Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30 (Vigil) Mary Forde, (Anniv).
11.00: Martin & Mary Nora Duggan, (Anniv).
6.30: O'Donnell family, R.I.P.

AS I WAS SAYING.....

The World Cup has been described as a great spider, weaving a colourful cobweb that unites all languages and cultures. In fact football provides humanity with a common language. I had a personal experience of this eleven years ago when Roy Keane was at his very best. Together with a friend, I strayed unintentionally from eastern Georgia (former Soviet satellite) into mountainous and Muslim Azerbaijan. To say that we were lost doesn't even hint at the enormity of our predicament! We were soon surrounded by a group of Muslim tribesmen, all of whom were dressed like Mother Teresa. I pulled from my bag a road atlas of Europe and, in my utter confusion, I opened it at the roadmap of Ireland. They shouted in unison (and in triumph) 'Roy Keane'! Football makes brothers (and sisters?) of us all.

However, football can divide us too. Most households will be divided between those members who eat, drink and sleep the World Cup, and those who can't stand it! However, a combination of our affluence, technology and the remote control means that most of us can now choose what we wish to watch. Choice is, of course, not really about an infinite number of options, but much more about being able to have what I want when I want it. Just take the case of television: there was a time when, if you missed something, you'd really missed it. Then along came the video recorder and life changed. Now there's the web and pod-casting, and mobile phones that can do everything but make tea.

Choice is good and I'm glad of the clever new ways we have of keeping in touch with people. But, ironically, the technology of communications can turn us into isolated automatons. I visited a house recently where all four children had personal televisions, videos and play-stations in their personal bedrooms. The youngest kid was five, the oldest thirteen. The new technology is changing not only our relationships, but also our experience of a commonly shared culture and the awareness and knowledge of the world we live in.

One of the latest developments is news coverage that could be tailored to our individual tastes. If I don't like watching the World Cup, or seeing faces of dead terrorists, I won't have to. I'll be able to choose the news I want to see - a tempting proposition, but flawed. The root of the word communication is the same as for community: to make common, to share in common with others. I don't think I should edit out other people's suffering for the sake of my own comfort. Even if I tried to, it wouldn't work.

Compassion for and commitment to others is written into our spiritual DNA. We damage ourselves as human beings if we deny our common inheritance. It's one thing to choose sometimes not to expose myself to other people's pain, evil or tragedy. It's another thing entirely to ignore their reality. "Who is my neighbour?" Jesus asked as an introduction to the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I can choose to avert my gaze and pass by on the other side, or I can stop and do what I can for those broken by the journey.

-Dick Lyng

Items of Interest

Midsummer's Day

Midsummer's Day draws closer now
As birdsong greets the dawning day
And sunlight's gold through swaying bough
Delights with dancing shadow-play,
And here amid this garden place
A riot of colour, plants and flowers,
The butterflies at leisured pace
Flit through the hours.

I dwell in gentle shade and find
A peace that fills the heart with light,
A healing place that clears the mind
And frees imagination's flight
Where soars the spirit on its quest
Discovering untrodden ways,
From waking to the time of rest
Down all the days.

Midsummer's Day....and did I use
In thankfulness each gifted day
That I might from these treasures choose
And find, in trust, the wiser way,
Through Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring
To live each precious moment sweet?

God's golden promised offering,
Makes Life complete!

-John McLeod.

Mid-Summer Festival

So next weekend is our Mid Summer Festival (23-25 June). While most of the preparations are well in hand, a few of us should get together (informally) after the 11.00 Mass this morning and go over our programme in order to tie down some outstanding issues. We might gather in the front parlour immediately after the Mass. We will follow the customary programme: 'An Evening of Music and Poetry' on Friday evening at 8.00; we are fortunate to have for this particular session a very lively group of Breton Jazz musicians, with Mark Kane acting as accompanist. The music pieces will be interspersed with poetry pieces and other readings.

Our Mid-Summer Liturgy will be celebrated on Saturday evening at the 6.30. We will be joined this year by our friends from St. Nicholas'. The focal point of that liturgical celebration will be the baptism of baby Sheridan, son and heir of the Sheridan Cheese Establishment in the Markets. Our liturgy needs a little bit of tweaking, but the basic outline is already firmly in place. A barbecue will follow in the Priory Car Park afterwards. As is our custom again, the barbecue will be the focal point of our social celebrations. (We are really slaves of custom and habit!)

Then of course there is that allimportant Children's Art Competition. We have two categories: (1) for children from 4-10 years; (2) and a category for those from 11-17 years. I have already passed on this information to Rev'd Patrick Towers and St. Nicholas' Church of Ireland National School will be competing for the very attractive prizes on offer. The Children's Art Competition will be judged by a panel of recognised art aficionados. They were selected for the integrity of their lifestyle rather than their artistic track-record. (in other words, bribery won't work!) A fairly elaborate prize-giving ceremony will then take place immediately after the Mid Summer Liturgy. During the course of this ceremony, a series of profound speeches will be delivered (free).

The children will then withdraw to the front parlour where 'The Red Onion Puppet Theatre' will entertain them. Meanwhile the adults will strive manfully to entertain themselves in the Priory Car Park. You will note from the warning earlier that there are two types of tickets: a family ticket costing €15 and an individual ticket which will cost you €10. Tickets will be available throughout the week from the Priory Office. The Family Ticket will cover an average contemporary Catholic family (2.4 children). Parishioners of St. Nicholas please note and adjust your behaviour accordingly! The ticket entitles you to a full 3-course meal, 5 glasses of the wine of your choice, live music and about 10 pints of either Guinness or Heineken (but not both). Tickets will be collected from you at the gate on the way in to the car park. You are asked to obey the stewards!

"Sayings, wise and unwise......"

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