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“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” (Matt 10:27)
Shutterstock licensed Stock Photo ID: 1554576401. Bratislava, Slovakia. 2019/10/20. Icon of the Saint Matthew the Evangelist (Matthew the Apostle or Levi). The Greek Catholic church of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross. Important information: Editorial Use Only. Photo Contributor: Adam Jan Figel
STELLA MARIS 7 AM SUNDAY MORNING MASS FOR 2nd JULY - CANCELLED - (For that Sunday only)
Please note that due to the Gold Coast Marathon on Sunday 2nd July, the usual 7 am Mass at Stella Maris will be cancelled for that Sunday only.
There will be no Sunday Masses at Stella Maris, but the usual Saturday night
5 pm Vigil at Stella Maris will continue even on that weekend.
This is the only church to be affected by the Marathon.
NOTICE - PETER’S PENCE APPEAL THIS WEEKEND
Each year, parishes in the Archdiocese of Brisbane take up the Peter's Pence collection as a retiring collection. The collection is taken at the Masses this weekend around the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul. Therefore, this year's collection is taken up this weekend 25 June 2023 (12th Sunday of Ordinary Time).
The Peter's Pence Collection gives Catholics in Australia an opportunity to join in communion with the Catholic faithful throughout the world in support of the charitable works of the Holy See.
• The Peter's Pence Collection is an annual collection of the Catholic Church around the world.
• The collection allows the Holy Father to respond to the most needy throughout the world and to offer timely, effective emergency assistance to our suffering brothers and sisters.
• In the Archdiocese of Brisbane, we take this collection up as a retiring collection.
PASTOR’S POST - Facing Fear
Over the last several years, there have been many new and unexpected worldwide events that have taken us by surprise. This has led many to fear for the future. There is another fear that has crept into our society in more recent times, and that is the fear of 'insecurity"
We ask: "what will happen to us if we don't protect our lifestyle and our future?"
"Will someone or something take away our choices and our liberty and we will be powerless against it?"
We all fear powerlessness and intimidation.
Of course, this fear is not a new phenomenon. Three times in the Gospel reading today, Jesus reminds his followers not to be fearful as they anticipated what might happen to them as they prepare to take their message on the road.
Reading their concerns, Jesus appears to have a strong voice against intimidation. He does not disguise the truth that his disciples will be confronted by those who threaten, bully and intimidate others into submissive agreement. His advice is clear; not only does he not want his disciples to refuse to submit to the merchants of death, he tells them not to be afraid of them.
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul"
If you believe deep down that you are worthless; there is no point in trying to defend anything. Anyone can intimidate those who feel worthless. But if you believe that what you are and what you stand for add up to some worth, then you will be willing to take on those who would rubbish you and your values. He argues that the Father cares deeply for the true disciple
This is Jesus' point. Your real worth before God is a more powerful force than your real fear of your persecutors. That sense of worth can outdistance the hate of all your oppressors. That is why Jesus, Jeremiah and the Christian Martyrs can face their persecution with awesome courage: They all know their true worth can never be killed. God's everlasting love is the only real offer they can never refuse.
Similarly, Jeremiah has been abandoned by his friends and thrown into prison for his preaching. He is threatened with death if he does not recant and reject his beliefs. But Jeremiah refuses to be bullied into going against what he believes to be true because he believes "the Lord is at my side, a mighty hero". What keeps him sane amidst all his persecution and intimidation is the profound belief that God cares for him.
The fear of an unknown future we now experience may not be one of terror or persecution, but it can still be felt when we come face to face with those who oppose
our beliefs or criticise our life of faith.
Holding on to a strong faith in the face of fear is never easy, but we have the constant example of those who have coped with even greater adversity than the world is dealing with presently. The belief is that God, who has given us so much already, will not abandon us now when we feel we might need him most. And therein lies our great worth and strength.
Fr Peter Dillon PP
MR ANTHONY ELMORE -News -
From the start of Semester 2 Anthony Elmore will commence the role of Acting School Operations and Programs Lead in the Brisbane Catholic Education Office. While Anthony undertakes this role, Veronica Wasiak will be the Acting Principal of St Michael’s College. We congratulate Anthony and Veronica and wish them all the best in these roles.
Anthony Writes:
“In preparing for this next step in my leadership I have been reflecting on the last 5 years at the College.
Since arriving as Principal on 16 July 2018 we have journeyed together, as families, staff, and students through an explicit improvement journey where we can be proud of community achievements in the following areas:
ü Learning and Teaching
ü Financial/resourcing/facilities (including the commencement of air conditioning rollout across the College)
ü Safeguarding – students and staff in right relationships
ü Compliance – through NSSAB and NSIT audit processes
Looking ahead into the next six months the following areas are progressing as key items:
ü Air conditioning installation in A Block (application signed-off and submitted)
ü Master plan progressing to application stage
ü Pilot Year 9 Coaching Program (Learning Growth)
I know that the College Explicit Improvement Agenda and Annual Improvement Plan Goals will continue to progress under the leadership and guidance of Veronica Wasiak and her team in Semester 2.
