St. Matthew’s Church Ballyfermot

PARISH NEWSLETTER 24 Sept (25th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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WEEKLY COLLECTIONS 10/09

First Collection €860 Share Collection €480 Family Offering €860

Gospel Readings for the Week Ahead Mon 25/09 Lk 8:16-18 ‘No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl ‘. Tue 26/09 Lk 8: 19-21 ‘My mother and my brothers and sisters are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice’. Wed 27/09 Lk 9: 1-6 ST. VINCENT DE PAUL, PRIEST St. Vincent de Paul, 1580 - 1660, founded the Congregation of the Mission, (The Vincentians) and the Daughters of Charity (1633), the first sisters to work outside their convents in active service. He is the patron of all charitable works. Here in St. Matthew's we are delighted to have the presence of a group of Daughters of Charity and we thank them for their continued service and inspiration and we wish them a Happy Feast Day! Thur 28/09 Lk 9: 7-9 ‘So who is this I hear such reports about?’ Fri 29/09 Jn 1: 47-51 SS MICHAEL, GABRIEL AND RAPHAEL, ARCHANGELS ‘Come and see’ Gabriel brought the message to Mary at the Annunciation. Raphael was guide to Tobias. Michael has been venerated as protector of Christians in general and soldiers in particular. Sat 30/09 Lk 9: 43-45 ST. JEROME, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH ‘everyone was awestruck by the greatness of God.’

BOOK OF THE WEEK SONG OF SONGS

FOCUS ON THE BIBLE RICHARD BROOKS

CHRISTIAN FOCUS, FEARN, ROSS-SHIRE, GB 1999 Pp 221 I had a conversation with a lady recently that prompted this particular review. She asked me about my favourite books in the Bible and then she specified the Old Testament and I immediately began to tell her about the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs is a love poem written by Solomon. It has been argued that it is about the spiritual relationship between Christ and his people, others maintain it is about Marriage and sexuality. Brooks contends it is primarily about Christ and the Church. In the past year or so my own, long term spiritual director recommended that I see it as parallel with the Gospel of St. John and allow them to feed my understanding of God’s love for me. It is with this in mind that I recommend this book to you.

FAITH MOMENT The chief mysteries of Christ’s life are his birth, the ‘Paschal Mystery’ of his sufferings and death on the Cross, and his victory over sin and death in the resurrection and ascension. Mass Intentions

6.30 Saturday 23 Sept Anne, Dennis Griffiths (50th Wedding Anniversary) Mayella Wilkes, Anne, John Persie, John Dillon 9.00 Sunday 24 Sept Elizabeth, Joseph Cullen 12.00 Sunday 24 Sept Alice, Teresa Doyle, Colm Voyles, Patricia, Conor Ward 7.30 Tuesday 26 Sept Evelyn McDonagh 10.00 Friday 28 Sept Geraldine Galvin

Recent Funerals Patricia McGlone, Kathleen Smith May They Rest in Peace

PARISH SHOP Cards, Calendars, Candles

and much more available at the shop in the Parish Centre

Be Part of Irelands

Biggest Coffee Weekend In aid of the Hospice, Harold’s Cross

Coffee/Tea/ Cake Morning

Donations of bought or baked cakes, scones etc. would be very welcome.

The St. Vincent De Paul monthly church gate collection will take place next weekend

SPECIAL MASS FOR OUR BELOVED DEAD THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9TH AT 7.30 PM

CONCERT 24th NOVEMBER For details see notice boards or Phone Ken: 086 236 5288

ORDINATION OF BILL O’SHAUGHNESSY We as a faith community here in St. Matthew’s rejoice in the upcoming Ordination to Priesthood of our Deacon and friend, Rev Bill O’Shaughnessy. It is with great anticipation and joy that we look forward to Bill celebrating his First Mass in St. Matthew's at 12 noon, Sunday 19th November. There will be an opportunity to receive his blessing after Mass. We will have a collection that day for Bill as a way of thanking him for his time among us, which has brought us many blessings, and also of marking this very special occasion in his life, and in the life of the Dublin diocese. Meanwhile we continue to carry Bill prayerfully in our hearts. JMCD

Mass Times Weekdays:

Saturday: Vigil Mass 6.30 Monday Sunday: 9.00, 9.45 (Convent) 10.00 Prayer Service 10.30,12.00 Masses

