RECENT BAPTISMS Denas Valskis 22 Rosewood Rise.  Gerda Valskis 22 Rosewood Rise.  Cy Noel Wilson Clancoolbeg.

Station Mass for Knockaveale, Upper Knocknagurrane & Mayfield on Saturday 7th March, 09 at John & Norma O'Regan's at 10-30am.

Bible Study at Pastoral Centre Thursday 5th March 10-30am - 12noon All Welcome. World Day Of Prayer Methodist Church 6th March 8.30pm. All Welcome.

Information Day about becoming a priest in Cork & Ross Saturday 28th March 2009 Ennismore retreat Centre, Cork Ilam - 5pm (lunch provided).  Should you attend?  What if you can't that day?  Want to find out more?  In confidence tel Fr.  Tom Deenihan at 021 4301717 of Fr.  Bertie O'Mahony at 021 4371684 or email secretaryC(*corkandross.org.

Infant Jesus Sisters calling all friends, neighbours and past pupils for an informal get together in preparation of our centenary celebration in May.  The evening will be introduced by our well know Alice Taylor Friday 20th March at 7.30pm at the SMA Hall, Wilton, Cork.  All Welcome.

Bandon P.T.A.A. Bandon Social on Friday 6th March in Gaggin Community Hall.  All welcome.  Music: Lee Sound.  Tea Served.

Bandon Cope Foundation monthly meeting will be held on Thursday March 2nd at 8.30pm in the Munster Arms Hotel 

Gaggin Dramatic Society presents "Them" by Tom Coffey Saturday 28th February & Sunday lst March also on Thursday 5th March in aid of Enniskeane Church.

Diabetes Federation Of Ireland Friday 6th March 09 at Brookes Pharmacy.  Free Blood Glucose screening & risk assessment.  Counselling, advice on medication & diet.  People at risk of diabetes are those of increased age, members of families with history of diabetes and those who are overweight or physically inactive.  To book free appointment Tel: 023 88 41152 / 023 88 41136.

Gramophone Circle Monday 2nd March 8pm Gateway Hall.  Everybody Welcome.

Naionra / Pre-School 5 days a week 9am-lpm in the GAA Pavilion Bandon.  Now enrolling for Sept 09 limited places available.  For enrolment or further info please contact Maureen Crean 086 1968790.  Cead Mile Failte Romhaibh Isteach.

Open Night and Enrolement of new pupils for September '09 will take place in Presentation Primary School Bandon and Scoil Phadraig Naofa on Thursday March 5th at 8pm.  Everyone welcome.

RNLI Bridge Night on Sunday lst March in the Munster Arms Hotel at 7.15 sharp.

The beginning of the season of Lent is a good time for all of us to look at our lives and the way we live them.  What if anything does the season of Lent mean to me personally?  A deeper question for all of us to answer from time to time is, What does my faith and my baptism mean to me and how is that meaning reflected in my daily living?  In our Gospel today from Mark the spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days and was tempted by Satan.  As Christians we all of us face the wasteland of our own temptations.  Let us consider one such temptation, the more money we have the more secure we will be, how foolish we are.  In our reading from Genesis the people desired to go their own way, do as they pleased independent of God, and yet they were destroyed by the flood.  God tells Noah that a new chapter in humanities relationship with him is about to begin a Covenant of life, symbolised by the rainbow, ' I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth'.  God reveals himself as a God of life & not death, a God of relationship and not separation.  God gave all of us free will.  He leaves us free to make our own choices.  He simply wants us to love him and respond to his unbounded love for us.  For us the floodwaters of Genesis is replaced with the baptismal waters offered by Jesus.  Lent is a time for us to permit our gracious God to set his bow in our hearts, let us remember the baptismal promises made on our behalf May we be forever immersed in the baptismal waters of our saviour.  Mark reminds us in our Gospel that the wastelands contain not only Satan's temptations but also God's angels.

Fr.  Paul.