I take this opportunity to sincerely thank all staff, students, and families for their continued commitment to each other and the College. This is a great place and an extraordinary community.
I encourage all members of our community to continue to work through a lens of unconditional positive regard for one another, together in love, as each day our community works to live our College values of Belonging, Excellence and Love.”
HOSPITAL CALLS - AROUND THE DEANERY -
HELP THE PRIESTS OF THE DEANERY RESPOND TO URGENT CALLS EFFECTIVELY BY CALLING THE FOLLOWING PARISHES FIRST RESPONDERS TO NEEDS WITHIN THE HOSPITALS LISTED.
To efficiently and speedily deal with the pastoral needs around the Catholic Parishes of the Gold Coast, the parishes within this Deanery have the practice of having the first call for emergencies going to the priests of the parish where the hospital is located. Here is a helpful guide to the hospitals and their attendant priests. A nursing home call also follows this procedure, where the first priest to call is a priest from the parish within which the Nursing Home is located. Please help us service the region effectively and help prevent delays in response by calling the nearest parish.
Robina Hospital - Burleigh Heads Parish. 5576 6466
Pindara Hospital - Surfers Paradise Parish. 56717388
John Flynn Hospital - Coolangatta-Tugun Parish. 5598 2165
University & Gld Coast Pvt Hosp.- Southport Parish. 5510 2222
MASS TIMES: SURFERS PARADISE MASS TIMES
FOR THOSE WHO ARE SICK:
The injured from the Hunter Valley Bus Crash.
Also, (Alphabetical) Jack Barretto, Phil Bawden, Nellie Bellinger, Jean Di Benedetto, Coralie Brennan, Kevin Brennan, Tim Brown, Margaret Buckingham, Diana Castro, Cecily Cellinan, Doug Chester, Jo Clark, Leslie Clarke, Margaret & George Cook, Margaret Cusack, Geraldine Daniels, Anne Van Deurse, Beryl Dorfield, Elsie- 4years old, John Fisher, Rosie May Fisher, Sally Gage, Fred Grioli, Maria Teresa Gutierrez, Margaret Haerse, Jenny Haines, Lena Hiscock, Louise Holmes, Kim Ingram, Anna Janiek, Pat Jones, Kath Kiely, Diane & Steve Land, Patrick Joven de Leon, Nathan Lepp, Joseph Ah Lo, Sarina Losurdo, John Nathaniel Maher, Maria Manuela, Andrew McPherson, Phil McWilliam, Fabiola Menzs. Shirley Montford, Joanne Mooney, Michael Murtagh, Lynn Nunan, Stephen O’Brien, Peter O’Brien, Natalie O’Reilly, Joanne Parkes, Kim Parkes, Kristy Peat, Kay Pitman, Rachel Raines, Gus Reeves, Patricia Roberts, John & Molly Robinson, Rogelio Rodriguez, Sue Rogers, Bob Rogers, Annie Scicluna, Felipe S Cataquiz Sr, Kathy Stevens, Jim Stewart, Betty Taylor, Liza Teo, John Thomas, Baby Samuel Timothy, Leonardo Torcaso, Denise Tracey, Karen Vestergard, Lois Wood.
RECENTLY DECEASED:
(Alphabetical) Jeffery Ah Lo, Victoria Alexander, Norma Ancrum, Leo Anderson, Delores Barrett, Peter Barry, Jill Bolger, Maria Brazinas, Elijah Christian, Daniel Clancy, Robert Conn, Charles George Dayney, Roberta Fantuz, Noel Ferdinands, Des Fox, Lorraine Geraghty, Joseph Griffa, John Iocobucci, Shane Hall, Antonio Invernizzi, Melissa Ann Lord, Bernadette Martin, Mario Paul Mazza, Barry McMahon, Frank Miau, June Toole, Phyllis Jane Woolaston.
ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH: (Alphabetical)
Mons Michael Baldwin, Dragica Bosiljevac, Fr A. Joseph Butler, Polly Cummins, Julie Dwyer, Rainer Empen, Reuben Empen, John Gannon, Albert Garske, Fr John Gleeson, Maureen Glenn, Jabour Haddad, Norma Ruth Hanley, Barry Thomas Haug, Fr James Henry, Joseph Anthony (Joe) Hilton, John Gerard Robinson (Jr), Joseph Kania, Fr John Kitts, Lynette Lesley Larking, Kwang Hua Lim, Fr William Livingston, Charles Henry Nolan, Fr John O'Halloran, Ralph Smith Pownall, Carole May Stratigos, Patricia Mary (Pat) Sullivan, Fr Joseph Troy, Edward (Ted) Woodhead.
