Carmel O’Neill sent this latest news from Blessington and Parish:
To mark the Feast of St Francis of Assisi , a prayer service was held in Blessington church to honour the life of St Francis who inspires us with his profound love and respect for Creation. Pastoral worker Aine reflected on the life of St Francis and did a meditation on how to care for the Earth’s natural resources, air, wind, earth and water. Fr Richard displayed two beautiful pictures of Brother Sun and Sister Moon in the Sacred space while a member of the pastoral council read the Canticle of the Sun where St Francis invites all of Creation to give honour and praise to the Lord.
Gaelscoil na Lochanna invited Deacon Gerry and Pastoral worker Aine to a prayer service in their vegetable garden located on the school grounds. The children planned a 3 course menu from the vegetables they had sown in the plot in the Spring. They also decorated the wall of the garden with autumn leaf collages.
The prayer service was held outdoors in glorious sunshine prior to the mid term break. The good weather added to a deep sense of gratitude for the blessing of food that came from their vegetable plot.
Deacon Gerry also began the blessing of the stock in the townlands of Lacken on Oct 26th. Unfortunately this blessing was cut short by the tragic deaths of two young parishioners. Deacon Gerry however did a blessing prayer for the farming community at the harvest Mass in lacken on Oct 30th.
The mass of harvest thanksgiving was held in Lacken Church on Oct 30th. The First Holy Communion children and children from the Tidy Village group brought up gifts symbolising the fruits of the harvest. Prayers were said in thanksgiving for all who work hard to put food on the table and for the efforts of the tidy Village group to promote bio diversity. A prayer was also included for an end to the pandemic.
Through out the month of November, Lacken Tidy village group planted 1,200 spring bulbs on a long verge at the entrance to the village. Earlier in the summer two further verges were planted with bee pollinator plants. All of the houses have signed up to having their verges planted, where previously these areas would have been strimmed in the summer months. We hope that these beautiful verges will encourage the homeowners to help with their maintenance as well as enjoying the healthy outdoor activity.
West Wicklow Environmental Network organised a talk by Professor John Sweeney of Maynooth university on the impact climate change would have on Ireland. It was an excellent presentation on zoom with many visual displays, which left us in no doubt as to the grim reality of climate change for all of us. It made us all more determined to play our part and to urge our government and political leaders to take decisive action.