July messenger 2018

MESSENGER THE SACRED HEART

JULY 2018 I €1.75 / £1.60

RE:LINK:

INTERVIEW WITH TOMI REICHENTAL: HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR FAITH QUILLE

THE POPE IS COMING!

MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN TD, KEVIN HARGADEN PADRAIG SWAN & EILEEN HOULAHAN

CONTENTS 10

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FROM THE EDITOR GREENING YOUR Donal Neary SJ JOURNEY Eco Congregation

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DAILY OFFERING Pope’s Intention

6POPE’S INTENTION

PRIESTS AND THEIR PASTORAL MINISTRY Vincent Sherlock

© Gabriela Insuratelu / Shutterstock

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14 MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

POPE GREGORY THE GREAT WITH TWO JESUIT SAINTS Eileen Kane

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THE POPE FAMILY AND TIME IS COMING Bishop Brendan Leahy

10 THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PSALMS OF TRUST Martin Hogan

Maureen O’Sullivan Padraig Swan Kevin Hargaden & Eileen Houlahan

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20 PLACES OF WORSHIP

ST MARY’S CHURCH ENNISKERRY Christopher Moriarty

23 PRAYER

ST IGNATIUS LOYOLA

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GROWTH IN PRAYER Fiona Peggs

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LESSON OVER Alan Hilliard

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RE:LINK

INTERVIEW WITH TOMI REICHENTAL Faith Quille

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44

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38 COOKERY

34 GARDENING

Marie McGuirk

Ciaran Burke

CROSSWORDS

ADULT EDUCATION FOR CATHOLICS LIGHT SUMMER John Scally DELIGHTS

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RECOMMENDED BOOKS

48 IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS

JOYOUS JULY

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ELIZABETH AND ZECHARIAH

36 THANKSGIVING

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THANKSGIVING LETTERS

YOUNG READERS’ PAGES

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A KINDNESS I’LL NEVER FORGET

Kevin Hargaden

THANKSGIVING STORY

THINKING THROUGH TECH

John Murray

A QUALITY WELCOME Paul O’Reilly SJ

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CALENDAR

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REFLECTION

A COMMUNITY OF FAITH We’re more than a magazine, we are a community of faith.

You will notice as you read the inside back cover that the content on the calendar has been reinstated.

A number of complaints were had, and it seemed the right decision to restore the few words for each day and the reading.

We ask to be excused for some small possible confusions. Often there is a choice of gospel for the day so we go with the readings of the ferial or feast day. Readings for memorial days are not noted. So you may find a different gospel read at Mass.

We realise that The Messenger readers, staff, promoters and authors are a sort of loose-knit community of faith and prayer. We are more than a magazine; one reader said she keeps The Messenger in the car to keep her safe! People bring The Messenger often to the altar as a memorial at a funeral. Our hundreds of letters each week bring us into the community of praying for each other and Mass is offered twice weekly for all connected with us. Our office phone, emails and office space gives

people a chance to chat with us, ask for prayers and share some troubles.

Our facebook and twitter introduce new ways of keeping in touch with us more regularly.

Messenger has been a community of faith for 130 years. Our celebration Masses for our 130th anniversary year and Messenger Day in June highlighted this. Our Messenger community has always looked outward: in my student days, in formation for priesthood in Rathfarnham Castle, we knew that offerings to The Messenger paid our UCD fees!

Today you notice our support of our Assam Jesuit mission, building their school, paying for transport in a newly-established Jesuit mission and meeting the salaries of a new third-level college in one of the poorest parts of India.

My blip in changing the calendar taught me about our community of faith and prayer. Apology is part of any community and I apologise for hurt or any pain caused. You know also that your opinions, praise and criticism are keenly heard! Please keep in touch with us.

Donal Neary SJ

Would you like to be a promoter?

We need more promoters and if anyone would like to take this on, please contact us (Elizabeth at 01 7758530 or Frances at 01 7758524).

If you have a good Messenger anecdote, send it to us for publication!

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FROM THE EDITOR

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DAILY OFFERING Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER

EVANGELISATION: Priests and their Pastoral Ministry

That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests.

MORNING PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I begin this day aware of your loving presence. Guide me along the right path today, always finding ways to cooperate in your mission of love and compassion, not abstractly, but in the concrete choices I make. I offer you my thoughts, prayers, and all my works for the Pope’s monthly intentions….

Our Father...

NIGHT PRAYER

As another day passes, I call upon the Holy Spirit to help me look at my many deeds today. Was I an instrument of your compassion, Lord? Was there anything that prevented me? How did I fail and how can I improve? Heal me, O Lord, and help me tomorrow to live more in union with the Heart of Jesus.

Hail Mary...

THE SACRED HEART MESSENGER incorporating the Pope’s Worldwide Network of Prayer (Apostleship of Prayer).

ADDRESS: Messenger Publications 37 Lower Leeson Street Dublin D02 W938 Ireland Phone: 00353 1 676 7491 or 00353 1 7758524 Email: sales@messenger.ie Website: www.messenger.ie BUSINESS LETTERS TO: THE MANAGER CHEQUES PAYABLE TO: THE SECRETARY EDITOR: Donal Neary SJ LAYOUT: Messenger Publications Design Department NIHIL OBSTAT: Noel Barber SJ, Censor Deputatus IMPRIMI POTEST: † Diarmuid, Archbishop of Dublin PRICES FOR 2018: Price monthly: €1.75/£1.60 Annual subscription 2018 from promoter or newsagent: €21.00/£19.20 Annual subscription by post: Rep of Ireland and NI: €30/£27 Annual subscription to Britain: £30 Annual subscription to EU and ROW: €35/$43 Online subscription: €15.00 Renew at: www.messenger.ie 00353 1 6767491 or 00353 1 7758524 © All rights reserved

POPE’S INTENTION

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FR VINCENT SHERLOCK reflects on this month’s intention, and reminds us to value the fraternity and friendship that exists among priests.

PRIESTS AND THEIR PASTORAL MINISTRY

Pope’s Intention: That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests.

I always liked that moment in the Scriptures when Jesus was approached and asked ‘Where do you live?’ The response was immediate and welcoming, ‘Come and see.’

They went, saw and spent the rest of the day with him. No mention at all of where they went, what they saw, who they met or what they did. Still, whatever it was, wherever it was, it took the rest of the day. No point being in a rush if you want to spend time with, and get to know, The Lord!

It can take the rest of the day, if not the rest of our lives, but it starts with the question ‘Where do you live?’ and continues through a willingness to ‘come and see’.

There’s an intimacy in it – an intimacy of feeling invited to spend time with another and to come to know another in a way that’s meaningful, personal, affirming, life-giving and empowering. The time spent with Jesus was more about reassurance than location and more about coming to know the ‘who’ of Jesus rather than the ‘where’. This option is still there for all who approach in faith and from a point of sincerely wanting to know more about the Lord. The

starting phrase, tested and proven, remains ‘Where do you live?’ Put another way, ‘Where can we find you?’

The answer too remains unchanged, ‘Come and see.’

It’s likely the Lord brought them to places where he felt welcome – maybe Martha, Mary and Lazarus’ house.

Certainly you’d imagine him taking them to a lakeside where they could watch fishermen at work, patiently casting out nets and waiting for a catch. In this, he let them know that their work had value and even if tired and uncertain, they should never lose hope that the waters will deliver. A mountain top or at least a few steps towards the summit would reassure them that there’s a view to be seen and a highpoint to be reached but not without effort and a deeply rooted desire for vision and a conviction that there’s much to be seen and to be grateful for. Old verses and lines from Scripture weaved in and out of their conversation too, I’d imagine, letting them know that there remains a strong link with the past and a need to hear again God’s word and promise – a promise they could help to fulfil. I feel certain too, that

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POPE’S INTENTION

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“Come and see.’ The encouraging words from one friend to another and the good humoured banter…

That’s friendship among priests.” © Adriaticfoto / Shutterstock

they found time to share some food and maybe a glass of wine, to share table. It was time well spent. We call it prayer.

The next day, they met their friends – ‘We have found the Messiah – he is Jesus from Nazareth.’ ‘From Nazareth! Can anything good come from that place.’ (Jn.1:46). There was only one possible answer, an answer rooted in the day before, the time spent, words spoken and the friendship shared: ‘Come and see.’ The encouraging words from one friend to another and the good-humoured banter ‘Can anything good come from that place?’ That’s friendship among priests.

It’s a lovely sound – laughter

among priests. I heard once of a young man coming to a parish mission, not because he had seen posters or read the parish bulletin. He was a waiter in a local restaurant and saw the priests of the parish and visiting mission priests come in for lunch each day. He heard them laugh and noticed them smile and was drawn by this to ‘come and see’. There’s a real risk of losing some of this now, in more pressed times when priests are alone in the parish or maybe a group of parishes. All too easily that contact, time spent together, could get misplaced. It’s more crucial than ever that even in twos and threes we seek out one another and spend the rest of the day in friendship, in prayer.

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FEATURE

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BISHOP BRENDAN LEAHY of Limerick offers a timely reflection on Family Life as we prepare for the Pope’s visit.

Pope Francis – Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ – visited Limerick during his stay in Ireland in 1980.

FAMILY AND TIME Pope Francis keeps reminding us that no family drops down from heaven perfectly formed. Each family is on a journey and each member of the family is on a journey. We can’t ask of anyone that they be perfect, but we can promise them that we can help. One way we can do this is by dedicating more quality time to our family relationships.