And Also: (Alphabetical)
Linda Marilyn Arlington, Mary Josephine Dillon, Ronald Donovan, Fr Michael Fallon, Ines Vittoria Fauretto, James William Fuller, Dorothy May Joan Gray, Kel Hamilton, Anne Mary Hawes, Helena Barbara Hodges, Fr Alfred Hogan, Mons Edmund Keating, Roza Masa, Anthony James (Tony) McCudden, Antoninette (Toni) Moon, Benjamin Joseph Moore, Elma Luigia Moro, Leroy Bevan Muir, Ljuban Pilic, Mary & Gus Reeves, Paul Patrick Reeves, Brian Aubrey Swaddling, Luke Dermot Tansey, Hedy Triffett, Ellen Walker, Francis Weston, John Wood, Cornel Zarie.
RELIGIOUS GOODS SHOPS - SACRED HEART AND ST VINCENT’S CHURCHES
Shops are open before and after Mass each weekend. Other times please contact the Parish Office, phone 56717388 9am-12pm Monday-Friday or call in.
PRAYER GROUP - SPANISH SPEAKER
Jesus de la Misericordia. Invites you to participate every 2nd Saturday of the month from 11 am to 2 pm. Place: Hospitality Room. Sacred Heart Church. “We praise, We praise, we grow spiritually from the Word of the Lord.” For any important calls regarding this, please ring Grace: 0410 006 484.
Contemplative Women’s Group.
Our next gathering is Saturday 24th June, from 1.30pm – 3.30pm in Mary Mother of Mercy Church, Burleigh Waters. We spend a gentle 2 hours together on the 4th Saturday of the month, creating a circle of sharing prayer, ritual, contemplative silence, and story. Simple afternoon tea supplied. Come join us as we walk with Clare of Assisi this month. For information, contact Sue Thomas sue@suethomas.net.au
One of the major works of Aid to the Church in Need is providing transport to priests, sisters, and catechists to reach the faithful, who are often at great distances and must go through difficult terrain. In 2022, ACN provided 1,253 pastoral vehicles. This included 564 cars, 406 bicycles, 252 motorcycles, 16 boats, 11 buses, and 4 trucks for the pastoral work of the Church – particularly in Latin America and Africa. Can you help us supply transport to priests and religious again in 2023? Visit www.aidtochurch.org/transport or scan the QR code to make an offering and learn more.
Holy Land Pilgrimage
Trace the journey of Jesus from the land of his birth to the way he carried his cross and gave the eternal sacrifice in this 12-day Holy Land pilgrimage to Jordan & Israel led by Fr Thomas Areekuzhy MCBS. This pilgrimage features places from the Old & New Testament and includes Petra, Mt Nebo, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem for an all-inclusive offer of $6,590 AUD. The fare includes Airfare + Local Transfers in Deluxe Coaches + Stay in Premium Hotels + All Breakfasts & Dinners + English speaking professional guides. Departure from Melbourne on 15 October 2023. For inquiries & bookings call 1300 721 561 or email us info@magiholidays.com.au
Grand Plans for Grandparents – World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
The Church is preparing to celebrate the third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on Sunday, 23 July.
It's a special day when the Church honours and recognises the important role that grandparents and elderly individuals play as they share their faith with their grandchildren and witness Jesus through their lives. The Church observes World Day each year on the fourth Sunday in July, close to the feast of Jesus' grandparents, Saints Joachim and Anne.
The theme for this year's World Day, "His mercy is from age to age" (Lk 1:50), is connected to the upcoming World Youth Day in Portugal, where the theme, "Mary arose and went with haste" (Lk 1:39), highlights the profound connection between the young and the old through the magnificent encounter between Mary and Elizabeth.
To celebrate here in the Archdiocese of Brisbane, we will be holding an event called Grand Plans for Grandparents – celebrating World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.
Please share this invitation with the grandparents of your community to join us for this special morning tea and celebration.
Who's it for? Grandparents!
Time: 9:15-11:15 am, Morning Tea included
Date: Saturday 22 July 2023
Location: Hanly Room, Francis Rush Centre (194 Charlotte St, Brisbane City)
Dress code: smart casual
RSVP: 17 July
Cost: $15
Free parking available via 194 Charlotte Street (underneath the Cathedral)
Stay on for Mass at Cathedral at 11:30 am where you'll receive a special blessing, reaffirming the impact you have on your family's spiritual journey.
Register here: https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/HRtTCQnMqvhXWOkwcv-GAw?domain=evangelisationbrisbane.us11.list-manage.com
150th Anniversary of St Stephen’s Cathedral
The Archbishop has launched a year of celebration for the 150th anniversary of the Opening and Blessing of the Cathedral of St. Stephen. There will be a number of celebrations throughout the next twelve months.
This month of June, we will be celebrating the story of Ordinations in the Cathedral. Parishioners are invited to attend 10 am Mass on Wednesday, June 28th, at the Cathedral as we celebrate and acknowledge all those who have been ordained in the Cathedral throughout its history. Archbishop Coleridge will preside, and refreshments will be provided afterwards. Come along and give thanks for the gift of service to the ordained ministers of our local church. Stay tuned for news about more commemorations over the course of this year-long celebration.
