Dear Friends,
Today is The Fifth Sunday of Easter.
We are now in the month of May which is associated with devotion to Our Lady. St. Ignatius of Loyola encourages us to ask Mary to intercede with her Son, Jesus, for thegraces, the helps which we need. What might those graces be for you at this time? Mary is also the ‘Queen of Peace’, so we ask her intercession especiallyfor peace in our troubled world.
Saint of the Week. – Saint José Maria Rubio, S.J. – Monday, 4th May
José Maria was born in southern Spain in 1864. He studied in seminaries in Madrid and Toledo where he earned a doctorate in canon law. He was ordained in 1887 as a secular priest. He worked in the Archdiocese of Madrid for nineteen years. In 1906, at the age of forty-two, he entered the Jesuits. He worked for a time in Seville and then returned to Madrid where he spent the next eighteen years. He exercised two apostolates in Madrid, one in the confessional and another in the pulpit. The lines outside his confessional were usually long. Many came to him for spiritual direction. His sermons were always simple and sincere, touching people’s hearts. He believed that simple sermons yielded the best fruit. He visited the city’s slums where he ministered to the poor and abandoned. The people called him ‘The Apostle of Madrid’. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1929. He was beatified in 1985 and canonized in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.
Volunteers toread at Mass and for the Choir
Margaret (our soloist) and Seamus (our organist) would welcome people to join the choir. Rehearsals are on a Sunday morning at 10.15am in the John Sullivan Room, before the 11.00amMass.
Reading Club
Our next meeting will be on Monday, 11th May from 10.00am – 12 Noon. We are finishing our reading of The Confessions of St. Augustine, edited by Benignus O’Rourke OSA. Our next book will be Into the Silent Land, by Fr. Martin Laird, OSA. You are welcome to join.
Fr. Brendan
FEAST OF BL.JOHN SULLIVAN SJ
A Mass of thanksgiving for his beatification will be celebrated at Clongowes Wood College on Sunday, 10th May at 3pm.
The anointing of the sick and blessing with the Cross of Blessed John Sullivan will take place after Mass. Principal celebrant and homilist: Bishop Denis Nulty.
The monthly Mass in honour of Blessed John Sullivan SJ will be celebrated, as usual, on Saturday 16th May at 1 pm in St Francis Xavier’s Church.
CHRIST THE KING. MEN’S RETREAT
Talk, adoration, confession, Rosary and Mass. Beginning at 9am, finishing at 1 pm.
30th May.Manresa House, Clontarf.
Free event, but donations welcome.
If interested, please text 087 331 3676.
JESUIT CENTRE OF SPIRITUALITY -DAY RETREATS
Oasis Day
Step aside fromthe ordinary into the lovely surroundings of Manresa for an Oasis Day. Each daytakes place in an atmosphere of silence and comprises a number of elements:reflections, guided meditations, prayer and an opportunity to meet with aspiritual director.
Saturday 23 May2026. 9:30am-6:00pm.
Visio Divina: Quiet Day
Use the lens of your camera or smartphone to become aware of your embodied emotions, equipping you to see with the ‘eyes of the heart’. This quiet day introduces participants to contemplative photography and visio divina.
No photographic skills are required, simply a camera you can use. The day has a gentle pace, with a mindful-photographic prayer walk included. The presenter is Steve Radley.
Saturday 30 May2026. 10 am- 6 pm
Bookings:Manresa.ie
OUR RECENTLY DECEASED
We remember in prayer those who have died recently:
James Fay
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
POPE LEO XIV’S PRAYER INTENTION FOR MAY
That everyone might have food
Let us pray that everyone, from large producers to small consumers, be committed to avoid wasting food, and to ensure that everyone has access to quality food.
CHURCH COLLECTIONS
For Church: €900. Share: €161.
Card reader: €527
IDonate: € 50
All contributions are gratefully accepted, and the donors are remembered in our prayers.
Easter Offering envelopes available at the back of the church and in the shop.