Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney mob: 0417 279 437;
email: mike.delaney@catholicpriest.org.au
Assistant Priests:
Fr Alexander Obiorah Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
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
Weekly Homily Podcast: podomatic.com/mikedelaney
Parish Magazine: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au
Secretary: Annie Davies/Anne Fisher Pastoral Council Chair: Mary Davies
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Weekday
Masses 5th - 10th January, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 10:30am Eliza Purton, 12noon Devonport
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone
Next
Weekend 10th & 11th January, 2015
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell 9am Ulverstone,
10:30am Devonport, 11am Sheffield
5pm 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 - Devonport (Emmaus House) Thursdays - 7:30pm
Christian Meditation - Devonport, Emmaus House - Wednesdays 7pm.
Readings this Week
FIRST READING
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: (R.) Lord,
every nation on earth will adore you.
SECOND READING
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia, alleluia! We have seen his star in the East;
and have come to adore the Lord. Alleluia!
GOSPEL: Matthew 2: 1-12
First Reading
PREGO REFLECTIONON ON THE GOSPEL
I sit quietly with the Gospel. I read the text a couple of
times and perhaps I join the Magi in imagination.
What made them undertake such a difficult journey? How did
they search? I watch the scribes searching the Scriptures and Herod consulting
others. I remain in the scene for a while.
I ponder...What am I searching for?
If I lose my way do I have others to help me?
Who are the people who travel with me on my journey towards
Christ? Am I able, in all humility, to learn from them, whatever their motives?
Perhaps others come to me for guidance or advice.
I ask the Lord to show me how I can help them to find the
light they are searching for.
The wise men discover the child with Mary, his mother.
Are there times when I have the joy of discovery?
Of feeling that I have come home?
Maybe this leads me to thanking the Lord for all the
moments of wonder he gives me, for the different ways he guides me….
I watch Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the simplicity of their
home.
Perhaps I can invite them into my own home and share my
treasures with them…
I finish by asking the Lord to be always with me on my
journey.
OLOL Piety Shop will be closed until 31st
January, 2015
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Adrian Brennan, Leonie Heron, Helen Williams, Josephine
Bailey, Audrey Mitchell, Bridget
Stone, Shanon Breaden, Shirley White, Kath Smith, &.....
Let us pray for those who
have died recently:
Roy Beechey, Emily Duggan, Max Anderson,
Audrey Cassidy and Fr Tom Garvey.
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: Joshua & Elizabeth Delaney,
Alfred Harrison, Catherine Gibbons, Graham Hollister, Agnes & William
Marshall, Ronald Bramich, Ellen Fay and Geoffrey Whitchurch.
May they rest in peace
From Fr Mike
As mentioned (below) there is an invitation to anyone
who wishes to Come Back to the Church to meet with me at the Parish House, 90 Stewart St
Each week we load the newsletter onto the web at
mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au - the web version has extra material that doesn’t
fit within the confines of our printed version. This week I have added an extra
page to the web version which contains the complete statement from Pope Francis
for the World Day of Peace celebrated on Thursday, the Solemnity of Mary,
Mother of God. The document can also be
found by Googling ‘world day of peace 2015’.
Tomorrow (Monday) we farewell Fr Augustine and wish him
every blessing as he returns to his homeland – May God continue to bless him
and keep him safe in the years ahead.
At the beginning of the new year there are always
requests from the various Church Communities for support with Church cleaning,
flowers etc - if you are able to assist at any of our six Churches please feel
free to speak to one of the greeters at Mass or either myself or Fr Alexander
and we will add you to our list of wonderful volunteers who help make our
Parish happen each week.
CATHOLICS COME HOME: Have you been away from the practice of your Catholic faith and feel a
tug to return? Come to an enquiry session on Wednesday 7th January, 7.30 pm,
Parish House, 90 Stewart Street
WELCOME: Last weekend we welcomed Chloe, Jayden and Kayleigh
Turner, Sonny Charlesworth, Tristan and Oscar McGrath, Harry and Georgie Botak,
Asher Sculthrope and Oliver Belbin into the people of God in Baptism. This
weekend we welcome Harper Lonergan - may the Lord bless these children and
their families on their faith journey.
MY TOP TEN BOOKS FOR 2014 by Fr Ron Rolheiser.
The orginal article can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/my-top-ten-books-for-2014/#.VKXvDyuUfAY
The pressures of work and ministry, unfortunately, limit the time I have available to read as widely as I would like. Still, addicted as I am to books and knowing that without the insight and stimulation that I draw from them I would forever stagnate spiritually and creatively, I scrupulously carve out some time most days to read. As well, given my ministry and personality, I like to read various genres of books: novels, biography, critical essays, and, not least, books on scripture, theology, and spirituality.
Here’s my bias apposite reading: In my freshman year at University, I was introduced to good novels. I realized then how impoverished I’d been without good literature in my life.
