Weekly Bulletin 30th May 2021

Today is Trinity Sunday: The feast of Trinity is not just one feast among many others, as if it is just an item of faith.  Belief in the Trinity is the heart of the Christian faith, and every feast and every Sunday is a celebration of the Trinity.  However it is good to have one day set aside for reflecting and praying that it is the centre of our faith. It took the Church two Ecumenical Councils and a few hundred years to untangle what we know and believe about the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God is a communion of persons, Father Son and Spirit, every time we bless ourselves we remind ourselves of that fact. Three persons, one God! The feast of the Trinity is pure mystery. Whenever we try to describe mystery we resort to images, similes and words that break moulds and seek to open our imaginations and perceptions to newness and awe. Perhaps one of the most famous images of the Trinity is the work of Andrei Rublev’s Trinity icon. (See Below). It was written around 1410.  There are three figures sitting at a table facing out towards the one who views them. The figures are of an indeterminate gender. It is about hospitality, openness, welcoming and drawing all into sharing at the table. Rublev gives each person of the Trinity different clothing. On the right, the Holy Spirit has a garment of the clear blue of the sky, wrapped over with a robe of a fragile green. So the Spirit of creation moves in sky and water, breathes in heaven and earth. The Son has the deepest colours; a thick heavy garment of the reddish-brown of earth and a cloak of the blue of heaven. In his person he unites heaven and earth, the two natures are present in him, and over his right shoulder there is a band of gold shot through the earthly garment, as his divinity suffuses and transfigures his earthly being. The Father seems to wear all the colours in a kind of fabric that changes with the light, that seems transparent, that cannot be described or confined in words. And this is how it should be. No one has seen the Father, but the vision of him fills the universe. 

Thank you for your generous collection last weekend. Thanks also to our Ministers of the Eucharist and Ushers who help in the smooth running at our religious services. Thank you for following their instructions, for keeping social distancing, wearing a mask and sanitising your hands. Thanks to John, Mary and Damien who cleaned the church recently.  

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Feasts of the Week: Monday: Visitation of Our Lady to her Cousin Elizabeth: Today we celebrate Mary the new Ark of the Covenant, meeting her Cousin the Mother of John the Baptist. Tuesday: St. Justin. Remembered for his defence of Christian belief and practice and was martyred in 165 AD. Thursday: St. Kevin. The famous hermit of Glendalough in Wicklow. A monastic community gathered around him. He died in 618. AD. Friday: St. Charles Lwanga and Companions – These were twenty-two Ugandan youths martyred in 1886. Saturday: St. Boniface – (673-754) Englishman who is known as the Apostle of Germany. Known also as the Founder of Europe! During a final mission to the Frisians, Boniface and 53 companions were massacred while he was preparing converts for confirmation.

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Bank Holiday Monday (31^st May): We will have our Bank Holiday Mass at 11am tomorrow.  There will be no Evening Mass.  The shop and Church will be open until 4pm.   

Confessions 2 – 5pm:Tues: Charles.  Wed: Victor. Thurs – Arthur. Fri – Anthony  & Sat 5pm  to 6pm – Anthony.

Friday is the First Friday of the month. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday 10:00am  – 2:00pm.

Deacon Martin Donnelly has published a book called Lakeland Lockdown Reflections. The book is on sale here at The Graan for £10 or €11.