Parish Newsletter- 8th September 2024

Adoration of the Blessed Eucharist
PARISH CENTRE
Monday & Friday – 5.00-6.00pm
Tuesday & Wednesday – after 7.30pm Mass to 9.00pm.
All are welcome!
Come to me all you who labour and are burdened. I will give you peace.

Please pray for the soul of Olive Moran, Maynooth/Clara: recently deceased. R.I.P.

‘He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak’
On a first reading, today’s Gospel seems to be a nice, simple, uncomplicated cure of a man who is deaf and almost dumb. A lot of the time we imagine the miracles and healings of Jesus being associated with his ‘power’ but in this miracle the very act of healing seems to take a toll on Jesus. It is as if Jesus is himself vulnerable as he reaches out to heal the man. There is a lot more than ‘power’ at work here. Alone with the man, Jesus sees and hears for himself the awful, absolute silence of the man’s world. Somehow it seems that Jesus entered into, immersed himself, in the man’s suffering, and it was in this immersion that Jesus was able to cure him. His deep sigh, almost a groan, and his cry of “Ephphatha – Be Opened!” was a cry of understanding as well as a command. The ‘deep sigh’ of Jesus in this Gospel is not the sigh of one who is distant from us. It is the sigh of one who is very close, near enough to understand, and have compassion; it is the sigh of one who can touch our deaf ears and our blind eyes and our dumb mouths and heal them. In some mysterious way, the deep sigh of Jesus and his cry, “Ephphatha – Be Opened!” was a cry for all humankind. “He who sees me, sees the Father” are words that sum up the very mission of Jesus on earth. If, in this week’s Gospel, we see a Jesus who is close to us, entering into our pain in order to heal it, then so too, in this Gospel, we encounter a God who is not distant from us or indifferent to our pain and suffering. Ours is a God who is with us every day, in all of our deafness and lack of speech and in our blindness and our paralysis and sin, and in all of it he “sighs deeply and cries Ephphatha – Be Opened”. We live today in a time of uncertainty and political and cultural volatility, and it is easy to become overwhelmed and lose hope. In these times, this Gospel can speak to us very powerfully. In Jesus, we have someone who “has done everything well, He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Come and join the ‘Big Clean Up’ after renovations of St. Brigid’s Church on Friday 13th September at 6.00pm!!

Blessed Carlo Acutis: Navan Parish recently announced the upcoming visit of the primary relic of Blessed Carlo from Assisi to St. Mary’s Church, Navan on Sunday 15th – Monday 16th September. There will be a Parish Novena on Sunday 8th September in preparation for this privileged moment, and for the intention that the young people of the Diocese will grow to love Christ in the Eucharist.

Meath Diocesan Spirituality Afternoon for Pioneers: Sunday 22nd September, Franciscan Abbey, Multyfarham from 2.00pm to 5.00pm.

Meath Diocesan Pioneer meeting: Tuesday 10th September at 8.00pm in Kilbeggan Parish Centre. All pioneers are encouraged to attend.

Meath Samuel Group: are hosting a guided spiritual formation programme for young adults (18-40 yrs) led by the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. Information and to register, visit: www.franciscansisterscfr.com/st-anthony

Collections for 31st August/1st September:
Development Fund: €1,370; Plate: €545; Offerings: €20.
Thank You!

Season of Creation runs from 1st September to 4th October.
Theme; “To Hope and Act with Creation”.

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