Saturday 29 March 2014

Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year A


              Mersey
 Leven Catholic Parish

Parish Priest:  Fr Mike Delaney   mob: 0417 279 437; 
email: mike.delaney@catholicpriest.org.au
Assistant Priest:  Fr Augustine Ezenwelu 
                           mob: 0470 576 857
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310 
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 
                                     10am - 3pm
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160 
FaceBook: Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au

Parish Newsletter: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au
Secretary: Annie Davies  Pastoral Council Chair:  Mary Davies

Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au  for news, information and details of other Parishes.


Our Parish Sacramental Life

Baptism: arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. 

Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session on first Tuesday of February, April, June, August, October and December. 

Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.

Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a pre-marriage Program

Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests

Reconciliation:  Ulverstone - Fridays    (10am - 10:30am)
                         Devonport -  Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)


                         Penguin    -  Saturday (5:15pm - 5:45pm)

Weekday Masses 1st - 4th April, 2014
Tuesday:         9:30am  Penguin
Wednesday:    NO MASS LATROBE
Thursday:       12noon   Devonport
Friday:            9:30am  Ulverstone, Devonport
Saturday:        9.00am  Ulverstone

Next Weekend 5th & 6th April, 2014
Saturday Vigil:     6.00pm     Penguin
                                         Devonport
                                               
Sunday Mass:       8:30am    Port Sorell   (L.W.C.)   
                          9:00am    Ulverstone
                         10:30am    Devonport
                         11:00am    Sheffield    
                           5.00pm    Latrobe

           

Ministry Rosters 5th & 6th April, 2014
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil -  A. MacIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye 
10.30am  - E. Petts, K Douglas, K Pearce
Ministers of Communion: Vigil - M Doyle, M Heazlewood, S Innes, M Gerrand, P Shelverton
10.30amB Peters, P Bolster, F Sly, J Carter, E McLagan, B Schrader
Cleaners: 4th April: M.W.C. 11th April G & R O'Rourke & M & R Youd
Piety Shop: 5th April: R McBain 
6th April K Hull

Ulverstone:
Reader:  C McIver Cleaners: M McKenzie, M Singh, N Pearce 
Ministers of Communion: C Singline, D Griffin, K Foster, R Locket Hospitality: J & C McIver

Penguin:
Greeters: G Hills-Eade, B Eade Commentator:  Readers: M & D Hiscutt
Procession: Kiely Family  Ministers of Communion: A Hyland, E Nickols Music: M Bowles
Liturgy: Pine Road  Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, A Landers

Port Sorell:
Readers:  J Kitson, T Jeffries  Ministers of Communion: L Post  Clean & Prepare: B Lee, 
A Holloway

Latrobe:
Reader:  Elizabeth  Ministers of Communion: M Kavic, Marlow  Procession: J Hyde
Music: Hermie
                                  
                  
Your prayers are asked for the sick:  Tom & Nico Knaap, Rex Bates, Kate Singline, 
Terry McKenna, Lionel Rosevear, Kieran Simpson, Tony Becker, Geraldine & Phillip Roden, Sandy Cowling, Nancy Richards, Shanon Breaden, Jamie Griffiths,  Jane Dutton, Anne Johnson & ...

                   Let us pray for those who have died recently: Nancye Callinan, Henry Lizotte, Geoff McBain, Ernie Collings and William Norquay.
               
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time:
Mary Marshall, Horace Byrne, Eileen Murfet, Beris McCarthy, Fred Harrison, Ada Davey, Paul Lowry, Duncan Fox, Daphne Wills, Meridith McCormack, Christina Burdon and Brendan Littlejohn.
                                 May they Rest in Peace  


Eucharistic Adoration:
Devonport:  Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Devonport:  Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of each month.
      
Prayer Groups:
Charismatic Renewal - Ulverstone (Community Room) Every second and fourth Monday of the month 7:30pm  - Devonport (Emmaus House) Thursdays - 7:30pm
Christian Meditation  - Devonport, Emmaus House - Wednesdays 7pm. 

Stations of the Cross:  Our Lady of Lourdes Devonport Fridays 7pm, Sacred Heart Church  Fridays 7pm and 10am Tuesday's, St Joseph's Mass Centre Port Sorell Wednesdays 3pm and St Patrick's Church Latrobe Fridays 7pm. 