“TAP `N” GO CASHLESS DONATIONS -
AVAILABLE AT THE ENTRANCES OF THE THREE CHURCHES - tap once to donate $10 and tap again when it has reset for another $10, and so on.
Spirituality of St Clare of Assisi.
Experiencing God's Love and Light through the Spirituality of St Clare of Assisi.
A quiet weekend retreat for women. Hosted and Facilitated by: Grace Harwood of Dragonfly Ministries. When: Friday 30 June at 6 pm – Sunday 2 July at 3 pm. Where: Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre, Wellington Street, Ormiston. Cost: $380 ($350 for concessions) includes all accommodation, meals (an additional fee for special diets), resources, spiritual direction and facilitation. To register or enquire: grace@dragonflyministries.net.au or 0409 524 283
MEN ALIVE GATHERINGS
We have two significant events coming up over the next 6 weeks; see below.
We are wondering if you could promote the following events to your contacts and parishioners by:--
1. MAX2023 BEHOLD – A National Gathering of Catholic Men. See the date claimer attached—July 14/16. Use this link for registration--https://app.tickets.org.au/MA/MAX2023BNE
Registrations start from $150.
2. GROWING GOOD MEN– 23/25 June Kindilan Adventure Park Brisbane—See brochure attached and register here-- https://app.tickets.org.au/MA/GGM2023
Thank you so much for your energy to be involved with our mission to men. Very Kind regards, Robert Falzon/Founding Director.
Brochure here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aFoMhqVCl2infF7lPyTTw-sxQu6W-H1C/view?usp=sharing
BRISBANE CITY POPS ORCHESTRA
Brisbane City Pops Orchestra, joined by local School choirs. Guardian Angels Church, Southport. Sunday 23 July 2023 at 2.00 pm. Please save the date
OUR LADY’S STATUE
Praying the Rosary - Our Lady’s Statue in the Parish -
Details of the Statue of Our Lady, which is going around the Parish.
If you would like to have her in your home and say the Rosary:
Please contact Maxine or Pat on 0412 519 404.
The Roster for the next four weeks is-
26/6/2023 Glarry & Rudi Merrimac
3/7/2023 Eileen & Julian Carrara
10/7/2023 Eileen & Julian Carrara
ART AND CRAFT GROUP -
The Group meets in the Parish Hospitality Centre on Wednesdays from 9 to 12. Activities include art (watercolour, oils, acrylics, pen and ink drawing etc.), as well as various kinds of Craftwork (Knitting, Embroidery, Crocheting, Card making, Sewing etc.), making Rosary Beads (later sent to the missions), and any other activities that individuals may have an interest in. We come together to enjoy each other's company in a relaxed environment. New members, both men and women, are most welcome to join. For further information, phone John 0412 759 205 or the Parish Office.
THE SACRED HEART BRIDGE CLUB-
Meets at the Sacred Heart - Parish Hospitality Centre, Fairway Drive, Clear Island Waters.
Playing Bridge keeps your brain active and increases your social network! So why not give us a try?
Learn to play Bridge at “Our Friendly Club” - Free Lesson. “Introduction to Bridge” - It is Easy to learn the format. No previous card-playing experience is necessary. All are welcome. For more information and to enrol, please phone: Cheryl at 5538 8821 or Mob at 0417 772 701.
EXERCISE CLASS - LOW IMPACT - FOR HEART HEALTH -
Join Rochelle for a fun, functional exercise class at Casey Hall. Low-impact cardiovascular exercises for heart health, improve strength and balance- an all-around fitness class for over 65’s. Stretch and strengthen the whole body, make new friends and feel great. Tuesday mornings @9.30 Beginners welcome. Contact Rochelle for further information on 0438 333 308.
MEDITATION PRAYER GROUP
In the Morris prayer room, Tuesdays from 10 am to 12 noon. The Meditation Group would very much like to welcome new members. Please phone Pam Egtberts at 0428090703.
YOGA AT THE PARISH HOSPITALITY CENTRE
Join us for our social class in the Parish Hospitality Centre next to the Parish Office. Classes run every Tuesday at 10:45 am. Learn to relax, yet gain greater flexibility, inner strength, body awareness and concentration, all while increasing your breath support and general well-being. Ruth is an IYTA-accredited instructor with wide experience and runs a caring, carefully monitored one-hour session costing $10 (new attendees, please arrive by 10.30 am to prepare adequately for class). For more information, call Ruth on 0421338110.
MARIAN VALLEY PILGRIMAGE:
Please come and join us at the Marian Valley. On 24.06.2023, Annual Pilgrimage of the Maltese Community in the Honour of Christ the Redeemer. The bus will be picking people up at 8.15 am at the Sacred Heart Church Clear Island Waters on Both days. The Cost for the bus fare is $25.00 return each day. You can secure your seat with a contact name and contact phone number with Xavier Solomon at 0404 843 260, Madeleine on 0405 252 367 or 5529 1573, All are welcome.
