Jesus and the Canaanite Woman, illuminated parchment, folio 164r, Les Tres Heures du Duc du Berry, 1412-1490, Chateau de Chantilly, France

Here are the readings for this Sunday’s Mass:

Word document: Mass Readings, 20th Sunday Ordinary Time Year A

PDF document: Mass Readings 20th Sunday Ordinary Time Year A

Do you find the story of Christ and the Canaanite woman one of the “hard sayings” of Jesus?  Then listen to these podcasts by Fr Robert Barron …

1. How great is your faith?
2. Strength through resistance

Also, this is the last week you can make a submission to the Euthanasia enquiry.  If you don’t know what this is about, let me explain.  Green’s Senator, Richard di Natale, tabled a draft bill in parliament in June, proposing that doctors be allowed to prescribe and administer an end of life substance to a terminally ill person.  Please go here to find out what you can do.

Some points to remember (quoted from ACL):

• Legalising euthanasia puts at risk the lives of society’s most vulnerable people – the elderly, the lonely, the sick, and the depressed. Euthanasia transmits the message that some lives are no longer worth living or worth caring for.
• Euthanasia undermines the fundamental relationship of trust between doctor and patient. Patients trust doctors to act in their best interest.
• Euthanasia puts pressure on patients who are concerned about being a burden to their families or friends.
• Despite safeguards, in countries where euthanasia has been legalised, a large number of euthanasia deaths occur without the explicit request or consent of the patient.
• After euthanasia is introduced, the strict boundaries are often relaxed to include, for example, mental illness but no terminal physical illness. Euthanasia for children as young as 12 is permitted in the Netherlands, and for children of any age in Belgium.
• In most cases, physical pain can be treated with palliative care.

Also this week, Senator Eric Abetz has been shot down for suggesting there is a link between abortion and breast cancer.  MercatorNet has a great take on this issue here.  Stay informed because you probably won’t be informed by the main stream media.  By the way, Senator George Brandis has been a great defender of religious freedom and will this week be delivering the University of Notre Dame’s annual lecture on religious liberty.  Read more here.  (… and sorry, it’s in Sydney, not Perth).

And now a quote for the day:

“Love and ever more love is the only solution to every problem that comes up.
If we love each other enough, we will bear with each other’s faults and burdens.
If we love enough, we are going to light a fire in the hearts of others.
And it is love that will burn out the sins and hatreds that sadden us. It is love that will make us want to do great things for each other. No sacrifice and no suffering will then seem too much.”
― Dorothy Day