Society of St. Oliver Plunkett: January 2010

16 January 2010

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Sun 17 SECOND SUNDAY after EPIPHANY 2 Cl G

Gl Cr Pr of the Holy Trinity

5pm. St. Patrick's Church, College Road, Kilkenny

'And His Mother said to the servants, Do whatever He tells you.'

Gospel Reading. John 2. 1-11. The Wedding at Cana.

We honor our Queen and Mother in many ways, most especially by "doing what He tells us", Her advice to the waiters at the wedding at Cana. This is Her fondest wish, Her deep desire: that we come to know, love, and serve Her Son! To better serve God is the ultimate objective of any honor given to Our Lady and the very purpose Marian devotion. "Per Matrem ad Filium" -- "Through the Mother to the Son" is the motto of the Catholic who especially loves Our Lady.

Excerpts from St. Maximilian Kolbe's Writings on Total Consecration to Mary.

St. Maximilian Kolbe's Way - Unlimited Consecration to Our Lady.

09 January 2010

No Mass this Sunday at 5pm

Due to on-going difficulties with severe weather conditions it has been decided that the 5pm Mass at St. Patrick's will be cancelled this Sunday.

04 January 2010

Feast of the Epiphany - Mass at 5pm

Wed 6 EPIPHANY of the LORD 1 Cl W

Gl Cr Pr of the Epiphany

5pm. St. Patrick's Church, College Road, Kilkenny.

The Three Magi Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar depicted in late 6th C mosaic at the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy.

Photographs from Midnight Christmas Mass 2009

From Midnight Christmas Mass 2009

03 January 2010

Second Sunday after the Nativity

Sun 3 MOST HOLY NAME of JESUS 2 Cl W
Gl Cr Pr of the Nativity

5pm. St. Patrick's Church, College Road, Kilkenny.

Celebrant: Rev. Thomas O'Toole CC.

'Before the name of Jesus everything in heaven and earth must bend the knee: and every tounge must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father'

Introit - Phil.2.10-11

Benedict XVI on the Litrugy

“The Church stands and falls with the Liturgy. When the adoration of the divine Trinity declines, when the faith no longer appears in its fullness in the Liturgy of the Church, when man’s words, his thoughts, his intentions are suffocating him, then faith will have lost the place where it is expressed and where it dwells. For that reason, the true celebration of the Sacred Liturgy is the centre of any renewal of the Church whatever.”

"The Holy Mass, celebrated in the respect of the liturgical norms and with a fitting appreciation of the richness of the signs and gestures, fosters and promotes the growth of Eucharistic faith. In the Eucharistic celebration we do not invent something, but we enter into a reality that precedes us, more than that, which embraces heaven and earth and, hence, also the past, the future and the present."

"This universal openness, this encounter with all the sons and daughters of God is the grandeur of the Eucharist: we go to meet the reality of God present in the body and blood of the Risen One among us. Hence, the liturgical prescriptions dictated by the Church are not external things, but express concretely this reality of the revelation of the body and blood of Christ and thus the prayer reveals the faith according to the ancient principle 'lex orandi – lex credendi."

"And because of this we can say "the best catechesis on the Eucharist is the Eucharist itself well celebrated" (Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Sacramentum Caritatis," No. 64).
"It is necessary that in the liturgy the transcendent dimension emerge with clarity, that of the mystery, of the encounter with the Divine, which also illumines and elevates the "horizontal," that is the bond of communion and of solidarity that exists between all those who belong to the Church."

"In fact, when the latter prevails, the beauty, profundity and importance of the mystery celebrated is fully understood. Dear brothers in the priesthood, to you the bishop has entrusted, on the day of your priestly Ordination, the task to preside over the Eucharist. Always have at heart the exercise of this mission: celebrate the divine mysteries with intense interior participation, so that the men and women of our City can be sanctified, put into contact with God, absolute truth and eternal love."

Society of St. Oliver Plunkett

Pope Benedict XVI