LATEST EDITION OF LITURGY NEWS - FREE
To read or download Liturgy New edition please click this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17gvjNtac9xM5q-JWZuH1Bbjqjk0NQ86b/view?usp=sharing
https://brisbanecatholic.org.au/careers/
The Archdiocese of Brisbane has standards of conduct for workers to maintain a safe and healthy environment for children. Our commitment to these standards requires conducting working with children checks and background referencing for all persons who will engage in direct and regular involvement with children and young people (0 - 18 years) and/or vulnerable adults. The organisation is fully committed to child safety and has zero tolerance for abusing children or vulnerable adults.
A VOCATION VIEW:
Have you discovered yet that there is more to life than what only material things have to offer? We live in the Spirit. Only in the Lord can we find lasting peace. Speak the Good News.
To talk to someone about your vocation, contact Vocation Brisbane: 1300 133 544. vocation@bne.catholic.net.au and www.vocationbrisbane.com
STEWARDSHIP -
“Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.” (Matthew 10:32). Would others know that you are Catholic by the way you act and speak? Do you share your Catholic faith with others? Do you defend your Catholic faith when the situation arises, or do you remain silent? Do you pray in public before meals? Pray for the strength and courage to be a joyful witness of our Catholic faith when the opportunity presents itself. Let us become the radiant light and bold witness that we are called to be! The vision of Stewardship speaks in every aspect of life, inviting everyone to be thankful, and generous, and accountable for what each has been given.
TAKE FIVE FOR FAITH - With justice for all.
Politics is noble, among the highest forms of charity, Pope Paul VI once said. Pope Francis speaks often about the intersection of politics and justice. Yet Francis points out, "Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice... This opinion ... expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system." Politics is noble, but regrettably, not all politicians are. Work for justice, both in the system and on the street.
"Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!" (Jeremiah 20:13).
ww.takefiveforfaith.com/subscribe.
THIS WEEKEND’S GOSPEL -
I have a saying, and I truly believe this… whenever you are doing a thing that is right and good… inevitably, someone will come along and tell you to "Stop!" - We must ignore them. Jesus looked into their hearts and saw their opposition for what it is fear and feeling threatened in the comfy world that they had made. Jesus' response to these opponents was to keep going! Our Lord is the ultimate example of this complete faithfulness. His enemies knew that there was only one way they could stop him from proclaiming and living his good news message of inclusion, justice and love… and that was to destroy him… kill him and discredit him……. But the Word of God in Jesus cannot be silenced… and it rose up again….. showing once and for all that the opposing forces of lies, injustice and violence… were real, but ultimately empty threats…
++
Poor Jeremiah, he was only doing God’s will….. and awful people were doing everything they could to close him down. Jeremiah was speaking God’s message - calling for Justice, and faithfulness, repentance and obedience to God’s law….. and this got him immediately offside with those who were personally benefitting from BEING unjust and selfish. So, instead of listening to his message, Because it was hard and challenging and required a mindset change…. they did what people have done throughout the generations….. they took the easiest option and tried to shoot the messenger….. Jeremiah’s enemies did everything they could to abuse him, contradict him…. lie about him so that he would be discredited, laugh at him and attack him…….. the wonderful thing is…. Jeremiah just kept telling his message; he ignored the attacks and the lies…..(although it hurt him and got him down)…… and he put his faith in God and kept going……
Jesus is the ultimate example of this complete faithfulness…… his enemies knew that there was only one way they could stop him from proclaiming and living his good news message of inclusion, justice and love… and that was to destroy him… to kill him and discredit him……. But the Word of God in Jesus cannot be silenced… and it rose up again….. showing once and for all that the opposing forces of lies, injustice and violence… were real, but ultimately empty threats…
Saints and real heroes …are people who can endure any hardship, bear any indignity, face any danger (even death)… not because they think they can’t be hurt…. no…. but because they know that what they struggle for is the TRUTH… and it is RIGHT…. and it is REAL…. and that they know their souls are safe -
(and Jesus knew this perfectly…. do not be afraid of those who can harm your body…… rather fear the one who has power over your very soul).
Of course, Jesus had a right to fear physical harm… there were people out there trying to kill him…… but he believed in something much bigger than physical safety in this lifetime….
Jeremiah had people trying to kill him…. he was right to be concerned…. for us today, the dangers are often not physical… although occasionally, in this country.. and in other places, its more common…. there are people still risking their lives and freedom for the cause of justice and truth……
but for many of us.. the dangers we face are more subtle… often spiritual…
When we have everything that we need, then we can be wordlessly tempted to think that we do not need God. When we look at our world today, we see that the richer nations believe less. We must be careful not to generalise, but that surely looks like the trend.
Jesus preaches a very different Gospel. Jesus tells us that real happiness comes from belief in God, from seeking the will of the Father, from giving to others, from sharing what we have with those who do not have, from respect for marriage, from praying and from forgiving.
