16th June 2019 - Geraldine Creaton - The Emmanuel Community

On this week's programme Geraldine Creaton of the Emmanuel Community shares with us on her experience of the Emmanuel Community. We also have our regular celestial guides and reflection on the Sunday Gospel.

You can listen to the podcast of this week's full programme HERE.

The Emmanuel Community

Geraldine Creaton joins us on our programme this week to share her experience of becoming involved with the Emmanuel Community, a community founded in France in 1972 by Pierre Goursat  and Martine Lafitte-Catta.  

Geraldine tells of her making a visit to Paray Le Monial and experiencing a Jesus talking to her and leading her to a new life with him. This was the start of her journey with the Emmanuel Community as she went on to spend a year at the Community’s School of Mission. Now Geraldine is part of a community numbering 10,000 throughout the world with a further associate 30,000 members.  

The mission of the Community is to reveal to every man and woman the presence of the God of Love in our lives, Jesus Christ, who is "Emmanuel," "God With Us," and wants to be close to us. The Community consists of members with different states of life (families, singles, priests and celibate brothers and sisters) having the most different professions and trying to live a fraternal life in the world. It sees its aim as to respond to God's call to holiness addressed to each person, mainly through intense personal prayer, Eucharistic adoration, compassion for the spiritually and materially poor and evangelisation. Members are helped to grow spiritually in various ways: "household meetings" (small groups of members, meeting regularly for prayer and reflection on God's action in their lives), "spiritual companionship" (personal meeting with a more experienced member), monthly meetings of all the members in a country or region.

• Emmanuel Community - International
• Emmanuel Community - Ireland

Home is where His Heart is!
From July 23-28 an International Session will be held in Paray le Monial (France).  A dozen of nations from different continents will be present to be renewed in the Heart of Jesus.  Workshops, Mass, teachings, praise, … and various parts of the program will be in English!  Come and live this unique experience! This session is open to everyone. Invite your family and friends!

Home is where His Heart is!


See you in Paray le Monial!

You can listen to a podcast of this reflection excerpted from the programme HERE.

Gospel - John 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I still have many things to say to you
but they would be too much for you now.
But when the Spirit of truth comes
he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking as from himself
but will say only what he has learnt;
and he will tell you of the things to come.

He will glorify me,
since all he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine;
that is why I said:
All he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.’

Reflections on this week's gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter Week 3

Saints of the Week
June 17th - St. Emily de Vialar
June 18th - St. Gregory Barbarigo 
June 19th - St. Romuald 
June 20th - The Irish Martyrs of the (16th and 17th centuries)
June 21st - St. Aloysius Gonzaga
June 22nd - St. Thomas More

Trinity Sunday

Via PrayTell:

Holy Trinity, Farid De La Ossa, 2004

I saw the blessed Trinity working. I saw that there were these three attributes: fatherhood, motherhood, and lordship – all in one God. In the almighty Father we have been sustained and blessed with regard to our created natural being from before all time. By the skill and wisdom of the Second Person we are sustained, restored, and saved with regard to our sensual nature, for he is our Mother, brother, and Savior. In our good Lord the Holy Spirit we have, after our life and hardship is over, that reward and rest which surpasses for ever and everything we can possibly desire–such is his abounding grace and magnificent courtesy.

Our life too is threefold. In the first stage we have our being, in the second our growth, and in the third our perfection. The first is nature, the second mercy, and the third grace. For the first I realized that the great power of the Trinity is our Father, the deep wisdom our Mother, and the great love our Lord.

(from Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich, c. 1342 – c. 1416)

11th June 2017 - Solemnity of Holy Trinity

As our radio listeners will have realised, last weeks programme did not go out on air at our usual time on Sunday morning due to lack of due care and attention at WL102fm which is beyond the control of the team on SS102fm. 

