Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
OUR VISION
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
Email: mike.delaney@aohtas.org.au
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
Email: pmccormack43@bigpond.com
Seminarian in Residence: Kanishka Perera
Mob: 0499 035 199
Email: kanish_biyanwila@yahoo.com
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Christmas Mass Times 2020
OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH, STEWART STREET, DEVONPORT
CHRISTMAS EVE: 5:00pm Children’s Mass
6:30pm Children’s Mass
8:00pm Mass
Midnight Mass (Carols starting at 11:15pm)
CHRISTMAS DAY: 9:00am Mass
SACRED HEART CHURCH, ALEXANDRA ROAD, ULVERSTONE
CHRISTMAS EVE: 6pm Children’s Mass
8pm Mass
CHRISTMAS DAY: 9am Mass
RECONCILIATION: Our Lady of Lourdes Church – Wed 9th Dec, 7pm
Sacred Heart Church – Thurs 10th Dec, 7pm
Please note: bookings are essential.
Booking Details: https://mersey-leven-christmas.eventbrite.com.au
PLENARY COUNCIL PRAYER
Come, Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.
Parish Prayer
Heavenly Father,
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.Amen.Our Parish Sacramental Life
SUNDAY MASS ONLINE: Please go to the following link on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLCP1Mon 7th Dec NO MASS ... AmbroseTues 8th Dec Devonport 12Noon Ulverstone 7:00pm Wed 9th Dec Ulverstone 9:30am ... Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin Devonport 7:00pm ... Reconciliation ServiceThurs 10th Dec Devonport 8.30am ... pre-recording of Sunday Mass Devonport 12noon Ulverstone 7:00pm ... Reconciliation ServiceFri 11th Dec Ulverstone 9:30am ... Damasus 1Sat 12th Dec Devonport 6.00pm ... 2nd Sunday of Advent Ulverstone 6:00pmSun 13th Dec Devonport 10:00am ... ALSO LIVESTREAM Ulverstone 10:00am
If you are looking for Sunday Mass readings or Daily Mass readings, Universalis has the readings as well as the various Hours of the Divine Office - https://universalis.com/mass.htm
Your prayers are asked for the sick: Dot Prior, Regina Locket, Allan McIntyre, Loretta Visser, Aidan Ravaillion, David Ockwell, Les Enniss, Mary Bryan, Sam Eiler, Judy Redgrove, &.... Let us pray for those who have died recently:Margaret Eaton, Ann Radford, Emily Floresta, Richard Porteous, Mary Clifford, Ena Carter, Sr Mechtilde Dillon SSJ, Elvira Giuliani, Paul Dilger, Peter Magill Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 2nd – 8th December, 2020Lorraine Sullivan, Neville Tyrell, Marjorie Simpson, Peter Flynn, Annie Williams, Rustica Bibera, Elsie Williams, Pat Faulkner, Denise Payne, Murray Soden, Theo Kurrle, Zeta Mahoney, Isolde Bissett, Chrysanctus Okpon.
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPELI enter into prayer slowly, humbly aware that God desires my company right now. I ask that his living Spirit might pray in me, with me, through me. I read the text with a receptive mind and spirit. What do I notice? What draws my attention? Maybe I sense Jesus’s presence beside me. I ask how scripture spoke to him as he grew in understanding of his calling, perhaps experiencing confusion and uncertainty himself. I allow Jesus to share his very self, and speak intimately to my inner being. In this time of Advent, perhaps I, too, am drawn to make my way into a ‘wilderness’ to prepare to receive the Lord ... I beg for God’s help to create a time of quiet preparation to receive the Holy Spirit anew … asking the Lord to bring to my attention any fears, hurts, or the need for a changed heart.Whatever arises, I take care not to judge harshly, but allow God’s infinite, healing mercy to wash over and through me. I share with my loving Lord whatever has arisen. I acknowledge and give thanks for my own worth in God’s eyes … aware that I am his beloved child. I ask for the grace I need to be a messenger of the Good News in my life. Glory be … Weekly Ramblings
My trip to the Kingston Channel Parish last Monday was helpful in letting me gain a little better understanding of what the next stage in my ministry is going to involve. It also reminded me that many of the things I have carried with me from place to place in my various moves will not necessarily have a home in the Parish House at Kingston as it is much smaller than any presbytery I have lived in in the past 25 years. That’s going to be a challenge.
Last weekend we got news that Archbishop Julian’s brother, Richard, had died suddenly in Sydney – we pray for the repose of his soul and extend our prayerful support to the Archbishop at this time.
The ‘Adore’ Advent-Christmastide books arrived on Tuesday and are available this weekend – once again, I highly recommend having a resource such as this for prayer and reflection during this season.
Also available this weekend is the latest edition of the SWAG. As always it has some interesting articles and a few that are really challenging. If you can’t find a copy feel free to contact me and I’ll try and get one to you.
This Wednesday evening (OLOL Church) and Thursday evening (Sacred Heart) we will be celebrating our Advent Penitential Services commencing at 7.00pm. These occasions are an opportunity to take to heart the words of both the Prophet Isaiah and the beginning words of Mark’s Gospel to – Prepare a Way for the Lord.
Included within the Christmas Mass Times notice is the details for Bookings for tickets to our Christmas Masses. Because of the restrictions on numbers it is imperative that you get in early to book tickets. If you are unable to do this on-line personally, please contact the Parish Office and we will try and assist you.
Take care, stay safe and stay sane
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome and congratulateSaoirse LewtasOn her Baptism this weekend at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone
ADVENT – MORNING PRAYERMorning Prayer recited weekly from 9.30am to 10am at St Joseph Mass Centre Port Sorell. Dates: Tuesday 8th, Monday 14th and Monday 21st December. The Prayer of the Church for the day will be used. For further information contact Giuseppe Gigliotti 0419684-134 gigli@comcen.com.au Covid protocols will be observed.
