Thanks be to God for the glorious weather! It’s not often that we risk sunburn on this occasion. Our Corpus Christi procession went off very well today. Canon Tomás celebrated the 11.30am Mass and blessed our new canopy, whilst Fr Bernard carried the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of the town, giving a Eucharistic Blessing (Benediction) at the Droichead Beag and at the conclusion of the procession at St Elizabeth’s Hospital. (Thanks to the Matron and staff for their warm welcome -many of the residents were able to participate outside the hospital or from their wards.) We also made ‘stations’ (stops) for meditation at the Temperance Hall and the Holy Stone.
Canon Tomás and Monsignor Pádraig Ó’Fiannachta led us in prayer from a loud-speaker-equipped minibus, whilst the choir led the hymns. We were also delighted to see Canon Jackie McKenna take part in the procession. The boys and girls of our parish – and also from the neighbouring parish of Baile an Fheirtéaraigh – who received First Holy Communion also accompanied the Blessed Sacrament, with the girls honouring Our Lord by strewing petals and flowers. Local homes and business also contributed to our celebration with flags, banners, altars, buntings and other decorations.
Thanks are due to so many people that it’s dangerous to begin listing them for fear of leaving anyone out. The canopy-makers, canopy-bearers, sacristans, altar servers, choir, banner and flag bearers, stewards, organisers, cross-bearerer and everyone else who played a part in the procession all put in a great effort for an event which testifies to our faith in Christ, the true foundation of parish Communion and community.
Hopefully we’ll have photos of the procession to put on the website shortly. Next Sunday will see another procession as part of Monsignor Padraig’s celebrations marking the opening and blessing of the Nano Nagle room at the Diseart.
Now we need to begin looking forward to Corpus Christi 2010 – it will be preceded by a series of Station Masses in the town. (Thanks to all who organised and participated in them this year.) We’ll need to start thinking about the route of the procession and how we can build on what was done this year and on previous years. We also need to have an eye on the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 2012 and our preparation for that.