Archive for January, 2021

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2021

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How does a child learn to trust? Trust is an essential quality in human relationships. A person learns over time and through human encounters of love within the environment of family and friends how, who and when to trust. Generally, a person trusts another until there is reason not to do so. It is desirable that each person grows in trust and love and is oneself a trustworthy person.

Psalm 36 proclaimed at Mass today during Catholic Schools Week 2021, invites and encourages God’s people to trust in God. The psalmist explains what is possible when one places their trust in God saying, ‘…you will live in the land and be secure…he will grant you your heart’s desire…trust in God and he will act…’

The gift of faith, received at Baptism and nourished in the sacraments helps us to place our trust in God. This is why the psalmist encourages listeners to ‘commit our life to the Lord,’ and ‘to trust him.’

In the Gospel proclaimed today (Mark 4:26-34) Jesus encourages a trustful waiting similar to the farmer who sows the seeds. The farmer waits night and day for the seeds to sprout and grow. He trusts they will grow but he waits patiently. Jesus also speaks of the parable of the mustard seed  ‘which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

Throughout life, our desire to trust in God grows and deepens. It helps to read the Word of God regularly, reflect and pray.

St Faustina (1905-38) is a saint for our times. During her life, Jesus taught her a number of prayers. One of them is ‘Jesus I trust in you.’

Today in this celebration of Catholic Schools Week 2021, we pray that the communities of family, parish and school will trust God and one another.

The Grow in Love/I nGrá Dé resources are accessible online including the Children’s Grow in Love/I nGrá Dé e-leabhar. There you will find helpful resources.

Website: www.growinlove.ie

Email: trial@growinlove

Password: growinlove

INVITATION

  • Read the parable of the Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30-32) from the Bible or from Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé Children’s Book or e-book
  • Read Psalm 36 from the Bible and sing ‘Trust in the Lord’ (video lyric, Grow in Love, Fourth Class/ P6/ I nGrá Dé Rang IV
  • Find out more about St Faustina
  • Thank someone in your family today for their trust
  • Pray ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’

 

Sr Anne Neylon

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2021 St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1369)

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Hope keeps peoples’ dreams alive during this time of pandemic as they continue to live through daily joys and disappointments. People long for schools to open, the vaccine to be administered, to go on holidays, go to Mass, to receive the sacraments, to attend a funeral or wedding, to have a child baptised, to play sports, go to theatre, cinema and 1001 more places. Hope is key to life. It is yet another gift from God.

The first reading proclaimed at Mass from Hebrews (Hebrews 10:19-25), today during the celebration of Catholic Schools Week (24-31 January 2021) instructs God’s people, ‘to keep firm in the faith we profess.’ God gives God’s people hope in the person of Jesus and they trust that ‘the one who made the promise is always faithful.’

The Church celebrates the memorial of St Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest. He influenced Church doctrine as a writer, a teacher of philosophy and theology. In one of his conferences he wrote about the crucifix, the cross on which Jesus died. This teaching is relevant for Catholic Schools Week as each Catholic School and classroom displays a crucifix.

St Thomas taught that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. He also invited people to look at the crucifix and reflect on what Jesus taught us from his experience. St Thomas Aquinas explains that Jesus showed charity by giving his life in love as a sacrifice to save us from our sins. Jesus showed patience when he didn’t complain about his suffering. Jesus showed he was humble when he willed to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die. Jesus showed obedience by doing what God asked him to do.  Jesus gave up his life on earth and all material things, even he was stripped of his clothes, as he suffered on the road to Calvary and finally his crucifixion on Good Friday

However, Christians believe that Good Friday is not the end. On Easter Sunday Jesus rose to new life in the Resurrection.  The Resurrection is our hope that Jesus is alive and present among us.

In Catholic Schools Week the communities of family, parish and school celebrate the hope that God gives us in Jesus. God’s people show gratitude by praying with thanks for this great gift of hope. We can make hope alive every day when we think of the great things God has done for us. We thank God. That is what Mary, the Mother of God did. Mary prayed the Magnificat, a song of praise in which she says, ‘The Almighty has done great things for me, Holy is his name.’

