Today is Pentecost Sunday. The Opening Prayer of the Mass today states “..pour out we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth with the divine grace that was at work when the Gospel was first proclaimed”. In other words we are praying for the same experience in our day that once change frightened followers of Jesus into men and women aflame with the Spirit of God. Gustav Mahler, the late-Romantic German composer, once said that “tradition is the handing on of the flame, not the worshiping of ashes.” Today is Pentecost, the birthday of a Christian movement that changed the world. However we can be in danger of being a Christian movement that that hangs on as opposed to the church that hands-on. The church that hangs-on is the church at its worst: an organisation or institution that clings tightly to what it knows, what is safe and what is familiar; it worships the ashes of what was. The church that hands-on, however, is the church at its best: it is the ever evolving story of a people so convicted and so empowered by the Spirit of God that it moves beyond its own locked-door, its own fears and into the world to speak Good News in new languages which connect to every place and time, handing-on the flame of faith to a new people, a new generation. The Christian movement is really the living account of the Holy Spirit’s ability to move, not just individuals, but a whole people – from fear to faith, from inward-politics to outward-proclamation, from organisation to movement. The feast of Pentecost is the celebration of the birth of the Church. Actually the church was born out of the side of Christ on Calvary. But we can say that Pentecost celebrates the church “going public!” God’s love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. A Russian monk Seraphim of Sarov said: “Preaching is easy, it’s like throwing stones from the top of the bell tower. What is difficult is putting into practice what one preaches. It’s as hard as carrying those same stones on your shoulders from the ground up to the top of the bell tower” The Spirit, is God’s gift to us to help us live according to His way. The words of the Sequence today prays to the Spirit: “Heal our wounds, our strength renew. On our dryness pour thy dew; wash the stains of guilt away”
Feasts of the Week: Monday: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church Tuesday: The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the request of the Holy Father, the Secretariat responsible for the Universal Synod has invited the Church around the world to hold a moment of Marian Prayer on 31st May (the Feast of the Visitation) to place the work of the Synod under the protection of Our Lady. Thursday: St. Justin. Defender of Christian belief and practice. He was martyred in 165 AD. Saturday: St. Kevin -the hermit of Glendalough around which a monastic settlement grew. He died in 618.
Thank you for the collection last week. It came to £1975. We appreciate your support of our mission here at the Graan. Thanks also to our Ushers, Singers, Readers and Ministers of the Eucharist for all your help in our weekend liturgies.
Exposition: Continues each Friday from 10am – 2pm.
Shop: Monday to Saturday – 9.30am – 7pm. Sun 9.30am – 4pm.
Guild Mass Cards: Our selection includes Deceased, Get Well, Wedding, Birthday, Exams, Wedding etc. Cost £2.
Sunday & Monday no duty. Mass Monday 29th May @ 7pm – Arthur.
Confessions: Tues to Fri 2pm – 5pm.
Sat 5pm – 6pm. Mass: Tues – Fri @ 7pm. Tues – Brian. Wed – Arthur. Thurs – Charles.
Fri & Sat – Anthony.
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.
May Rosary will take place at Our Lady’s Grotto each evening in May at 6.30pm. All are welcome to join.
Cancer Connect NI is hosting an evening of music at Castlecoole, Enniskillen on 23rd June. Tickets are available from https:www.evenbrite.com/e/embrace-a-journey-into-the-power-of-music-tickets-638623729767.
Recently Deceased
Francie Mc Cauley, Erne Drive, Enniskillen
Kathleen Sheerin, Bellanaleck
Meg Swift, Derrygonnelly
Helen (Nell) Hannigan, Maguiresbridge
Anniversaries
Tommy & Mina Magee, Derrygore Terrace, Enniskillen
Billy & Doley Drumm, Hillview Park, Enniskillen
The Gallagher Family, Arney
The Magee Family, Fivemiletown
Frank & Bridget Kelly, Tempo
Pat Higgins, (1st Ann..) & Patrick & Rebecca Higgins
& the Higgins & Courtney families, Magheraveely
Brian & Bridget Maguire, Rossigh, Killadeas
The Maguire & the Rooney families, Killadeas
Mairead Spratt, Castlebalfour Road, Lisnaskea
The Mc Cusker Family, Stratigore, Fintona
The Corrigan Family, Ballyness, Fivemiletown
Ellie D’Arcy, Bellanaleck
Sean & Nancy Muldoon, London (1st Ann..)
Teresa Mc Nulty, Roscor, Belleek
Molly & Jack Mc Gurren & the Mc Gurren family, Trillick
