Catholic in Yanchep

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Tag Archives: Readings for Mass


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The Feast of the Epiphany | God reveals himself to the truth-seeking heart

Adoration of the Magi, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1485-1488, Tempera on Panel, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence.

Adoration of the Magi, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1485-1488, Tempera on Panel, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence.

Today’s readings are rich with meaning, and we have some snippets to help you reflect on what God has revealed about himself.  First, the Mass Readings for today:

Word format: Epiphany

Pdf format: Epiphany

The Epiphany is all about God’s revelation to the world.  But how does God reveal himself to you personally?  Fr Barron talks here about Oprah-style ‘spirituality’ versus God’s particular revelation of himself in Christ.

Click-here-to-listen

 

Want to do some quiet adoration?  Let God speak to your heart through the music and art in this video.

Finally, Fr John Speekman has some great insights on God’s plan here.

Here is a small distillation of his thought, but you need to read the whole article to get the explanation.

And so, from the Epiphany event we learn a few truths:

  • The Father is presenting the world with his only Son, born of the Virgin. He is indeed ‘King of the Jews’, as the wise men call him, but only when he is ‘exalted’ on the Cross will the title take on its most accurate meaning.
  • The Father has a plan to make his Son known to the world. It is a sovereign plan; which, despite all resistance, will be fulfilled. Herod may plot but God’s purpose will be accomplished– the wise men will simply return ‘by a different way’.
  • God sees the heart. The presence of God’s Son on earth will reveal what lies in the hearts of men. The Magi who travel to seek the divine child travel in a line as straight as their hearts; while Herod shows himself to be evil. He is the precursor of all those throughout history who will oppose Jesus in one way or another, trying to expunge him from the earth.
  • God has come for all men. The Magi were pagans, perhaps even astrologers, and were invited to find and worship the Lord of the Universe. He was revealed to them and before him they fell to their knees and ‘did him homage’.

 


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3rd Sunday of Advent, Year B | Make a straight way for the Lord

Baptism of Christ, altarpiece, triptych, oil on wood, Gerard David, ca 1507, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, Belgium.

Baptism of Christ, altarpiece, triptych, oil on wood, Gerard David, ca 1507, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, Belgium.

Apologies for not posting last week: Saturday was spent preparing Christmas Cards!  The readings for this weekend can be downloaded here:

Word format: Year B Advent 3rd Sunday

Pdf format: Year B Advent 3rd Sunday

Need some inspiration for Advent?  Listen here: Click-here-to-listen

 

And what exactly is the Good News or εὐαγγέλιον (Greek: euangélion)?  Jesus is not just a ‘wise teacher’ or a guru.  Find out more here …


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All Saints and All Souls

An angel frees the souls from Purgatory (detail), Ludovico Caracci, 1610, oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Vaticana

An angel frees the souls from Purgatory (detail), Ludovico Caracci,
1610, oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Vaticana

The Solemnities of All Saints (1 Nov) and All Souls (2 Nov)  are particularly poignant to me this year.

I lost my husband to cancer in March, and I remember thinking, as I said goodbye to his body, that Chemistry and Biology could only go a certain way to explaining what had happened.  The essence of Bill, his irrepressible cheerfulness and zest for life, his forgetfulness of self, his ridiculous jokes, his kindness and generosity, the way he would give a chirpy greeting to everyone he passed – in short, those elements which made up his transcendent soul – had moved on, and all that was left behind was merely a shell.

As Fr Barron says in his homily,

We are more than our bodies, more than our memories, more than our imagination, more than our senses.  There is a mysterious spiritual capacity within us.  That’s what the church calls the soul.

 

Click here to listen:Click-here-to-listen

Fr Barron also has a beautiful take on All Saints’ Day here:

The takeaway message is that once you surrender your life to Christ, you find your deepest self.  The saints are those people who have surrendered their lives to God so completely, that they have lit up the world around them with God’s love.  Yes, the saints are heroes and role models but they are also still alive, and they are our spiritual friends – and we can ask them to pray for us and act on our behalf (think of St Therese of Lisieux – ‘I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.’)

Here are this Sunday’s readings for Australia.

Word format: All Souls Day Year A

Pdf format: All Souls Day Year A

Don’t forget Fr Augustine will join with other Northern suburbs’ priests to celebrate Mass for All Souls at the Chapel at Pinnaroo Memorial Park, Whitfords Avenue on 2 November at 2.30 p.m.  We particularly remember our former parishioner, Veronica (Ronnie) Spratling, who died on 29 October in Victoria.  Our condolences to all the Spratling family.

