Thoughts for the Week

2^nd 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 16^th – 22^nd March 2014

Saturday 15th March

6.30pm Mass (Jack & Agnes Gannon; Mercy Srs)

 Sunday 16th – 3^rd  Sunday in Lent

9.00am Mass (all parishioners)

Monday 17^th  – St Patrick’s

9.00am Mass (Bernice, Peter & Sr Anne Gale & families)

Tuesday 18^th

9.00am Mass (Pat & Roy Potter; Jack Griffen)

7.30-9.00pm Lenten Discussion Group 1

Wednesday 19^th

9.00am Mass (Ede, Kath & Mary; Bro. Tim Boxall)

11.00am Holy Communion to Homes

Thursday 20^th

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 29^th – 30^th  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