CLONMACNOIS PARISH NEWSLETTER AUGUST 16th 2020

Clonmacnois Parish

August 16th  2020

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

Email: clonmacnoiseparish@gmail.com

     WEB  shannonbridge.blogspot.ie

www.facebook.com/Parish-of-Clonmacnois                   

 

(Pic by Marian McManus)

Act of Spiritual Communion  “My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You have already come , and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen”

 MASS SCHEDULE & INTENTIONS

St. Ciaran’s Church Shannonbridge

3 COUNTY LOCKDOWN  to 23rd Aug –all Masses online, churches open for private prayer. Donations via Moran’s Shop or at  Offetory box Clonfanlough  church gate pier  Sunday till 12 Noon

[Vigil of 20th Sunday] Saturday 15th August 7p.m. Online

-George, Kieran & Richard Hynes (Anniv).

-Eugene Harte (Anniv)

Monday 17th August 10:00am Online O.L. of Knock

Tuesday 18th 10:00a.m. Online

Wednesday 19th 10:00a.m. Online

Thursday 20th August 10:00a.m. Online(St. Bernard)

Friday 21st August 2020 Eugene Tomney Memorial (St. Pius X. Pope)

Saturday 22nd August 2020 Queenship of Mary

Saturday 22nd August  [Eve of 21st Sunday] 7p.m. Pro Populo

 St. Ciaran’s Church  Clonfanlough

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday 16th August 2020 @10:30a.m. Online

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday 23rd August 2020 @ 10:30a.m. Online

OFFERTORY Aug 9th 2020  €275

OUR LADY OF KNOCK, Queen of Ireland, you gave hope to your people in a time of distress and comforted them in sorrow. You have inspired countless pilgrims to pray with confidence to your divine Son, remembering His promise, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find.” Help me to remember that we are all pilgrims on the road to heaven. Fill me with love and concern for my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those who live with me. Comfort me when I am sick, lonely or depressed. Teach me how to take part ever more reverently in the Holy Mass. Give me a greater love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death. Amen.

SHANNONBRIDGE GAA LOTTO RESULTS Aug 10th Draw 6-15-24-26 No Jackpot winter, 3 Match 3’s. Prize stands at €16,000. Next draw Aug17

 MARY’S ASSUMPTION

This Saturday we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. The Irish people called this day Lá Fhéile Muire san Fhómhar, Mary’s Feast in Autumn. Devotion to Our Lady is a feature of our faith because she is the Mother of God; the mother of our Saviour. She accepted the Word of God in her heart and body and she gave life to the world. Every time we say the Hail Mary, we ask Our Lady to protect us especially at the hour of our death when we stand before the Judge of the living and the dead. The 15th-23rd August is National Heritage Week organised by the National Council of Ireland. It is the most comprehensive heritage event in Ireland but this year there will be no assemblies due to the Coronavirus, but people may participate in the events online. We have a rich heritage in Ireland including storytelling, singing, craft, sport, music, blessed wells, Mass Rocks, monuments, flora, fauna, natural habitats, rivers and lakes. Let us respect and conserve it. God be praised forever.

 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time WOMAN, YOU HAVE GREAT FAITH

This is the only occasion in which Jesus was outside Jewish territory. He visits the region of Tyre and Sidon, modern-day Lebanon, where He is approached by a Canaanite woman who pleads with Him to heal her daughter. It’s a puzzling encounter. At first, He appears to ignore her. Then he seems almost indifferent to her appeal, reminding her that His mission is to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The woman’s persistence wins out in the end. She is the only person in the New Testament who manages to change Jesus’ mind, or so it seems! More likely, He is testing her faith and showing her that God’s delays are not His denials. God tests; Satan tempts! He doesn’t test us to  see if we are worthy, but to see if we are ready. Sometimes He stands back in order to increase our desire for Him and our appreciation if His  gifts. We see in the words and actions of this unnamed woman, an “outsider” and a “foreigner”, the very essence of the faith journey. As people of faith, we will be tested often; we will experience the silence of God, but the challenge is to wait and to persevere. Perseverance separates the winners from the losers in sport and in life and in faith. “Woman”, said Jesus, “you have great faith”.