As our regular listeners will appreciate unlike many other programmes on the station, SS102fm can't easily be replayed or aired the following week when such mistakes happen as our programmes each week work around the gospel for the week, the liturgical calendar and often up coming events which can't be replayed. We apologies to our radio listeners for the inconvenience caused.

On this weeks programme, we are joined by Fr Seamus Enright to speak about the upcoming annual novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Limerick. We also reprise Fr Frank Duhig's reflection from last Sunday's programme about the Holy Spirit in part two. We have a short reflection on this weeks gospel and the solemnity being celebrated today of Holy Trinity as well as other liturgical odds and ends.

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




Novena 2017 to Our Lady of Perpetual Help

On this weeks programme we are joined by Fr Seamus Enright to tell us about the 2017 novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. 

Indirectly linking in with the national preparation for WMoF2018 next year in Dublin, this year's novena theme focuses on the family. 

At the same time the Redemptorist community in Limerick is celebrating the centenary of the arrival of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the city.

You can listen to Fr Seamus being interviewed HERE.

Further information is available online including webcam of the sessions HERE.

Over 100,000 people expected to attend Limerick Novena

Limerick City Corpus Christi Procession

During his interview about the novena, Fr Seamus mentioned about the Children's Novena on 18th June.  At the same time we would like to remind people about the Limerick city Corpus Christi procession which takes place on the Feast of the Most Blessed Sacrament (Corpus Christi)  - Sunday 18th June 2017.  

The event begins with participation in the 6.00pm session of the Novena in the Redemptorist Church.  Others will join at 6.40 pm and everyone will proceed to St Joseph’s church, O Connell Avenue for the veneration of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

All are warmly welcome especially families, and this year there will be a special emphasis on Grandparents and Grandchildren as well as all those who have received the sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriage.


Children who have celebrated their First Holy communion are invited to attend in their First Communion attire to mark their and their families special year.


Reflecting on the Holy Spirit & our need for an internal Pentecost

We repeat last weeks reflection from Fr Frank Duhig who leads us in a reflection on the forgotten person of the Trinity  - the Holy Spirit on this weeks programme.

We reflect on how the Holy Spirit is an the Agent of God present in us to fulfill Jesus' promise. The question for us this week is where do allow ourselves to create space for the "gentle one of the Trinity"; where do we allow ourselves to discover the beautiful thing called silence.

The Holy Spirit is being crowded out by the voices and noises of the modern world - we are interconnected but are we truly communicating both with each other and with God?

You can listen to Fr Frank's reflection on the Holy Spirit excerpted from the main programme HERE.

Previous posts from SS102fm on Pentecost including a reflection from Dom Patrick Hederman OSB and from Fr Michael Liston.


Gospel - John 3:16-18

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 

‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 2 - 10th week in ordinary time

Saints of the Week

June 12th - St John of Sahagun
June 13th - St Anthony of Padua (of Lisbon)
June 14th - St Davnet
June 15th - St Pierre de Cervis
June 16th - Bl Antoine Auriel
June 17th - St Molling of Wexford

May 22nd 2016 - The Most Holy Trinity

In the first part of this week's programme Canon Coggeshall of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest who tells us of their upcoming novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick which takes place from Thursday May 26th to Friday, June 3rd. There will be Mass and devotions to the Sacred Heart at 12 noon (except for Sunday, May 29th which will be at 10.30am) and 7.00pm each day. For more details check out their website HERE.

In the second and third part of the programme John and Ann are joined by Fr. John Mockler who gives us an insightful explanation of the Most Holy Trinity. You can listen to the full programme podcast HERE. 

The Most Holy Trinity

Fr. John began by explaining that first and foremost, the Trinity is true God. When we are baptised we receive Three Persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are equal in divinity, power, love, knowledge, peace, etc. This means that each Person of the Trinity is the source of all that is good. The communication between God the Father and God the Son is love. There are no limitations or obstacles to the flow of love between the Father and the Son and between the Son and the Father. This flow of love is infinite. 

