*****Watch the service here*****

Each November we gather as a Christian Community to remember those who have
gone before us and to offer our consolation and support to those among us who
have been recently bereaved. In Ireland death is encased by prayer and rituals
that for generations have become part of the rich heritage of our faith tradition.

Clogher don Óige will be holding a service to remember our dead on Wednesday 18th November at 7pm in Saint Joseph's Church, Monaghan.
Due to current restrictions, this service will be held behind closed doors, but will be available to join online - via the Church webcam and also on the Clogher don Óige Facebook page.

There are a number of ways you can do this:

• ​Email your list to info@clogherdonoige.org
• Check out our Instagram Story Highlights and tag @clogherdonoige or DM us
• Copy and paste your list into the online form below

All received lists will be placed in front of the Altar for our Remembrance Service.

Noting that the crisis is also a spiritual one, the bishop urges people ‘to rediscover a sense of reverence for God, for the earth and for our brothers and sisters who are excluded and treated like second class citizens - at home or away from home, born and unborn. We share this responsibility with the whole Church. We owe it to generations yet unborn to work together to sustain life on this planet, to protect God’s creation, our common home.’
 
The Diocese of Clogher has a Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation Group and Bishop Duffy invites new members to come forward. Anyone interested in helping out in the work of the group is asked to contact the secretary, Anne Molloy at amolloy164@live.co.uk
 
 
The following is the full text of the Pastoral Letter –
 
Letter from Bishop Larry Duffy to the People of God in the Diocese of Clogher for the Season of Creation, 1st September- 4th October. 2020
 
Part I
 
On the 1st September, we celebrated the World Day of Prayer for Creation which marks the beginning of the Season of Creation. This wonderful season runs until the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4th.  As you may remember, five years ago, Pope Francis published a ground-breaking letter called Laudato Si’. It was addressed to all people of good will and that includes you and me. He requested an “urgent dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet”, adding that we need a conversation which includes everyone, because the challenge we are facing affects us all. (see LS, 14).
 
Since then a lot has happened in our world. There have been many more severe weather events causing death, destruction and displacement of peoples. We are repeatedly seeing many consequences of global warming which results in loss of life and threatens many different species of animal and insect life, the marines and their ecosystems.
 
Today, our world continues to be deeply affected by the Coronavirus pandemic which has much in common with the environmental crisis. Many experts tell us that this pandemic is a symptom of a much wider ecological crisis. It has certainly shown us how deeply connected everything is, how vulnerable we are as human beings and how fragile is our world. A small invisible virus has stopped the world, forced us to go into lockdown. As we celebrate the Season of Creation this year, we are asked to stop and think about the type of world we want to return to when this crisis has passed. As a human family, we cannot be healthy if the planet is not healthy.
 
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si’ and to highlight the urgency of the ecological crisis, Pope Francis has designated this year a special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year until May 2021. He has done this to remind all Catholics of the urgent need to take action in order to protect our common home. I would like to invite you during the upcoming Season of Creation to think about how we might better take care of our common home-and how we might join with others to protect life and the Earth that God has created and has given us to care for.  
 
The Coronavirus pandemic shows just how interrelated we are and how much we depend on each other. It has also highlighted how dependent we are on the earth for our survival.  The pandemic is also a call for us to reflect; an opportunity for us all to judge ourselves, to judge what we are doing and how we might have been contributing to the problem by our lifestyles. And the problem is wider than simply the ecological dimension – it is also a social one. We must integrate questions of social justice into debates on the environment. Questions such as human rights abuses, the religious intolerance, discrimination, racism, the attacks on the life of the unborn and the denial of the right to life – these are all part of what Pope Francis calls ‘colonizing interests’ and ‘the throw-away culture’ underpinning our neglect of creation and the creator. In responding to this invitation to judge, we are called to be like the good Samaritan; to show solidarity with the earth and all its people, to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor and the wounded, to love our neighbour.
 
 
Part II
 
In Laudato Si’ we read that Christians need ‘an ‘ecological conversion’..., that ‘living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.’ (LS, 217).
 
Since the publication of the Pope’s letter five years ago many young people have taken on the challenge of caring for our earth and our environment. The young Swedish student, Greta Thunberg, only sixteen years old, has led the way. She started out as one person, and last year 7 million young people joined her in global solidarity. Young people have been urging us to reflect on these questions surrounding care of creation, highlighting the cry of the earth, the cry of the poor and wounded.
 
So what can we do? The theme for this year’s Season of Creation in Ireland is “Cultivating Hope”. Hope is found in action and each of us can do something. We can take action to protect our bio-diversity, the birds and insects. During lockdown many people remarked on noticing the beauty of nature more, the birdsong, the trees, the wildlife. This is what happens when we slow down. We need to reconnect with nature and rekindle that sense of awe and wonder with creation – the presence of God. We are being invited to fall in love again with God’s Creation, like St. Francis, to see nature as part of our family.
 
