World Meeting of Families 2018 - Access videos and texts

WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES 2018 DRAWS TO A CLOSE

"As one of the fruits of this celebration of family life, may you go back to your homes and become a source of encouragement to others, to share with them Jesus’ “words of eternal life”. For your families are both a privileged place for, and an important means of, spreading those words as “Good News” for everyone (...)"

Pope Francis, WMOF2018 Final Mass in Phoenix Park

World Meeting of Families 2018 - The Events National Opening Ceremony celebrated simultaneously across all 26 dioceses. Welcoming Team for over 11,000 international visiting pilgrims and families in the Airport over eight days. Host a Family volunteers welcoming over 1,100 people into their homes. Pastoral Congress Programme in the RDS for three days. Two-day Peace Conference. Symposium in the RDS – Voices of Impact: Women Leaders Shaping Global Change The arrival of Pope Francis at Dublin Airport on Saturday 25th August Áras an Uachtaráin Welcome Ceremony on Saturday 25th August Meeting in Dublin Castle with State Authorities. Meeting in the Pro-Cathedral with couples who are preparing for or who have recently celebrated the Sacrament of Marriage. Visit to the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People. People greet Pope Francis as he travels in Popemobile through the streets of Dublin. Festival of Families in Croke Park. Angelus in Knock Shrine. Papal Mass in Phoenix Park Meeting with Irish Bishops Departure from Dublin Airport And many other smaller gatherings and meetings. World Meeting of Families 2018 in Numbers Over 7,000 volunteers worked across the events. Over 11,000 pilgrims from 114countries travelled to Dublin staying in a variety of hotels and B&Bs. 1,177 of the visiting pilgrims were hosted free in Irish homes for a week. In the RDS we had over 200speakers from all five main continents of the world at the International Pastoral Congress, 91 lay women and 65 lay men; the largest group were married couples. There was a Teen Space and Children’s Space attended by over 1,500 children each day. WMOF2018 had the first dedicated Safeguarding Panel Session, the first-ever Women in Leadership Symposium, the first ever Tech Panel Session and the first 2 day Peace Conferenceincluded in the programme. The exhibition space had over 250 exhibitors to include the first-ever Tech Zone. Over 1,200 international press and media registered to attend, and an overall attendance in excess of 499,000 people attended the various events. RTE had an average of 535,000 viewers for the Papal Mass coverage from start to finish, and more than 1.8 million (excluding Northern Ireland) tuned in over the weekend. This TV footage was also shared internationally to over 75 broadcasters worldwide with a reach of millions more viewers, sharing the beautiful images of the Pope’s visit to Ireland. The WMOF2018 website had 4,376,297 pages viewed. 1,149,200 words were translated by our volunteers (into 5 languages). 2,709,300 prayer cards, icon cards and info sheets were distributed to parishes in Ireland over the 18 months before August 2018. The WMOF2018 Icon of the Holy Family travelled 45,000 miles in Ireland and 60,000petitions were sent back to the WMOF2018 office. Our Facebook page posts in the last two months reached 3,820,409 people, and our twitter account had 4,282,726 impressions in 6 months. Our August newsletter was sent to 34,987. From 21st to 25th August 4,713people used the event app

Photo Credit: Maxwell Photography for WMOF2018   Read all Pope Francis' Texts and Homilies Here! You can now read all the texts and homilies from Pope Francis' Apostolic visit to Ireland on the Occasion of the IX World Meeting of Families. Check our website for all texts in English, Spanish, French and Italian. Videos of Pope Francis’ Engagements on his Visit to Ireland  Many of the meetings and events that His Holiness participated in were recorded. These were shared on live television and can now also be viewed through our website. Watch them here

Photo Credit: Pat McKeon  Access Pastoral Congress Texts and Videos Now Over 37,000 people of all ages attended the Pastoral Congress of WMOF2018, including families, teens, children, religious, people active in their faith lives, as well as those interested in marriage and family. Three days, from Wednesday 22 - Friday 24 August were packed with talks, workshops, discussions, presentations, liturgies and entertainments. Some of the panels and talks were live-streamed and many are now available to view on our website. Watch the discussions you are interested in, those you might have missed on the day, or those you’d like to re-visit, at your leisure, from your own home. Videos available here.