Jesus does not invite us to have absolutely nothing, but always the challenge is there: What are you doing with what you have? Are you loving God and loving one another? What are you doing in your daily life? Are you seeking only your own pleasures or are you seeking the Kingdom of God?
So often, we long for material pleasures, reassurances and the delights of this world! Jesus invites us to recognise that there is another world in which the values do not exclude pleasure and delight but in which other values are much more important. When one person sins, others are encouraged to sin. When one person chooses to live according to the will of God, others can begin to grasp that there is another world. Jesus had a remarkable gift of convincing others of the Kingdom of God. Jesus is God, of course, but He invites us also to share His life and share that gift of convincing others of the Kingdom of God by our manner of living.
Okay, we may not live in a world where people are trying to kill us….. but… there are so many ways of ‘neutralising’ a person…. the most insidious of all is forms of aggression that seem to have been perfected in this modern world….. we can destroy a person with our words….. with lies and distortions…. how easy is it to say something about another that makes others think less of them,…. killing their reputation with either outright falsehoods… or even more insidious, by subtle innuendo….. this is another way people try to remove those who threaten them…..
But Jesus assures us…. things spoken in the dark will be brought into the light…. things whispered … will be shouted from the rooftops…. I believe that the truth will often be revealed eventually…. but not denying the damage that can be done in the meantime…. in any case, Jesus, our role model… assures us not ever to be spooked by the power of lies and threats….. he showed us to keep going, keep trusting and keep living and proclaiming the truth… and that those who try to oppose.. are doing so because the truth threatens them…. but, ultimately, they will not win. (but let us make no mistake… enormous damage might be done in the meantime… so we need strength, grace and love…to persevere…
I have a saying, and I truly believe this… whenever you are doing a thing that is right and good… inevitably, someone will come along and tell you to “Stop it !” - If that happens, we must be quite clear in our mind about this… we must ignore them. This could actually be an indication that the good we are doing is having an effect, and (as Our Lord knew all too well) not everyone is happy when good things change a situation that might have been benefitting some but not others. Jesus saw their opposition for what it is…. fear and threat… and he kept going, no matter what.
May we love the Lord our God, and may the way we live to show forth clearly that the Kingdom of Heaven is in our midst, especially in the face of opposition or criticism. May we live now in such a way that gives testimony to the love of God and to life everlasting. May we have no fear!
References: (adapted and taken from Monastery of Christ in the desert, and also 2008 A Book of Grace-Filled Days,and also additions by Paul Kelly).
Image Credit- Shutterstock Licensed. Stock Photo ID: Stock Photo ID: 2050672196. Shout from the rooftops. Photo Contributor. Khakimullin Aleksandr
To listen to the Sunday Mass each week (including homily) from Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish, please visit this link: Liturgy for you at Home (by SPCP) - https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
Also found at - https://tinyurl.com/FHLpwk
➔MEMORIAL OF CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, BISHOP, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Everyone needs a mother’s love
Saint Cyril of Alexandria died on this day in 444. He is remembered for many things—admittedly not all of them good—as the archbishop of his city, which was at the height of its influence over the Mediterranean world during his time. One of his most enduring legacies was his hard-fought teaching on Mary as the “Mother of God,” which created the basis for all other theology about Mary. Saints aren’t perfect, and neither was Cyril—the man who helped connect us to a tender, loving mother in Mary who also committed acts of violence and injustice. Perhaps his deep flaws illustrate just how much all of us—even saints who champion Mary—need her intercession.
MEMORIAL OF IRENAEUS, BISHOP, MARTYR
For Irenaeus, the Incarnation says as much about the redeemed as it does our Redeemer. Yes, Christian doctrine teaches that Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine. And, yes, Irenaeus battled the heresy known as Gnosticism—which emphasised the divine nature of Jesus at the expense of his humanity. But for Irenaeus, the Incarnation also meant that the “glory of God is a human being fully alive.” He believed that God became human so that humans might become divine. How will you choose to be “fully alive” today in order to glorify God?
SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES
You might think that the two foundational giants of the Christian tradition who share a feast day would have been best buddies, but in fact, Peter and Paul had their differences, especially around the question of whether people who weren’t Jews needed to observe Jewish Law in order to become followers of Jesus. It is not entirely clear whether they fully reconciled their differences before they were both martyred in Rome (on the same day, tradition says), though it is clear that Paul’s position carried the day over time. Perhaps there’s a message for today’s divided church—we can disagree with one another, even on matters of great importance, and still rest together in the same great tradition.
First Martyrs of the Church in Rome
Keep their memory alive
It is a deeply human act to remember the dead, especially those who died as a result of acts of violence. Today’s memorial for the First Martyrs of the Church in Rome places the church squarely within this tradition of remembrance. We recall innumerable Christians who were put to death in gruesome ways by the emperor Nero, who blamed Christians for a devastating fire in Rome in the year 64. Nero did not crush the church, and neither has the memory of those early martyrs been erased. Your reading these words keeps alive their memory and their sacrifice.
