DON'T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU
CAN CHEW!
"My son, every
day work on only as much ground as your body takes
up in space lying down, and your work will progress
gradually, and you will not lose heart." Upon
hearing this the young man acted accordingly, and
within a short time the field was cleared and cultivated.
Do the same brother, work step by step, and you will
not lose heart.
A young man is sad because his field is full of thorns.
He does not have the strength even to begin working
the field. He thinks that it is all for nothing anyway,
that he will never be able to achieve his aim. This
is how we often feel when faced with a difficult task.
When we have no idea of how long the work will take
and what it is we are facing, we often feel as if
we are paralysed. We are faced with a mountain and
feel that we will never be able to master this mountain
of work. We do not know where to start, and as a consequence,
just leave everything lying around.
The old father gives the young man some good advice.
He should, he says, not look at the whole field. That
will only discourage him. All he needs to do is turn
over each day the same area of ground his body covers
while he sleeps. That is not much. It can be easily
managed. When he only works that much every day, the
field will become arable within a short space of time.
When I get up in the morning, it is sufficient to
pray for God's blessing for this day. Today I want
to do what is demanded of me. And when I arrive at
the office, I begin at one place. When I do one thing
after another quite a few things will have been dealt
with come evening. If, by contrast, I am unnerved
by the many files and letters on my desk and begin
one thing and then another, I will make no progress.
One thing after another, step by step - along this
path we can all go without becoming overwhelmed.
This applies not only to work at home, in the office,
in the workshop, but also to the work we do on ourselves.
When we become frightened by our faults and think
that we will never improve, we will never get started.
We give up on ourselves. It is enough for us to turn
over a small part of the field of our soul every day.
Then one day our whole soul will have become good
arable land.
CONFIRMATION
The big event of last week
was our Confirmation ceremony on Thursday 18th April.
What a beautiful day it turned out to be. Bishop Francis
Lagan performed the ceremony and remarked how well
prepared the children were. We congratulate the children
and their parents, sponsors and families for all the
preparation which made the day go so well. We were
especially pleased to welcome Bishop Francis along
as one of our own. Many other people deserve praise
and gratitude for all the work they did.
We thank our three Schools, Barrack Street Boys’
P.S. and Principal Mr. Dominic McDermott. St. Anne’s
P.S. and Principal Mrs. Maura Shannon. Evish P.S.
and Principal Miss Bernadette McQuillan, to whom we
send our best wishes as she is laid low with a very
sore back.
We thank our P.7 teachers, Mr. Martin Bradley, Barrack
Street Boys’ P.S. Mrs Mary Dempsey, St. Anne’s
P.S. Miss Cora Murphy, Evish P.S.
We thank the Confirmation Team, Sr. Carmel, Mr. Dermot
Lynch, Mr. Martin Bradley, Mrs Mary Dempsey, Ms Paddi
Curran.
We thank John McGranaghan and the Senior Choir, Hugo
our sacristan and the ladies altar society.
The flowers for Confirmation provided by Marion Devine
were just stunning. Someone in the chapel said they
had never seen such a nice confirmation arrangement.
Well done Marion!
Afterwards the entire congregation had light refreshments
in St Patrick’s Hall thanks to Brian and Declan,
Tessie, Pat, Marie and Tracey.
COLLECTION
We acknowledge last Sunday’s
collection of £1631.00. Many thanks.
PRAYER GROUP
The contemplative prayer
group will meet on Monday night at 8.15pm in the St.
Vincent de Paul Conference Centre. Newcomers very
welcome. This is an opportunity to experiment with
a new form of prayer, especially if you find that
your present methods are unsatisfactory. No previous
experience of this type of prayer is needed.
PARISH DRAW
The Draw for the month
of April will take place on Thursday 26th April at
2.30pm in the parish office. Promoters are asked to
make their returns to the parish office tomorrow,
Monday 23rd April.
We would like to make our promoters aware that we
will be running an Extra Draw in May for all fully
paid members.
TAIZE PRAYER AND CHANT
Join us for an hour of
meditative Taize Prayer and Chant on Wednesday 2nd
May in the Day Chapel, St. Mary's Church, Melmount
from 7.30pm. - 8.30pm. Everyone welcome.
PARISH REGISTERS
Quite frequently parishes
get requests for the inspection of Parish Registers
from people interested in tracing their family history.
