Parish Newsletter- 9th June 2024
| Mass times for the week ahead | MASS INTENTIONS |
| Saturday 8th June @7.00pm Clara | Paddy, Lilly, Billy & Noel (Jnr) Guilfoyle. Maureen, Michael & Kai Convey |
| Sunday 9th June @10.00am Horseleap | Bridie Lynam & deceased of the Lynam & Keegan families |
| Sunday 9th June @11.30am Clara | Joe & Molly Sammon. Theresa & Vincent Kelly. Padraig Geoghegan. Joe, Kathleen, Pat, Ann & Richard Finn. |
| Tuesday 11th June @7.30pm Clara | St. Barnabas No Intention |
| Wednesday 12th June @7.30pm Clara | Deceased of Clara Active Retirement. Annie, Henry, Jimmy, Michael & Nora Dunne. Kathleen Broadbent |
| Thursday 13th June @10.00am Clara | St. Anthony of Padua No Intention. |
| Friday 14th June @10.00am Clara | St. Davnet No Intention. |
| Saturday 15th June @10.00am Clara | No Intention. |
| Saturday 15th June @7.00pm Clara | Frank & Dora Dunne. Agnes, Barney, Mary, Kathleen, Thomas & Martin Molloy. Julie Thomas. Billy, Nellie & Paddy McCormack. |
| Sunday 16th June @10.00am Horseleap | Tom & Sheila Farrell. Elizabetha & deceased of Gray family |
| Sunday 16th June @11.30am Clara | Joe, Catherine & Paddy Geoghegan. Nano Brennan. Philip Kavanagh |
Adoration of the Blessed Eucharist
Come to me all you who labour and are burdened. I will give you peace
Monday & Friday – 5.00-6.00pm
Tuesday & Wednesday – after 7.30pm Mass to 9.00pm.
All are welcome!
Prayer Before Exams
Loving God, be with me now as I prepare for my exams.
Thank you for the many talents & gifts you have given me,
and for the opportunity of education. Calm my nerves & anxiety,
Help me to remember all that I have studied, to express it clearly and to answer the questions to the very best of my ability. Holy Spirit, sit with me in my exam – and always.
Amen
A Student’s Prayer
Father, please clear my mind and give me the understanding and knowledge that comes from you. Bless me as I take this exam and bring the information that I have studied to mind when it is needed in this exam. Grant me favour as I begin this test. I ask this in Jesus’s name.
Amen
A Kingdom Divided against Itself Cannot Stand!
Today’s Gospel is interesting and important because it does not fit into the pattern of Jesus being the charismatic, popular, storyteller and healer we might expect. Nor do we find him preaching to interested and adoring fans who hang on every word he says. Instead, Jesus is presented to us as a tired, stressed man who escapes to his home hoping to be left alone to rest and recover. But even here there is no rest. He is hassled and harried by men who have come all the way from Jerusalem just to undermine his message and encourage others to reject him. In a strange twist, we find that his mother and brothers are also looking for him, fearing that he “has lost his mind”. It seems that even his closest family have concerns about his message and want to ‘protect him from himself’ by taking charge of him and leading him away to safety. Today, we come across a less than flattering picture of Jesus – a man who is hassled and harried, who is constantly attacked by those who reject his message and is even doubted by his own family. There is no doubt that St. Mark uses the incident to highlight an important aspect of Jesus’ message – that his mission is to everyone. St. Mark is also content to let us encounter in Jesus a real and human person. He allows us to meet a man who is tired and stressed and in need of time to recover. Mark shows us a man whose message was not universally popular or accepted. We live in a world where appearance and impression are everything; a world where success is measured in gold and dollars; a world where the powerful create their own truth; a world where tolerance is viewed as weakness, where compromise is viewed as failure, and where gentleness is viewed as lack of ambition. How wonderful it is then, to meet a person who is allowed to be tired or misunderstood or rejected or not always popular. When St. Paul said, “When I am weak, then I am strong…” this is what he was saying. All of us have within us strength and weakness, courage and cowardice, confidence and doubt, assurance and fear. Only a truly strong, secure and content person can acknowledge the weakness, insecurity and fears which accompany them. St. Mark says to us, that all of this is OK. It’s called being human and is all ‘very good’.
A Big Thank You to all who supported the recent concert in aid of Motor Neuron Disease in Clara church. A total of €4,400 was raised.
PARISH PASTORAL ASSEMBLIES: Bishop Deenihan and Fr Derek Darby met with priests and chairpersons from Parish Pastoral Assemblies in the Clara area recently. Bishop Deenihan expressed his deep appreciation for the commitment and time given by members of Pastoral Assemblies to their parishes. He outlined some of the opportunities emerging across the Diocese and invited assemblies to begin exploring ways they can work more collaboratively with their neighbouring parishes, share resources, & support ongoing faith formation and evangelisation to ensure the sacramental life of parishes can be supported and developed as we plan for ahead for the future.
Collections for 1st/2nd June:
Development Fund: €1,440; Plate: €660; Offerings: €30 Trocaire:€100.
Thank You!
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