ST. MARY’S PARISH, COROWA
Diocese of Wagga Wagga N.S.W.
Fr. Paul Hart. P.P.
16th March 2014
Presbytery: 23 Parade Place, Corowa, NSW, 2646
P.O. Box 69, Corowa 2646
Phone: 02 6033 1927. Fax: 02 6033 0650
Email: smpcph@bigpond.com
Website: www.stmaryscorowa.org
Hall Bookings: Terry & Carmel Moroney 02 6033 5381
We honour the traditional owners of this land, the Kwat Kwat peoples and the Wiradjuri Nation
St. Mary Mackillop, pray for us
Diocesan Provident Fund, P.O. Box 4 Wagga Wagga 2650, Ph. 02 6937 0099 or dpf@csoww.catholic.ed.au
Office Hours: 9.00am to 12.00pm.
Mon & Fri. St Mary’s Court Retirement Units: 02 6033 1927
St Mary’s School: 02 6033 1183
Thoughts for the Week
2nd Sunday in Lent
Pope Francis – Challenges of Lent
[Ash Wednesday homily of Pope Francis]:
“We know that this increasingly artificial world makes us live in a culture of ‘doing’ of the ‘useful’, where without realising we exclude God from our horizons. But we exclude the horizon itself! Lent calls to us to ‘shake ourselves up’, to remember that we are creatures – simply, we are not God.
When I watch, in my little daily environment, some battles to occupy space, I think: these people play at being God the Creator. They still have not understood that they are not God”…
THE SPIRITUAL PATH – 3 Elements To walk this spiritual path, three elements are necessary: prayer, fasting and charity. All three involve “the importance of not allowing oneself to be dominated by appearances: what counts is not appearance, but what we have inside”.
Prayer is “the strength of the Christian and of every believer. In the weakness and the fragility of our life, we may turn to God with the trust of His sons and daughters and enter into communion with Him. And Lent is a time for prayer, “a more intense and prolonged prayer [so that we are] more able to take on the needs of our brothers and sisters; prayer of intercession: to intercede before God for many situations of poverty and suffering.”
Fasting “has meaning only if it truly attacks our security, and if it brings benefits to others, if it helps us to cultivate the approach of the Good Samaritan, who turns to his brother and takes care of him. Fasting involves choosing a sober style of life; a life without waste, without discarding things. Fasting helps us to train our hearts in simplicity and sharing”.
Giving to charity “means giving freely, because in this way we give to someone from whom we expect nothing in return. Giving freely should be one of the characteristics of the Christian who, aware of having received everything freely from God, that is, undeservingly, learns to give freely to others. … Giving to charity helps us to live the free nature of the gift, which is freedom from the obsession of possession, of the fear of losing what we have”.
INVITATIONS OF LENT: WAKE UP!“ With its invitation to conversion”, concluded Pope Francis, “Lent providentially reawakens us, shakes us from our torpor, from our risk of living by inertia. …
RETURN TO GOD!
“Why must we return to God? Because something is not quite right in us, and is not right in society or in the Church, and we need to change, to turn things around. This is what is meant by needing to convert!
BECOME NEW!
“Once again, Lent makes its prophetic call to us, to remind us that it is possible to achieve something new within ourselves and around ourselves, simply because God is faithful … and continues to be rich in goodness and mercy, always ready to forgive and start again from the beginning”. (VIS 20140306).
Remember in Prayer
Recently Deceased: John Skehan
John Hanrahan, Nicole Collins, Marj Fern,
Mick Fitzgerald, Suzanne Knight, Patricia Seymour, Frances Hanrahan, Alan Whitty
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Parish Events 16th – 22nd March 2014
Saturday 15th March
6.30pm Mass (Jack & Agnes Gannon; Mercy Srs)
Sunday 16th – 3rd Sunday in Lent
9.00am Mass (all parishioners)
Monday 17th – St Patrick’s
9.00am Mass (Bernice, Peter & Sr Anne Gale & families)
Tuesday 18th
9.00am Mass (Pat & Roy Potter; Jack Griffen)
7.30-9.00pm Lenten Discussion Group 1
Wednesday 19th
9.00am Mass (Ede, Kath & Mary; Bro. Tim Boxall)
11.00am Holy Communion to Homes
Thursday 20th
9.30 CWL Meeting – Presbytery
10.15am Lenten Discussion Grp 2 – Presbytery Lounge Room
11.40am Novena
12.00pm Mass (John Skehan, Pat Seymour & Families)
Friday 21st
10.00am Anointing Mass – Parish Hall
11.00am Holy Communion to Homes
6.30pm Stations of the Cross
Saturday 22nd
8.45am Rosary & Mass (Connie Barker, Gordon Willett)
6.30pm Vigil Mass (John & Jim Hanrahan)
Sunday 23rd – 3rd Sunday Lent
9.00am Mass (for all parishioners)
Roster 29th – 30th March
Gifts:
6.30pm Salmon Family
9.00am Matt Drum
Lectors
6.30pm M Schnelle, R Packer
9.00am A Campbell, P Lemmon
Special Ministers:
6.30pm A Pilgrim, M Skehan
9.00am D Collins, M Tomlinson
Altar:
Welcomers:
6.30pm N Kingston, A Pilgrim
9.00am P Hanrahan
Altar Servers:
6.30pm Luke Heagney
9.00am Ryan Heagney
Collection:
6.30pm D Doyle
9.00am Matt Drum
Counters: C & D Salmon
OLD BRICKS/Pavers, from the street.
Cf. Jim Sandral re cleaning or sale – 60335178
ST VINNIES If you wish to help in the shop or donate furniture, contact Arthur Campbell: 60331647
Balldale Majellan
Next meeting is on Wednesday March 26th at 12pm at the home of Lesley Hanrahan………All Welcome