Each week during this season, and beyond, we can also try to do small actions such as walking or cycling more, watching our energy use, sorting out our recycling, really thinking about how we use the resources of this planet. Our parishes should begin to look at how we can become more sustainable, more eco-friendly. I invite people to read Laudato Si’ during this season of creation and ask others to join you.  I invite each parish to plant a native Irish tree during this Season of Creation, set up a Laudato Si’ reading group / a care for creation group in light of this special anniversary year for Laudato Si’.
 
This crisis is also linked to the spiritual life of our parishes. We need to rediscover a sense of reverence for God, for the earth and for our brothers and sisters who are excluded and treated like second class citizens -at home or away from home, born and unborn. We share this responsibility with the whole Church. We owe it to generations yet unborn to work together to sustain life on this planet, to protect God’s creation, our common home. 
 
At Diocesan level, we have a Clogher Justice and Peace & Integrity of Creation Group which does great work in this area. The group would welcome additional members. If you are interested in joining and playing a part at that level, please contact the secretary, Anne Molloy on amolloy164@live.co.uk
 
This is urgent. I urge you to act now and to pray.  May our fragility, as shown by the pandemic, be our hope. Let us all use this time wisely; to pray and to act; to examine our consciences about the lifestyles we have; to choose simplicity of living as a route back to wonder and awe in God’s presence and, moreover, to show solidarity with our fellow beings and with creation through our compassion and actions. Everything is connected.
 
This is our time. As Pope Francis puts it:
 
“Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.” (LS, 207)
 
                                                                                                                                                     + Larry Duffy
​

In 1263 a German priest, Fr. Peter of Prague, made a pilgrimage to Rome. He stopped in Bolsena, Italy, to celebrate Mass at the Church of St. Christina. At the time he was having doubts about Jesus being truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. He was affected by the growing debate among certain theologians who, for the first time in the history of the Church, began introducing doubts about the Body and Blood of Christ being actually present in the consecrated bread and wine. In response to his doubt, when he recited the prayer of consecration as he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, blood started seeping from the consecrated host and onto the altar and corporal.

Fr. Peter reported this miracle to Pope Urban IV, who at the time was nearby in Orvieto. The pope sent delegates to investigate and ordered that host and blood-stained corporal be brought to Orvieto. The relics were then placed in the Cathedral of Orvieto, where they remain today (see photo below).

This Eucharistic Miracle confirmed the visions given to St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon in Belgium (1193-1258). St. Juliana was a nun and mystic who had a series of visions in which she was instructed by Our Lord to work to establish a liturgical feast for the Holy Eucharist, to which she had a great devotion.
After many years of trying, she finally convinced the bishop, the future Pope Urban IV, to create this special feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament, where none had existed before. Soon after her death, Pope Urban instituted Corpus Christi for the Universal Church and celebrated it for the first time in Orvieto in 1264, a year after the Eucharistic Miracle in Bolsena.
​
Inspired by the miracle, Pope Urban commissioned a Dominican friar, St. Thomas Aquinas, to compose the Mass and Office for the feast of Corpus Christi. Aquinas' hymns in honour of the Holy Eucharist, Pange Lingua, Tantum Ergo, Panis Angelicus, and O Salutaris Hostia are the beloved hymns the Church sings on the feast of Corpus Christi as well as throughout the year during Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Change your phone wallpaper for the month... a reminder to pray to Our Lady more often this month.

​Archbishop Eamon Martin invites clergy and all the faithful to join with him at the 12.00 noon Angelus on the Feast of the Annunciation, Wednesday 25 March, in consecrating Ireland and her people to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for protection from the coronavirus.
Below is a copy of the Act of Consecration. Priests are invited to lead these prayers in their churches or at home and, if possible, to relay them via webcam and/or radio. People are encouraged to participate and unite themselves in prayer in their homes and workplaces.

​Act of Consecration of Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for protection from the Coronavirus

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March 2020
The Act begins with the recitation of The Angelus

The Angelus
The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, ………..
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done unto me according to Your Word.
Hail Mary, ……
And the Word was made flesh
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, ……..
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech You, O Lord,
Your Grace into our hearts;
that as we have known the incarnation of Christ,
your Son by the message of an angel,
so by His passion and cross
we may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection.
Through the same Christ, our Lord.
Amen.


The Apostles Creed
I believe in God,
the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
He descended into hell;
on the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.