Recently, I spent some time in Riga, Latvia, at a meeting of a commission of the European Council of Episcopal Conferences. Among the themes discussed was how best to support family life. It seems it’s a Europe-wide concern. Recently I also noticed that here in Ireland a report was issued telling us that almost fifty per cent of parents are feeling overwhelmed, with finding time to spend with their children their biggest challenge. The work-life balance is a big question for many.

As we head towards the World Meeting of Families, it is good for us to take a moment for a ‘family-check’. Our Christian faith reminds

us that we need to set priorities for ourselves, priorities of love, priorities of values, priorities of care.

How often parents tell me their children grew up so fast. As we are about to enter into another boom time in Ireland, we need to make good decisions regarding our families – the best investment for our society. Perhaps we can ask ourselves: if we had life all over again and were back as children, what would we ask of our parents? We might list loads of things, but I bet ultimately we would ask for more quality time with them. It’s the quality moments with our parents that we treasure from our youth. Of course this is what parents can now offer to their children. It’s not just a question of supplying the latest gadgets or fashion.

Parents need creativity in how they invest themselves in quality time with their children. We need moments to simply read a book at night, go for a walk with children, play a game of hurling, soccer or rugby with them, go fishing – things where there’s just you and them. Above all, what chil-

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FEATURE

© Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock

dren want and need is our time, just like we would want more time with our own parents if we had life all over again. I know of some families that simply turn off the TV and internet for an hour every week. They all sit down and enjoy a common activity together.

The life-balance issue requires choices. The Christian message puts it up to us: we only have one life, let’s get our priorities right and not feel trapped by how things have gone so far. Again a word from Pope Francis:

don’t allow yourselves be robbed of hope! We shouldn’t write ourselves off. We can start again in new ways to make choices that ensure we have quality time with one another.

Jesus, who is the Way, knew how to be busy in mission, but he also knew how to develop quality moments of friendship and company with his family of apostles and friends as well as meditative moments of prayer and peace. So let’s do our own family check in the light of the good example Jesus gave.

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THE BOOK OF PSALMS

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MARTIN HOGAN continues his series on the Book of Psalms with an exploration of the psalms of trust, in which God is experienced as both shepherd and host. Fr Hogan ministers in St John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

PSALMS OF TRUST There are several psalms that can be categorised as psalms of trust. What they have in common is one long, sustained expression of trust in God. We have observed that psalms of petition or lament generally include an act of trust in God. In the psalms of trust, this expression of trust dominates the entire psalm. These psalms are derived from the psalms of lament and can only be understood against the background of such psalms. They are always prayed in the presence of some experience that threatens the existence of the psalmist. There are about ten psalms in this category and some of the most beautiful psalms are to be found among them.

One of the best known and best loved psalms of trust is Psalm 23. The psalmist here speaks out of a context of deep danger and articulates confidence in the Lord as the one who will keep the flock of Israel safe and protected. There is one dominant image at work throughout the psalm which the poet exploits in different ways, the image of a tribe of people living on the fringes of the desert, travelling with their flock from one pasture to another. It is the image of a nomadic way of life that the people of Israel once experienced

for themselves on their journey from Egypt through the wilderness to the promised land.

The psalm is divided into two parts, and in each part a different element of this dominant image is emphasised. In the first part of the psalm (Ps.23:1–4), the psalmist sees themself as one of the tribe’s flock of sheep, moving through a desert, tired and weary. Suddenly, an oasis appears on the horizon, green pastures and secure water.

The shepherd has been leading the flock to this oasis and upon arrival the weary flock lies down, eats and drinks (Ps.23:1–2). Renewed and restored, the flock heads off into the desert again and continues on its way. As they continue, the shepherd is careful to lead them along paths that are safe (Ps.23:3). Eventually, the flock enters a dark valley where no light penetrates, but the sound of the shepherd’s step and the gentle touch of his rod brings them safely through the valley (Ps.23:4). In verse four the psalmist changes from speaking of God in the third person to addressing God as ‘you’, and this direct address continues in the remaining verses of the psalm. It is possible that in verse four the imagery already shifts from that of the sheep to that

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THE BOOK OF PSALMS

Š Jorge Salcedo / Shutterstock

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of a traveller. It is certainly the case that it is the voice of a traveller that we hear in the second part.

In the second part of the psalm (Ps.23:5–6), the psalmist works with the same basic image of a nomadic tribe moving with their flocks from pasture to pasture in the desert, pitching their tents at different places. However, the psalmist now explores another element of this basic image. When the tribe stopped and pitched its tent, the tent was a place of refuge in the desert, a place where the members of the tribe enjoyed food, drink and companionship. It

occasionally happened that the leaders of a tribe expelled someone from the tribe, for a crime against another member of the tribe. Such a person was excluded from the tent and cast out into the desert. That person became a fugitive, thrown upon the mercy of the elements and, perhaps, with his enemy, the offended party, in pursuit.

Such exclusion normally meant certain death, unless the fugitive stumbled upon another tribe encamped in the desert. Then they could be taken in by this tribe, shown hospitality and given life.

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THE BOOK OF PSALMS

12 In the second part of the psalm, the psalmist imagines what it would be like to be such a fugitive. In the desert, the psalmist stumbles upon another tribe at camp with their flock. The psalmist imagines standing at the door of the tent with the enemy in pursuit and gaining ground. At that critical moment, the psalmist is admitted to the tent, given refuge and shown hospitality by the leader of the tribe (Ps.23:5).

Such hospitality guarantees immunity from the enemy. The psalmist’s host shows them full hospitality, offering food and wine in abundance, and anoints the psalmist’s head with oil.

In a situation of imminent danger, the fugitive finds refuge, protection and shelter. The leader of the tribe who is shepherd to their sheep is also host to the vulnerable fugitive. Such a host becomes for the poet a further

image of God, an image of God’s hospitality and generosity which protects from danger. The shepherd is also a host and, perhaps, the psalm is best entitled, ‘The Lord, Shepherd and Host’.

Both images express how the people of Israel have experienced God in their history. As shepherd, God brought them out of Egypt, led them through the desert, fed them and gave them drink; he guided them and protected them until he brought them to the green pastures of the promised land.

There he became their host, spreading out before them all kinds of good things. In the final verse (Ps.23:6), the psalmist expresses conviction that God, experienced as shepherd and host, will show them goodness and kindness all the days of their life.

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FEATURE

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GREENING YOUR JOURNEY In an age of global warning, it is important that we do our part to show Christian care for the environment, and for the shared home that is the earth.

In Ireland emissions from cars account for approximately ten per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, one of the main greenhouse gases which cause global warming. This figure increases if emissions from lorries and planes are included. In addition the combustion of petrol, diesel and oil produces other gaseous pollutants including nitrogen oxides and particulates which which cause air pollution, and are linked to respiratory diseases, including asthma, particularly affecting children and other vulnerable people.

Tips on how to travel sensibly n Walk or cycle more often, particularly for short distances. n Use the bus more often – the fares can be cheaper than the cost of driving per mile combined with parking charges. n Join the increasing number of people taking the train. n Plan to use one journey for a number of tasks and, if possible, share journeys. n Ask if your employer would encourage the use of public transport through the provision of season ticket loans, and encourage cycling to work by providing secure facilities for bicycles together with showers and lockers.

Prevent pollution n Drive at slower speeds – driving at

Courtesy of ecocongregation Ireland

seventy miles per hour uses thirty per cent more fuel than driving at forty to fifty-five miles per hour. n Develop a good driving technique; when safe, accelerate gently and avoid sharp braking. Such changes can lead to a twenty-five per cent reduction in fuel used. n Have your car serviced regularly – an incorrectly-adjusted carburettor can waste up to twenty-five per cent of fuel. Incorrect tyre pressure can increase fuel consumption too.

Additionally, when choosing a car, consider environmental credentials including the miles per gallon/litre that it achieves.

‘It is our profound conviction that the future of the human family depends also on how we safeguard – both prudently and compassionately, with justice and fairness – the gift of creation that our creator has entrusted to us. Therefore, we acknowledge in repentance the wrongful mistreatment of our planet, which is tantamount to sin before the eyes of God. We reaffirm our responsibility and obligation to foster a sense of humility and moderation so that all may feel the need to respect creation and to safeguard it with care.’

– Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

www.ecocongregation Ireland

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MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

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This month EILEEN KANE brings us a bit of Jesuit history, analysing ‘Pope Gregory the Great with two Jesuit Saints’ by Geurcino, which depicts the newly canonised Jesuit saints St Ignatius and St Francis Xavier.

POPE GREGORY THE GREAT WITH TWO JESUIT SAINTS Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) (1591–1666)

While he was still a child, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri was nicknamed ‘Il Guercino’, meaning ‘the fellow with a squint’, and that is the name by which he is generally known, even today. He studied painting in the northern Italian city of Bologna, set up his studio there and eventually became the most important artist of his generation in his chosen home.

At a crucial point in Guercino’s early career, on 9 February 1621, the archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, was elected pope – becoming Gregory XV. The new pope already knew Guercino, and immediately invited him to come to Rome, to work both in the Vatican and for the Ludovisi family. Guercino agreed, and for the next two and a half years, worked in Rome. When Pope Gregory’s brief reign came to an end, in July 1623, Guercino left Rome but continued to complete work commissioned by his Roman patrons. His painting Pope Gregory the Great with two Jesuit saints fits into this phase of his career.

The early 1620s in Rome were the years, after the Council of Trent (1545–63), when the work of reform

in the Church was well under way.

