BLEAK PRAYER
When we ''pray our life'' this includes the parts
we wish were not there. None of us wants pain of any
kind, but we cannot always escape it. Because every
experience of life touches our relationship with God,
we ought not be alarmed when bleakness enters it.
Our experience of prayer is influenced by the condition
of our body, mind, and spirit. If we are dealing with
woes of any type, we can expect our experience of
prayer to be affected. No one wants to feel empty
and lifeless when they pray, but sometimes our relationship
with God appears to be a vacant space of austere darkness.
There will be days, and maybe long stretches, when
the experience of praying is mostly miserable, dreary,
and undesirable.
Ann Weems wrote her powerful Psalms of Lament when
she was grieving the homicide of her son, Todd. As
in the Hebrew psalms, she cried out in rage and anguish,
wailing over injustice and loss. Weems entered into
her sorrow and brought the hollowness of her heart
into her prayer. She did not deny her anger and heartache
or try to cushion the blow of her pain with false
sentiments of piety. Instead, Weems did as many in
the scriptures before her - she voiced her hurt and
trusted God to receive her wailing with the greatest
tenderness. Weems encourages anyone feeling the immensity
of loss to draw near to the Compassionate One and
''in loud lament cry out the pain that lives in our
souls.''
Bleak times challenge us to continue to have faith
that God will journey with us through the misery of
the present situation, that no matter what the condition
of our life circumstance, we will not give up on God.
Macrina Weiderkehr's prayer in A Tree Full of Angels
speaks to this trust:
O Sustainer of Life . . . let me trust also the
darkness of my own faith that is energised
by my love. Even if my waiting in darkness
were to be the only truth I ever taste, I
would still believe. . . . The illumination that
enables me to speak is found in waiting for
you, my God. My tears and my love urge
me to wait through the darkest of nights. So
I will wait and never be without you.
There are times and situations when we are too weak
and full of ache to cry to God. This is particularly
true when physical pain consumes every moment and
we cannot muster the mental or emotional strength
to focus on much of anything. When this happens, others
can pray in our stead. I recall visiting an elderly
sister from my community when she was in the hospital.
She was deathly ill and could barely speak or move.
Sister E. whispered her distress to me when I sat
down beside her. She said a priest visitor had come
in and when she expressed her concern about being
unable to pray, he insisted, ''You can too pray.''
I do not know what he meant, but his comment filled
Sister E. with agonising guilt. I assured her it was
natural that she would not be able to think of a thing,
not even to have strength to pray a rote prayer or
the rosary. I suggested her prayer might be to surrender
to the cross of illness that she was carrying, to
trust that God knew her situation and the desire of
her heart. I promised her that those of us who loved
her would pray in her place. This promise seemed to
bring her the peaceful resolution she needed.
Thomas Merton made the perceptive observation that
when we think our prayer is the worst, it might actually
be our best because when we are in a dismal state,
we are unable to be our own ''god.'' We are no longer
deceived into thinking we are the ones in charge.
When we are bent over with pain, all we can do is
throw ourselves into the divine arms, trusting we
will receive compassion and strength to go on. During
sieges of emptiness and dryness, instead of running
away from what hurts and causes us trouble, we are
wise to gather up our woe and head straight for the
Holy One's embrace.
Joyce Rupp
COLLECTION
We acknowledge last Sunday’s
collection of £1354.00 Many thanks.
DEATHS
We offer our deepest sympathy to the
family and friends of:
Ambrose Brennan, 52 Drumrallagh.
Brendan Devenney, Chestnut Park.
John McGranaghan, 8 Ballycolman Avenue.
May they rest in peace.
ANNIVERSARIES
Kathleen McNamee, Sr. Monica O'Kane,
Edward O'Brien, Adrian Bonner,
John Gallagher, Frances McGillian,
Ellen Gallagher, John Quinn,
Dan Devenney, Eileen Casey,
Sarah Devenney, William Kearney.
PRAY FOR PRIESTS
Last year the diocese published a
prayer card with the names of all the Derry diocesan
priests. Many of you have these cards and every day
a specific priest is named. This week we ask you to
pray for:
Fr. Kevin McElhennon CC, Cappagh,
27th July.
Fr. Brendan McGinn, 28th July.
Fr. Dermott McGirr CC, The Three Patrons, 29th July.
Fr. James McGlinchey, Retired, 30th July.
Fr. Brian McGoldrick PP, Doneyloop, 31st July.
Fr. Neil McGoldrick PP, Fahan, 1st August.
Fr. Patrick McGoldrick CC, Moville, 2nd August.
PAYMENTS BY CHEQUE
The Bank have reminded us that all
payments made to the parish by cheque (for Parish
Savings, Parish Draw, Sunday and Special Collections
etc.) must be made payable to Church of the Immaculate
Conception.
NOTICES FOR PARISH
BULLETIN
In order to facilitate printing we
ask that all notices and anniversaries for the parish
bulletin are either given to the sacristan or left
at the parish office by Wednesday morning at the latest.
PARISH BULLETIN
Please note that there will be no
parish bulletin until September.
