LATEST NEWS

Don’t miss out on a new exciting musical titled ‘The Man of Assisi’. This musical is staged by the makers of Call of Guadalupe. It follows the life of St Francis & is to be performed at 5 star performing arts theatre in 20 -22nd September. It is a very entertaining performance with stunning costumes, fantastic music & inspirational musical premier.  300 tickets have already been sold so get in quick to avoid missing out.
Contact  0413398528 or geraldine343@gmail.com  or to buy tickets 03)90175065 or visit www.lifemusicals.com

Bingo is turning 21 and are celebrating at the Sunbury Football Social Club on Thursday 26 September. Eyes down at 7.30pm and lots of prizes to be won. Books can be paid for in advance. See Gary on Thursday.

Our prayerful sympathy to Gerard and Carmel Duggan as their mother, Mary Duggan, entered eternal life last Monday. Mary was born into the Reddan family in 1924 and with her brothers Jack and Garry lived on a farm in Holden Road. Mary married the late Douglas Duggan. She and Douglas were involved in community organisations and were active visitors with St Vincent de paul Society. Mary donated the Mass Vestments used at her Funeral mass last Friday.
Our prayerful sympathy goes also to the family of Elvie Williams, especially to Johnny her husband and her daughters, Annette Byrne-Phillips, Pauline Drago, Maree Walsh, Margaret, Peter and John (dec) and their families. In recent weeks, Elvie called her family in and said goodbye. A week or so later, she was giving her grandchildren a tutorial on the necessity of prayer in our lives. Her Funeral Mass is on Wednesday at 11am.

The Conference was held in Adelaide over four days last weeks. 106 Catholics, men and women, married, religious, priests and bishops received wonderful presentations from Australian and overseas lecturers. Most of those present minister in marriage tribunals. Last year about 480 marriages were declared null. We heard the new Vatican Secretary of State is a very bright diplomat, fluent in five languages and will be a breath of fresh air for our Church and world.
……Kevin McIntosh

Reflection on the Gospel-22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C, 1 September 2013
Sister Veronica Lawson rsm

(Luke 14:1, 7-14)

In Luke’s gospel, the Pharisees are generally depicted as hostile to Jesus. This almost certainly reflects the situation at the time the gospels are being written rather than the time of Jesus’ ministry when  the Pharisees were a minority group of well-respected experts in the Law. After the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple some four decades after the death of Jesus, Sadduccean and Essene Judaism disappeared and there followed a sad parting of the ways between the Pharisaic Jewish leadership and the Christian Jews who accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ or Messiah.

Today’s gospel has Jesus under scrutiny as he dines in the home of a leading Pharisee. Despite the hostility, he is not deterred from expressing his opinion and as usual he does so in the form of a story that comes from the experience of his hearers. He first addresses the guests and then the host. The guests are clearly not from the lower echelons of society. They are people who receive invitations to wedding banquets where places of honour are reserved for the most distinguished guests. Jesus appeals to their fairly normal fear of being shamed before others. He also reminds them of the principle of reversal that operates in God’s realm where the first are last and the last are first. This is consistent with Luke’s theology expressed most powerfully in Mary’s Magnificat. The reader of the gospel knows that God puts down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly.

Jesus’ advice for the Pharisee who hosts this meal is more removed from first century Palestinian experience than is his advice for the guests: when you have a luncheon or dinner, invite the destitute and those with disabilities. In other words, invite those considered unclean by observant Jews rather than those who have the capacity to return the hospitality. This was an outrageous suggestion in that culture, as outrageous and confronting and inclusive as is God’s dream for all people. Though we live in different, more egalitarian times, this teaching is confronting for us as well. It is easy to welcome like-minded people into our homes and to our Eucharistic table. It is not so easy to be open to those who see the world differently from us and have different sets of values, even if they have something to teach us about life and gospel living. At the very least, we are invited to look on them with love rather than hostility.

Thanks to Fr Adaikkala Raj Lourdusremy from Avondale Heights Parish and Archbishop Denis Hart for presiding at Mass last Saturday and Sunday, while Fr Kevin assisted Avondale Heights parish renew their Stewardship program.