Friday 12 January 2018

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish

                                              To be a vibrant Catholic Community 
                                                   unified in its commitment 
                                                to growing disciples for Christ 

Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney 
Mob: 0417 279 437 
Priest in Residence:  Fr Phil McCormack  
Mob: 0437 521 257
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310 
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160 
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair:  Jenny Garnsey

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish Weekly Newslettermlcathparish.blogspot.com.au
Parish Mass times for the Monthmlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcastmikedelaney.podomatic.com  



Parish Office Closed until Tuesday 23rd January, 2018

OLOL Piety Shop will be closed until 4th February, 2018


Our Parish Sacramental Life

Baptism: Parents are asked to contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for attending a Baptismal Preparation Session and booking a Baptism date.

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)
                                 
Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is sick or in need of assistance in the Parish please visit them. Then, if they are willing and give permission, could you please pass on their names to the Parish Office. We have a group of parishioners who are part of the Care and Concern Group who are willing and able to provide some backup and support to them. Unfortunately, because of privacy issues, the Parish Office is not able to give out details unless prior permission has been given. 

Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport:  First Friday of each month.
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – In Recess until Monday 15TH January, 2018
                      Healing Mass sponsored by CCR will be celebrated at St Mary’s Church Penguin on Thursday 8th February, 2018


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



Parish Prayer


Heavenly Father,
We thank you for gathering us together 
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
You have charged us through Your Son, Jesus, with the great mission
  of evangelising and witnessing your love to the world.
Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern your will
 for the spiritual renewal of our parish.
Give us strength, courage, and clear vision 
as we use our gifts to serve you.
We entrust our parish family to the care of Mary, our mother,
and ask for her intercession and guidance 
as we strive to bear witness
 to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
                                                                    
Weekday Masses 15th - 20th January 2018
Monday:         No Mass
Tuesday:        9:30am Penguin
Wednesday:    9:30am Latrobe - Anthony, Abbot
Thursday:      12noon Devonport                     
Friday:           9:30am Ulverstone
                                                  
Next Weekend 20th - 22nd January 2018 
Saturday Vigil:     6:00pm Penguin                                                                              
                                        Devonport 
Sunday Mass:      8:30am Port Sorell
                          9:00am Ulverstone
                        10:30am Devonport
                        11:00am Sheffield
                        5:00pm Latrobe    
                             

Your prayers are asked for the sick:  Vic Slavin, Rex Bates, Philip Tuckett, David Welch & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Janelle Payne, Paul Rush, Roger Foot, John Tooth, Tony McKenna, Joan Slater, Georgia Lewtas, Fr Tim O’Toole CP, Bob Wallace, Sr. Joy Hanrahan, Tony Marshall, Zoe Duncan, Margaret Devine, Ken Denison, Donald Cooper.                          
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 10th – 16th January
Geoffrey Whitchurch, Gerald Kramer, Bridget Richards, Bernice Vidler, Gerard Reynolds, Brett Hunniford, Hilda Kennedy, Kelvin French, Gerry Doyle, Berna Adkins, Joanne Johnson, William Richardson.
May they Rest in Peace

Weekly Ramblings
January is an interesting month – so many people have told me over the years that there is not a lot that happens during the ‘holiday’ time but I can assure you that there is plenty that is happening around the place. Yes, much of it might be planning for the next stages of our journey but it is still important and so I am thankful that there are people who are still active and assisting us in the Parish during this time.

One of the areas that will be important during this year is how we are able to progress our vision for a new model of Parish Pastoral Team. I’ve mentioned frequently (and there is material at the Bus Stop) how we hope to have a PPT who are able to imagine what our Parish might look like in 5 years’ time and make suggestions about how we might get there. A PPT that can look at ways that we might be a community that is able to welcome back people who have become disconnected for whatever reason; to be a community that welcomes people who are searching for a relationship with God. These things don’t just happen – or at least what we are doing at present – isn’t giving visible signs that it happening. We have to make new choices about what we are doing and about how we might be able to make be a greater witness to God’s love on the NWCoast.

Take care and may God continue to keep you safe. 

                            
Readings this week – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:3-10,19
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:13-5, 17-20
   Gospel: John 1:35-42
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
Setting time aside, I go to my place of prayer and gently bring myself into the presence of God. 
Looking back on the last few days, I ponder where I noticed God alongside me. 
When did God seem distant? 
I place my thoughts and feelings before God, knowing that he loves and accepts me as I am. 
I take my time as I read the Gospel text. 
I let my imagination create the scene before me. 
Perhaps I see the events unfold as a bystander, or maybe I place myself in the heart of the story ... taking on the role of one of the disciples, speaking their words. 
I see Jesus turning around and looking deeply into my being ... and I hear his words as if they were spoken to me: ‘[my name], what do you want?’ 
I pause before responding ... 
What do I desire from God ...? 
What does God desire for me? 
How do I respond? I see and hear Jesus say to me: ‘[my name], come and see.’ 
Where does Jesus lead me? 
What does Jesus want me to see? 
Andrew went off to share the good news with his brother – whom can I bring to Jesus? 
How will I do this? 
I talk to Jesus as I would to a close friend about this time of prayer. 
When I am ready, I finish my prayer by saying Our Father... 

