.facebook.com/Parish-of-Clonmacnois      

             

Trócaire €1,650 final amount to return

Offertory 7.6..20 €380 Annual Donation €1,160 Shrine €135 Pentecost Dues €1,285 Many thanks

                        Sunday 14 June 2020

Corpus Christi—Year  Solemnity

First Reading

Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16

Moses said to the people: ‘Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart – whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone but that man lives on everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

  ‘Do not become proud of heart. Do not forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: who guided you through this vast and dreadful wilderness, a land of fiery serpents, scorpions, thirst; who in this waterless place brought you water from the hardest rock; who in this wilderness fed you with manna that your fathers had not known.’

Psalm or Canticle  Psalm 147:12-15,19-20

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!

  Zion, praise your God!

He has strengthened the bars of your gates

  he has blessed the children within you.

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!

He established peace on your borders,

  he feeds you with finest wheat.

He sends out his word to the earth

  and swiftly runs his command.

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!

He makes his word known to Jacob,

  to Israel his laws and decrees.

He has not dealt thus with other nations;

  he has not taught them his decrees.

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ. The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf.

Gospel John 6:51-58

Jesus said to the crowd:

‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him.As I, who am sent by the living Father,  myself draw life from the Father,so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven; not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’

MASS SCHEDULE & INTENTIONS

“Corpus Christi” 7pm Sat 13th/ 10:30a.m. Sun 14th June

Monday 15th June 10a.m.

Tuesday 16th June 10am.

Wednesday 17th June 10a.m. Kieran & Gerard Kelly A

Thursday 18th June 10a.m.

Friday 19th June 10a.m.  Feast of the Sacred Heart /St. Romuald

Saturday 20th June Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time  7p.m. Saturday 20th/ 10:30a.m. Sunday 21st June

[All Masses streamed & available on Facebook  “Tom Cox” and “Parish of Clonmacnois” ] Type in  https://www.facebook.com/tomas.macconchoille

Parish Council Meeting Wednesday 17th June 8p.m. Shannonbridge Hall

Instructions relating to Phase Two concerning Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals (Phase 2 extends from 8th June 2020) Social Distancing/Sanitation of areas each time

BAPTISMS: No more than 6 people to be present in the Church for 1 hour maximum.
WEDDINGS: No more than 6 people to be present in the Church for 1 hour maximum.

FUNERALS: No more than 25 people to be present in the Church for 1 hour maximum.
SEATING CAPACITY OF CHURCHES - When observing the two metre distancing regulation as laid down by the Government the seating capacity for our Churches is as follows: Shannonbridge (40 approx) Clonfanlough (30 approx). Will fine-tune that measurement.

 See www.ardaghdiocese.ie for full Irish bishops guidelines.

SACRED HEART NOVENA Thurs. 11th – Fri. 19th June 2020 Lord Jesus, you have said, ‘Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you’, I come to you in faith and trust, in love and hope. Let me know your closeness to me, and your care for me and all who are dear to me. My intention for this Novena is dear to me, and I know that what is important to me is important to you. Hear my prayer (mention your intention); grant what I ask, and may I always trust that in all that happens in life, you will be close to me as my friend, guide and saviour. And so, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. Amen.

FEAST OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

‘Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the Living Heart of each of our parishes’ (Pope St. Paul V1). This feast is charged with happy memories of throngs of the faithful moving in devotional processions through streets festooned with papal flags, tricolours and all manner of bunting. At every door stood little altars, laden with statues, holy pictures and candles. The men and women walked proudly and reverently in their ‘Sunday best’, as they prayed the fifteen decades of the rosary and raised their voices with gusto to sing the ancient hymns, while the children from the First Holy Communion class scattered flower petals on the roadway, and all to salute the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. On this day we remember with gratitude all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith who preserved this treasure for us through days of persecution and days of prosperity. It could be said that we got cheap what they bought dear. They have left us a monument more lasting than bronze. As we accept anew the responsibility of holding the gift in trust for the next generation we recall the words spoken by Pope Benedict to parents some years ago: ‘Please go with your children to Church. This is not time lost. The day becomes more beautiful, the whole week becomes more beautiful when you go to Sunday Mass together’. ‘The moment we separate our lives from the Eucharist, something breaks’ (St. Teresa of Calcutta).

COVID 19 and the Resumption of Public Liturgy:
It is envisaged that the celebration of Mass with a congregation present will resume on 29 June, 2020. We look forward to once again gathering as a praying community.
The Irish Bishops have issued a detailed framework documents to help resume the

 celebration of public liturgies.
The principal points include the following:
Each Church should appoint a group to oversee the safe return to public liturgy;
The dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass is extended;
Anyone who is unwell should not attend Mass but continue to take part through live-streaming;
Adequate and appropriate signage should be displayed in each Church;
Social distancing (at present 2 metres) will apply. This will considerably reduce the capacity of our churches;
The seats which are available for use should be clearly indicated;
Stewards may be necessary to guide people to the available seats;
Holy Communion may only be received on the hand & reception of chalice is suspended;
Priests & Eucharistic ministers should wear face covering when distributing Holy Communion;
Hand sanitisers should be installed and used at every Church entrance;
Holy Water fonts should not be used;
The collection basket should not be distributed
Church doors should be open so that people do not need to touch them;
Seats and other areas that are frequently touched should be cleaned after each time the church is used.
The Bishops stress that public health is paramount and only Churches which are able to fulfil the above requirements should resume the public celebration of liturgy.

