Month of the Precious Blood

Precious Blood,

Ocean of Divine Mercy

Flow upon us!

Precious Blood,

Most pure offering

Procure us every grace!

Hope and Refuge of sinners

Atone for us.

Precious Blood.

Delight of holy souls

Draw us! Amen.       St Catherine of Sienna

It’s amazing, that with Eucharist on the mind, how easy it is to find it everywhere. After the consecration, the bread and wine substance is changed. They are no longer bread and wine, but the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. “Bread of Life” sounds so ‘not catholic’—symbol only. I just can’t get used to what the children are calling holy Communion. We have a whole month to be thinking about the Precious Blood.  All sacrifices in the old law were ratified with blood. Blood was sprinkled on the doorposts at the Passover and when sacrifices were offered in the Temple the altar and the ashes and the people were sprinkled with the blood of the victim. Mass and Calvary are the same. We don’t crucify Jesus over and over each time. Jesus, through his priest makes it present again —“re presents” the sacrifice and we can enter into the mystery. No problem to God who is eternal anyway, it’s only we who have trouble with time and space. So put all your sweat and toil and troubles into the chalice and offer them up to be included with his. Make a difference. Young children could be told this because they love mystery and have their own way of dealing with it. Here is how Anna, a five-year old in ‘Mr God, this is Anna,’ explained eternity “God has no back side”— meaning, he doesn’t have to turn around to see what’s behind him, everything is in his sight and present to him—no past, no future—the eternal now.

This is also the month of holidays, festivals and patterns and I hope we all get out and around. Congratulations and thank you to the Carnival committee for a very pleasant weekend, and to the boys and girls on winning the green flag.

Cemetery Mass Cappoquin Thursday 19th August 7.30. This year is the centenary of St Declan’s.

 
World Youth Day 16—21st August 2011— reminding young people Madrid isn’t so far away.  Save up and go there if you can. Before you know it, your youth will be spent and this is a wonderful experience

Congress Corner   Celebration of the Holy Eucharist

Last month, we confessed our sins and begged for mercy at the beginning of Mass. This time we move on to praise. We join with the angels at Christmas in saying or singing the Gloria. This is a very ancient hymn in which the Church, assembled in the Spirit, praises and prays to the Father first. Then it goes on to praise Jesus, his only son. Such praise and thanks, it would be very easy to get carried away and stay there. Whoever put it together was full of love and admiration for the two of them, it’s like they almost forgot the Holy Spirit they were so taken up in him. What is glory? We’ll just have to wait and see. Giving glory to God? Enjoy it next time you sing or say it. After this we have the Opening Prayer. Unless you use the Missalette this is hard to find in the Missal. It is proper to the day and linked to the theme of the Mass. It used to be called the Collect. I suppose it gathers us back to the presence. It is all very like what used to happen at the gatherings of the early Christians. This is Justin's account, see how much you can recognise: “And the day that is called after the sun, there is held a meeting in one spot of all those who live in the city or in the countryside. And the memoirs of the Apostles and the writings of the prophets are read out in public as far as time allows. When the reader stops, the president, by way of a sermon admonishes the congregation and exhorts them to imitate the fine things they have heard. Then we all stand up and pray together in a loud voice. After that, when the prayer is finished, bread and wine are brought forward. He who presides, in so far as he can, makes the prayers and thanksgivings rise up to heaven.

This is the Parish Mission Statement

St Mary’s Parish Cappoquin is a Catholic, Christian, welcoming community guided by the Holy Spirit.

We share our time, talents and treasures in responding to the spiritual needs of our neighbours to promote God’s message of faith, hope and love.