Bonane/Glengarriff Parish

13/09/2026

Perhaps one of the greatest forms of wealth is needing less of the world because your soul has found more in God.

It is okay to live in a simple home, wear simple clothes, eat simple meals, and own ordinary things. God never measured a person’s worth by the size of their house, the brand they wear, or the possessions they leave behind.

Everything material is temporary. Houses age. Clothes fade. Cars break down. Money changes hands. And eventually, everything we spent a lifetime collecting will belong to someone else.

But what we build within the soul travels much farther than what we accumulate in our hands.

Simplicity teaches the heart to say, “What God has given me today is enough.”

When we stop competing, comparing, and constantly chasing more, we create room for something the world cannot sell us—peace.

Sometimes God does not bless us by giving us more things. Sometimes His blessing is teaching us to need fewer things to feel complete.

A smaller house filled with love can be a mansion of the soul.
A simple table surrounded by grateful hearts can become a feast.
An ordinary life walked faithfully with God can become an extraordinary journey.

We came into this world carrying nothing, and we will leave carrying nothing.

So perhaps true prosperity is not having everything we want, but having God, gratitude, enough for today, and a heart peaceful enough to recognize that we are already blessed.

Own things, but never allow things to own your heart.
Live simply. Love deeply. Give generously. Walk humbly.
And let God be the greatest treasure you possess.

12/09/2026

Parish Newsletter for Sunday 13th September- 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 🙏

10/09/2026

08/09/2026

Mary was born more than two thousand years ago to Joachim and Anne, a faithful couple who deeply desired a child.

Tradition places Mary’s birth in Jerusalem, near the place where the Church of St. Anne stands today. There are beautiful traditions about her early years and her dedication to God. Scripture reveals a young woman of remarkable faith, humility and courage, someone already prepared to place her entire life into God’s hands.

This young woman to whom the angel Gabriel would say, “Hail, full of grace,” would freely give God her yes and become the mother of Jesus Christ. She would carry Him beneath her heart, give birth to Him in Bethlehem, protect Him as a child, watch Him grow, and eventually stand near Him at the Cross.

Mary’s life would include extraordinary joy, but also extraordinary suffering. Simeon would warn her that a sword would pierce her own soul. She would flee with Joseph and the infant Jesus into Egypt. She would lose Him for three terrifying days when He was twelve. And years later she would watch the Son she loved rejected, tortured and crucified.

Still, her yes endured.

September 8 is also beautifully connected to another Marian feast. The Church celebrates Mary’s Immaculate Conception on December 8, when we remember that from the first moment of her conception she was preserved from original sin by the grace of God. Exactly nine months later, on September 8, the Church celebrates her birth.

Mary’s birthday is one of only three birthdays celebrated as liturgical feasts in the Roman calendar. The others are the birth of Jesus at Christmas and the birth of John the Baptist on June 24. The celebration of Mary’s Nativity is ancient, arising in the Eastern Church and later becoming established in Rome centuries ago.

Patron Saint of:
• Mothers
• Women
• Families
• Expectant mothers
• Children

Reflection
There is something deeply hopeful about celebrating Mary’s birth.

When she entered the world, the greatest moments of her life were still hidden. Nobody looking at the infant Mary could have imagined the Annunciation, Bethlehem, Cana, Calvary or the Resurrection. Yet God’s plan was already unfolding through her life.

The same is true for us. We often look at our lives only through what we can see today.

We may wonder whether our ordinary choices matter, whether our quiet acts of love accomplish anything, or whether God can possibly be working through circumstances that seem confusing or painful.

Mary’s birthday reminds us that God’s greatest works often begin long before we recognize them.

Perhaps the small yes you give God today will matter far more than you can presently imagine.

What is God asking you to say yes to today, even if you cannot yet see where that yes will lead?

September 8 is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

05/09/2026

Parish Newsletter for Sunday 6th September - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 🙏

29/08/2026

Parish Newsletter for Sunday 30th August - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 🙏

27/08/2026

We all know what it’s like to worry about someone we love. A child, a spouse or partner, a brother or sister, a friend. When someone we care about is struggling, their worries have a way of becoming ours too and sometimes all we can do is keep hoping and praying that things will come right.

St Monica knew that kind of worry. She lived in North Africa in the 4th century. Married to Patricius, a man with a difficult temper who did not share her faith, life was far from easy.

But her greatest worry was her son Augustine. For many years he turned away from the faith and lived a restless life. Monica worried about him, prayed for him and longed to see his life change. She couldn't make his choices for him and she couldn't make everything right, but she never gave up on him.
In time, Augustine did change. He returned to the faith, was baptised by St Ambrose and went on to become one of the great saints and a Doctor of the Church.
Maybe that is why St Monica still means so much to people today, especially parents who know what it is to worry about their children, no matter how old they are. There are times when everything that can be said has been said and everything that can be done has been done. All that remains is to love, to pray and to hope that, in time, things will get better.

Today, may St Monica be close to every family carrying a worry and to everyone longing for things to come right for someone they love. May she give them the strength to keep going and, above all, a reason to never to give up on hope.
St Monica, pray for us and for our families. Amen.

26/08/2026

We keep in our prayers all the students that are returning to school this week and next. We hope they all have a happy and wonderful school year ahead.

23/08/2026

When one cannot go to Holy mass:

THE PRAYER, SEND YOUR ANGEL TO MASS

O holy angel, at my side,
Go to church for me,
Kneel in my place at Holy Mass
Where I desire to be. At Offertory, in my stead,
Take all I am and own,
And place it as a sacrifice
Upon the Alter Throne. At Holy Consecrations bell,
Adore with Seraph's love. My Jesus hidden in the Host,
Come down from Heaven above. And when the Priest, communion takes,
Oh, bring my Lord to me,
That His sweet heart may rest on mine,
And I His temple be.