Welcome to Our Lady Help of Christians

Navan Road Parish

Welcome to the website of the parish of Our Lady Help of Christians, Navan Road, Dublin. Registered Charity Number 20016166. The parish is in partnership with the parishes of Most Precious Blood Cabra, Christ the King Cabra and St. Peter’s Phibsborough, in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

HOLY WEEK TIMETABLE

Holy Thursday 28th March
8 – 9 a.m. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
9.15 a.m. Morning Prayer
7.30 p.m. Celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Night prayer at 9.30p.m.

Good Friday 29th March
9.15 a.m. Morning Prayer followed by the Stations of the Cross
3.00 p.m. Ceremonies of the Lord’s Passion
7.30 p.m. Stations of The Cross accompanied by the Folk Group

Holy Saturday 30th March
9.15 a.m. Morning Prayer
Confessions: 10.30 a.m.- 11.30 a.m – 2.00 p.m.-4.00 p.m.
9.00 p.m. Easter Vigil

Easter Sunday 31st March
9.00 a.m., 10.30 a.m. & 12 noon Masses of the Resurrection

Easter Monday 1st AprilSaturday 6th April inclusive
9.00a.m. & 10.00 a.m. Masses
6.30 p.m. Sat. Vigil

Parish Office
Closed 1.00 p.m. Holy Thursday 28th March
Reopens 9.00 a.m. Monday 8th April

BISHOP ELECT    DONAL ROCHE
On, Tuesday, the Holy Father Pope Francis appointed Fr. Donal Roche as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese.

FR DONAL ROCHE: LIFE AND MINISTRY

Born in 1958 to Sheila and Joe Roche, Fr Roche grew up in Drimnagh in Dublin, one of a family of seven children. He attended both primary and secondary school at Drimnagh Castle CBS.

Fr Roche worked for four years as a clerical officer in Dublin County Council before entering Clonliffe College in 1980 to study for the priesthood. He was sent to Maynooth to study for a degree in theology and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1986 in his home parish of Mourne Road.

His first appointment was a period of six years as a priest-teacher in Coláiste Dhúlaigh, Coolock. He then spent five years as a diocesan adviser for religious education in primary schools. This was followed by eight years as chaplain to St Mark’s Community School, Tallaght. After a total of 19 years involved in religious education, he still retains a great interest in the evangelisation of young people and has an active involvement in sacramental preparation programmes. During this time, Fr Roche also served for about six years as assistant vocations director in the Archdiocese.

Fr Roche’s first parish appointment was in Lucan South, where he spent seven years. This was a time of broadening the experience of ministry beyond schools to accompany people of all ages on the journey of faith, from baptisms, weddings and funerals to the everyday experiences of parish life, building and strengthening the faith life of the community.

This was followed by 11 years in Wicklow Town, also looking after the surrounding areas of Kilbride, Barndarrig and Brittas Bay for four of those years. This mixture of town and rural areas gave him a great experience of the richness of the Archdiocese and its many different and distinct communities.

His current appointment is in the Cabinteely-Johnstown grouping of parishes, with additional responsibility for the growing area of Cherrywood. This provides the new challenge of creating a Catholic community in an area where there is no plan for a church building but many people who wish to belong to the Church.

Fr Roche was appointed Episcopal Vicar by then Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin in 2019 and continues in this role under Archbishop Farrell, with responsibility for the deaneries of Bray, Donnybrook and Wicklow. This is very much a pastoral role, supporting priests and parishioners in times of challenge and times of celebration.

Fr Roche is a fluent Irish speaker and is often called on to celebrate Mass and the sacraments in Irish in various parts of the Archdiocese.

His appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin brings a new challenge in these changing times. With fewer clergy and greater lay involvement in parishes, the new Auxiliary Bishop will be supporting the Archbishop in his role of leading the Archdiocese along the synodal pathway: clergy and lay faithful working together to bring the message of the Gospel to a new generation.