However, access should not be given to registers where
the information is less than 100 years old, to protect
the privacy of those whose names and details appear.
Even for information more than 100 years old, unsupervised
access should never be given, as a number of registers
have been damaged by people surreptitiously removing
pages or parts of pages. In any case the parishes
of this diocese have provided the information to a
number of genealogical services. The following website
identifies the genealogical services which hold copies
of parish registers, www.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/counties/remaps/index.htm
IONA CARMELITE RETREAT
CENTRE
A Mass with healing service
will take place in the Carmelite Retreat Centre, Termonbacca,
Derry on Tuesday 24th April at 8.00pm. All are welcome
to attend.
THORNHILL CENTRE
Poetry Evenings: Mary
Murphy will lead a four-session workshop where participants'
poems will be discussed and enjoyed in the Thornhill
Centre, Derry. Dates: 2/16 May & 3/20 June from
7.30pm - 9.30pm. Cost £5.00 per night. Please
telephone 71351233 to reserve a place.
ANNIVERSARIES
Willie McAleer, John
Devenney, Molly Hannigan, John Murray,
Patsy McLaughlin, Billy Devine, Michael Kearney, Lily
Nelson
Deaths: We
offer our deepest sympathy to the family and friends
of
Harry McNulty, Croaghan View,
Eamon Morris, Douglas Bridge and
John Burns, Melmount Manor who died
during the week. May they rest in peace.
ST PATRICK’S HALL
Bingo & Lucky 4 Draw Every Thursday
Next Week's Lucky 4 Jackpot is £750.00
WEST END PRODUCTIONS
PRESENTS.....
"PHANTOM
AND THE MUSICALS"
Sunday 22nd
April 2007 at 8.00pm in St. Patrick's Hall. Tickets
£12.50.
Performing the Hit Songs from:
Chicago, Calamity Jane, Cabaret, Guys & Dolls,
West Side Story, Les Miserables, Evita, King &
I, Phantom of the Opera, and many more...
A NIGHT OF MUSICAL
SPLENDOUR NOT TO BE MISSED!!
CEILI
There will be
a Ceili in St. Patrick's Hall on Sunday 29th April.
Music by Gallagher & Logue, dancing 8.00pm - 11.00pm.
Admission £5.00 or 7 Euro includes supper.
DERRY DIOCESAN PILGRIMAGE
TO LOURDES 16th - 21st JULY 2007
The Lourdes Pilgrimage
would be grateful for volunteers who are qualified
nurses and also for men who might be willing to be
part of the team of wheelchair pushers to help with
care of the sick. For an application form and details
contact the Pilgrimage Office, Tel: 02871260293.
STRABANE SIGERSONS
G.A.A.
The Clubs Senior and
Reserve footballers will travel to play Killyman this
Sunday in Round Three of the O'Neill's Sportswear
Tyrone ACL Division 2 & Reserve. The Minor footballers
have two away games next week, Augher (Monday) and
Cappagh (Wednesday). Coaching for all the Ladies teams
and the various other youth teams within the Club
continues as normal. For full details visit the website
at www.strabanegaa.org Everyone using the Club grounds
at present are asked to be mindful of a lot of heavy
machinery going to and fro. The Club have brought
forward the Smoking Ban in the Social Club, all patrons
are asked to please take note!
AWARE DEFEAT DEPRESSION
Aware Defeat Depression
is organising a public talk and information event
in The Tara Centre, Holmview Terrace, Omagh on Monday
23rd April at 8.00pm. Guest speaker is Brendan Armstrong,
Cognitive Therapist, N.I. Centre for Trauma and Transformation
and the title of his talk is 'Living with Depression:
A Commonsense Approach'. Admission is free and all
are welcome to attend. For further information telephone
71260602.
CHARISMATIC RENEWAL
CONFERENCE
The Diocese of Derry
Charismatic Renewal Conference will be held on Saturday
28th and Sunday 29th April in St. Columb's College,
Buncrana Road, Derry. The theme is "Secure in
God" and speakers are: Fr. Jack McArdle, SSCC,
Mark McConnellogue and Marie Beirne, NSC. For enquiries
and bookings contact Mrs Mona Tracey, 6 Kylemore Park,
Derry, Tel: 02871269549 (048 from ROI).
