31st March 2019 - Trócaire Lenten Campaign 2019 - Colm Hogan

On this week's programme Colm Hogan from Trócaire speaks with the team about the Trócaire Lenten Campaign for 2019 which focuses on land rights, especially in relation to Maria, Maya and Patricia, the girls on the 2019 Trócaire boxes. Colm also tells us about the different projects Trócaire are involved in throughout the world and ways in which we at home can get involved. In our programme we also continue our reflection from Bishop Brendan's Lenten Pastoral Letter and we have our usual Gospel reflection, saints of the week and notices.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

Trócaire Lenten Campaign 2019 - Colm Hogan

Colm Hogan from Trócaire came on the programme to speak about their  Lenten Campaign for 2019 which focuses on land rights this year. Land is a human rights and justice issue.  In our world today, one quarter of families are landless. Colm spoke especially about Maria, Maya and Patricia, the girls on the 2019 Trócaire boxes, and how each were made homeless and/or landless due to injustice, greed and war.

Colm also spoke about the different initiatives and projects Trócaire are involved with throughout the world and how we at home can get involved through volunteer outreach, the Lenten Campaign, giving directly via the Trócaire website or through their Gifts of Love (which is a range of sustainable and ethical gifts). 

You can listen to the interview excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Gospel - Luke 15:1-3,11-32

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 4; 4th week of Lent

Saints of the Week

April 1st - St. Ceallach (Celsus)
April 2nd - St. Francis of Paola
April 3rd - St. Agape
April 4th - St. Isidore of Seville
April 5th - St. Vincent Ferrer
April 6th - St. William of Eskilsoe

Notices

'Journey towards Transformation' - will be held in St. Mary of the Rosary Church, Nenagh on April 7th, 8th and 9th from 7.30pm. Each night will have input, reflection, meditation and live music and is facilitated by Martina Lehane Sheehan and her husband, Pat. All are welcome to this unique three night journey of meditation, scripture and healing.

#LiveLent2019 - 27th May 2019

25th March 2019 - One 'yes' does not last a lifetime!

Crosspost from Pilgrims Progress:

For the solemnity today, the liturgy of the day offers us Luke's narrative of the Annunciation for our reflection. We all know how the story goes. I wish I could always muster a classy yes like Mary’s. “Let it be done with me according to your word” is a far cry from my usual “OK Lord, if you say so.” We do the best we can. We notice the very human details of the Annunciation. It happened in a specific place, to a specific person and so I look at my story and how I give my 'yes' for the small and the big moments of life. 

Mary’s fiat, as it is called (Latin for “let it be done”), was a yes to the Unknown. These are the only yeses that really count. A yes to the Unknown—this was the fiat of Mary as she accepted the impossible message of the angel. This was the yes of those Wise Men following the star to only God knows where. This was the yes of Jesus as he accepted baptism by his cousin John. This is my yes to the Lord as He continues to lead me to different places, to different communities and to meet different people along the pilgrimage of life.

I am reminded of a homily given by one of our Pauline priests Fr. Michael Goonan, ssp, when the Gospel came up during Advent. He spoke of three elements of Mary's 'yes':

1) One 'yes' does not last a lifetime: the 'yes' she pronounces at the Annunciation is renewed at the birth of Jesus, at the Presentation, in the daily ups and downs of life, it is purified during the Passion and death of her Son, it is rewarded on that Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead. I often joke and say that my daily 'fiat' is when the alarm clock goes off in the morning. It costs me a lot to get up at 5.30 am and make my way to the chapel but I know I need to begin the day with a sure foundation and in the presence of the One who loves me so as to face whatever might spring up throughout the course of the day.


2) Our 'yes' is more than often given in the ordinariness, amidst the pots and pans than in the extraordinariness. It is saying 'yes' to go a different way which is not necessarily my way but to trust that it is the best way. This takes guts but more so it takes complete abandonment to the One who leads the way. To go a different way to often tread a new path and prepare the way for others. 


3) Our 'yes' is a free and freeing 'yes': it frees us and it frees others. A response that is given out of coercion or fear is not free. Nothing is impossible for God.

One of my favourite readings from the Divine Office is the one which we read in the week before Christmas, taken from St. Bernard of Clairvaux which tells the same Annunciation event with an air of expectation which is tangible:


"You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us...Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word. Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word."

As we continue our Lenten journey God continues to draw us to Him. His Holy Spirit has “overshadowed” our lives in some way. And we are beginning to believe that, like Mary, we too are being asked to “carry Christ into the world,” to bring him to birth…in our own lives and in the lives of others and to give a soulful and trusting 'Yes' to whatever He may ask of us today. Happy journeying!