Everything that the Father grants to the Son, the Son returns perfectly to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is important to remember that the Holy Spirit is also a Person with His own intellect and will (we often think of the Holy Spirit in terms of the form of fire which He assumed at Pentecost).

Each Person of the Trinity always existed. At the beginning of the Bible we read: 'Let us make man in our image...' not 'let me make man in my image.' The Trinity created the angels and humankind to share in what they have as a Trinity of Persons. God created us to share into eternal happiness in this life and the next. Those who will share in the eternal happiness of the Trinity are those who share in the happiness of the Trinity in this life. We pray to the God of love and mercy in us (which we received at Baptism), not the God of love and mercy outside of us. The Trinity we pray to has to be the Trinity in us. If the Trinity is in us that is the assurance or insurance policy of happiness in the next life.  With the Trinity we have the power to overcome anything life can throw at us.

What's the best way we can help our relationship to grow with the Trinity? The greatest means is what Jesus has provided, which is the Mass. A person who goes to Mass goes to heaven, because heaven and earth unite during the Mass. It is the most powerful, direct encounter with the Trinity. Jesus does not leave the happiness, joy, peace etc. of heaven when He comes to us in the Mass with all the angels and saints. That is what we are receiving into our soul in the Eucharist. We are increasing that life of heaven in us. Yes, we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, but it is equally true to say that we also receive the life of heaven into our souls when we receive Holy Communion. The other good things we do, daily prayer, doing our work/duties every day, and all the good we do, also help to increase this life within us too, but nothing compares with the Mass.

Fr. John also reminded us that Mass will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Well Grotto in Dromin-Athlacca parish on Trinity Sunday at 7.00pm. Trinity Well is about a mile from Dromin Church.

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

Gospel - John 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I still have many things to say to you

but they would be too much for you now.

But when the Spirit of truth comes

he will lead you to the complete truth,

since he will not be speaking as from himself

but will say only what he has learnt;

and he will tell you of the things to come.

He will glorify me,

since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine.

Everything the Father has is mine;

that is why I said:

All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.’

Fr. John said the first thing that strikes us from this Gospel is that we have to be led. 'When the Spirit of Truth comes He will lead you...' We cannot lead ourselves - we have to be led. Jesus sends us the same Spirit who led Him. Jesus never did one thing which wasn't illuminated, inspired and directed by the Spirit. God's Spirit will lead us safely, because He leads us to 'the complete truth,' i.e. the Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus, who is 'The Way, the Truth and the Life' (John 14:6). What's the truth Jesus teaches us: the truth about where we came from, why we are here, where we are going, what is the purpose of human life. God created us in the hope that we would live as His children, containing the Holy Trinity within us. The Holy Spirit will lead us to enter into that life of the Trinity where we will have happiness and joy forever. In the meantime, we can overcome anything with the power of the Spirit in us who will lead us through anything. If people turn more and more to speak to the three Persons they have in them they would have much greater joy and happiness and their burdens would be lightened.

Reflections on this week's gospel:

• Word on Fire
• Centre for Liturgy
• English Dominicans
• Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours: Psalter Week 4

Saints of the Week
May 25th - St. Bede the Venerable
May 26th - St. Philip Neri
May 27th - St. Augustine of Canterbury

Notices

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: - continues to take place in Ardagh Church each Monday from 11.00am to 1.00pm and 5.00pm to 9.00pm.

The Annual Sacred Heart Novena: - takes place in St. Senan's Parish (Shanagolden/Foynes/Robertstown) in Robertstown Church from May 26th to June 3rd with Mass at 8pm each evening.

31st May 2015 - Vocation Journey: Interview with Aidan O'Rourke - Trinity Sunday

This weeks programme is a repeat show of our interview with Aidan O'Rourke and Fr Leslie McNamara originally broadcast on 26th April 2015. At that time due to technical difficulties at West Limerick 102fm HQ the show didn't go out in its entirety. Aidan is currently Limerick's sole seminarian in formation at Maynooth and Fr Leslie is the Vocations Director for Limerick diocese.

