Category: Uncategorized

We celebrate the Birthday of Australia’s first saint, St Mary MacKillop on Wednesday 15 January at 11am Mass in Sacred Heart Church, King William St, Fitzroy.
Light refreshments available and cutting of the cake.
Everyone is most welcome.

Calendars are still available in the Piety Stall. They are very beautiful and practical calendars and only $10.00. All unsold calendars will be returned by the start of February.

15 March in the Parish centre will have a return of the Band we had last year for the St Patrick’s day dance.
50’s, 60’s and 70’s music.
Get in early as we had a very fun night.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE RIPCHORDS WEBSITE FOR VIDEO CLIPS ETC.

A taste of their music below

Reflection on the Gospel-The Baptism of Jesus Year A, 12 January 2014 (Matthew 3:13-17)

The Baptism of Jesus marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary Time. In many places, it coincides with the end of the Christmas break, a return to work and to the regular patterns of life. Some of us have been lucky enough to get some ‘down time’ after Christmas, time to reflect on the past year, alone or with loved ones, and to set goals for the year ahead, to move into Ordinary Time with renewed life and vigour. It will be a different sort of Ordinary Time for those in the Philippines who suffered devastating losses as a result of Typhoon Haiyan and who still struggle to rebuild their lives and their homes. Such events raise our awareness of the changes that we can expect as our planet warms. They alert us to our particular personal and global responsibilities in this respect.

The baptism story is an initiation or commissioning story. We are invited to hear it against the backdrop of the first reading from Isaiah 42. Jesus is God’s chosen one on whom God’s Spirit rests. The voice of God commissions God’s chosen to bring forth justice, sensitively and without fanfare; to be a light to the peoples; to open the eyes of the blind and to set the captives free. A Spirit-filled life consists in fulfilling such a mission.

In the Matthean account of the baptism, “the heavens are opened” and Jesus sees God’s Spirit descending on him “like a dove”. While the image of the heavens opening presents an outmoded three-tiered understanding of the structure of the cosmos, we might nonetheless appreciate the sense it evokes of the all-encompassing cosmic nature of this commissioning event. God’s words are addressed to all who listen to the gospel: “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus’ mission is to be understood in terms of “righteousness” or right relationship. Jesus’ insistence that John baptise him despite John’s reluctance points to the reversal of values that will characterise his mission. There is no pursuit of status or personal aggrandizement in a gospel way of life. Right relationship lies rather in respecting as God’s creation the entire Earth community, in bringing forth justice and setting the captives free. Each one of us can make a difference to the “ordinary time” of those with whom we share life on this planet. The image of “the heavens” opening might serve as a reminder of the destructive effects of human-introduced space debris and of our responsibility to promote global legislation that might inhibit further devastation of this kind.

 

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This is an important feast from a number of perspectives. It follows closely after our celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas. Of course, from the perspective of the Church it marks the official end of the Christmas season.

More important, however, is the reminder of the significance and importance of Baptism. Our Baptism is more important than almost any other event in our lives. Yet, many do not know the date of their Baptism, and very few actually celebrate that date, although we should.

We are also quite likely with the term our “Baptismal call.” This is a call to how we should live our lives; it is a call to stewardship. The Catechism reminds us that “Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit.” The Catechism continues to say “Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift.”

So what exactly is our Baptismal Call? We are called to live our lives in imitation of Christ. It can be summarized, as it was by Jesus Himself, quite simply. We are called to “Love one another.” There are three things which bind us together as Catholics — this love; the Eucharist; and our Baptism. Living lives of stewardship is one way that we carry out this Baptismal call — this call to love.

Copyright © 2014 www.TheCatholicSteward.com

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly seated and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, “Hi there”. He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin as he wriggled and giggled with merriment. I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy and whose toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard, and his nose was so varicose that it looked like a road map. We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. “Hi there baby; Hi there big boy. I see ya, buster.” the man said to Erik. My husband and I exchanged looks. “What do we do?” Erik continued to laugh and answer, “Hi, hi there”. Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us as and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby.
Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, “Do ya know patty cake? Do ya know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo.” Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence but not Erik, who was running through the repertoire for the admiring skidrow bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.
We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the bill and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. “Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik.” I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back, trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching both arms in a baby’s pick-me-up position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms into the man’s. Suddenly, a very smelly old man and a baby expressed their love and kinship. Erik, in an act of total trust, love and submission, laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder. The man’s eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labour, cradled my baby. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, “You take care of this baby.” Somehow I managed, “I will”, from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik’s from his chest lovingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, “God bless you ma’am; you’ve given me my Christmas gift.” I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly and why I was saying, “My God,
My God forgive me.” I had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgement. The child saw a soul, and his mother saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt is was God asking, “Are you willing to share your son for a moment?” when He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3)    …….From Newsletter of St Augustines, Melbourne

Thanks to the generous parishioners who supported the Melbourne Overseas Mission by contributing $1111.85 to aid the work of the missionaries who are helping the disadvantaged.

A major cost of running our Parish is the payment of Insurance on your buildings. Last week, we paid $19179 from our Thanksgiving Offering. This cost is in addition to the insurance on our two schools which is paid separately.

