Irish News

Marie Irish News

By Marie Beirne

Jesus says “suppose one of you goes to a friend’s house in the middle of the night and says “friend lend me 3 loaves for a friend of mine who is travelling has just arrived and I have nothing to offer him.” (Luke 11.5)

Have you like me ever felt you have nothing to offer – no powerful word which cuts to the heart of a situation, no wisdom from heaven to meet the need of a friend? The force of “nothing to offer” really struck me and I felt the Lord was inviting me to come before him first thing each morning to ask for something to set before those who call or phone or ask for prayer – something with the mark of heaven upon it. So my new year’s resolution is that just as I would shop in the morning for food to prepare a tasty meal for visiting friends, I would now ask in prayer and listening at the beginning of each day:

- For the words and wisdom for each particular person/situation - For inspiration from the source of life - For the word that I am to submit for this page - For vision and guidance for prayer meetings, service committee meetings and conferences and for Charismatic Renewal in Ireland

The Lord has promised his disciples an irresistible word “I will give you words of wisdom that no-one can contradict” (Luke 21.15). Too often I have relied on my own wisdom and have been “as sounding brass and sounding cymbal.”

Let’s stretch out our hands in prayer and listening to the Father and take from His hands each day food from heaven, the bread of His Word, the vision of His heart to set before others so that we might say like the prophet Isaiah, “The Lord has taught me to speak and I know how to sustain the weary.”

Marie

A Reflection By Martin McTiernan

Martin This article about the Sacread Heart, and particulary the last sentence in it, has caused me to once again reflect on the wonder of God’s love and mercy for us, and as Fiona has so beautifully put it, how these are “daily being poured out on us from that Heart”. I have good reason to refect on this, because at one of the lowest points in my own life an image of the Sacred Heart was the lifebuoy that I grabbed when there was nothing else to hold onto. At the time I had no interest in that image or what it represented. Years of alcoholic drinking and rebellion against religion had left me with nothing but bitterness and negativity and I hovered somewhere between athiesm and agnosticism without fully understanding the difference. So it was down to my wife Margaret that we had that Sacred Heart picture in the hallway of our home. I stopped drinking in 1991, and by Christmas of that year I had managed with a huge struggle and a lot of help, to achieve between three and four months of what could best be termed “white knuckle sobriety”. But on Christmas Eve night, assailed by that insidious craving, I had no resistance left and was on the point of relapse and a journey to who knows where. Out of nowhere I got up and went to this Jesus, whom I didn’t believe in, and literally begged “whoever or whatever you are” for help. I didn’t have that drink, and as a result I haven’t had one since, nor has there ever been a serious compusion to do so.

That should have been enough to melt a stone, but eaten bread can quickly be forgotten. The parable of the lepers (Luke 17:12-19) describes it perfectly, with me cast firmly as one of the nine, as I took the gift for granted and did little by way of thanking God. Thankfully God doesn’t bear grudges for ingratitude and and while there was no instant conversion, there was a gradual softening which eventually led to conversion and to the grace of Baptism in the Spirit some six years later. With that grace comes a different relationship with Jesus and an understanding that even in those parts of our lives where we seem to be running away, He has rearranged the road signs so it’s just a detour back to Him!

I share this little piece because I know that God wants to say to each of us that He loves us, irrespective of where we have been or how much we may have turned our backs on Him. In our Adoration chapel recenty I saw a petition written on the back of a page on the attendance log which asked for prayer for a family member who had “stopped believing in God” – I couldn’t resist the temptation to add “but you can be sure God hasn’t stopped believing in him”

HEALING

EMMANUEL HOUSE OF PROVIDENCE, Clonfert, Ballinasloe. - HEALING DAY with Eddie Stones on the last Saturday of the month, except December, from 10am until 4pm. Bring packed lunch. - HEALING SERVICE Wednesdays at 12pm and Thursdays at 7pm. All Welcome. For details contact 057 9151552 or 057 9151641

MARRIAGE

PREMARRIAGE PREPARATION AND TRAINING COURSES The Nazareth Community (Dun Laoghaire) has a great ministry to support family life. Regularly run pre-marriage preparation/training courses. Call 01 282 1899 or 01 2896647

KOINONIA JOHN THE BAPTIST Contact: Northern Ireland: 14 Glencree Park, Jordanstown, Co Antrim BT37 OQS tel 028 9086 7984 or Southern Ireland Derrycramph, Cavan Town, Co Cavan. Tel 049 433 2981 or www.koinoniagb.org

PRAYER GROUPS

AVILA CHARISMATIC PRAYER GROUP Wednesdays 8pm Avila Prayer Centre, Dublin. Tel: 01 643 0200

BREAD OF LIFE PRAYER GROUP Mondays 8pm Blessed Sacrament Chapel, Bachelor Walk, DUBLIN 1. Call: 01 872 4597

BALLYGELL CHARISMATIC PRAYER GROUP meet Tuesdays 8.00pm–9.30pm The oratory, Church of Our Mother of Divine Grace, Ballygell Road, East Dublin 11. All welcome - Come an see! Call 01 8379596

MONAGHAN CHARISMATIC PRAYER GROUP Mondays 8pm. St Louis Convent Chapel. Details from Philip & Karen McArdle tel: 042 - 966 1572 email: karine eircom.net - Healing Masses are held on the second Monday of each month with a visiting priest. For details check their web site www.mcpg.net

RETREAT CENTRES

IRISH SCHOOL OF EVANGELISATION (ISOE) Contact: Jean O’Callaghan 01 282 7658 web http://www.esatclear.ie/~isoe

TIME ALONE WITH GOD? St Anthony’s retreat centre, near Buncrana in Co Donegal has special purpose built hermitages. Spiritual guides are also available. Contact Fr Neal Carlin, St Anthony’s Retreat Centre, Dundrean, Burnfoot, Co Donegal 00353 74 93 68370.