The First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: The Annunciation of the Lord
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said: "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women". And when she saw Him, she was troubled at His saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.And the angel said unto her:" Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest"… And Mary said:" Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word". And the angel departed from her. (Luk 1,26-38)
Oh Mary with Your "yes" You have opened heaven's ways, You have achieved the will of the Father. You will be blessed for ever: Your intercession is heard in Heaven, because You have accepted God's plan. Let us pray that we can say "yes" to the Father in every instance He ask it of us. Mary help us to be humble and obedient to God's will.
As we begin this decade of the Rosary we do so in solidarity with Pope Francis who has asked us to join together today in praying the Our Father to implore God to rid the world of the coronavirus pandemic:
Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

• 10 Hail Marys
• Glory Be
  
  

Prayer of Consecration
Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Health of the Sick,
at this time of great challenge to our country from the coronavirus,
we consecrate to Jesus through your Immaculate Heart:
ourselves, our family, the members of our parish and Diocese, and the people of Ireland.
O Mary, Queen of Ireland, when you appeared at Knock,
you gave hope to your people in a time of distress,
and brought them comfort in a time of sorrow.
Be with us now as a sign of salvation and hope,
as we entrust ourselves to your loving care.
We renew the promises of our Baptism and Confirmation
and ask your intercession that we may be always faithful to Christ and to His Church.
Bring under your mantle of protection all those who are suffering because of the coronavirus, and those who care for the sick and minister to their needs,
as your Son implores us to do for one another.
O Loving Mother,
at the foot of the Cross, with steadfast faith,
your Immaculate Heart was pierced by grief at the suffering of your Son.
You know what we need during these difficult days.
Help us, O Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the Father's will
and to do what Jesus tells us –
He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and bore our sorrows to bring us,
through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection.
O Blessed Mother, Our Life, our Sweetness and Our Hope,
we wish that this Consecration be for the glory of God and that it lead us safely to Jesus your Son.
A Naomh-Mhuire, a Mháthair Dé, guigh orainn na peacaigh, anois agus ar uair ár mbáis.
Amen.


Blessing
May your servants be shielded, O Lord
By the protection of your loving-kindness,
That, doing what is good in this world,
They may reach you, their highest good.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
May Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

We held a wonderful Holy Hour in Saint Michael's Church in Enniskillen on Wednesday 18th March from 8-9pm. It was a great opportunity for a time of prayer, reflection and quiet with Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament - especially in the challenging time we find ourselves in.

We'll be back next week (Wednesday March 25th) at the same time... not only next week, but we hope to continue these for the foreseeable future.
​
Why don't you join us, live on Facebook, Instagram and the Church Webcam!

Holy Hour - Wednesday 18th March - Saint Michael's Church, Enniskillen

Pope John Paul II Participants across the diocese - reach out to those in need!

In these challenging and uncertain times, we are called as Christians to reach out to those in need. As young people, this time of crisis is also a time for you to shine – to put your faith into action whenever you can, with kindness, calm, and hope.

We would ask you to reach out to those in your community who will be finding this time difficult - the elderly, vulnerable or those who might be self-isolating. *It is important that at all times you are aware of the guidance we are hearing from Public Health Authorities in regards to hygiene and social distancing.

Why not write a card or note to someone who you know who finds themselves in one of the categories mentioned above. Let them know you are thinking and praying for them at this time. Where it is possible (*remember Public Health guidance),  offer to get groceries, run an errand for them or walk their dog!

Also, there are many organisations out there serving those in need - one that we are aware of is the Enniskillen FoodBank - check them out on Facebook, or see their recent post below.

Take a selfie with your letter, your FoodBank donations or the dog you take for a walk (can't be your own dog... we will find out ?) post to social media and tag:
@clogherdonoige
@jp2award
and use #coronakindness

Your Parish Award Leader or us will sign you off for a social awareness activity.

Do you have any other ideas for reaching out to those in need at this time?                          Email us info@clogherdonoige.org

Every Wednesday, 8.00-9.00pm
Join us on Facebook, Instagram or the Saint Michael's Parish Webcam (links below)

In these unprecedented and uncertain times, it is easy for the feelings of fear and anxiety to guide our thoughts. Is it at times like these that we turn to our faith for spiritual strength.
​We hear in scripture:

Taking time out from the news, the barrage of stories and information in our social media feeds is very important. Tonight, we will be hosting an online Holy Hour, we hope you will join us. We will spend some time in the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, a time of prayer, reflection and music. 

We will be going live via Instagram, Facebook and on the Saint Michael's Parish webcam:

​​As parish events are postponed and bishops remove the requirement for Catholics to attend Sunday Mass, it’s natural for us to wonder about how our spiritual needs will be met in the weeks ahead.

That’s why it’s good to know that the answer to the question Will I be able to receive Holy Communion? is a resounding yes. That’s not to say that we will all be able to receive the Eucharist sacramentally in the Host or from the chalice, the way we have for most of our lives. But with two thousand years of sacred tradition comes the longstanding practice of making a Spiritual Communion.

As St. John Paul II observed in his last encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia:
“...it is good to cultivate in our hearts a constant desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the origin of the practice of ‘spiritual communion,’ which has happily been established in the Church for centuries and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life. Saint Teresa of Jesus wrote: “When you do not receive communion and you do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion, which is a most beneficial practice; by it the love of God will be greatly impressed on you”
(Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 34)

To make a spiritual communion:

• Simply place yourself in the presence of God, who is everywhere and already with you.
• Express silently, or in words, your desire to unite with Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

This prayer from St. Alphonsus Ligouri may help you:

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you.
​Amen.