Clonmacnois Parish
August 29th 2021
22nd Sunday in OrdinaryTime(B)
Fr. Tom Cox (Adm) Tel. 090 9674125/ 0868319500
Email: clonmacnoiseparish@gmail.com
WEB shannonbridge.blogspot.ie
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/tomas.macconchoille (Live)
https://fb.me/saintciarans (saved to it afterwards)
22nd SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
"This people honours me only with lip service, while their hearts are far from me"
It’s the heart that matters! Jesus returned to this theme often in His preaching. It was a revolutionary message at that time. Central to the religion of the day was the strict observance of rules, regulations and rituals, and the avoidance of foods that were 'unclean'. The Law had become an end in itself. Jesus respected the Law but He despised legalism. He warned against identifying religion with performing external acts. He presented a very different vision, a liberating path, a religion centred on the heart. He directed His listeners to look inwards, reminding them that the heart is the fountain from which all things spring, good or evil. True religion is indeed heart work and the art of authentic Christian living consists in the rhyming of wholesome hearts with worthwhile deeds. If we get the heart right, beautiful deeds will flow. We will reach out to our brothers, sisters and all living things with kindness, tolerance, compassion and respect. May He, who alone can see the 'inside' make our hearts all that they were meant to be.
'I believe that the only true religion is having a good heart'. (Dalai Lama)
SHANNONBRIDGE GAA LOTTO DRAW 23rd August 2021 Numbers drawn on Facebook Live 12-13-29-31 No winner, Two Match 3 Jackpot now €14,000 Lotto can be played online also at clubforce
FREE COURSES available in September at Athlone VTOS if you are over 21 and receipt of a DEASP payment for more than 6 months. We offer Art, Business and Computer Programming courses at Athlone Training Centre, Garrycastle, with excellent up to date facilities. Hybrid courses may be also available with a mixture of online and in class delivery. Ring Maria on 086 8522795 or email mryan@lwetb.ie "
LEAVING CERT RESULTS
On Friday next our Leaving Cert Students will receive their long awaited results.
You are more You are more than a number You are more than a grade on a paper or a score on a text. You are a special person A person with unique skills, gifts and talents, A person with feelings, you get excited, happy, angry, sad. You get frustrated when you don’t get the results and sometimes you worry too. You are a person with hopes, dreams, plans. You are more than your results in an exam. Please remember, you are special. Sandy O’Donoghue
1st September to the 4th of October 2021
The Season of Creation is marked throughout the Christian world from 1 September to 4 October (Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi) and celebrates the joy of creation as well as encouraging awareness-raising initiatives to protect the natural environment. The theme for the Season of Creation 2021 is ‘Restoring Our Common Home’. During this season we are asked to join together to celebrate creation and protect our common home through prayer, reflection and action. The global Christian family is called to awaken to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and with each other and to encourage our parish communities to do the same, “for we know that things can change!” (Laudato Si’, 13).
A Prayer for Our Earth
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one. O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light. We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace. Amen.
The Faith Café for Grandparents The Faith Café is an initiative of the Catholic Grandparents’ Association which was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic as a social and spiritual space for Grandparents to meet online once a month to chat, to offer prayers and intentions and to just be together in the spirit of faith. It has been a lifeline for so many people during this time of pandemic and has connected Grandparents across the world from Ireland to the USA, from the UK to Australia. The next Faith Café will be on Tuesday 14th September from 7.30pm to 8.30pm and the speaker is Fr Richard Gibbons PP and Rector of Knock Shrine. Register for the Faith Café by email to info@catholicgrandparentsassociation.com. Once you register for the Faith Café, you will receive the details of how to connect in for the gathering on Zoom. We look forward to welcoming you to the Faith Café.
Church Counters Shannonbridge (Aug 29th) Clonfanlough (Sept 5th)
SHANNONBRIDGE(15 seats/Max 50
Sat 28th 7p.m. Vigil Mass of Sunday
Wed 1st Sept 10 Service
Thurs 2nd Sept 7pm Mass
Fri 3rd Sept 10am (First Fri.) St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Memorial)
Sat 4th Sept 7:00p.m. Optional Memorial of St. Mac Nissi, Bishop
CLONFANLOUGH (Max 50)
Sunday 29th August 10:30am Kieran (Harry) Kearns (Anniv.)
[The annual diocesan pilgrimage to Knock will not take place this year due to the continuing restrictions. Bishop Duffy will celebrate Mass at Knock Shrine on Sunday 5th September 2021 at 3.00pm. The Mass will be livestreamed at www.knockshrine.ie]
OFFERTORY August 22nd 2021 €480
Aug. 31st St Aiden of Lindisfarne (Died 651) He was of Irish descent and a monk on the island of Iona (Scotland). He was invited by the king of Northumberland to convert his people.
In the past year I’ve lost count how many times people (wrongly) made reference to the Penal times with regard to restrictions on public worship due to Public Health Advice. As we cautiously emerge, maybe the “Catacombs” of the early Church might be more accurate. I found this quote from the future Pope Benedict XVI in 1969 (!) quite interesting. We can’t predict the future..but….
From the crisis of today, the Church of tomorrow will emerge– a Church that has lost so much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so it will los emany of her social privileges. In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision…. The Church will be a m ore spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right.
Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI writing in the 1960s