March 24th 2019 - St Oscar Romero

Today we celebrate the 39th anniversary of the return home to God of Archbishop Oscar Romero, martyred in hatred of the faith in El Salvador. He was canonized on the 14th of October 2018

Oscar Romero's last homily was a Lenten programme. May it become our Lenten programme as we hit the half way mark of our Lenten journey.

“No one can quench the life that Christ has resurrected.
Neither death nor all the banners of death and hatred raised against him and against his church can prevail.
He is the victorious one!
Just as he will thrive in an unending Easter, so we must accompany him in a Lent and a Holy Week of cross, sacrifice, and martyrdom.
As he said, blessed are they who are not scandalized by his cross.
Lent, thus, is a call to celebrate our redemption
in that difficult combination of cross and victory.
Our people are well prepared to do so these days:
all that surrounds us proclaims the cross.
But those who have Christian faith and hope know that behind this Calvary of El Salvador lies our Easter, our resurrection.
That is the Christian people’s hope." 

- (Oscar Romero- March 24th, 1980- from his last Homily given during the Mass in which he was shot)

Death Comes For the Archbishop: The Martyrdom of Óscar Romero  

First Feast of Saint Oscar Romero 

St. Oscar Romero: One Who Stood Up for Christ 

Saint Oscar Romero- Love must win out! 

Previous posts from SS102fm

24th March 2019 - Journeying through Lent with Don Devaney

On this weeks programme we continue sharing reflections on journeying through Lent this week with Don Devaney. Lorraine continues the weekly catechesis section where we took the first two parts from Bishop Brendan’s Lenten 2019 pastoral letter. We will be reflecting on the pastoral letter over the remaining weeks of Lent  We have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as other bits and pieces.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

Journey through Lent

Don Devaney - a deacon from the Dublin archdiocese - shared some thoughts about lent with us on this week's programme. 

He reflected on how Lent is a time to take an honest look at our lives and see what and where we need to change in order be the people God wants us to be. Don suggested we could ask our friends to help us identify areas where we annoy and upset others with our behavior, assuring them that what is shared is done in a safe place and will be taken in the spirit of continued friendship. Total honesty with ourselves as we journey in Lent will ensure we learn and grow as we need. Forgiving ourselves for the times we have messed up and starting again to gradually accept God's mercy will help us to come closer to living our lives in the presence the Lord. If we do struggle with our Lenten commitments, then we need only ask the Holy Spirit to give us the grace to start again. Prayer and making space to be with the Lord is necessary as continue our Journey in Lent and and for the rest of our lives.

You can listen to the interview excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Gospel - Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’

Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” 

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3; 3rd week of Lent

Saints of the Week

March 25th - The Annunciation of the Lord
March 26th - St Basil the Younger
March 27th - St Gelasius of Armagh
March 28th - Blessed Donal O’Neylan
March 29th - Blessed Bertold of Mount Carmel
March 30th - St Cronan Mochua

#LiveLent2019 - 22nd March 2019

#LiveLent2019 - 21st March 2019

#LiveLent2019 - 20th March 2019

The Church of the Future - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

From Archdiocese of Dublin:

175th  Anniversary of Saint Michael’s Church, Pery Square, Limerick

THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE

Lecture notes of   Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin  Archbishop of Dublin

Saint Michael’s Church of Ireland, Limerick, 19 March 2019

“I am delighted to be here to celebrate the 175th anniversary of this Church of Saint Michael.  For me this is a year of anniversaries.  On 6 January I was 20 years a bishop.  On 26 April I will be 15 years as Archbishop of Dublin and on 25 May I will be 50 years a priest.  I have seen many changes in the Church in Ireland and worldwide.

Celebrating anniversaries is a special art.  It is good to celebrate.  It is hard to celebrate objectively.  There is tendency for each of us to celebrate the positive in our lives and go lightly on what is negative.  Others however might prefer to emphasise our negatives and go lightly on the positives.

There is the temptation to judge situations by the standards of today rather than situate realities in the complex situation in which they took place.  It is easy to judge the past.  It is easy to use the past to acquit people of the mistakes of today. We live in constantly changing times.

I remember once giving a homily where I worked in the Vatican that I opened with the phrase: “I entered the seminary in Dublin in 1962 and left it in 1969 into a different Church and a different Ireland”.  My superior at the time and one of my maestri in life said to me afterwards: “I liked your opening, but you have to remember that in my life I have gone through that type of radical change on four or five occasions.  The important thing is to recognise change and to come out of change always on the right side and by that I mean looking in the right direction”.