 NOTICE FOR OFFALY PARISHES

August 8th 2020
Dear Father,
In accordance with the latest Government measures to address the spread of the virus all public Masses and Church ceremonies in the  County Offaly part of our diocese are suspended for a period of two weeks from midnight Friday August 7th.
 
The only exception is a Funeral Mass where the guidelines specifically state that Attendance at a funeral service and burial or cremation ceremony should be limited to 25 people.
 
Churches remain open for private prayer.  Masses can be broadcast online, without a congregation.
 
This is difficult news for everyone in the community but is it a measure taken to safeguard health and life.  For parishes it means that Confirmations and Baptisms and perhaps some other ceremonies will have to be rescheduled once again.

The Government advice is available at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/7b237-special-advice-for-those-living-in-kildare-laois-and-offaly-friday-7-august-2020/
 
With every good wish,
Francis Duffy
Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois

 From M to M for M.M. 

(From Malin to Mizen for Multiple Myeloma)

Many parishioners know John O'Regan, one of our friendly Tour Guides in Clonmacnois Visitor Centre. A few weeks into our lockdown, John was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and is currently undergoing treatment at Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, Ireland.

His son Kevin (with a wonky knee & childlike trust)  is undertaking a 1,000 mile cycle from Malin to Mizen Head (with many scenic detours- including ourselves!).  The goal is to raise funds and awareness and he would love to meet up with people, or even better cycle part of the way with him.

Monday, August 24th should see Kevin cycle from Athlone to Kinvara (via Clonmacnois). I can give the other route sections—just ask.  Cyclists welcome! If you prefer funds can be left in trust with me.

instagram : KEVINOREGAN89 www.multimplemyelomaireland.org. 

Email kevin.oregan89@gmail.com

Ph 089 499 7514 / 086 1500505

“Taken Up Body And Soul….” - Fr. Kevin Lyons From his cross, Jesus entrusted his mother to the care of St. John. Legend has it that John left Jerusalem with Mary and took her to the city of Ephesus on the shores of the Aegean Sea. There he provided her with a dwelling and some believe that it was from this location that Mary, aged legend relates about the mid sixties, was assumed into heaven. On November 1st 1950, Pope Pius XII declared solemnly that ‘The Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever virgin, when the course of her earthly life had concluded, was taken up body and soul into heaven’. Mary’s original home, destroyed by earthquakes, was rebuilt on its foundation and is now a shrine. I was privileged to celebrate Mass there in 1974. The Church sees Mary’s image in the Book of Revelations as ‘The woman robed with the sun, the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars’ (Rev. 12:1).

Today we pause and celebrate a woman who stands out as a model of service and discipleship for all of us. Remember how Elizabeth greeted Mary at Ain Karim ‘How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ At a time when we hear the disciples ask the wrong questions – Who is the greatest? How often must I forgive? – Elizabeth’s question is spot on. How is it I am so blessed? That is the question that will lead us to a better life. This is the question the saints have asked, that Mary asked. This is the question that, if we ask it, will give us the strength to endure the hardships of life, and perhaps more important, will ensure that blessings will not go unnoticed. What a sad life to be blessed and not know it! In Luke and the Acts of the Apostles we encounter a woman who is at once our mother and our guide. Mary is a mother, not only in the sense that she agreed to give birth to Jesus, but she also allowed herself to be inspired and directed by the living word of God in all she said and did. Mary agreed to ‘mother the word’, to ponder it and to bring it to birth in words and deeds, ‘blessed is the womb that bore you … blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Luke 11). It is Mary’s privilege to sing the Magnificat, a song composed of an amalgam of texts from the Hebrew Scriptures, all of which are shown as coming to fulfilment in Jesus. Mary’s song also anticipates what Jesus will preach regarding wealth and power. Some may covet both but it has no lasting value in God’s eyes. Rather it is those who are poor and lowly who are God’s cherished ones. Through Simeon in the Temple, Luke announced that Mary would be the humble participant in the saving but sorrowful act of salvation, ‘your own soul a sword shall pierce’ (Luke 2: 35). Mary was inconspicuous but nevertheless present at every moment in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and she remained present to the disciples in the post-Easter era. In her capacity as mother and guide, Mary continues to be a living resource for all of us.