If you would like to volunteer to assist with the preparations for the resumption of public Mass or act as a steward etc you are very welcome to contact me
The full text of the Bishops’ framework document may be found online at www.ardaghdiocese.ie

THREE STORIES FOR THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

1. Dominic Tang, the courageous Chinese Archbishop was imprisoned for twenty-two years (1958- ’80) for nothing more than his loyalty to Christ and His Church. After he had spent five years in solitary confinement in a damp, windowless cell, he was informed by his jailers that he could leave it for two hours to do whatever he wanted. When the jailer enquired if he would like a hot shower or a change of clothes or writing paper to contact his family, the archbishop amazed him by responding: ‘I would like to say Mass’.

2. The Vietnamese Jesuit Joseph Nguyen Cong Doan who spent nine years (1983-1992) in labour camps in Vietnam relates how he was finally able to say Mass when a fellow priest prisoner shared some of his own smuggled supplies. ‘That night when the other prisoners were asleep, lying on the floor of my cell, I celebrated Mass with tears of joy. My altar was my blanket; my prison clothes my vestments. But I felt myself at the heart of humanity and of the whole of creation’. How much we take for granted!

3. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday 20th July 1969. Most people remember the first words spoken by astronaut Neil Armstrong as he set foot on the moon’s surface: ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’. But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin had taken on board the spacecraft a tiny pyx, containing a sacred host, given to him by his Catholic pastor. Aldrin sent a radio broadcast back to earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then blacking out the broadcast for privacy, he read the words from Scripture: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit’. Then silently he received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, surrendering the moon to Him. Next, he descended from the spacecraft to the surface of the moon and walked after Neil Armstrong into history.

LOCKDOWN LEARNINGS For many of us, life is a series of commitments - social events, family arrangements or work related responsibilities. Lockdown has left our diaries suddenly empty and rather than lamenting the loss of a packed calendar, some people have found that the quieter, slower life imposed by the coronavirus lockdown has offered a much needed break. Psychotherapist and author of The Phone Addiction Workbook, Hilda Burke, says she sees several clients who feel guilty about doing nothing. In terms of keeping a healthier balance as we transition back into “normal” life, Hilda advises identifying the things you learned in lockdown that you want to continue with. “It’s about managing people’s expectations - share with your friends, family or colleagues what you learned in lockdown and what you want to continue with.”

A MORNING PRAYER FOR A SCHOOL COMMUNITY DURING THIS PANDEMIC God our loving Father we gather together this morning but it’s not the same: many of us are not here and there is distance between those who are - not the distance of fear or mistrust, but the distance of care, of thoughtfulness, the distance that will help us to stop the virus from spreading. We pray for friends and classmates who are at home. We know we will see them again in real life and value their real presence even more, the gift of friendship. Help us to ‘see’ more clearly that it is important, the good things we had perhaps overlooked, the small details of everyday life, graced with your presence. We pray for a better world to come out of this - more grateful for the people who do the ordinary jobs, more just in the way people are treated, more caring for the vulnerable. We pray for a world which is more determined to look after the earth, our common home; a world that will live wisely, think deeply, love generously. We make all our prayers through Christ our Lord. Amen -Raymond Friel

Practical tips after a week of Laudato Si’ Celebrations The Pope said: “I invite all people of good will to take part, to care for our common home and our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.” It will run until May 24, 2021 The Pope is renewing this urgent call because he is listening tot eh science and is aware of what is happening to our world. During Laudato Si’ week the Philippines was hit with by Typhoon Ambo which forced thousands of people into evacuation centres in the middle of the pandemic. A few days later, Cyclone Amphan slammed into West Bengal in India and Bangladesh forcing the evacuation of 3 million people and devastating towns and cities such as Kolkata. The climate crisis has not gone away. This month you might consider the gift of water as June 14 is National Holy Wells Day. In Ireland where are over 3,000 holy wells. In early Christian times they were seen as places of pilgrimage, prayer and healing. Find out if there is a holy well near you and, if it is in your 20km/County zone, take a visit there with your family. Thank God for the precious gift of water. Pray for those who suffer the consequences of drought worldwide and who have no access to clean drinking water. Think about how you and your family can protect water in your area and be mindful of its use. You can find out more information from www.lovingsisterearth.ie. -5th Anniversary of Laudato Si’ - Pope Francis encyclical on Care for the Earth. *We have of course St. Ciaran’s Holy Well in our Parish.