New religious orders had been founded; old orders had been reformed. For the laity, there was a new emphasis on the sacraments, on personal prayer and on education in the faith. One single act of Pope Gregory XV reflects all this – his canonisation, on March 12 1622, of five new saints, four of whom had lived in the previous century, and whose lives had been foundation-stones for the new era. They were: Teresa of Avila (1515–82), reformer of the Carmelites, Philip Neri (1515–95), founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, and, most important for us as we look at Guercino’s painting, two of the first Jesuits – Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), founder of the order, and Francis Xavier (1506–51), the great ‘apostle of the East’.

In the painting, Guercino shows the new saints, Ignatius and Francis, in the company of one of the great popes of the early Church – Pope Gregory I, called Gregory ‘the Great’ (c.540–604). St Gregory has the place of honour, in the centre of the composition. Seated on a throne, his feet on a red cushion, he is wearing

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MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

© The National Gallery, London

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papal vestments – a splendid cope of gold and red, with a wide embroidered border, red slippers decorated with a gold cross and a red, close-fitting cap, fringed with ermine. At his feet, a cherub admires his papal tiara. Pope Gregory I was a man of towering intellect, evidenced by his writings, symbolised here by the

book lying open on his knees. It was said that everything he wrote was inspired by the Holy Spirit, so he is usually represented in art – as here – with a white dove hovering near him.

He was also a reformer of the Church of his day, especially of the music used in the liturgy. Guercino refers to that by including in the painting,

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MASTERPIECES OF CHRISTIAN ART

16 beside him, an angel with a violin, singing as he plays.

In the 1620s, the violin was a new instrument, developed only a few decades previously, in northern Italy, so it symbolises both music and modernity. Though it refers to St Gregory, it is placed directly above the head of the kneeling Ignatius of Loyola, thus linking the two great men, and inviting us to turn our attention now to Ignatius.

Ignatius is dressed all in black, and holds in his hand a book, symbolising the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. On the other side of St Gregory is Francis Xavier.

Dressed, like Ignatius, all in black, he holds a long-stemmed lily. In the later years of the 17th century, it became customary to represent Francis Xavier with a crucifix in his hand, but this painting is one of the earliest representations of the first two Jesuits to be canonised.

Standing back a little from the painting, and considering it as a whole, we soon realize that the most important of the three saints is not Pope Gregory the Great, but Ignatius of Loyola. Only he is looking directly at us, and he engages our attention with a gesture of his hand, like a teacher.

Ignatius realised the supreme importance of a sound education, and,

in 1551, founded a college – the ‘Roman College’ – in which boys and young men could be taught ‘grammar, the humanities and Christian doctrine’, free of charge, from the basic grades up to what we would call ‘third level’.

Pope Gregory XV had himself been educated there, and asked his nephew, Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, to provide the college with a church, in honour of St Ignatius. The foundation stone of the new church, Sant’Ignazio, was laid on 2 August 1626.

The exact date of this painting, and the identity of the person or persons by whom it was commissioned are not known. A date around 1626 is likely because of the use in the work of strong contrasts of light and shade, which are typical of Guercino’s style, in his Roman and immediately post-Roman years, when he was influenced by the work of Caravaggio (1571–1610). It has been suggested that the painting may have been intended for Sant’Ignazio. That is possible, in view of the importance in it of Ignatius, and the honour given to the earliest and greatest pope to have had the name Gregory. Whatever may be the facts of its history, it gives plenty of food for thought where it now hangs, in the London National Gallery.

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FEATURE

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MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN, EILEEN HOULAHAN, PADRAIG SWAN and KEVIN HARGADEN share their thoughts on, and hopes for, the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis.

THE POPE IS COMING

MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN TD INDEPENDENT, DUBLIN CENTRAL Pope Francis is an interesting pope who constantly challenges our commitments and our beliefs. He is like someone ‘stirring the pot’ and I think that pot is the pot of complacency, he shakes us about in order to make us think and rethink, and then think again!

Many were struck by his choice of name – Francis after St Francis of Assisi. A significant choice, as St Francis is associated with the environment and also with animal welfare; two years after becoming pope, he produced Laudato Si’, a challenging, stimulating document

that encourages all of us together ‘to seek a sustainable and integral development’ for our relationship with the environment. Waste and pollution, our ‘throwaway’ culture, greenhouse gases, intensive use of fossil fuels, water poverty all affect the poor in many countries. He challenges us to think about the impact of our lifestyles in the socalled ‘developed world’ on others, how short-sighted we are in respect of the damage we are doing.

A pope with a simple lifestyle – in his dress, where he lives, how he travels, in his accessibility to all, in his reaching out to the most marginalised and vulnerable.

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ing a Church that is not at home in its culture. My hope is that he will offer consolation and inspiration for those insufficiently housed in our land, but also that he will offer provocation and motivation to a Church that all too easily thinks that things were easier back when a pope last visited.

If he reminds us all of the continued potency of the gospel, which is the good news that God has made his home with us, he’ll have done all I can hope for.

KEVIN HARGADEN, JESUIT CENTRE FOR FAITH AND JUSTICE Writing as a member of the Presbyterian Church, I am excited by Pope Francis’ visit. I deeply respect his openness, his commitment to a humble lifestyle and most importantly, his focus on the person of Jesus. I think we might have to wait quite a while for the young people of Ireland, en masse, to find Christian faith compelling again, but Francis has renewed my hope that living for the gospel has a continued relevance.

I hope that his visit focuses attention on how we find home. He might visit a prison, where people whose home is captivity will have his attention. He might visit a halting site – one of the many that sit on the peripheries of our towns – dignifying the residents there who so often have little respect in the town centres of Ireland. He might visit a drop-in centre for those experiencing homelessness, where the men and women can show him hospitality. He will certainly be visit-

PADRAIG SWAN, COORDINATOR OF FAITH AND SERVICES PROGRAMME, IN BELVEDERE COLLEGE SJ In a very secular society, I hope the visit will bring a collective respect for the role of faith in people’s lives and that uninterested observers, political institutions and faith critics in general will witness something that makes them stand back and simply acknowledge that this is an important event in the life of the Irish Church, and equally that faith is important in peo-

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ple’s lives. I hope, also, that many people will come out and attend the many events planned and that some of the energy experienced in 1979 may again find life. I hope that leaders in the Church might examine how that energy can be harnessed beyond the visit, just as they did in 1979. On a personal level, I hope to experience the joy associated with my belief in God and that I feel inspired and invigorated to continue working in ministry with young people and in the wider Church.

EILEEN HOULAHAN, CHF, DIRECTOR, PATHWAYS, ADULT EDUCATION, DUBLIN DIOCESE The visit of Pope Francis has the potential to be a kairos moment for the Catholic Church in Ireland. It is my hope that it will be a source of encouragement and renewal for the many committed lay people who have been hanging on by their fingernails to the practice of their faith

in the wake of endless scandals and dwindling Church attendance, sometimes in parish situations which they find lifeless and lacking in spiritual nourishment.

My hope is that the visit will be a time to reawaken interest in the joy of the gospel and the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on the baptismal call, mission and responsibility of all the People of God. The call, that is, to collaborate in sharing and helping to bring about the good news of the reign of the God of love on earth.

It is my hope that this visit will reawaken the awareness of the critical need for a commitment to, and support for, ongoing adult faith-formation for laity and clerics. I hope that the visit will motivate more people to participate in such courses, so that the real treasures our faith has to offer may be shared, lived and discussed in adult ways. The future of the Catholic Church in Ireland depends on committed, spiritually mature and well-informed adults.

Next month look out for: Bishop Alan McGuckian Senator John O’Mahony, Ruth Patterson and Joe Humphreys

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PLACES OF WORSHIP

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Regular contributor CHRISTOPHER MORIARTY takes us to Enniskerry, where we visit St Mary’s Church, and take in its fabulous French Gothic style. St Mary’s Church was the last work of Irish designer Patrick Byrne.

ST MARY’S CHURCH, ENNISKERRY

Mervyn Edward Wingfield, seventh Viscount Powerscourt was the owner of the colossal estate in County Wicklow that bears his name. Deeply concerned with both the earthly and the spiritual wellbeing of his tenants, he granted substantial sites to the Church of Ireland and the Catholic communities on which they could build their places of worship. They stand on opposite sides of the valley of the Glencullen River where it flows

through the picturesque village of Enniskerry.

In 1858, the parish of Bray had been subdivided. It had reached from the seaside to the summit of Kippure, the highest mountain in County Dublin. The new parish was still a large one, extending from Kilmacanogue to Glencree. Fr Thomas O’Dwyer was appointed its first parish priest and he lost no time in initiating construction work on the

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site provided by Lord Powerscourt.

A committee was established and work began without delay. The designer chosen was Patrick Byrne who, in his seventies, was coming towards the end of a long life as one of the most distinguished church architects of his time. In his younger days he had applied classical principles to St Paul’s Church on Arran Quay, which was one of his early masterpieces. Later on he followed the new fashion of Gothic Revival. St Mary’s in Enniskerry was his last work and is amongst the most beautiful.

In French Gothic style, it is relatively small and simple but, on its hillside site above the village, makes a striking contribution to the scenery.

The Catholic Registry for the year 1858 gives the background in these words ‘Lord Powerscourt, coming of age, soon after graciously promises the Revd Thomas O’Dwyer, of Castle-

town, a suitable site in the beautiful village of Enniskerry for a new Catholic church, instead of the miserable barn (belonging to the poor Widow Dixon) in which, for so many years, the tried Catholics of this district have worshipped God according to the dictates of their conscience’. In 1860 the Catholic Registry records that a ‘grand pontifical high mass’ was presided over by the archbishop of Dublin to dedicate the building.

