PARISH OF LISMORE AND BALLYSAGGART NEWS
We have passed the first anniversary of the arrival of Covid-19 in our land, in our parish. So far we have been blessed and even lucky that we have escaped so well. Many thanks to all the people who have done the right thing in their own personal lives. Great personal sacrifices have been made.
Now we need to stay strong as we hopefully are seeing real hope for a better future. It may be some time before we can talk of the pandemic in past tense. We pray that the poorer nations will get access to the vaccines in reasonable time. It is good to hear that there are many more companies about to bring their brand of vaccine into the market and health place.
The ethics of particular companies jealously guarding their vaccine patent may well need a bit of challenge. The 30 year rule on patent in this instance may well not hold up
Our celebration of Holy Week as a community celebration is not clear yet. We cannot do anything that would jeopardise the efforts made to supress the virus. Do keep on praying nonetheless for only God knows our future. God is not silent in these times, the Lord is not sleeping but our listening and responding is important.
Keep on your family Lenten prayer times, using your sacred space to be a focus of your prayer. It is so beautiful to see the sacred spaces in the children’s class rooms. Keep an eye to filling the family fast Trócaire box. We are showing solidarity with the people of Sudan. We are so happy that Pope Francis’s pastoral visit to Iraq went without difficulty. It brought world focus on the unhappy country. The visit brought blessings on the Muslim communities as well as on the Catholic communities. Everyone suffers at the hands of extremists. We need only think of the recent past in our own country.
We celebrated the Feast of St Patrick with our vigil Mass on the radio 103.9fm on Tues 16th and the 9.30am Mass in Ballysaggart on Facebook St Mary’s Church Ballysaggart and finally the 11am Mass on the radio. We will have similar times for Mass the weekend 21st. It is so good to know that there is a constant congregation for these parish Masses. You are encouraged where possible to tune in to your own parish Mass. You could also check in to the Diocesan website for many online initiatives; waterfordlismore.ie