EMPTY STABLE – OLOL CHURCH
Parishioners are invited to place donations of gifts, non-perishable and shelf stable food items in the empty stable at OLOL Church. The items donated will be used by St Vincent de Paul to contribute to both Christmas and general food hampers. The items will be distributed to those in our community who may be finding things difficult at present. Due to the ongoing health considerations, the donated items will be wiped with 'anti-bacterial’, so avoiding paper packaging would be helpful. Cans and packets should be undamaged and all items within the best before date. Donations of Gift Cards (e.g. to Kmart, supermarkets etc) would also be gratefully received.Your kindness and generosity is appreciated and will make life a little more joyful for families and isolated people.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHOIR - MEMBERS NEEDED:We are looking to have singers support our organist on Sunday 6th December at 10 am. We will be singing familiar hymns. If you would like to help support the celebration of Mass, contact Felicity Sly 0418 301 573 or fsly@internode.on.net or just turn up and sit on the eastern side of the altar. OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHOIR MEMBERS ARE ALSO NEEDED FOR CHRISTMAS EVE CAROLS AND MASS.We will also be singing known hymns, with our organist. Once again, please let Felicity know (as per above) or come to the eastern side of the altar by 11:10 pm.ALL PARISHIONERS PLEASE NOTE: Midnight Mass – Carols begin at 11:15pm with Mass celebrated at 11:45 pm (not midnight) Due to COVID restrictions, registrations for Christmas Masses will be advised separately. 
Thursday 10th December. Eyes down 7:30pm. Covid safe procedures will be followed.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE
EXPERIENCING GOD, WALKING IN NATURE – FAMILY WALKFamilies with teenagers are invited to take a chance to slow down and reflect on God in nature while walking with other families (younger children are also welcome, of course). From Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Goulburn Street, George Town to Low Head Lighthouse and return. Sunday 13th December – 12noon (Mass at Star of the Sea Church is at 11:00am) BYO Lunch, drink, snacks, sunscreen and hat. Enquiries and RSVP Belinda Chapman on 0418 141 171.
SOLEMN PROFESSION OF VOWSAll are warmly invited to join the Carmelite community for a Sung Mass at 9:30am Monday 14th December, when Sr Thérèse-Marie of the Eucharist OCD will make her lifelong commitment to serve the Church in Tasmania as a Discalced Carmelite nun as she makes her Solemn Profession of religious vows. Extra seating arrangements have been organised to comply with Covid-19
IMMACULATA MISSION SCHOOL 2021: MADE FOR HEAVEN!Start the New Year by going deeper in faith through awesome talks, friendship and fellowship, daily Mass and prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, praise and worship and lots more! When: 1st - 5th January, 2021, Where: St James Catholic College, Cygnet Tasmania. Cost per person: $220 (with basic shared accommodation), $170 (with no accommodation) - includes food, speakers, activities and youth and children's ministry - all ages, families welcome! Speakers: Archbishop Julian Porteous, Fr Rob Galea, James Parker, Paul Elarde, Sisters of the Immaculata and lay community. For more info or to register: www.sistersoftheimmaculata.org.au/ims or 0406 372 608
"I've Been Named What? A Carnival?'
An 80-year-old parish priest in a popular shrine in southern Rome tells of his surprise when he was told that Pope Francis had decided to make him cardinal - By- Loup Besmond de Senneville Rome, November 28, 2020. This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete full access is via paid subscription
"Do not call me 'Your Eminence'!" warns Father Enrico Feroci, as he stares through eyeglasses perched above his blue face mask.
"It sounds like you are talking to someone else," he jokes.
The 80-year-old priest of Rome is one of 13 men Pope Francis added to the College of Cardinals during a consistory on Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica.
In the days leading up to the ceremony, the now Cardinal Feroci spoke about his surprise appointment from his residence at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Divino Amore (Divine Love), the popular shrine located about 20 kilometers south of Rome where is the rector.
"I was about to celebrate the 12:30 p.m. Sunday Mass [on Oct. 25], when someone came into the sacristy and said to me: 'The pope has made you a cardinal!'," the elderly priest recalls.
"I thought they were joking. I said, 'Cardinal? Don't you mean a carnival?' And I laughed," he says with a broad smile.
But the man who brought him the news pulled out his phone and showed Father Feroci the text of the pope's announcement of new cardinals, which Francis had made just minutes earlier after reciting the Angelus from the papal study overlooking St. Peter's Square.
Unlike the official appointment of bishops, the pope never gives advanced notice to the men he chooses to induct into the College of Cardinals.
"Looking at this, I was completely lost, I didn't know what to say," Cardinal Feroci says, referring to the text the man showed him in the sacristy.
"I finally went to celebrate Mass, as I was scheduled to do, but I was overwhelmed," he confesses.
During his conversation with La Croix, which was already several days after the Oct. 25 announcement, the neo-cardinal is still in a state of disbelief.
"It's a total surprise. I am over 80 years old," he says.
Cardinals who are 80 years of age or older do not have the right or obligation to participate in a conclave that elects the Bishop of Rome.
"I asked myself why the pope did that..." Cardinal Feroci wonders aloud.
Francis' right-hand man for the management of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, didn't really help him understand.
"These are God's jokes," the pope's vicar told him.
But Francis seems to have made a heart-felt choice in deciding to give Feroci the red hat.
The 80-year-old cardinal shares the pope's vision for the Church and Francis' way of exercising his priesthood.
Obviously, Feroci is excluded by age from electing the next pope or having a job in the Roman Curia.