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

Trinity Sunday

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity;

By invocation of the same.

The Three in One, and One in Three,

Of Whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:

Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord

Trinity Sunday, officially "The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity," is one of the few feasts of the Christian Year that celebrates a reality and doctrine rather than an event or person. On Trinity Sunday we remember and honor the eternal God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Trinity is one of the most fascinating - and controversial - Christian dogmas. The Trinity is a mystery. By mystery the Church does not mean a riddle, but rather the Trinity is a reality above our human comprehension that we may begin to grasp, but ultimately must know through worship, symbol, and faith. It has been said that mystery is not a wall to run up against, but an ocean in which to swim. The common wisdom is that if you talk about the Trinity for longer than a few minutes you will slip into heresy because you are probing the depths of God too deeply. It is a feast which encourages us to reflect on the formulations of our faith as expressed in the creeds which sometimes we don't reflect on enough.

The gospel reminds us that God loved us so much he sent his only Son and after the world had rejected him, God sent his Spirit, the spirit of love. The inner relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in such a way that each of them is fully and equally God, yet there are not three Gods but one is incomprehensible to the human mind. It is a mystery.

The story is told of St Augustine of Hippo, a great philosopher and theologian who wanted so much to understand the doctrine of the Trinity and to be able to explain it logically. One day as he was walking along the sea shore and reflecting on this, he suddenly saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a whole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup, came and poured it into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went to the sea, filled her cup and came and poured it into the hole. Augustine went up to her and said, "Little child, what are doing?" and she replied, "I am trying to empty the sea into this hole." "How do you think," Augustine asked her, "that you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?" To which she replied, " And you, how do you suppose that with this your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?" With that the child disappeared.

Like Augustine we may not be able to understand the how of the Trinity but it is very important to understand the why. Why did God reveal to us this mystery regarding the very nature of the Supreme Being? The importance of this doctrine lies in this: we are made in the image of God, therefore, the more we understand God the more we can understand ourselves. Experts in religion tell us that people always try to be like the God they worship. People who worship a warrior God tend to be warriors, people who worship a God of pleasure tend to be pleasure-seeking, people who worship a God of wrath tend to be angry people, etc. Like a God, like the worshipers. So the more important question for us to ask today is: What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and what does this say about the kind of people we should be?

God does not exist in isolated individualism but in a community of relationships. In other words, God is not a loner or a recluse. This means that a Christian in search of Godliness (Matthew 5:48) must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. The ideal Christian spirituality is not that of flight from the world like that of certain Buddhist monastic traditions where the quest for holiness means withdrawal to the Himalayas away from contact with other people and society.

You can listen to Lorraine's 2013 reflection on the Trinity excerpted from the programme here.

Phil over at Blue Eyed Ennis had some wonderful links and reflections here.

The 2012 programme on Trinity Sunday was one where Fr Michael Liston gave us a reflection on the Trinity which you read/listen back to here.

Word on Fire has a series of videos with Fr Robert Barron on the Trinity here.

The Top 5 Heresy's to avoid on Trinity Sunday

Gospel - Mt 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy
English Dominicans
Ennis Blue

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours: Psalter week 1; 9th week in ordinary time

Saints of the Week

June 1st- St Justin (martyr)
June 2nd - Ss Marcellinus & Peter (martyrs)
June 3rd - (Irish calendar) - St Kevin (Universal calendar - St Charles Lwanga & Companions - the Uganda Martyrs)
June 4th - (Irish calendar) St Charles Lwanga & Companions (Universal calendar -St. Francis Caracciolo)
Beginning of Novena to the Sacred Heart 
June 5th - St Boniface (First Friday)
June 6th - St Jarlath 
June 7th - Solemnity of the Body & Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

15th June - Mary's Meals - Trinity Sunday (Year A)

This week we are joined by Aoife Martin, the Fundraising Coordinator for Mary's Meals in Ireland and Martina O'Sullivan from Abbeyfeale.  The podcast of the full programme is available HERE.  

