Priest: Fr. John Halton, Parochial House, Tempo.
Telephone : 895 41344.

Sunday 14th February 2010

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fixing his eyes on his disciples Jesus said: “How happy are you who are poor; yours is the kingdom of God. Alas for you who are rich; you are having your consolation now”. Isn’t this a very difficult teaching to accept, even when we know that it comes from Jesus? And because it is difficult, we can tend to ignore it and go on our way. Obviously Jesus is not promoting poverty. Rather he is saying that when we are poor we know that we depend on God. When we have riches we put our trust in them even though in reality we still depend totally on God for everything including our next breath. The task of every human person is to let go of our self-importance and enter into the wonderful love relationship God wants to have with us. We will then use our resources, material and spiritual, for the well-being of each other.

Fr. Johnny Doherty, C.Ss.R.

Sunday Masses:

Tempo: 7.00pm Saturday evening.
11.00am Sunday morning

Cradien: 9.30am Sunday morning.

Daily Masses:

Tempo: Tuesday 10.00am, Friday 8.00pm.

Cradien: Monday 7.00pm, Thursday 9.30am.

Eucharistic Ministers

Tempo: Sat 20 Feb Diane Campbell.
Sun 21 Feb Tom McCaffrey & Paul McManus.

Cradien: Sun 14 Feb Rosaleen Martin.

Altar Servers

Week Beginning 14th February: Grainne McCarron, Mickey & Danny McDermott.

Week Beginning 21st February: Rory & Maeve McCaffrey, Eoghan & Padraig McCaffrey.

Anniversaries

Tempo: Friday 8.00pm Kathleen Padian, Glengesh.
Mary & Willie King, Glengesh.
Johnny, Tommy, Josie & Anthony Swift, Largy.
Angela McCarron, Edenmore.
Sarah & Peter McCahery, Edenmore Heights.

Temperance Sunday/ Confirmation Pledge: 12th February 2010. (pobalparish.com)

We celebrate Temperance Sunday today. We celebrate the call of Jesus to be Temperate in all things that we do. If we take too much of anything we do damage to our mind and body. If we eat too much we do damage to mind and body. We get too fat, and this diminishes our capacity to enjoy life. We are not fit to move easily; we get sleepy; tired, and disinterested in life. We feel bad about ourselves; we loose confidence in ourselves, and are not the kind of people we would like to be. If we drink too much alcohol the same is true. We damage our physical and emotional health for alcohol is not only a drug, but it is also a depressant drug when we take too much of it. The consequences of too much drinking are obvious on our emotional and physical health and on our family life. Alcohol is also an addictive drug like cigarette and very difficult to stop even for the ordinary drinker. Others as we know have the kind of temperament which leaves them open to become totally addicted and such people are unfortunate enough to develop the disease of Alcoholism. The results of alcoholism, on the person themselves and on the family are too terrible to go into today. All go through great suffering like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In the fifth Commandment “Jesus says: You must not kill another person” and we immediately know that this is true. But often we interpret this fifth commandment too narrowly, and forget that Jesus first commands us to take care of our physical, and our mental health. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church this broader view of the fifth commandment is expressed very clearly and we are told that the fifth commandment, first commands us to take care of our own physical and mental health. This call of Jesus to take care of our physical and mental health is at the very core of Temperance Sunday. It is also at the core of our thoughts on excessive eating or excessive drinking of alcohol. For temperance is about taking care of our health, and surely this is one of the greatest gifts God has given us after life itself. When we think of all who haven’t their health we begin to realise the importance of heath, and the importance of good health.

Thank God we live at a time when our emotional health is being emphasized just as much as our physical health. We are no longer ashamed to talk about Depression, Emotions and Mental Health. We now know that many physical ailments have their origins in emotional ailments such as stress, over eating, over drinking, and over work. In our time we have interviews about emotional health on television, on radio, and on national newspapers, and many actors and film stars often surprise, and encourage us when they tell us that they suffer from depression, and find it hard to face the world each day. In the last fortnight Brenda Fricker the Irish Oscar Winning Actress was interviewed by Gay Byrne, and she told us that she suffers from depression, and had a husband who suffered from alcoholism. She explained also the effects of bad health on herself and on the family. There are many others too who help all of realize the importance of our physical and mental health. In our time also we are not too proud to talk about a psychiatrist for we know that they too have a healing ministry in the body of Christ. In other words they are asking us to care for ourselves, for our health, and for our families. They are reminding us that good health is a great gift from God and we are called to care and protect it in every way possible.

