]]> http://strynaghschurch.ie/?feed=rss2&p=3446 0 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3440 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3440#comments Sun, 15 Oct 2017 17:47:03 +0000 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3440

]]> http://strynaghschurch.ie/?feed=rss2&p=3440 0 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3433 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3433#comments Sun, 15 Oct 2017 15:12:07 +0000 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3433 Congratulations to Sr.Goretti, who this week celebrated 50 years in religious life as a La Sainte Union Sister.

As we celebrate her contribution to the religious life amongst us, we pray for vocations.

LORD of the Harvest,

BLESS young people with the gift of courage to respond to your call.
Open their hearts to great ideals, to great things.

INSPIRE all of your disciples to mutual love and giving—
for vocations blossom in the
good soil of faithful people.

INSTILL those in religious life, parish
ministries, and families with the confidence
and grace to invite others to embrace
the bold and noble path of a life
consecrated to you.

UNITE us to Jesus through prayer and sacrament,
so that we may cooperate
with you in building your reign of mercy
and truth, of justice and peace. Amen.

— Pope Francis

O Lord God, who have made our love fruitful, we ardently recommend to your holy protection of our dear children.

Preserve them; make them grow as Jesus did, in grace before God and people. Implant in their hearts so great a love for you that they would prefer death to grievous sin. Teach them to put all their trust in you and to walk warily amidst the temptations of youth. Give them a filial devotion to your Holy Mother, that she may keep them free from sin.

We consecrate to you, O Lord, the children you have given us. If it pleases to call them to follow you more closely, give us enough faith to make the sacrifice of them with our whole hearts. Grant that our sins may not be visited upon them. Look upon our prayers and sacrifices on their behalf, and bless them all their days, so that together with them we may be gathered round your throne in heaven for all eternity. Amen

]]> http://strynaghschurch.ie/?feed=rss2&p=3425 0 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3416 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3416#comments Thu, 05 Oct 2017 12:37:27 +0000 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3416 The Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer — a white stucco church just off the Las Vegas Strip and dwarfed by giant hotels, casinos and flashing neon lights — has long been a spiritual oasis for tourists.

The church, with a statue of Jesus, his arms outstretched, near its entrance, became a different source of refuge after the deadly mass shooting took place Oct. 1 just across the street.

Its parking lot became an immediate place of shelter for concertgoers fleeing the barrage of bullets that showered down onto the country music festival.
And hours later, a member of the Metropolitan Police Department asked a diocesan official about using the church space — allowing some of the concertgoers to go inside and the police to set up a command post in the parking lot.
Father Bob Stoeckig, vicar general of Las Vegas, said a chancery employee went to the church later in the morning after the shooting took place and found various personal items in the parking lot including shoes, bloodied pieces of clothing and some personal items that people dropped as they fled.
“Near the doors of the church itself he found a few bullets that we believe ricocheted from the concert venue. None hit the building itself,” he said in an Oct. 3 email to Catholic News Service.
He also said the shrine had been closed Oct. 2 and 3 so it could be used as a site to aid the police in completing their investigation.
The shrine, which opened in 1993, can seat 2,200, making it the biggest church in the diocese. It is not a parish and is primarily there to provide a spiritual home away from home to Catholic tourists who come through the city.
A profile of the $3.2 million church in The New York Times a year after it opened said the shrine draws thousands of worshippers a week, 80 percent of them tourists, and unlike most churches, the congregants are invited to put casino chips in the collection plate.
The story said a church worker was designated to make a run every few weeks to cash in the chips at the casinos and a Franciscan friar who once had that role was called “the chip monk.”
The church is flanked by palm trees and the 30-story pyramid of Luxor Hotel and Casino is just behind it.
One statue on the front of the church property is a bronze statue of Jesus sitting on a rock surrounded by statues of children with his arms out as if he is playing with them.
Msgr. Gregory Gordon, pastor of St. Anne Church, about three miles north of the Las Vegas Strip, said the statue has a particular message in these trying days after the shooting that took at least 59 lives and left more than 500 people wounded.
He said Jesus is looking to the west, near the site where the shooting took place.
The priest said that when he recently saw the statue, he prayed that Jesus would look after all the children and bless those of all ages, since those attending the country music festival, that became the target of the deadly shooting, encompassed all ages.
“The group crossed many generations,” he said. “And they were enjoying a peaceful time that was interrupted at the last moment.”