Martina O'Sullivan joined us for our Gospel reflection and on behalf of the Apostolate of Eucharistic Adoration told us of their upcoming trip from Abbeyfeale to Knock next Sunday, June 22nd, where there will be Eucharistic Adoration for children in the Adoration Chapel from 11.30am to 3.00pm.  

Aoife Martin shared a little of her faith journey with us including staying for 14 months with the Craig Lodge Community in the Family House of Prayer in Argyll in Scotland.  Her main focus today was Mary's Meals which began in 2002 as a one-off school feeding programme. Today Mary's Meals provide daily life changing meals to over 890,000 hungry children.  


Although the main focus of Mary's Meals is their school feeding programme, they also provide emergency relief and aid delivery and residential care for children when fund's allow. 

Aoife's interview on Mary's Meals is available HERE.  To find out more about Mary's Meals and how you can help, visit their website HERE.  The video Child31 also explains more about the origin and purpose of Mary's Meals:

Gospel - John 16:12-15

"Jesus said to Nicodemus, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.  For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God's only Son.'"

On this solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we are invited to reflect this great mystery.  "The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the great mystery of Christian life and faith.  God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 261).

In this sense, the mystery of the Trinity is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be entered into.  Love is at the heart of the mystery... the mutual love of the Father, Son and Spirit within the Trinity which they desire to share with us. Rublev's Icon expresses this desire beautifully. God the Father, Son and Spirit invites us into a profound relationship of love with them... a relationship which will change our lives forever... a relationship which will make us children of God.

In Ireland today is Father's Day.  We give thanks for the gift of our fathers, those still living and those who have travelled before us to their eternal reward.  We give thanks too for our Heavenly Father who revealed Himself to us as Father through His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Have you wished our Heavenly Father a Happy Father's Day today?  What do you think would make our Heavenly Father happy today?  There is a glimpse of an answer to this question in today's Second Reading of St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians: "we wish you happiness; try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; living in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you" (2 Cor 13:11-12).

More reflections on the Trinity:

The Trinity: On Loving Love Living
God is Three and God is One
Paul, Trinity and Community

Our good friend Phil has some excellent thoughts on Trinity Sunday HERE.

A reflection for Father's Day:
What would Joseph Do?

As we are in the midst of the World Cup which Brazil is hosting, here is a thought-provoking article on Rich and Poor: Faith and Life in Brazil.

Other reflections on today's Gospel are available here:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds and ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3; 11th Week of Ordinary Time

As we return to Ordinary Time, this is a great reflection on Ordinary in an Extraordinary Way by another great friend of the programme Sr. Louise.

Saints of the Week

June 16th- St. John Francis Regis
June 17th- St. George Barbarigo
June 18th- St. Marcus and St. Marcellinus
June 19th- St. Romuld
June 20th- St. Silverius
June 21st - St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Notices

The Meaning of Religious Freedom
The Iona Institute and the Irish Catholic are co-hosting a talk on 'The Meaning of Religious Freedom' by Bishop Brendan Leahy (Chair: Professor Eamonn Conway) in The Strand Hotel, Limerick at 8.00pm on Tuesday, June 17th.  Admission is free.  If you would like to attend, please email bconroy@ionainstitute.ie or phone 01-6619204.

26th May 2013 - Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

On this week's programme, we reflect on Trinity Sunday and what it means for the Christian faith. We have our usual reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as some liturgical odds and ends including saints of the coming week and some local notices.