At the Festival of Carols and Readings some women were discussing how to get more people aware of the event for next time, as it was so good, and when it was suggested that it was published on Parish social media, the response was that they never read the Parish website or Facebook. Parishioners also voice this same opinion at Parish gatherings. Nevertheless the parish website during Christmas week had 150 visitors who read 399 pages of parish information, videos, and photos. The Facebook page had 49 visitors in the same timeframe. 33 people have Facebook set to send them a message on their phone when anything new is posted. 21% of Facebook visitors are women aged 18-34 and astonishingly another 21% are women aged over 55. The next step in promoting Parish communication could be to get more parishioners to comment on events and direction in the Parish by leaving remarks, comments, or opinions on the website and make it a two way pipeline for information. You can use a non-de-plume which will be visible to all, and an email address which will not be visible. The website was initially setup so any parishioners who were not at our Parish Mass could still get a copy of the newsletter and see what’s going on in the Parish. We also hoped to get feedback on the Parish but that still needs parishioners to take up the opportunities available.

Film critics have hailed this emotional movie for its fine acting. The producers state it is not a documentary but is based on a true story. The Sisters of the Sacred Heart claim the movie is misleading as it does not tell the whole truth. The Sisters state they never received any payment of any nature for any adoption. Their records have not been destroyed but are stored now at the Health Service Executive (a government Department). The records are confidential to the mother who is the only one who can agree to sharing the information. Reunions have followed when the mother agrees. The final scene of confrontation between the journalist and Sr Hildegard never occurred as she died in 1995 before he began researching his book in 2004.     (cf Independent ie. 9/11/13)

On behalf of the priests of Melbourne, I thank you for your financial support towards our living allowance, car lease and other expenses.
.……..Kevin McIntosh

Reflection on the Gospel-Feast of the Epiphany Year A, 5 January 2014 (Matthew 2:1-12)

God’s presence is revealed to us in diverse ways: we can read the “book” of God’s creation; we can search out the meaning of our dreams; we can learn from our own and others’ experience; and we can be attentive to the wisdom of our sacred scriptures. A deep awareness of our place in the Earth community and our kinship with the other-than-human teaches us respect for all creation and respect for its power to lead us beyond ourselves.

Epiphany presents us with the wise ones or astrologers ‘from the East’ who are led beyond themselves and their immediate location by the rising of a star. They form their own preliminary hypothesis and travel west to search out the meaning of this sign. Their questioning in Jerusalem about a new-born “king of the Jews” attracts the attention of the duplicitous Herod, the Roman-appointed “king of the Jews”. Advised by the official interpreters of the Jewish scriptures, through the agency of Herod, they follow the star that leads them to the home of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, where they find the new born child, the incarnate Wisdom of God. The gospel does not stipulate how many wise ones or magi come to pay homage to the child who has already been named as Emmanuel, God-with-us. There is no indication in the story as to whether they are men or women or both. The three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh have been traditionally associated with three different characters, usually kings of diverse nationality and colour. These strangers are the first to recognise ‘God-with-us’ in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. They also come to recognise ‘in a dream’ the duplicity of Herod, who senses a threat to his political power from the birth of a new-born “king of the Jews”. They have the good sense not to accede to Herod’s request to ‘bring him word’ of the newborn king. They return home “by another road”.

The story-teller Matthew leaves room in the tableau for the insertion of the wise ones who will emerge through the ages. There is an invitation for us to enter into Matthew’s drama, to be the wise ones, to join with people of different cultures, to engage in our own search for Wisdom, and to follow the star that leads to truth and lasting peace. There is also an invitation to be wary of those who find their positions threatened by a different sort of power, power based on vulnerability and openness to new life.

New Years Prayer

Thank you Lord for giving me
The brand new year ahead
Help me live the way I should
As each new day I tread.
Give me gentle wisdom
That I might help a friend
Give me strength and courage
So a shoulder I might lend.
The year ahead is empty
Help me fill it with good things
Each new day filled with joy
And the happiness it brings.
Please give the leaders of our world
A courage born of peace
That they might lead us gently
And all the fighting cease.
Please give to all upon this earth
A heart that’s filled with love
A gentle happy way to live
With Your blessings from above.
~ Charlotte Anselmo ~

Last Sunday at OLMC church was our first Festival of Carols and Readings. For those who attended, it was a very uplifting and happy experience. The readings and carols were beautifully read by those present– no practice was required. The nine readings told our story– starting with the Fall of Humanity in the Garden of Eden, the foretelling of the birth of our Saviour, the Annunciation, Birth of Jesus, Visit of the Wise Men among some of the stories. The carols were sung after each reading and included, All the ends of the earth, City of God, Silent Night, We three Kings and not forgetting Joy to the World. Everyone sang beautifully– it had nothing to do with the Champagne and Orange Juice served before the service. The Sausage sizzle went well also.

The Solemn Feast of Mary Mother of God is on Wednesday 1 January. The Eucharist will be celebrated at 10am in the St Anne’s Church.

On 24 December, we need attendants to help park cars. Traditionally, we have 1650 people at Rupertswood Stadium and parking is made much easier with the assistance of volunteers. Please advise the Parish Office on Monday if you are able to assist with this very important service.

Marriage Encounter  (ME)  in Feb 2014  will be celebrating 40 years of running weekends in Australia.  We want to hear from couples and priests who may have been involved with ME in the past  and who would like to gather and share memories, celebrate what has been and hear about ME today and our vision for the future.  We are having a special celebration on Saturday February 22nd. So we ask you all to start spreading the word.
Please ask people to contact Helen & Leo Wursthorn or call  (03) 9874 6979 or helenandleow@gmail.com for more information.

The Legion of Mary will continue with Adoration of Blessed Sacrament on Friday 3 January from 7-8pm.
They will pray the Rosary on Saturday 11 January at 9.00am in St Anne’s Church.
All are welcome.

During early January our parish office hours will be modified. The office will be closed on Tuesday 31 Dec and Wednesday 1 Jan, Tuesday 7 Jan and Thursday 9 Jan 2014. Normal hours (Mon to Frid 9am to 5pm) will commence from 13 January 2014.