EVENTS THIS WEEK
- KIDS' CHRISTMAS PAGEANT: On Sunday next the Liturgy of the Word (during the 11.00 Mass) will be presented in pageant form by the little children who frequent the 11.00 Mass every Sunday. Maeve Heaney and Audrey Lacey have been preparing them over the past couple of weeks. They will have a further rehearsal in the front parlour after Mass today.
- NATIVITY MASS: Don't forget that the First Communion class from St. Pat's National School will present their annual Christmas Mass and Nativity play in the church here on Saturday evening next, December 20th at 6.30. Come early if you wish to secure a seat.
- MASS OF GIVING: We have a very busy day today: our annual Mass of Giving; the dressing of the Jesse Tree for the third Sunday; and of course an old codger with a long white beard and a red suit is expected to call at the Priory after Mass. (Personally, I hope he is mugged on the way).
- THE GIVING TREE: A great variety of lovely gifts and materials came into the priory for the Giving Tree. The response this year was more generous than ever. And people went to great lengths to purchase the item requested. The presents will now be prepared and dispatched to the four particular groups we were in touch with: (a) The Women's Refuge in Waterside; (b) The Refugee's Friendship Club, based in Victoria Place; (c) No. 4, St. Augustine Street, a befriending service for the marginalised, and (d) assorted individuals and families in need. Once again, thanks very much for your great generosity.
- GALWAY GOSPEL CHOIR: This group presented a great show to a full house in the church here on Friday evening last. It was brilliant and it was very deeply appreciate indeed. Well done!
- CAROL SERVICE: The annual Carol Service in St. Nicholas' Church is on Christmas Eve at 4.00pm.
AS I WAS SAYING...
Today is of course our annual Mass of Giving. Christmas seems to creep up on us with more silence and stealth every year. The commercial season begins in mid-November. The Church, however, 'keeps her powder dry' until Advent. Advent is based on two related notions: 'Watching and Waiting'. Consequently, the Liturgy urges the Christian to 'be alert' and to 'be patient'.
No other time of the year so strains our patience or so blunts our alertness in the same way that Christmas does! Just walk up Shop Street today and you will see for yourselves what I am trying to say. People are so busy, so driven by the infernal seasonal bustle that they are bumping blindly into one another!
Pedestrianisation has aggravated matters considerably. At least traffic -combined with a keen instinct for self preservation- imposed a necessary awareness. But that incentive is no longer present. Far from being alert now, most seem to be entirely oblivious to their immediate surroundings. In many instances this oblivion is facilitated by that most disconcerting invention of relatively recent times, the mobile phone.
Did you ever suffer the indignity of warmly returning a greeting that you had assumed to be directed at you, only to find that the supposed 'greeter' had actually been screaming instead into a cleverly concealed, inanimate instrument located in the vicinity of his ear? That sort of experience can momentarily undermine one's self esteem and unsettle the soul for some days!
Understandably then, the Liturgical injunctions to 'be patient' and to 'be alert' will not settle easily into this scene.
On the face of it, the atmosphere advocated by the Church's Liturgy would seem to be out of kilter with the rhythms of life today. The two realities are decidedly at odds. The Church is, in this matter as in many other areas, 'swimming against the tide', or, some would contend, 'hopelessly out of touch' with reality.
Here we encounter a rather interesting question: whose reality have we in mind? Who is actually 'out of touch'? The people sitting peacefully in the Church, reflecting on whatever blessings or blights that may have descended upon their lives? Or the manic droves on Shop Street, dancing compulsively to the tunes of consumerism? Who has lost their grip on reality? It should not take you too long to arrive at your own conclusion!
All of the above is of little consequence in itself. If people want to spent extravagantly, that is their own business. After all, they are being extravagant with their own money. But it does raise a bigger and far more important issue: how can we decide whether the Church is 'keeping abreast of the times' or 'being led by the nose'? How can we distinguish between the Church 'acting in an outdated fashion' or behaving in an 'authentic, prophetic and counter-cultural manner'?
It is a major issue. The Church will contend that anything which clouds our human perception or diminishes our real freedom is hostile to the general health of humanity.
The prevailing culture -consumerism- presupposes a degree of mindlessness, and promotes the notion of 'instant gratification'. "My needs must be met, and they must be met now!" Mindlessness and 'instant gratification' have traditionally been associated with the infancy stage of human development. 'Be patient' and 'Be alert' are appropriate enough warnings in a consumerist culture. Otherwise, Christmas will make infants of us all!
-Dick Lyng.
CHRISTMAS PROGRAMME: 2003
CONFESSIONS Saturday 21st: 11.30-12.30; 3.30-4.15; 7.00-7.30. Monday 22nd: 11.30-12.30; 3.00-4.00; Tuesday 23rd: 11.30-12.30; 3.00-4.00; Wednesday 24th: 11.30-1.00; 3.00-4.00. PENITENTIAL SERVICES: Saturday, 20th 4.30pm; Monday, 22nd 7.30pm Wednesday, 24th 4.30pm. CHRISTMAS MASSES: 12.00 Midnight and 11.00am. St. Stephen's Day to January 1st: One Mass daily: 11.00am except SUNDAY, 28th: Usual Sunday Programme Normal Programme resumes on Friday, January 2nd. PRIORY OFFICE The Priory Office will close at 3.00pm on Christmas Eve. Saturday, 27th: Office will open briefly after 11.00 Mass. 29th, 30th, & 31st: normal office hours Normal life will resume again on Friday, January 2nd.
AUGUSTINIAN HUNGER AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
FIGHT HUNGER BY CHANGING YOUR LIFESTYLE
"At our birth, we brought nothing into the world. Let a rich woman and a poor woman givebirth: let nobody attend to the ones giving birth; and see if you can spot the difference."
-St. Augustine.
CHRISTMAS DUES
I will be in touch with you by post in connection with the above later in the week. But for those of you who might slip through that net, the Christmas Dues envelopes are available in the Church as and from this morning. (The purpose of the Parish Dues is to ensure that the Parish Priest is secured for another year in the creature comforts to which he has grown accustomed!) You simply take the envelope home with you, withdraw to a quiet corner, examine your conscience rather severely, and unburden yourself in a concrete manner! Bring along the results with you on Sunday next.
Tree of Remembrance in Bohermore
A 'Tree of Remembrance' in the New Cemetery for the Christmas season. This tree will be placed immediately inside the gates in commemoration of our loved ones. All are welcome to bring along a red ribbon and attach it to the tree.
CHRISTMAS - THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT
Christmas, for me, will be different and the same: same opening of presents, same family faces round the dinner table, same visits to and from relations. In short all the old (and not so old) familiar faces.
But not quite. This Christmas I am going to miss, not one, but nigh on three hundred faces! A primary school teacher for almost thirty years, I retired last July. This Christmas then will definitely be different.
Above all I shall miss those infant faces, wide-eyed with anticipation of Santa's arrival. I shall miss the snowmen and Christmas trees, decorating windows and walls, and that special, magical atmosphere pervading the entire school.
And I shall miss the crib in the corridor, handmade by a colleague now passed on. Will miss the clusters of children huddled around it, enchanted by its warm, almost mystical glow; the figures: Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and Baby Jesus intriguing their child-like minds.
And I will miss the great big Christmas tree, a real one, standing to attention in the hallway, laden down, not with fairy lights, but with the children's decorations, products of their art and crafts classes. I will miss its pungent, piney odour usurping, for once, the old, familiar smell of school.
And I will miss the children's Christmas cards. Will miss the pride and satisfaction on each child's face as he hands me his card, proud of his choice and the laboured, sincere greeting. Such a contrast to the thoughtlessness and hurried signatures that our own cards merit.
And I will miss the mayhem of the morning of the Christmas holidays: the bottle of spirits for our caretaker, the box of chocolates for our lollipop lady, the signing of documents, the little something for the secretary, and, of course, our own wee celebrations later in the local hostelry when the children have long gone and an eerie, empty silence descends on the school.
There will be room for me in the hostelry, however, thanks to the kind invitation of the staff. And although we will make the same old toasts and sing our same old party pieces - I know, in my heart, that Christmas will never be quite the same again.
-Gerry Moran
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