The church at the time of its opening was a fairly modest building of granite from a nearby quarry, distinguished by its tall west window of four lancets surmounted by a rose window. Funds at the time were not enough to allow the construction of the bell tower and slender spire, which were added later.

Another later addition was the stained glass in the east and west windows. Their subjects are a little

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PLACES OF WORSHIP

22 unusual representing, rather than the crucifixion, the nativity and ascension of Christ.

The Ascension is shown in the east window, with Christ occupying Decoration on altar the centre of five lancets rising heavenwards against a starry sky. The eleven apostles are distributed beneath him and in the adjoining two lancets. The outer two show St Patrick on the left in a green robe and St Brigid to the right, in a blue robe holding a branch of oak.

Angels playing musical instruments fill the arch above them. The west window shows the Holy Family on the occasion of the Epiphany. The Virgin and her child fill one lancet, with St Joseph and one of the three wise men to their left. The outer lancets have the remaining two wise men.

Although now known simply as ‘St Mary’s Church’ the original dedication was to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This concept goes back to St Luke’s Gospel in which he says ‘And Mary kept all these things in her heart’ (Lk.2:19). Later traditions tell of the seven dolours of the Virgin and that her heart was pierced by seven arrows. The Virgin, displaying her heart, is shown in the church both in a mosaic on the west gable and in a stained glass window on one side.

The plan of the church is simple: a nave without aisles ending in a wide pointed arch which defines

the chancel. The windows of the nave are all on the upper storey leaving blank walls on which paintings of the stations are displayed within elaborate Gothicstyle frames. The original marble altar has a similar design. The most impressive feature of the interior is the groin-vaulted ceiling. It is a series of plaster vaults at each side, painted pale grey and separated from each other by white ribs, springing from paired pilasters set between the windows. The centre panel of the ceiling is rectangular and decorated with small medallions in red and blue.The requirements of the Second Vatican Council were met by the commissioning of a new altar which stands at the front of the chancel. It is decorated on all sides by beautiful and most unusual sculpture. The material is a dark wood and the figures in the decoration are mostly of women and children in the presence of Christ.

A tablet in the nave has an inscription in memory of Fr O’Dwyer ‘who built this church and whose remains are interred underneath’. It commemorates also the rededication of the church in 1996 and pays tribute to the people in these words: ‘This plaque was erected by the priests in acknowledgement of the spirit of the parish community of Enniskerry, Curtlestown and Glencree in realising the restoration of this church’.

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PRAYER

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St Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits, died on 31 July 1556.

Many may not know that St Ignatius spent some time in London as a beggar. Each Summer he took time from his theology course in Paris to fund his studies for the following year.

Some of this money he would give to the rather free-spending Francis Xavier! He spent the summer of A prayer of St Ignatius 1529 and 1531 in Flanders (modern ~ giving all into the hands of God Belgium) and of 1532 in London. He wrote of his visit to London: ‘once Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, he even crossed to England, and my memory, my understanding, returned with more alms than he and my entire will, usually did in other years’.

All I have and all that I own.

For Ignatius begging was more You have given all to me. than an appeal for money; it was To you, Lord, I return it. a way for him of trusting in God. He sent his novices on a ‘begging Everything is yours; do with it what you will. experiment’, walking and begging Give me only your love and your grace, food and lodging on the way, a that is enough for me. custom still in vogue in many Jesuit novitiates today.

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© 2011 Jesuit Institute

St Ignatius Loyola

FEATURE

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FIONA PEGGS gives a personal account of growth and changes in prayer, and our relationship with God. Fiona is a second year student in Spirituality, and works providing therapeutic support to families in Dublin.

GROWTH IN PRAYER Prayer has been part of my life from a very young age. In primary school, a teacher whom I adored, told me that I would go to heaven if I said three Hail Marys every night before going to bed. Impressionable, I said these prayers for years. Then, in secondary school, my religion teacher was to provide me with a preliminary taste of using Scripture as a form of prayer.

When I entered spiritual direction, as a young adult, I was to come to an even greater understanding of the role of Scripture in developing relationship with God. For every human experience there seemed to be many Scripture passages that could be used as a form of prayer.

By this time I understood clearly, at a head level, that the person of Jesus had something to do with my relationship with God, a friend, or a brother perhaps who could help me on my way to God. Intellectually, I knew that if I stayed close to the person of Jesus I would, in effect, be staying close to God too.

My perception of God was to change when a personal crisis struck, and I lost two family members.

Paradoxically, during these times of devastating loss there were incredible gains to be had. I was power-

fully struck by the graces that I had received from being in relationship with my loved ones, alongside realising my own capacity for love. There was also, over this time, extraordinary kindness, love and support from others, even strangers, and I knew, without any doubt, that God was personally touching my life in and through these experiences. For these crises were indeed opportunities to move more fully, into my relationship with myself and with God. Now, I was beginning to perceive and understand at the level of feeling, the link between my human relationships and my relationship with God. Following these crises my relationship with God was transformed.

While I follow the gospel reading of the church daily, centering prayer is now my staple, where my own spiritual practice is concerned. I welcome the solitude of this way of being in relationship with God. It is very liberating to have no agenda, besides the desire to rest in God, and allow God to love me as I am, with my many limitations.

There are many moments too of informal prayer, or consciousness of God, over the course of a day.

For example, asking the God that I

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meet in my work context to help me respond in useful and loving ways to those in crisis that I am sitting with, or, at times of conflict in personal relationships, asking God to help me see the other as God does.

Sometimes simply driving along in my car and being struck by God at work in a kind interaction between people that I witness.

My life is by no means immune to suffering, but I know that I can bring all that is in my heart and mind to

God in prayer, to the God who walks alongside me in it all.

When I look back on where I have come from, I am struck by the dynamic nature of our relationship with God. I have come to understand God to be ‘always trying to get at us’, longing that we might recognise him in our lives. Perhaps, most staggering of all is the fuller felt realisation of our capax dei, our capacity for relationship with God, revealed in the person of Jesus.

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Regular contributor FR ALAN HILLIARD reflects on the role memory plays in our lives, and in the Eucharist. He offers the inspirational example of a young Bosnian refugee for whom memory was a great source of strength.

She was a young girl, a refugee from Bosnia. Her parents were elderly and she did everything for them as their English was practically non-existent.

I got to know her quite well because I was asked to prepare her for Baptism.

I remember one such meeting where we discussed the Eucharist, or the Mass as it is more commonly known. I referred to occasions when people leave us and went on to say that they often leave mementos of their visit. These mementos are objects by which we will always remember them. I told her that Jesus left us this meal and it is a gift so strong that he becomes present to us. The silence was palpable. I thought to myself, ‘that’s it! I’ve lost her now and what’s more she’ll not be back … ever.’

She spoke. ‘When I left my home, I had no time to bring anything with me; we had to get out quickly

because the soldiers were coming.

There were two things that I managed to grab as I left. One was a comb, the other was a small mirror.’

She continued, ‘the mirror was given to me by my best friend growing up at home. We were everything to one another, because I had no brothers or sisters.

The comb is the one my grandmother used whenever she combed all the knots out of my long tangled hair as she dried it. My grandmother was killed and I don’t know where my friend is now. When I was in the refugee camps or I was sleeping on a roadside and feeling very lonely, I didn’t want to worry my mam and dad so I held on to the comb and the mirror tightly. In those moments, I’d not just remember my friend and my grandmother, but I’d feel them close to me and they’d give me strength.’

She paused again and asked, ‘is this something like the Mass?’ I had no answer and I simply said, ‘I think you’ve got it . . . lesson over.’

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Photograph © Milisha & By Ana de Sousa / Shutterstock

LESSON OVER

re:link

July’1 8

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Resource for Religion Studies

relink.messenger.ie

Interview with Tomi Reichental Holocaust Survivor

Tomi Reichental

my father was a farmer as well, my grandfather had a village shop. My memories of living there are very fond. I had a lovely childhood. I don’t L-R: Tomi, his brother, remember feeling any mother & father. different to anybody else. I had a very normal childhood, just like any child in the little villages of Ireland.

Briefly describe your life before the Holocaust, growing up in Slovakia (at that time Czechoslovakia)?

I was born in central Slovakia, we lived in a little village named Merašice. It was an agricultural village, most of the people were farmers,

How were you and your family taken to Bergen-Belsen camp?

The deportation from Slovakia started in 1942. At the time Jewish people were being taken who were not considered useful to the Slovakian ecomony. As my father was a farmer he was considered useful and so we were given documentation which meant we would not be taken.

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& PRIZES | Free Online Content | Interviews & more...

In October the deportations stopped but by this time seventy-five per cent of the Jewish population had been taken away. This included most of my relatives and my grandparents. We never saw them again. In fact Slovaks were among the first Jewish people to be gassed in Auschwitz. I lost about thirty members of my family at that time. Then the news started to filter out, about what was happening in the detention camps. People didn’t trust the government anymore.

People were trying to hide to avoid being caught and taken away. I remember we would be notified when the police were in the neighbouring village. We would go to our cornfield and stay there for the whole day.

At the time, Slovakia was not occupied by Germany. When an uprising started, Germany wanted to save the Slovak government and occupied Slovakia. After this they became very efficient. My father was taken separately from us. We didn’t know where he went to. We were taken to a detention camp in Slovakia, and from there we were transported to Bergen-Belsen.

