"May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”
Number 6: 24-27
2 Jan 2012
New Years Day 2012 - Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God (Live Programme)
Happy New Year from all the team at Sacred Space 102fm!!!!
To start the New Year 2012, Sacred Space 102fm had a live 2 hour programme from West Limerick 102fm HQ today which was presented by John Keily with Lorraine Buckley and Shane Ambrose in studio.
The programme today had our usual reflection and prayer space time, a review of the Church Year 2011, highlights from some of our programmes during the year, our regular weekly reflection on the gospel of the Sunday, saints of the week, the beginning of our prayer circle of intentions here on Sacred Space 102fm for our regular listeners across the diocese.
This weeks podcast is now available HERE. Please have a little patience opening it as it is a large file and may take a few minutes to open, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.
2011 - An Ecclesiastical Year in Review
Highlights (or low points depending on your point of view) of the churches year in 2011 discussed on the programme this morning:
- Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Germany
- World Youth Day 2011 - August in Madrid.
- Launch of Pope Benedict XVI's twitter account
- Beautification of Pope John Paul II
- Publication of second instalment of Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger
- October trip to Assisi with other religious leaders by Pope Benedict XVI
- Publication of Cloyne Report
- The case of Fr Kevin Reynolds
- Publication of the Diocesan audits into Child Protection Measures by Ian Elliott
- Apostolic Visitation to various dioceses of Ireland and the reconciliation service held in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin.
- Ordination of Fr John O'Byrne
- Attacks on Coptic and Iraqi Christians
- Establishment of Anglican Ordinature
- New Translation of the Missal
- Death of Fr John Cribben
- Appointment of Dom Gregory Collins as Abbot of the Abbey of the Dormition in Jerusalem
- Appointment of Bishop Kieran O'Reilly to the diocese of Killaloe
- Closure of the Embassy to the Holy See.
Sacred Space 102fm Programme Highlights 2011
Julian of Norwich - Last year we had an interview about Dame Julian of Norwich on 28th August 2011 and you can read the blog post here which gives details of her background as well as links to her writings.
Trocaire - Eoin Rice (Humanitarian Press Officer) joined us to make an appeal from Trócaire on behalf of the victims of the worsening drought situation in the Horn of Africa on 17th July 2011. In a season of hope when sometimes people feel like they are doing without, it is a reminder to us of the need of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
Gospel - Luke 2:16-21 - Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God
"The shepherds hurried away to Bethlehem" - do we hurry to meet God? Is there an urgency in our lives to get to know God? What is your spiritual New Years Resolution? Do we hurry to make space for God in our lives?
"Everyone that heard them was astonished" - Are we too cynical, too "adult" in our approach to the Christmas story? Have we lost our childlike wonder of the whole story that God became man? For to be truly Christian we need to re-appreciate the "magic" or the wonder of the story, of the gospel. The reason we are Christian is because of what happened at Christmas and which reached its culmination at Calvary but have we stopped listening to that "awesome" story?
"She treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart" - The feast celebrates Mary but Mary doesn't say anything, the focus is on her silence. We are back in Bethlehem on the eight day after the birth and Luke recounts for us how Joseph and Mary have obeyed the Law by having Jesus circumcised. But before that Mary has played a very unobtrusive role in the gospel and it is a reminder to us how she is the great signpost to the Child in her arms. She is attentive to what is happening but is not demanding attention or reaction, rather she is again locating our focus on her Son. It is the challenge that is posed to us, can we sit in silence, in communion with God and discern what blessings he has given to us in our lives, sit like Mary and ponder in our hearts what God wants to talk to us about?
Other reflections on this weeks gospel:
Saints of the Week
Psalter - Week 2
January 2nd - St Basil of Caesarea and St Gregory of Nazianzen
January 3rd - St Munchin, patron of the diocese of Limerick
January 4th - St Elizabeth Ann Seton
January 5th - St Charles of Mt Argus
January 6th - Epiphany (Nollaig na mBan - Holy Day of Obligation in Ireland, also First Friday).
January 7th - St Raymond of Penyafort
2012 - A Year to come
Things to watch out for in 2012:
- International Eucharistic Congress - June 2012
- Consistory for the appointment of Cardinals - possible February 2012
- Irish appointees of Bishops and the new papal nuncio takes up his position
- Publication of the Visitation Report
- "Year of Faith" to begin October 2012 which ties in with the 50th Anniversary of the calling of the second Vatican Council.
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| Blog Patron for 2012 - St James the Greater |
At the same time we have also sought a spiritual patron for our programme and blog for 2012 and this year it will be St James the Greater who we will learn more about over the next 12 months.
Prayer intentions for 2012 for the Sacred Space Prayer Circle
At the same time, we are asking our regular listeners who are housebound or ill to consider taking on a task for the year - a prayer intention. Just because we may no longer actively attending Mass in our parish does not mean you are no longer part of our diocesan community. So we are asking for your prayers for the following intentions and you are encouraged to also seek the intercession of the saints for each intention:
- The Unemployed and those seeking work - St Joseph the Worker
- Emigrants - St Patrick
- Government - St Thomas Moore (or St Jude, patron saint of Lost Causes)
- Vocations - St Alphonsis Ligouri
- Bankers and those in financial services - St Matthew the Evangelist
- Priests - St John Vianney
- Diocese of Limerick and the selection of our new bishop - St Munchin and St Ita
- International Eucharistic Congress - St Colmcille, St Mary McKillop, Blessed Margaret Ball
- Pope Benedict XVI - St Peter, St Benedict, St Joseph
- Youth - St John Bosco, Ss Francesco and Jacinta (Seers of Fatima), Blessed Piero Gergio Frassati
- Cancer patients - St Peregrine
- Media and the Press - St Paul, Blessed James Alberione
- Persecuted Christians - St Stephen, St Edith Stein, the Ugandan Martyrs.
St Thomas Music Group - Laudate omnes gentes - Your Favourite Taize Collection
Libera - Mother of God - Eternal: the best of Libera
The Priests - Ave Maria - The Priests
Noirin Ni Riain - Salve Regina - Celtic Joy: A Celebration of Christmas
Aled Jones - Hark the Herald Angels Sing - The Christmas Album
Monica Brown - May the Lord bless you - Comfort my people
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