St. Matthew’s Church PARISH NEWSLETTER

St. Matthew’s Church Ballyfermot PARISH NEWSLETTER

17 Dec (3rd Sunday of Advent)

PLEASE TAKE THIS HOME WITH YOU TO SPREAD THE WORD

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE 2017 (Dec 23rd- Jan 7th)

CHRISTMAS CONFESSIONS Friday Dec 22nd: 11am - 1pm Saturday Dec 23rd: 5.30pm - 6.30pm and 7.15pm - 8.15pm

MASS TIMES Saturday 23rd Dec: Vigil 6.30pm

Sunday 24th Dec. Christmas Eve: 10.30am Mass only (No Masses at 9.00am or 12.00noon) 5.30 pm (Mass for Young Families.) 9.00 pm (Vigil Mass for Christmas.)

Monday 25th Dec Christmas Day: 9.00am 12.00noon (No 10.30am Mass)

Tuesday 26th Dec: Church Closed No Mass Today

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 27th, 28th, and 29th Dec: 10.00am Saturday 30th Dec: Vigil 6.30pm Sunday 31st Dec New Years Eve: 10.30am 12.00noon (No 9.00am Mass) 11.30pm Mass We let go of the old year and embrace the New Year in the Presence of Jesus

Monday 1st Jan 2018 New Years Day: 11am Mass Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

Tuesday 2nd Jan: Church Closed No Mass Today. Wednesday Thursday and Friday 3rd, 4th and 5th Jan: 10am Mass Friday 5th Jan: 6.30 (Vigil of The Epiphany) Saturday 6th Jan: 10.30am (Feast of The Epiphany) 6.30pm (Vigil Mass for Sunday) Sunday 7th Jan: 9.00pm, 10.30am, 12.00noon

From Jan 8th 2018 New Mass Schedule Mon, Thur, Fri Morning: 10.00am Tues: 10.00am Morning Prayer Wed: Evening Mass 7.00pm

CHRISTMAS AT ST. MATTHEW’S. A NOTE FROM FR. JOE Turkey, Ham, Beer, Party and Presents I hope you enjoy them all! I hope you and all you love and all who love you have a great Christmas but I want to make a suggestion to you. I want you not to just have a good Christmas but the best Christmas. Please believe me when I say that Christmas without Jesus makes no sense. My suggestion to you will not take much of your time but will make a huge difference. Christmas at St. Matthew's involves four simple things:

TURN BACK TO GOD. It's never too late. No sin, no mess too great. This is your time to return.

LISTEN TO HIM. Come to Mass over Christmas and listen and He will speak to you.

SPEND A LITTLE TIME WITH HIM. He wants your company. Your present to His presence.

BE OPEN TO BEING CHANGED. If you do this you will grow, even if only slightly, closer to God and also gradually into the beautiful

person you are called to be.

Mass Times Weekdays:

Saturday: Vigil Mass 6.30 Monday Sunday: 9.00, 9.45 (Convent) 10.00 Prayer Service 10.30,12.00 Masses

Eucharistic Adoration And Divine Mercy Meetings

Conclude Friday 22 December Resume Monday 8 January

Parish Centre

Closes for Christmas Fri 22 Dec @ 12.00

Reopens Mon 8 Jan 2018

Caritas College News

This year, 2017, marks 50 years of Caritas College providing quality Catholic secondary education for girls in Ballyfermot. To mark the occasion, mass was celebrated by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in the school hall on October 1st. In attendance were members of the Community of the Daughters of Charity who founded the school in 1967, past and present priests of the parish, pupils, parents, members of staff and board of management, and many others from the local community.

The school choir and a group of past pupils sang, alumni and teachers spoke of the positive impact Caritas College has had on the lives of our students through the years.

FAITH MOMENT Only in God do we find the full truth and happiness for which we continue to search. To find truth and happiness in God is to find complete fulfilment of our human desire for truth, love and happiness.

Gospel Readings for the Week Ahead Mon 18/12 Mt 1: 18 - 24 ‘Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid’ Tues 19/12 Lk 1: 5 - 25 ‘But the angel said to him: do not be afraid Zechariah…’ Weds 20/12 Lk 1: 26 - 38 ‘Do not be afraid, Mary…’ Thurs 21/12 Lk 1: 39 - 45 ‘When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb’ Fri 22/12 Lk 1: 46 - 56 ‘Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months’ Sat 23/12 Lk 1: 57 - 66 ‘His name is John’

Mass Intentions 6.30 Saturday 16 Dec Dave Fitzgerald, Patrick Ronan, Phyllis, Frank Hennessy 09.00 Sunday 17 Dec Dermot Dooley, Thomas Walsh 10.30 Sunday 17 Dec Paul Culbert 12.00 Sunday 10 Dec Joe Fleming, Marie Ellis, Anne, Paul McHenry, Noelene Rochford 10.00 Thursday 21 Dec Ann Quinn 10.00 Fri 22 Dec Mary Griffin, Billy Griffin Snr. & Jnr.

