Clonmacnois Parish
February 19th 2023
7th Sunday Ordinary Time (A)
Fr. Tom Cox (Adm) Tel. 090 9674125/ 0868319500
Email: clonmacnoiseparish@gmail.com
WEB shannonbridge.blogspot.ie
FACEBOOK www.fb.me/saintciarans.
SEVENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
‘Love your enemies’
When taken seriously, Christianity is enormously demanding. To be expected to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek and love your enemies is the stuff of heroes, a call to respond to the worst with the best. It may seem utter foolishness to humans, but it is the wisdom of God. Nelson Mandela ‘got it’ when he refused to allow prison to sour him. Abraham Lincoln ‘got it’ when he appointed his arch-critic Edwin Stanton to his cabinet relying on his irreproachable logic: ‘Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends’? At the end of every conflict the protagonists ‘get it’ when they must sit around a table to make the peace. When boiled down to its’ essence, unforgiveness is hatred. It is rooted in the past and emerges from the seed-bed of unresolved issues. The enemy is within. It is only the Lord who can help us to unlock the prison door, heal what is within and allow us to make our grievance but a small chapter in our life, rather than make our life a chapter in our grievance. ‘The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness’.
Trócaire Appeal for Turkey and Syria As the death toll continues to climb from the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, desperate, grieving survivors have been left homeless and injured with no food and no shelter in freezing sub-zero cold. Trócaire has joined with other leading Irish aid agencies to create a united response through the Irish Emergency Alliance. With your kind donation and your love right now, together we can ease suffering for survivors. Please help rush emergency food, shelter, water, and healthcare, plus warm blankets and clothes to little children, women, and men traumatised by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Your compassion right now will save lives. Please help with your donation now www.trocaire.org Thank you.
A Prayer To Begin My Lenten Journey (Ash Wednesday) Loving Jesus, as I place on my forehead the sign of your loving cross. You say to me, repent and believe in the Gospel. Walking into Lent my heart is set on you. May my fasting fill me with hunger for you, may my prayer draw me deeper into your presence, may my acts of charity bring your love to my home and community. Lord of Life, grant that by turning back to you in these 40 days I will reawaken the joy of my Easter faith; for you raise me up from fear and despair and call me to hope and trust in God who is with me always. With you, I will rise again Amen
SHANNONBRIDGE (Eircode N37 FV05)
Sat 18th Feb 7pm Vigil Shared-Margaret Noone & Martin Egan (Beech Park Athlone & Aughinacabe)
-Mary Duffy-Bermingham
-Mary Gunning (Clonlyon) & husband Paddy & dec’d family members
Mon 20th Feb 10am Mass
Tues 21st Feb 10am Mass
Wed 22nd Feb 10am Ash Wednesday
Thurs 23rd 10am
Fri 24th Feb 10am
Sat 25th Feb 7pm Vigil Pro Populo
CLONFANLOUGH (N37 XR81)
Sun 19th Feb 10:30am Kieran Flynn M/M
Tues 21st Feb 7pm Eve of Ash Wednesday (Ashes will be blessed & distributed)
-Fri 24th Feb 6pm Stations of the Cross
Fri 24th Feb 7pm Mass
Sun 26th Feb 10:30am Michael & Mary Kelly (Currow, Clonfanlough) & dec’d members
CLUAIN CHIARAIN 22/2/23 @ 7:30pm
OFFERTORY Feb 12th €690
RECENT DEATHS Your prayers are requested for the soul of Sabina Mannion Clonlyon & Arcadia Court (Athlone) and M ary Rohan, St. Cynoc’s Terrace, Ferbane– both laid to rest in Clonmacnois Cemetery, Liam Scanlon, Athlone, br. of Fr. Michael Scanlon.
FEAST DAYS FOR COMING WEEK Tues 21 Feb. St. Peter Danian.
Wed. 22 Feb. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence. Fasting means that the amount of food that we eat is considerably reduced. Abstinence means that we give up a particular kind of food or drink or form of amusement. Those over 18 are bound by the law of fasting until the beginning of the 60th year and all over 14 years are bound by the law of abstinence.
[Feb. 22nd The Chair of St Peter (Apostle) This ancient feast relates to early Roman custom at this time of the year of remembering the ancestors of the family. The feast celebrates Peter as bishop of Rome & the focus of unity in the communion of one faith ]
Thurs. 23 Feb. St. Polycarp.
Fri.24 Feb. Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. St. Fintan, Abbot Prayer for anyone in financial difficulty Our Gracious Father, You are the Great Provider Who supplies our every need according to Your glorious riches. I kneel before You, humbly asking for Your Gracious Hand in this time of financial difficulty. Grant us the wisdom to better manage our finances and lead us to ways we can augment our income so that we can meet our financial obligations. Help us set our priorities right and not be wasteful of Your blessings. We thank You, Our Lord, for, despite our difficulty, You have never failed to provide our needs. Amen.