Readings this week: First Reading 1 Samuel 16:1.6-7.10-13
Responsorial Psalm: The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel Acclamation: Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.  Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel: John 9:1-41

Prego Reflection on todays Gospel  

I read and ponder this Gospel slowly. I let it flicker and dance in my heart like a candle in a dark room. I am joyful in the Word. Through it I come into relationship with Jesus, just as the blind man comes to knowledge of the Son of Man. What part of this story touches me most and why?
I look as the blind man is sent to wash in the pool. I consider Jesus, sent by the Father to be the light of the world. I might imagine Jesus seeking me out and saying: ‘do you believe in the Son of Man?’ What would be my response? In what ways am I being sent to those overlooked by the world?
I ask for the grace to see people with the eyes of the heart and not allow myself to make judgements based on appearances. I humbly ask that my eyes be opened to the true picture of Jesus of the Gospels.
I spend some moments with the Lord, who comes to offer me a deep faith based on trust. I am grateful that he is ever willing to grace me with new ways of seeing the world as illuminated by his light.

Readings Next Week; Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year A
First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14  Second Reading: Romans 8:8-11  Gospel:   John 11:1-45


FROM FR MIKE:
Last weekend was an interesting time for me as I experienced the pain of kidney stones - at the same time I was able to experience the professionalism of the staff at the Mersey Community Hospital. Thankfully everything seems to have settled down but further tests will happen in the next few weeks.

At the last Pastoral Council meeting concerns raised by a number of parishioners were aired and it was decided that (whenever possible) there will be a First Friday Mass at Devonport at 9.30am and a First Saturday Mass at Ulverstone at 9.00am. This will commence this week as we enter the month of April.

We start our month of providing the wherewithal for Gran’s Van next Sunday evening. We still need help with all aspects of the delivery of this wonderful service to the needy - week 1 we have 1 stew (we need 3); week 2 we have 2 stews (3 needed); week 3 (Easter Sunday) 2 stews (3 needed); and week 4 we have 1 stew (3 needed). We have a driver for 1 weekend (3 more weekends need to be covered); 3 helpers one weekend, 2 for the other three - setting up, cleaning up and everything else is still up in the air. Please, we are a big Parish and this is one month in the year - I know people volunteer and help in so many ways but this is the first big request I’ve made ... Contact the Parish Office early this week if you can help.

Coming up on Palm Sunday (April 13th) is the 5th Tasmanian World Youth Day March - Palm Sunday is the date chosen whenever there isn’t an international gathering  and in Tasmania it has been a March through the streets of Hobart concluding with the 6pm Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral. Details regarding bus times and costs are included in the newsletter and on the posters in each Church and on the website  http://www.cymtas.org.au/pspbuses/ - it isn’t possible for Fr Augustine or I to be there but we would encourage any young people to join in this great event.

This week Fr Augustine and I will be away for a day or so in Hobart for Meetings so there will be NO Mass at Latrobe on Wednesday. As mentioned above there will be an extra Mass on both Friday and Saturday as it is the First Friday/Saturday of the month.

Until next week, take care on the roads and in your homes,
Fr Mike


OUR LENTEN LITURGY IN 2014:
The entire Christian community is invited to live this period of forty days as a pilgrimage of repentance, conversion and renewal. In the Bible, the number forty is rich in symbolism. It recalls Israel’s journey in the desert, a time of expectation, purification and closeness to the Lord, but also a time of temptation and testing. It also evokes Jesus’ own sojourn in the desert at the beginning of his public ministry, a time of profound closeness to the Father in prayer, but also of confrontation with the mystery of evil. The Church’s Lenten discipline is meant to help deepen our life of faith and our imitation of Christ in his paschal mystery. In these forty days may we draw nearer to the Lord by meditating on his word and example, and conquer the desert of our spiritual aridity, selfishness and materialism. For the whole Church may this Lent be a time of grace in which God leads us, in union with the crucified and risen Lord, through the experience of the desert to the joy and hope brought by Easter. Benedict XVI, 2013

Our liturgy too leads us ever deeper into the paschal mystery this Lent by:

·   Use of violet/purple vestments. Violet recalls suffering, mourning, simplicity and austerity.
·  Mass will begin with a sung Penitential Rite, Kyrie Eleison or Lord have mercy.  On the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of Lent, the Rite of Sprinkling (Asperges) may take place after Father has reverenced the altar. The name ‘Asperges’ comes from the first word in the 9th verse of Psalm 51 in the Latin translation, the Vulgate.
·   Silence before and after the readings and after the homily [RGIRM (2007) 45.]
·   At the breaking of the bread (the fraction rite) there will be a short reflection before intoning the Lamb of God.
· The absence of flowers due to the penitential nature of the season.
·  The congregation leaves the church after the singing of a brief final hymn, then following the celebrant in respectful silence.
· There is no Gloria or Alleluia verse (replaced by a Gospel acclamation).
·         Images are veiled immediately before the 5th Sunday of Lent in accordance with local custom.