The WMF2018 Blogs - painting a picture, sharing the stories & capturing the atmosphere Did you get a chance to read the WMOF2018 Event Blogs yet? We had a team of 10 volunteer bloggers and a volunteer photographer at our events, capturing some of the best moments, telling the smaller or personal stories, giving a flavour of what was happening at the venues. They truly brought the events to life for our readers, including those who couldn't come and followed us online. Immerse yourself in some reading and bring some memories to life! The blogs provide a prism through which to remember the ninth World Meeting of Families in Ireland in 2018. They describe the anticipation and excitement of the lead-up, preparations and opening ceremonies, the different events and activities of the Pastoral Congress (including talks and workshops, exhibitions, prayer spaces and more), the arrival of Pope Francis to Ireland and the warm welcome he received during his various engagements, the build-up to and performances at the Festival of Families and a selection of individual experiences of and reflections on the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park. Our blogs are a wonderful part of the legacy of WMOF2018 and will breathe fresh life into the event for years to come. Read them here.

WMOF2018 LITURGICAL MEMORABILIA AND MERCHANDISING Liturgical Items and Memorabilia from the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park are now available for parishes to purchase, as well as a number of WMOF2018 merchandising items and publications. Please note that there is limited availability of stock. Last orders by the 22nd of October. Visit our website for more information.

A Big Cheer for our Volunteers Over 7,000 people volunteered for World Meeting of Families 2018 across the events. They assisted with Hospitality and Information services, Logistics and Transportation, Marketing, Translation and Communications, Medical services and Pastoral and Liturgical support, hosting visiting pilgrims, among many, many more roles. Our green and blue army of volunteers were a happy and helpful presence at all the WMOF2018 events. They assisted with queries, helped people with directions, provided support to those who might need it and offered a plentiful supply of good humour, enthusiasm and fun. We could not have undertaken an event of such scale and magnitude without the commitment and good will of those who gave their time and skills to make World Meeting of Families 2018 such a wonderful, joyous occasion. A very, very big thank you to our volunteers, wonderful ambassadors for our event and for our country – we couldn’t have done it without you! Read our blog in appreciation of the WMOF2018 volunteers here.

Some of the Staff Team - Photo Credit: WMOF2018  Thank you to the WMOF2018 Team! What does it take to organise the single largest event in Ireland in 2018? What, that is, aside from the support from the Vatican, the thousands of volunteers across the country, the local teams in each diocese, religious orders, suppliers and commercial partners, State authorities, the enthusiasm of dioceses around the world and the input of speakers from a range of academic and practical disciplines? Today we thank the WMOF2018 Staff team, who managed with the support of everyone a record-breaking World Meeting of Families with the highest number of people registered for the Pastoral Congress, the highest number of international pilgrims present and the highest number of children and young people attending! Meet the team here

7th October 2018 - "Catching the right bus"

Well, after a short break (some of it planned and some unplanned for members of the team) normal service resumes this week on SS102fm. Your blog editor takes back the wheel of the rather unwieldy ship which is the blog which was under the excellent care of our Lorraine for the month of September. Much obliged to her for keeping it afloat! 

In addition the team is back on air this weekend as we catch up with a few bits and pieces. Bear with us as we have to re-jig the programme planner for the next few weeks and we know we have some serious catch up to do in terms of ecclesial news from around the world and especially from HQ in Rome and the travails of Papa Frankie over the last few weeks. In addition we will be looking at the up coming seismic changes in the governance and administrative structure of the diocese of Limerick over the next few months and hoping to bring you an explainer on that as well as the pilgrims experience of WMoF2018, a report on the canonisations of Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI among other things. 

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So on this weeks programme we draw our initial review of the WMoF2018 discussions to a close with a third short reflection on the dignity and beauty of sexual love with a reflection by Bosco and Lynett McShane. We have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as a quick run through the saints of the week and other notices.

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

WMoF2018 - Catching the Right Bus 
Dignity and Beauty of Sexual Love: finding new language for ancient truths

At WMoF2018, Bosco and Dr Lynette McShane were panelists at the discussion on the Dignity and Beauty of Sexual Love: Finding New Language for Ancient Truths.  On this weeks programme we have their rather catchy presentation called "Catching the right bus".

