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
|
PARISH UPDATE – FRIDAY MAY 13
A COVID SAFE PARISH
Dear
Parishioners,
A further reminder
that there will be no Wednesday or Thursday morning Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes
until 8 June, as Fr Jessie will be away on leave till then. The Friday and
weekend Masses are not affected.
Bishop Vincent has
appointed Deacon Andrew Rooney as an Assistant Deacon to our parish. Andrew is
preparing for ordination to priestly ministry, and will be arriving on Tuesday
to commence his ministry here. He is currently on some holidays. More about
Deacon Andrew next week.
Our permanent
deacon, Deacon Roque Dias, will continue to work in our parish.
While Our Lady of
Lourdes community has commenced its Confirmation program, parishioners at St
Michael’s will be able to register their children via the online registration
form available from next weekend.
There is a compulsory Parent’s Information evening scheduled for Monday 6th
June or Tuesday 7 June. Details are included in the bulletin.
Mass is live streamed on Saturday evening at 6pm from Our
Lady of Lourdes, and available for viewing afterwards via the link. We are also
using FACEBOOK links via the Parish of Baulkham Hills FACEBOOK page. Thank you
to Jim and Brian for your help with this every week.
The Mass
link for this Saturday 5th Sunday of Easter from Our Lady of Lourdes (Sat 6pm)
and available on YOUTUBE after that is
https://youtu.be/fvTJLuizd20.
Please copy the
link into browser if it does not immediately work.
Pope Francis
recently resumed his reflection on old age, and that reflection follows these
notices. This week he takes up some
themes in the book of Ruth.
We thank Monsignor
Ron McFarlane (Sat 5.30pm) and Fr Eli Nakhoul (Sun 10am) for their assistance
with Mass supplies for this weekend while Jessie is on holidays In the
Philippines.
Fr Wim
CURRENT MASS TIMES (till 8 June
2022)
Saturday
evening
5.30pm
St Michael’s
6.00pm
Our Lady of Lourdes (Livestreamed)
Sunday
morning
8.00am
St Michael’s
9.30am
Our Lady of Lourdes
10.00am
St Michael’s
11.30am
Korean Language (Our Lady of Lourdes)
Sunday
evening
6.00pm
St Michaels’s
6.00pm
Maronite Liturgy (Our Lady of Lourdes)
Weekdays
Mon-Fri
9.15am
St Michael’s
Fri
9.30am
Our Lady of Lourdes
Sat
9.00am
St Michael’s
Confession
Sat
9.30am-10.30am & 4.45pm-5.15pm
St Michael’s
5.15pm-5.40pm
Our Lady of Lourdes
FOR THE DECEASED
Please remember those for whom prayers have been requested, especially
for:
Recently deceased:
Jean Leung-Harrison, Mary Killeen and the
victims of the Corona Virus pandemic in NSW and around the world, and those who
have died in the Ukraine.
Anniversary:
Stella D’Costa, Giuseppe Pizzolato, Nicolina Muscat, Margaret Vella
SUPPORT DONATIONS
WE really appreciate your continued support.
To assist with the proper recording for
the second collection, please include your envelope number if you have one.
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
Envelope Number or Your Name
If you wish to pay by
credit card, please use this link
https://www.bpoint.com.au/pay/stmichaelsparishbaulkhamhills
Pope Francis and Catechesis on Old age
The Pope continued his cycle of catechesis on old age recently, focusing on
the theme: “Naomi, the alliance between generations that opens up the future”
(Bible reading: Ruth 1. 8,16-17).
But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your
mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the
dead and with me……But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from
following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will
lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!” (Ruth 1.8,16-17)
Dear
brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!
Today we
will continue to reflect on the elderly, on grandparents, on old age – the word
seems ugly but no, the elderly are great, they are beautiful! And today we will
let ourselves be inspired by the splendid book of Ruth, a jewel of the Bible.
The parable of Ruth sheds light on the beauty of family bonds: generated by the
relationship of a couple, but which go beyond it. Bonds of love capable of being
equally strong, in which the perfection of that polyhedron of fundamental
affections that make up the family grammar of love shines. This grammar brings
vital lymph and generative wisdom to the set of relationships that build up the
community. With regard to the Canticle of Canticles, the Book of Ruth is like
the other panel in the diptych of nuptial love. Just as important, just as
essential, it indeed celebrates the power and the poetry that must inhabit the
bonds of generation, kinship, devotion and fidelity that involve the entire
family constellation. And which even become capable, in the dramatic
conjunctures in the life of a couple, of bringing an unimaginable power of love,
able to relaunch hope and the future.
