NEWSLETTER

HOLY WEEK TIMETABLE

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT:
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament one hour before Mass from MONDAY to WEDNESDAY this week.

MASS TIMES: Please note the different times of Mass this week.

FRANCES HOGAN: A very warm welcome to Frances Hogan who will be here during Holy Week to help guide and prepare us for our Easter Celebration. A timetable giving full details of the time of her talks is available in the Church Porch.

TUESDAY: Please note that there will be a Mass at 9.00 a.m. and a Requiem Mass for Nuala Toland at 11.30 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Please note that the School Mass commences at 9.30 a.m.

PENITENTIAL SERVICE is at 7.00 p.m. when a number of priests will be available for individual Reconciliation.

HOLY THURSDAY: The evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will take place at 7.00 p.m. and will include the Washing of the Feet and the Eucharistic Ministers’ Renewal of Commitment. After Mass the Blessed Sacrament will be transferred to the Altar of Repose in the Parish Centre where we can watch with Jesus until midnight.

GOOD FRIDAY: The Celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion will take place at 3.00 p.m.
There will watching at the tomb of Jesus at 7.00 p.m.

A VERY WARM WELCOME to Marjorie Gibbon who will be received into full communion with the Catholic Church during the Saturday Vigil of Easter. Marjorie normally attends St. Mary’s, Easington Lane but has chosen to be received here by Fr. Bill who instructed her. Please give her a very warm welcome and keep her in your prayers.

SATURDAY: The Easter Vigil will take place at 7.00 p.m. Please note the earlier time. Afterwards tea and coffee and Hot Cross Buns will be served in the Parish Centre.

REFLECTION FOR PASSION SUNDAY

Matthew 21:1-11

Do the crowds TODAY sing Hosannas to Jesus?
Do they recognise His Lordship over personal lives? National life? Over the world?
Or are we ashamed of the Palms? Ashamed to process in honour of Jesus?
Are we ashamed of Jesus before our our pleuralistic society? Are we afraid of public opinion?

Jesus only NEEDED a donkey to take Him to Jerusalem on His great day when He was to be acknowledged as King-Messiah.
He didn’t need a saint…or a prophet…or a priest…or an intellectual who would understand the issues, nor a scientist who could use the event to make something useful out of it.

NO! Jesus used a low intellect creature known for its slowness and stubbornness! (How like us spiritually)!
Of course the donkey was not stupid enough to thing that the Hosanna and acclamations were for him!
Only human beings make that mistake! And they call themselves HOMO SAPIENS!

St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 1:26-31 that God ‘chooses the weak things of this world to confound the strong.’

Who is going to be Jesus’ donkey in 2008? You have only to take Jesus to where ever He wants to go…to the poor…to the sick and the housebound…the distressed and lonely…the prisons etc.

When these needy people bless you and tell you that you are great (for doing your duty!) remember that the Hosannas belong to Jesus who has visited them through you. He in the One who blesses them, forgives, heals and redeems them.
You are only the donkey and when these people have Jesus more deeply in their lives they won’t need you any more. Then the donkey must not complain that the King went into the House of God and left him outside as he was no longer needed!!

Look how much a donkey can teach us! Why not volunteer to be Jesus donkey this Lent and Easter?