PROJECT COMPASSION

Your support to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia to build a just world by enabling vulnerable communities to be architects of their own future.
This week we meet Martina, a teacher in the Solomon Islands. Her favourite part of the school day is teaching the children songs from Caritas Australia's Disaster Risk Management project which was established after a string of natural disasters in the Pacific that threatened the homes and communities of people living in the Solomon Islands. Through the power of nursery rhymes and songs, children are learning how to stay safe during an emergency.
Please donate to Project Compassion today so we can continue to educate teachers like Martina and help keep children safe during an emergency.



BAPTISM:
We welcome and congratulate...
 Aleks O'Toole  and Finnlan Cox
  who are being baptised this weekend.





Family Ministry

Hey Kids, We would love to see your pictures at church! All children are invited to draw a picture of their favourite story of Jesus.  We would like to use the pictures to decorate the parish newsletter, the churches and the overhead screens.  Please send your picture (or a colour copy) to the parish office or email to: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au  Please include your name, age and a short description of the picture.  You will receive a small gift for sharing your picture with us. We look forward to receiving your pictures.    From the Family Ministry Team


KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS: meeting Community Room Sacred Heart Ulverstone, this Sunday 30th March 2014, 6.00pm for 6.30pm.

MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:
 
Men & Spirituality with  Drasko Dizdar: The first men’s gathering  for 2014  will be at MacKillop Hill, Forth on Monday  31st  March,  7.30pm - 9 pm.     This is an opportunity for men to gather, share and search for the deeper meaning of their lives.   All men welcome!   Phone 6428:3095    Email: rsjforth@bigpond.net.au


BAPTISMAL PROGRAM:
The Mersey Leven Catholic Parish invites anyone planning a Baptism or thinking about the Sacrament of Baptism for their child, to a one hour preparation session.  The next session is on Tuesday 1st April, 7.30pm at Emmaus House (88 Stewart Street, Devonport). To find out more please phone the parish office on 6424:2783 or just turn up on the night. 

CWL ULVERSTONE:   Next meeting 11th April, Community Room Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone at 2pm.

**Members will be selling raffle tickets on Sunday 6th & 13th April after 9am Mass at Sacred Heart Church with the drawing of the raffle on the 13th April. Tickets $1 each.

MT ST VINCENT AUXILIARY: will be holding a Cake stall at the Mt St Vincent Nursing Home Wednesday April 16th, 9am. Come along and buy your Easter goodies!


FOOTY MARGIN WINNERS: Round 1 (split round) Sr. Colleen Power, Toni Muir,  Zilla Jones.

                       
BINGO Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
 Callers for Thursday 3rd April are Jon Halley and Peter Bolster.



MERSEY LEVEN CATHOLIC PARISH - HOLY WEEK & EASTER CEREMONIES 2014
DEVONPORT:  Our Lady of Lourdes Church
                                 Good Friday:      Commemoration of the Passion  3.00pm
Holy Saturday:  Easter Vigil                               7.00pm

PORT SORELL:      St Joseph’s Mass Centre
Good Friday Stations of the Cross                   10.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                            8.30am

LATROBE:    St Patrick’s Church
Good Friday       Stations of the Cross             11.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                          10.00am

SHEFFIELD:  Holy Cross Church
Good Friday       Stations of the Cross             11.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                          11.30am

ULVERSTONE: Sacred Heart Church
Holy Thursday     Mass of the Lord’s Supper                                           7.30pm
(Adoration till 9pm followed by Evening Prayer of the Church)
Good Friday Commemoration of the Passion                                         3.00pm
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                                                               10.00am

PENGUIN:    St Mary’s Church
Good Friday Stations of the Cross                                                       11.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                                                                 8.30am



Evangelii Gaudium

 ‘In fidelity to the example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctant or fear. The joy of the Gospel is for all people; no one can be excluded.’

