Your Parish Newsletter for Sunday 14th February 2021:
SUNDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2021 – SIXTH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME:
GOSPEL: MARK 1:40-45 – JESUS, FRIEND OF OUTCASTS
ASH WEDNESDAY, the first day of Lent, is on Wednesday of this week. It is a day of fast and abstinence. Unfortunately, we will not be able to have the distribution of Ashes this year. This is a diocesan-wide decision, taken in the interests of everyone’s safety and in keeping with the current restrictions.
Trócaire Lenten Campaign: The main focus of our almsgiving during Lent is the Trócaire Lenten Campaign. Trócaire remains conscious of the focus that the Trócaire Box in our homes during Lent draws to the need for our support in helping to alleviate the plight of those desperately in need. So, despite the churches being closed at this time, Trócaire Boxes are available in our churches this week – you can pick one up at your convenience.
Mass Schedule for the Parish this Week:
With our church being closed, you are invited to participate in our Masses via our parish webcam: WebCam – WATCH LIVE
Our 11.00am Mass is also broadcast live each Sunday on Finn Valley Radio, 95.8FM
SUNDAY MASSES:
Vigil: Saturday 6.30pm, Sunday Morning: 11.00am
(Note: there will only be one Sunday Morning Mass – 11.00am – while the church remains closed.
WEEKDAY MASSES & LITURGIES:Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: Mass at 9.30am
The Angelus and Rosary will be recited each day at 12.00noon. Please join in via webcam.
Our church continues to remain open for private prayer (other than when Mass is being celebrated or the Angelus/Rosary recited). Prayer is one of the three traditional pillars of Lenten observance (along with fasting and almsgiving). Scripture provides us with many references to the prayer life of Jesus. The reassuring thing for all of us is the simplicity of Jesus’ prayer life, in that it is nothing that we cannot try to imitate. Two things Scripture tells us of Jesus’ prayer life are: He sometimes went off to pray alone, and He prayed regularly. As we enter the Sacred Season of Lent with our churches closed for public worship, you are invited and encouraged to come along to the church, regularly if you can, at a time that suits you, for private prayer, and to light a candle.
†
Helena Crawford, late of Coolatee, Smokey
As a parish faith community, we offer our sympathy and our prayerful support to the sisters and brothers, Betty, Myra, Deirdre, Eddie, Hughie and Aidan, nieces, nephews, aunt and extended family, neighbours and friends of Helena, whose Funeral Mass took place on Friday morning. May her soul rest in peace.
MASS INTENTIONS THIS WEEK:
Monday 15 Feb, 9.30am: Gerry O’Doherty, Derry; Tue 16 February, 9.30am: Elizabeth Harte, Corner House.
Sat 20 Feb, 6.30pm: Robert and Margaret Porter, Lifford; Sun 21 Feb, 11.00am: John & Mary Colhoun, Ballindrait.
ANNIVERSARIES:
We remember in prayer the souls of those whose anniversaries occur at this time….
Tony Crotty, Gallows Lane; Margaret Lannon, Ballina; Madelene Mc Menamin, Cloughfin;
Marie Laird, Cloughfin; Gerry O’ Doherty, Derry; Patrick Kelly, Braide; Edmund Devenney, Tober;
John Mc Gettigan, Tamnawood/ Strabane; Sean Connolly, Kinlough.
May they rest in peace.
COLLECTION:
THANK YOU for your generosity to the collection last week, which amounted to €2,053. I continue to be available in the church each day after the Rosary for those who wish to bring along their envelope. Envelopes can also be left through the door of the Parochial House. Thank you to those who contribute by Standing Order – total for January was €130. Thank you also to those who donate online via the parish website – payments for January amounted to €274.59
Download our Standing Order Form here.
You can also request envelopes by simply clicking on this link: ‘Get in Touch‘ and then select Parish Envelopes from the drop-down menu.
ST VINCENT DE PAUL:
Anyone who is in need of help or is struggling in any way, especially as a result of the pandemic, should call the SVP helpline number, 087 4647 991. Someone is available at all times to take calls. Please know that all calls are in the strictest confidence. If you need help, don’t hesitate to call!
Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes:
THANK YOU to all who joined in very special nine days of prayer for the sick, in our Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. I have no doubt that your prayers will bring many blessings on those who are sick, especially the sick of our parish and all those for whom we prayed. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
WHAT ARE WE DOING FOR LENT IN OUR PARISH – IN OUR HOMES AND IN OUR CHURCH?
SACRED SPACE IN THE HOME: You are encouraged to create a sacred space in your home for Lent, to help you in meditating this penitential season, when we contemplate Jesus’ journey to the Cross of Calvary. In particular, if there are children in your house, you should encourage them to participate in creating the sacred space. Purple is the penitential colour, so you may wish to use purple material / cloth as your backdrop, if you have some. You could place a crucifix or, perhaps, a cross made from wood/twigs that children gather; you might place your Trocaire box or a little basket for coins (representing almsgiving), a prayer book/bible (representing prayer). Sacrifice In Lent, in the form of fast or ‘going off’ some food or pleasure is another Lenten tradition: children could be encouraged to place a written note on the sacred space of their particular promise / sacrifice.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: on our parish Facebook page: The Stations of the Cross are a very traditional form of prayerful meditation in Lent. This year, while you are very welcome to come in to the church to pray the Stations of the Cross privately, we will not be able to pray the Stations together in the traditional way. However, with the aid of photographs of the Stations in our own church, a ‘Thought for the Day’ will be posted on our parish Facebook page each day of Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday. Meditating on the station presented each day, you may also wish to pray the station privately. Check out our Facebook page on Ash Wednesday for the first station.
