Holy Week//Easter 2020
As we approach Holy Week, we are in a very unusual space, somewhere none of us has ever been before. This Holy Week Bishop Fintan Gavin invites us to join with him in the celebration of Holy Week and Easter in the Cathedral of St. Mary & St. Anne by way of Live Stream. It is an opportunity for us to pray as a Diocesan Family. Please click into: www.corkcathedral.ie
Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday: Mass at 11.30am
Blessed palm will be available later in both Ovens/Farran Churches, when the present crisis has passed le Cúnamh Dé.
Holy Thursday: Mass of The Lord’s Supper at 7.30pm
Good Friday: The Liturgy of The Passion will be celebrated at 3pm. There will be special prayer for this time of pandemic.
Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil at 9pm.
Easter Sunday: Mass will be celebrated in the Cathedral at 11.30am.
Please also visit the Cork & Ross Diocesan Website. It has much material that is very important for us at this time. www.corkandross.org
A Reflection
Some years ago two friends of mine asked me to officiate at their marriage in Aberdeen, Scotland. I was very pleased to do so. It was close to St. Patrick’s Day and among the flowers was a beautiful bowl of shamrock.. One guest was dressed up as a highlander, kilt and all, both traditions acknowledged. He had his purse, which he called his “sporran”, so like the Irish word “sparán”. He also carried his “scian du”, or “black knife”, again so like the Irish “scian dubh”. I asked him in the context of the wedding and he said it was “grá”.
For something to read on the journey I rook a copy of the poems of Robert Burns, Scotland’s Ploughman Poet. I always liked his poem “To a mouse on turning up her nest with a plough, November 1785” He stopped his work immediately and wrote this poem to the unfortunate mouse whose home he had just destroyed:
You saw the fields laid bare & empty,
And weary winter coming fast.
And cosy here beneath the blast
You thought to dwell.
Till crash! The cruel plough passed out through your cell.
That small heap of leaves and stubble
Has cost you many a weary nibble.
Now you are turned out for all your trouble
Without house or holding,
To endure the winter’s sleety dribble and hoar frost cold.
But mouse you are not alone
In proving foresight may be in vain.
The best laid schemes of mice & man “Gang aft agley”. (Go often askew)
And leave us naught with grief and pain for promised joy.
As we too well know the cruel Corona Virus has sadly crashed through the best laid schemes of men, women & children. The poet Burns is sorry that man’s dominion over nature has made the mouse so much afraid of him, and destroyed his world. The Corona Virus severely threatens that dominion. We can hear the birds singing more clearly now that noise levels have dropped so much. Or the little girl who recently asked “When will I get my First Holy Communion now?
We are all God’s creatures.
A PRAYER OF THANKS
Despite the devastation brought about by the Corona Virus in so many ways, we are mindful too and give thanks to God for the goodness, kindness & thoughtfulness of so many people.
We ask the Lord to bless them and keep all of us and them safe. We ask this prayer through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross for Good Friday will be published on this Website on Thursday next.
Please pass on parish Website address to others who may not have it or be aware of it. www.ovensparish.com.
COMMUNITY CALL
Éire Óg has joined up with other groups e.g. Gardaí, An Post, Civil Defence, Cork County Council to help the vulnerable or isolated in our community, if needed at this time of the Corona Virus pandemic.
If anyone needs help or knows of anyone who does, please phone 1800 805819 or locally John Hourihan 086 3178214, Éire Óg Co-ordinator.