DIRECT & INTENTIONAL

TAKING OF THE LIFE

OF ANY INNOCENT HUMAN LIFE

IS ALWAYS GRAVELY WRONG’

Archbishop Martin of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland speaking a Knock reminded all that the ‘direct and intentional taking of the life of any innocent human being is always gravely wrong’

“For those who voted No to repealing the eighth, it remains as important as ever to affirm the sanctity of all human life, and that the direct and intentional taking of the life of any innocent human being is always gravely wrong.”

At a time like this, Archbishop Martin acknowledged, it is easy for faithful Catholics to become despondent. “However,” he said, “there is no point in standing transfixed, like the early apostles gazing into the sky, hoping this will all go away. This is our time for living. This is our time for believing. This is our time for mission and teaching the truth of the Gospel.”

To continue to proclaim this truth, in love, Archbishop Martin said, may sometimes seem like a ‘mission impossible.’

However, the Archbishop expressed, Pope Francis makes it clear in his Apostolic Exhortation on holiness in today’s world Gaudete et Exsultate published in April, that this is not optional for Catholics: “Our defense of the innocent unborn … needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demanding of love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development.”

BRAINBOX’S PERFECT QUIZ

Who was the British Prime Minister at the outbreak of the World War II?
Who was the pope at the beginning of the 20^th Century?
Which English navigator discovered Australia?
In what Book of the Bible is the story of the life of Abraham recounted?
What is the biggest island in the world?

INKLINGS

Here are the two best prayers I know: ‘Help me, help me, and help me’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ (Anne Lamott)

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it. (Sydney J. Harris)

What is a friend? A single soul shared by two people. (Aristotle)

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. (Theodore Roosevelt)

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint. (Albert Schweitzer)

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk. (Doug Larson)

I do not understand the mystery of grace–only that it meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us. (Anne Lamott)

Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can’t imagine.(Kathleen Norris)

Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional. (Kathleen Casey)

A TIME AWAY FOR COUPLES

Why not take some time out for you to talk, pray and spend time together as a couple. Find direction in your marriage, share with other couples….and your children will be cared for in their own space – but in close proximity.

Esker Retreat Centre, Galway, 22nd to 28th July 2018. Contact Cana Ireland 085 7330191.

ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ

((1) Neville Chamberlain (2) Pius X

(3) James Cooke(4) Genesis. (5) Greenland.

Contact AA

Limerick Co. 087-9313134

City: 061-311222/085 2406867.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help Novena

Mt St Alphonsus, Limerick

June 15th to 23rd

The preachers this year are

Dan Baragry C.Ss.R,
Peter Hill C.Ss.R,
Gerry Moloney C.Ss.R and
Anne Walsh.

Our Novena times are:

7am,
8am,
10am,
11.30pm,
1.10pm,
4.30pm,
6pm,
7.30pm,
9pm and
10.30pm.

Sat 23rd, Mass for the Elderly, Sick and Infirm, there will be no 10am or 1.10pm Novena; instead we will have a 9.30am and 1.30pm Novena.

Sun 17th at 4.30pm Children’s Novena, without Mass, where each child will receive an individual blessing.

Tues 19th a Day of Reconciliation. Masses will be celebrated at 7am, 10am, 1.10pm, 6pm and 10.30pm. Reconciliation Liturgies will take place at 8am, 11.30am, 4.30pm, 7.30pm and 9pm.

On Saturday June 23rd at 11.30 am we will have a Mass including the Sacrament of the Anointing, for the Elderly, Sick and Infirm.

INNIU SA STAIR

17th June

Born on 14th Oct 1882 in New York, Éamon de Valera was the son of Catherine Coll from Bruree, and Juan Vivion de Valera from the Basque Country. As a child, he was known as “Eddie” or “Eddy”. He was taken to Ireland by his uncle Ned at the age of two and was reared by his grandmother, Elizabeth Coll. He was educated at Bruree National School, and C.B.S. Charleville, County Cork. Aged 16, he won a scholarship and was accepted at Blackrock College, Dublin. He played rugby at fullback on the first team, which reached the final of the Munster Senior Cup. In 1905 he played for Munster in the fullback position. He remained a lifelong devotee of rugby and in 1967 he said . “For my part, I have always preferred rugby.”

A diligent student, he won further scholarships and exhibitions and in 1903 he taught mathematics at Rockwell College. It was here that de Valera was first given the nickname “Dev” by a colleague, Tom O’Donnell. In 1904, he graduated in mathematics from the Royal University of Ireland. He then studied for a year at Trinity College Dublin but, owing to the necessity of earning a living, did not proceed further and returned to teaching, this time at Belvedere College. In 1906, he secured a post as teacher of mathematics at Carysfort Teachers’ Training College for women in Blackrock, County Dublin

He seriously contemplated the religious life, As a Irish speaker, he became an activist for the language. In 1908 he joined Conradh na Gaeilge , and there met Sinéad Flanagan, They married on 8 January 1910

In the 1916 Rising, he was the commandant of the 3^rd Battalion and they occupied Boland’s Mill.

When the First Dáil met in 1919, Éamon de Valera was the president of Sinn Féin and thus the natural choice for leadership. However he had been imprisoned in England so, at the second meeting of the Dáil on 22 January, Cathal Brugha was elected as the first Príomh Aire on a temporary basis. De Valera escaped Lincoln Gaol in February and so was elected to replace Brugha at the Dáil’s third meeting on 1 April.

The Irish text of the First Dáil Constitution referred to the leader of the state as the Príomh Aire. In English this was translated as both Prime Minister and President of the Ministry, President of Dáil Éireann was also used, interchangeably with these terms, despite the fact that it did not appear in the constitution. a

As leader de Valera visited the United States from June 1919 to December 1920. His aim was to gain both popular and official recognition for the Republic, and to float a loan to finance Dáil Éireann and the War of Independence. By his return de Valera had won public but not official support for the Republic and had raised a loan of $6 million.

Eventually, there was a Treaty with the British, however it lad to a tragic Civil War in Ireland. He was politically on the Anti Treaty side.

In March 1926 Seán Lemass convinced de Valera to found Fianna Fáil.

From then on he held many offices in opposition and in Government. In 1937, he was responsible for the formation of the Constitution and got it passed by the people. On this day 17^th June in 1959 he won the presidential election becoming the 3^rd President of Ireland.