I have also written a list of deceased members of our parish in the intentions section of the Newsletter. If I have left anyone out, please email me and I will add them to our November list.


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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A | How do you respond to God’s invitation?

Hello to all!  Here are the readings for this Sunday:

Parable of the Two Sons, courtesy of www.freebibleimages.org.

Parable of the Two Sons, courtesy of  http://www.freebibleimages.org.

Word format: Year A 26th Sunday

Pdf format: Year A 26th Sunday

Listen to Fr Robert Barron’s homily on Taking Spiritual Responsibility here:

http://www.wordonfire.org/resources/homily/taking-spiritual-responsibility/4503/

And the quote for the day is from Blaise Pascal:

There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners, and the sinners who think they are righteous.

Don’t forget that Fr Augustine will be away from the 28th September to 11th October, so there won’t be any weekday Masses.

 

The Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grunewald, 1512-1516, Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, Alsace, France.


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14 September | The Exaltation of the Cross

Just a reminder to all to bring a plate for supper after Mass tonight, as we have newly ordained Fr Christian Irdi visiting!  You can read Fr Christian’s account of his calling to the priesthood here.  Today is doubly a feast because it’s also the Exaltation of the Cross.

The Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grunewald, 1512-1516, Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, Alsace, France.

The Isenheim Altarpiece, Matthias Grunewald, 1512-1516, Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, Alsace, France.

Today’s Mass readings can be downloaded here:

WORD FORMAT:  Year A The Exaltation of the Cross

PDF FORMAT: Year A The Exaltation of the Cross

Fr Robert Barron explains why the cross was necessary here:

Thank you to those who took the trouble to attend the Atlantis Beach development meeting last Monday to find out about possibilities for a church and Catholic school in the area.  We’ll be giving you feedback on this soon!


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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A | Jesus and the Canaanite Woman

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

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


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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Here are the readings and notices for this week:

Feeding of the 5000, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Feeding of the 5000, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Word Format: Year A 18th Sunday

Pdf Format:  Year A 18th Sunday

Stay tuned for some photos from Christian Irdi’s Ordination Mass this morning.  We will post them in the Gallery section.


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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Here is our Parish Newsletter with Readings for Masses this Sunday.

Parable of the Hidden Treasure, etching by Jan Luyken

Parable of the Hidden Treasure, etching by Jan Luyken

Word format:  Year A 17th Sunday

Pdf format:  Year A 17th Sunday

 


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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Hello all,

Parable of the Tares

Parable of the Tares

Here is this Sunday’s Newsletter with the Readings:

Word format: Year A 16th Sunday

Pdf format: Year A 16th Sunday.

Please also pray for the Australian Defence Force and Major Bernard Gaynor, whose commission in the ADF was terminated on 10 July 2014.  Major Gaynor is a Catholic father of 6 who has had three deployments to Iraq with the ADF, and specialised in Military Intelligence and Arabic language and culture.  In April 2013, Major Gaynor wrote a 26 page  complaint to the chief of the Defence Force about the ADF’s participation in uniform in the Sydney Gay an Lesbian Mardi Gras; however, for reasons of apparent political correctness, the ADF has seen fit to remove him.  To read more, and to write to the Minister for Defence click here:   Good News Update 103.


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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Here is this Sunday’s Parish Bulletin with the Readings for Mass.Christ the Sower

Word Format:  Year A 15th Sunday

Pdf Format: Year A 15th Sunday.

Unfortunately, space limitations prevented my adding reflections on today’s readings.  I recommend you go here for some excellent scriptural exegesis: http://www.thesacredpage.com/2014/07/the-seed-good-soil-and-understanding.html by Dr Michael Barber.

I have, however, drawn attention in the newsletter to Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm’s intention to introduce a private member’s bill on Tuesday to ‘deregulate marriage’ so that marriages between same-sex attracted persons might become legal in Australia.  I would urge all parishioners (or anyone who reads this blog) to familiarise themselves with the Catholic position on homosexuality.  Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers gives a great summary here: http://deaconharold.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/the-truth-in-love/.  If you want to do something else practical in the meantime, sign this petition here: http://preservingmarriage.acl.org.au/.  This petition is on a Greens’ Bill currently under consideration that would recognise foreign so-called ‘same-sex marriages’ in Autralia.