Next Wednesday 12th October at 8.00pm we have the second of our three parish meetings in the hall at St Augustine's.
Bishop Alan asks us to tell him many things and they can all be read in the questionnaire on the Parish website but they include:
How can your community look to sustain and increase the number of people worshipping with you towards 2030?
For what other areas of your community life could trained lay men and women assume responsibility?
How can the parish community invite and prepare more people to support it?
Is there anything your community can do to encourage a deeper prayer life and engagement with Scripture?
How can closer relationships be developed between the worshipping community, the school(s) the young people attend, and the families that belong to both?
How do you feel about the average weekly offertory donation in your community? Does this need to increase to enable your community to flourish in 2030?
Steven will host the meeting on Wednesday and hopes that many of you will want to join in what should be an interesting conversation.
The 45 minute wait time; the stubbed toe; the traffic jam; the report due by 3 p.m.; the gossiping relative; the mortgage payment; the gross nappy change; the unexpected car repair; the lost wallet; The rude person at the supermarket; the head cold.
This is the stuff of ordinary life. In each of these moments we are faced with a choice: God's will or my will, sanctity or sin. We often think saintliness is the product of the right circumstances. If only we had more time, we would pray. If only there were no annoying people, we could love others. If only nothing bad ever happened, we might be thankful and patient.
But holiness isn't a matter of perfect circumstances. They don't exist. Holiness is what we do with imperfect circumstances.
Daily life gives us a thousand opportunities to prove we love God. Sadly, we waste most of them, going through life on auto-pilot, responding through instinct and pas-sion and never really choosing to make our lives something more.
A cross is when God's will and our will intersect and are at odds. Sanctity is when God's will and our will run parallel to one another. Each day, each moment, we are faced with the choice - embrace God's will revealed in everyday circumstances, or resist and fight his sanctifying work in our souls. The choice we make determines our fate.
The proving ground for holiness? The fiery forge that makes saints? It isn't some painless utopia where everything goes our way. No, it is nothing other than the often irritating, painful, frustrating circumstances of everyday, humdrum life.
What will you do with them?
With my best wishes and prayers
Fr Nick
The sick and housebound
Those who have recently died
Years Mind:
Sunday: Mike Post, Pope Pius XII
Wednesday: Fr John Dempsey, Fr Patrick Malin
Friday: Fr Matthias Kearney, Fr Michael McKenna
Saturday: Denise Murray, Fr Roderick Grant
Sunday: Fr Christopher Creede
Evil draws its power from indecision and concern for what other people think
Pope Benedict XVI
First Reading Exodus 17:8-13
Moses needed help from his supporters if he was himself to give support to the army of Israel in its battle with the
Amalekites.
Second Reading 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Ever since childhood, we have had the scriptures to guide us. Now it is our responsibility to proclaim God's
message to the world.
Gospel Luke 18:1-8
God is not blind to injustice and will see that, sooner or later, its victims will receive justice.