They are retreat co-ordinators and founders of the Siolta Catholic retreat team. They have 6 young children. Over the past 15 years, they have delivered Catholic retreat programmes in schools and parishes with the aim of leading young people to God through the Sacraments. Bosco and Lynette met through missionary work in Calcutta, founding the charity “Another Pair of Hands”. Following the completion of her PhD in Philosophy, Lynette held the post of Senior Research Officer and then Head of Research at the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health for 6 years, researching suicide in N.I and reviewing the needs of those in services.  A former ladies Gaelic football All-Star for Tyrone, Lynette continues to write in the field of sport and mental health, delivering lectures and workshops across Universities, schools and clubs. Bosco also works professionally as a DJ.

You can listen to the WMoF2018 section of the programme excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Gospel - Mark 10:2-16

Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3

Saints of the Week

October 8th - St Nestor of Thessalonica
October 9th - Bl John Henry Newman
October 10th - St Daniel Comboni
October 11th - Pope St John XXIII
October 12th - St Edwin of Northumbria
October 13th - Our Lady of Fatima

General Audience after Ireland trip: The pope on World Meeting of Families and Sexual Abuse - Rome Reports

Vatican News - Pope Francis: Families an eloquent sign of God’s dream - At his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis looks back on his visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families.

Best images from Pope Francis' trip to Ireland - Rome Reports

26th August 2018 - WMoF2018 in Ireland

On this weeks programme SS102fm can't really compete with the Main Event in Ireland this weekend but we are conscious of all our listeners and readers!

So we have our usual visit to the saints of the week, a short reflection on this weeks Sunday gospel.

Given the weekend that was in it, we also had a WMoF2018 link. As part of the preparation for the World Meeting of Families 2018 and the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland, a 6-part television series has been commissioned by the World Meeting of Families to help explore the document written by Pope Francis on love in the family.

‘A Journey through Amoris Laetitia’ features a wide variety of well-known commentators, as well as families from all walks of life and from all over the world.  Contributors include President of Caritas Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, speaker and author Jeff Cavins, Bishop Robert Barron, John and Clare Gabrowski (Pontifical Council for the Family) and Primate of all Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin.

Through the six episodes, presented by Wendy Grace, we reflect on what Amoris Laetitia has to say to families as they experience the ups and downs of family life and how Pope Francis addresses key themes like imperfection, mercy and wider society while also offering an uplifting vision for the family.

You  can find out more about A Journey through Amoris Laetitia tv series you can find out about it HERE.

You can listen to the full programme podcast HERE.

You can listen to A Journey through Amoris Laetitia excerpted HERE

Gospel - John 6: 60 - 69

Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said,
"This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,
he said to them, "Does this shock you?
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending
to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life,
while the flesh is of no avail.
The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe."
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe
and the one who would betray him.
And he said,
"For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by my Father."

As a result of this,
many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer accompanied him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections 
English Dominicans

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours: Psalter week 1

Saints of the week

27th August - St Monica
28th August - St Augustine of Hippo
29th August - The Passion of St John the Baptist
30th August - St Fiacre
31st August - St Aidan of Lindisfarne
1st September - St Giles

Can't get to Dublin for the WMoF2018 Congress?

Many of us can't get to the pastoral congress which is the main focus of the WMoF2018 being hosted in Dublin's RDS from 22nd - 24th August but there are some options online for you to participate!

WMoF2018 are delighted to announce the release of the #WMOF2018 APP! Navigate & access the Programme schedule, Pilgrim Guide, Pilgrim Walk, News & Blog section, Videos & Social Media, among other features directly from your phone or iPad. Available on Apple Store & Android Play Store.

Check out the social media accounts of WMoF2018 especially their Twitter feed, their Facebook page, and of course the official website.

One thing which had slipped by us on SS102fm is the fact that some of the sessions and discussions at the congress are actually going to be livestreamed HERE!

For coverage of the event which isn't directly linked to the WMOF2018 organisers check out Crux's coverage  or S+L which seems to be more balanced and knowledgeable as the Irish mainstream media maintains its usual negativity about anything related to Catholicism and the church.

Hash tags on Twitter to pay attention to:

#WMOF2018
#PápaInÉireann
#PopeinIreland
#festivaloffamilies

Keep an eye on the Twitter feeds of @IrishCathNews; @CatholicBishops; @DublinDiocese; and @Crux.

