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25th March, 2007

EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW

There can be a lot of wisdom in humour, seeing the funny side of life. I recently came across this: Everything I needed to know about life, I learned from Noah’s Ark.

1. Don’t miss the boat.
2. Remember that we are all in the same boat.
3. Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
4. Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
5. Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
6. Build your future on high ground.
7. Seven For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
8. Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
9. When you’re stressed, float awhile.
10. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
11. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there’s always a rainbow waiting.

This brought to mind the book: “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum. It’s a simple book about what we need to know about how to live. These are the things he mentioned that he learned:

1. Share everything
2. Play fair
3. Don’t hit people
4. Put things back where you found them
5. Clean up your own mess
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours
7. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody
8. Wash your hands before you eat
9. Flush
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
11. Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw some and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon
13. When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together
14. Be aware of wonder, Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really know how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.

Everything we need to know in life is there the Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation ecology and politics and equality and sane living. I f we applied these to our adult lives, in our family life, our work, we would be better and the world would be better.

 

NOTICES

Taizé Prayer Evening - Wednesday, 28th March at 8.30 pm : Again as Lent draws to a close you are invited to 'come apart' for an hour’s prayer consisting of contemplative hymns, moments of silent prayer and veneration of the Cross of Christ. If you haven’t been able to avail of the various opportunities for special prayer during Lent, maybe this is your opportunity!

Holy Week: Just a reminder, should you need it, that next Sunday is Palm Sunday, which brings us in to Holy Week. Apart from the Penitential Service mentioned above, we will be having the usual Services on Holy Thursday and Good Friday at 8.00 pm. There will be Stations of the Cross at midday on Good Friday. Our Easter Vigil Service will commence at 9.00 pm. on Holy Saturday.

Lenten project : Just two more Sundays to go!! It will come as no surprise to those who are familiar with the extraordinary generosity of the congregation of St. Joseph’s, that the response to our Lenten Project this year has been outstanding. To date the amount raised is just short of €24,000. As you will recall, the project this year is in aid of two of our Passionist Missions – one in Randham in south-east India, and the other in Juarez, Formosa in Northern Argentina. In both missions they are trying to complete long-delayed building projects, schools and multi-purpose community halls. With the money raised so far they should now be able to complete the community hall in Argentina, as well as building and equipping about four classrooms in Randham. At about €4000 a classroom it would be nice to think that we could still raise enough to build a few more for them, and so get them well on their way to providing basic education facilities that will contribute for years to come in helping them lift themselves out of the poverty trap.

We have made a great start to the Project, and have now reached the half-way stage. Let’s see if we cannot finish with a flourish over these next two Sundays! The Lenten collection will be taken up after the Communion of each of the masses on these Sundays. I know we can rely on your usual generosity. (By the way, if you pay French tax, and if you contribute by cheque to “ADP” you can get two-thirds back in tax relief!)

Mission Lunch Soup Kitchen : St. Joseph's turn to run the Mission Lunch Soup Kitchen at the American Cathedral will now be in April. New volunteers are needed, please contact Loraine for further information. 0134801110, or lorainesd@wanadoo.fr  Thank you.

Canonisation of Blessed Charles of Mount Argus: All the places on this pilgrimage, which will be taking place from 2 nd to 6 th June, have now been taken. We can still facilitate people who may wish to make their own way there, by reserving seats for the canonisation on their behalf. For any further information please contact Fr. Pat.

Bible Study : It has been wonderful to see the consistently high turn-out for the Bible Study group. If you have not managed to be there yet, can we just remind you that each session is a stand-alone event – ie. you need not have attended every week in order to benefit from any one session. The sessions are held each Wednesday morning in the Parish Hall at 10:30 am

Toc H Tea for the Elderly: The Toc H Tea is a monthly social occasion for the English-speaking elderly in Paris. Each month a different church is asked to supply and serve foor for this tea, which is held at St. Michael’s Church, 5 rue D’Aguesseau, 75008 Paris. St. Joseph’s Church and the ACWO serve the April Tea, which this year will be taking place on Monday, April 16 th, and 2.30 pm. If you can provide sandwiches or sweets (cakes, cookies, etc.) and/or give a couple of hours of your time to serve, please call Jackie at 01 60 14 16 81, or 06 86 84 56 30.

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: 1-8 th May 2007. For flyer and more information contact Genevieve Manderstam 01 46 24 63 57 (before 7pm) or manderstam@wanadoo.fr .

Calendar on the Internet: Just to bring to your attention that in our continuing efforts to update our web site, we now have an extensive calendar of events between now and summer on site.