Weekly Bulletin 10th January 2021

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Fr. William was a popular priest who lived in this community at the Graan for many years. He died in Sligo on March 9 1988. He is buried in our cemetery. God rest him. He was an avid fan of the Mayo GAA football team and he followed their fortunes with unrelenting enthusiasm. He also had another little interest. He was keen that the holy water font in our church would always be filled with holy water! He would often complain to the poor student whose duty it was to look after the church that he had allowed the holy water font go dry. I wonder now what he would think while staring at the empty holy water fonts in all our churches across the land! Covid 19 precautions prevail and all the fonts have gone dry replaced by hand sanitisers! We, Catholics, have been reared in the practise of blessing ourselves with holy water when we go through the door of our Church. We do it when entering and leaving the building! It is a strange custom to those outside the Catholic faith. Why do we do it?  Yes, we are moving from the world outside into a sacred space. We are changing gears as it were!  It is a way of preparing ourselves to listen to God’s Word, to pray and offer ourselves with Jesus to our Father by the power of the Holy Spirit in the celebration of the Eucharist. But most importantly it reminds us that we are baptised, made into the children of God. Fr. William would have taught the Penny Catechism. To the question: What is Baptism? The answer would be – A Sacrament which cleanses us from original sin, makes us Christians, children of God and heir to the kingdom of heaven. Every time we reach over to bless ourselves with the Holy Water in the font – we are reminding ourselves of our identity that we are a baptised people brought into the very life of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We don’t earn Baptism, it is a beautiful gift from God who wants to share His very life with us. Being Baptised means that you are being grafted or transplanted into the very life of Christ and you are being drawn into the inner dynamic life of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Hand sanitisers remind us that Covid 19 is alive and very dangerous. Holy Water in the font reminds us that we are a gifted, privileged, blessed people of God. Pope Emeritus Benedict XV1 said “Being baptised is never a solitary act of “me,” but is always necessarily a being united with all the others, a being in unity and solidarity with the whole body of Christ, with the whole community of his brothers and sisters. This fact that Baptism inserts me into community breaks my isolation. We must remain aware of this in our being Christian”.(Homily at Baptismal Ceremony. June 18 2012)

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Church leaders in the North of Ireland have agreed to suspend public worship “for the greater good” after hearing that the Covid crisis is set to worsen significantly in the coming weeks. As a result all our Masses here in the Graan will be closed to the public. The Masses will be celebrated at the usual times, but they can be viewed on our web-cam at www.thegraan.com. Mass will be celebrated each evening from Monday to Friday at 7:00 pm and the Vigil Mass on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Masses on Sunday are at 10:30 am, 12 noon and 4:00 p.m. The Masses at the weekend will be celebrated for the intentions that families have booked.  There will be no priest on duty until this decision as regards the closing of Churches for public worship is reviewed again on 6th February 2021. However our Church will be open for private prayer from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. each day. We will miss your presence with us during the celebration of the Eucharist but we hope that you will be able to join with us in prayer at home viewing the Mass online. Unfortunately our Eucharistic Adoration prayer-time will be cancelled until further notice. Despite not being able to gather together we will pray for each other in the privacy of our own homes that this pandemic will end soon. Fr. Charles C.P.

The Shop: If you wish to contact us as regards purchasing cards please ring us during office hours (9.30am – 4pm) and we will try our best to facilitate you.

Feasts of the Week: Friday: St. Ita. Died in 570. Born in Waterford. She was given the title of “foster mother of the saints of Ireland” We are in Ordinary Time this week and for those with missals the readings are from Sunday Cycle B/Weekday Cycle 1.

Thank you for your contributions and donations during this time of lockdown. We appreciate your generosity and kindness and we constantly remember you in all our prayers.

There is a “Donate” button on our website. If you wish to contribute to the upkeep of The Graan, please use this facility.

Christmas Crib: Thanks to all who have contributed to our Christmas Crib appeal for the St Vincent de Paul, Enniskillen. The total came to £1500 & €55. Well done to everyone.