Para23, from Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov. 24, 2013

The essential elements of the sacrament of Reconciliation

‘The essential elements are two: the acts of the penitent who come to repentance through the action of the Holy Spirit, and the absolution of the priest who in the name of Christ grants forgiveness and determines the ways of making satisfaction.’

From: Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Paragraph 302 (Contributed by the Catholic Enquiry Centre’, http://www.catholicenquiry.com)

Saint of the Week – St Francis of Paola, hermit (Wednesday, April 2)
Francis was born at Paola, Italy and was educated at the Franciscan friary of San Marco. At the age of 15, he  became a hermit near Paola. In 1436, he and two companions began a community that is considered the foundation of the Minim Friars. Later in life, he established foundations in southern Italy and Sicily, and his fame was such that at the request of dying King Louis XI of France, Pope Sixtus II ordered him to France, as the King felt he could be cured by Francis. He was not, but was so comforted that Louis' son Charles VIII, became Francis' friend and endowed several monasteries for the Minims. Francis spent the rest of his life at the monastery of Plessis, France, which Charles built for him. Francis died there on April 2 and was canonized in 1519. 

Spiritual resource – Reflections on living the eremitic life

On June 21, 2002 Abbot Luke became a hermit and lived the life in a frame building on  abbey grounds for nine months, when ill health forced him to abandon the experience. Ill health has also prevented his resuming it. Many people have wondered what he was doing and why, so he here gives an account of how the call came to him, what he did as a hermit, and what its value was.
Words of Wisdom
‘God has not called me to be successful. He called me to be faithful.’
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, from her book Love: A Fruit Always In Season

FINDING THE STRENGTH TO REACH ACROSS DIFFERENCES

Too often, we find ourselves consumed by petty irritations, conflicts, frustrations, and angers. Each of these might be small in itself but, cumulatively, they take the sunshine and delight out of our lives, like mosquitoes spoiling a picnic. Then, instead of feeling grateful, gracious, and magnanimous, we feel paranoid, fearful, and irritable and we end up acting out of a cold, irritated, paranoid part of ourselves rather than out of our real selves.
Why do we do that? Because we are asleep to who and what we really are, asleep in a double way:
When St. Luke describes Jesus’ agony in the garden, he tells us that after Jesus had undergone a powerful drama, sweating blood so as to give his life over in love, he turned to his disciples (who were supposed to be watching and praying with him) and found them asleep. However he uses a curious expression to describe why they were asleep. They were asleep, he says, not because they were tired and it was late, but they were asleep “out of sheer sorrow”.
That says a couple of things: First, that the disciples are asleep out of depression. Depression is what is preventing them from seeing straight. But they are also asleep to what is deepest inside of them, namely, that they carry the image and likeness of God. Jesus was not asleep to that and, because of this awareness, was able precisely to be big of heart.
As Christians we believe that what ultimately defines us and gives us our dignity is the image and likeness of God inside us. This is our deepest identity, our real self. Inside each of us there is a piece of divinity, a god or goddess, a person who carries an inviolable dignity, with a heart as big as God’s.
And that great dignity is not meant to be a source of wrongful pride and a justification for making an unhealthy assertion with our lives. Sadly, too often it does and a rather simple commentary on the state of our planet might be to say that this is what things look like when you have six billion people walking around with each one of them thinking himself or herself as God.
But our great dignity, the Imago Dei inside each of us, is meant rather to be a center from which we can draw vision, grace, and strength to act in a way that, ironically, precisely helps us to swallow our pride.
We see this in Jesus. In a famous text, St. John tells us that at the last supper, Jesus got up from the table and began to wash the feet of his disciples, against their protests. That gesture, washing someone else’s feet, has classically been preached on as an act of humility. It was that, but in the context of the Gospel of John, it is something more. It was a particular kind of humility, one that requires having a huge, huge heart and swallowing a lot of pride. When Jesus washes his disciples feet in John’s Gospel and tells us he is setting an example for us to imitate, he is inviting us to have the strength to bend down in understanding and wash the feet of those whom, for all kinds of reasons, we would rather not have anything to do with. It is akin to having Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, strident conservatives and strident liberals, fundamentalists and atheists, wash each others’ feet. Normally we don’t have the strength to do that, there is too much pride and desire for righteousness at stake.
So how could Jesus do it? He could do it because he wasn’t asleep to who and what he was. In a stunning description of what is going on inside of him when he got up and took the basin and towel to do this. John writes: “Jesus, knowing that he had come from God and was returning to God, and that the Father had put everything into his hands, got up from the table and removed his outer garments.” (John 13,3-5).
Jesus took off his outer garments (which symbolize precisely all those things, including our everyday irritations and angers, which block the view of our deeper selves) to show us his deeper reality, namely, the fact that he had come from God and was going back to God. On the strength of that awareness, he could swallow all the pride that he needed to in order to reach out in understanding, forgiveness, and love, beyond wound, irritation, and moral righteousness.
When we are in touch with that fact that we too have “come from God and are going back to God” then, and only then, can we too swallow enough pride to be genuinely loving.