WALKING THE VIA DOLOROSA (THE WAY OF THE CROSS) WITTH JESUS: We will journey with Jesus in a short (15 minute) liturgy each Sunday of Lent, starting next Sunday (21st), at 12noon, in which you can participate via our parish webcam (this liturgy will replace the Rosary that we normally pray at 12noon on Sundays). The theme of next Sunday’s Walk the Way of the Cross liturgy will be ‘The agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane’.
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS OF ABUSE:
Will be celebrated this Friday, 19 February (the First Friday of Lent). This Day is an initiative of Pope Francis and was first marked in Irish dioceses and parishes in 2017. The bishops of Ireland have blessed and dedicated Candles of Atonement for use in cathedrals and parishes throughout the country on the Day and thereafter during the celebration of Mass and other liturgies. If you can visit our church (or any church) on Friday, you are invited to light a ‘Candle of Atonement’ for all who have been hurt.
Candle of Atonement Prayer:
Lord, forgive us our many sins.
We grieve and repent with all our hearts for having offended you,
for our great failings and neglect of the young and vulnerable.
We place all of those who have been hurt by the Church in any way
into your loving hands and under the protection of Our Blessed Mother.
Lord, bring peace to their broken lives and show us all the way out of darkness and into the light of your Word.
May we as the people of God be more fully human, more fully Christ-like and more fully your people,
that we may see the errors of the past and go forward with renewed hope and faith in Christ and in our Church. Amen.
VIRTUAL LOUGH DERG PILGRIMAGE:
Bishop McKeown invites those who can to join him by webcam from St Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry, on Friday (19 February) for a 24-hour period of prayer, penance, similar to the Virtual Pilgrimage of the first weekend of Lent last year. In stating that it is fitting to hold this time of prayer and penance on the World Day of Prayer for Victims and Survivors of Abuse, the bishop said he proposes “to mirror some of the key elements of the centuries-old Lough Derg pilgrimage.” Fast starts at 12midnight on Thursday 18 February (finishing after 6am Mass on Saturday). The 24-hour Vigil starts at 6.00am on Friday, with Morning Prayer. For those interested in participating, full details of the virtual pilgrimage can be found on https://www.derrydiocese.org/news/day-of-prayer
KNOCK SHRINE – ONLINE LENTEN PROGRAMME:
Knock is hosting a series of online discussions on the Thursday nights of Lent, at 8.30pm. Under the title ‘Living Christian Faith – Lenten Conversations’, there will be a different theme each week. Where do we find hope and joy in our lives? How can our faith build mental strength, wellbeing and resilience? How has the Covid pandemic impacted upon our faith? – Some of the questions that will be explored over the six weeks. Join in on www.knockshrine.ie/watch-live or on Facebook @knockshrine
THE NET:
The February edition of The Net is now available to download on www.derrydiocese.org. You can also access it on our parish Facebook page. As always, it is full of interesting news, articles, interviews and photos.
Next Sunday, 21 February, is the First Sunday of Lent. The Gospel we will listen to is St Mark 1:12-15: ‘Jesus prays in the wilderness for forty days’. Check out the Readings on our parish website:
https://clonleighparish.com/sundays-mass-readings/
The Daily Mass Readings can also be accessed on our parish website: https://clonleighparish.com/todays-mass-readings/ . Alternatively, just google Clonleigh Parish readings.
St. Valentine’s Day:
St Valentine’s Day is celebrated today.
The following Valentine Prayer is taken from the Family Prayer Book:
I said a Valentine prayer for you and asked the Lord above
To fill your heart and bless your soul with the precious gift of love.
I asked him for sincere love, the kind that’s meant to stay,
Just like the generous love You give to those You touch each day.
I prayed for love from family and for every cherished friend,
Then I asked the Lord to give you His love that knows no end. St Valentine, pray for us.
ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION:
This is the version that we recite during each of our Masses – you are encouraged to pray it
and to teach it to children.
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,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Covid-19 Protocols: Clonleigh Parish:
The current Clonleigh Parish protocols can be viewed by following the link to this page on our website and we recommend that you regularly check this page for any new updates:
ONLINE CONTRIBUTIONS:
Donate to the Church in the following ways:
1. Parish Envelopes
2. Online donation via our website. Click the Donate button below.
3. Standing Order. Set up a standing order through your online banking portal or – Download this form: Standing Order Form and we can set it up on your behalf. Send to or email to the Parish Office: clonleighparish@derrydiocese.org
Download our Standing Order Form
Parish Contact Details:
Parish Priest: Fr Colm @ 074-9142022
Fr Colm Mobile: 0833665530
Parish Office – Secretary: Lorna Porter @ 074-9142001
Email: clonleighparish@derrydiocese.org
Parish website: www.clonleighparish.com
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Follow us on Twitter: @clonleighparish
Join our free Clonleigh Parish Text Service on WhatsApp. We will text you when we update our website with the Parish Newsletter etc. And you can link in to read the latest updates.