24 May 2022
Preparations are well underway at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road in Cork, as we look ahead to our much-beloved annual Novena to the Sacred Heart, which will take place this year from June 16th to 24th.
This year’s Novena will see the return of a familiar face, as Fr Paul Clayton-Lea, who led us in prayer during last year’s Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, is joining us once again in celebration of our 2022 Sacred Heart Novena. A firm friend of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Fr Paul writes to parishioners in Cork and mission friends everywhere ahead of the Novena celebrations.
“Dear Friends,
I am looking forward to joining you all soon for the annual Novena to the Sacred Heart, from 16th to 24th June 2022, and reflecting with you upon the theme for the Novena this year, “Jesus – The Compassion and Mercy of God”.
By way of a little personal background information, I am a priest of the Archdiocese of Armagh and I live in the parish of Termonfeckin in Co. Louth. I was ordained to the priesthood in 1986 and over the past thirty-six years have been a teacher (in St. Patrick’s Grammar school, Armagh), a college chaplain to Dundalk Institute of Technology and parish priest to two great parishes, Clogherhead (2008-2013) and Tallanstown (2013-2018) in Co. Louth. At present, I serve as editor of the monthly pastoral and liturgical magazine Intercom, and I assist in parishes where priests are sick or on leave, which thankfully leaves me free to join with you all for the Novena.
The founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Fr Jules Chevalier, said, “Our greatest need, if we are to find meaning in life, is to learn to believe in God’s love for us and let it transform our life.” Whatever words may be used during our Novena this year, Fr Chevalier’s message of the transformative power of God’s love will be their foundation.
We are still emerging from the effects of the pandemic, which changed the world and scarred many lives. We are daily watching the horrors of war in Europe and the ongoing effects of climate change, especially on the world’s poorest people. To cope with such events and with the challenges in our own personal lives, we are strengthened and encouraged by the gift of faith, which teaches us that God is always with us.
I hope that the time we spend in prayer together and in celebrating the Eucharist each day of our Novena will bring us fresh reasons to be hopeful and confident in God’s saving power for us in his son Jesus, and that we will end our Novena with renewed praise and gratitude in our hearts.
I am very grateful to Fr Tom Mulcahy MSC for the invitation to celebrate the message of compassion and mercy which is at the heart of the Gospel, and look forward to meeting you all soon.
With every blessing till we meet,
Fr Paul”
This year’s Novena to the Sacred Heart will take place from Thursday, June 16th to Friday, June 24th.
Novena Masses will take place daily at 10.00am & 7.30pm
at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork,
and all are very welcome to join us via the live stream here on our website.