My Mother, brother, grandmother, my aunt, my cousin and myself were taken together. In the detention camp, we went through a selection, where families were split. The six of us went to the right hand side and the other seven went to the left. Mothers, their children and old people were destined for Lublin, Auschwitz and the others would

© Yakovlev Sergey / Shutterstock

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Wagon for transportation of prisoners of concentration camps go to work in slave labour camps. In fact they were sent to Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald, these were slave labour camps. Out of the seven, six died in Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, only one cousin survived.

We were sent to Bergen-Belsen.

How would you describe the conditions that you experienced in Bergen-Belsen camp?

Bergen-Belsen was a detention camp. People were dying there from starvation, cold and disease.

In total 70,000 people died in Bergen-Belsen. Thankfully five of us survived Bergen-Belsen. Unfortunately my grandmother died of starvation. We had a very hard time in Bergen-Belsen. The food we were given was insufficient to sustain you.

It was always only a matter of time.

Thankfully we were liberated on 15 of April 1945.

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Did you lose hope during the Holocaust?

Well we had very strong characters in our mother and our aunt. They were always encouraging us, ‘you must eat’, ‘you must exercise’ and ‘you have to keep strong’ because ‘otherwise you will not survive’. You never thought what will happen in a week or a month’s time, you only wanted to survive each day. If you survived a day, that was a big achievement. You couldn’t plan any further than one day at a time.

How did the Holocaust influence your faith?

I am not a very religious person. I am a traditionalist. We keep to our holy days and keep to tradition but I am not a religious person. There is an influence of course from the concentration camp, there were religious people there, these people would pray every day for God to show himself, to help us. It never happened, so we lost some of our faith. I am

supportive of my synagogue, I pay my due, as if the synagogue and community cannot support themselves, then people wouldn’t have anywhere to pray How did you end up coming to live and work in Ireland?

It was the late 50s when I came to Ireland. One of my cousins was working in England. Her boss was an industrialist, manufacturing zips. He was looking for a manager to set up a factory in Ireland. She told him that she knew an engineer in Germany, her cousin, who could do it. This gentleman invited me to London and when I went there he told me that I would have a contract for three years where I would be sent to Italy to learn how to make zips, and then I would go to Ireland and set up a factory. That’s what I did. I came to Ireland and I met a Jewish girl here, fell in love, we got married and I am still in Ireland today.

© Yakovlev Sergey / Shutterstock

What was the most difficult thing about being in a camp?

Well the starvation was one of the most difficult things. Just to give you an example in scientific terms. Today we eat about 2,500 calories a day, in a normal diet. In the camp we ate about 600/700 calories a day. Which is the equivalent to about six water crackers. People used to starve all the time. Their bodies were eating themselves from the inside. I was very skinny when we were liberated, they had to put me into hospital right away.

Jewish cemetery in Bergen-Belsen

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30 Did you experience anti-semitism when you arrived in Ireland?

I had one incident. I had my own company, a jewellery manufacturer, and we had a dispute in the workplace. One of the representatives came to negotiate and made a derogatory remark about Jewish people. I got up and I said to him, ‘this is not 1945, you cannot speak to me like this, I want you to leave and to never come back and if you are not satisfied with this then you can go on strike, you are welcome to do so but I will not sit with you again at the same table.’ After he went out we settled the dispute and I never saw him again. That is the only incident I ever experienced of anti-semitism in Ireland and I stood my ground.

What do you think that the Holocaust can teach us today?

The last film that I made Condemned to Remember came about because I was in Europe, filming scenes when the refugee crisis arose. I said to my producer, this is the documentary that we should be making, to show people what is happening in Europe.

I remembered in the late 1930s, when Jewish people were trying to escape Europe and nobody wanted to take them in. These people are running from persecution and nobody wants to take them. It is history repeating itself. That is what I wanted to show.

Something like the Holocaust could happen again.

This is an edited version of an interview with Tomi conducted by Faith Quille. The full interview can be found online at relink.messenger.ie

C ompetition !

If you could ask Tomi one question about his time spent in the concentration camp what would it be?

Send your entry via email to relink@messenger.ie or post to RE:LINK, The Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2.

Please include your name, age & school.

Closing date: 24th of the month.

Winner receives a voucher wor th €40!

APRIL 2018 RE:LINK WINNER:

MARY LOCKE Castleknock, Dublin 15

Get in touch: 01 775 8523 relink@messenger.ie @RelinkMagazine facebook.com/relink relink.messenger.ie

FEATURE

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JOHN SCALLY, theologian in Trinity College Dublin, looks at the role adult education can play in helping Catholics explore their own identity, and meet the challenge of an increasingly secular Irish society.

Š Jorge Salcedo / Shutterstock

ADULT EDUCATION FOR CATHOLICS

Mary Murphy is a mother of four and a grandmother of eleven. She is one of thousands of Catholics who are attending or have attended a course on adult faith formation. Mary is studying for a Diploma in Theology in the Priory Institute in Tallaght.

They offer students from all around the country the opportunity to gain either degrees or diplomas in theology from the comfort of their own armchairs using an Open University format, where students are linked in online with tutors who help them to grow spiritually.

Mary sees the course as an opportunity for both personal and faith development: ‘When I saw the theology course advertised in my local church I decided it was for me. I was seeking to study something, something that would nourish me and bring me to deeper personal growth through understanding the meaning of life, for now and in the future. The course has brought me on a spiritual journey that I never could have anticipated. I learned and continue to learn so much about life, its origin and

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history, the evolution of thinking and environment where there is so much belief in God and how this has led bad news around we all need to be to where Church practice is at and shepherded towards the good news. where human values lie today.

To do this we need to be steered to I loved every lecture and module, recognise the central importance of all of which helped to transform the transcendent dimension of life: me. Each of them challenged me in we take our inspiration from Jesus many ways; they were very thoughtthe teacher who reveals God’s will provoking, they also fascinated, and demonstrates the mind of God enthused, motivated and inspired when it comes to how we should me.’ engage both with The Loyola Institute being human and how Adult education in Trinity College offers to create a particular a range of courses for helps us to grow community. adults on areas such Media and public in knowledge as: ‘The Making of perceptions of CaCatholic Theology’, and develop tholicism sometimes ‘The Book of Kells: A remain in the realm of our character in Theological Reading’, the 1950s when more the context of a ‘Jewish Origins and authoritarian attitudes the Hebrew Bible’, across all caring community. prevailed ‘Ethics and Society in spectrums of Irish Catholic Traditions’. society. We live and The Lumen Dominican Centre in educate today in accordance with Dublin also offers courses for adults the new realities where, to quote on topics as varied as ‘Centering the late Michael Paul Gallagher SJ, Prayer’ and ‘The Spirituality of Patthere has been a dramatic shift from rick Kavanagh’. At local level most the experience of authority to the dioceses and many parishes offer authority of experience. Accordingly, excellent short courses to help adults our understanding of Catholicism better understand their faith. must not be of the 1950s but of the We are living in a world that is twenty-first century. changing too fast to be easily underSuch an approach strives for stood and that poses a challenge to excellence not only in academic deeverybody in the coming years, not velopment but also in all aspects of least those involved in the Church. personal growth, so that each of us Against this backdrop two fundamay reach our full potential. Historimental questions we must face are: cally, Irish society was very homogefirstly, who are we, and secondly, how nous, but today we find ourselves in do we explain ourselves as Catholics a more pluralist and secular society to an increasingly secular society? and our adult education needs to This is why good adult education is respond to this new Ireland. Adult needed for Catholics today. In an education helps us to grow in knowl-

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FEATURE

33 Trinity College, Dublin

edge and develop our character in the context of a caring community which derives its vision from Catholic values focused on the unique dignity of every human being. We strive to create a welcoming community of learning that is respectful and dynamic, creative and compassionate.

Such an approach is based on values of respect, inclusion and a sense of service and mission in the local community. The Christian faith context of adult education will empower us to understand and appreciate the spiritual dimension of life as something that offers personal enrichment and a mindfulness of the world in which we live. It will equip us to take our place in the world with a sense of our own worth, guided by a moral compass that will empower us to use our gifts and talents in the service of others.

The experience of Mary Murphy is noteworthy in this context:

‘It has been one of the highlights of my life to study theology at the Priory Institute. I had been drawn to it in my youth but it was not to be my path at that time, however the desire to hold some sort of compass on life’s journey remained irresistible.

To consult a map of our progress to date, to recognise the threats we have already encountered as a people seeking God is very helpful.

I wanted to become one of those whose choice is now an informed one and whose overview serves as a motive force for all humanity.

New friends for life have been made as we endlessly explore how the wonderful minds of the past apply to our age. The course is such that anyone can acquire the competence to research effectively, draw constructive conclusions, and contribute worthwhile perspectives in response to the ceaseless searching of humanity.’

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GARDENING

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Regular contributor CIARAN BURKE enchants us with the story of how a flower of the Finnish north came to grow in his garden in Dublin; if Dianthus superbus can survive the Finnish winter, it can survive an Irish summer!

JOYOUS JULY Summer, it smells good. The weather might not be warm in our Irish gardens, the rain might be falling too frequently and heavily, and the wind blowing too strong for our liking.

Our summer dreams of hot days and long warm evenings stretching into late night dusk are just that, dreams.

Thanks to two types of plants that we have grown from seed, however, at least the June evenings are filled with scent. As we walk around our garden, our outfits complete with coats and even hats, we can sniff the sweet air and be thankful that despite the cold, some plants don’t mind, continuing to flower and smell good.