(source: take five for faith)
POPE FRANCIS: Social Media and Love Thy Neighbour!
The Vatican releases guidelines on ‘how to love your neighbour’ on social media
30 May 2023
The document addresses the challenges Christians face in using social media
Attention #CatholicTwitter and keyboard warriors: The Vatican has released recommendations for how better to “love your neighbour” on social media. Source: The Tablet.
The 20-page text, Towards Full Presence: A Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media, published yesterday, addresses the challenges Christians face in using social media.
Topics covered in the pastoral reflection include information overload, constant scrolling, not giving others one’s full attention, being an “influencer”, witnessing to Christ, “digital detox”, the need for silence, intentional listening and building community in a fragmented world.
“One significant cognitive challenge of digital culture is the loss of our ability to think deeply and purposefully,” it warns. “We scan the surface and remain in the shallows, instead of deeply pondering realities.”
The Vatican Dicastery for Communication published the document, which was signed by its lay prefect Paolo Ruffini and its Argentine secretary Monsignor Lucio A. Ruiz, who cite many of Pope Francis’ speeches from past World Communications Days.
The text is “not meant to be precise ‘guidelines’ for pastoral ministry”, the dicastery clarified, but seeks to promote a common reflection on how to foster meaningful and caring relationships on social media.
The Vatican’s pastoral reflection posits that social media’s constant demand for people’s attention “is similar to the process through which any temptation enters into the human heart and draws our attention away from the only word that is really meaningful and life-giving, the Word of God.”
“Different websites, applications, and platforms are programmed to prey on our human desire for acknowledgment and they are constantly fighting for people’s attention. Attention itself has become the most valuable asset and commodity,” it says.
Source: Vatican releases guidelines on how to ‘love your neighbour’ on social media (By Courtney Mares, CNA via The Tablet)
Link: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/dpc/documents/20230528_dpc-verso-piena-presenza_en.html
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EXPLORING OUR FAITH
Rehabilitating Social Justice
(DR. MATTHEW PETRUSEK - MAY 15, 2023).
As St. John XXIII’s papal encyclical Pacem in Terris—an essential document in the Catholic social thought tradition—hits its 60th anniversary, it’s worth reassessing the status of “social justice” in contemporary political culture. In brief, it’s not faring well. To the progressive left, social justice has become an object of idolatry, a self-justifying meme whose very utterance, like the incantation of a spell, has the power to silence all dissent. To the establishment right, social justice has become (or always has been) a dirty word: at best, the vocabulary of naïve devotees of “wokeism”; at worst, code for advancing a new breed of authoritarianism.
Beneath the rhetorical bomb-throwing of this ideological trench warfare, the authentically Catholic conception of social justice has lain mostly dormant. Whether due to timidity masquerading as humility (“being nice so as not to cause offense”) or ignorance of the tradition’s moral and political riches, the Church has regrettably, in the words of Catholic Worker Movement founder Peter Maurin—in an example that Bishop Barron frequently cites—suppressed the “dynamite” of her social teachings. It’s high time to let it blow. Both the left and the right are misguided about the meaning, purpose, and power of social justice, and we’re all suffering because of it.
The errors of both stem from faulty anthropology, that is, their respective understandings of the nature of human existence. To the left, human nature and the human good are wholly products of individual and, more recently, group will. This conception of malleable humanity is expressed abstractly in the subjective epistemology, “This is my truth” or “This is our truth,” and concretely in LGBTQUIA+ ideology (especially the “TQIA+” part), which asserts that individuals’ feelings contain the moral authority to justify radical alterations to the human body itself, including the bodies of children.
An additional variable makes this ideology even more politically potent: victimhood. If an individual or group can effectively (even if deceitfully) claim to be the victim of a disembodied yet malevolent collective power (e.g., the patriarchy, systemic racism, heteronormativity, cisnormativity, etc.) then, when combined with progressivism’s subjective epistemology, it can claim that “the system” has a moral responsibility to do whatever we (the victim group) demand. It is this incoherent sludge of relativism on the one hand (“All individuals/groups have their own truths”) and chauvinistic coercion on the other (“We will ruin you if you don’t publicly celebrate us”) that produces the progressive left’s conception of social justice. It’s how you get the assertion that government-subsidized extermination of unborn children (marketed as “reproductive justice”) is a form of social justice; that state-funded child mutilation is a form of social justice; that state-funded and easily accessed suicide (euthanasia) is a form of social justice; that punishing those who pay their bills on time is “social justice”; even that racist discrimination against those of Asian descent is “social justice.” In the progressive rendition of social justice, in other words, there is not a sliver of light between “This is the right thing to do” and “This is what we want, and you must do it (or else).” Morality and the will-to-power have been completely collapsed, one into the other.