Monday 24 March 2014

Third Sunday of Lent - Year A


              Mersey
 Leven Catholic Parish

Parish Priest:  Fr Mike Delaney   mob: 0417 279 437; 
email: mike.delaney@catholicpriest.org.au
Assistant Priest:  Fr Augustine Ezenwelu 
                           mob: 0470 576 857
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310 
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 
                                     10am - 3pm
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160 
FaceBook: Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au

Parish Newsletter: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au
Secretary: Annie Davies  Pastoral Council Chair:  Mary Davies

Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au  for news, information and details of other Parishes.


Our Parish Sacramental Life

Baptism: arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. 
Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session on first Tuesday of February, April, June, August, October and December. 
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation:  Ulverstone - Fridays    (10am - 10:30am)
                         Devonport -  Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)
                         Penguin    -  Saturday (5:15pm - 5:45pm)


Weekday Masses 25th - 28th March, 2014
Tuesday:         9:30am  Penguin
Wednesday:     9:30am  Latrobe
Thursday:       12noon   Devonport
Friday:            9:30am  Ulverstone

Next Weekend (29th & 30th March, 2014)
Saturday Vigil:     6.00pm     Penguin
                                           Devonport
                                
Sunday Mass:       8:30am    Port Sorell   (L.W.C.)    
                          9:00am    Ulverstone
                        10:30am    Devonport
                        11:00am    Sheffield    (L.W.C.)   
                          5.00pm    Latrobe

       Eucharistic Adoration:
       Devonport:  Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
       Devonport:  Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of each month.
      
       Prayer Groups:
       Charismatic Renewal - Ulverstone (Community Room) Every second and fourth Monday of the month 7:30pm  - Devonport (Emmaus House) Thursdays - 7:30pm
       Christian Meditation  - Devonport, Emmaus House - Wednesdays 7pm. 

Stations of the Cross:  Our Lady of Lourdes Devonport Fridays 7pm, Sacred Heart Church  Fridays 7pm and 10am Tuesday's, St Joseph's Mass Centre Port Sorell Wednesdays 3pm and St Patrick's Church Latrobe Fridays 7pm. 

Ministry Rosters 29th & 30th March, 2014
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil:  M Kelly, B Paul, R Baker  10.30am: A Hughes, T Barrientos, C Morriss
Ministers of Communion: VigilJ Cox, B O'Connor, R Beaton, K Brown, P Shelverton, Beau Windebank
10.30am: M & B Peters, L Hollister, F Sly, B & C Schrader
Cleaners 28th March: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley 4th April: M.W.C.
Piety Shop 29th March: R Baker 30th March: M Doyle


Ulverstone:
Reader:  D Prior Cleaners: M McKenzie, M Singh, N Pearce 
Ministers of Communion: T Leary, M & K McKenzie, M O'Halloran  Hospitality: T Good Team

Penguin:
Greeters: G & N Pearce   Commentator:  E Nickols Readers: M Murray, E Standring
Procession: Y & R Downes  Ministers of Communion: M Hiscutt, J Garnsey Music: L Keen
Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C  Setting Up: M Murray Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols

Port Sorell:
Readers:  L Post, E Holloway  Ministers of Communion: T Jeffries  Clean & Prepare: A Hynes

Latrobe:
Reader:  S Richie  Ministers of Communion: Elizabeth, B Richie  Procession: I Campbell, M Clarke  Music: Jenny, May
                 
           
            Your prayers are asked for the sick:  Tom Knaap, Terry McKenna, Lionel Rosevear, Kieran Simpson, Tony Becker, Geraldine & Phillip Roden, Shanon Breaden, Jamie Griffiths, Jane Dutton, Anne Johnson & ...

