LIGHT
The fourth Sunday of Lent, “Laetare (joyful) Sunday,” marks the half way point in our Lenten journey and we begin to look forward to Easter.   The theme of the Mass is Light, the light given to the man born blind while the religious people who thought they knew it all were left in the dark.   Those who feel they know all they need to know are closed to the message of Jesus.  They may be people afflicted with a sort of rigid religiosity, a self- centred false piety, or those who buy into the prevailing secularism and take their cue from the media pundits.   Nowadays there is a so-called rationalism adopted by people who don’t actually think at all, and take their opinions ready made from the opinion shapers of our time.

The poor man born blind knew very little but could hear the message, his heart was open.   Jesus “anoints” his eyes with mud and sends him to bathe in the pool called Siloam.  The man receives his sight from the God who doesn’t see as we do.   We pray that we may be children of light, as St. Paul says to the Christians at Ephesus, that we may see our world in the light of Christ.  May we follow Paul’s advice to us to wake up, so that the light of Christ may shine on us.   We pray that like the man born blind we will be able to turn to Jesus and say, “Lord, I believe.”

Cancellation of Public Masses
For the duration of the Covid-19 Virus crisis, people in the Diocese of Cork and Ross are not bound by the Sunday Obligation to go to Mass, and all public Weekend, Holy Day and weekday Masses are discontinued. Funerals, weddings and baptisms may continue with attendance limited to family members and close friends and never exceeding 100 people.

Live-streaming of Parish Masses
Whilst public Masses may not be celebrated for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis, weekday and Sunday Masses continue in the Church behind closed doors.  These Masses are live-streamed from the church webcam, and can be picked up via the Parish Website at 10.00 am on weekdays, Monday to Saturday and at 12.00 midday on Sundays.  The Webcam will be turned on fifteen minutes before Mass times. The Parish Website is www.turnerscross.com <http://www.turnerscross.com> , to access the Webcam, just click on the following movie camera pictogram in the opening page:

We hope that some people of our parish, while not able to join together physically, will join us spiritually in these Masses.
Note also that Bishop Fintan hopes to celebrate the live-streamed Mass from the Cathedral at 11.30 am each Sunday, available at www.corkcathedral.ie <http://www.corkcathedral.ie> , and that daily Mass is also available on the rte news now channel each weekday morning at 10.30.

Prayer Resources for use whilst Public Mass is not available.
Prayer resources have been added to the diocesan website for people to use when they cannot attend Mass in person as well as when they cannot attend a funeral Mass and sympathise directly with a bereaved family.  Copies of the following Special Prayers are also available on a table at the back of the church.

Praying at home when we cannot attend Mass

Praying for our deceased loved ones at this time of the coronavirus Covid 19 when we cannot attend the Funeral.

Prayers in times when we cannot attend Daily Mass including Prayer for Spiritual Communion
 
Preventing the spread of the Virus
At the permitted Funeral and Wedding Masses and at Baptisms, we will continue to observe HSE guidance and Bishops’ norms, including:
Shaking hands including at the Sign of Peace is suspended. Alternatives such as a smile, nod or bow are acceptable.

Holy water fonts will not be used.
Holy Communion will be administered into the hands only and NOT onto the tongue. 

Having received Holy Communion, and before and after distributing, the priest and ministers will sanitise their hands.
During Holy Communion only the celebrant shall receive from the Chalice and no one else may drink from the same Chalice – this includes other priests as well as ministers of the Eucharist and members of the congregation.
Collection baskets will not be passed from hand to hand through the congregation.

Further information on the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) website.
with Holy Oil and dispose of them appropriatFunerals
Attendance at funerals should be restricted to the immediate family and very close friends. Whilst the desire to offer condolences is commendable, during this difficult time condolences can be expressed in the form of a letter, a text message, an e-mail. The Covid-19 crisis will pass and there will be other possibilities for Mass or prayers to be said for those who die during this period. These Masses and prayers will enable people to come the church then and offer their condolences.  All Catholic funeral liturgies will be limited to the funeral Mass, without a removal to the church the evening before. The priest celebrating the funeral Mass will be the only priest officiating.

Sacrament of the sick for the dying (last rites)
It is essential that in anointing the sick, the priest should use a cotton bud or surgical glove for the anointing ely. The rite should be administered while at a distance of 1 metre. It is important to follow recommendations on hand hygiene after the celebration of the Sacrament. The priest must avoid contact with others in the house of the person who is seriously ill.

Parish pastoral calls to homes
Priests are advised against visiting homes at this time because priests themselves may be carriers of the virus without knowing it or the virus may be in the house.

 

Mothers Day: In spite of the Corona Virus, this Sunday is still Mother’s Day, and we pray God’s blessing on all mothers as we wish them a happy Day.  At the 12.00 midday Mass on this Sunday Prayers will be offered for all our mothers, living and deceased.
A Mother’s Prayer   Lord, here I am immersed in my daily routine of mothering a family, feeding, caring for, consoling, listening to those entrusted to me. May your joy erupt within me to brighten the thousand daily actions woven by the thread of life.  Lord stay with me, and let the little deaths of each day lead me along the path to eternal life.

Deaths:  We pray for John Holland, Doyle Road, Lil Cronin, Capwell Road, and John Bracken, Kilcolman Lawn, who have died.  We extend our sympathy to their families.

The Irish Catholic Newspaper
Copies of The Irish Catholic will continue to be left in the Church for purchase. If you would like a free issue of the digital edition each week, please email your request to frbillyosullivan@gmail.com.