An Auxiliary Bishop is given a titular see. Fr Roche’s will be that of the ancient diocese of Cell Ausaille, which is situated in the area of Killashee near Naas, Co. Kildare. St Auxilius was said to be a nephew of St Patrick and there are monastic ruins in Kilashee that are believed to date back to the fifth century.

 

 

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

 

When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” … When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean” (Mt 2:13-15, 19-23).

Family in movement

If there is a fact that is striking when reading today’s Gospel text, it is all the “motion” verbs: depart, arise, flee, take refuge, stay…. There is even a map that is no less impressive: Bethlehem, Egypt, then Nazareth. Certainly, the key to all this “movement” is found in the citation of the Prophet Hosea: “Out of Egypt I have called my son” – a place of refuge for the persecuted and the place of departure for Israel’s Exodus. The Family of Nazareth thus traces the journey of many persecuted people and refugees down through history. At the same time, it recalls the powerful hand of God who knows how to liberate His people.

The experience of the family of Nazareth cannot but make us think of the many families today who are also “in movement” – certainly of those families forced to leave their homes and their own land in search of peace, serenity and work, but also of those families who live with the apprehension and anxiety of not making ends meet, of unstable marital situations, the fear of illness…

In the family of Nazareth, our families, as well as the human family, can learn to allow ourselves to be guided by God’s powerful hand. If it is true on the one hand that in many situations people feel like “refugees”, “strangers in their own homes”, or in the heart of a dear one, it is also true that every obstacle, every difficulty can be transformed into an opportunity to “depart”, an opportunity for a “journey toward conversion” which alone can lead to serenity, peace, stability.

The Holy Spirit speaks to today’s families

Today, the Holy Spirit still continues to guide “all peoples”, “all couples”, “all parents”. But we need to listen to the Spirit who speaks in us. If the Son of God came to live with us as a child, and only the eyes of faith can perceive His presence, how important it is to remind ourselves that everyday things are never of little importance, that daily occurrences are never useless or purely coincidental. The eyes of faith are necessary to grasp the hidden and the beyond. Everything becomes a “place” to encounter or reject God’s presence. Everything is a sign for those who believe.

The gospel of the family

To live the gospel of the family is not easy today. Those who want to defend life from the moment of conception are criticized or attacked. Yet in the Gospel we find the way to live a beautiful life on the personal and familial level, a way that is certainly challenging, but attractive and all-embracing. It is a way that still deserves to be trusted and undertaken after the example and through the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth itself. There are happy and sad, serene and difficult moments in every family. This is life. To live the “gospel of the family” does not exempt us from experiencing difficulties and tensions, of encountering moments of pleasant fortitude and painful weakness. Families who are wounded and marked by weakness, failure, difficulty…can rise again if they learn how to draw from the font of the Gospel. There, they can rediscover new possibilities of starting over.

Prayer

The hidden life of Nazareth allows every person
to be in communion with Jesus
along the most ordinary paths of everyday life.
Nazareth is the school
in which we begin to understand
the life of Jesus, that is,
the school of the Gospel…
In the first place, may it teach us silence.
Oh! May an appreciation
of this stupendous and indispensable

atmosphere for the spirit return to us…
May it teach us the way to live in the family.
Nazareth reminds us what the family is,
what communion of love is,
its austere and simple beauty,
its sacred and inviolable character…

Finally, let us learn a lesson of work.
Oh! House of Nazareth,
home of the “Carpenter’s Son”!
Here, we especially want to understand
how to praise the severe but redeeming law
of human labor…
We want to greet workers throughout the world
and show them their great model,
their Divine Brother.
(Saint Pope Paul VI, discourse of 5 January 1964)

 

The Magnificat

The Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

CARE FOR GOD’S CREATION

NOVEMBER ALTAR LIST OF THE DEAD

All on the November Altar Lists Of The Dead are prayed for on every First Friday throughout the year.

