LENT
Lent is a time for taking stock, for repentance and renewal, as we prepare to commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord at Easter. Repentance involves a renewal of attitudes, a change of focus from the self to others. We need to remember that there is no real relationship with Jesus outside community, and solitary Christianity is a contradiction in terms. In Lent we pray for a new spirit of community, and that we will recognise the sacred in the people around us, brothers and sisters for whom Christ died.
Ash Wednesday 26th February is a day of fast and abstinence. On Ash Wednesday we bless and the sign of the cross is made as the ash is put on our foreheads while the priest or minister says ‘turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel,’ or similar words. The ashes remind us of our dying to the old way of life and challenges us to live our lives in the light of faith. We encourage everyone to come to Mass on Ash Wednesday and during Lent, if possible.
Ashes will be blessed and distributed at the 10.00 am and 6.00 pm Masses on Ash Wednesday. At the 10.00 am Mass pupils will be given blessed ash to bring to their schools to impose on pupils and staff.
Parish Mission: February 29 – March 8
A Time of Hope and Encouragement
Rejoice and be Glad
We welcome members of the Céilí Community Mission Team who are with us from this weekend until the 8th March. Next week they will visit homes, schools and the sick of the parish. The Céilí Team welcome parishioners after 10.00 am Mass to tea/coffee and biscuits in Parish Centre.
The Preached Mission will start with Mass and Sacrament of the Sick on Saturday next 29th February at 3.00 pm, and will close with the weekend Masses on 7th – 8th March. The weekday Mission Celebrations will be at 7.30 pm from Monday March 2nd to Friday March 6th, and weekday Mission Masses will be at 7.30 am and 10.00 am.
Mission Prayer
God our Father
we ask You to bless our Parish Mission.
You invite us to come to you with all our hearts.
Pour out Your Spirit upon us.
May we experience
the healing power of Jesus.
May we be renewed in faith, hope and love.
May the peace of the Holy Spirit
light up our lives.
We make our prayer
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Masses during Lent
Evening Mass at 6.00 pm on the first three weekdays of Lent, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next.
For the Mission week from 2nd to 6th the Lenten weekday Mass will be at 7.30 am.
Depending on the response during the Mission, we may continue weekday Mass at 7.30 am instead of 6.00 pm for the remainder Lent. We will consult Mass goers about this next week and a decision will be announced on Sunday 8th March.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
on Wednesday mornings in Lent after 10.00 am Mass to 11.00 am.
Morning Prayer of the Church (Lauds) on Fridays in Lent after 10.00 am Mass.
Deaths: We pray for Elma Sexton, Summerhill South, and Charles (Charlie) Marshall, Greenhills Court, who died recently. We extend our sympathy to their families.
WORKSHOP FOR PARISH CHOIRS/MUSICIANS: On Saturday 14th March we welcome Dom Richard Purcell (Abbot of Mount Melleray) to lead a workshop for choirs, cantors, musicians which will offer a selection of styles to suit different parish choirs/cantors for the season of Eastertide and into Ordinary Time. Venue: Blackrock Parish Centre Time: 10:00am to 12:45pm Cost: €10 per person to include music book. To reserve a place please contact us on 021 4537474 or by email o@corkandross.org
TROCAIRE LENTEN RESOURCE: On Wednesday 11th March Colm Hogan, the Parish Officer with Trocaire, will facilitate a workshop on the Lenten resource on climate justice, to help parishes to lead this Lenten reflection session. In the Pastoral Development Office, Ballyphehane from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. To reserve a place phone 021 4537474 or email pdo@corkandross.org
Trócaire Family Fast Boxes for Lent are available at the back of the Church, and will be distributed through the Schools.
Physical and Spiritual Wellbeing
Tuesdays, March 3rd – April 7th 2020
7.30pm to 9.00pm at Nano Nagle Place (entrance Evergreen Street, no parking available). A six session programme introducing meditation and movement that awaken and empower both physically and spiritually. Facilitated by Sr. Mary Dineen. To register phone 076-6849824 or email spirituality@nanonagleplace.ie.
Nano Nagle Birthplace, Ballygriffin Sat 29th Feb: Day of Meditation with Eileen Nash pbvm: 10.30 am – 3.30 pm, (registration 10am); bring a packed lunch; cost €25 incl. tea/coffee. 022 26411 or email secretary@nanonaglebirthplace.ie <mailto:secretary@nanonaglebirthplace.ie>
Cork Alzheimers Café for people with Alzheimers and other dementias, their carers, family and friends with social and health professionals, last Friday of each month 1.30 – 3.30 pm in St Finbarrs Hospital, Light refreshments, no charge, all welcome. Next meeting 28th February.
This Lent, Pope Appeals for Prayer, Heartfelt Dialogue With Our Friend Jesus Which Changes Us
Gives Advice for How This Favorable Season to Become Salt of the Earth & Light of the World
Pope Francis says prayer must be at the heart of this Lent, for it is essential to have this heartfelt dialogue with Jesus our friend, in order to experience real conversion…
The Holy Father expressed this in his Message for Lent for 2020, which was published today, Feb. 24, 2020, by the Vatican and presented today in the Holy See Press Office.
Signed on Oct. 7, 2019, in the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran, the title of this year’s message is “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20).”
This year, the Holy Father says, the Lord once again grants us “a favorable time to prepare to celebrate with renewed hearts the great mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.”
In the text, the Holy Father said he wished to share his words to young people in the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit with all Christians, namely, “Keep your eyes fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified, let yourself be saved…”
Among the text’s four different sections, Francis dedicated one to “the urgency of conversion,” focusing on the importance of prayer and contemplating more deeply the Paschal Mystery through which God’s mercy has been bestowed upon us.
The experience of mercy, the Pope reminded, “is only possible in a -face to face- relationship with the crucified and risen Lord “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20), in a heartfelt dialogue between friends.”
“That is why,” he underscored, “prayer is so important in Lent.”
More than a duty…
“Even more than a duty,” he said, “prayer is an expression of our need to respond to God’s love which always precedes and sustains us.”
Christians, the Holy Father reminded, pray “in the knowledge that, although unworthy, we are still loved.” Prayer, he acknowledged, can take any number of different forms, “but what truly matters in God’s eyes is that it penetrates deep within us and chips away at our hardness of heart, in order to convert us ever more fully to God and to His will.”
During Lent, he encouraged, may we allow ourselves to be led like Israel was into the desert, “so that we can at last hear our Spouse’s voice and allow it to resound ever more deeply within us.”
Pope Francis stressed that the more fully we are engaged with His word, the more we will experience the mercy He freely gives us.
“May we not let this time of grace pass in vain, in the foolish illusion that we can control the times and means of our conversion to him,” he appealed.
Before concluding, the Holy Father noted, “I ask Mary Most Holy to pray that our Lenten celebration will open our hearts to hear God’s call to be reconciled to himself, to fix our gaze on the paschal mystery, and to be converted to an open and sincere dialogue with him.”
“In this way,” the Pope said, “we will become what Christ asks his disciples to be: the salt of the earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:13-14).”