Teachers may wish to take time in Lent to deepen their own prayer experiences. You are invited to join us for Prayerfest at either of our two locations this Lent.
Franciscan Missionary Community Mount Oliver
Saturday March 23th 2019 10 am Mount Oliver, Ballymascanlon , Co Louth.
or
Kilmore Parish Pastoral Centre
Saturday April 6th 2019 10. am Battlehill Road, Stonebridge, Richhill, Co Armagh, BT61 8QJ
The Prayer & Spirituality Commission will lead the day of prayer for all. Come and try different styles of prayer.
Starts at 10.00 am with a Morning Prayer. Please Bring a packed lunch – Tea and Coffee will be available.
The Prayer and Spirituality Commission are delighted to let you know about their new exhibition on Pilgrimage. It was designed to be available to secondary schools who look at this topic as part of Junior Cert and GCSE Religious Studies. It may also be suited to parish groups. To have it for display you will need a large room with tables around the walls so that the posters and materials can be viewed comfortably.
As part of their celebration of Catholic Schools Week, St Killian’s Community School in Ardee is currently hosting the display for their students and staff members to visit. Other schools in the Archdioces are invited to apply to Fr Declan O’Loughlin to make a booking. You can download the attached poster and small brochure on Pilgrimage prepared by the commission. contact Declan at decoloughlin@yahoo.co.uk
As we draw towards the close of January we find ouselves looking forward to the awakening of nature as Spring gradually breaks in upon us. This raises our hearts and spirits as the days gradually lengthen and the quality of light slowly grows brighter and even warmer. For us in Ireland the Feasts of Brigid and Patrick are makstones as this awakening unfolds. I will add resources as you send them to me. I thought this Utube video gives us all a great overview of the dawn of Christianity in Ireland This is available through Utube on the scoilnetwebsite that provides primary and seconary school teaching resources. Check out the following link https://www.scoilnet.ie/index.php?id=959
Bishop Robert Barron speaks about the meaning of Lough Derg
Those who come to Lough Derg take their spiritual lives with utter seriousness, and that is precisely why they are willing to endure hardship—even imposing it on themselves—in order to deepen their communion with God. They know that there are certain tendencies within their bodies and souls that are preventing the achievement of full friendship with God and therefore they seek, quite sensibly, to discipline themselves. John Henry Newman commented that the ascetical principle is basic to a healthy Christianity. He meant that Christians, at their best, understand that our sinful nature has to be chastised, disciplined, and rightly ordered. When the ascetical instinct disappears (as it has in much of Western Christianity), the spiritual life rapidly becomes superficial and attenuated, devolving into an easy “I’m okay and you’re okay” attitude.
The whole point of the Christian life is to find joy, but the attainment of true joy comes, in a sinful world, at the cost of some suffering. That’s why I, for one, am glad that a place like Lough Derg exists.