To look towards the future means to extricate oneself from the contingencies of the past to be free to look dispassionately to the future.  The difficulty is to identify what is contingent and what is essential. 

Irish Jesuit priest hero who influenced Mother Teresa and St. Josemaria Escriva - Rome Reports

Pilgrims and religious live the first Lent weekend in Jerusalem - Christian Media Centre

#LiveLent2019 - 19th March 2019

17th March 2019 - Solemnity of St Patrick, National Apostle of Ireland

On this weeks programme we have a combination of things for our listeners. We have a repeat of a programme from 2013 with Fr Michael Liston who reflects on the real St Patrick. In addition due to an error at WL102fm last week, our programme for the first Sunday of Lent did not go out at 10am as originally planned. As such, we are repeating the interview with Dr Jessie Rogers on this weeks programme. We have a reflection on the gospel from the 2nd Sunday of Lent (the account of the Transfiguration from St Luke) as well as some other notices and liturgical odds & ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks programme HERE. 

Who is St Patrick? - A reflection with Fr Micháel Liston

St Patrick's Day is the national Irish holiday when we commemorate firstly the memory of the man who brought the Christian Faith to the Emerald Isle around 432AD and also a celebration of what is good and great about us as a people and a country in culture and other fields of life.

It is also a day when we remember in a special way our emigrants who for many and varied reasons but generally economic ones have had to leave "the land of our birth". As a returned emigrant, St Patrick's Day gained in significance while I was away overseas, a day of sadness for being far from kith and kin, but also of joy and pride in being from a little isle on the verge of the mighty Atlantic which, has in its own small way, has contributed to the betterment of society and our world in general through art, music, song, literature, science, peacekeeping under the UN, our many NGO's and volunteers, and of course the contribution of our missionaries to the development in many parts of the world in education, health care and the promotion of human rights in the course of spreading the gospel and witnessing to their faith.

We remember all of our diaspora fondly and as we pause in prayer or raise a glass in honour of St Patrick, from our hearts, we wish them all a very Happy St Patrick's Day from the Emerald Isle!

But like so many Christian feasts, St Patrick’s Day has been somewhat hijacked. St Patrick has about as much to do with a pint of Guinness as St Valentine has to do with a box of chocolates and a romantic meal for two. But what does this saint, so strong in missionary zeal and about whom we know very little, have to do with our modern day celebrations? The answer comes from his Confessio itself. 

In the very opening paragraphs of the autobiography, St Patrick offers a meditation on the gift of faith and the praise that we owe in return to God for such a gift. Perhaps this is St Patrick’s greatest relevance, particularly in a culture that seems increasingly hostile to declarations of faith. He refuses to stay quiet; his evangelising zeal comes from knowing that he must speak to others of Christ:

“That is why I cannot be silent – nor would it be good to do so – about such great blessings and such a gift that the Lord so kindly bestowed in the land of my captivity. This is how we can repay such blessings, when our lives change and we come to know God, to praise and bear witness to his great wonders before every nation under heaven.”   

Enjoy the celebrations of St Patrick’s Day, but we must remember Christ’s call to conversion in our lives; a call to conversion and change that St Patrick felt so strongly that he left behind everything he had and followed Jesus so that he might bring the gospel to others. 

**********************

Originally broadcast on 17th March 2013, a dear friend of the programme, Fr. Micheal Liston, joins John and Ann Keily to celebrate the solemnity of St. Patrick (Patron Saint of Ireland).

Fr. Micheal introduces St. Patrick as someone who suffered a lot in his youth, but in the middle of all his suffering, he became conscious of God's presence and love. Fr. Micheal encouraged us to set aside the external celebrations of St. Patrick's day to look at the model of St. Patrick as someone who had discovered the mysterious presence of God in his life. We are invited to reflect on the reality that God is here with us as He was for Patrick. God is fond of us. God has time for us.

St. Patrick is also a great model of how we should respond to God's grace in our lives. Patrick recognised his own limitations and the abundance of God's grace working in his life. Fr. Micheal invited us to confess, as Patrick did, that with all our limitations, it is God who has done this good work in our lives. Patrick gives glory to God, because the glory is God's. God has a sheer ghrá (affection/love) for us and we are called through prayer and humility to imitate Patrick by responding to God's grace and love with a spirit of self-giving and gratitude. This is the true spirit of Patrick.