My first experience of the shaggy petalled Dianthus superbus was by a roadside. We were travelling north, very far north, in Lapland. To a chorus of ‘stop the car’ our driver rolled to a halt and out three flowerspotters bounced from a 4x4 and investigated the pretty pink flowers.

As we knelt over the roadside beauties, we noticed the strong sweet perfume caress our nostrils. We were enthralled, and I was amazed.

Above the Arctic circle this stunning perennial Dianthus grows, luxuriating in the endless summer days while surviving the long winter months beneath a heavy blanket of snow. It

was a new plant to me, we identified it using a guide to Lapland Flora written in Swedish. This was in August 2008.

The following year, an envelope arrived to our home in Ireland, inside was a packet of seed, Dianthus superbus. Now I grow them in my garden.

Each plant retains the frilled petals and attractive dark markings, but some show signs of individuality , one is taller than the rest, some are paler, others darker, but all have a great smell. Knowing that the plants come from north Finland we can be confident of their hardiness too. I had seen it grow in a garden in County Cork, but the Lapland plants are more highly decorated with the central dark frilly markings along the centre of each petal. Now I grow it in containers, on its own or planted under trees in pots: the frilled shades of pink, the wafts of fragrance; each sniff is a memory and moment of joy.

Every day during the summer, my wife and I spend some time admiring the plants that grow in our container garden that covers about seventeen square metres. Sometimes a quick five minute visit down the steps from our apartment turns into thirty minutes as we pluck a few weeds or clip away faded blooms.

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Dianthus superbus

Sometimes we start to rearrange pots, we discuss the changes, additions or just admire the beauty of a plant or individual bloom. In the morning on the way to work, I often stop for a moment to sniff the scent of a flower or listen to the birds singing in the trees further away.

Our potted plants make us engage with nature and from this engagement we get great pleasure. A few moments inhalation of fragrance, resting our eyes on beautiful foliage and appreciating flowers at all stages

of their opening, from bud to petal fall; these moments make the day.

You do not need a large estate to enjoy the natural beauty of plants, experience the calm that nature brings or to be transported from the present to a memory spurred by a fragrance or scent. Amongst our pots, Lapland Dianthus superbus grows alongside a rose from a holiday, a plant grown by my late mother and a brash bright bloom of the latest bedding plant fashion; we can enjoy it all in a single pot.

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THANKSGIVING LETTERS

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Every month we publish a selection of thanksgiving letters from our readers. Please be assured that receipt of a letter is fulfilment of a promise to publish. A longer ‘letter’ – a story of thanksgiving – is on the facing page, and our readers are invited to submit their own ‘A Kindness I’ll never Forget’.

EVERYBODY WHO IS SUFFERING

BOILED FRUIT CAKE

Thank you for bringing Colette safely through her back operation. May she continue to improve. Help everybody who is suffering. Help with all problems. O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in thee.

Anon

I am always grateful for a prayer as I depend so much on the Sacred Heart and Our Lady as I still have a leaking valve in my heart and an enlarged and damaged heart, but I keep going and doing most things even in the garden, which is a big one, and more so for a person who does get tired at times.

I also enjoy the baking by Marie McGuirk. Her St Patrick’s Day Boiled Fruit Cake is just lovely and I have made six of them, and I gave some as gifts for Easter.

God Bless, Kathleen

SPECIAL REQUESTS Dear Father, Please publish my grateful thanks to the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Knock, St Martin and St Jude for two successful hip operations and for recovery from shingles, as I am almost eighty years old.

I would say to anyone in trouble or distress please put your trust in your friend the Sacred Heart.

I am now praying for two special requests which I know will be granted.

AB, Sligo

SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL I come to give thanks for a safe and successful operation.

I also give thanks that the chemotherapy has not produced any severe side effects. I thank you for these and for all other graces and blessing I have received.

CEF

FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MY MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER Heartfelt thanks, once again, to the Sacred Heart for answering my prayers.

I promised publication of a letter of thanks in The Messenger for a recent prayer answered.

I am relatively young, but my grandmother and mother always had a huge devotion to the Sacred Heart.

I am now following in their footsteps.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in thee.

Anon

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THANKSGIVING STORY

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In this month’s kindness our anonymous contributor shares a touching story of a time when, as a little girl, she was offered support and comfort from an older schoolmate.

t was the early 60s. I was no more than four years old and was in Baby Infants class in school.

I found it hard to settle into school and my friend and neighbour in High Infants class came each am sos to keep me company.

I was the youngest in the family, with a six-year gap between myself and my brother, the next youngest.

He was attending the Boys’ School next door and it was his job to collect me and bring me home for lunch each day. We walked the mile home if it was fine, but he always had the penny for the bus if it was raining.

One day sticks out in my mind. I was sitting on my own by the long seat in the schoolyard, waiting for my brother. I must have been upset. A girl came up to me. She was one of the ‘cailíní móra’ from a higher class.

She asked me my name and said her name was the same, Áine. She reassured me that my brother would arrive soon, but there was no sign of him. I suppose I was able to tell her that he was in the school next door.

I can still see her as she shepherded me in that direction. She was dressed in a belted gaberdine coat and had shiny black hair cut in a bob, parted

to the side and held with a clip. She wore glasses, the round wire ones.

I remember my hand in hers, the firm reassuring hold as she told me that everything would be all right. And then there was my brother, jumping off the bus, running towards us, saying that he had forgotten me and thanking Áine for taking care of me. I don’t remember any repercussions at home – he probably ensured my silence with a handful of penny sweets.

I don’t recall seeing Áine after that, although I’m sure our paths crossed on our journey to and from school.

Many years later I was flicking through a local newspaper when I saw Áine looking out at me. She hadn’t changed much, the glasses were gone but she still had the black shiny bob. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. With a shock I realised I was looking at a ‘Birthday Remembrance’. Three verses indicated that she had died – all too young – and was being remembered by her Mam and Dad. That day came flooding back and I remembered the kindness that Áine showed a little four-year old who was feeling lost and frightened – a kindness I’ll never forget.

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Photo © Nataliia K/ Shutterstock

I

A KINDNESS I’LL NEVER FORGET

COOKERY

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Try some lighter meals for the Summer. MARIE MCGUIRK offers us some delightful salads for the hot weather but don’t worry, she includes a recipe for delicious raspberry shortbread to feast on after!

LIGHT SUMMER DELIGHTS PRAWN SALAD

(Serves 4) 250g packet of stir fry rice noodles 4oz (100g) shitake mushrooms finely sliced 1 medium carrot cut into ribbons or coarsely grated ½ cucumber cut into matchsticks 10oz (250g) cooked and shelled tiger prawns Small bunch of coriander finely chopped Dressing 1–2 garlic cloves crushed 3 tbsps soy sauce 3 level tbsps caster sugar 3 tbsps rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar) 3 tsps sesame oil ½ mild red chilli deseeded and finely chopped METHOD

n Soak the rice noodles in boiling water for four minutes and then drain. Run cold water through the noodles and leave aside to drain thoroughly. n Make the dressing by whisking all the listed ingredients together. n Place the noodles in a serving bowl and add the mushrooms, carrot, cucumber and prawns.

Season lightly with salt and pepper and then pour over the dressing.

n Toss all ingredients together and then leave aside for a couple of hours to marinate before serving.

CHICKEN AND COUSCUS SALAD

(4 portions) 14oz (400g) couscous 2oz (50g) raisins 6 tbsps olive oil 3 tbsps finely chopped mint 1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley 6 spring onions chopped 6oz (150g) cherry tomatoes cut in half 2oz (50g) toasted pine nuts or toasted almonds 4 portions of cooked leftover chicken or 4 chicken breasts cooked METHOD

n Place the couscous into a bowl and cover with an equal volume of boiling water or chicken stock.

Leave for 5 minutes. n Cover the raisins with boiling water and soak for 5 minutes. n Fluff up the couscous to separate the grains and add the drained raisins. n Add the olive oil, mint, parsley, spring onions and tomatoes and toss well. Season. n Arrange the chicken on top and sprinkle toasted nuts over all. n Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving

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COOKERY

© Denis Tabler / Shutterstock

39

RASPBERRY SHORTBREAD 12oz (300g) butter ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 5oz (125g) icing sugar 14oz (350g) plain flour 8oz (200g) fresh raspberries 200ml whipped cream

METHOD

n Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla. n Fold in flour and bring the mixture together into a ball. n Cut the dough in half and roll each out into a circle about 4 mm thick between two sheets of cling film. Chill for at least 30 mins. n Cut the shortbread into circles with a scone cutter and place

on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper n Leave space between each one to allow them to spread slightly. n Prick with a fork. Mixture makes 20 biscuits. n Bake in a slow to moderate oven for 8–10 minutes 160°C No 4 Gas or until lightly coloured. n Cool on a wire rack. n Pipe some whipped cream on half the shortbread, top with raspberries and then place the rest of the shortbreads on top. n Dust with icing sugar before serving. n Alternately the biscuits can be stored in an airtight tin and used as desired.

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CROSSWORDS

WIN €100! ADULT CROSSWORD Send to: Adult Crossword 807, Messenger Publications, 37 Lr Leeson St, Dublin 2, Ireland

_________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________

Name: ____________________________________________

40

ACROSS The prize is €100 for the first correct solution opened.

Judge’s decision is final.

ENTRIES MUST REACH US BEFORE THE 24th OF THE MONTH.