            Let us pray for those who have died recently: Henry Lizotte,
Geoff McBain, Ernie Collings, David Groves, William Norquay, Irene
Kilby, Glen Clark, Michael Duggan, Nancye Callinan, Thea Nicholas and
Robert Rothwell.
      
              Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time:
John Hoye, Norma Ellings, Maurice Kelly, Archbishop Guilford Young, Eva Rogers, Doreen Alderson, Robert Charlton and Gaudencio Floro. Also Ruth Smith, Genaro & Jeffrey Visorro, Bruce Smith, Fortunato & Asuncion Carcuevas, Ma. Arah Deiparine, Robert Patrick King, Mauricio Barimbad and Ponciano & Dominga Torbiso.

                                                                                 May they Rest in Peace

Readings Next Week; Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year A
First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13  Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14  Gospel:   John 9:1-41


FROM FR MIKE:
This weekend we welcome those children who have joined our Sacramental Preparation program with a simple ceremony at Mass throughout the Parish. They will embark on the major part of their preparation next Saturday, 29th with a day session at OLOL - please keep these children and their families in your prayers as they journey on these next steps in their faith life.

Thanks to all those people who have offered to help with Gran’s Van during April - however, we still need more help. If you have had a Police Check in recent times then that makes life easier but help is needed for people to prepare the meals and doing the clean up afterwards. Contact the Parish Office early this week if you can help.

Coming up on Palm Sunday (April 13th) is the 5th Tasmanian World Youth Day March - Palm Sunday is the date chosen whenever there isn’t an international gathering  and in Tasmania it has been a March through the streets of Hobart concluding with the 6pm Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral. Details regarding bus times and costs are included in the newsletter and on the posters in each Church and on the website  http://www.cymtas.org.au/pspbuses/ - it isn’t possible for Fr Augustine or I to be there but we would encourage any young people to join in this great event.

Many thanks to all those people have joined the Footy Margins Fundraising effort - we have some really terrific parishioners who have (for many years) ensured that tickets are sold in their local area but they are also available at most Masses each weekend - please consider supporting this activity if you haven’t already done so.

Last week the Archbishop was in the area for a couple of nights - Mass and Meeting at Burnie and Meeting at Devonport as well as appointments. Fr Augustine and I ‘survived’ his visit. The Archbishop was driven by Anthony Onyirioha, a young Nigerian man who is living in Tasmania before returning to the Seminary to complete his studies for the Priesthood for the Archdiocese.

Next week (commencing 31st March) Fr Augustine and I will be away for a day or so in Hobart for Meetings so there will be some changes to our weekly Mass times - more details next weekend.

Until next week, take care on the roads and in your homes,
Fr Mike


OUR LENTEN LITURGY IN 2014:
The entire Christian community is invited to live this period of forty days as a pilgrimage of repentance, conversion and renewal. In the Bible, the number forty is rich in symbolism. It recalls Israel’s journey in the desert, a time of expectation, purification and closeness to the Lord, but also a time of temptation and testing. It also evokes Jesus’ own sojourn in the desert at the beginning of his public ministry, a time of profound closeness to the Father in prayer, but also of confrontation with the mystery of evil. The Church’s Lenten discipline is meant to help deepen our life of faith and our imitation of Christ in his paschal mystery. In these forty days may we draw nearer to the Lord by meditating on his word and example, and conquer the desert of our spiritual aridity, selfishness and materialism. For the whole Church may this Lent be a time of grace in which God leads us, in union with the crucified and risen Lord, through the experience of the desert to the joy and hope brought by Easter. Benedict XVI, 2013

Our liturgy too leads us ever deeper into the paschal mystery this Lent by:

Use of violet/purple vestments. Violet recalls suffering, mourning, simplicity and austerity.
·         Mass will begin with a sung Penitential Rite, Kyrie Eleison or Lord have mercy.  On the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of Lent, the Rite of Sprinkling (Asperges) may take place after Father has reverenced the altar. The name ‘Asperges’ comes from the first word in the 9th verse of Psalm 51 in the Latin translation, the Vulgate.
·         Silence before and after the readings and after the homily [RGIRM (2007) 45.]
·         At the breaking of the bread (the fraction rite) there will be a short reflection before intoning the Lamb of God.
·         The absence of flowers due to the penitential nature of the season.
·         The congregation leaves the church after the singing of a brief final hymn, then following the celebrant in respectful silence.
·         There is no Gloria or Alleluia verse (replaced by a Gospel acclamation).
·         Images are veiled immediately before the 5th Sunday of Lent in accordance with local custom.