Yet, it is precisely because of this that the pope's decision to make him a cardinal is so symbolic.
Feroci, who was ordained priest for the Diocese of Rome in 1965, directed the diocesan Caritas for 17 years (2009-2018) after spending the previous three decades as an assistant priest and then pastor in Prati Fiscali, a neighborhood in the north of Rome.
He knows the city's working-class neighborhoods better than anyone. And he understands the needs of the "new poor" that live in them, which associations are caring for by the hundreds during these times of pandemic.
In fact, it was at the Caritas Hostel near Stazione Termini, Rome's main train station, that Feroci welcomed the pope at the end of 2015 when Francis went to open a "Holy Door of Charity" during the Jubilee of Mercy.
Now, five years since that event, Cardinal Feroci says he's extremely worried about the future consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
"I am especially concerned about all the unseen suffering that's still to come or remains invisible, but which is indeed caused by the pandemic," he confesses.
"The poverty that is coming is being totally ignored," the cardinal insists.
And he warns that COVID-19 is creating "deep divisions" in families.
"This virus feeds the fear of the other, whom I see as the one who can make me die," he says.
This Roman priest has spent his entire ministry fighting poverty, not only in the Eternal City, but also Mozambique. He helped his former parish twin with another parish in the African country.
But Cardinal Feroci says his work with the poor is "not a slogan".
"Serving the poor means drawing consequences from our faith in Christ," he argues.
"At a Christmas Mass when I was parish priest, I asked a child to come to the altar. I gave him a panettone, then a torrone (a popular holiday nougat), and another gift. His arms were so full that when I handed him the baby Jesus, he could no longer welcome him," the cardinal recalls.
"It was a way of showing him the poverty of Christianity to receive the Lord. It is a question of a hierarchy of values," he points out.
He often recounts this episode, even at the Sanctuary of Divino Amore, where anti-coronavirus measures have limited the usually high influx of pilgrims.
Romans have been coming to this shrine since the end of the 18th century to ask Our Lady to protect their city from wars and pandemics.
Cardinal Feroci says the pope has let him remain as director and pastor of Divino Amore.
"Personally, I think - I hope! - that it will not change anything," he adds.
"I am available to help here and there. But my life is already well advanced and my place is here, with the pilgrims who come to the shrine," the cardinal says.
"What should we wish you? Good luck?" we ask him as we're about to leave.
"Good luck, I don't know!" he responds with a burst of laughter.
"I do God's will day by day, and for the rest, we'll see!"
Love Alone Overcomes Fear
This article is taken from the Daily Email sent by Fr Richard Rohr OFM from the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the email by clicking here
It is shocking to think how much the world has changed in such a brief time. Each of us has had our lives and communities disrupted. Of course, I am here in this with you. I feel that I’m in no position to tell you how to feel or how to think, but there are a few things that come to mind I will share.
A few days ago I was encouraged by the Franciscans and by the leadership team here at the CAC to self-quarantine, so I’ve been in my little hermitage now for three or four days. I’ve had years of practice, literally, how to do what we are calling “social distancing.” I have a nice, large yard behind me where there are four huge, beautiful cottonwood trees, and so I walk my dog Opie every few hours.
Right now I’m trying to take in psychologically, spiritually, and personally, what is God trying to say? When I use that phrase, I’m not saying that God causes suffering to teach us good things. But God does use everything, and if God wanted us to experience global solidarity, I can’t think of a better way. We all have access to this suffering, and it bypasses race, gender, religion, and nation.
We are in the midst of a highly teachable moment. There’s no doubt that this period will be referred to for the rest of our lifetimes. We have a chance to go deep, and to go broad. Globally, we’re in this together. Depth is being forced on us by great suffering, which as I like to say, always leads to great love.
But for God to reach us, we have to allow suffering to wound us. Now is no time for an academic solidarity with the world. Real solidarity needs to be felt and suffered. That’s the real meaning of the word “suffer” – to allow someone else’s pain to influence us in a real way. We need to move beyond our own personal feelings and take in the whole. This, I must say, is one of the gifts of television: we can turn it on and see how people in countries other than our own are hurting. What is going to happen to those living in isolated places or for those who don’t have health care? Imagine the fragility of the most marginalized, of people in prisons, the homeless, or even the people performing necessary services, such as ambulance drivers, nurses, and doctors, risking their lives to keep society together? Our feelings of urgency and devastation are not exaggeration: they are responding to the real human situation. We’re not pushing the panic button; we are the panic button. And we have to allow these feelings, and invite God’s presence to hold and sustain us in a time of collective prayer and lament.
I hope this experience will force our attention outwards to the suffering of the most vulnerable. Love always means going beyond yourself to otherness. It takes two. There has to be the lover and the beloved. We must be stretched to an encounter with otherness, and only then do we know it’s love. This is what we call the subject-subject relationship. Love alone overcomes fear and is the true foundation that lasts (1 Corinthians 13:13). Our Wounds, Our Gifts, And Our Power To Heal Others
Nearly fifty years ago Henri Nouwen wrote a book entitled, The Wounded Healer. Its reception established his reputation as unique spiritual mentor and he went on to become one of the most influential spiritual writers of the past half-century. What made his writings so powerful? His brilliance? His gift for expression? He was gifted, yes, but so are many others. What set him apart was that he was a deeply wounded man and from that disquieted place inside him issued forth words that were a healing balm to millions.
How does this work? How do our wounds help heal others? They don’t. It’s not our wounds that help heal others. Rather our wounds can color our gifts and talents in such a way so that they no longer educe resistance and envy in others but instead become what God meant them to be, gifts to grace others.