1 Wonder at Melvyn holding a Bible (6) 4 Port does revolutionise sex-appeal (6) 10 Rag used by child Thomas without Ma interfering (9) 11 Graceful bird Kay, show off (5) 12 Bring to light what her aunt removed (7) 13 Misplaced charm about to be brought back by inhabitant of border district (7) 14 Dropper? (13) 16 Restriction on one’s ability to do the job (13) 21 Let huts travel to this service (7) 22 Commander’s butterfly is red (7) 24 Working yeast so far (2,3) 25 He loved Jane Eyre in Kent (9) 26 Quick thrust after play on words in subcontinent (6) 27 Remain wearing single corset? (4,2)

DOWN

1 Pretended it had been fabricated (4,2) 2 Sweet Charlotte leaves (5) 3 Exclude redhead in extract (7) 5 Some oldish ragout found on cleaning cloth (7) 6 Person hitting and getting pair of spectacles has something of superlative importance (9) 7 Backer sent in some money (6) 8 Does she have a gem of a daughter? (6-2-5) 9 Cheat Chinamen out of best opportunity (3,4,6) 15 With augury, Una upset countryman (9) 17 The French bird, one taking a girl? (7) 18 The storm on stage (7) 19 Imagines carpark including sudden slope (6) 20 Old coin for apprentice included inside (6) 23 Hotel last Saturday was elegant (5)

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CROSSWORDS

41

CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD: WIN €30!

Name: _____________________________________Age:__________

Address: _________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

1 Useful for carrying all the daily necessities (7) 7 A long time ___, in a galaxy far far away (3) 8 You find them in the great barrier reef (for the meanwhile) (5) 9 Cain’s brother (4) 10 Let them eat ____! (4) 13 A large, tropical fruit (5) 15 A cute but angry-looking type of dog (3) 16 They were against what she said, they offered their _________ to the motion (7)

_______________________________________________________

Send to: July Children’s Crossword, Messenger Publications, 37 Lr Leeson St, Dublin 2, Ireland, by 24th of the month.

ACROSS

DOWN 2 3 4 5 6

11 12

14

To love someone greatly (4) Roll of the ____ (4) We need it to breathe! (3) __________ Gandhi (7) A bad reaction to cats, dogs or even plants might indicate you have one of these (7) ‘I am the ______ and the Omega’ (5) It’s a stick but get this, you can jump really high with it (4) If you are tired, you should really take one of these (3)

APRIL 2018 CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS AND WINNERS

CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD: ACROSS: 1 Galileo; 7 Art; 8 Buggy; 9 Yurt; 10 Verb; 13 Urals; 15 Ill; 16 Skipped. DOWN: 2 Actor; 3 ISBN; 4 Egg; 5 Ladybug; 6 Cymbals; 11 Exile; 12 ASAP; 14 Ark. CHILDREN’S CROSSWORD WINNER: Katie Gibbons, age 10, Galway.

POETRY COMPETITION WINNER: Annah Vesey, age 10, Roscommon.

ADULT CROSSWORD: ACROSS: 1 Twelfth 5 Costume 9 Onyx 10 Wobbliness 12 Gloriana 13 Quarry 14 Athleteís foot 17 Underpinning 21 Device 23 Base rate 24 Step by step 25 Oyez 26 Prelude 27 Editing. DOWN: 2 Winkle 3 Luxuriate 4 Towpath 6 Oblique 7 Tonga 8 Mushroom 11 Brace-and-bit 15 Figure out 16 Injector 18 Pie-eyed 19 Insipid 20 Strewn 22 Impel.

ADULT CROSSWORD WINNER: Brid Larkin, Galway.

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page 42

Sarah’sWordsearch E N C O U R A G E M E N T R D T D I G N I F I E D B C E E N L A W E N E R X L O T L S E Q R D B D N T L M A K A I M Y A T D S M H P R A N T L N M L S D O N L O I R J I A O E U P V B A B R Q R J O N R E C N K C A O R D V T N I I K E M E L S Z Y I R J S G V T S N L L J W T K W N H R N Y C O B Q M K N P N Q I A E Y C Z Z Z Y J J R Q J P M

In this month’s Messenger several contributors shared their hopes for the Pope’s coming visit to Ireland.

Can you find these words taken from that article?

Complacency Hope Relationship Environment Marginalised Dignified Secular Witness Kairos Encouragement Renewal Collaborate

© Ksenya Savva / Shutterstock

Count how many objects of nature are in the picture and write the result in the boxes on the left.

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page 43

4

5

1

2

1

2

4

5

3

1

6

1

4

2

2

4

1

2

1

5

6

Sarah’s Numbers Complete the grid so that each row, each column and each 3x2 box has the numbers 1-6

Poetry Competition

HOPE

Competition Information: Please include your name, age and address with your entry and send to: JULY Competition, Young Readers’ Pages, The Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland OR by email to competitions@messenger.ie by the 24th of the month. www.messenger.ie

© BlueRingMedia / Shutterstock

Test your talents and submit your own poem for a chance to win €30!

This month’s poem should be written on the theme of:-

FEATURE

44

KEVIN HARGADEN, of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, asks us to think critically about the effect of technology on our lives. Being a Luddite may not be such a bad thing after all . . .

THINKING THROUGH TECH The age in which we live is dominated by technology. Our society is being dramatically influenced by the development of the internet. Many of us are struggling to catch up. It is easy to feel at a loss around these developments; developments that seem to arrive each new day. It’s a question that ordinary Christians too rarely consider: how should we think about technology?

Worries abound about the changes being wrought in our society, and in our private lives by ever-present smartphones and tablets. Many readers of The Messenger can remember when computers took up entire rooms. Now the average car comes packed with thirty or more computers and the chip in a new fridge is many times faster than the computers NASA had at their disposal when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon.

If you have concerns about how rapidly things are changing in this area, you are not alone. The academic Sheryl Turkle famously wrote in her 2010 book Alone Together about how being constantly connected to the worldwide web can lead to disconnection from those near at hand. In the same year, Nicholas Carr published his book, The Shallows,

which explored whether having all the information in the world at our fingertips was actually making us intellectually lazy.

Such views are not new. In fact, with the rise of each new technology, there seems to follow the same old batch of concerns. Around 370BC Socrates fretted in the Platonic dialogue The Phraedus: ‘This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories.’ He was not talking about social media or virtual reality but the act of writing itself.

Of course, if you raise these concerns, you very quickly get accused of being a ‘Luddite’. This is what Irish politicians said of those who opposed the introduction of e-voting machines in 2003. We all know that the ‘Luddites’ were the wiser party in that dispute. That opposition to e-voting machines was led by computer scientists should alert us to how those in the know often know all too well that there are ethical and social dangers associated with computer technology.

As Christians, we must show discernment about the adoption of new technologies. We can celebrate the internet for its many virtues. Let’s not even think about the obvious

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FEATURE

Š De Visu / Shutterstock

45

examples of how it makes life easier or more enjoyable. Instead, consider how the web can transform the lives of those who are disabled and unable to easily travel outside their home. Real connections and genuine relationships can be developed for people whose lives are broadened immensely by what the internet makes possible.

Yet, we must also be critical and cautious, where needed. It is increasingly clear that the internet exposes

practically every young person to pornography. Aside from the damage this does to the development of a teenager’s own understanding of relationships, we must lament the harm inflicted on the actors caught up in the industry. We cannot run away from the web and that means we have to confront this problem.

The burden this places on our young people is heavy. The older generations cannot teach them how to engage with the good parts of the

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FEATURE

46 web and to stand against the abusive aspects, because the older generations never faced such complex problems when they were growing up. Thinking about technology in this way allows us to see a much bigger horizon: our young people are going to have to innovate ways of being faithful to Christianity in a world that has changed dramatically and rapidly. In this, they need our support, not our judgement. Prayer and guidance are gifts everyone can offer as we discern together how to go on following Jesus in a virtualised world.

We might be called Luddites as we explore that path but, in reality, the Luddites were not against development, nor were they opposed to technology. They just insisted that it be used for the common good. They

were skilled weavers who attacked mechanical looms not because they hated advancement but because the new inventions were being used by the wealthy to destroy the average worker’s way of life. If the dazzling new inventions in our day turn out to be eradicating people’s livelihoods and making whole classes of people unemployed, miserable and alienated, then we might need to embrace the old name ‘Luddite’.

We do not want to end up like Socrates, who worried about technologies that not only proved essential to humanity but were responsible for the preservation of his teachings to the present day. We do need to think carefully, however, about the details of how these technologies are impacting our lives.

D on ation s gratef ully r ecei v ed xx

For the spread of devotion to the love of God in the Sacred Heart and other Messenger charities.

For the work of the Jesuit Mission in ASSAM, NORTH INDIA, for the payment of teachers’ salaries in the new Jesuit third-level college at Tezpur.

St Joseph’s Penny Dinners, c/o St Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner St, funding food for the hungry in Ireland and abroad.

For the promotion of The Sacred Heart Messenger.

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RECOMMENDED BOOKS

47

Messenger Publications is busy producing and finding new books of interest to the readers of The Sacred Heart Messenger for our Ignatian Bookshop. This page is intended to keep you up-to-date on new releases. Books can be purchased on www.messenger.ie, by phoning (01)7758522, or from your local bookshop.

Smile of Joy Mary, Mother of Jesus Thomas Casey SJ €7.95 Messenger Publications

All Will Be Well Digital Dispatches from the Parish Fr Paddy Byrne €14.99 Columba Books

In his first book, Fr Paddy Byrne draws on his years of parish ministry and pastoral care to outline the challenges we face, while offering hope and inspiration through reflections, stories, parables and prayers to help readers to overcome life’s obstacles and lead them towards what he sees as a positive future.