Prayer for our protection
The Irish Bishops ask for prayers for those affected by the Coronavirus.  Placing all our trust in the Lord, and asking Our Lady to intercede for us, we invite everyone to pray these prayers:

From Saint Patrick’s Breastplate:
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Memorare: 
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to your protection,
implored your help,
or sought your intercession
was left unaided.
Inspired with this confidence,
I fly to you,
O Virgin of virgins, my Mother.
To you I come,
before you I stand,
sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in your mercy,
hear and answer them.
Amen.
 

  LIVING WATER                       Jesus tells the woman at the well that he offers “living water, welling up to eternal life.” He offers us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of living water. Every time we receive Holy Communion we are united with Christ, who gives us life and causes us to experience the Holy Spirit within us as we are invited to share the inner life of God the Blessed Trinity. God calls his people to union with him and with each other, union with Christ and union with the Body of Christ.   Of the mercy of God, Pope Francis says that ‘there is no sin or crime of any kind that can erase from the mind or heart of God even one of the children he has created’ (November 2013).
Imagine yourself looking into a well;
see the face of Jesus looking at you from its depths.
He looks at you with love.
Lord, send me the living water of the Holy Spirit.

THE COVID-19 VIRUS                                                                                     Cancellation of All Masses     Weekend and Day Masses are discontinued until further notice.  Funerals, weddings, baptisms continue as long as the attendance does not exceed 100 people.  People are not bound by the Sunday Obligation

Live-Streaming  of  Masses during the Covid-19 Virus Crisis       Mass will celebrate  privately and  live-streamed from the Church of Christ the King for the people  at 12.00 midday on Sundays  and 10,00 am on weekdays,  it will be broadcast via the church webcam. To tune in go to   Google on iPhone, iPad or other device:   MNC Media.TV Turners Cross and scroll down to picture of Turners Cross Church.             We hope that  people  while not able to join together physically, will join us spiritually in that Mass each Sunday  at 12noon and Monday to Saturday at 10am.

Bishop Fintan hopes to celebrate the live-streamed Mass from the Cathedral at 11.30 am each Sunday, available at www.corkcathedral.ie.

Preventing the spread of the Virus  We will continue to observe HSE guidance and Bishops’ norms, including:    Shaking hands including at the Sign of Peace is suspended. Alternatives such as a smile, nod or bow are acceptable.

Holy water fonts will not be used .  Holy Communion will be administered into the hands only and NOT onto the tongue. Having received Holy Communion, and before and after distributing, the priest and ministers should sanitise their hands         During Holy Communion only the celebrant shall receive from the Chalice and no one else may drink from the same Chalice – this includes other priests as well as ministers of the Eucharist and members of the congregation.

Further information on the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) website.

Trócaire Family Fast Boxes for Lent are available at the back of the Church.

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).”

Parish Mission February 29 – March 8
A Time of Hope and Encouragement
Rejoice and be Glad
Members of the Ceílí Community Mission Team will be with us from Saturday next 22nd February.
Team accommodation and meals: Renewed thanks to those who have so generously volunteered to provide accommodation and evening meals. Whilst Mission Collections will be taken up, some parishioners have asked to contribute specifically to the cost of the midday meals.  Those who wish to do so are asked to leave an offering in the Sacristy and include their names on a donation register.

Death:  We pray for Thomas (Tommy) Newman, Connolly Road and Eileen (Irene) Corcoran, Westview, South Douglas Road, who died recently.  We extend our sympathy to their families.

Do this in Memory: Preparation Mass for First Holy Communion this Sunday 16th February at 10.00 am.

Parish & Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes 12th – 17th June, 2020
Bishop Fintan in his recent letter to all the Parishes expressed the wish that we would go to Lourdes as a Diocesan Pilgrimage.  Our Parish Group from Turners Cross will be part of the Diocesan Group that our New Bishop will lead.  Our Parish Group will stay in the Hotel Gallia et Lourdes (formally known as Hotel Chapelle) where we stayed last year, located near the Grotto.  We have provisionally booked 15 places.   If you would like to be part of our Parish Group, please put your name etc., on the list in the Sacristy and collect a booking form in the Sacristy and return it to Travel Agent Joe Walsh Tours, 117 Patrick Street, Cork.

Holy Hour for vocations to religious life and priesthood:  Wednesday 19th February 2:30 pm to 3:30  pm, Daughters of Charity Convent, Knocknaheeny (next to Church). Prayer followed by tea/coffee.

52nd International Eucharistic Congress
Bishop Kevin Doran will lead our National Pilgrimage to the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest from 12th – 21st September 2020. Cost: From €1,050 per person sharing. For information see www.catholicbishops.ie <http://www.catholicbishops.ie> .

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.

Anam Cara Cork Bereaved Parents Support Evening on Tuesday 25th February at 7.00pm in the Rochestown Park Hotel, Rochestown Rd, Douglas, Cork. This free event is open to all bereaved parents and is run in conjunction with Pieta House and Feilacain.  To confirm numbers for teas, coffees, etc, RSVP to  info@anamcara.ie  before 24th February or call  085 2888 888.

Nano Nagle Birthplace, Ballygriffin
Sun 23rd Feb: Community Tree Planting at Ballygriffin, Killavullen 2pm – 5.30pm followed by musical entertainment. All welcome, bring a spade.

The Community Safety Forum for Turners Cross, The Lough, Ballyphehane, Pouladuff and surrounding areas will be held in Turners Cross Community Centre on Wednesday 19th February at 7.30 pm – All Welcome.

Human Life International: “Let’s Take Ireland back for Christ.”  Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, Co Cork, Saturday February 22nd at 7.30 pm.