Sadly, the opposite is often true. Our gifts and talents often become the reason we’re disliked and perhaps even hated. There’s a curious dynamic here. We don’t automatically, nor easily, let the gifts of others grace us. More often, we’re reluctant to admit their beauty and power and we resist and envy those who possess them and sometimes even hate them for their gifts. That’s one of the reasons we find it hard to simply admire someone.
But this reluctance in us doesn’t just say something about us. Often it says something too about the persons who possess those gifts. Talent is an ambiguous thing, it can be used to assert ourselves, to separate ourselves from others, to stand out and to stand above, rather than as a gift to help others. Our talents can be used simply to point to how bright, talented, good-looking, and successful we are. Then they simply become a strength meant to dwarf others and set ourselves apart.
How can we make our talents a gift for others? How can we be loved for our talents rather than hated for them? Here’s the difference: we will be loved and admired for our gifts when our gifts are colored by our wounds so that others do not see them as a threat or as something that sets us apart but rather as something that gifts them in their own shortcomings. When shared in a certain way, our gifts can become gifts for everyone else.
Here’s how that algebra works: Our gifts are given us not for ourselves but for others. But, to be that, they need to be colored by compassion. We come to compassion by letting our wounds befriend our gifts. Here are two examples.
When Princess Diana died in 1997 there was a massive outpouring of love for her. Both by temperament and as a Catholic priest, I’m normally not given to grieving over celebrities, yet I felt a deep sorrow and love for this woman. Why? Because she was beautiful and famous? Not that. Many women who are beautiful and famous and are hated for it. Princess Diana was loved by so many because she was a wounded person, someone whose wounds colored her beauty and fame in a way that induced love, not envy.
Henri Nouwen, who popularized the phrase, “the wounded healer” shared a similar trait. He was a brilliant man, the author of more than forty books, one of the most popular religious speakers of his generation, tenured at both Harvard and Yale, a person with friends all over the world; but also a deeply wounded man who, by his own repeated admission, suffered restlessness, anxiety, jealousies, and obsessions that occasionally landed him in a clinic. As well, by his own repeated admission, amidst this success and popularity, for most of his adult life he struggled to simply accept love. His wounds forever got in the way. And this, his wounded self, colors basically every page of every book he wrote. His brilliance was forever colored by his wounds and that’s why it was never self-assertive but always compassionate. No one envied Nouwen’s brilliance; he was too wounded to be envied. Instead, his brilliance always touched us in a healing way. He was a wounded healer.
Those words, wounded and healer, ordain each other. I’m convinced that God calls each of us to a vocation and to a special work here on earth more on the basis of our wounds than on the basis of our gifts. Our gifts are real and important; but they only grace others when they are shaped into a special kind of compassion by the uniqueness of our own wounds. Our unique, special wounds can help make each of us a unique, special healer.
Our world is full of brilliant, talented, highly-successful, and beautiful people. Those gifts are real, come from God, and should never be denigrated in God’s name. However, our gifts don’t automatically help others; but they can if they are colored by our wounds so that they flow out as compassion and not as pride.
Our Wounds, The Closeness of God
There is no aspect of human life where God is not present, but that way of being present often confounds our expectations and preconceived notions of the divine.’ Gemma Simmonds CJ, the writer of Pray As You Go and Sacred Space’s 2020 Advent retreat, invites us to embrace the presence of a God who responds, often unexpectedly, to our desire for an encounter with him – a God who is always with us, as we shall see in a series of reflections on Thinking Faith this Advent. Gemma Simmonds CJ is Director of the Religious Life Institute at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge.This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here What great nation has its gods as near as Yahweh our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation has laws and customs as upright as the entirety of this Law which I am laying down for you today? But take care, as you value your lives! Do not forget the things which you yourselves have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live; teach them, rather, to your children and to your children's children. (Deuteronomy 4:7-9)
In every age, within whatever system of belief, human beings have reached out in search of the Other. This quest for encounter with God is something more than the primitive desire of cave-dwellers for warmth and light to keep the shadows at bay. It is driven by a thirst for meaning and a longing for intimacy. Our deepest fears, hopes and dreams draw us to seek God-with-us, as does our capacity to aspire to something greater than the here and now.
There is no aspect of human life where God is not present, but that way of being present often confounds our expectations and preconceived notions of the divine. The season of Advent shines a focused spotlight on this whole process of longing, seeking and finding, but also on our expectations confused and confounded by a response entirely unimagined.
Ignatius lived this after the collapse of his fantasies of military glory at Pamplona. What he learned during his long convalescence in Loyola and on his subsequent pilgrim journey to Manresa became the bedrock of his approach to imaginative contemplation of the Scriptures in which he got in touch with deep desires beyond the ephemeral fantasies and attractions to which his ego was drawn. He learned to discern the same voice of God that sounds throughout salvation history with an invitation to dare to encounter the source of our deepest meaning and embrace life in its unpredictable fullness.
Advent takes us by incremental steps through the story of God’s self-revelation in history, as one biblical figure after another learns who it is she or he is dealing with: a God who invites intimacy but who also challenges us to move beyond the limitations of our concept of the holy. The God who joins Adam and Eve for companionable walks in the cool of the evening and haggles with Abraham over the number of righteous to be found in Sodom also warns Moses: ‘Come no nearer […] take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground’ (Exodus 3:5). God is with us, but not as a cosy figure of childhood reassurance. God cannot be tamed or domesticated and will be who God will be, irrespective of our projections.
