Prayer for the New Year

Begin the New Year by standing at the threshold of this new moment & offering it to God.

In the year ahead,
Lord of New Beginnings,
Stretch our souls
And move us
Into new awareness
Of the human family,
Their needs and their longings.

Make these into
our needs, our longings
So we move more confidently
From our small selves
To a deeper sense of community
Where our resolutions reflect
Our interdependence.

Help us recognize the
Possibilities you have offered
To us as a people,
So we can commit to practice The Hope that happens
When we gather gratefully
In your Name and we hold up to you
This fragile, precious world.

Grant us all the grace
In this year ahead
To sow the seeds of justice
And to gather peace in our day.

Amen

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Greetings for the New Year

 

 

To all the people of Bantry Parish, at home and abroad, their families and friends,

May beautiful moments and happy memories surround you with joy in 2013

May the new year refresh your spirit and bestow upon you

new inspiration, love, peace, prosperity, happiness and good health

We celebrate new beginnings, goals & plans, hopes & dreams,

but most of all

A New Year of Peace, Joy & happiness.

 

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Remembrance

By this time of the year the world of nature is almost in total hibernation. Growth has come to a stop for a while & the place  is full of leaves that have fallen from trees. In the springtime we talk of new life, at this time of the year the opposite is the case. November is the month of the Holy Souls, the month when we remember our dead. We do that all through the year, we remember in a special way our loved ones at times of birthdays & anniversaries.  November is the month when we remember all our dead, not just the members of our families, or our friends & all the people we have known, but all the dead. Recently a sign has been put inside the gate of the Abbey telling us that we should respect our dead & take our rubbish home. As we all know the Abbey in Bantry has a beautiful view across the bay. It is a cemetery, a sacred place, a place where the mortal remains of many people we have loved & known are laid to rest. They are not dumped there & neither should our rubbish. Sometimes we like to get rid of our problems, it’s a bit like out of sight & out of mind. Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean that it has stopped existing. We cannot see our loved ones who have died. However we do believe that they are now in a new & different existence with God in eternal life. Because of that we know that while the bodies of our loved ones are in the cemeteries they were buried in, in reality they are not there. We should not use that as an excuse to see a cemetery as a public place, that if we leave our rubbish there somebody else will look after it and it won’t be our problem anymore. Just because we can’t see our problems or the problems we cause doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.                                                                                                      Fr. Anthony

Feastday of St. Finbarr - Tuesday, 25th September

Saint Finbar was the son of an artisan and a lady of the Irish royal court. Born in Connaught, Ireland, and baptized Lochan, he was educated at Kilmacahil, Kilkenny, where the monks named him Fionnbharr (white head) because of his light hair. He is also known as Bairre and Barr.

On a visit to Rome the Pope wanted to consecrate him a bishop but Saint Finbar was deterred by a vision. He notified the pope that God had reserved that honor to Himself and Saint Finbar was consecrated from heaven. He preached in southern Ireland and lived as a hermit on a small island at Lough Eiroe, on the river Lee. Saint Finbar founded a monastery that developed into the city of Cork and he was it's first bishop. His monastery became famous in southern Ireland and attracted numerous disciples.

Many extravagant miracles are attributed to him. Supposedly the sun did not set for two weeks after he died at Cloyne about the year 633. His feast day is September 25th. Saint Finbar is the patron of immigrants.