A LENTEN PROGRAM FOR MEN has been developed by an Irish priest to help men make this Lent different. The program contains 4 pillars - Prayer, Penance, Spiritual Reading & Charity. To find out more and join an online group a zoom information meeting is scheduled for Sunday Feb 19th at 8.30 p.m. Meeting ID 494 625 9738 Password: 997298. Email desertfathers40@gmail.com for a copy of program
ATHLONE LITTLE THEATREpresents 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!' by Brian Friel from Thursday, March 9 to Thursday, March 16 next. Sunday Matinee on March 12 at 3pm. All other performances take place at 8pm. Booking is open at Eventbrite or via www.athlonelittetheatre.ie. Tickets are €15.
LENTEN SCRIPTURE INITIATIVE drawing on St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians will run in Clonfert Family Centre, Ballinasloe, for five Sunday evenings (8 – 9.15/9.30 pm) beginning Sunday 26th February. For more details see www.creideamh.ie/lent2023 . Early booking advised as places are limited.
LENTEN APPEAL- TROCAIRE BOX: Suffering for food, water, and a basic livelihood should never be part of anyone’s life. Yet it is for Thandekile and her family. Widowed by Covid, she is doing all she can to give her children a future. But in the grip of climate change and poverty, she’s losing ground. Your Lenten donation of any size now means more families like hers can eat, children can stay in school, lasting livelihoods can be built, and a better tomorrow can belong to us all. Please let your love be there this Lent. Please, give what you can afford:
TROCAIRE BOXES are in St. Ciaran’s Clonfanlough & Shannonbridge Churches. Please take one home for season of Lent.
DOON/SHANNONBRIDGE GAA LOTTERY
-Draw of Feb 13th 2023. Numbers drawn 6-9-24-30. No Winner. 2x Match 3 Next draw 20/2/23 Jackpot €4,600
FUNDRAISER FOR CYCLE AGAINST SUICIDE
Gerry O’Sullivan is taking part in the Cycle Against Suicide - N2 End to End Portugal Challenge to honour his nephew Ben’s memory, and to raise much needed funds for Suicide Awareness.The challenge covers 750km over 6 days from May 20th to 25th inclusive.
Any donation would be greatl y appreciated. Many thanks for your support.https://eventmaster.ie/fundraising/pages/GO98279073
CLONMACNOIS N.S. ENROLMENT ongoing for the school year 2023-2024 in Clonmacnois N.S. Please phone the office on 09096 9974150 for an enrolment form
PARENTAL HELP NEEDED !”Mission to families” is a diocesan initiative arising from our recent Diocesan Assembly to have our young children involved in Mass on a routine basis. By participating in the Mass, narrating, leading Prayer of the Faithful, Offertory Gifts, Reflection. If interested please let us know.
Temperance Sunday (19th Feb) Mass on RTÉ TV & Radio @11 prayers for all who are in treatment for addiction, for their families and for those who are in recovery. The Pioneer website www.pioneers.ie carries information for parishioners who wish to take the Lenten pledge.
A Prayer for Temperance Dear Lord. Let temperance grow in me and lead me to discover other virtues that bring deeper union with you. In your sacred name, I pray. Temper my desires, O Lord, and turn my focus towards you. Deliver me from the tendency to go to extremes that strain both body and soul. Free me from all that harms or enslaves me and turn my heart towards eternal joys. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SHROVE DUES COLLECTION for the support of the priests of the Parish is due at this time. FRIDAY 24TH FEB is International Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Sexual Abuse. A Day marked since 2016 -lest we forget.
Lord, we are sorry for what some of us did to your children: Treated them so cruelly, especially in their hour of need. We have left them with a lifelong suffering. This was not your plan for them or us. Please help us to help them. Guide us, Lord, Amen. Prayer inscribed on commemorative stone unveiled at the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in 2012 in Dublin and now has a permanent home at Lough Derg
ATHLONE MUSICAL SOCIETY present "CHESS" The Musical from Fri 3rd to Sat 11th March 2023 (No show on 6th/7th) Book now at www.deancrowetheatre.com. Box Office 090 6492129 (Mon to Fri 12pm-3pm)Follow Athlone Musical Society on Facebook & Instagram for more details
SHANNONBRIDGE ACTION GROUP meetings are on 2nd Wednesdays of every month (8pm Health Centre) going forward. Email address for inputs/views/responses at shannonbridgeactiongroup@gmail.com
MINISTRIES Readers: 25/ 2/23 @7pm Eileen Quinn (SB)/ 26/2/23 @10:30am Maura Molloy (Cf) Communion 18/2/23 @7pm Marie McManus 19/2/23@10:30am Jacqueline Hennessy Church Care Gemma Moore, Doris Claffey SB:Bridie Coughlan, Maureen Claffey (Feb) (CF) Counters: Shannonbridge (Feb) Servers; 25/2/23 @ 7pm Shannonbridge Hannah Mitchell, Oisin Kenny, Jack O’Duffy 26/2/23 @ 10:30am Clonfanlough Harry Guinan/Alyssa Hennessy, Rose Daly, Holly Maloney
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