Pope Francis sends video message to Ireland ahead of his visit

Pope Francis sent a video message to the families meeting in Ireland. He says that the World Meeting of families is a celebration of the beauty of God’s plan for the family.

In the video message sent ahead of his visit, Pope Francis hopes that this occasion will be a source of renewed encouragement for families from all over the world, especially those families who will be there in Dublin.

WMoF2018 begins today

An Opening Ceremony for World Meeting of Families 2018 is taking place simultaneously across all 26 Dioceses of Ireland on the evening of Tuesday 21 August, with the lead ceremony taking place in Dublin. 

The Opening Liturgy will be a full celebration of Evening Prayer. Entitled ‘Le chéile le Críost’ (Together with Christ), it will gather the Church as the family of families, and set us on the path of celebration for the entire World Meeting of Families that will culminate with the closing Papal Mass on Sunday 26th August. It is taking place in every diocese in the country.

We will begin remembering that we walk in the footsteps of the saints and those who have handed on the faith to us. We welcome Christ our unfailing light, we sing and pray hymns, psalms and canticles, burn incense and pray for the entire human family before our God and Father. 

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You can watch at St John's Cathedral HERE.

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Official Prayer of WMoF2018

God, our Father,

We are brothers and sisters in Jesus your Son,

One family, in the Spirit of your love.

Bless us with the joy of love.

Make us patient and kind,

gentle and generous,

welcoming to those in need.

Help us to live your forgiveness and peace.

Protect all families with your loving care,

Especially those for whom we now pray:

[We pause and remember family members and others by name].

Increase our faith,

Strengthen our hope,

Keep us safe in your love,

Make us always grateful for the gift of life that we share.

This we ask, through Christ our Lord,

Amen

Mary, mother and guide, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, father and protector, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, pray for us.

Church at crossroads as Pope arrives says Bishop Leahy

Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy has said that visit of Pope Francis to Ireland is a crossroads moment for the Church in Ireland to acknowledge our past, good and bad.

In a pivotal moment in what he described as his own personal pilgrimage in preparation for the World Meeting of Families and visit of Pope Francis, Bishop Leahy said it is good for us to recall with a grateful heart just how much the Church contributed to Irish society.  But to acknowledge with gratitude the good can never eclipse recognition of sin, criminality and evil, he said.

We need, he said, to prepare for the Pope’s coming with a desire to want to “repair” the Church first of all by seeking forgiveness for the sins of the past.  As well as needing to pray for those who have been wounded we need to keep listening and to learn from them how to clarify and repair our church.

Bishop Leahy delivered his Feast of the Assumption of Mary homily at the Mass Rock in Killeedy, Co. Limerick, following Mass earlier at Ashford Church.  He chose the location as a symbolic gesture to bring, as is needed he said, the Catholic Church out into the open and to acknowledge the inspiration of not just Mary herself but also Limerick’s own St. Ita, after whom the parish of Killeedy is named.

“Without gratitude we grow cynical. We can and should be proud of the living commitment in faith and hope of those of previous generations. We can draw inspiration from it and express our thanks to them,” he said.

“But, then, we need to acknowledge the dark aspects of our Church’s history that have come to light especially in recent decades – a clericalism that ended up confusing power and ministry, the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and religious that did untold life-long damage to victims, the violent and repressive treatment by church representatives of young people sent to the State’s reformatory institutions, the dark experience of vulnerable women in places meant to be residences of refuge.  Sadly, as has been highlighted, cover-up, wilful or otherwise, and mismanagement compounded the damage, adding to our shame.

“We know that not every bishop or priest or sister or brother or lay person engaged in church circles was bad. And we know that not everyone was good. Those of us of a certain age, however, know many, many who were very kind, caring and helpful.  But to acknowledge with gratitude the good can never eclipse recognition of sin, criminality and evil. In some way, everyone in the church bears the shame of these darks aspects of our history. Few of us can throw stones as if we ourselves were not somehow associated.”

Bishop Leahy’s homily was built around three pillars for preparing for the Pope’s arrival, the first was the need to acknowledge the good and bad of the past, with the second that we need to be proactive in repairing the Church. It really is better, he said, to light a candle than curse the darkness.

