Castlemaine Parish (066) 9767322
Fr. Kevin Sullivan (087) 6277638. Email: castlemaine@dioceseofkerry.ie
Please pray for: Mary O’Sullivan, Knockbrack
Weekend Mass Intentions
Sat., May 2nd at 6:00 p.m Mary Hogan, Listry
Sun., May 3rd at 11:15 a.m. Liam Heffernan, Castledrum, Keel
Mick and Eileen Broderick, Church St.
Reminder Mass is broadcast on 106fm
Mass at 10:00 a.m. on weekdays is also broadcast (unless there is a funeral Mass)
Evening Prayer and the Rosary in May
This will be said at the following times and will be broadcast on radio:
Listry each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
Milltown each Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Parish envelopes and Trocaire donations
Quite a few people have asked where they can leave their parish envelopes as well as their donations to Trocaire.
If you would like to do so, please drop them in the post box at the front door of The Presbytery or to James Arthur’s shop in Milltown. I hope to place a postbox at the gate of The Presbytery in the near future which will be an easier option. Please do not stray outside the government mandated distance of 2km for the sole purpose of bringing your envelopes.
Bishop Ray on First Communion Ceremonies
Bishop Ray posted a notice on the diocesan website as regards First Communion:
‘Due to the continued closure of the schools and the major restrictions on people gathering together in one place, all Confirmation and First Communion ceremonies are postponed. When the government announces details of these situations being reversed there will be consultations between the school community, the parents and each parish with a view to setting new dates for these ceremonies. Every Easter blessing on all the children and their families’.
Good Shepherd Sunday
In these times of restriction, contending with the experiences of lockdown and social distancing, there is a real sense of a community spirit, and a readiness to respond to the needs of others. In the face of the pandemic, almost everyone has been playing their part. As households and families, we’re staying on message, through remaining at home as much as possible and thereby helping to protect the most vulnerable.
Without fail, every Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. the bells have been ringing in our parish churches. It is a call to prayer for each one of us. It is also to recognise and pay tribute to those on the frontline, especially all the medical staff and various workers, who courageously respond to the demands placed on society by the virus. In encountering those who go above and beyond the call of duty, who in their selfless offering of their time and energy, we experience a witness to a real life calling. These are the women and men who encapsulate living a vocation. In these stormy and uncertain times, we celebrate the many, many people who have gone the extra mile, who respond with heartfelt compassion.
Throughout these strange and unfamiliar weeks and months, an opportunity exists of being able to look at life, with new and fresh eyes. Learning to appreciate the circumstances of other people’s lives, including the lonely, the house bound, the many who struggle with depression and various other physical and mental illnesses; those men and women who battle throughout each day, trying to find hope and to encounter genuine love and mercy. These are the people who have been fighting a more persistent and longer-term pandemic, confronting a different form of virus, which can be every bit as deadly, namely, the devastating absence of joy, meaning and hope.
In a world acutely aware its vulnerability and of the need for healing, who are those people called to witness to God’s presence, to be living signs of God’s mercy and compassion? Can we allow ourselves to be drawn by the example of Jesus the Good Shepherd? How are we being called to live out the truth, which dwells in our hearts? Ultimately, we discover who we are, by walking step by step, along the amazing lifelong journey of becoming the person God created us to be.
In God’s plan, every single person is called upon to grow.
Each life is a vocation.
From birth, each one of us carries within ourselves the seeds of personal growth.
Each one of us can bear fruit proposed for us by God.
Do you feel called to be a priest in the Diocese of Kerry? If so, please contact our Diocesan Vocation Directors – details below. There are two men studying for the priesthood for the diocese at the present time.
‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, let us pray to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest’.
For information on Vocations in the diocese of Kerry please contact:
Fr. Joe Begley The Presbytery,Glengarriff, Bantry, Co. Cork P75DN25 027-63045
glengarriff@dioceseofkerry.ie
The Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known, that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word incarnate, do not reject my petition, but graciously hear and answer me. Amen.
An Act of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus
I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament
I love You above all things
And I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally
I embrace You as if You were already there
And unite myself wholly to You
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen