Events This Week
- BAPTISMS TODAY: We have two babies for baptism at the 11.00 Mass this morning: Christopher Hay and Emer Wynne were married in this church about five years ago. They have brought their baby back from London to the same church for baptism. The other baby is Elodie, son of Merrion and Henry and grandchild of Tim and Nancy Roe. Congratulations to all concerned.
- EASTER CEREMONIES: Thanks to all who participated so willingly in the celebration of Holy Week: those who worked behind the scenes preparing the Church and the liturgies, those who participated in the liturgies themselves by reading, distributing Holy Communion, or in whatever capacity you were asked to serve. Cathal Cunningham, Gerry Ferguson and Gearóid Lacey did trojan work in looking after lighting, acoustics and the great variety of props required. Thanks in a very special way to the choir without whom our ceremonies would not be quite the same. Each member played his or her part in building up the community.
- EASTER FLOWERS: Thanks to the faithful ladies who got the Altar of Repose ready, especially Peggy and Teresa. Thanks also to Margaret Cunnane, Mary Ó hÍcí, Margaret Cunningham and Hedy Gibbons for the beautiful Easter Floral Display in the church. It was a full day's work, but, judging by the comments of visitors to the church, the end result made it all worthwhile. Thanks very much ladies.
AS I WAS SAYING...
We feel Easter in our very bones and spirits. The sentiments of the Liturgy harmonises with the stirrings of Spring: flowers budding and blossoming again, lambs leaping in the fields, nature coming back to life after the death of winter. This has been all the more pronounced this year since, in fact, we seem to have been blessed with an early Summer. Nature has put an exuberant spring into our steps prematurely! Despite their pagan protestations, the local theatre group -Macnas- have frequently managed to capture and express this exuberant, bounding spirit beautifully. And often more effectively than our Churches! (The name 'Macnas' denotes the first mad leaping of calves on being released from their winter confinement.) We have escaped the from the entombed darkness of winter and we have been liberated into the colourful dance of the world of Light and Springtime. The Easter Exultet expresses these same sentiments in a Christian and liturgical setting: "May the Morning Star that never sets find this flame still burning." Light has overcome darkness, good has triumphed over evil.
In fact our Liturgy Group brought some of this necessary madness and abandonment of Macnas to our Liturgical celebrations. The Church and the Priory resembled a busy railway station at some points during the week. It was obvious that a community was busy preparing for an event that was important to them.
And thank God we have abandoned that notion of 'putting on the Easter ceremonies', of being prisoners of the book. Dour duty often crushes the more exuberant spirit! Instead of asking, 'What's in the book?', we have begun to ask: 'How are we going to celebrate this particular event this year?' Freedom is essential to good celebration. Otherwise we become encased in staid ritual. For example, we departed from tradition in our celebration of the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper this year. In the traditional presentation, 'the privilege of priesthood' has been emphasised at the expense of general Christian service. (We must not be surprised at this bias in a clerical church).
I have quoted the words of a visiting priest more than once in this column. He remarked that 'the only way you can escape from music in Galway is to take refuge in a Church'. The remark was intended as a playful criticism. The church, according to him, fails to tap into the fantastic talent that is so obvious on our streets. I agree wholeheartedly with his viewpoint. But, had he been here with us on Good Friday evening, I feel he would have graciously withdrawn his criticism. The church here was filled with song throughout that evening, and entirely appropriate music at that. The Galway Gospel Singers did us proud.
The Easter Vigil involved a lot of thought and hard work. It is such a crowded liturgy: the Service of Light, the long list of readings, Baptisms, and the Eucharist itself. We were fortunate this year in that we had two non-national babies -Kuku and Adam- for Baptism at the Vigil. So it was a double welcome! I believe that the absence of a baptism on that night seriously undermines the entire celebration. (It is akin to a marriage ceremony without the bride!) The whole focus of the Liturgy is on new life. It is difficult to maintain that focus without the presence of a baby as the central symbol. I hope all of you have a very happy Easter. In the presence of new life, celebration is the only option! That's the essence of Easter. Enjoy it!
-Dick Lyng.
MOTHER OF GOOD COUNSEL NOVENA
Because of the date on which Easter fell this year, we found it necessary to defer the Annual Novena to the Mother of Good Counsel. The Novena will now begin on Monday week next, April 28th, and it will commence at 7.30 each evening. We will celebrate the feast itself on Wednesday, May 7th. The Novena will be conducted once again this year by redoubtable Fr. Jackie Power, a man well known in this neck of the woods. Jackie is looking forward to meeting up with old friends once again
TABLE QUIZ: GALWAY BOY SINGERS
A Table Quiz will take place in the Corrib Great Southern Hotel on Thursday next April 24th at 8pm to raise funds for the Galway Boy Singers' forthcoming production of "Oliver". Tables of 4 cost €40. Plenty of prizes and spots. (Some of the usual 'suspects', like Seamus Cahalan, Michael, Liam and Niamh O'Hare are all taking part in the production. Do your best to support them.)
EASTER MEANS........
In the risen Christ death has lost its hold over mankind. Death is not for us the end of the story. It is the beginning of a new chapter. There is life after death. It is life with God. The purpose of our present life is to prepare for that.
Easter is not only concerned with life after death. It has much to say about life here on earth. Life matters. Human life is both of the body and of the spirit; in our present state each depends on the other. Life depends on love. Life gives love its real meaning and its purpose. Our Easter faith assures us that life will overcome death and love will triumph over hatred.
Easter does not take suffering away from us, nor does it save us from physical death. But suffering and death are now different, because Christ suffered and died. Indeed, before Christ rose from the dead there was only despair at the centre of pain. Now, and because of Christ, there is hope. When we know pain or depression, when we feel abandoned, or when we are dying, we remember that Christ had the same experiences. Our suffering brings us closer to Christ and closer to God.
-George Basil Hume.
ON TARGET
So intolerable had Hitler's persecution of the Jews become that two Jews decided to assassinate him. They mounted guard, their guns at the ready, at a spot by which they knew the Fuehrer was to pass. He was long time in coming and a horrible thought occurred to Samuel.
"Joshua," he said, "say a prayer that nothing's happened to the man!"
CYRENE
Nothing is given. Only the long delay
of affiiction between now
and what is still to be. And yet
I was following uneven paths along the way
where crowds were gathering, shiftily;
I stepped out of the sun into his
shadow; of all those loitering why was it I
who was chosen?
I hauled the rude beam for him where it weighed
mightily on my shoulder-blades and neck;
if I had wings it would have broken them
but I kept silent, swallowed down my loathing
while he walked ahead, indifferent,
suffering his own indignities.
Sometimes now when I achieve a stillness,
dusk, perhaps, smoke rising like a tree,
or noon, a cock still languidly crowing
at the sunlit limit of the village,
someone that looks like him will disappear
suddenly round the angle of a house
as if he had ever actually appeared
the one on whom the cross of rumour has been laid
and I feel shaken utterly
that we walk clamorously between silences
and have learned little of the scandal of the flesh.
-John F. Deane.
"Quote, unquote..."
- "It is a terrible shock for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.." -Oscar Wilde.
- "If people behaved in the way nations do, they would all be put into straightjackets." -Tennessee Williams.
- "We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice. " -Isaac Singer.
- "Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him. " -Anon.
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