“The Church isn’t just the Pope or bishops or priests or nuns. The Church is a people, it’s you and me who continue, despite (or, indeed, in and through) all our limits, to be Jesus Christ in this world. What’s most important in the Church is love. And this is why the family is so important. It’s the place where we first learn the ways of love. True, there’s no such thing as a perfect family. Each family is on a journey but it is the special place of love given, love received, love shared and experienced.”

The third element, he continued, was to look to the future with hope. “Catholics can be downbeat today because it is painful to acknowledge in our family story that we have wounded people. It isn’t easy, not least for those who are proud of their Church and the good work that it does and they do in it, to hear our own Catholic identity pilloried daily in one way or another.

“The group think that says to be Catholic is out of date seems sometimes overwhelming. But let’s remember, if Jesus had spent his time worrying about what people were saying about him or seeing how the numbers following him were declining - and the numbers following Jesus declined dramatically in his life time - he would have achieved little. Instead, he kept going forward in hope. Likewise, for us. We need to move forward, attentive to what the Spirit is saying to us,” he said.

Bishop Leahy said that it would be a shame to lose the memory of our Christian heritage.  “The Church of tomorrow will be very different,” he continued.  “To be Catholic isn’t simply about Mass on Sunday or certain moral rules or pious practices. Unfortunately, too often, and perhaps we ourselves are partly to blame, our Catholic faith has been reduced to this caricature.  Catholic faith is something much more alive and dynamic……

“It can seem at times in Ireland that religion has to be relegated to the private domain alone.  I acknowledge a Catholicism that spoke to a previous era might seem too confining to people today. There is a desire to break out, open new horizons, be in dialogue with world horizons, go beyond frontiers. But this is the very change the Catholic Church itself knows it needs.

“But in searching for the new, let’s be careful not to discard too easily what is valuable and noble and deep in our Irish Christian heritage. To throw away what seems no longer fit for purpose shouldn’t mean we end up eclipsing the huge resources of insight and wisdom, intellectual research and enlightenment within the Christian parameters that speak of human fulfilment and freedom.”

Addressing young people, he said: “There are many, many very fine young people today, with great values of respect and toleration and inclusiveness. Their difficulty with finding a connection with the Church isn’t their fault. We need young people to help Church-attending members to find the way forward on how to reconnect youth cultures and Church.  Might this visit of Pope Francis be a moment when young people might look again at what the Church really has to offer? We need you because you are part of our access to what God is saying to the Church today. We need you to help us find the ways towards the future that God has marked out for us all.”

Concluding, he added: “We’re here in a region associated with St. Ita, the great woman saint who built the Church community in her day. And today, Feast of the Assumption, we think of Mary, the mother of Jesus, our mother. She did the most important thing in history – she brought Jesus into the world and so transformed it. Now it’s our turn to do our part. Pope Francis’ visit is like an appointment with history for us. Let’s not miss it.”



Bishop Leahy’s full homily:

Limerick Diocese’s Preparation for Pope Francis

We are now beginning the Countdown to the World meeting of Families and the arrival of Pope Francis to our shores, the 266th Pope in history and only the second ever to visit Ireland. While the Pope is certainly a world celebrity and hugely popular for Catholics he is an instrument in the hands of God. Of course, he is a human being like all of us, a “sinner” as he defines himself, and yet he is a special person linked particularly to the Holy Spirit. As Catherine of Siena, one of the great women saints of the Church put it, the Pope is the gentle Christ on earth.

Householders asked to invite elderly to watch Pope’s Mass - Irish Catholic

From The Irish Catholic:

Homeowners are being encouraged to invite elderly people who may have mobility or other issues to their houses to watch the papal Mass in a group setting. 

Pope Francis’ Mass in the Phoenix Park on August 26 is set to be an historic event for all involved, but with many elderly people unable to attend, an Irish charity is encouraging friends and family to come together to offer alternative options. 

Anne Dempsey of Third Age says the 5km walk from public transport points and the standing – despite the rest stops, food and drinks stations, medical and toilets facilities that are organised – would mean many wouldn’t chance attending. 

“Some people who are very staunch Catholics, weekly and even daily Massgoers, are not going because they say they wouldn’t be able for it,” she said. 