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

Trinity Sunday

Source

Trinity Sunday, officially "The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity," is one of the few feasts of the Christian Year that celebrates a reality and doctrine rather than an event or person. On Trinity Sunday we remember and honor the eternal God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

The Trinity is one of the most fascinating - and controversial - Christian dogmas. The Trinity is a mystery. By mystery the Church does not mean a riddle, but rather the Trinity is a reality above our human comprehension that we may begin to grasp, but ultimately must know through worship, symbol, and faith. It has been said that mystery is not a wall to run up against, but an ocean in which to swim. The common wisdom is that if you talk about the Trinity for longer than a few minutes you will slip into heresy because you are probing the depths of God too deeply. It is a feast which encourages us to reflect on the formulations of our faith as expressed in the creeds which sometimes we don't reflect on enough and which is being encouraged this year during the Year of Faith.

The gospel reminds us that God loved us so much he sent his only Son and after the world had rejected him, God sent his Spirit, the spirit of love. The inner relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in such a way that each of them is fully and equally God, yet there are not three Gods but one is incomprehensible to the human mind. It is a mystery.
The story is told of St Augustine of Hippo, a great philosopher and theologian who wanted so much to understand the doctrine of the Trinity and to be able to explain it logically. One day as he was walking along the sea shore and reflecting on this, he suddenly saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a whole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup, came and poured it into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went to the sea, filled her cup and came and poured it into the hole. Augustine went up to her and said, "Little child, what are doing?" and she replied, "I am trying to empty the sea into this hole." "How do you think," Augustine asked her, "that you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?" To which she replied, " And you, how do you suppose that with this your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?" With that the child disappeared.

Like Augustine we may not be able to understand the how of the Trinity but I think it is very important to understand the why. Why did God reveal to us this mystery regarding the very nature of the Supreme Being? The importance of this doctrine lies in this: we are made in the image of God, therefore, the more we understand God the more we can understand ourselves. Experts in religion tell us that people always try to be like the God they worship. People who worship a warrior God tend to be warriors, people who worship a God of pleasure tend to be pleasure-seeking, people who worship a God of wrath tend to be angry people, etc. Like a God, like the worshipers. So the more important question for us to ask today is: What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and what does this say about the kind of people we should be?

God does not exist in isolated individualism but in a community of relationships. In other words, God is not a loner or a recluse. This means that a Christian in search of Godliness (Matthew 5:48) must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. The ideal Christian spirituality is not that of flight from the world like that of certain Buddhist monastic traditions where the quest for holiness means withdrawal to the Himalayas away from contact with other people and society.

From this weeks diocesan newsletter:

Why does Trinity matter? 

 Who is this God you pray to, this image you would seek to be like?

- a judge who counts and keeps time?
- a kindly old man we visit on days off?
- a distant king to be approached only through others?
- a community of love?

When we say God is love, we do not mean simply that God loves, that God dispenses love, that God approves of love.
 No, we mean that God IS love.
The Trinity - Father, Son and Spirit - exist as love.

The Father is not the Father without the Son and the Spirit. The Son is not the Son without the Father and the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Spirit apart from the Father and the Son. Each is fully God. Each chooses to fully participate in the life and joy of the other persons of the one true God who gathers everything into this generous love.

The Trinity is an interdependent community.

God IS love.

Why does Trinity matter? In recognising God as Trinity, we recognise ourselves as people created in, through and for love.
There is no judge to judge you, no courtiers to pay to get access to the King, ... Only love.
"God is love and when we live in love,
we live in God, and God lives in us."

(1 John 4: 7)

 

Further reflection on the history and theology of the Trinity available from

 churchyear.net.

You can listen to Lorraine's reflection on the Trinity excerpted from the main programme here.

Phil over at Blue Eyed Ennis has some wonderful links and reflections and from the SS102fm team it is great to see her back, head on over and say hello from us - here.

Deacon Greg Kandra's homily for Trinity Sunday here.
 

Last years programme on the Trinity Sunday was one where Fr Michael Liston gave us a reflection on the Trinity which you read/listen back to here.