I want to say these things today so that we put temperance into context, for Jesus is concerned about our well being, and our health. Jesus is concerned for the whole person. He is not just concerned about our spiritual life, but he is concerned about physical and bodily life also. Our God is a God who cares who loves and is concerned for us.

Our Confirmation Class today take a Pledge not to take Alcoholic drink until they make another decision with the approval of their parents. They take this pledge for love of Jesus, and through concern for their family, their future happiness, and out of a wish to serve Christ more generously. These young people are very wise. They know that they are still growing, and maturing. They are growing physically and emotionally. They know that alcohol is a drug which could destroy their physical and emotional growth, and therefore they are waiting to make a decision about it when they are older, more experienced, and in a position to make this decision.

Like Jesus after the finding in the Temple: They want first “to grow in stature, in wisdom and in the fear of the Lord” before they will make such a final momentous decision. I now ask them to come around “The Table of the Eucharist” to make their pledge to Jesus, for love of him, through concern for their family, and their future happiness, and out of a concern to serve Christ more generously.

Pobal/Assembly/Body of Christ

We reminded ourselves last week that the first thing the early Christians did after being baptized was to join the Assembly for the celebration of the Eucharist. Baptism and Eucharist are inseparable. One cannot be disconnected from the other. When they are separated we have failed in our first call from Jesus: Do this in memory of me. If we fail in this first call we will gradually fail in every call of Jesus, for we have put up a check point on the work of the Holy Spirit. Through Baptism Jesus does make many calls. When we become the Body of Jesus we become responsible for the work of Jesus in the world today. We become responsible for the mission of Jesus. Jesus himself gives us a pretty clear outline of our work as baptized people. We become responsible for the work of his Body/Pobal/Assembly/Church/Community. Jesus calls his Body/Assembly/Church/Pobal/ the “Leaven in the Dough”, and the “Light of the World”. If the dough were all Leaven (yeast) it would be useless. The role of the Leaven (yeast) is to raise up the mass of Dough, so the role of the Assembly/Community/ Church/ is to rise up all people in the parish and in society. The Community of Faith/ Parish/ Community is to be a Light to guide the Community who might still be in darkness, a Witness to the Truth, a Body/Pobal crying out for justice, and a Guide to the meaning of life. Together as a Parish we are called by Jesus to be a light to all around us and to society. As a Parish we are called to be witnesses to the Truth of God by our coming together to worship God, and by our sense of justice on which love is built. As a Parish we are to cry out to all for Justice. As a Parish we are called to show by our love of Jesus and our love for each other the meaning of our life in this world and in the next. So Baptism is not just a call to membership, but to discipleship. Some Catholics may be nationalist, rather than Catholic. If a Catholic is not a Disciple of Jesus, and doesn’t respond to the first call of Jesus to celebrate Mass on Sunday they have ceased to be Catholic. No one has decided that for them; they have done that to themselves by the way they live. They have failed to carry out not just the first call of baptism, but they have failed the many calls involved in being a disciple. It may be summarized like this. Baptism makes us Members of the Body of Christ. The Mission of the Body of Christ is to be a Leaven in the Dough of Society, and a Light to the World. We rise up the people in darkness as the Leaven rises up the Dough. We show the way to guide others. We are a witness to the truth of the relationship which God wants to have with us. We are a community that cries out for justice in our dealings with one another, for without justice there is no love. We are called to show people a meaning to life. The distinction between being a member of Christ’s Body, and being A Disciple is very important-- No Practice no immediate Baptism. (To be continued)

Day of Prayer for Temperance:

Today our Confirmation Class take their Confirmation Pledge after the Homily. The words of the Confirmation Pledge are as follows: Lord God for love of you and through concern for my family, and my future happiness and out of a wish to serve Christ more generously, I promise with your help not to take alcoholic drink until I make another decision with the approval of my parents. Alcohol is a drug. And drugs are dangerous if not taken with great care. Like any drug one can become addicted to it. This addiction has grave consequences in the family, and for ones own health. We can cause great suffering to our selves and to others.

Death

We pray for the happy repose of the soul of Terry Dolan, Magonragh whose Funeral Mass was celebrated on Wednesday 10th February 2010. May God console all who mourn his loss.