The Advent story reminds us of what happens when we try to bend God to our own will. As Ignatius experienced in the cave of Manresa, the God who is near whenever we call also allows us to experience our radical emptiness outside the one relationship which gives all others meaning. The Advent call of the O Antiphons is a declaration of hope while also the appeal of human desolation without a sense of God-with-us. But that very desolation and hunger portend a gift. Augustine of Hippo, the patron saint of desire if ever there was one, writes:
The whole life of a good Christian is holy desire. What you desire you cannot see yet. But the desire gives you the capacity, so that when it does happen that you see, you may be fulfilled… this is our life, to be exercised by desire.[1]Aquinas follows on from this: ‘The greater the love, the greater the desire. And desire in some sort prepares and opens the one who desires to receive the one who is desired.’[2]
Ignatius repeatedly urges us in the Spiritual Exercises to name our desire, not because otherwise God might not recognise what it is we deeply need, but because we might not. Advent is always a time for clarifying what is at the heart of our greatest needs. In a time of pandemic, this has never been so urgent.
‘God is with you’, the Advent 2020 retreat from Pray As You Go and Sacred Space, is available at:
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session organised with a Priest.
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)
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: First Friday each month
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 6pm Community Room Ulverstone
SUNDAY MASS ONLINE:
Please go to the following link on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLCP1
Mon 7th Dec NO MASS ... Ambrose
Tues 8th Dec Devonport 12Noon
Ulverstone 7:00pm
Wed 9th Dec Ulverstone 9:30am ... Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Devonport 7:00pm ... Reconciliation Service
Thurs 10th Dec Devonport 8.30am ... pre-recording of Sunday Mass
Devonport 12noon
Ulverstone 7:00pm ... Reconciliation Service
Fri 11th Dec Ulverstone 9:30am ... Damasus 1
Sat 12th Dec Devonport 6.00pm ... 2nd Sunday of Advent
Ulverstone 6:00pm
Sun 13th Dec Devonport 10:00am ... ALSO LIVESTREAM
Ulverstone 10:00am
If you are looking for Sunday Mass readings or Daily Mass readings, Universalis has the readings as well as the various Hours of the Divine Office - https://universalis.com/mass.htm
Dot Prior, Regina Locket, Allan McIntyre, Loretta Visser, Aidan Ravaillion, David Ockwell, Les Enniss, Mary Bryan, Sam Eiler, Judy Redgrove, &....
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Margaret Eaton, Ann Radford, Emily Floresta, Richard Porteous, Mary Clifford, Ena Carter, Sr Mechtilde Dillon SSJ, Elvira Giuliani, Paul Dilger, Peter Magill
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 2nd – 8th December, 2020
Lorraine Sullivan, Neville Tyrell, Marjorie Simpson, Peter Flynn, Annie Williams, Rustica Bibera, Elsie Williams, Pat Faulkner, Denise Payne, Murray Soden, Theo Kurrle, Zeta Mahoney, Isolde Bissett, Chrysanctus Okpon.
May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL
I enter into prayer slowly, humbly aware that God desires my company right now.
I ask that his living Spirit might pray in me, with me, through me.
I read the text with a receptive mind and spirit.
What do I notice?
What draws my attention?
Maybe I sense Jesus’s presence beside me.
I ask how scripture spoke to him as he grew in understanding of his calling, perhaps experiencing confusion and uncertainty himself.
I allow Jesus to share his very self, and speak intimately to my inner being.
In this time of Advent, perhaps I, too, am drawn to make my way into a ‘wilderness’ to prepare to receive the Lord ...
I beg for God’s help to create a time of quiet preparation to receive the Holy Spirit anew …
asking the Lord to bring to my attention any fears, hurts, or the need for a changed heart.
Whatever arises, I take care not to judge harshly, but allow God’s infinite, healing mercy to wash over and through me.
I share with my loving Lord whatever has arisen.
I acknowledge and give thanks for my own worth in God’s eyes …
aware that I am his beloved child.
I ask for the grace I need to be a messenger of the Good News in my life.
Glory be …
Weekly Ramblings
My trip to the Kingston Channel Parish last Monday was helpful in letting me gain a little better understanding of what the next stage in my ministry is going to involve. It also reminded me that many of the things I have carried with me from place to place in my various moves will not necessarily have a home in the Parish House at Kingston as it is much smaller than any presbytery I have lived in in the past 25 years. That’s going to be a challenge.
Last weekend we got news that Archbishop Julian’s brother, Richard, had died suddenly in Sydney – we pray for the repose of his soul and extend our prayerful support to the Archbishop at this time.
The ‘Adore’ Advent-Christmastide books arrived on Tuesday and are available this weekend – once again, I highly recommend having a resource such as this for prayer and reflection during this season.
Also available this weekend is the latest edition of the SWAG. As always it has some interesting articles and a few that are really challenging. If you can’t find a copy feel free to contact me and I’ll try and get one to you.
This Wednesday evening (OLOL Church) and Thursday evening (Sacred Heart) we will be celebrating our Advent Penitential Services commencing at 7.00pm. These occasions are an opportunity to take to heart the words of both the Prophet Isaiah and the beginning words of Mark’s Gospel to – Prepare a Way for the Lord.
Included within the Christmas Mass Times notice is the details for Bookings for tickets to our Christmas Masses. Because of the restrictions on numbers it is imperative that you get in early to book tickets. If you are unable to do this on-line personally, please contact the Parish Office and we will try and assist you.
Take care, stay safe and stay sane
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome and congratulate
Saoirse Lewtas
On her Baptism this weekend at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone
ADVENT – MORNING PRAYER
Morning Prayer recited weekly from 9.30am to 10am at St Joseph Mass Centre Port Sorell. Dates: Tuesday 8th, Monday 14th and Monday 21st December. The Prayer of the Church for the day will be used. For further information contact Giuseppe Gigliotti 0419684-134 gigli@comcen.com.au Covid protocols will be observed.