Readings next week – 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
First Reading: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
   Gospel: Mark 1:14-20
                                
Serving Creation
This article has been collated from the daily email series from the Center for Action and Contemplation and Fr Richard Rohr OFM. You can subscribe and receive the emails by clicking here

In God’s loving plan, every creature has its own value and significance. —Pope Francis [1]

In their reflections on Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary offer practices for growing our awareness of and action in service of Creation:
Seek ways to stretch your understanding of this wonderful universe. Begin with the familiar: in your mind’s eye go back to a place on this good earth that is linked in a special way with your friendship with God. Was it a mountaintop with a sweeping vista or a meadow that felt like an embrace of God? Remembering these places is helpful, because they have revealed to us the beauty of God.

Now seek a way to stretch your understanding into meeting and appreciating a landscape or a dimension of the creation that may be new to you. Try to learn something new about this amazing world of ours before nightfall. How does it, too, reveal the Creator? [2]

Follow the news reporting for one day. What are the cries of the earth and the cries of the poor that you listen to or read about in a day's news? What one simple act can you take in response to what you see and hear so that your grieving truly serves our world? [3]

References:
[1] Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 76, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.
[2] Sisters of IHM, Praise Be to You: Daily Reflections on Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ (Congregation of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: 2015), 23.
[3] Ibid., 15.
                                
HOW CAN IT ALL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING?
The original of this article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI can found here

There’s a line in the writings of Julian of Norwich, the famous 14th century mystic and perhaps the first theologian to write in English, which is endlessly quoted by preachers, poets, and writers: But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. It’s her signature teaching.

We all have an intuitive grasp of what that means. It’s our basis for hope. In the end, the good will triumph. But the phrase takes on added meaning when it’s seen in its original context. What was Julian trying to say when she coined that phrase?

She was struggling with the problem of evil, sin, and suffering: Why does God allow them? If God is both all-loving and all-powerful what possible explanation can there be for the fact that God lets us suffer, lets us sin, and lets evil be present all over the world? Why didn’t God create a world without sin, where we would all be perfectly happy from birth onwards?

Julian had heard enough sermons in church to know the standard apologetic answer for that, namely, that God allows it because God gave us the great gift of freedom. With that comes the inevitability of sin and all its sad consequences. That’s a valid answer, though one that’s often seen as too abstract to offer much consolation to us when we are suffering. But Julian, despite being a loyal daughter of the church and having been schooled in that answer, doesn’t go there. She offers something different.

For her, God allows evil, sin, and suffering because God will use them in the end to create for everyone a deeper mode of happiness than they would have experienced if sin, evil, and suffering hadn’t been there. In the end, these negatives will work towards creating some deeper positives.

Let me quote Julian in the original (the Middle English within which she wrote): Jesus, in this vision informed me of all that I needed answered by this word and said: ‘Sinne is behovely, but alle shalle be wele, and alle shalle be wele, and all manner of thing shalle be wele.’

She shares that Jesus says that sin is “behovely”. In Middle English, behovely has these connotations: “useful”, “advantageous”, “necessary”. In her vision, sin, evil, and suffering are ultimately advantageous and even necessary in bringing us to deeper meaning and greater happiness. (Not unlike what we sing in our great Easter hymn: O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam.)

What Julian wants us to draw out from this is not the idea that sin and evil are of little consequence but rather that God, being so unimaginable in love and power, is able to draw good out of evil, happiness out of suffering, and redemption out of sin in ways that we cannot yet grasp. This is Julian’s answer to the question: Why does God allow evil? She answers by not answering because, in essence, no adequate answer can ever be imagined. Rather, she sets the question into a theology of God within which, beyond what we can imagine at present and beyond what theology can really account for, God’s power and love will eventually make all things well, dry every tear, redeem every evil, erase every bad memory, unfreeze every cold heart, and turn every manner of suffering into happiness. There’s even a hint in this that the final triumph of God will be to empty hell itself so that, indeed, absolutely every manner of being will be well.

In a subsequent vision, Julian received a five-fold assurance from God that God may, can, will, and shall make all things well and we ourselves will see it.

