The Irish Blessing (Beannacht uile-Éireann) is a project inspired by the many international recordings of “The Blessing” (by Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe and Elevation Worship) which have been made during this time of pandemic. They wanted to honour that inspiration, whilst at the same time, honouring the unique history and culture of the island of Ireland. “Be Thou My Vision” is a hymn that was written over 1000 years ago.” It reminds us of the One to whom we should look in this time of pandemic, whose presence is our light, the source of our wisdom, in whom we find our treasure and where we find victory.”
Individuals from 300 Christian churches and organisations located in every county on the island submitted self-recordings of vocals and instruments which have been compiled by their creative team to produce this music video – we hope you receive a blessing as you watch it.
Lyrics:
Be Thou My Vision/Prayer of St Patrick
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, in the day and the night;
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father and I, Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be thou my battleshield, my sword for the fight;
Be thou my dignity, thou my delight;
Thou my soul’s shelter and thou my high tower;
Raise thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, through all my days
Thou and Thou only, the first in my heart;
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won;
May I reach heaven’s joy, O bright heaven’s sun;
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall;
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall;
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Christ be with you, Christ within you
Christ behind you, Christ before you,
Christ beside you, Christ to win you,
Christ to comfort and restore you,
Christ beneath you, Christ above you,
Christ In quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love you,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger
The Novena of the Sacred Heart is a very special time of the the year for us and with our recent challenges and lifestyle changes now is a great time for us to reflect and pray with each other during the Novena this year which is happening from the 11th-19th June (albeit behind closed doors) and finishing with the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart on the final day. All our MSC’s will be participating in this year’s Novena online and you are more than welcome to join us during by watching our daily Masses live from the Sacred Heart Church in Cork. These Novena Masses will take place daily at 10.00 am and 7.30 pm, with a special Angelus session each day at noon.
SCHEDULE
THURSDAY 11TH JUNE – WELCOME TO THE UNIQUE NOVENA Homilist Fr John Finn MSC
FRIDAY 12TH JUNE – PRAYER BY YOUR FIRESIDE Homilist Fr John Fitzgerald MSC
SATURDAY 13TH JUNE – MARY AS MOTHER AND DISCIPLE Homilist Fr Des Farren MSC
SUNDAY 14TH JUNE – CORPUS CHRISTI/PETITIONS Homilist Fr Michael O’Connell MSC
“Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened” Mt 11:28
“This is my body given up for you. Do this in memory of me” Lk 22:19
MONDAY 15TH JUNE – VOCATION & MISSION Homilist Fr. Alan Neville MSC
TUESDAY 16TH JUNE – FAMILY Homilist Fr. Seamus Kelly MSC
WEDNESDAY 17TH JUNE – REMEMBERING OUR DEAD Homilist Fr. John Fitzgerald MSC
THURSDAY 18TH JUNE – HEALING AND FORGIVENESS Homilist Fr. John Finn MSC
FRIDAY 19TH JUNE – FEAST OF THE SACRED HEARTHomilist Fr. Alan Neville MSC
Be part of this year’s Novena to the Sacred Heart
This year’s pandemic has caused a devastating effect on us all and now more than ever is a good time to support those less fortunate and you can help us to help others by supporting our ongoing mission projects, and in gratitude for your contribution, we will be glad to remember your intentions at our daily Novena Masses. You can also submit your personal prayers and intentions online, and our MSC priests will remember your petitions specially throughout the course of the Novena.
Novena Prayer to the Sacred Heart
O Divine Jesus, who said,
“Ask and you shall receive”,
I kneel at your feet.
From whom shall I ask if not form you,
whose heart is the source of all blessings.
With a lively faith in you,
I come to ask…
Share your petitions silently with the Sacred Heart.
I admit I am the most unworthy of your favours, Jesus,
But this is not a reason for me to be discouraged.
You are the God of mercies and you will not refuse a contrite heart.
Look with pity on me,
I beg you, and your compassionate Heart
will find in my weakness a motive for granting my request.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me.
Amen.
As the world battles with covid-19 our companions from Loreto Rumbeck in South Sudan have added pressure in dealing with this deadly disease, however they are keeping up the spirit and doing the best to keep going during this pandemic.
“As we come to the end of the month of May we are grateful for many small achievements.
Our schools remained closed but our compound is still full of life. The rains have begun and while we are missing the support of our students we are all helping out with the planting. We look forward to September when we hope to feast on the harvest of groundnuts (monkey nuts) and maize.”
Some of their university students who have returned to them are continuing their studies online although a lot of their students cannot afford the opportunity. They were however grateful to connect with many of their Primary and Secondary girls when they came to receive their cash payment for the British project, Girls Education in South Sudan.
The journey of Coronavirus is becoming very real for them. In their capital of Juba many of their top political leaders have confirmed they are positive for coronavirus and a number of confirmed cases are now present in the town. Unfortunately they don’t have testing services in the State but they must assume that the virus is present and spreading fast.
“Our graduates are doing a great service, some go to the radios and have health talks while others are out and about in the community teaching about coronavirus. While masks aren’t widely available our graduates are learning how to make their own and provide some for the community.”
