THE PARISH OF BAULKHAM HILLS
Click here to go to St Michael's church site. Email St Michael's at admin@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au Phone: +61 2 9639 0598 |
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Click here to go to Our Lady Of Lourdes church site. Email Our Lady of Lourdes at olol@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au
Phone: +61 2 9639 8385
|
COVID UPDATE – FRIDAY 5 MARCH 2021
A COVID SAFE PARISH
Dear
Parishioners,
LATE NEWS: FR
MICK OÇALLAGHAN, former Parish Priest of Baulkham Hills and Emu Plains, died
this afternoon (Friday 5 March) at 4.30pm. May he rest in peace. Funeral
details will be advised.
With no formal update this week, a reminder of Mass Times
currently in place in the parish:
Mass times for St Michael’s – up to 320 people
allowed
· Saturday,
5.30pm
· Sunday,
8am 10am and 6pm
· Monday
to Friday, 9.15am
· Saturday
9am
Mass times at Our Lady of Lourdes – up to 220
people allowed
· Saturday,
6pm – live streamed on YOUTUBE
· Sunday,
9.30am
· Wednesday
to Friday 9.30am
Please remember to register for all Masses.
·
The two sq metre rule is now in
operation.
·
Masks are no longer compulsory, but
highly recommended.
·
Funerals and Weddings arr still capped
at 300.
·
Singing is not permitted, although a
small group of singers are allowed.
Registration is essential for all Masses. If you
do not register you may have to wait for the next Mass.
MASS
LINK
This week’s live stream Mass link for the
Third Sunday of Lent (Year B) on
Saturday 6th March 2021 at 6pm is
https://youtu.be/VCWAxeoqFJc
This will, as always, be available for viewing
any time after 7pm on Saturday.
Remember:
1.
The dispensation from attending Sunday
Mass still holds in the Diocese of Parramatta, i.e. you do not have to
attend Mass on Sundays.
2.
Please do not come to Church if you
are feeling unwell.
3.
Always use hand sanitiser
4.
Always register
If you are wanting to attend Mass you are still
asked to register for the Mass you are attending, especially if you have not
been attending Mass in the last few weeks.
St Michael’s
9639 0598
Email
admin@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au
Our Lady of Lourdes
9639 8385
Email
olol@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au
If there is no answer please leave your name,
phone number, email, date and time of Mass you are requesting.
If there is a problem, we will get back to you.
POPE
FRANCIS TEACHING ON PRAYER AN THE TRINITY
Pope Francis resumed his teaching on Prayer,
this time focusing on its relationship with the Trinity. The message is
reproduced below.
SACRAMENT OF PENANCE—St Michael’s only
The Sacrament of Penance
will normally be celebrated at St Michael’s on Saturday Morning from 9.30am
to 10.30am. Afternoon confessions at St Michael’s from 4.45pm to 5.15pm have
resumed.
GROWING IN FAITH – OUR RENEWAL FOR MISSION
We
would like to engage in a renewal of our mission and growing in faith, and
the Pastoral Planning Office has suggested some steps which will
support the strengthening of engagement and shared vision
of the two communities present in Baulkham Hills Parish.
It recognises that both communities offer
vibrant expressions of church, and that there are already existing efforts
to foster collaboration between the communities.
Over the next year we want to:
·
Celebrate existing
strengths of the communities in the service of God’s mission
·
Engage the communities
in the development of a shared vision and shared dreams to
grow and live our faith in Jesus Christ
·
Commence a Parish
Pastoral Council to be both symbol and vessel to steward this shared vision
and shared dreams going forward
We
ask for your prayers as we continue to explore ways of strengthening our
community in our service of God’s mission.
DIOCESAN INTERFAITH COMMISSION
Bishop Vincent has asked for
expressions of interest regarding membership for the Diocesan Interfaith
Commission. His letter follows Pope Francis’ teaching on prayer.
PRAYERS PLEASE
In your mercy
please pray for those who have died recently – Felix Yu, Lourdes Godino,
Bishop Bede Heather
and
those whose anniversaries occur around this time – Kathleen
Cope and Amintus Corea.
Please keep Fr
Mick in your prayers.
Please continue
to pray for our world.
Fr Wim
SUPPORT DONATIONS
The new Tap’n’Give machines are now
active in both Churches. The monies collected through this system are for
the Parish and the Priests and not for the Diocese.
Thank you for those who are using this system. It appears to be very
highly successful.
If however you have found that your donation appears to have
gone elsewhere when you check your statement, please advise the Office
immediately.
Thanks to those
who have made contributions to our parish and priests at this time. I again
include these details for your information.
For EFT to the
First Collection - supporting the priests
BSB
067 950
Account No
000004265
Account Name
Diocesan Clergy
Reference
6001 your name
For EFT to the
second (envelope and loose) Collection – for support of the Parish,
BSB
067 950
Account No
000000214
Account Name
St Michael’s Baulkham Hills
Reference
Your Name (if you wish)
If you wish to
pay by credit card, please use this link
https://www.bpoint.com.au/pay/stmichaelsparishbaulkhamhills
During his address in Italian, the Pope continued his cycle of catechesis on
prayer, focusing on the theme “Praying and the Trinity” (Bible reading: Rm 8:14-15,
26-27).
