Christmas Newsletter

Dear Friends

As we approached Advent last year there was great uncertainty about whether we would be in lockdown for Christmas. The Omricron variant of Covid 19 was moving through  Ireland and how serious it would get was still a big question for the authorities. It made us reflect on how uncertain life for the Holy Family had been as Joseph saddled the donkey and prepared to travel with Mary to Bethlehem. We prayed for all the people in our world today who like the Holy Family have to leave their homes and nations and seek shelter in foreign lands. The pain and suffering so many are enduring all over the world. Our crib which is a frame covered in sacking was a stark reminder of all those who are forced to live in makeshift tents due to war and oppression. We were daily reminded of the people of Afghanistan so recently caught up in political unrest and innocently having to suffer.

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A Celtic Journey with St. John of the Cross

We would like to share with you two beautiful musical reflections in honour of Our Lady and St John of the Cross recorded by Kerrie O’Connor and friends in our Chapel. We vacated the Chapel one afternoon while they did all the hard work!!  The first one is available on youtube and the second will be available for the feast of St John of the Cross on 14th December. We hope you will enjoy. https://youtu.be/R2YGDeZ0haE

 

A Celtic journey 

 

 

 Prayer & Reflection
for Women

From time to time we host days of prayer and reflection for women interested in exploring a vocation to Religious life. For further information please contact us at: carmel@roebuckcarmel.com

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Sunday Reflections 

 

4th Sunday of Lent

  

The two blind men

 

1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-7, 10-13   Ephesians 5: 8-14   John 9:1-41

When Jesus went down into the muddy waters of the Jordan to be baptised by John, He made a conscious choice to identify with all of us as truly human, sharing our faults, though He had none and giving us the promise of New Life when we would receive the same Baptism.  During these Sundays of Lent we are reminded of the elements of our Baptism as we prepare to renew our Baptismal commitment.  Last Sunday the story of ‘The woman at the Well’ illustrated for us the significance of Water as a sign of new life.  In our Gospel reading today the element Light which we receive at Baptism is described in the miraculous healing of the ‘Man born Blind’. 

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COVID-19 Notice

Regretfully we have had to close our Chapel to the public.  Given the small size of our Chapel it is no longer a safe space for people to attend Mass while Covid–19 is around. We have not taken the decision lightly, knowing how much it means to the people who attend Mass in the mornings. We will be keeping you all in our prayers at this worrying time and of course we will be open again as soon as it is safe to do so. 

Please feel free to contact us:
          carmel@roebuckcarmel.com

Mother’s Day 

Mothers DayWe Carmelite Sisters at Roebuck are remembering all Mothers at this time. May you have a joy filled day. All are in our prayers especially Mothers fleeing Ukraine, leaving family behind to protect others, and all Mothers throughout the world who are in pain and suffering. Our prayers are with you. May you experience God’s loving presence and the closeness of Our Lady. 

 

 

 

 

  


 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

,St Patrick 

 …Before dawn I used to arouse myself to prayer in snow and frost and rain… (Confessions)

Like some other notable persons in the history of Ireland, Patrick was not a native by birth nor by descent. Indeed, he had no natural motive to love the country, since he had passed his youth there as a slave in cold and hunger. In later life he wrote of himself as an exile among aliens and barbarians.

But in those years of privation, he was saved from religious indifference; he learned patience, and through prayer came to the love of God. In retrospect he understood this period was a mark of divine mercy and protection.

After his escape, he knew he was being led along a way of wider significance than his personal holiness, and that his vocation was to bring the gospel to the land of his captivity. The overriding inspiration in leaving his kin and all he held dear and come among a foreign people to make them his own, was the love of God and a grateful desire to serve the divine Master; God, he said in a striking metaphor, had found him as a stone in the mire, had raised him aloft, and set him atop the wall. He felt he must return thanks for so great a favour.

In his life Patrick had to endure disappointment, humiliations, opposition and threats; he was always aware of his inadequacy and lack of education. Yet, one who could win over rulers and maintain good relations with both sides of warring factions needs wisdom and prudence together with an ease of manner among traits of character. With a single-minded pursuit of his aim, he was ready for any toil and to bear all difficulties and hardships.

Patrick's mission reminds us that we owe our faith and most cherished ideals to the labours of others, the care and example of parents and the dedication of teachers.

Our Christian calling has not been through influence or position in society. To bring Christ to the world God can choose weak and defective agents without obvious reason for self-confidence. We may catch an echo of Paul's thought on the role of preachers in Patrick's words: “...if I did or said anything, however small, according to God's good pleasure...let this be your conclusion, and let it be so thought that it was the gift of God.”


 

Saint Brigid (454-524)

Patroness of Ireland 

St Brigid
St Brigid, who is known as ‘Mary of the Gael’, is renowned for her hospitality, almsgiving and care of the sick. When she was young her father wished to make a very suitable marriage for her but she insisted in consecrating her virginity to God. She received the veil and spiritual formation probably from St Mel and stayed for a period under his direction in Ardagh. Others followed her example and this led her to found a monastery in Kildare with the assistance of Bishop Conleth. She was the first abbess of a religious community in Ireland and had a very special place in the Irish Church of her time. She died in 524 and her cult is widespread not only throughout Ireland but in several European lands.

  

Saint Brigids cross

 St Brigid’s Cross

May the blessing of God 

The blessings of Our Lady 

The blessing of St Brigid 

Be upon everyone 

Who looks upon this Cross. 

 

More information about St Brigid

 

 

A Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

 

 

Welcome to the Carmelite Monastery of the Immaculate Conception
Roebuck, Dublin 14    D14 T1H9

We are a community of Carmelite Sisters called by God, to live a life of prayer for the Church and for the world.

Our Rule tells us to ‘meditate day and night on the law of the Lord’.  In other words to ponder the scriptures as we go about our daily tasks.

The heart of our day is the celebration of the Eucharist and we say the full Divine Office.  We also spend two hours in personal prayer each day, one in the morning and one in the evening. 

We hope that you enjoy your visit to our website and that you find reason to return soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Charity Number: Chy 7643

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