EMPTY STABLE – OLOL CHURCH
Your kindness and generosity is appreciated and will make life a little more joyful for families and isolated people.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHOIR - MEMBERS NEEDED:
We are looking to have singers support our organist on Sunday 6th December at 10 am. We will be singing familiar hymns. If you would like to help support the celebration of Mass, contact Felicity Sly 0418 301 573 or fsly@internode.on.net or just turn up and sit on the eastern side of the altar.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHOIR MEMBERS ARE ALSO NEEDED FOR CHRISTMAS EVE CAROLS AND MASS.
We will also be singing known hymns, with our organist. Once again, please let Felicity know (as per above) or come to the eastern side of the altar by 11:10 pm.
ALL PARISHIONERS PLEASE NOTE: Midnight Mass – Carols begin at 11:15pm with Mass celebrated at 11:45 pm (not midnight) Due to COVID restrictions, registrations for Christmas Masses will be advised separately.
Thursday 10th December. Eyes down 7:30pm.
Covid safe procedures will be followed.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE
EXPERIENCING GOD, WALKING IN NATURE – FAMILY WALK
Families with teenagers are invited to take a chance to slow down and reflect on God in nature while walking with other families (younger children are also welcome, of course). From Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Goulburn Street, George Town to Low Head Lighthouse and return. Sunday 13th December – 12noon (Mass at Star of the Sea Church is at 11:00am) BYO Lunch, drink, snacks, sunscreen and hat. Enquiries and RSVP Belinda Chapman on 0418 141 171.
SOLEMN PROFESSION OF VOWS
All are warmly invited to join the Carmelite community for a Sung Mass at 9:30am Monday 14th December, when Sr Thérèse-Marie of the Eucharist OCD will make her lifelong commitment to serve the Church in Tasmania as a Discalced Carmelite nun as she makes her Solemn Profession of religious vows. Extra seating arrangements have been organised to comply with Covid-19
IMMACULATA MISSION SCHOOL 2021: MADE FOR HEAVEN!
Start the New Year by going deeper in faith through awesome talks, friendship and fellowship, daily Mass and prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, praise and worship and lots more!
When: 1st - 5th January, 2021,
Where: St James Catholic College, Cygnet Tasmania.
Cost per person: $220 (with basic shared accommodation), $170 (with no accommodation) - includes food, speakers, activities and youth and children's ministry - all ages, families welcome!
Speakers: Archbishop Julian Porteous, Fr Rob Galea, James Parker, Paul Elarde, Sisters of the Immaculata and lay community.
For more info or to register: www.sistersoftheimmaculata.org.au/ims or 0406 372 608
"I've Been Named What? A Carnival?'
An 80-year-old parish priest in a popular shrine in southern Rome tells of his surprise when he was told that Pope Francis had decided to make him cardinal
- By- Loup Besmond de Senneville Rome, November 28, 2020.
This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete full access is via paid subscription
"Do not call me 'Your Eminence'!" warns Father Enrico Feroci, as he stares through eyeglasses perched above his blue face mask.
"It sounds like you are talking to someone else," he jokes.
The 80-year-old priest of Rome is one of 13 men Pope Francis added to the College of Cardinals during a consistory on Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica.
In the days leading up to the ceremony, the now Cardinal Feroci spoke about his surprise appointment from his residence at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Divino Amore (Divine Love), the popular shrine located about 20 kilometers south of Rome where is the rector.
"I was about to celebrate the 12:30 p.m. Sunday Mass [on Oct. 25], when someone came into the sacristy and said to me: 'The pope has made you a cardinal!'," the elderly priest recalls.
"I thought they were joking. I said, 'Cardinal? Don't you mean a carnival?' And I laughed," he says with a broad smile.
But the man who brought him the news pulled out his phone and showed Father Feroci the text of the pope's announcement of new cardinals, which Francis had made just minutes earlier after reciting the Angelus from the papal study overlooking St. Peter's Square.
Unlike the official appointment of bishops, the pope never gives advanced notice to the men he chooses to induct into the College of Cardinals.
"Looking at this, I was completely lost, I didn't know what to say," Cardinal Feroci says, referring to the text the man showed him in the sacristy.
"I finally went to celebrate Mass, as I was scheduled to do, but I was overwhelmed," he confesses.
During his conversation with La Croix, which was already several days after the Oct. 25 announcement, the neo-cardinal is still in a state of disbelief.
"It's a total surprise. I am over 80 years old," he says.
Cardinals who are 80 years of age or older do not have the right or obligation to participate in a conclave that elects the Bishop of Rome.
"I asked myself why the pope did that..." Cardinal Feroci wonders aloud.
Francis' right-hand man for the management of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, didn't really help him understand.
"These are God's jokes," the pope's vicar told him.
But Francis seems to have made a heart-felt choice in deciding to give Feroci the red hat.
The 80-year-old cardinal shares the pope's vision for the Church and Francis' way of exercising his priesthood.
Obviously, Feroci is excluded by age from electing the next pope or having a job in the Roman Curia.
Yet, it is precisely because of this that the pope's decision to make him a cardinal is so symbolic.
Feroci, who was ordained priest for the Diocese of Rome in 1965, directed the diocesan Caritas for 17 years (2009-2018) after spending the previous three decades as an assistant priest and then pastor in Prati Fiscali, a neighborhood in the north of Rome.
He knows the city's working-class neighborhoods better than anyone. And he understands the needs of the "new poor" that live in them, which associations are caring for by the hundreds during these times of pandemic.
In fact, it was at the Caritas Hostel near Stazione Termini, Rome's main train station, that Feroci welcomed the pope at the end of 2015 when Francis went to open a "Holy Door of Charity" during the Jubilee of Mercy.