Does the right have a point, then? Yes—if the point is that the progressive left’s vision of social justice is perversely up-side down and totalitarian in method and scope. But that shouldn’t lead to the conclusion that “social justice” itself should be jettisoned from moral and political concern. The problem is not with social justice per se but, rather, with its definition (a problem that recently went viral on Twitter when Jordan Peterson critiqued Pope Francis’s call for social justice; Peterson had the left’s definition in mind, when, as we’ll see, the Catholic conception is something else entirely).
There are two preliminary questions to ask the right about its rejection of social justice: 1) Are they claiming that social justice cannot ever be attained? or 2) Are they claiming that it doesn’t exist (that is, that there is no true definition)? If it’s the former—the belief that, expressed theologically, there can never be a heaven on earth—then the Catholic social tradition is 100% in agreement. As Pope St. John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Centesimus Annus,
When people think they possess the secret of a perfect social organization which makes evil impossible, they also think that they can use any means, including violence and deceit, in order to bring that organization into being. . . . But no political society—which possess its own autonomy and laws—can ever be confused with the kingdom of God.
In other words, if social justice means a conceited, doomed-to-fail quest for utopian perfection, you can count Catholicism out.
But that’s not what it means. Here’s a Catholic formulation of social justice from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
By means of her social doctrine, the Church shows concern for human life in society, aware that the quality of social life . . . depends in a decisive manner on the protection and promotion of the human person, for whom every community comes into existence. . . . [A]t play in society are the dignity and rights of the person, and peace in relationships between persons and between communities of persons. These are the goods that the social community must pursue and guarantee.
What’s crucial to note here is the relationship between a) the dignity and rights of the individual, and b) the good of the social community. The “individual” and the “community” are irreducibly different and should never be conflated. However, the good of each is inextricably intertwined: If individuals do not live properly ordered lives, society will suffer; yet just the same, if society is not properly ordered, then individuals will suffer. This interdependence—a fact grounded in human nature—is at the heart and head of Catholicism’s conception of social justice.
And it’s precisely what so much of the political right gets wrong about the validity—indeed, necessity—of pursuing social justice properly defined. To reject “social justice” as a false moral category, or to say that it should have nothing to do with a society’s laws and policies, is to embrace a preposterously abstract, disembodied anthropology. It is a claim that individuals can be free to realize their full moral, economic, and social potential independently of how society is morally structured.
One could critique this position on metaphysical grounds, but how about just looking around? Is it reasonable to conclude that nearly 100,000 drug overdoses per year, many of which occur in the most economically desolate regions of the US, is due entirely to autonomous individuals making free choices? Should we think that our laws and policies have no causal impact on the explosion of young people with depressive and anxiety disorders, including the desire for self-harm? How about the fact that many young people cannot perform at or even near grade-level in basic reading, writing, and math skills? How about the statistic that nearly one in five pregnancies in the US ends with the killing of the unborn child, with that number skyrocketing to two out of three for children diagnosed with Down Syndrome (often inaccurately)? How about both parents needing to work (more than one job each) to have any hope of attaining financial stability, requiring many of them to pay strangers to raise their children?
These, and many more, are social justice issues. To reject the category of social justice as false or politically irrelevant is not only unwise strategically (the right’s islands of individual autonomy will eventually shrink into oblivion as societal collapse swallows them up). It is to deny, contrary to common sense, that public policy is causally related to the political and cultural turmoil happening before our own eyes.
In the end, the Catholic conception of social justice comes down to asking and answering two fundamental questions:
Can we identify a policy that is causally contributing to (and not merely correlated with) an unjust impediment to the full, authentic flourishing of families, individuals, and communities?
Is there a realistic possibility that a change to that policy (either by means of addition, revision, or deletion) could quantifiably remove or reduce the unjust impediment—without violating natural law or causing greater harm—and thereby support the full, authentic flourishing of families, individuals, and communities?
If honesty leads us to answer “yes” to both questions, then we’ve got a social justice issue on our hands and society—that is, all of us together—has an obligation to address it. To those understandably still squeamish about associating with “social justice” because of how “woke-ist” and conservative-corporate ideologies have polluted it, here’s one candid way to frame your position in a way that will confound left and right alike: “I fight for social justice because I believe in the sanctity of human dignity and the protection of individual rights.”
https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/fellows/rehabilitating-social-justice/
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Source: archdiocese of Brisbane website.
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Commitment To Child Safety and Vulnerable-Adult Safety
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Acknowledgement of Country - This is Kombumerri Country - The Traditional Custodians of this region.
We respectfully acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First People of this country. We pay our respects to the Kombumerri people, who are the traditional custodians of the land, waterways and seas upon which we live, work and socialise throughout this Catholic Parish of Surfers Paradise. We acknowledge Elders, past and present and emerging, as they hold our Indigenous people's memories, traditions, culture and hopes. We pay tribute to those who have contributed to the community's life in many ways. We affirm our commitment to justice, healing, and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. (see further: The Kombumerri People and https://kombumerritogetherproject.com/digital-resources/yugambeh-language/)
St Kevin’s Catholic School, Community business directory: https://www.sk.qld.edu.au/Pages/Rainbow-Connection.aspx
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