Your donation to Project Compassion means vulnerable people can live in safe, supportive communities and have hope for the future. For most of Archie's life, he lived with his parents and nine siblings in a one-roomed house beside the Plaridel River in the Philippines, an area prone to flooding and typhoons. An emergency resettlement program supported by Caritas Australia helped the family resettle into permanent and secure housing away from the flood prone river.
Please donate to Project Compassion and help vulnerable families living in unsafe environments to resettle into secure housing, where they can start to have hope for the future.
  
Children's Program
Hey Kids, We would love to see your pictures at church! All children are invited to draw a picture of their favourite story of Jesus.  We would like to use the pictures to decorate the parish newsletter, the churches and the overhead screens.  Please send your picture (or a colour copy) to the parish office or email to: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au  Please include your name, age and a short description of the picture.  You will receive a small gift for sharing your picture with us. We look forward to receiving your pictures.    rom the Family Ministry Team

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM – ENROLMENT OF CANDIDATES

This weekend our parish welcomes and congratulates 34 children and their families who are embarking upon the Sacramental preparation program.
The candidates and their parents are publicly committing themselves to the preparation for Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist and accepting the constant invitation of God to a deeper relationship in a special way through the Sacraments.   
The children are presented with a gift from this community, a sacramental pin, a sign that shows they are preparing for the Sacraments and that as a community we walk with them. The candidates and their families will have a day of preparation and learning for the Sacrament of Reconciliation next Saturday. We pray that this journey will be an enriching time for all involved.

Loving God,
pour out your blessing upon our children
 that, during this time of Sacramental preparation,
they may grow closer to you, and come to know your special love for them.

May this time of preparation for the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist
be a time of blessing for our families and our community.

Unite us all in your great love
 Amen


MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:
Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe:  Got something on your mind?  Come along for a round the table  chat about issues affecting your everyday life.   Relaxed atmosphere, good company.   All welcome! 10.30am - 12 noon on Monday 24th March.
 
Men & Spirituality with  Drasko Dizdar: The first men’s gathering  for 2014  will be at MacKillop Hill, Forth on Monday  31st  March,  7.30pm - 9 pm.     This is an opportunity for men to gather, share and search for the deeper meaning of their lives.   All men welcome!   Phone 6428:3095    Email: rsjforth@bigpond.net.au


KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS: meeting Community Room Sacred Heart Ulverstone, Sunday 30th March 2014, 6.00pm for 6.30pm.


FOOTY MARGIN WINNERS: Round 1 (split round) H Traill, C & L Davies, G Bugeja

           
BINGO Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
 Callers for Thursday 27th March are Merv Tippett and Bruce Peters.





 

MERSEY LEVEN CATHOLIC PARISH - HOLY WEEK & EASTER CEREMONIES 2014
DEVONPORT:  Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Good Friday:      Commemoration of the Passion                             3.00pm
Holy Saturday:  Easter Vigil                                                                7.00pm

PORT SORELL:      St Joseph’s Mass Centre
Good Friday Stations of the Cross                                                  10.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                                                           8.30am

LATROBE:    St Patrick’s Church
Good Friday       Stations of the Cross                                           11.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                                                        10.00am

SHEFFIELD:  Holy Cross Church
Good Friday       Stations of the Cross                                          11.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                                                        11.30am

ULVERSTONE: Sacred Heart Church
Holy Thursday     Mass of the Lord’s Supper                              7.30pm
(Adoration till 9pm followed by Evening Prayer of the Church)
Good Friday Commemoration of the Passion                                3.00pm
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                                                        10.00am

PENGUIN:    St Mary’s Church
Good Friday Stations of the Cross                                               11.00am
Easter Sunday     Easter Mass                                                         8.30am



Evangelii Gaudium

‘...the drive to go forth and give, to go out from ourselves, to keep pressing forward in our sowing of the good seed, remains ever present.’

-          Para 21, from Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov. 24, 2013

Penance can take many forms

Penance can be expressed in many and various ways but above all in fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These and many other forms of penance can be practiced in the daily life of a Christian, particularly during the time of Lent and on the penitential day of Friday.