A new look at Mary, this extraordinary woman who is “the cause of our joy” because she brought us the greatest joy of all: Jesus. The author shows us how, by giving Mary a place in our hearts, we can find true joy in God as well.

Into Extra Time Living through the final stages of cancer Michael Paul Gallagher SJ €12.99 Messenger Publications

Saints for the Family John Murray €9.95 Messenger Publications

Bestselling author, Fr John Murray, introduces us to a selection of saints for the family, to mark the World Meeting of Families. Among those included are biblical figures such as Elizabeth and Zecheriah, and more modern saints such as Antonia Brenner and Laura Vicuna.

When well-known Jesuit writer and theologian, Fr Michael Paul Gallagher, was told he had cancer, he began to write down his thoughts and feelings on the subject. The result is this truly inspirational and profoundly moving book.

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IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS

48

FR JOHN MURRAY, parish priest of Downpatrick, tells the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of St John the Baptist. From a fictional point of view, he imagines what they might have felt about the birth of their special son.

ELIZABETH AND ZECHARIAH Elizabeth smiled a little to herself as she clutched her stomach. She could feel life stirring there, feel those kicks that she thought she would never feel. She gently took Zechariah’s hand and moved it along her belly until he could feel the movement.

He too broke into a smile.

Zechariah was back home now after having spent several weeks on duty in the Temple in Jerusalem. She had missed him during those weeks away, as she always did. Despite their years of barrenness, he was her rock and she was his. They had each other. This time, however, there was something new happening for them, for she was showing clear signs of her pregnancy. She was wondering how the other women would take the news, since she was ‘past the time’.

But Zechariah knew that God had blessed them.

Elizabeth was so glad that Mary had come to visit her. Her cousin was almost thirty years younger, and yet she was so wise and caring. Elizabeth did not know what she would have done if the younger woman had not arrived to help her. Indeed, Mary had her own problems. Given her age and situation, tongues had started to wag. After all, she was not yet married to Joseph. Some were disap-

pointed that ‘he could not wait’, that the carpenter did not respect the law and the customs of their people.

Elizabeth knew from the moment Mary appeared at her door that Joseph was not the father, for her arrival had a strange effect. The baby in her own womb literally leapt within her when Mary appeared at the open door of their house. Elizabeth could scarcely breathe with excitement, for something told her that Mary was carrying someone very special. These thoughts were confirmed when Mary launched into a great prayer of praise. Her words echoed the prayer of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, in the Bible story they all knew well. For those who might have talked, Mary had a message, and that message was to praise God. Zechariah had so much to say but for some reason he could not speak. Something had happened in the Temple all those weeks ago. He had seen an angel in a vision, who had told him strange things. Zechariah was a believer, of course – after all, he had served as a priest in the Temple for many years – but the things the angel told him were simply incredible! He wanted to speak, to tell Elizabeth what he had heard, but he just could not get the words

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IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS

© Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock

49

The Visitation of Virgin Mary to Elizabeth by Frans Francken (1581 - 1642)

out. He hoped that his silence would come to an end soon. In the meantime, as he watched his wife of many years, he admired the way she was adjusting to her new situation as if this was not her first time. As she set

about doing the simple things of the day – washing, cleaning, cooking – he knew that everything was different and that she was different. There was a joy and a peace about her, as if God was totally in charge.

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IN THE MASTER’S FOOTSTEPS

50 Some people told Zechariah that Elizabeth’s age would be against her.

They warned that their child might not be as healthy as they would like.

He had heard such talk before but knew that God had blessed them with life and God would look after this child’s birth.

When the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, all the neighbours gathered around. They were overjoyed that she was able to produce a son. ‘He will be just like his father’, someone said. ‘A new Zechariah’, said another. ‘He will be able to take his father’s place in the Temple’, another suggested. ‘God is gracious,’ a loud voice said suddenly, ‘and that will be his name. His name will be John.’ Everyone looked at the speak-

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

Jn 14:27

First Friday: 6th July 2018 ................................................................ ................................................................ ................................................................ ................................................................ ................................................................

er in amazement, for they had not heard Zechariah speak for months.

A great hush came over them, and some began to wonder at what was happening.

‘Who will this child turn out to be?’ they asked.

And now Zechariah, the old priest who had not spoken for so long, launched into his own great hymn of praise, giving vent to all the energy and frustration he had felt during his months of silence. ‘And you, my child, shall be called a prophet of the Most High, for you shall go before the Lord to prepare the way for him’ (Lk.1:76).

At that moment, the two proud parents could never have imagined just how John would turn out!

Petitions may be sent to us on this form, or on any piece of paper.

All petitions received are placed on our Sacred Heart altar, and Mass is offered for them once each week.

SEND TO:

The Sacred Heart Messenger, 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.

FEATURE

52

PAUL O’REILLY SJ, who works as a doctor in London, tells of a time when a young woman found comfort in the welcome of a Church that wasn’t her own.

© BookyBuggy / Shutterstock

A QUALITY WELCOME

For many years I lived in South America, in an area where most people aren’t Christians. It would often happen that some of the people who came to Mass weren’t actually Christians. They came because they wanted to feel close to God and they felt that in church.

I noticed that there was one

particular young woman, who would always come to the Saturday evening Mass, and would always sit in the front row on the left. She knew all the responses in the Mass and you could see to look at her that she was a woman of goodness and prayer. She would never come up to communion, however, not even for a blessing.

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FEATURE

53

Eventually, I thought to myself, ‘I have to talk to her and get to know her and find out what’s really going on here.’ So the next time I said the Saturday evening Mass, I waited for her after and, as she was going out, asked if I could talk to her just for a minute.

I wanted to say to her that, even if she couldn’t take communion, maybe she would like to come for a blessing.

To start with, she didn’t want to tell me – I think she thought that if she told me that she wasn’t a Christian, I might ask her not to come back – but I assured her that whatever religion she believed in, she was always welcome in church. She told me how much she always liked to come to Mass, how it was a place where she could really feel the presence of God. I asked her to explain. She said: ‘it’s that bit where everyone touches you and shakes your hand, looks

you in the eye and says “Peace be with you” … and they sound like they really mean it! That’s the bit I really love, because I’m a widow, and all week long I feel alone and very lonely. But whenever I feel tired and lonely, I remember how it felt to have all those people I don’t know shake my hand and wish me peace. And it makes me feel better for the whole week.’

I felt really challenged by that because, like a lot of Catholics, the sign of peace can seem like a mere gesture, a thing of habit.

The moment I heard that, however, I made myself a promise that whenever I gave a sign of peace, I would always remember what she had said, and I would always do my best. Because I think there is something really beautiful about the fact that a person from another faith finds the presence of God in our Church simply and solely because of the quality of our welcome.

In Loving Memory

The names sent to us of all those who have died are entered on our

List of the Dead

They are placed on the Sacred Heart Altar in our oratory and remain there for two months. Every Wednesday Mass is offered especially for them, that they may have eternal rest with the Lord, and that their families and friends may be consoled in their loss.

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9

Mt 8: 18-22

2

Follow me

MONDAY

Who welcomes you welcomes me

St Briget of Sweden Mw Rf

Take nothing for the journey

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jn 6: 1-15

This really is the prophet

29

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk 6: 30-34

Rest for a while

22

Mk 6: 7-13

24

St Sharbel Makhluf P

Mt 11: 20-24

17

The miracles done in you

Mt 9: 32-38

Mt 13: 31-35

30

Expound things hidden

Mt 12: 38-42

Mt 13: 36-43

The virtuous will shine like the sun

31

St Declan B St Ignatius of Loyola P Rf M

Mt 12: 46-50

5

St Anthony Mary Zaccaria P

Mt 20: 20-28

To be great be a servant

25

St James Ap

Mt 11: 25-27

18

Revealing to mere children

Mt 10: 1-7

11

St Benedict Ab Rf M

Mt 8: 28-34

19

26

6

20

27

Mt 12: 1-8

I want mercy

St Apollinarius Bp Mt

Mt 10: 16-23

13

The Spirit will speak in you

Mt 9:9-13

What I want is mercy

St Maria Goretti V Mt u

FRIDAY

7

14

21

28

Mt 12: 14-21

Here is the favourite of my soul

St Lawrence of Brindisi P R Dr

Do not be afraid Mt 10: 24-33

St Kateri Tekakwitha V M

Mt 9: 14-17

New wine into fresh skins

St Camillus de Lellis P

SATURDAY

Mt 13: 10-17

Mt 13: 18-23

Mt 13: 24-30

Many longed to Hear the word and The word has been planted in you see what you see understand

Ss Joachim & Anne Parents of the BVM

Mt 11: 28-30

I will give you rest

Mt 10: 7-15

12

Give without charge

What do you want Get up and walk Mt 9:1-8 with us?

4

St Elizabeth of Portugal

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

He felt sorry for Proclaim the good them news

10

Jn 20: 24-29

3

My Lord and my God

St Thomas AP

TUESDAY

The sign of Jonah Who is my mother?

23

Mt 10: 34 – 11: 1

16

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

15

Mt 9: 18-26

Mk 6: 1-6

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

He was amazed at My daughter has their lack of faith just died

8

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk 5: 21-43

Who touched me?

1

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

SUNDAY

JULY 2018

u First Friday

Prayers and good wishes to all who will be married in the Summer months.

May the Lord bless your love always!

Text and photograph: Donal Neary SJ ISSN 1649-4450

NAME