Sunday August 16th Twentieth Sunday In Ordinary Time Year A Gospel of Matthew

You have great faith. Your request is granted.” Matthew 15:21-28

Monday 17 th : Our Lady of Knock. The story of Knock began on the 21 st August 1879 when Our Lady, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of Knock Parish Church. This miraculous apparition was witnessed by fifteen people, young and old. Knock is an internationally recognised Marian Shrine. Saint John Paul II visited Knock as part of his 1978 papal pilgrimage to Ireland. Pope Francis went to Knock and prayed at the Shrine before the final Mass of the World Meeting of Families at the Phoenix Park, Dublin, on Sunday 26th August 2018. The date of the memorial is within the annual novena conducted at the Shrine. Pope Francis, on the Feast of St Joseph, 19th March 2021, declared Knock to be an international Shrine of Eucharistic and Marian Devotion.

Wednesday 19 th : St John Eudes, 1601 – 80, from Normandy, France, spent a fruitful twenty years with the France Oratory, the left to found a congregation to improve the standards of the clergy through seminaries. He founded also the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge. He was a powerful preacher and among the first to promote
devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Thursday 20 th : St Bernard, 1090 – 1153, became a Cistercian monk at Citeaux in 1113 and was chosen Abbot of Clairvaux in 1115. His writings reveal a solid grasp of biblical studies, spiritual theology and philosophy. Patron of Gibraltar and beekeepers.

Friday 21 st : St Pius X, 1835 – 1914, Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, then Pope from 1903. Encouraged pastoral liturgy and sacramental practice, especially of frequent communion, to which he admitted young children.

Saturday 22 nd : The Queenship of Mary. During the Middle Ages, Mary was venerated as queen of the angels and saints. Pope Pius XII prescribed the memorial for the universal Church at the close of the Marian Year 1954. It is placed on this date to stress the connection of Mary’s queenship with the Assumption.

An opportunity to become an Associate Member of the Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes will be available after all Masses on the weekend of August 22nd/23rd