Word on Fire has a series of videos with Fr Robert Barron on the Trinity here.

Gospel - John 16:12-15

Last week we celebrated the beautiful feast of Pentecost, the full revelation of the Trinity (cf. Catechism 244, 732).  This week we read from part of Jesus' farewell discourse in St. John's Gospel.  Jesus is preparing His disciples for the time after His death and resurrection.  As Bishop Brendan reminded us on the Feast of the Ascension: it wasn't that Jesus would no longer be with the disciples, but that He would be present to them, and to us, in a different way, through the Sacraments. 

Imagine how Jesus must have felt, knowing that He was returning to God the Father... imagine how the apostles felt... Jesus begins by telling the disciples that He has many things to tell them, but that He knows it would be too much for them know (cf. vs. 12), so He promises to send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, Who will lead them to the complete truth (cf. vs. 13). 

In an earlier passage from John, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit: "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will remind you of all that I have said to you" (Jn 14:26).  One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and to remind us, but we must be open to His promptings.  God does not force Himself upon us.  The Spirit is gentle and invites us to listen to the voice of Jesus.  We may ask ourselves if we are trying to discern the truth, do we listen to the Holy Spirit?  Are we open to hearing His voice?

Verse 15 reminds us that the Holy Spirit is the mutual Love and Joy between God the Father and the Son.  Jesus tells us that everything the Father has is his, so the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to us.  By our Baptism we are drawn into this relationship of love within the Trinity.  Are we aware of what a wonderful gift we have received?

Other reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflections
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy


Liturgical odds and ends

Liturgy of the Hours:  Week 4 Psalter, Week 8 Ordinary time

Saints of the Week

May 27th - St. Augustine of Canterbury
May 28th - Bl. Margaret Pole
May 29th - St. Maximinus of Trier
May 30th - St. Joan of Arc
May 31st - Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
June 1st - St. Justin Martyr

Local Notices

Novena to the Sacred Heart - June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart and once again this year the parish of Shanagolden-Foynes-Robertstown is holding its Novena to the Sacred Heart from May 30th to June 7th at 8pm each evening in Robertstown church which is on the N69 from Foynes to Askeaton. 

Speakers for the various nights at the novena will be:

Lorna Murphy
Fr Noel Kirwin
Fr Chris O'Donnell
Fr Phonsie Cullinan
Fr Eamonn Fitzgibbon
James Malone
Fr Joe Kennedy

 

Quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament each evening after Mass from 9-10pm.

40 Hours Adoration: - Feenagh church will host the annual 40 hours adoration for Our Lady’s Pastoral Area commencing with Mass at 8.00pm on Friday, May 31st and concluding with Mass at 11.30am on Sunday, June 2nd. Please sign your name on the rota at the back of the church.

Our Lady’s Pastoral Area Pilgrimage to Knock: - will take place on Sunday, June 9th 2013. Bus fare: € 16.00. We will celebrate a Mass for the Pastoral Area in Knock and join in the programme of devotions there. If you wish to book a place, please give your name in the sacristy or ring the Parish Office (069-62141).

Songs of Faith: - is a celebration of hymns as part of the Year of Faith celebrations taking place this Sunday, May 26th in St. John’s Cathedral from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. All are welcome to join Bishop Brendan Leahy and fellow singers for an afternoon of scripture reflection and congregational hymn singing. No charge. Sunday Mass is at 7.00pm.

Vigil for Life: - On Saturday, June 8th, there will be a Vigil for Life in Merrion Square, Dublin from 3pm to 4pm. The government intends to legalise abortion in July, and a large attendance in Merrion Square is essential to oppose this. The vigil will send a clear, positive message about safeguarding the lives of mother and babies in pregnancy. Posters will be provided on the day. Please spread the word to family, friends and anyone you know. To organise a bus, or to get bus details, please telephone 087-2668702.

Notices in this weeks Limerick Diocesan Newsletter available

HERE.