BCL Newsletter Week 28
A heart filled with love has no room for hate.
15th Sunday Ordinary Time - 10th / 11th July 2021
We welcome Fr. Willie Hennessy as part of our Pastoral Team and Pastoral area, who will reside at the Parochial House, Conahy, effective from August 28th 2021. We wish him well in his new appointment. Fr. Willie is no stranger to all of us, for he served in the parish of Conahy while teaching in St. Kieran’s College for fifteen years and we are blessed by his return and happy to have Fr. Willie as a member of our team.
Contrary to what we may have been taught when we were young, our mission here on earth is not to get to heaven but to make a heaven on earth. If we wish to establish the Kingdom of God, as Jesus did, we should remember that He began its charter with the words: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' When he called his disciples, he made only one demand of them - that they leave everything to follow him! The only one who refused his call, the rich young man, did so because 'he had many possessions'. And we hear in today’s gospel that as he was sending them out to preach, He commanded them: 'Take nothing with you'.
We are only really free when ‘we have nothing left to lose’; when we have emptied ourselves of our many wants and become satisfied with having what we need. While we may have many wants, if we are honest, we have very few needs and the more that we can unburden ourselves, the more we will be unencumbered by baggage. Many of us have yet to realise that there are no pockets in the shroud i.e. we cannot take any of our wealth with us. We are told that whatever we hoard, dies with us whereas whatever we give to others in love goes before us to be reclaimed in eternity. There is a beautiful Chinese proverb which says: “judge a man’s real wealth, not by what he has, but by what he can afford to live without.”
What we sometimes fail to appreciate is that praying “thy kingdom come” entails that we do our part as well as depending on God to do His. So often we fail to understand that we have to be a part of the answer to our own prayers. We ask God to help those who are suffering because they do not have the basic necessities of life and we fail to realise that he has given us the ability and the resources to make that prayer a reality, even in a tiny way. Remember, the gospel warns us that Dives ended up in hell not because he was rich but because he failed to share with Lazarus who had nothing. Ultimately when we are called to account for how we spent our lives, we are going to have to answer the simple question: "I was hungry" - and what did you do about it?
Anniversaries Occurring At This Time
Jack and Mary O’Rourke – their son, Brendan
Mike Brophy, Rathkyle
Jimmy and Nancy Phelan, Bridge St
James and Bridget Gallagher – their sons & Sabrina.
John Jackman, Swiftsheath;
Neddy and Eileen Delaney, Lower Conahy
Recent Deaths - Requiescat In Pace
Edmond (Eamon) Downey, Aharney (formerly from Conahy Parish)
