Sunday 8th February 2009

5th Sunday of the Year

PRIESTS OF THE PARISH
Rev John Doherty PP Tel: 028 7188 2274
Rev Paul Farren Tel: 028 7188 3247

Getting our Priorities Right

People often remark that they don’t have enough time. Our world is fast, faster than it was twenty years ago. Communications improve, technology is far superior, cars are faster. It seems that everywhere you turn it’s instant this, rapid that, express something else. Would more time help to solve the problem?

We know in our hearts it wouldn’t. Somehow our commitments expand to fill any extra time we may obtain. The more time we have, the more tasks we will have. So we race around, and wonder at night-time: what have I really achieved today?

Our problem is not that we don’t have enough time. It’s a question of priorities. We all have important concerns in our lives – we call them priorities. And yet very often urgent matters will crowd them out.

The greatest danger is in letting the urgent things crowd out the important things. We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. Usually prayer gets bracketed into the important ‘things to do later’ bracket. If that is our attitude to prayer, it means a life of self-sufficiency – going it alone without God. The Son of God didn’t go it alone. Neither can we.

Last week’s Collection was £1,402.80. Many thanks.

First Anniversary Mass

The First Anniversary Mass for the late Kevin Corey, Cavanacor View, will take place in the Sacred Heart Church on Friday 13th February at 7.30pm.

Month’s Mind Mass

The Month’s Mind Mass for the late Glenn Wilson, Newtown Street, will take place in the Sacred Heart Church on Thursday 12th February at 7.30pm.

Vocations Information Day

Could you be called to serve God and his people as a priest in the Diocese of Derry? ‘Come and See.’ There will be a Vocations Information Day, a day of reflection on the theme of Vocation in Thornhill Retreat Centre on Saturday 14th February from 11.00am until 4.00pm. For further information please contact any of your local priests/RE teachers or:

Fr. Paul Farren at [028] 71264087, Email: ddcc@derrydiocese.org or
Fr. Colm O’Doherty at [028] 8166 1475, Email: collydoc2000@hotmail.com

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Wednesday 11th February is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. On this day in 1858, Our Lady first appeared to the fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous. Later, Bernadette was to learn that the mysterious lady was the Blessed Virgin and to hear from her lips, “I am the Immaculate Conception”. In 1992 Pope John Paul II declared this day as World Day of the Sick.

Pope John Paul II Award

The 2nd Annual Presentation Ceremony will take place in the Millennium Forum, Derry on Monday 23rd February at 7.30pm. There is an allocation of five tickets for each parish in the diocese. The evening will provide an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the many ways the young people have been actively involved in the parish and community over the past year.

If you would like to be present, please contact the Parish Secretary – telephone [028] 71882274 before Wednesday 11th February. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

The Derry Diocesan Commission for Justice and Social Affairs

Established in 2007 its objective is to support the Bishop in promoting the social teaching of the Church and to advise on issues of social concern both nationally and internationally. The group is keen to ensure that it is informed by a wide range of views and opinions. Would you be interested in making a contribution? If so, you are welcome to come along to a meeting on Tuesday 10th February in the Thornhill Centre, Culmore Road, Derry at 7.30pm.

Reflection – A lonely place

Jesus often went off to a lonely place to pray.
Yet the same Jesus who prayed in lonely places said, ‘When you pray, go into your room,
and pray to your Father in secret.’
This means that the lonely place is not necessarily a place far away, or that by ‘room’ he means four walls that separate us physically from others.
The room is the room of our innermost heart.
This room is with us at all times.
We should make it a place to which we can go to find rest and spiritual recovery when the world is too much with us.
Then we will discover that the inner room is not empty after all, but is occupied by the God of love who dwells in us all.