From: Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Paragraph 301
(Contributed by the Catholic Enquiry Centre http://www.catholicenquiry.com)



Saint of the Week – St Lazarus – Thursday, March 27


Legends abound about the life of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, and friend of Jesus. One account has him writing an account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that, despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years.
In the West, Passion Sunday was once called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday.
 

Groaning beyond Words – Our Deeper Way of Praying - by Fr Ron Rolheiser omi

When we no longer know how to pray, the Spirit, in groans too deep for words, prays through us.
Saint Paul wrote those words and they contain both a stunning revelation and a wonderful consolation, namely, there is deep prayer happening inside us beyond our conscious awareness and independent of our deliberate efforts. What is this unconscious prayer? It is our deep innate desire, relentlessly on fire, forever somewhat frustrated, making itself felt through the groaning of our bodies and souls, silently begging the very energies of the universe, not least God Himself, to let it come to consummation.
Allow me an analogy: Some years ago, a friend of mine bought a house that had sat empty and abandoned for a number of years. The surface of the driveway was cracked and a bamboo plant, now several feet high, had grown up through the pavement. My friend cut down the bamboo tree, chopped down several feet into its roots to try to destroy them, poured a chemical poison into the root system in hopes of killing whatever was left, packed some gravel over the spot, and paved over the top with a thick layer of concrete.  But the little tree was not so easily thwarted. Two years later, the pavement began to heave as the bamboo plant again began to assert itself. Its powerful life force was still blindly pushing outward and upward, cement blockage notwithstanding.
Life, all life, has powerful inner pressures and is not easily thwarted. It pushes relentlessly and blindly towards its own ends, irrespective of resistance. Sometimes resistance does kill it. There are, as the saying goes, storms we cannot weather. But we do weather most of what life throws at us and our deep life-principle remains strong and robust, even as on the surface the frustrations we have experienced and the dreams in us that have been shamed slowly muzzle us into a mute despair so that our prayer-lives begin to express less and less of what we are actually feeling.
But it is through that very frustration that the Spirit prays, darkly, silently, in groans too deep for words. In our striving, our yearning, our broken dreams, our tears, in the daydreams we escape into, and even in our sexual desire, the Spirit of God prays through us, as does our soul, our life-principle. Like the life forces innate in that bamboo plant, powerful forces are blindly working inside us too, pushing us outward and upward to eventually throw off whatever cement lies on top of us. This is true, of course, also of our joys. The Spirit also prays through our gratitude, both when we express consciously it and even when we only sense it unconsciously.
Our deepest prayers are mostly not those we express in our churches and private oratories. Our deepest prayers are spoken in our silent gratitude and silent tears. The person praising God’s name ecstatically and the person bitterly cursing God’s name in anger are, in different ways, in radically different ways of groaning, both praying.
There are many lessons to be drawn from this. First, from this we can learn to forgive life a little more for its frustrations and we can learn to give ourselves permission to be more patient with life and with ourselves. Who of us does not lament that the pressures and frustrations of life keep us from fully enjoying life’s pleasures, from smelling the flowers, from being more present to family, from celebrating with friends, from peaceful solitude, and from deeper prayer? So we are forever making resolutions to slow down, to find a quiet space inside our pressured lives in which to pray. But, after failing over and over again, we eventually despair of finding a quiet, contemplative space for prayer in our lives.  Although we need to continue to search for that, we can already live with the consolation that, deep down, our very frustration in not being able to find that quiet space is already a prayer. In the groans of our inadequacy the Spirit is already praying through our bodies and souls in a way deeper than words.
One of the oldest, classical definitions of prayer defines it this way: Prayer is lifting mind and heart to God. Too often in our efforts to pray formally, both communally and privately, we fail to do that, namely, to actually lift our hearts and minds to God. Why? Because what is really in our hearts and minds, alongside our gratitude and more gracious thoughts, is not something we generally connect with prayer at all. Our frustrations, bitterness, jealousies, lusts, curses, sloth, and quiet despair are usually understood to be the very antithesis of prayer, something to be overcome in order to pray.
But a deeper thing is happening under the surface: Our frustration, longing, lust, jealousy, and escapist daydreams, things we are ashamed to take to prayer, are in fact already lifting our hearts and minds to God in more honest ways that we ever do consciously.
 http://ronrolheiser.com/groaning-beyond-words-our-deeper-way-of-praying/#.UzEjmPvNnWU