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June 17, 2010
Redemptorists around the world are preparing for the celebration of the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on June 27. Thousands of people around the world attend novena services during the nine days leading up to the feast. These grace-filled days bring many blessings with them.
One of the largest and most well-attended of these services is held at Mount St. Alphonsus in Limerick, Ireland. Fr. Daniel Francis, director of the Redemptorist Office for Mission Advancement, has been invited as one of the guest preachers at this year’s novena in Limerick.
He’ll be sharing his "Irish Impressions" with us throughout the next week.
The novena begins today, June 18. Yesterday was filled with final preparations. Here are Father Daniel’s first "Impressions":
Limerick is the fourth largest city in Ireland and sits on the River Shannon. The airport I flew into is named after this beautiful river, the longest in Ireland and the natural division between the western and eastern parts of the country.
I was greeted by Father Seamus Devitt because the rector (and the confrere who invited me), Father Adrian Egan, was on the local radio promoting the Novena. Some of the 25-plus men stationed here have been preaching at many of the churches in the county these past weeks promoting it as well.Preparations