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did
not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have
received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray
as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Catechesis of the Holy Father
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In our journey of catechesis on prayer, today and next week we will see how,
thanks to Jesus Christ, prayer opens us up to the Trinity –to the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit - to the immense sea of God who is Love. It is
Jesus who opened up Heaven to us and projected us into a relationship with
God. It was he who did this: he opened up to us this relationship with the
Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is what the
Apostle John affirms at the conclusion of the prologue of his Gospel: “No
one has ever seen God: the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he
has made Him known” (Jn 1:18). Jesus revealed the identity to us,
this identity of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. We really did not know how
to pray: what words, what feelings and what language were appropriate for
God. In that request the disciples addressed to the Master, which we have
often recalled in the course of these catecheses, there is all of humanity’s
fumbling, repeated attempts, often unsuccessful, to address the Creator:
“Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1).
Not all prayers are equal, and not all are convenient: the Bible itself
attests to the negative outcome of many prayers, which are rejected. Perhaps
God at times is not content with our prayers and we are not even aware of
this. God looks at the hands of those who pray: to make them pure it is not
necessary to wash them; if anything, one must refrain from evil acts. Saint
Francis prayed: “no man is worthy of naming you” (Canticle of the Sun).
But perhaps the most moving acknowledgment of the poverty of our prayer came
from the lips of the Roman centurion who one day begged Jesus to heal his
sick servant (cf. Mt 8:5-13). He felt totally inadequate: he was not
a Jew, he was an officer in the detested occupying army. But his concern for
his servant emboldens him, and he says: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you
come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed”
(v. 8). It is the phrase we also repeat in every Eucharistic liturgy. To
dialogue with God is a grace: we are not worthy of it, we have no rights to
claim, we “limp” with every word and every thought... But Jesus is the door
that opens us to this dialogue with God.
Why should humanity be loved by God? There are no obvious reasons, there is
no proportion… So much so that most mythologies do not contemplate the
possibility of a god who cares about human affairs; on the contrary, they
are considered bothersome and boring, entirely negligible. Remember God’s
phrase to his people, repeated in Deuteronomy: “For what great nation is
there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us?” This
closeness of God is the revelation! Some philosophers say that God can only
think of himself. If anything, it is we humans who try to convince the deity
and be pleasing to his eyes. Hence the duty of “religion”, with the
procession of sacrifices and devotions to be offered again and again to
ingratiate ourselves with a mute God, an indifferent God. There is no
dialogue. It was only Jesus, it was only the revelation of God to Moses
before Jesus, when God presented himself; it was only the Bible that opened
us up to dialogue with God. Remember: “What great nation is there that has a
god so near to it as ours?”. This is God’s closeness, that opens us up to
dialogue with him.
A God who loves humanity: we would never have had the courage to believe in
him, had we not known Jesus. The knowledge of Jesus made us understand this,
it let this be revealed to us. It is the scandal – it is a scandal! - that
we find inscribed in the parable of the merciful father, or in that of the
shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep (cf. Lk 15). We would
not have been able to conceive or even comprehend such stories if we had not
met Jesus. What kind of God is prepared to die for people? Which one? What
kind of God loves always and patiently, without demanding to be loved in
return? What God accepts the tremendous lack of gratitude of a son who asks
for his inheritance in advance and leaves home, squandering everything?
(cf. Lk 15:12-13).
It is Jesus who reveals God’s heart. Thus Jesus tells us through his life
the extent to which God is a Father. Tam Pater nemo: No one is Father
like he is. The paternity that is closeness, compassion and tenderness. Do
not forget these three words, that are God’s style: closeness, compassion
and tenderness. It is his way of expressing his paternity towards us. It is
difficult for us to imagine from afar the love with which the Holy Trinity
is filled, and the depth of the reciprocal benevolence that exists between
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Eastern icons offer us a glimpse of this
mystery that is the origin and joy of the whole universe.
Above all, it was beyond us to believe that this divine love would expand,
landing on our human shore: we are the recipients of a love that has no
equal on earth. The Catechism explains: “The sacred humanity of Jesus is
therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our
Father” (no. 2664). And this is the grace of our faith. We really could not
have hoped for a higher vocation: the humanity of Jesus – God who came close
to us in Jesus - made available to us the very life of the Trinity, and
threw wide open this door of the mystery of the love of the Father, of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.
DIOCESAN INTERFAITH COMMISSION
My dear People of God,
In Western Sydney, which is where the Catholic
Diocese of Parramatta is situated, we are blessed with many faith-based
communities as diverse as our nation itself. There are those have been here
for generations, as well as those who have only just arrived from war-torn
countries like Iraq and Syria. We stand united as citizens of Australia and
as brothers and sisters of the human family. We stand in celebration of our
common humanity and dedication to peace and justice for all.
At my Installation, I pledged to continue the legacy
of my predecessors in building stronger relationship with non-Christian
people. I believe we must foster pathways across the political and religious
divide to create an inclusive and harmonious society.
We are the epitome of multicultural, multi-faith and
ethnically diverse Australia. It is for this reason that we are privileged
to host the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations. It has played a
vital role in building bridges in our community, bridges of understanding,
inclusion and solidarity instead walls of prejudice, division and exclusion.
It is my hope that the Diocese will continue and
expand the works of the Centre as a permanent feature of our mission. To
this end, I would like to establish the Diocesan Inter-faith Commission and
appeal to you all, clergy, religious and parishioners to consider joining
its membership. This Commission will work to advance the vision of Pope
Francis in forging a new fraternity in our fractured world. I do hope that
you can join me in this bridge building exercise.
Please contact and register your interest at
comms@parracatholic.org or your local parish.
With the men and women of goodwill, let us build a
better Australia and a better world. May our endeavour to build true peace
and unity be brought to fulfilment in accordance with God’s vision of the
fullness of life for all humanity.
Yours fraternally,
Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv
Bishop of Parramatta
3 March 2021