Alter Server’s Prayer 

Oh Jesus, my King and Lord,
by the grace of the heavenly Father
and the power of the Holy Spirit,
guide me in all righteousness
as I serve You today at the Altar
so I may be always worthy of Your presence.
If I happen to make an error,
may it be a lesson
so my service will be perfect tomorrow.
Jesus, I love you with all my heart.

Amen.

]]> http://strynaghschurch.ie/?feed=rss2&p=3410 0 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3404 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3404#comments Wed, 27 Sep 2017 14:47:07 +0000 http://strynaghschurch.ie/?p=3404 St. Vincent de Paul was born to a poor peasant family in the French village of Pouy on April 24, 1581. His first formal education was provided by the Franciscans. He did so well, he was hired to tutor the children of a nearby wealthy family. He used the monies he earned teaching to continue his formal studies at the University of Toulose where he studied theology.

He was ordained in 1600 and remained in Toulose for a time. In 1605, while on a ship traveling from Marseilles to Narbone, he was captured, brought to Tunis and sold as a slave. Two years later he and his master managed to escape and both returned to France.

St. Vincent went to Avignon and later to Rome to continue his studies. While there he became a chaplain to the Count of Goigny and was placed in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. He became pastor of a small parish in Clichy for a short period of time, while also serving as a tutor and spiritual director.

From that point forward he spent his life preaching missions to and providing relief to the poor. He even established hospitals for them. This work became his passion. He later extended his concern and ministry to convicts. The need to evangelize and assist these souls was so great and the demands beyond his own ability to meet that he founded the Ladies of Charity, a lay institute of woman, to help, as well as a religious institute of priests – the Congregation of Priests of the Mission, commonly referred to now as the Vincentians.

This was at a time when there were not many priests in France and what priests there were, were neither well-formed nor faithful to their way of life. Vincent helped reform the clergy and the manner in which they were instructed and prepared for the priesthood. He did this first through the presentation of retreats and later by helping develop a precursor to our modern day seminaries. At one point his community was directing 53 upper level seminaries. His retreats, open to priests and laymen, were so well attended that it is said he infused a “Christian spirit among more than 20,000 persons in his last 23 years.”

The Vincentians remain with us today with nearly 4,000 members in 86 countries. In addition to his order of Vincentian priests, St. Vincent cofounded the Daughters of Charity along with St. Louise de Marillac. There are more than 18,000 Daughters today serving the needs of the poor in 94 countries. He was eighty years old when he died in Paris on September 27, 1660.He had “become the symbol of the successful reform of the French Church”. St. Vincent is sometimes referred to as “The Apostle of Charity” and “The Father of the Poor”.

His incorrupt heart can be found in the Convent of the Sisters of Charity and his bones have been embedded in a wax effigy of the Saint located at the Church of the Lazarist Mission. Both sites are located in Paris, France.

Two miracles have been attributed to St Vincent – a nun cured of ulcers and a laywoman cured of paralysis. As a result of the first, Pope Benedict XIII beatified him on August 13, 1729. Less than 8 years later (on June 16, 1737) he was canonized by Pope Clement XIII. The Bull of Canonization recognized Vincent for his charity and reform of the clergy, as well as for his early role in opposing Jansenism.

It has been reported that St. Vincent wrote more than 30,000 letters in his lifetime and that nearly 7,000 had been collected in the 18th century. There are at least five collections of his letters in existence today.

Matthew 5:10