BOOK OF THE WEEK FATIMA from the beginning

by John De Marchi (translated from the Portuguese by I. M . Kingsbury)

Sixteenth edition 2011. Pp 272 First published in 1950, a classic, now in its sixteenth edition. Regularly updated, this latest edition includes very interesting material from John Paul II and Benedict XVI. In many ways this is the book on Fatima, its material spanning from original interviews and including contemporary papal reflections. It's style is reflective and informative. At times it appears to be almost ‘matter of fact’ but it is never disrespectful, more adopting a detached position. Edicoes: Missoes Consolata - Fatima (Portugal)

WEEKLY COLLECTIONS December 3 2018

First Collection €975 Share Collection €695 Family Offering €890

St. Vincent De Paul Annual Appeal Ethiopia Appeal

Crosscare Food Appeal Thank you for your support

Carol Service School and Church

Choirs Tue 19 Dec @ 7.00

FAMILY MASS TODAY @ 10.30

All Welcome!! Music, Song, Story, and Drama in the Presence of Jesus. This is a really good experience of Mass for families/young children. Special Guests: Confirmation Children

Recent Funeral

John Culleton

May He Rest in Peace

PARISH SHOP Cards, Calendars, Candles

and much more available at the shop in the Parish Centre

CHRISTMAS RECIPE Well the mince pie season is in full swing and I am delighted, though I must confess I find

the mince pie is getting more and more like the sausage: it is quite difficult to get a really good one. Actually come to think of it the sausage is worse. Unfortunately more often than not I am disappointed in the sausage. Too much fat, too much water, way too much salt, poor quality and sadly often pretty tasteless. That's the sausage. It can of course be a challenge to get a good scone, and don’t get me started on Carmel shortbread! I am more or less resigned now that no one will ever make it quite like Bridie! In fairness the mince pie is not so bad and in my experience they are generally at least passable. Whether it's heated with fresh cream or brandy butter or simply unheated with a cup of tea, it is an important little seasonal ritual. What else is a significant part of the season?

Well I love snow. I pray for snow. Like Bing I’m always dreaming of a White Christmas. I am smiling at that because it reminds me of when Bridie got old and I’d say I am praying for snow and she would say you’re not thinking of people like me afraid to go out in it for fear of falling. Yes I am smiling but tears are not far away. Do you ever stop missing your Ma? I miss her all the time but I think I miss her more at Christmas. I like Andy Williams Christmas Songs. I really like Michael Buble singing ‘It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas’! Surprise surprise I love the smell of the turkey and ham, especially the ham cooking in the oven, and it covered in brown sugar and cloves. I love a good Christmas movie. I always read some Dickens at Christmas, and usually some of John B. Keane’s Christmas stories.

So there you are, that's Christmas for me! Have a good one! Happy Holiday!! WAIT! HANG ON! Hold it right there! Just a minute! I am joking you know! Imagine if that

is all there was to Christmas for me! I’d be a right pagan. Actually if that is all there was to Christmas for me, it would be very sad. Now to what really makes Christmas for me:

Let me begin with the big ‘no-no’. I wish people would stop saying: ‘sure Christmas is just for the kids’ It most certainly is not. What a tired and weary thing to say. I am sure it is not intentional

but it has more than a little cynicism in it and in my view it is definitely a pagan statement. Is hope just for children? Is joy? Is the Christmas Story just for children? At what stage do we stop looking into the Crib? So let us, at least those of us trying to hang on to some semblance of faith, stop this negative cant.

Christmas for me is the Masses, the children's Mass, the night Mass and the Christmas Day Mass. They all have their tone or tenor, unique to themselves, but they are all Mass. The greatest prayer on this earth, and to be celebrating it at Christmas recalling the Birth of Jesus. Wow! Beautiful!

Christmas for me is O Holy Night and Adeste Fideles and above all Silent Night, and if we can sing at least a little of it in its original German then all the better. Christmas for me is the Crib. I put up a life size one in my front window beside my tree. A real tree, smelling of pine and messily shedding needles for the month that it is up, much to the chagrin of Luna’s paws! I try to visit some cribs around the city, a direct result of the days my Dad brought the four of us children around many of the church cribs in Belfast.

It is always a source of sadness to me that Midnight Mass is no longer at Midnight. At the very core of it for me will be the chance to do a little bit of soul work. I’ll be very disappointed in myself if by the time I am on the altar for Mass on New Years Eve night at 11.30 pm I have not at least glimpsed Jesus over Christmas and got to know him even a tiny bit better.

J MC DONALD 11. 12. 17

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