by Vincent | Sep 20, 2013 | General Interest, Reflections, Religion
Where will you be this week Sam??
On Sunday the cameras will focus on you several times before and during the All-Ireland Final. We’ll see you shined and polished, ready for the road and draped in the colours of Dublin and Mayo. You’ll just sit there, the prize waiting to be claimed – the destination point of a country – but focus will shift from you to the teams and officials on the pitch. There will be commentary and analysis, statistics and facts and at game’s end, you will be handed to either the captain of Dublin or Mayo – he (Andy!!!) will hold you high to a cheering crowd and give thanks for your presence, thanks to all who have supported the team through “thick and thin”, good days and bad and, in a special way, to the generations who have kept the faith and held strongly to the belief that this day would come. Come it has. The hour is here.
You’ll not force yourself on anyone Sam but remain there, centre stage, for the hands that have been proved worthy of lifting you on high. You are happy in the colours of any county and willing to go where invited so that a people may feel upbeat and renewed. You’ll stay as long as you’re welcome, go wherever you’re brought and be there for anyone that approaches you. You will be a prized possession, a certain friend and a reminder that all is possible.
In ways Sam, you could remind us of Jesus. He is our goal, our prize and our intended focus. Sometimes we allow our focus drift from him to the game on the pitch but even if we do, we know that it’s only when he’s taken in hand, lifted on high and invited to join us on our journey that he’s fully alive in our hearts and forever treasured.
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by Vincent | Sep 18, 2013 | General Interest, Religion, Photography
Last week I had a call from my classmate, Dermot Maloney, to see if I’d be free to share a thought or two with a group of students who would be visiting Knock Shrine today. I said I would and was happy to spend a bit of time with them at the Gable Wall. A very impressive group of young people and a credit to themselves and their school.
There were 150 students along with the School Principal, Fr Dermot and other members of Staff. They were a pleasure to meet and I hope they have a great year. Just checked the School Website and noticed some pictures from Knock so borrowed the one above. I hope they’ll not mind:)
by Vincent | Sep 7, 2013 | Reflections, Religion
PRAYER FOR PEACE
“AN HOUR TO MIDNIGHT”
Please consider joining us for an hour’s prayer
in Kilmovee tonight from
11pm-Midnight to pray for Peace in Syria.
We are responding to Pope Francis’ call for
prayers and fasting for this intention today.
KILMOVEE PARISH CHURCH
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7th, 2013
by Vincent | Sep 4, 2013 | Reflections, Religion
“When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.”
I had a text message from a friend last night wondering what this was about! To be honest, I was at Adoration in Urlaur Church and came across this as the Gospel for this morning’s Mass so I just cut and paste the last part of it into the blog. I can see how, standing alone like that, it might seem confusing. I told my friend I might elaborate the point a bit today.
This is the final paragraph of the Gospel Passage I used at my First Mass in Cloonloo on June 15th, 1987. The earlier part of the story tells of Jesus asking Peter if he could use his boat … the use was not that typical of a fishing boat but to put out a little from the shore so that Jesus could stand in it and address the people who had gathered to hear his words. The boat, you could say, became a sort of pulpit and Jesus the preacher using the pulpit. He addressed the crowds for some time and we know (from other Gospel texts) that he impressed them.
When finished, Jesus asked Peter (Simon) to put out a little further and to “pay out” his nets for a catch. Peter said that he had fished alongside his friends all the previous night and had caught nothing but agreed that if Jesus asked him to do this he would. Having thrown the nets overboard they netted so many fish that their nets began to rip. They hauled the catch to the shore and that’s when Peter realised his own sinfulness and threw himself at Jesus’ feet saying: “Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man” …. Jesus however did not move. He stood his ground and told Peter that he needed him to stand up, find his feet and direction and to make a real difference in the world.
I suppose that’s the sense I had that night. Even a day after Ordination, I knew that I was a sinful man who quite often got it wrong. I knew too that the Lord would not abandon me but encourage me to my feet and to the waters where fish waited to be caught. I think I had a feeling that even allowing for the mistakes I might make, I was in the right place and doing the right thing.
Overall there was a sense of the Lord’s loyalty to all of us. When others might walk away, he stands by and when others might criticise, he finds words of praise and encouragement. I also liked the idea that he met the fishermen where they were. Having asked for the loan of one of their boats, he immediately sought to pay back their generosity of spirit by giving them what had evaded them the night before – a haul of fish.
So that’s sort of where the text above came from. It took me back to Cloonloo and a beginning ……
![St Paul’s Bessbrook]()
by Vincent | Aug 21, 2013 | General Interest, Religion, Photography
Mary 16/1/’23-21/8/’09
Today is the fourth anniversary of my mother’s death. May she rest in peace. She died on the anniversary of the Apparition at Knock and that seemed and seems so appropriate. She liked Knock very much, not least the “third Sunday in May” – the day of the Achonry Diocesan Pilgrimage and these days of the Knock Novena. I will go there this evening and remember her. It is certainly true that we don’t need an “anniversary” or date on a calendar to remind us of her absence but it is nonetheless good and important to mark the date. My brothers and families joined me this morning for Mass in Kilmovee. There we remembered her too, along with my father and the deceased of our family. May they all rest in peace.
These are the words I spoke at my mother’s Funeral Mass in Cloonloo in August 2009.
