Seventeenth Sunday of the Year
Whom does one notice? What do we notice? Is it a person on the street or a person with a lot of social status? This is connected with the image, a few weeks ago, where Jesus self-described as meek. I wondered how our worship spaces might reflect that and what material parish bulletins might highlight. Also, what difference would it make to training of religious leaders and how they lived if they really Christianity is a religion of attention. believed that the ‘little ones’ were privileged interpreters of God’s message. What verses and scenes do we hold in our hearts? What images direct our attention to the God of love. The parables suggest that God’s Reign is not only found in places such as monasteries or in the demands and rewards of human religion but in the ordinary, daily, in your face, reality.
In recent weeks, Jesus has used different images to describe God’s reign as he does again today. Each image connects the actions and the actors: seed and sower, yeast and woman, treasure hunter and merchants, fisher folk and fishing. God’s reign is not about places but relationships. Thomas Merton, to a friend wrote: ‘Do not depend on the hope of results…. you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself…..you gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people . . . .In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.’
The Reign of God is not passive as the parables reveal. They are about kicking the dust of poverty, racism, dispossession and human degradation. Jesus’ parables don’t give us simple solutions. They serve to disrupt the disciples’, and our, views of how the world should be. Just when we, and the disciples, think we understand what Jesus is saying, another parable is thrown in that scrambles our understanding. God’s Reign is subversive, unstoppable, invasive, a nuisance, urgent, shocking, abundant. …….
Mass Times
Saturday 6pm
Sunday 9am and 6pm
Wed., Thurs. and Fri. 9.15am
2nd Sunday of the month Call to Mercy Mass at 11.30
July 30 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
Theme: ‘Committed to the Cause – Working on the Frontline to End Human Trafficking’
The 2020 theme for the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons will focus on the first responders to human trafficking. These are the people who work in different sectors – identifying, supporting, counselling and seeking justice for victims of trafficking, and challenging the impunity of the traffickers. During the COVID-19 crisis, the essential role of first responders has become even more important. Particularly as the restrictions imposed by the pandemic have made their work even more difficult. Still, their contribution is often overlooked and unrecognized.
Through stories from first responders describing their practical work in assisting victims UNODC intends to spotlight their contribution and that of their function, institution, organization, team or community and its impact on fighting trafficking.
St Vincent’s Winter Appeal is now on. Envelopes are on the ends of your seat. Please give generously to those less fortunate.
You can also leave non-perishable food at the parish house or at the back of the church.
Thank you for your generosity.
As we are not having collections can I remind you about our ‘Tap and Go’ machine at the church entrance. Only $5 a tap.
Please pray for our sick, especially Arthur Haddad, Norman Hay, Wendy Bridges, Margaret Farrugia, Nick Hurst and Mary Therese – 8 years old
In Memoriam
Jack Frank Leonard Freeman, Gladys Eileen Watson, Thelma Bates, Ronald James Chappelon, Philomena Ann Macbeth, Albert Cecil Delanney, William Charles Wright, Raymond Thompson, Frank Bolton, Anna Sidoti, Francis Joseph Witt, Daniel O’Sullivan, Margaret Mary Meehan.
Please fill in the ‘Mass Attendance’ sheet at the front. This is a state requirement so we can remain open and keep having our mass.
A message from the
Archdiocese of Sydney
Abuse is a crime. The appropriate people to deal with a crime are the police. If you – or anyone you know – have been abused, please contact the police. Or you can phone Kids Help Line 1800 55 1800.
Alternatively, you can contact the Safeguarding and Ministerial Integrity Office at 9390 5810 or [email protected]
You may also want to speak to your Parish Priest who will be able to provide support and guidance. The Archdiocese has a legal obligation to report crimes to the police