Now, five years since that event, Cardinal Feroci says he's extremely worried about the future consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
"I am especially concerned about all the unseen suffering that's still to come or remains invisible, but which is indeed caused by the pandemic," he confesses.
"The poverty that is coming is being totally ignored," the cardinal insists.
And he warns that COVID-19 is creating "deep divisions" in families.
"This virus feeds the fear of the other, whom I see as the one who can make me die," he says.
This Roman priest has spent his entire ministry fighting poverty, not only in the Eternal City, but also Mozambique. He helped his former parish twin with another parish in the African country.
But Cardinal Feroci says his work with the poor is "not a slogan".
"Serving the poor means drawing consequences from our faith in Christ," he argues.
"At a Christmas Mass when I was parish priest, I asked a child to come to the altar. I gave him a panettone, then a torrone (a popular holiday nougat), and another gift. His arms were so full that when I handed him the baby Jesus, he could no longer welcome him," the cardinal recalls.
"It was a way of showing him the poverty of Christianity to receive the Lord. It is a question of a hierarchy of values," he points out.
He often recounts this episode, even at the Sanctuary of Divino Amore, where anti-coronavirus measures have limited the usually high influx of pilgrims.
Romans have been coming to this shrine since the end of the 18th century to ask Our Lady to protect their city from wars and pandemics.
Cardinal Feroci says the pope has let him remain as director and pastor of Divino Amore.
"Personally, I think - I hope! - that it will not change anything," he adds.
"I am available to help here and there. But my life is already well advanced and my place is here, with the pilgrims who come to the shrine," the cardinal says.
"What should we wish you? Good luck?" we ask him as we're about to leave.
"Good luck, I don't know!" he responds with a burst of laughter.
"I do God's will day by day, and for the rest, we'll see!"
Love Alone Overcomes Fear
This article is taken from the Daily Email sent by Fr Richard Rohr OFM from the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the email by clicking here
It is shocking to think how much the world has changed in such a brief time. Each of us has had our lives and communities disrupted. Of course, I am here in this with you. I feel that I’m in no position to tell you how to feel or how to think, but there are a few things that come to mind I will share.
A few days ago I was encouraged by the Franciscans and by the leadership team here at the CAC to self-quarantine, so I’ve been in my little hermitage now for three or four days. I’ve had years of practice, literally, how to do what we are calling “social distancing.” I have a nice, large yard behind me where there are four huge, beautiful cottonwood trees, and so I walk my dog Opie every few hours.
Right now I’m trying to take in psychologically, spiritually, and personally, what is God trying to say? When I use that phrase, I’m not saying that God causes suffering to teach us good things. But God does use everything, and if God wanted us to experience global solidarity, I can’t think of a better way. We all have access to this suffering, and it bypasses race, gender, religion, and nation.
We are in the midst of a highly teachable moment. There’s no doubt that this period will be referred to for the rest of our lifetimes. We have a chance to go deep, and to go broad. Globally, we’re in this together. Depth is being forced on us by great suffering, which as I like to say, always leads to great love.
But for God to reach us, we have to allow suffering to wound us. Now is no time for an academic solidarity with the world. Real solidarity needs to be felt and suffered. That’s the real meaning of the word “suffer” – to allow someone else’s pain to influence us in a real way. We need to move beyond our own personal feelings and take in the whole. This, I must say, is one of the gifts of television: we can turn it on and see how people in countries other than our own are hurting. What is going to happen to those living in isolated places or for those who don’t have health care? Imagine the fragility of the most marginalized, of people in prisons, the homeless, or even the people performing necessary services, such as ambulance drivers, nurses, and doctors, risking their lives to keep society together? Our feelings of urgency and devastation are not exaggeration: they are responding to the real human situation. We’re not pushing the panic button; we are the panic button. And we have to allow these feelings, and invite God’s presence to hold and sustain us in a time of collective prayer and lament.
I hope this experience will force our attention outwards to the suffering of the most vulnerable. Love always means going beyond yourself to otherness. It takes two. There has to be the lover and the beloved. We must be stretched to an encounter with otherness, and only then do we know it’s love. This is what we call the subject-subject relationship. Love alone overcomes fear and is the true foundation that lasts (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Our Wounds, Our Gifts, And Our Power To Heal Others
Nearly fifty years ago Henri Nouwen wrote a book entitled, The Wounded Healer. Its reception established his reputation as unique spiritual mentor and he went on to become one of the most influential spiritual writers of the past half-century. What made his writings so powerful? His brilliance? His gift for expression? He was gifted, yes, but so are many others. What set him apart was that he was a deeply wounded man and from that disquieted place inside him issued forth words that were a healing balm to millions.
How does this work? How do our wounds help heal others? They don’t. It’s not our wounds that help heal others. Rather our wounds can color our gifts and talents in such a way so that they no longer educe resistance and envy in others but instead become what God meant them to be, gifts to grace others.
Sadly, the opposite is often true. Our gifts and talents often become the reason we’re disliked and perhaps even hated. There’s a curious dynamic here. We don’t automatically, nor easily, let the gifts of others grace us. More often, we’re reluctant to admit their beauty and power and we resist and envy those who possess them and sometimes even hate them for their gifts. That’s one of the reasons we find it hard to simply admire someone.
But this reluctance in us doesn’t just say something about us. Often it says something too about the persons who possess those gifts. Talent is an ambiguous thing, it can be used to assert ourselves, to separate ourselves from others, to stand out and to stand above, rather than as a gift to help others. Our talents can be used simply to point to how bright, talented, good-looking, and successful we are. Then they simply become a strength meant to dwarf others and set ourselves apart.