Today God’s people carry their crosses of anxiety, sickness, bereavement and suffering. Their hope is that they are not alone in their suffering. Jesus understands and is with them always.

VERITAS publications provide all the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé resources online including the Children’s Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé e-book

Website: www.growinlove.ie

Email: trial@growinlove.ie

Password: growinlove

INVITATION

  • Pray the Act of Hope (Grow in Love Sixth Class/ I nGrá Dé Rang a Sé e-leabhar)
  • Find out more about St Thomas Aquinas’ life
  • Check out your Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé e-leabhar for the story of the Resurrection
  • Take two strips of paper and make a cross. Write the words patience, love, obedience and humility. Colour the cross using your favourite colours. Hang it on the fridge or where the family can see it.

 

Sr Anne Neylon

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2021 – St Angela Merici 27 January 2021 -‘Try to be kind always.’

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Words such as care, love, support, kindness, tolerance, patience are so important to hear in this time of pandemic. What’s more essential is the action! Due to the fact, more people are staying at home, sometimes in overcrowded spaces families are living closer together. This brings challenges.  The world is educating itself to a new way of life whether people are aware or not. God’s people believe that God is present in every situation and brings hope. The communities of family, parish and school celebrate the spirit of faith, hope, and love during this Catholic Schools Week.

Today during this special week assigned by the Church, Catholic Schools Week 2021, the Church remembers St Angela Merici (1470-1540) who founded the Ursuline Sisters in 1535 in Brescia, Italy. She formed a group of women to teach poor girls to become good Christians. She wanted to inculcate the virtues of love and charity in this group of women she gathered. She said to them,

‘I ask you please to try to bring them up with love, with a gentle and kindly hand, not                 overbearingly or harshly. Try to be kind always. Notice what Jesus Christ says, ‘Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart.’

The Gospel proclaimed at Mass today tells of the Parable of the Sower (Mk 4:1-20). Jesus teaches about the Word of God and the manner it takes root in a person’s life. Just as the seed falls in different places, somewhere it cannot grow due to bad conditions, in other places the seed thrives because of the nourishment it receives. God will nourish the Word in our lives as disciples if we take time to read the Word, reflect on it and pray.  The Holy Spirit will help us as disciples to follow Jesus’ way of love and kindness.

Pope Francis in his Encyclical Letter on Fraternity and Social Friendship speaks about kindness saying, ‘…because it entails esteem and respect for others,  once kindness becomes a culture within society it transforms lifestyles, relationships and the way ideas are discussed and compared. Kindness… opens new paths where hostility and conflict would burn all bridges.

The Parable of the Sower is accessible online in the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé Religious Education programme.

INVITATION

VERITAS offers all the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé resources on the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé website.

Website: www.growinlove.ie

Email: trial@growinlove.ie

Password: growinlove

INVITATION

  • Thank God for all the kindness that you receive
  • Read the Parable of the Sower (Mk 4:1-20) in your Bible or in the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé Children’s Book or e-book
  • Do something kind for your family today
  • Pray for the people in your family, in your parish and in your school that all may be kind to one another

Sr Anne Neylon

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK 2021= St Timothy and Titus 26 January 2021-Memorial

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In this time of Covid 19 many children miss seeing their grandparents and vice versa. Social media platforms regularly relay such experiences and personal stories. However, as St Vincent de Paul once said ‘love is infinitely inventive’ and technology helps communication to continue. AN POST also continues its service to help keep intergenerational contact. However, nothing can replace face-to-face contact. The virtual hug is a poor substitute. Nevertheless, viewers’ hearts lifted when Aidan King appeared on the Late Late Toy Show with his family and introduced the virtual hug. What a true gesture of love.  Well done to Aidan! Aidan is still sending out those virtual hugs and so are other people.

This week (24-31 January 2021) as the world celebrates Catholic Schools Week; the Church celebrates the feast of St Timothy and Titus. Both men were disciples and co-workers of St Paul. Timothy accompanied Paul on his travels as he proclaimed the Good News. He was in charge of the Church in Ephesus. Titus was Paul’s messenger and he was in charge of the Church at Crete.

