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

Sunday, 15th August 2010

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour; because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid”. Mary is given to us as the model of what a follower of Christ should be. Today, as we celebrate her Assumption into heaven, she models especially the importance of a spirit of thanksgiving and praise. Each of us has so much to be thankful for to God and to one another and yet we can spend so much of our time and energy complaining. This week we are invited to turn this around and practice praise and thanksgiving. We start with those who are closest to us, for example as wife and husband, parents and children, friends. But we should also extend it to the people we celebrate the Eucharist with instead of rushing away as soon as Mass is over. And of course, this week take time to thank God for all the gifts we have in our lives.

Fr. Johnny Doherty, C.Ss.R.

Sunday, 15th August 2010

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

First Reading: Apocalpse 11: 19, 12: 1-6, 10
This describes the battle between good and evil, with the ultimate triumph of God. Mary and her child were at the heart of that battle.

Second Reading: Corinthians 15: 20-26
Christ is the new Adam who undoes the harm done by the old Adam.

Gospel: Luke 1: 39-56
Mary visits Elizabeth and sings a hymn of praise to God, for his goodness to her and to his chosen people.

Entrance Hymn

Christ Be Beside Me

Christ be beside me,
Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me,
King of my heart.
Christ be within me,
Christ be below me,
Christ be above me,
Never to part.

Christ on my right hand,
Christ on my left hand,
Christ all around me,
Shield in the strife.
Christ in my sleeping,
Christ in my sitting,
Christ in my rising,
Light of my life.

Recessional Hymn

As I Kneel Before You

As I kneel before you,
as I bow my head in prayer,
Take this day, make it yours,
and fill me with your love.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu.

All I have I give you,
every dream and wish are yours,
Mother of Christ, mother of mine,
present them to my Lord.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu.

This Week’s Calendar

Monday 16th – St. Stephen was first King of Hungary and its patron saint.

Thursday 19th – St. John Eudes was a promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sarah, wife of Abraham, is honoured today in the Jewish calendar.

Friday 20th – St. Bernard. He founded the Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux in the twelfth century. He is honoured as patron of Gibraltar and of bee-keepers.

Saturday 21st – St. Pius X was pope from 1903 to 1911. He promoted Eucharistic devotion and liturgical renewal. During his papacy he allowed children receive Holy Communion.

The Birth of a Mother

We thank the Lord for the gift of his mother to us from the cross. It was an astonishing reversal of roles. Usually the mother brings forth her child in pain and anguish and essential loneliness. But on the cross Jesus, in suffering and abandonment, brought a mother into the family he was creating.

His whole message was that his Father is ours too; and that we are brothers and sisters to each other and to the Lord. The only person missing in the family circle was a mother – and he gave us one in Mary.

Today’s feast can be so reassuring to all of us. It is a pledge to us that the family is already constituted in heaven waiting until all its members are gathered together around the eternal table. The Father raised Jesus from the dead as the firstborn of the family; and then brought Mary to join him. Now Father and Son and mother wait for the rest of us to come home from our different journeys so that our joy can be made perfect in the Spirit’s unity of divine love. Mary is the first in gathering of the Lord’s harvest.

Lord, on this feast of your giving Mary her motherly place in heaven, give us too a conscious and profound desire to be with you and the Father and her. Make us want heaven. And listen to your mother as she prays to you for each of us, your children. She always prays for us now and at the hour of our death. After all, she is our mother.

Life’s journey

For each of us life is a journey.
Birth is the beginning of this journey,
and death is not the end but the destination.
It is a journey that takes us from youth to age,
from innocence to awareness,
from foolishness to wisdom,
from weakness to strength and often back again,
from loneliness to friendship,
from pain to compassion,
from fear to faith,
from defeat to victory and from victory to defeat,
until, looking backward or ahead,
we see that victory does not lie at some high point along the way,
but in having made the journey, stage by stage.

[Adapted from an old Hebrew prayer].

"The 4th National Grandparents' Pilgrimage will take place to the The Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, on Sunday 12th September. Anointing of the Sick at 2pm, Pilgrimage Mass at 3pm, followed by Eucharistic Adoration. Special guest singers: Michael English, Dana and Chloe Coyle. For further information, visit website www.catholicgrandparentsassociation.com or telephone 0035398 24877. Also, see details on poster on church notice board."

A Prayer to Jesus
Voice of Jesus, call us when we stray.
Eyes of Jesus, look upon us when we need encouragement.
Face of Jesus, smile upon us when we need reassurance.
Hands of Jesus, anoint us when we grow weary.
Arms of Jesus, lift us up when we stumble.
Body of Jesus, feed us when we grow hungry.
Heart of Jesus, help us to love one another as you have loved us.