Aughaval Group of Parishes

  Luke 8:4-15 When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him [Jesus], he said in a parable: ‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets  of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak  in parables, so that “looking they may not perceive,    and listening they may not understand.” ‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from the...

Today’s gospel       Luke 8:1-3 Soon afterwards he [Jesus] went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. Photograph  of al-Majdal,  taken c. 1900. A village among the ruins of Magdala, Holy Land, Mary Magdalene's birthplace and hometown. Author unknown Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Sacred Space  A helpful meditation and reflection may be found here: https://sacredspace.com/daily-prayer/2025-09-19/ Christian Art https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/luke-8-1-3-2025/     'Save the date' Important notices Everyone is invited and welcome.  Turlough Harvest Thanksgiving  Servi...

  Filled with love and gratitude Església de Santa Magdalena, Esplugues by Enrique López-Tamayo Biosca, 2012 Creative Commons Attribute https://www.flickr.com/photos/eltb/6804933889, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18315172 Today's gospel reading      Luke 7:36-50 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.  Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”  Jesus spoke up and...

  Sitting in the market place Today's gospel      Luke 7:31-35 [Jesus said]  ‘To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;    we wailed, and you did not weep.” For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.’ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;  we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ Sacred Space You can find a helpful prayer guide and short reflection here: https://sacredspace.com/daily-prayer/2025-09-17/ Christian Art You can find a helpful  reflection here: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/luke-7...

  This week:  Tomorrow, Wed 17 September: Midweek Holy Communion,  10.30am  Westport: Midweek Holy Communion in St Mary's side chapel, followed by coffee in the Clew Bay Hotel Online Prayer.  Please note that this week's Online Prayer is at 7pm (not 8pm on this occasion).  Link below.  Other notices Westport-Dugort Select Vestry Meeting, Wed 17 Sept, 7.30pm in Carrowbeg House Sat 20 Sept, 7pm, Turlough Harvest Thanksgiving Service:  Guest speaker Mrs Valerie Raitt, TLK Diocesan Spiritual Tourism and Pilgrimages Co-ordinator. Followed by tea and treats. Holy Baptism: Sunday 21 Sept, 10am in Christ Church Castlebar An important message from Archbishop John McDowell: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19U1RCu61F/ Today's gospel The raising of the widow's son in Nain Jan Verhas, 1860 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Luke 7:11-17 Soon afterwards he [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he appr...

  Harvest Thanksgiving  2025  in the Aughaval Group  Season of Creation Collect 
Eternal God,  you crown the year with your goodness  and give us fruits of the earth in their season.
 Grant that we may use them to your glory,
 for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being:  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Luke 12: 16-30   Then he [Jesus] told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced
 abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not ric...

  Taken at Hopeman, Moray, Scotland Luke 6:43-49 ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. ‘Why do you call me “Lord, Lord”, and do not do what I tell you? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of th...

The Sermon on the Sea of Galilee   by Jan Brueghel, 1597 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons What's On?  Wed 10 September: Midweek Holy Communion , Westport, 10.30am in St Mary's side chapel, followed by coffee in the Clew Bay Hotel (James Street).   Online Prayer  (Compline), 8pm. Link below.   Meeting ID and Passcode available on request (0838003233). Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76460311534?pwd=vKBtGoH89ad1j8ft2Gy80X3SJu0VOg.1 Harvest Thanksgiving Services in this Season of Creation Sunday 14 Sept:   Guest speaker Mr Alan  Cousins, SAT 7.  Music - Organist John Dexter, and Tenor Francis Hubert  ( https://www.rncm.ac.uk/news/qa-with-tenor-hubert-francis/ ) 10am - Christ Church Castlebar 12 noon - St Mary's Church Westport (South Mall) for Holy Trinity and friends 3pm -  St Thomas's Dugort, Achill Services followed by  tea. Everyone is invited and welcome. Harvest Thanksgiving in Turlough Sat 20 Sept, 7pm, follo...