Since that time, more than 40 years ago, I’ve never been without a novel lying open somewhere within my reach. Good novelists often have insights that psychologists and spiritual writers can only envy, firing the imagination and the emotional intelligence in a way that academic books often cannot. As well, always lying open somewhere within reach too will be a good biography or a book of essays. These serve to stretch my horizons, as these perennially constrict both my imagination and my heart. Finally, there are theological and spirituality books which, given both my temperament and my vocation, I read with passion, but which also serve as a source of professional development for me.
So given these particular appetites, what are the best ten books that I read in 2014?
Among novels, I particularly recommend these four:
- Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See. This isn’t just one of the top books that I read this past year, it is, making an exception for the great classics of English literature, for me, one of the best novels that I’ve ever read. This is simply a great book; not quite the Diary of Anne Frank, but a story which moves the heart in a similar fashion.
- Marilynne Robinson, Lila . Robinson picks up some of her characters from Gilead, inserts a lost, young woman named Lila and, through her voice, gives us a near poetry of loneliness and faith. Aside from her emotional depth and perfect prose, Robinson also offers an apologia for the compassion and mercy of God that can help make faith more credible to many of its skeptics today.
- Sue Monk Kidd, The Invention of Wings. This is a powerful historical novel about both the evil of slavery and of sexism. Mirroring the Christian story of redemption, good ultimately triumphs, but not before someone has to sweat some blood in martyrdom. Sue Monk Kidd is always worth reading, but this book stands out, even for a novelist of her caliber.
- Jhumpa Lahire, The Lowland. Like many of Lahire’s novels this story also sets itself within the particular trials of emigrating from India to America, but the flashlight that it shines into human relationships helps lay bare some very universal struggles.
Among biographical essays, two books stood out for me this past year.
- Trevor Herriot, The Road is How, A Prairie Pilgrimage through Nature, Desire and Soul. The flow of the book follows its title. Herriot does a walking pilgrimage across part of Saskatchewan’s prairies, a land roamed for centuries by the buffalo, and lets nature and desire speak to his soul. The result is a remarkable chronicle, a deeply moral book about nature, human nature, sexuality, faith, and desire.
- Nancy Rappaport, In Her Wake, A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother’s Suicide. In this book, Nancy Rappaport does what all of us should do if we have lost a loved one to suicide, namely, work through that person’s story and find the threads to cleanse and redeem his or her memory.
Among theological and spirituality books, I recommend:
- James Martin, A Pilgrimage. This is Jim Martin at his best, offering a good, balanced, healthy Christology, presented in a reader-friendly way. Scholarship accessible to everyone.
- Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark. She made the cover of TIME magazine for this book, deservedly. Taylor offers an insight into the dark night of the soul for those who can’t, or won’t, read more technical theological literature.
- Gerhard Lohfink, Jesus of Nazareth, What He Wanted, Who He Was. This is more of a scholarly book, though still pretty accessible to the non-professional. It combines solid scholarship, creative insight, good balance, and committed Christian faith.
- Christian Salenson, Christian de Cherge, A Theology of Hope. Christian de Cherge was the Abbott of the community of Trappist monks who were martyred in Algeria in 1996. This book collects his key writings, particularly as they pertain to the question of the relationship of Christianity to other religions, especially to Islam. Faith, it is said, is built upon the blood of martyrs. Future interreligious dialogue can be built on both the blood and the writings of this martyr. An exceptional book, though hardly surprising, given the exceptional faith and character of Christian de Cherge.
May many good books find you in 2015.
Evolution of Consciousness
A reflection by Fr Richard Rohr (email 28th December 2014)
From birth through the development of
ego, the fall that can drop us into the "second half of life," the
descent through suffering and grief, ever evolving us toward greater awareness
of our True Self, and eventually death--we are moving toward union with God and
all that is.
Studies of development show a commonality to the evolution
of our growth. I've correlated the various schemas in nine stages:
1 My body and my self-image are who I am.
2 My external behavior is who I am.
3 My thoughts and feelings are who I am.
4 My deeper intuitions and felt knowledge in my body are who I
am.
5 My shadow self is who I am.
6 I am empty and powerless.
7 I am much more than who I thought I was.
8 I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)
9 I am who I am.
The ego's temptation is to assign itself to a higher level,
and labels are inherently divisive, getting in the way of union. But I find it
useful to have a map which can help us understand ourselves and others with
greater compassion. Through the meditations this year I've attempted to offer a
primer of sorts, a guide for approaching the shared human experiences of love
and loss.
We each move at our own pace, mostly very slowly, with many
stumblings and regressions. Yet at every stage we see grace (unearned love and
growth) at work. It's not primarily up to us. Life is living itself within us,
even in spite of us. We are simply invited to join in the dance with our
intention and desire, to allow grace to flourish all the more freely and
abundantly. And as we practice being conscious in our loving, we find an always
available love becoming our most foundational way of being. (Whenever I can
remember one, I will use an appropriate Judeo-Christian Scripture to validate
my major points. The connections are always there, and usually in many places. But
my mind is in many places too.)
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