Prayer
St Patrick's Church Walcha
ALL MASSES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Weekend Mass Time: Sunday - 10am
For Baptism or Marriage enquiries phone Monsignor Ted Wilkes 67784070
Sunday Mass online – You are able to take part in Mass online by going to Armidale Catholic Cathedral with Bishop Michael Robert Kennedy https://www.facebook.com/SMJCathedral/
PALM SUNDAY - 5th April
Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’s triumphant journey to Jerusalem where he is greeted by shouts and songs of acclamation and joy. Jesus is hailed as a King and people wave palm branches to show their honor for him.
As we begin Holy Week, take a moment to recall this narrative of Christ with your family. What are some events from Jesus’s life that stand out to you? Do you have a favorite parable or story of healing? It is important to remember that the Jesus who walked and taught and ate is the same Jesus who dies and rises again.
To help us celebrate, the church invites us to carry palm branches today.
Prayer: Loving God, As we come to the beginning of Holy Week,
we remember your triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
We sing your praises, shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”
You alone are the true King, the leader greater than all others.
Keep us faithful in word and deed, and help us love you to the best of our ability.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Holy Thursday- 9th April
The Sacred Paschal Triduum begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. The word Triduum comes from the Latin for “three days.” These three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil are the highpoint of our entire liturgical year. Holy Thursday especially commemorates Jesus’s command to serve others, modeled explicitly in the washing of feet and the celebration of the Eucharist. How do you serve others in your own family and community? Why is it important to connect our daily service to others with Jesus’s command to do so?
The footwashing, has been a Holy Thursday practice since as early as the seventh century. A concrete
representation of our call to service, the foot washing in the Holy Thursday liturgy reminds us of Jesus’s example and command. If we truly understand this command, however, we realize that we are called to do more than literally wash feet. Rather, this is a ritual that reminds us of our call to serve others through the concrete realities of life.
Prayer: Loving God,
You show us by example how to love others.
Today as we celebrate Holy Thursday,
we remember when you washed the feet of your disciples.
Give us the strength to wash each other’s feet,
not only in the ritual moment of today,
but in all moments of our lives.
May we as recommit ourselves to the service of others.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Good Friday - 10th April
As we celebrate the Passion of Jesus Christ we are reminded of the injustices that pervade our world.
The traditional Good Friday liturgy contains three unique components: the reading of John’s Passion, the praying of The Solemn Intercessions, and the Adoration of the Holy Cross. Each of these helps us enter more fully into our relationship with Christ and recommits us to pray and work for the good of the church and world.
Prayer: Lord of Glory,
we proclaim your death and look ever forward to your Resurrection.
As we contemplate your Cross,
the tree on which you hung so that we may have life,
may we be ever aware of the life that springs from death,
the light that rises from darkness,
and the hope that banishes fear.
Draw us close to you,
so that we may know the glory
your Cross points to.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Mary the Patroness of the Diocese
It is important that we all remain united in prayer entrusting our lives and cares with confidence to God’s unfailing Providence. I invite you to each day pray the attached Prayer to Mary the Patroness of the Diocese as we beseech her intervention for our protection.
Prayer - Lent
A Coronavirus Prayer
The Other Side of the Virus,
An Opportunity to Awaken...
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But they say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
so that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary.
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting.
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way.
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic-
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
- Written by Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM, March 13th 2020
