LAUNCH OF ARDAGH & CLONMACNOIS “DIOCESAN ASSEMBLY 2020” AT CHRISM MASS
On Tuesday evening April 16th at 7p.m., Bishop Francis will celebrate the
Chrism Mass in St. Mel’s Cathedral. This is our most important
Diocesan. Francis, our Bishop with the people and the priests of
the 41 parishes gather together in the Cathedral where the Holy Oils
will be blessed. These oils will be used in the coming year for the
Sacrament of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Anointing of the Sick.
All of your are welcome to share in this very lovely liturgy.
At the Chrism Mass in the Cathedral this year, we will begin a time
of prayer preparation for our Diocesan Assembly in 2020.
This Assembly will be a very important moment in the history of our
Diocese.
We ask you please to keep this intention in the heart of your
personal prayer in the coming weeks and months. Please remember
this intention in your Prayer Group, in your Rosary Group and Walk,
in your Hour of Adoration and on your visits to Knock, Lough Derg
or any other pilgrimage place.
Together may our prayer help shape our future with the hope that is
the dream of Christ for our Diocesan Family
For downloadable PDF of the Prayer Card click on Prayer Card (2)
The Diocesan Assembly Symbol
“Out of His heart shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn. 7:38)
In defining an Assembly, the design concept understands it as a gathering, the active responsible gathering of all God’s people through our common priesthood of Baptism. It is not an invention of the Church, but willed, fulfilled and gifted by Jesus to His Church.
The symbol of the three water drops are symbolic of the Trinitarian God…Father, Son and Spirit, each equal for the fulfilment of God’s plan, as He Himself willed it.
Within the drops of water on the design are the mosaic pattern of the Baptismal font here in St.Mel’s Cathedral ,Longford ,the Mother Church of our Diocese and is representative of all Baptismal fonts found within all our Parish and country Churches throughout the Diocese.
A mosaic, needs the crafted skill of the artist in assembling small pieces of coloured material to form a pattern together form the whole. A mosaic is symbolic of each person’s baptismal promise, and likewise the pattern is both individual and communal, the latter serves and sustains the Catholic Tradition of each family, community parish and Diocese and reaches beyond to the panoramic edges of the world.
Water is an important symbol, it represents God’s blessings and spiritual refreshment. The lack of water is symbolic of spiritual need.
Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He would give her living water, He fulfilled His promise and reveals the “living water” as the symbol of Eternal life.
“water, the life of God that comes to us in the Spirit” (Jn. 7:38-39;
“For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-all were made to drink of one Spirit” (Cor.12:13).
The watermark of Baptism, like that of the faint design in the manufacture of paper becomes visible when held up to the light, it identifies the maker.
Likewise, with Baptism and our participation in the gift of Church together we identify the maker in the service of koinonia. (communion)
Our Diocesan Assembly caption “Shaping the future with hope” (Fr. Peter Burke) calls and gathers all the baptised people of God in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, without the unity of these three drops we miss the mark…. Emmanuael
Ni neart go cur le Cheile.
To download Assembly Symbol in PDF format click on … Candle
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