You can listen to the interview with Fr Michael excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Repeat - Reflecting on the journey of Lent with Dr Jessie Rogers

Due to an error at WL102fm last week, our programme for the first Sunday of Lent did not go out at 10am as originally planned. As such, we are repeating the interview with Dr Jessie Rogers on this weeks programme.

Dr Jessie Rogers who lectures in scriptures at the Pontifical University St Patrick's College Maynooth and would be familiar to many people across the diocese of Limerick as she often gives retreats and reflections around scripture and was also involved with Synod2016.

During our time on this weeks programme Jessie reflects on the journey of lent and opening the space of Lent. She reflects on how Lent is a preparation/journey to a mystery - the mystery and wonder of Easter. We reflect on how Lent is a journey where we try to get rid of things to allow us to listen for and meet Jesus. It is a time to pray and listen carefully about our lives and where we go in our lives.

Sometimes we are familiar with the rituals and the practices but not 100% sure why we do it. So this year maybe we can go into the meanings behind what we do. After all the invitation that lent gives us is to slow down, to de-clutter, to make space for God by giving up something, not to give up something for the sake of it but rather to make space to meet the Lord.

You can listen to the reflection from Jessie excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Gospel - Luke 9:28-36

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus* took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake,* they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,* one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen;* listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Reflections on the gospel reading for the 2nd Sunday of Lent

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy
English Dominicans

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 2; 2nd week of Lent

Saints of the Week

March 18th - St Cyril of Jerusalem 
March 19th - St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
March 20th - St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
March 21st - St Enda
March 22nd - Bl Clemens August Von Galen
March 23rd - St Turibius of Mogrovejo

#LiveLent2019 - 16th March 2019

Archbishop Eamon Martin’s Saint Patrick’s Day message to the people of Ireland at home and abroad

“Partnership and tolerance, mutual trust and respect, equality and a complete renunciation of violence, are essential for the building of a lasting and just peace.  All the more reason then for us to resolve, in the name of Saint Patrick, to avoid any return to an infrastructure of suspicion and division which could so easily set back decades of progress … As Saint Patrick himself prayed, may God’s strength ‘pilot us’ in the coming days, months and years” – Archbishop Eamon Martin

Message

Forty years ago Pope John Paul II visited Ireland, as a pilgrim for peace.  He had wanted to visit Armagh, the Cathedral city of Saint Patrick, but because of the tensions of those troubled times, his plans had to be changed at the last minute.  Instead, the Holy Father stopped just north of Drogheda, not far from the Hill of Slane.

Standing for the first time on Irish soil, the Successor of Peter recalled how Saint Patrick lit the Paschal Fire in Ireland “so that the light of Christ might shine forth on all of Ireland and unite all of its people in the love of the one Jesus Christ.”

In 1979 the border between north and south was heavily militarised and monitored.  Pope John Paul II chose to speak about Christ as Prince of Peace, and against the construction of “barriers of hate and mistrust”.

On 29 September 1979 the Polish Pontiff said at an open-air Mass in Drogheda, “Let history record that at a difficult moment in the experience of the people of Ireland, the Bishop of Rome set foot in your land, that he was with you and prayed with you for peace and reconciliation, for the victory of justice and love over hatred and violence.”

#LiveLent2019 - 15th March 2019

Six years of Pope Francis

Vatican News - The anniversary of the Pontificate, looking to the essential 

Vatican News - Gisotti: A Pontificate of love, mercy and courage

RNS - The good, the bad and the merciful: Pope Francis after six years

Trocaire - At the Service of Justice & Peace

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and Vice-President of the Bishops’ Conference, delivered the 2019 Trócaire/Saint Patrick’s College Lenten Lecture on 12 March.  

Archbishop Martin spoke of his experiences working for justice and peace in the service of the Universal Church.

Trócaire Lecture 2019

AT THE SERVICE OF JUSTICE AND PEACE

Speaking notes of Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin Archbishop of Dublin

Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth

“I want to present some personal reflections, arising from my own experience, on the nature of Catholic Social Teaching, on its evolution in recent times and on how it can and should engage with the overall societal reflection on issues of justice and peace in an ever-changing world.  I want to reflect on what we as citizens and as believing Christians can do in the face of structural injustices and violence around the world that constitute the opposite poles to a culture of justice and peace.

The social teaching of the Church must be in touch with reality.  It is, however, not an ideology.  Neither is it a political or economic platform.