All of this is predicated of course on a particular concept of God. The God that Julian of Norwich invites us to believe in is a God who is precisely beyond our imagination both in power and in love. Any God we can imagine is incapable of making all manner of being well (as many atheistic critics have already pointed out). This not just true in terms of trying to imagine God’s power, it’s particularly true in terms of trying to imagine God’s love. It’s unimaginable in our present human condition to picture anyone, God or human, who cannot be offended, is incapable of anger, holds nothing against anyone no matter what evil he or she may have perpetrated, and who (as Julian describes God) is completely relaxed and has a face like a marvelous symphony. The God of our imagination, re-enforced by certain false interpretations of scripture, does get offended, does get angry, does take vengeance, and does meet sin with wrath. Such a God is incapable of making all manner of things well. But such a God is also not the God whom Jesus revealed.

Were we to look into the eyes of God’s, says Julian, what we would see there would “melt our hearts with love and break them in two with ecstasy.”
                                      

THE “MEGA-CHURCH” NEXT DOOR ISN’T YOUR ENEMY

This article is taken from the blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore. You can find the original blog here

Most church leaders I know would love to see their church grow. As a pastor or pastoral leader it is very gratifying to experience growth. At the same time, there is often criticism and complaint directed toward churches that are actually growing. A pastor I know recently commented on a growing “mega-church” in his region as a “threat” and “the enemy.”

This is polarizing to the Body of Christ, and no attitude to hold onto if you ever want to grow your own church. It is also lazy thinking. If I can blame some other church for “stealing” my parishioners, then I don’t have to take responsibility for my own declining numbers.

Another insidious attitude that many Catholic pastors I know hold is that the “mega-churches” are attracting parishioners by dumbing down the message of the Gospel and offering only entertainment instead of authentic worship. This is so offensive and obviously untrue in most places that it hardly needs refuting. The transformed lives of many post-Catholic Evangelicals is the most compelling argument. It is cynical and nonsensical to think that success is a sign of inauthentic or unorthodox church leadership.

Instead of excuses and recriminations we should be about identifying what it means to be a healthy, growing church.

Here are five points I’ve freely adapted from my friend Carey Nieuwhof.
1. Healthy Churches Grow But Not All Growing Churches Are Healthy.
Healthy things usually grow but not all growing churches are healthy churches. Just because a church is growing doesn’t mean it’s healthy. And maybe that’s where some criticism is justified because we all know at least some growing churches that are not healthy.
2. There Are Many Different Ways a Church Can Grow.
There are small and mid-sized churches who are thriving and healthy even though that isn’t currently translating into growth in weekly attendance. They are growing in other ways: discipleship, giving, serving, missions.
3. An Outward Focused Church Creates the Healthiest Insiders.
There are many contributing factors but an outward focus is essential for health because it creates the healthiest insiders. Why is that? An inherent part of the Christian faith is death to self and selfish preferences. Your church needs to be about the community and the world or it will drift toward selfishness and consumerism.
4. Healthy Leaders Produce Healthy Churches.
I’ve been pastor for 20 years. We have grown from 1200 a weekend to our current attendance of about 4,000. That growth has not been incremental. Most of it has happened in the last 6 or 7 years. And not coincidentally, I’ve probably been at my strongest and best during this same period. We’ve also build up a really healthy leadership team and grown our staff with great additions in these recent years (while saying goodbye to some problems). Growth is the fruit of our staff health.
5. Decline Can Happen For A Season In a Healthy Church.
Like any living organism, churches go through seasons. Sometimes that means a healthy church will stall out or even decline. That can be because of a leadership change, the need for systems to catch up to where the church has grown, and sometimes, for no clear reason at all.

Oftentimes, it is a question of demographics: the community around you has changed. If your church’s season of decline has no end in sight, it’s not a season. And it’s the job of leadership to boldly face the new reality. I know a Presbyterian church in our region who finally admitted that their decline was irreversible and have since agreed to donate their church facility to a start-up (and growing) church that had been meeting in a movie theatre. That is God honoring, going where God is blessing. Good for them. Now they’re a growing church again.
                                 
Come And See
The gospel reading for the Second Sunday of the Year in Year B is John 1:35-42: the ‘Lamb of God’ encounters two of his disciples. Rob Marsh SJ invites us into their conversation and encourages us to think about where we might have our own epiphany, where we might find God. Rob Marsh SJ is a tutor in spirituality at Campion Hall, University of Oxford.
This text was first preached as a homily in Oakland, California.

Epiphany pursues us. In these early weeks of the year, each gospel speaks about the way God is discovered in our lives. Today the epiphany takes the form of an awkward encounter. In an unexpected question: ‘What are you looking for?’ In a question given instead of an answer: ‘Where do you stay?’ In an answer that itself is a question: ‘Come and see.’

You can read the remainder of this article on the Thinking Faith website by clicking  here









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