How can we make our talents a gift for others? How can we be loved for our talents rather than hated for them? Here’s the difference: we will be loved and admired for our gifts when our gifts are colored by our wounds so that others do not see them as a threat or as something that sets us apart but rather as something that gifts them in their own shortcomings. When shared in a certain way, our gifts can become gifts for everyone else.
Here’s how that algebra works: Our gifts are given us not for ourselves but for others. But, to be that, they need to be colored by compassion. We come to compassion by letting our wounds befriend our gifts. Here are two examples.
When Princess Diana died in 1997 there was a massive outpouring of love for her. Both by temperament and as a Catholic priest, I’m normally not given to grieving over celebrities, yet I felt a deep sorrow and love for this woman. Why? Because she was beautiful and famous? Not that. Many women who are beautiful and famous and are hated for it. Princess Diana was loved by so many because she was a wounded person, someone whose wounds colored her beauty and fame in a way that induced love, not envy.
Henri Nouwen, who popularized the phrase, “the wounded healer” shared a similar trait. He was a brilliant man, the author of more than forty books, one of the most popular religious speakers of his generation, tenured at both Harvard and Yale, a person with friends all over the world; but also a deeply wounded man who, by his own repeated admission, suffered restlessness, anxiety, jealousies, and obsessions that occasionally landed him in a clinic. As well, by his own repeated admission, amidst this success and popularity, for most of his adult life he struggled to simply accept love. His wounds forever got in the way. And this, his wounded self, colors basically every page of every book he wrote. His brilliance was forever colored by his wounds and that’s why it was never self-assertive but always compassionate. No one envied Nouwen’s brilliance; he was too wounded to be envied. Instead, his brilliance always touched us in a healing way. He was a wounded healer.
Those words, wounded and healer, ordain each other. I’m convinced that God calls each of us to a vocation and to a special work here on earth more on the basis of our wounds than on the basis of our gifts. Our gifts are real and important; but they only grace others when they are shaped into a special kind of compassion by the uniqueness of our own wounds. Our unique, special wounds can help make each of us a unique, special healer.
Our world is full of brilliant, talented, highly-successful, and beautiful people. Those gifts are real, come from God, and should never be denigrated in God’s name. However, our gifts don’t automatically help others; but they can if they are colored by our wounds so that they flow out as compassion and not as pride.
Our Wounds, The Closeness of God
There is no aspect of human life where God is not present, but that way of being present often confounds our expectations and preconceived notions of the divine.’ Gemma Simmonds CJ, the writer of Pray As You Go and Sacred Space’s 2020 Advent retreat, invites us to embrace the presence of a God who responds, often unexpectedly, to our desire for an encounter with him – a God who is always with us, as we shall see in a series of reflections on Thinking Faith this Advent. Gemma Simmonds CJ is Director of the Religious Life Institute at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here
What great nation has its gods as near as Yahweh our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation has laws and customs as upright as the entirety of this Law which I am laying down for you today? But take care, as you value your lives! Do not forget the things which you yourselves have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live; teach them, rather, to your children and to your children's children. (Deuteronomy 4:7-9)
In every age, within whatever system of belief, human beings have reached out in search of the Other. This quest for encounter with God is something more than the primitive desire of cave-dwellers for warmth and light to keep the shadows at bay. It is driven by a thirst for meaning and a longing for intimacy. Our deepest fears, hopes and dreams draw us to seek God-with-us, as does our capacity to aspire to something greater than the here and now.
There is no aspect of human life where God is not present, but that way of being present often confounds our expectations and preconceived notions of the divine. The season of Advent shines a focused spotlight on this whole process of longing, seeking and finding, but also on our expectations confused and confounded by a response entirely unimagined.
Ignatius lived this after the collapse of his fantasies of military glory at Pamplona. What he learned during his long convalescence in Loyola and on his subsequent pilgrim journey to Manresa became the bedrock of his approach to imaginative contemplation of the Scriptures in which he got in touch with deep desires beyond the ephemeral fantasies and attractions to which his ego was drawn. He learned to discern the same voice of God that sounds throughout salvation history with an invitation to dare to encounter the source of our deepest meaning and embrace life in its unpredictable fullness.
Advent takes us by incremental steps through the story of God’s self-revelation in history, as one biblical figure after another learns who it is she or he is dealing with: a God who invites intimacy but who also challenges us to move beyond the limitations of our concept of the holy. The God who joins Adam and Eve for companionable walks in the cool of the evening and haggles with Abraham over the number of righteous to be found in Sodom also warns Moses: ‘Come no nearer […] take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground’ (Exodus 3:5). God is with us, but not as a cosy figure of childhood reassurance. God cannot be tamed or domesticated and will be who God will be, irrespective of our projections.
The Advent story reminds us of what happens when we try to bend God to our own will. As Ignatius experienced in the cave of Manresa, the God who is near whenever we call also allows us to experience our radical emptiness outside the one relationship which gives all others meaning. The Advent call of the O Antiphons is a declaration of hope while also the appeal of human desolation without a sense of God-with-us. But that very desolation and hunger portend a gift. Augustine of Hippo, the patron saint of desire if ever there was one, writes:
The whole life of a good Christian is holy desire. What you desire you cannot see yet. But the desire gives you the capacity, so that when it does happen that you see, you may be fulfilled… this is our life, to be exercised by desire.[1]
Aquinas follows on from this: ‘The greater the love, the greater the desire. And desire in some sort prepares and opens the one who desires to receive the one who is desired.’[2]
Ignatius repeatedly urges us in the Spiritual Exercises to name our desire, not because otherwise God might not recognise what it is we deeply need, but because we might not. Advent is always a time for clarifying what is at the heart of our greatest needs. In a time of pandemic, this has never been so urgent.
‘God is with you’, the Advent 2020 retreat from Pray As You Go and Sacred Space, is available at:
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