Today is the Sixteenth Sunday of the Year: The Gospel today (Matthew 13:24-43) consists of three small parables. It describes what the kingdom of heaven is like. In all three parables of the kingdom the outcome is assured: justice/judgement will come; the smallest seed will grow; yeast will leaven. The kingdom of heaven is like growth, and it grows in the midst of so much evil. AlexanderSolzhenitsyn was a Russian writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970. He was born in 1918 he died back in Moscow in 2008 at the age of 89. He wrote a letter to a friend against Stalin the Russian dictator calling him the “man with the moustache” and as a result he spent the years 1945-1953 in Russian labour camps called “Gulags”. This was a chain of prison camps where about 60 million people were interned at various times during the life of the Communist system in Russia. In 1974 Alexander was exiled from Russia spending some time in Switzerland and then in Vermont in USA. While he was here in the West he also criticised its form of government because of its moral degeneration, its lack of faith and political cowardice. When the Soviet Union fell Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia in 1994. He wrote of his time in the labour camp:
I learnt one great lesson from my years in prison camps. I learnt how a person becomes evil and how he becomes good. When I was young I thought I was infallible, and I was cruel to those under me. I was madly in love with power and, in exercising it, I was a murderer and an oppressor. Yet in my most evil moments I thought I was doing good, and I had plenty of arguments with which to justify my deeds. It was only when things were reversed, when as a prisoner I lay on rotten straw, that I began to feel within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually I came to realise that the line which separates good from evil passes not between states, or between classes, or between political parties – but right through every human heart. Even in hearts that are overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And in the best of all hearts, there remains an un-uprooted small corner of evil. We are all made up of weeds and wheat, demons and angels, good and bad, light and dark. Jesus in the story about the weeds growing among the good wheat counsels patience and prudence in the face of evil. There is sin and disharmony in the life of the community and that is apparent to all but only the Lord of the harvest can see beyond the confused state of things. The farmer in the story does not think that the power of the weeds to choke is superior to the power of the wheat to grow and thrive. Paul in today’s second reading (Romans 8:26-27) tells us that in our weakness the Spirit of God comes to help us.
Feasts for the Week: Tuesday: St. James Apostle. He was the son of Zebedee and a brother of John called the Greater. He was put to death by Herod Agrippa in the year 44 being the first of the Apostles to die for Christ. His shrine is in Compostela in Spain. Wednesday: St. Joachim and Anne: Traditionally named the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and grandparents. This week we pray for grandparents. Saturday: Sts Martha, Mary & Lazarus – friends of the Lord.
Thanks for the collection last week. It came to £1790. Thank you for your generosity. Thanks also to our Readers, Singers, Ministers of the Eucharist and Ushers all who help in our weekend liturgies.
Exposition: Continues each Friday from 10am – 2pm.
Shop: Monday to Saturday – 9.30 – 7pm. Sun 9.30pm – 4pm.
Guild Mass Cards: Our selection includes Deceased, Get Well, Wedding, Graduation, Wedding etc.
Cost £2.
Sun & Mon no duty. Mass Mon 24TH July @ 7pm – Charles. Confessions: Tues to Fri 2pm – 5pm.
Sat 5pm – 6pm. Mass: Tues – Fri @ 7pm. Tues – Brian. Wed – Victor. Thurs – Charles. Fri – Arthur.
Sat – Brian.
Gluten-Free Hosts: If you are Coeliac and you wish to receive communion please come up to the altar and stand beside the Eucharistic Minsters where you will receive the gluten-free host.
Recently Deceased
James Mc Donnell, Dromore
Daire Maguire, Lisnaskea
Leo Mc Aloon, Monea
Mary Mullarkey, Moycullen, Galway formerly Enniskillen
Tom Leonard, England formerly Belcoo
Bridie Mc Caffrey, Silverhill Manor, Enniskillen
Anniversaries
Thomas, Kathleen, Anna & Hugh Quinn, Sligo
Tom Brazil, Cornagrade, Enniskillen
Eugene & Teresa Foy & family, Derrygonnelly
James & Margaret Dundas & Family, Derrygonnelly
Bart Teague, Mountview Drive, Lisnaskea
Ben & Margaret Keown, Roscor PO, Belleek
Joseph & Annie Mullan, Omagh
Cabrina Mc Grath (nee Mullan), Omagh
