Aughaval Group of Parishes

  Christ of St John of the Cross Salvador Dali, 1951, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. John 19:17-42 So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew  is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them.Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth,  the King of the Jews.’ Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew,  in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”, but, “This man said, I am King of the Jews.”   ’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took...

  Maundy Thursday This evening's services in the parishes are as below. Why not come along to one? -  Last Holy Communion before Easter , 6.30pm  in St Mary’s. The Right Revd Michael Burrows,  Bishop  TLK, will  preside and preach. -  Tenebrae , 8pm in Christ Church Castlebar.   With musical contributions by Opera singer Hubert Francis and organist Siobhan Kilkelly. For all in the community.  Washing of the Feet    14th century Capella dei Scrovegni, Padua Public domain, photo by  José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro Wikimedia Commons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Washing_of_the_Feet_-_Capella_dei_Scrovegni_-_Padua_2016.jpg : John 13:1-15 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.   A...

  Tenebrae You are warmly invited to come and experience Tenebrae on Thursday in Holy Week (Maundy Thursday) in Christ Church Castlebar at 8pm. Tenebrae (Latin, “darkness” or “shadows”) dates back to the seventh or eighth century A.D. Since medieval times tenebrae has been the name given to the monastic morning and night-time services (Matins and Lauds) of the last three days of Holy Week.  Our partly candlelit version of the service is composed of Bible readings, music and song and poetic interjections, all capturing the last hours of Christ’s life, dramatising his Passion. It reminds us of the extreme price God in Christ paid to redeem us and the world.  Each part of the service brings us closer to the barrenness and darkness of a world without Christ. Yet darkness and hope are held in tension with the conclusion of the service and our shared anticipation of the Easter event to come! We are delighted again this year to welcome international opera singer Hubert Francis ...

  Wednesday in Holy Week Join the small group that gathers on Wednesday mornings in St Mary's Church Westport (South Mall) for Holy Communion at 10.30am.  Those who wish to may then enjoy coffee and chat in the Clew Bay Hotel (James Street, Westport) from 11am approx. Wednesday in Holy Week is also known in some traditions informally as Spy Wednesday , alluding to events as they unfold in today's gospel reading. Judas Iscariot retiring from the Last Supper,  by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834-1890) Public domain, Wikimedia Commons Matthew 26:14-25 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the...

  Last Supper Cathedral of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba by Anagoria - Own work, CC BY 3.0,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18890755 Today's gospel reading      John 13:21-33, 36-38 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’  So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.  After he received the piece of bread,  Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ Now no one at the table kne...

  Monday in Holy Week, at Croagh Patrick "Monday on the Mountain" Pilgrims on Monday in Holy Week, at Croagh Patrick. With thanks to Fr John Kenny for the photos and leading the group.

Thank you to everyone who brought the dramatised readings of the Palm and Passion liturgies to the Palm Sunday services in Turlough, Castlebar, Westport and Dugort, and special thanks to Kenn McLaughlin (Christ Church Castlebar) for the production. Here are two photos from Chris Church Castlebar and Westport  (Holy Trinity in St Mary’s, where Fr John Kenny played Jesus. Thank you also to the families who brought the children along to take part in the simple Palm Sunday processions. The children did great and are such important and precious members of our congregations and communities. 

  Monday in Holy Week Jesus in the home of Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead, and an outpouring of love and devotion      John 12:1-11     Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.    But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial....

Lent, Holy Week and Easter  Everyone is warmly invited. Children and young people are especially welcome on Palm Sunday to come in traditional costume (tea towels, dressing gowns, etc.) and to bring suitable foliage and to help with the Palm Sunday procession.  Please come a few minutes early.  Palm Sunday, 13 April (also, Eve of Palm Sunday, 7pm in Turlough COI Parish Church) : The Liturgy of the Passion, with  The Mark Drama  which   is being organised by Kenn McLaughlin, Castlebar Parish, with others from across the parishes.  - Turlough Sat 12 April, 7pm in Turlough - Christ Church Castlebar, 10am on Sun 13 April - Westport, Holy Trinity congregation, 12 noon in St Mary's Westport, on Sun 13 April  - St Thomas’s Dugort, Achill, 3pm, with Palm Sunday Eucharist  Monday in Holy Week,14 April: - 11am, Monday on the Mountain.   Meet in Murrisk carpark for a gentle walk to the St Patrick statue, and prayers. Suitable for all ages....

  Today's gospel      John 11:45-56  Many of the religious leaders therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place  and our nation.’  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God.   So f...

  Today’s gospel     John 10:31-42 They took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law,  “I said, you are gods”? If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods”—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand  that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped f...

  "Before Abraham was, I am." In today's gospel Jesus reveals that he has always been, that he has always been with God the Father, and that he created all things with the Father. As we move towards Holy Week, we can reflect on how it is Christ's eternal and divine nature that makes him able to bring God's healing, wholeness and salvation to the world and to us as people. This is our Christian faith and the source of Christian hope.  Collects  Most merciful God,   who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ   delivered and saved the world:   Grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross,   we may triumph in the power of his victory;   through Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and everlasting God,   you hate nothing that you have made   and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:   Create and make in us new and contrite hearts   that we, worthily lamenting our sins   and acknowledging our wretche...

  Wed 9 April 2025 Join us for Midweek Holy Communion this morning at 10.30am, in St Mary's Church, Westport (while Holy Trinity Church remains closed and awaiting repairs). Join us for Online Prayer and Bible Reading, 8pm: Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82781900766?pwd=b2YEVeJHqhnprNxoLHjd5sqg492wbn.1 Meeting ID: 827 8190 0766                        Passcode: 747477 John 8:31-42 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, y...

  "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,   so the Son of Man must be lifted up," (John 3:14) Brazen Serpent Scultpure on Mt Nebo. Photo, November 2016    John 8:21-30 Again he [Jesus]  said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.’  Then the religious leaders said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’  He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’  They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ They did not understand that he was speaking to th...