The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph

Sat 28^th                  6:00 pm                 John Benson & dec’d of Benson family (A)

                                                6:00 pm                 Mass in Cathedral Ballaghaderreen for

Inauguration of Jubilee Year (Bishop Doran)

Sun 29^th                 10:00 am              Bill & Evelyn Crosbie (M)

                                                12:00 pm              Mass in Cathedral Sligo for

Inauguration of Jubilee Year (Bishop Doran)

Mon 30^th               10:00 am              Michael & Bea Ann Brennan (M)

Tues 31^st               St Sylvester (pope)

10:00 am        Mary Clarke & dec’d Clarke family (M)

Wed 1^st                  Mary the Holy Mother of God

10:00 am        Mary Walsh, Carniara (A)

Thurs 2^nd               Ss Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen (bishops)

10:00 am        Michael Henry, Carrowmore (M)

Fri 3^rd                    The Holy Name of Jesus, St Munchin (bishop)

10:00 am        Private Intention (A)

Sat 4^th                    10:00 am              Joe, Margaret & dec’d Johnston family (M)

Second Sunday of Christmas

Sat 4^th                    6:00 pm                 Michael, Liam & Stephen Doddy (M)

Sun 5^th                   10:00 am              Mick Marren, Roadstown (A)

The Epiphany of the Lord

Sun 5^th                   6:00 pm                 People of the Community (M)

Mon 6^th                              10:00 am  Francis & Agnes Henry (A)

Readers of the Word

Saturdays of January 6pm: Mary Keane (M)

Sundays of January 10am: David / Eoin Kennedy (A)

Readings for 2^nd Sunday of Christmas

1^st Reading Eccles 24:1-2, 8-12. Psalm Ps 147.

2^nd Reading Eph 1:3-6, 15-18. Gospel Jn 1:1-18.

Ministers of the Eucharist

Saturdays of January 6pm: Johnny Finan (M)

Sundays of January 10am: Monica Henry (A)

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph 29^th Dec: Focus: Let the peace of Christ control your hearts. – Our readings today point to the importance of reverencing one another with respect & charity. We are to honour our parents & let the peace of Christ control our hearts. We are to put on love & strive always to live with gratitude.  

Priesthood in Achonry Diocese – It is worth saying “yes” to God: For more information contact Achonry Diocesan Vocations Director, Fr Paul Kivlehan 094-9860011, or 087- 3683535, E-mail pkivlehan@achonrydiocese.org

JUBILEE YEAR 2025 ‘Pilgrims of Hope’

(Spes non Confundit – Hope Does Not Disappoint)

Inaugurating the Jubilee Year on Dec 28^th: Pope Francis has announced that the coming year will be a Jubilee Year, with Pilgrims of Hope as its theme. Bishop Doran will inaugurate the Jubilee Year in the Cathedral of the Annunciation & St. Nathy, at 6pm on Saturday 28^th Dec, beginning with a gathering in St Brigid’s Hall (Phoenix Centre), & in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo at 12noon on Sunday 29^th Dec, beginning with a gathering in the Gillooly Hall. Representative from parishes across the Dioceses are invited to attend. You are invited to assemble for this at the Phoenix Centre, or Gillooley Hall. You may attend the ceremonies at the Cathedral most convenient to you.

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, January 11/12^th: invitation to families who have had a baby baptised during 2024 to bring the baby to the church for a blessing on that Saturday evening or Sunday.

Sunday February 9^th, at 3pm Bishop Doran will lead a liturgy of blessing in the Cathedral, Ballaghaderreen for all engaged couples & married couples celebrating significant wedding anniversaries. Refreshments in St Nathy’s College, following the liturgy of blessing.

Adoration in Mullinabreena Church 4-7pm on Tuesdays for the month of January.

THREE HILLS CAFÉ (beside Mullinabreena Church)

To maintain the success of the Three Hills Café we would ask households to commit to supporting at least once every few weeks. Café is open Saturday & Sunday 10am-2pm. Thank you for your continued support.

Book Swap / Sale every Sunday 2-4pm in Carrowmore School.

25 Drive: In St Nathy’s Hall every Friday at 8:30pm

Lost & Found: A small sum of money found outside Mullinabreena church after the 10 am Mass on Sunday 14^th Dec. Contact Fr Peter.

Irish courses: Junior Cycle Exam Revision 18^th Jan 10am-2pm. Leaving Cert Irish Oral 8^th March 10am-2.30pm. Venue: Banada. Call or text Siobhán on 0876151581 to enquire or book a place. 

Pondering in Our Hearts - A Christian Reflection

Early on in his Gospel, Luke twice mentions Mary doing something extraordinary, namely, pondering something "in her heart." The first occasion is after the departure of the shepherds at the Nativity; the second is when she and Joseph discover the child Jesus speaking with the Temple elders. Luke's phrase is telling. For Mary to "ponder" something "in her heart," is not simply for her to remember the details or get her facts straight. Rather, it seems more a way to take in something in its totality and to let it sink down deep, into the heart, the place where it can change you.

Were we to be like Mary, how might we ponder in our hearts what we ourselves have seen and heard this past Christmas season so that, before it closes, we might learn something more from it than we did the first time through?

Something which might just sink down deep and somehow change us.
Perhaps these questions might be of some help.

What was the best, the greatest, gift you received this year - not the brightest gift or the shiniest or the fastest or the most expensive gift, but the best gift, the greatest gift? Who gave it to you? And do they even know they did?

What was the best gift you gave this year, one that may have cost you a little or one which may have cost you a lot. And the little or a lot that it might have cost you might not have been money at all.

If there was something you did in the last several weeks which was just what someone else needed, just when they needed it, just what was it?

If there was one time when all your troubles, your cares and worries, seemed to you far, far away - what was that time? And what chased your troubles away?

If there was one glance you had of someone else that allowed you to see them fresh, as if for the very first time, yet see them as well radiant with all that they mean to you - what was that time? And who was that person?

Was there ever a time - perhaps in a crowd and surrounded with people or perhaps by yourself - that it struck you that you are a lucky, lucky person?

What was that time? Who were those people around you, if people there were? And what seems to have brought that feeling on?

If you said one thing exactly right, exactly true and straight from your heart, just what exactly did you say? And to whom did you say it? And why?

If within the last few weeks you brushed a tear from your eye secretly so that no one else could see it, why did that tear come? And what did that tear mean?

When do you feel the proudest? The happiest? The most content? Indeed, the most yourself?

If you could look back over the many, many moments of this tender season now ending and pick out one moment from among them all - just one -pick the one where somehow you knew in your heart that it was all true: the angels indeed did sing, the shepherds indeed did worship, the kings indeed did bring their gifts and bow low - and all of this because at that one moment you felt almost held aloft by kind and mighty hands; and if you could take that one moment and hold it in your heart forever, take it out and gaze upon it from time to time as if to look upon a kind of snow globe, just what would that one moment be?    - Fr. Michael Graham, S.J.