“We realise that the coming weeks will be tense as we expect the spread of Coronavirus to be more visible to us all. We are beginning to take the necessary precautions though it is difficult in an environment that has little.”
Our friends at Croí Nua’s schedule for the Novena to the Sacred Heart in Galway.
Thursday 11th 10.00am Opening of the Novena Charles Sweeney MSC.
Theme: “Not our love for God but God’s Love for us.” How can our faith in that God sustain us and give us hope at this time?
Friday 12th 10.00am Tony Horgan MSC.
Theme: ‘The Meaning of the Sacred Heart Devotion in today’s Covid 19 world’
Saturday 13th 10.00am Eileen Kelly
Theme: Our Family—Mary and her struggles in family life.
Sunday 14th 10.00am Corpus Christi Patsy Kelly MSC
Theme: “Christ has no Body now but yours”
Monday 15th 10.00am and 7.30pm Patsy Kelly MSC
Theme: Forgiveness 7.30pm Service of Reconciliation
Tuesday 16th 10.00am Tony Horgan MSC
Theme: ‘The picture of the Sacred Heart in the family home is a traditional, established practice.
What meaning and consolation can an image of the Sacred Heart have for a family in today’s Covid 19 world?
(‘to save the family is to save society’ – Pius X)
Wednesday 17th 10.00am and 7.30pm Charles Sweeney
MSC Theme: Are we being called to see our life, our family, our world in a new way? Can our prayer become ‘To see as Christ sees’.
7.30pm Time for praying for our dead – remembering, forgiving, loving and praying for them.
Thursday 18th 10.00am and 7.30pm Tony Horgan MSC
Theme: ‘Underneath the present dark world of Covid 19, healing continues to happen because of our continually changing relationship with Self, Others, God and Creation.
7.30pm An hour before the Blessed Sacrament. We bring to consciousness the healing power of God’s presence in our lives and our world.
Friday 19th 10.00am Feast of the Sacred Heart Patsy Kelly MSC
Closing of the Novena—Theme: ‘The Human Heart of Christ’.
The risk of the pandemic virus in a developing country like South Sudan is very high as they have very poor medical facilities and are steeped in traditions that involve the handshake. It represents peace and respect among their communities and proves to be difficult to avoid , all be it necessary to contain the spread of the virus.
Creating awareness to the community about Coronavirus becomes an urgent need as most of the people are illiterate and they are not informed of what is happening around the world, therefore proper orientation and health education for preventive measures are required.
On 31st March, 2020, nine former interns returned to Loreto. Among the group are five trainee nurses, two medical students and two development students. All have returned from their various learning institutes to help prepare for the Coronavirus in the Mary Ward Primary Health Care Center (LPHCC).
Each week the group divides and enters into the community trying to educate them on the Coronavirus disease, how it can be transmitted and how to try to prevent it happening in the area. These graduates are finding this extremely difficult as many villages are constructed in a way that social distancing is not possible. Many of the families have to share beds, bedding materials and all household utensils.
They are also finding it difficult to guide the males section of the community but they are hoping to change this as it is vital that the community works as a whole to protect themselves against this virus.
“Over the last 3 weeks, the medical team has been able to outreach to different 49 water points, boreholes training total number of 3,010 people, mostly women.
The medical team is motivated by the willingness of the community members to take up the preventive measures in controlling the spread of the virus and they look forward to targeting a bigger group in the next few weeks.”
This is a testing time for all of us and our missionaries let us know that it is yet another hurdle on the other sides of the world where life is already challenging enough. Here are a few messages from our priests:
From Cameroun:
Dear Fr Carl,
Know that we are together in prayer with you particularly for our old confreres of your Province. We think of them and the Benefactors, we do pray for them. From today on and every Thursday evening, we will be having our HOLY HOUR combined with the evening prayer. We would like to do that for this whole difficult period. Thank God that we are still able to celebrate the mass with the whole community. We are really trying ourselves to be aware, to be well and to stay safe.
With our love and prayers,
Jean Manga MSC
From India:
Dear Fr. Carl,
Greetings of the day.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has shaken the whole world. Yesterday our Indian Prime Minister ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days and we are not allowed to go out of our houses, all our states and district borders are closed down. I’ve heard on the news that the whole of Europe is also experiencing a similar ‘lockdown’. We are in this together and we will be coming out from within this crisis enriched and full of even more awe and wonder for the God who is ever present – with us wherever we go. I hope and pray all our MSC confreres in England and Ireland are fine and safe. My thoughts and prayers are with you, the MSC community, our friends and Benefactors. Please know that I will remember you all daily in my prayer.
Your brother in Christ,
Darwin Thaddeus MSC (Union Superior).
From Fiji:
Hi Carl!
I hope you are all safe and well at this difficult time. Yesterday, the Prime minister of Fiji has confirmed 4 COVID 19 cases in Fiji. This creates fear and panic to many people. But we are also advised to remain calm and look after ourselves at this time. There has been a ban to all gatherings in the country and people are very much aware of what coronavirus will bring to the islands if we are not careful. We will continue to pray for our supporters, benefactors, all the victims and families affected by coronavirus around the world.