The Gospels do not provide readymade answers to the ongoing challenges of a complex world.  To affirm otherwise would be fundamentalism.  The Gospel message must be mediated within an ethical framework and become a challenge to people of good will to respond. Pope Benedict in his Encyclical Deus Caritas Est reminded us that “formation of just structures is not directly the duty of the Church, but belongs to the world of politics, the sphere of the autonomous use of reason”.

In 1987, I found myself unprepared in a leadership position in the then Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.  I was unprepared but not unhappy.  I realised that it was one of the most interesting offices of the Holy See and I was especially happy to work with Cardinal Roger Etchegaray,  from whom I learned so much not just about the work of the Pontifical Council but also about being a priest and bishop involved in  animating an important sector of the Church’s life.

Holding on to Religious Symbols in Hospitals - iCatholic

Ronan Mullen and Michael Kelly discuss a recent Govt. directed review which examined the relationship between the State and Church-run hospitals.

#LiveLent2019 - 13th March 2019

#LiveLent2019 - 12th March 2019

QoTD

#LiveLent2019 - 11th March 2019

10th March 2019 - Reflecting on the journey of Lent with Dr Jessie Rogers

On this weeks programme the SS102fm team are joined by Dr Jessie Rogers to reflect on the journey of Lent and how it present us with an opportunity to make space to encounter the Lord. We have our regular reflection on this weeks Sunday gospel as well as other liturgical odds & ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

Reflecting on the journey of Lent with Dr Jessie Rogers

On this weeks programme we are joined by Dr Jessie Rogers who lectures in scriptures at the Pontifical University St Patrick's College Maynooth. Jessie would be familiar to many people across the diocese of Limerick as she often gives retreats and reflections around scripture and was also involved with Synod2016.

During our time on this weeks programme Jessie reflects on the journey of lent and opening the space of Lent. She reflects on how Lent is a preparation/journey to a mystery - the mystery and wonder of Easter. We reflect on how Lent is a journey where we try to get rid of things to allow us to listen for and meet Jesus. It is a time to pray and listen carefully about our lives and where we go in our lives.

Sometimes we are familiar with the rituals and the practices but not 100% sure why we do it. So this year maybe we can go into the meanings behind what we do. After all the invitation that lent gives us is to slow down, to de-clutter, to make space for God by giving up something, not to give up something for the sake of it but rather to make space to meet the Lord.

You can listen to the reflection from Jessie excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Gospel - Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Centre for Liturgy
English Dominicans
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 1; week 1 of Lent

Saints of the Week

March 11th - St Aengus
March 12th - St Mura McFeredach
March 13th - St Gerald of Mayo
March 14th - Bl Philip of Turin
March 15th - Bl Anthony of Milan
March 16th - St Abbab of Kil Abban

#LiveLent - 9th March 2019

#LiveLent2019 - 8th March 2019

This Is What God Wants Of Us – Our Holiness

Bishop Brendan Leahy has issued his Lenten Pastoral letter - This Is What God Wants Of Us – Our Holiness.

Lent is the season when the whole Church goes on a forty-day retreat. I would like to suggest that we take holiness as a theme for Lent this year. I do so because Pope Francis has recently written a wonderful letter on holiness reminding us of its importance. At a time when we are getting used to pastoral units and new pastoral arrangements in our Diocese, it is good to keep our eye on what ultimately matters – our holiness.

I would recommend you read Pope Francis’ letter entitled, “Rejoice and Be Glad” (Gaudete et Exsultate). It’s available on the internet or in religious book shops. I will draw on it for this Pastoral Letter. The Pope has felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to re-propose to all of us the call to holiness in a practical way for our time. The voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through the Pope is saying to each one of us: “be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11: 44; cf 1 Pet 1:16).

You can access the pastoral letter HERE. 

#LiveLent 2019 - 7th March 2019

6th March 2019 - Ash Wednesday 2019

#LiveLent - Irish Catholic Bishops Conference Lenten Resources

A round up of various things from around the web this Ash Wednesday:

Bishop Leahy urges ‘if you’re not giving up, give more this Lent’ 

Lent is a time to take stock and make a new start – Bishop Brendan Leahy

Lenten fasting advice from the Pope who faced Attila the Hun

Why is Ash Wednesday So Late This Year?

Reflections for Ash Wednesday

From Rome:

Pope on Ash Wednesday: Lenten fasting a ‘wake-up call for the soul’

Pope at Ash Wednesday Mass: ‘focus on what is essential’ 

Pope Francis marks the beginning of Lent - Following a tradition almost as old as the Church in Rome herself, Pope Francis goes to the Basilica of Santa Sabina to mark the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.