CARMELITE RETREAT CENTE DERRY Further details Carmelite Retreat Centre, Termonbacca, DERRY BT48 9XE email chazgillespie@ hotmail.com

YOUTH

YOUTH2000 ministry to young people and adults runs prayer groups, retreats and social activities. Marian spirituality with emphasis on adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist, Reconciliation and testimony. Contact: National office Aras Treasa, 5 Coppinger Row, Clarendon St, Dublin 2 Tel 01 675 3690 www.youth2000.ie Northern Ireland: Clement Kennedy 028 81647672 (nb replace 028 with 048 from South)

ST PATRICK MISSION TEAM led by John Pridmore. For details contact: Naomh Padraig - (The presbytery) - Gowel, Carrick -on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. Ireland. Details: John Pridmore, Y2000 Mission Team. Tel 087 359 3965 email stpatrickscommunity@ yahoo.ie

TO ORDER GOODNEWS Send a cheque for Euro 25 payable to “GOODNEWS” to: The Haven, Bachelor’s Quay, Cork Tel 021 425 1100 Email:bridgetdunne@ eircom.net

PAREY LE MONDIAL

By Fiona Collins

Nestling in the heart of Burgundy is one of France’s greatest secrets, hidden in the little town of Paray-le-Monial. Surprising then that it was in the Visitation convent in this practically unknown town that the Sacred Heart appeared to a young nun, Margaret Mary Alocoque. Thus was born a devotion that has spread throughout the world. We are all familiar with the picture of the Sacred Heart which was enshrined in every Catholic home in Ireland but ask anyone where this devotion came from and few would be able to answer.

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For nineteen years (1671–1690), Jesus revealed His message of love to Margaret Mary and proclaimed, “Behold this Heart, which has loved men so much that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself in order to testify to them It’s love and in return I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges and by the coldness and contempt which they show me in this sacrament of love.”

As a witness to this blazing love that burns inside the Heart of Jesus, Margaret Mary was entrusted with the mission to reveal it to the whole world. She was assisted in this mission by the Jesuit priest and saint, Claude de la Colombière. On a visit to Paray-le-Monial the pilgrim can not only enter the little Chapel of the Apparitions, where St Margaret Mary had her vision, and venerate her relics but also go to the Church of St Claude de la Colombière and venerate his relics too.

It was during the month of August 2009 that a group of young people along with members of the Irish Emmanuel Community made that journey to Paray-le-Monial. With five thousand other young people from all over the world they attended an International Youth Session and experienced at first hand the power of a faith in the love of the Heart of Jesus. There was Mass each day, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, faith teachings and testimonies from other young people who had witnessed the love of God in their lives. One of the highlights was the opportunity for the Irish young people to attend a special Holy Hour of Adoration around the altar in the Chapel of the Apparitions where they prayed for Ireland, their families, friends and examination results. They also had a time each day to share their faith stories and explore issues that were truly relevant in their lives. It was a remarkable experience for each of them and a memory that will never be forgotten.

One of the questions posed by the young people was “Why is devotion to the Sacred Heart so important?” An Irish nun in the Visitation convent gave the answer. Simply put, it is a devotion of love and in God this personal love is the Holy Spirit. She went on to quote Pope John Paul II who wrote” In the Holy Spirit the intimate life of the Trinitarian God becomes for us a total gift, an exchange of mutual love between the Divine Persons and it is through the Holy Spirit that we receive this gift of pure love. God’s love pours into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. This Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and has been given to each one of us personally so that we might love with a power and a beauty which is proper to God. In giving us the Spirit, the Father has given us His own personal love for the Son.” What an extraordinary gift that is. The young people came away from that convent deeply impressed by a message that was embedded in their hearts.

The trip to Paray-le-Monial was not just a trip to a little town in Burgundy – it was a journey into the Heart of Jesus and the message was clear - the Holy Spirit of love which is daily being poured out on us from that Heart is bringing us closer to the Father - providing we make our response.

Fiona is a member of the Emmanuel Community in Belfast.

The Emmanuel Community was born out of Catholic Charismatic Renewal in 1972. Through the inspiration of Emmanuel’s founder member Pierre Goursat, Paray-le-Monial was to become a place of prayer, pilgrimage and retreat where the graces given to the community – Adoration, Compassion and Evangelisation – were to find fulfillment. Since 1975 hundreds of thousands of people have attended the Summer Sessions at Paray-le-Monail and these sessions, along with retreats held throughout the year, have made this a place of ongoing renewal for lay people who are committed to building up the Church.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

Please remeber the date for the National Conference in Athlone 18th-20th June 2010

REMEMBERING FR JACK

This January is the first annivarsay of the death of Fr Jack McArdle, who was well known to most Irish readers of the Goodnews and indeed to everyone involved at any level in the renewal. His talks and writings are so rich with wisdom and with humour that it would be simple to pluck a thousand gems without even searching for them. I like the very opening line to his “Right Here Right Now” reflection “I sometimes joke that it is difficult for God to become incarnate in Ireland, because we tend to push him back up into the sky…” Throughout his ministry Fr Jack did so much to help us meet a real, living, earthy God rather than one that was distant and remote. Thank God for the wealth of writings and tapes that he has bequeathed to us.

ARTICLES/TESTIMONIES SOUGHT!!!

We are earnestly seeking contributions from Goodnews readers to make the magazine as relevant as possible to you. In your own life, prayer group and parish, there are testimonies to God’s power and love and there are events which others need to know about. We need your help! Martin 0862412548 / 0719621097 email martinmctiernan yahoo.ie Dympna 014506776 email padymm@ eircom.net

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