Close to You Prayer
Father of Enduring Faithfulness, as a believer in Christ, to be away from the body is to be with you. I know that my loved one is with you right now in heaven, enjoying your closeness. Lord though it is difficult to accept that they are gone, I know that you love them so much and that is why you took them. Jesus may they bask in your glory as we all wait for you to come back and take us all into your presence where there is no mourning and sorrow. I pray this, trusting and believing. Amen.

Fill the Gap Prayer
Jesus, my Savior, times and seasons are in your able hand. You know when we will be born and when we will leave this earth and come back home. You knew that our loved one would not be with us today. We want to praise you for the time we had with them. As we go through this mourning season, Lord, we pray that you give us a deep sense of peace. We know that no one can ever take the place of our loved one, that is why we are asking you to fill the gap that our loved one has left in our lives with your love. May we find comfort in you alone. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

 

Lord God,

Whose days are without end

And whose mercies beyond counting, keep us mindful

That life is short and the hour of death unknown.

Let your Spirit guide our days on earth

In the ways of holiness and justice,

that we may serve you in union with the whole Church,

sure in faith, strong in hope, perfect in love.

And when our earthly journey is ended

Lead us rejoicing into your kingdom,

Where you live for ever and ever. AMEN    OCF,332

Day of Prayer for Life 

God did not make us for death
but for life. When we touch the
mystery of death in prayer,
thought or experience, it leads us
into the greater mystery of the
eternal life of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Through our Baptism
we have already begun to live this
life. We have entered into the
mystery of death which Christ, by
his resurrection, has changed
forever. In him, death is no longer
our end but our ‘Passover’ into a
truth and a life we cannot even
begin to imagine because it is a
life forever beyond the experience
of death.’
(I Cor 13:12; 15:42-44; 1 Jn 3:2)

 

Confessions: Saturdays after 10a.m. Mass 

Exposition of the Holy Eucharist Saturday from 6p.m. to 6.20p.m. Please observe silence while visiting the Church at this time.

Sunday: Vigil mass at 6:30 pm Saturday and 9 am, 10:30 am & 12 Noon Sunday morning.

 These Masses will be streamed on the parish webcam and the parish radio.

The church is open for private prayer as per the following schedule:

Monday to Friday after the 10 am morning Mass until 4 pm

Saturday after the 10 am morning Mass until 4 pm

The Church will remain open after 12 Noon Mass on Sundays

Amoris Laetitia Family Year 2021-2022                       

One of the multimedia initiatives for the ‘Amoris Laetitia Family Year’ will be a new series of monthly videos. Each month, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, will explain the chapters of The Joy of Love (Amoris Laetitia) alongside families who will share witness and testimony by sharing aspects of their daily lives. The first video is now available to view below or by clicking https://youtu.be/ug7VC5iCydQ

It is inspired by this phrase from Amoris Laetitia“Let us make this journey as families, let us keep walking together. What we have been promised is greater than we can imagine. May we never lose heart because of our limitations, or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us.” (AL 325)

Prayer Cards, Mass Leaflets & Other Prayer Resources: Are available on Church tables.

PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in this Holy Sacrament of the altar. I love you above all thingsand I passionately desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come spiritually into my soul so that I may unite myself wholly to you now and forever. Amen.

Support Services

 Aware – Support & Self Care Groups

https://www.aware.ie/support/support-groups/ and all of our services on www.aware.ie

 

 For Sacramental Marriage Preparation Courses or for Marriage Relationship Counselling

Please visit www.accorddublin.ie

SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL -Local Conference Church Gate Collection on the second Sunday of each month- Thank you for your ongoing support.

Our Lady Shrine Prayer Card

Prayers To Say Before The Blessed Sacrament

Navan Road

Daily Mass 9am & 10am

Saturday Vigil Mass for Sunday 6.30pm

Sunday – 9am, 10.30am & 12 noon

Church of The Most Precious Blood

Daily Mass 10:00am

Christ The King, Cabra

Daily Mass 10:00am
9am, 10.30am, 12pm on Sunday

St Peter’s Phibsborough

Daily Mass 10.30am
12pm on Sunday

Please click on image to view Webcam for this service. Mass times may vary.