Paul wrote a letter to Timothy long ago, an extract of which the Extraordinary Minister of the Word will proclaim at Mass today (2 Tim 1:1-8). He wished Timothy God’s grace, mercy and peace.  St Paul in the letter said he thanked God for Timothy and remembered him in his prayers. He expresses gratitude for Timothy’s sincere faith, which first came to his grandmother Lois and to Eunice his mother.  Lois and Eunice handed on the gift of faith to Timothy. Paul advises Timothy to share the gift of faith saying ‘fan into a flame the gift God gave you.’ God’s gift of faith is ‘full of power, of love and self-control.’ He also instructs Timothy not to be afraid to witness to faith and love. Paul acknowledges how difficult that will be. He assures Timothy that he can rely on the ‘power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy.’ The assembly will respond to the Word by saying, Thanks be to God.

The message in this letter is not only for Timothy but also for all God’s people. God gives the faithful the grace to live the gift of faith and to share it with others. We can thank God for this gift every day, which we received at Baptism.

The Liturgy of the Day every day, even on Saturday and Sunday connects with the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé Religious Education programme for Catholic Primary Schools.

VERITAS offers all the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé resources on the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé website.

Website: www.growinlove.ie

Email: trial@growinlove.ie

Password: growinlove

INVITATION

  • Thank God for the gift of faith and all other gifts
  • Pray the Act of Faith (Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé, e book, Sixth Class)
  • Read this section of St Paul’s Letter to Timothy in the Bible (2 Tim 1:1-8)
  • On a map of Europe find Ephesus and Crete
  • St Paul wrote letters to many of the Christian communities. Can you find these letters in the Bible? You will find extracts of these letters at all levels of the Grow in Love/ I nGrá Dé Usually God’s people hear an extract of one of St Paul’s letters read on Sunday at Mass.
  • Families might like to talk about how Timothy’s Grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice shared faith with Timothy. How can families share faith today?
  • Draw a picture of ways you can share your faith by praying and reading your favourite Bible story and showing acts of kindness.

Sr Anne Neylon

12 JANUARY 2021, 1ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

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‘Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’

The Prayer of the Church offers God’s people this prompt today, ‘Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’  God created heaven and earth and God’s help is always available to those who desire and seek it. Everyone needs help from time to time. During this time of Covid, people were never more in need of help. Sometimes a person needs to ask for help in a situation. At other times people take the initiative to help. In our relationship with God a person just has to believe and ask God in faith to help. God promises to answer our prayers in the way God sees best.

In his Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis entitled Chapter 5, A Better Kind of Politics. He explains ‘the development of a global community of fraternity based on the practice of social friendship on the part of peoples and nations calls for a better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good’ (no.154).

In the Pope’s concern for the vulnerable he sees governments and politicians neglecting their needs, through unjust political structures and creating situations of poverty by ‘promoting an economy that favours productive diversity and business creativity.’ The Pope is always advocating for those who live in poverty because he recognises Jesus mission was to the most neglected and those who lived on the margins of society. He calls his disciples to continue this mission.

In the Word proclaimed at Mass today (Heb 2:5-12), the faithful hear that God appointed Jesus to be in command of everything. In the world we see that such a power of being in command of everything can be abused. God knows that the reign of God brings justice for the poor, the eradication of poverty, the dignity of the human person and the defence of human rights. God desires for all his children (God calls us children because we are heirs) to be with Jesus in heaven at God’s right hand. In order for that to happen they must go through the suffering as Jesus did on the cross. God saw it fitting that Jesus would die on the cross. By suffering, the Christian discovers the love of the Father for the Son. God called Jesus our Saviour and Redeemer.

In the world people experience suffering like Jesus did on the cross. Christians are asked to take up their cross as Jesus did. Suffering and the cross take different forms in life; maybe at this time enduring sickness or bereavement due to Covid, or when we feel rejected, ignored or slighted by people. God is always present in situations of suffering. Jesus knows our suffering because of his personal experience of suffering. He offers us a shelter in his heart and wants to give us strength in our weakness and comfort in our sorrow.

St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) on his reflection on the Cross said that ‘the cross provides an example for every virtue…charity, patience, humility, obedience’ and love for discipleship.