Tuesday: 7.30 only Wed, Thur, Fri: 10.00 This Weekend

FAMILY MASS We are beginning our monthly Family Mass. As you may already know these have been occasions of both fun and timeto get to know both Jesus and each other better.All these Masses are at 10.30 am St. Matthew's Church on theThird Sunday of the Month. Everybody welcome. The dates for the Family Mass for the rest of the school year are as follows: October 15th Holy Communion Children special guests November 19th All welcome December 17th Confirmation Children special guests January 21st Holy Communion Children special guests February 18th All welcome March 18th Confirmation Children special guests April 15th All welcome May 20th All welcome Children preparing for Holy Communion and Confirmation are always welcome to attend the Family Mass. I look forward very much to meeting you at these monthly Masses. Fr Joe

PRIVATE ENEMY NUMBER ONE I first met him when I was very young. I did not know then that he was such a spoilsport and I

certainly did not know he was such a robber. As I grew up I began to realise that he was very strong, very powerful. Whilst I do not believe in giving into regret and the pointlessness of ‘what if’, I do still marvel at the influence I allowed him to have on my life. I think it's true to say I did not suffer much from allowing him to decide what I would do but certainly there was more than a few occasions when he managed to stop me doing something that I might like to have done. For a good while I was fooled by his masks and many disguises. At times he wore the ‘mask of common sense’ whilst on other occasions arriving wrapped in ‘the cloak of doing the right thing’. I used to wonder had others met him, and to my surprise I discovered he is very well known indeed. The truth of the matter is he manages to live with people a long time before they cop on to him. Indeed even then, often having caused a lot of harm, he is still very hard to get rid of.

It has become very trendy to say that the phrase ‘Do not be afraid appears three hundred and sixty five times in the Bible, one for everyday in the year. Having said that I heard somebody argue the other day that it's only thirty seven times. Today I explored this a bit myself and there seems to be a consensus that's it's one hundred and forty five times. Whatever about the rights and wrongs of this debate what can be stated with authority is that the theme of ‘Be not afraid’ is very prevalent throughout Sacred Scripture. The beautiful images of the Good Shepherd in Psalm twenty-three, in all its tenderness and reassurance, are further deepened by the words and actions of Jesus in the Gospels. It is very clear that Jesus does not want us to be afraid. In fact he does not want us bound, unfree shut down or up! He wants our freedom, which we should not confuse with doing our own thing, he wants us to embrace true freedom not its inferior and disappointing relative, licence.

I am not sure I qualify for the term ‘frequent flyer’ but most years I make the trip to the United States. My couple of weeks there whilst something of a bus man’s holiday is also a lovely break and I come back batteries recharged rearing to go. I do not make money there but more importantly it costs me nothing. Now a few years ago out of the blue I was seized with real panic about flying. It came on me just a few weeks before our planned trip. The fear was very specific, the plane I was on was hijacked. The more I tried to shake this notion off the more it seemed to take root. Soon it was my first thought in the morning and the last at night. Before long I was having nightmares. I tried to figure ways I could tell my travelling companion and good friend, Fr. John. How could I do this without letting him down? We arranged to meet for lunch in a pub restaurant in Leixlip and I explained that the fear had got such a grip of me that I would cause a scene in the airport or worse still on the plane. Gradually through the power of prayer and the gift of friendship it dawned on me that if I did not fly this time then it was very possible that I may well never fly again. I was forty-four and I was never going to fly again? How restrictive and limiting that would be. Look at all the wonderful possibilities I was going to say no to. Another thing that dawned on me was: I am saying no to flying, how long before I am saying, ‘that M50 has got very dangerous’? What would be next? The stairs are dangerous, you could have a bad fall, time to bring the bed down? Don’t get me wrong there can be a time for this, a time when to continue going up stairs is foolhardy, and the bed downstairs prudent and wise. However what is key here is timing. The choice between valiantly hanging on to ones own independence and graciously and gently accepting the vicissitudes of growing old is never going to be easy. What we must remember is to try to recognise fear, look him in the eye and say no, at least not yet, my terms, not yours, release my arm, I choose freedom.

The archangels are celebrated next Saturday, which means the Guardian Angels are coming up very soon. Do you talk to yours? Is yours overworked? I mean minding you. I mean your guardian angel. What's its name? Mine’s called Mick. As we get older it can be hard to resist fear. Sometimes we do not even recognise it as fear. Try to remember that fear thrives on silence. One of the greatest ways of weakening fear is to name it, at first to yourself. One of my favourite lines from the gospel is Jn 16: 33. It gives me great comfort.

‘I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble but be brave: I have conquered the world.’

J MC DONALD. 19. 09. 17

St. Matthew’s Church10 Blackditch Drive, Ballyfermot

Dublin 10

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