We know
that clichés about the bonds of kinship created by marriage, especially that of
the mother-in-law, the relationship between mother- and daughter-in-law, speak
against this perspective. But, precisely for this reason, the word of God
becomes precious. The inspiration of faith can open up a horizon of witness that
counters the most common prejudices, a horizon that is precious for the entire
human community. I invite you to rediscover the book of Ruth! Especially in the
meditation on love and in catechesis on the family.
This short
book also contains valuable teaching on the alliance of the generations: where
youth reveals itself to be capable of restoring enthusiasm to mature age –
thisis essential: when youth restores enthusiasm to the elderly – and where old
age discovers it is capable of reopening the future to wounded youth. At the
beginning, the elderly Naomi, although moved by the affection of her
daughters-in-law, widowed by her two sons, is pessimistic with regard to their
destiny within a population that is not their own. She therefore affectionately
encourages the young women to return to their families to rebuild their lives –
these widows were young. She says, “I can do nothing for you”. This already
appears to be an act of love: the elderly woman, without a husband and without
her sons, insists that her daughters-in-law abandon her. However, it is also a
sort of resignation: there is no possible future for the foreign widows, without
the protection of a husband. Ruth knows this, and resists this generous offer –
she does not want to go home. The bond established between mother- and
daughter-in-law was blessed by God: Naomi cannot ask to be abandoned. At first,
Naomi appears more resigned than happy about this offer: perhaps she thinks that
this strange bond will aggravate the risk for both of them. In some cases, the
tendency of the elderly towards pessimism needs to be countered by the
affectionate pressure of the young.
Indeed,
Naomi, moved by Ruth’s devotion, will emerge from her pessimism and even take
the initiative, opening up a new future for Ruth. She instructs and encourages
Ruth, her son’s widow, to win a new husband in Israel. Boaz, the candidate,
shows his nobility, defending Ruth from the men in his employ. Unfortunately,
this is a risk that still exists today.
Ruth’s new
marriage is celebrated and the worlds are again pacified. The women of Israel
tell Naomi that Ruth, the foreigner, is worth “more than seven sons” and that
the marriage will be a “blessing of the Lord”. Naomi, who was full of bitterness
and even said that her name was bitterness, in her old age, will know the joy of
having a part in the generation of a new birth. Look how many “miracles”
accompany the conversion of this elderly woman! She converts to the commitment
of making herself available, with love, for the future of a generation wounded
by loss and at risk of abandonment. The points of reconstruction are those that,
on the basis of the probability drawn by commonplace prejudices, ought to
generate insuperable fractures. Instead, faith and love enable them to be
overcome: the mother-in-law overcomes her jealousy for her own son, loving
Ruth’s new bond; the women of Israel overcome their distrust of the foreigner
(and if women will do it, everyone will); the vulnerability of the lone girl,
faced with male power, is reconciled with a bond full of love and respect.
And all
this because the young Ruth is obstinate in her fidelity to a bond exposed to
ethnic and religious prejudice. And I return to what I said at the beginning –
today the mother-in-law is a mythical figure: I won’t say that we think of. the
mother-in-law as the devil but she is always thought of as an unpleasant figure.
But the mother-in-law is the mother of your husband, she is the mother of your
wife. Let us think today about this rather widespread feeling that the farther
away the mother-in-law is, the better. No! She is a mother, she is elderly. One
of the most beautiful things about grandmothers is seeing the grandchildren –
when their children have children of their own, they come alive again. Look
closely at the relationship you have with your mothers-in-law: at times they are
a bit special, but they have been the mother to your spouse, they have given you
everything. We should at least make them happy, so that they go forth into their
old age with joy. And if they have some fault, we should help them to correct
it. And to you, mothers-in-law, I say: be careful with your tongue, because its
misuse is one of the worst sins of mothers-in-law. Be careful.
And Ruth,
in this book, accepts her mother-in-law and makes her come alive again, and the
elderly Naomi takes the initiative of reopening the future for Ruth, instead of
limiting herself to enjoying her support. If the young open themselves to
gratitude for what they have received, and the elderly take the initiative of
relaunching their future, nothing can stop the flourishing of God’s blessings
among peoples! Do not forget, may young people speak with their grandparents,
may the young speak with the old, may the old speak with the young. This bridge
must be rebuilt in a strong way – there is a current of salvation, of happiness
there. May the Lord help us, doing this, to grow in harmony with families, that
constructive harmony that goes from the oldest to the youngest, that beautiful
bridge that we must protect and safeguard.