In the Grow in Love/I nGrá Dé Religious Education programme at every level, families accompanying their children in faith can read Bible stories showing Jesus’ compassion towards people who were sick, suffering and those who experienced any form of poverty. Families can also read how Pope Francis and the Church teaching continually invites people to defend the dignity of every person by upholding human rights. Sometimes this did not happen in history and today human dignity is still not upheld as Jesus desires.

The Good News is that VERITAS PUBLICATIONS are granting free access to the Grow in Love series during this time of pandemic.

Logon: www.growinlove.ie

Email: trial@growinlove.ie

Password: growinlove

INVITATION

TO PRAY (from Grow in Love/I nGrá Dé)

ST PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE

Christ be with me,

Christ be beside me,

Christ be before me,

Christ be behind me,

Christ be at my right hand,

Christ be at my left hand,

Christ be with me, wherever I go,

Christ be my friend forever and ever.

Amen.

 

LÚIREACH PHÁDRAIG

Críost liom.

Críost romham.

Críost I mo dhiaidh.

Críost ionam.

Críost ar mo lámh dheas.

Críost ar mo lámh chlé.

Críost I mo chuideachta is cuma cá dtéim.

Críost mar chara agam, anois go buan. Áiméan.

 

TO READ (from Grow in Love/I nGrá Dé or the Bible)

Jn 19:26-27

 

Sr Anne Neylon

11 JANUARY 2021, 1ST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

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‘Let us come before the Lord giving thanks.’

Ordinary time in the Church Liturgical year doesn’t mean that life is dull and unexciting! The Word of God is alive and active and God is always saying something new to us giving us life, joy, hope and energy, even when we think times are bad. God loves us unconditionally.

As the Church begins Ordinary time, the faithful are urged today, ‘Let us come before the Lord giving thanks.’

For what can I give thanks today? I can thank God for family and people who love me, friends, food to eat, clean water, frontline workers and lots more. One way of saying thanks to God is to pray.

The Word of God proclaimed at Mass today (Hebrews 1:1-6, Mk 1:14-20) prompts God’s people to be thankful. For example we are thankful that God spoke in the past to our ancestors through the prophets. When God spoke to the prophets, God wanted them to tell the people how much he loved them and asked them to love their neighbour and treat everyone with kindness.

In later times and continuing today God speaks to us through his Son Jesus.  God appointed Jesus to inherit everything. God sent Jesus to show God’s love, compassion, forgiveness and generosity. God is love.

We are thankful that Jesus chose Simon, Andrew, James and John as apostles to help him in his mission.  These men left their jobs as fishermen, listened to Jesus and followed him. Jesus taught them how to proclaim the Good News, to teach the people about God’s love, to heal people and forgive sins.

Today God’s people are thankful that Jesus chose them as disciples to continue his mission of love and care. The Holy Spirit helps the disciples to pray, to love God and our neighbour.

Pope Francis always shows a spirit of gratitude.

The Grow in Love Religious Education programme for Catholic primary schools tells all about God and God’s love. It also tells about such prophets as Jeremiah and Isaiah. Yesterday, the Church celebrated the Baptism of the Lord. After Jesus was baptised he began the work that God sent him to do. You can read all about Jesus in the various levels of Grow in Love. At Mass we can hear many of the Bible stories from Grow in Love.

VERITAS PUBLICATIONS are granting free access to the Grow in Love series during this time of Pandemic.

Logon: www.growinlove.ie

Email: trial@growinlove.ie

Password: growinlove

INVITATION

TO PRAY (from Grow in Love/I nGrá Dé)
PRAYER TO GUARDIAN ANGEL

Angel sent by God to guide me,

Be my light and walk beside me;

Be my guardian and protect me;

On the paths of life direct me.

PAIDIR CHUIG AN AINGEAL COIMHDEACHTA

A Aingil dhil Dé, cuir mé faoi do smacht,

Mar d’ordaigh Mac grámhar Dé ina

reacht.

Seas le mo thaobh gach am den lá.

Soilsigh is cosain is seol mé slán.

Áiméan.

TO READ (from Grow in Love/I nGrá Dé or the Bible)

Mk 1: 14-20

 

Sr Anne Neylon