Parish of Lismore & Ballysaggart update

Praying families will help carry the Catholic faith tradition in these times. When people did not have access to the Mass they prayed the Rosary. The Rosary is truly a Biblical prayer. We could describe the Rosary as the Bible on its knees. October is the month of the Rosary.

Archbishop Eamon Martin has requested that families pray the Rosary in these Covid19 days. You may think that it is the scientists who will come up with a vaccine. The silence of the scientists to say with real certainty as to the true origins of this pandemic must surely be noted by thinking people. So we need to turn to the mercy of our God in these times. Many of the certainties we had built our civilizations on have crumbled. In many ways we have to go back to the drawing boards again. Human ingenuity will in time find a pathway.

I encourage you to pray the Rosary in your home. Take out your family bible and find the accounts of the mysteries of the Rosary. Give the task to a teenager in your home or to a child preparing for Confirmation. It is dangerous to read to Bible for you may begin to ask the liberating question- ‘Is my life in keeping with what Jesus Christ would wish me to live? Only yourself will be able to respond courageously.

With the storm about the university students behaviour it was remarkable that no one actually mentioned the word father or mother or parent, guardian as influencers on the behaviour. Good parents do command the respect and loyalty of the teenager sons and daughters. This respect is hard earned from the birth of the child. There are none more critical of parents than their own children. Pray for those young men and women. They may have much intelligence but lack wisdom. Wisdom is born from experience and truth. It is seen in that spirit of empathy for others

There is a splendid chapter on prayer of intercession and supplication in Pope Francis apostolic exhortation ‘on the call to holiness in today’s world, chapter154. We practice the two fold commandment when we pray for others. ‘This is the person wo loves the brothers and sisters and prays much for the people. To quote the poet who wrote ‘ more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. To pray is to love unconditionally. Transform your family by a time of shared prayer. Consider coming to Mass as a family.

There is a splendid chapter on prayer of intercession and supplication in Pope Francis apostolic exhortation ‘on the call to holiness in today’s world, chapter154. We practice the two fold commandment when we pray for others. ‘This is the person wo loves the brothers and sisters and prays much for the people. To quote the poet who wrote ‘ more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. To pray is to love unconditonally. Transform your family by a time of shared prayer.

- Fr Michael Cullinan