Society of St. Oliver Plunkett: February 2017

23 February 2017

26th February - Quinquagesima Sunday

                                Quinquagesima Sunday
           High Mass with Gregorian Chant
                      Sunday 26th February at 5pm
                                      St. Patrick's Church,
                                    College Rd., Kilkenny

Be Thou unto me a God, a Protector,

and a house of refuge, to save me:

for Thou art my strength and my refuge:

and for Thy Name's sake Thou wilt lead

me, and nourish me.

18 February 2017

19th February - Sexagesima Sunday

                      Sexagesima Sunday
                       Sunday 19th Feb. at 5pm
                                   St. Patrick's Church,
                                 College Rd., Kilkenny

Arise, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?

Arise, and cast us not off to the end.

Why turnest Thou Thy face away,

and forgettest our trouble? Our belly hath

cleaved to the earth: Arise, O Lord,

help us and deliver us.

11 February 2017

12th February - Septuagesima Sunday

                                Septuagesima Sunday
                              Sunday 12th Feb. at 5pm
                                  St. Patrick's Church,
                                College Rd., Kilkenny
                     Rosary before Holy Mass at 4.30pm

The sorrows of death surrounded me,

the sorrows of hell encompassed me:

and in my affliction I called upon the Lord,

and He heard my voice from His holy temple.

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