“I have heard that friends are gathering and meeting in houses. It will probably generate a lot of conversations about the Church. 

“This is also an opportunity for people to come together in an interesting and different kind of way. 

“I would say to people to invite their (elderly) relatives and neighbours. It could be nice for people to sit around in a group setting and perhaps reminisce about the last papal visit.”

12th August 2018 - Visit of the relics of Saints Louis & Zélie Martin and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to Limerick

On this weeks programme (via some very dodgy Skype connections!) John and Shane are joined by Sr Beatrice Cotter from the Dominican Sisters of St Cecilia in Nashville (and also of St Saviours Parish Limerick!) to tell us about the up coming visit of the relics of Saints Louis & Zélie Martin and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to Limerick and the example of the Martin's to us in our daily lives. We have our regular run through the saints of the week, local notices and of course a short reflection on the Sunday gospel.

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

Visit of the relics of Saints Louis & Zélie Martin and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to Limerick

Sr Beatrice Cotter joins us on this weeks programme with a reflection on the example of the Martin family as saints for us. While one member of the family may be more well known than all the others, the example of St Louis and Zeile Martin cannot but have influenced St Therese of Lisieux and her sisters - three of whom also entered Carmel and one became a Visitation sister.

The Dominican Church, Glentworth St, Limerick will be hosting the relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux, and of her parents, Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, on Saturday 18 August, beginning with the 1pm Mass. Blessing of roses, veneration of relics, and reflections by the Dominicans will follow, with sung Vespers concluding the event at 5pm.


You can listen to Sr Beatrice reflection on the example of the Martin's HERE.

Gospel - John 6:41-51

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections

Liturgical odds and ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 3

Saints of the Week

13th August - Bl Con O'Rourke
14th August - St Maximilian Kolbe
15th August - Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
16th August - St Stephen of Hungary
17th August - Our Lady of Knock (as per the revised Irish liturgical calendar)
18th August - St Ronan of Iona

WMoF2018 in Limerick - 21 August 2018

The Relics of Saints Louis & Zélie Martin and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux are visiting Ireland - August 4 to Sept 9 2018

In conjunction with the organisers of the World Meeting of Families, the Irish Order of Carmelites, Order of Discalced Carmelites, Carmelite nuns and Lay/Secular Carmelites have arranged that Relics of Saints Louis, Zélie and Thérèse will come from Lisieux and be in Ireland for the World Meeting of Families. The relics will arrive on August 4 and remain in Ireland until September 9

The Relics of Saints Louis & Zélie Martin and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux visiting Whitefriar Street Church, Dublin

The Relics will be at the Opening Ceremony in the R.D.S., Dublin, on Tuesday, August 21, and they will also be in the sanctuary in the Phoenix Park for the Papal Mass on Sunday, August 26. The Carmelites have also been invited to give a forty-five minute presentation on the spirituality of the Martin family in the Phoenix Park before the Papal Mass. This will consist of interviews with people on aspects of the Martin spirituality, texts from the writings of the saints and intercessions and have engaged the services of Kairos Communications to ensure that this will be done to a professional standard. Music will be provided by the Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Eireann orchestra.

The Relics will also travel to several places across Ireland before and after the World Meeting and this gives a much wider group of people who cannot the Congress in the R.D.S. or the Festival of Families in Croke Park or the Papal Mass at the close of the World Meeting to participate in the Meeting in a different though tangible way. Given the short time the Relics will be in the country it is not possible to visit every diocese and every part of the island, but the hope is that given the time available, that as many people as possible will be able to spend time with the Relics and to consider the life of this saintly family. The journey of the Relics through Ireland is a form of pilgrimage leading up to the World Meeting itself and leading away from it afterwards.

Each place that will receive the Reliquaries will organise their own liturgical celebrations and times for veneration and these will be made known over the coming weeks. Information regarding the preparations in each place can be had direct from each place.

You can find more information from the Carmelites website here.

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The Dominican Church, Glentworth St, Limerick will be hosting the relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux, and of her parents, Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, on Saturday 18 August, beginning with the 1pm Mass. Blessing of roses, veneration of relics, and reflections by the Dominicans will follow, with sung Vespers concluding the event at 5pm.