1st ANNIVERSARY MASS
The 1st Anniversary Mass for William Doherty will
be held in St. Joseph's Church, Glenmornan on Tuesday
29th July at 7.30pm.
SICK AND HOUSEBOUND TO BE ATTENDED
Fr. Boland will visit the sick and housebound in
the following areas on Monday 28th July after 10.00am
Mass: Courtrai Park, Barrack Street, Lower Townsend
Terrace, Mount Carmel Heights, Springhill Park, Mill
Street, Newtownkennedy Street, Lower Main Street,
Glenview Park, Church View, Tristan Road.
Fr. Boland will visit the sick and housebound in
the following areas on Thursday 31st July after 10.00am
Mass: Bearney Road, Camus Road, Conthem Road, Upper
Townsend Street, Townsend Terrace, Marian Park, Fountain
Street and Innisfree Gardens.
CLONMACNOIS YOUTH FESTIVAL
Youth 2000 Summer Festival, Clonmacnois, Co. Offaly,
Thursday 14th - Sunday 17th August 2008. For young
people aged 16-35 years, an opportunity not to be
missed to experience the Catholic faith and meet many
new friends. Donations only. Free buses available
from around the country. For more information, contact
00353 1 675 3690 or check our websites: www.youth2000.ie,
or xx-youth2000-xx.bebo.com
BALLYCOLMAN/LINKSIDE
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Hearing Aid Information Clinic at
339 Ballycolman/Linkside Community Development Strabane
31st July 10.00am - 12 noon
28th August 10.00am - 12 noon
25th September 10.00am - 12 noon
30th October 10.00am - 12 noon
27th November 10.00am - 12 noon
11th December 10.00am - 12 noon
Our volunteers will help you:
Clean and look after your hearing aid
Show you how to use your hearing aid and offer support
Tell you about other equipment available
Provide advice for you and your family
Provide batteries and tubing
ST. PATRICK’S HALL
Bingo and Lucky 4 Draw as usual this
Thursday.
All our patrons are very welcome.
Next Week's Lucky 4 Jackpot is £2300.00
PRAYER CORNER
ACCEPTANCE
'' How can I change myself?"
''You are yourself - so you can no
more change yourself that you can walk away from your
feet.''
''Is there nothing I can do then?"
"You can understand and accept
this."
"How will I change if I accept
myself?"
"How will you change if you don't?
What you don't accept you do not change, you merely
manage to repress."
*************************
REACHING OUT AND REACHING IN
With every creature, Meister Eckhart
says,
according to the nobility of it nature,
the more it indwells in itself, the more it gives
itself out. A metaphor may clarify his meaning.
Imagine some object, a book,
leaning out over the edge of a table.
There comes a moment when it will overbalance
if it leans any further.
Its reaching out must be balanced by its reaching
in.
If I have only a shallow inreach -
interiority - in my life, then my outreach to others
will be full of hazards.
The way to reach further out is to reach further in.
If I am reluctant to live from the full interiority
of my spirit, then I will have little to bring to
others,
no matter how much I involve myself in their lives.
While, on the other hand, there are people who can
enter another's life for half-an-hour and leave it
transformed.
I think of these people as having
some of the depth and power that Jesus had.
This human experience of inreach and outreach is a
chink through which we can glimpse the mystery of
God's life.
It is because God has fathomless inner life
that God can reach so far out in creation.
All creatures, then, have a double
depth.
Their being shows God's outreach to us,
and we feel the fascination of this.
But creatures also manifest God's inner life,
and this should fascinate us no less.
*************************
DON'T BE CLEVER!
Here is a tale the Master told a philosopher
who demanded to know why cleverness was an obstacle
to enlightenment.
There were only three passengers
in the plane - Big Brain, a Boy Scout
and a Bishop. The plane developed
engine trouble and the pilot
announced he was bailing out;
there were only three parachutes
and he was taking one. The others
would have to decide which of them
was going to be saved. The Big Brain
said, ''Since I am necessary
to the country I take it for granted
that I should have a parachute.''
So he grabbed one and jumped out.
The Bishop looked at the Boy Scout
and said, ''Son, I have lived a long time
so I think it fitting that you should have
the remaining parachute. I am ready to die.''
''That won't be necessary, Bishop,''
said the Boy Scout. ''There are two
parachutes here. Big Brain just jumped
with my haversack.''
Added the Master, ''Cleverness ordinarily
leaves no room for awareness.''
*************************
THE DIFFICULTY OF HAVING POWER
Jesus, by washing the disciples feet,
is saying something about the distinction so common
in humanity and throughout the history of humanity
between master and slave,
between those in power and the powerless,
between superiors and inferiors.
In many cultures, slaves did all the really difficult,
strenuous, hard manual labour,
and were forced to work horribly long hours.
They were the ones who built the pyramids
and the palaces of the emperors.
They were the ones on whose shoulders
industrial societies depended, as they worked in inhuman
conditions and for a pittance.
Then, as now, immigrants in Europe did the work that
others refused, just as factory workers in the South
provide designer-label products for consumers in the
North.
Jesus came to make things new.
For Jesus, each person is precious,
each one is loved by God,
each is called to become the 'home' of God;
each has a gift to bring to others,
each one should be deeply respected.
