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Reflection by Mary Coloe PBVM

I’VE DONE NO MORE THAN MY DUTY

As a child, I thought that had I lived 2000 years ago and had the chance to see and hear Jesus then faith would have been so much easier. I’d have certainly believed! That’s not what the Gospels say. Many people who witnessed the deeds and heard the words of Jesus did not come to faith in him. Faith isn’t a matter of seeing, or hearing. Faith is about loving. It’s risking one’s whole life for another. This is the normal sort of faith on which we base our human friendships and commitments, and religious faith is similar. The disciples ask that their faith might be increased, but notice that Jesus puts the responsibility back onto them. Faith and love increase by daily living them, by daily putting them into action.

The parable shows faith in action by taking a common image from Jesus’ time when a household would have servants. The parable suggests that faith is not what we want God to do for us; faith is about our being and doing for God. It is enough for us to live within the bounty of God’s goodness and to respond to that goodness by generous service. Isn’t that what it is like when people are in love? They are not asking, ‘What will the other do for me?’ but rather, ‘How can I respond to this experience of love?’ As a lover loves and a believer believes, so servants express their identity in serving. At the end of the day the disciple simply says, ‘I have done no more than my duty, I have lived my faith.’

‘Fan into a flame the gift God gave you.’ As I read or listen to these words their urgency challenges me. What is my gift? What particular way has God gifted me? Often I look at other people and their gifts are obvious – they can sing, or lead, or have a way of making friends easily, or a sharp mind. In fact by comparison with others it can sometimes be hard to see or value God’s gift to me. Perhaps today my response to this reading is to take some quiet time alone and in silence open my heart to God, asking for wisdom to see clearly

When I was teaching in school there was a poster in my room that read – God doesn’t make junk! Whether we know it or not each of us is a precious part of God’s creation and Timothy is right in wanting us all to be contributors. Quite a few of the Gospel sayings have a similar theme – don’t hide your light under a bushel; the woman who gives a small penny but is praised for contributing all. The other side of Timothy’s urgent teaching is not just to recognise my gifts, but to put them to work – to fan them into a blazing flame. Gifts are not things to be cherished for oneself, but are meant to draw us out to others in some way.

In my own ministry I have a great love of the Scriptures. In this, and in the opportunities I have had to deepen my knowledge of them, I feel deeply blessed. The more I appreciate the power of the Scriptures in my life, the greater the urgency I feel to share this with others through teaching or giving talks or writing. And in doing this, in going out to teach it seems I receive more blessings. It’s a strange sort of circle of receiving, giving, receiving more.

Timothy says, I have ‘been trusted to look after something precious,’ but in a paradoxical way, to guard this precious gift, I need to be open and share it with others. Here, the image of a flame is helpful. If a small flame is alight inside a closed room, it will stay small – but if you open the door or window, then it will blaze up to life.

© Mary Coloe

Dr Mary Coloe PBVM is a Presentation sister and teaches in the field of New Testament studies at the Yarra Theological Union. She was Associate Professor in New Testament at the Australian Catholic University and has taught at Boston College, the Jesuit School of Theology Berkeley, and at the Ecce Homo Biblical Institute Jeru-salem. Her specialist research areas include the Gospel of John and early Jewish Christian relationships. Dr Coloe has written numerous books, essays and journal articles on these and other topics and is a member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas and other biblical associations. Her home page is http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/macoloe/

March For The Babies

Parishioners are invited to attend this year’s March for the Babies on Saturday 8 October 2022 commencing at 1:00pm starting at the corner of Spring Street and Wellington Parade.

This is an annual reminder of the babies lost to abortion in Australia each year and a public appeal to our parliaments to restore their human right to be born alive.

World Youth Day 2023

Archbishop Peter A Comensoli has set a huge target for Melbourne: 500 young people on pilgrimage in 2023 to participate in the largest youth gathering in the world - World Youth Day 2023!

Join us this October at our regional youth gatherings to hear more about the four exciting pilgrimage options on offer for young people from around Melbourne.

Tuesday, 18 October 2022
7:00pm – 9:00pm
St Patrick's Parish,
10 Rogers Street,
Mentone

The evening will cover:

• itineraries, pilgrimage highlights and an outline of World Youth Day.
• indicative pricing, payment details and fundraising options.
• leadership packages and other ways to serve at World Youth Day.
• ways parishes can be involved in supporting young people from across the Archdiocese to attend World Youth Day.

For all queries:
Or 9926-5677

St. Luke's Feast Day Celebration

Sunday 23 October 2022

St Luke’s Day will be celebrated on Sunday 23 October 2022. It will begin with a Mass celebration at 10:00am followed by a BYO picnic lunch and blanket, face painting, colouring in, art & craft, devonshire tea and games.

Please note that on Sunday 23rd October, THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE MASS at 10:00am. There will not be an 8:30am Mass.

Come along and join in the celebration of our Patron Saint and gathering of our St Luke’s Parish community.

View St. Luke's Day Flyer

Social Justice Liturgy

Would you like to join a small planning group to help with the liturgies when there are special Social Justice occasions?

There would be only 3 a year:

• Social Justice Sunday
• NATSICC Sunday
• Refugee Sunday

Please call Amanda on 0412-733-009 if you are interested.

An Opportunity For Your Youth To Reflect On The Covid-19 Pandemic

For Australian Catholics this is a timely reminder of the economic and social challenges of the Pandemic; and of the need to act.

Catholic organisations around Australia have been responding in various ways to the crisis which has laid bare old injustices and unmet needs. For Catholics, the challenges of the Pandemic go beyond the delivery of education, health and welfare services.

Earlier in June 2021 the Australian Young Christian Students (YCS) in Melbourne published a Pandemic Enquiry aimed at this very task.

The Pandemic Enquiry is entitled Shaping our Post-Pandemic World, An Enquiry for Secondary Students. It comprises five sessions, which explore “How the Covid-19 Pandemic has affected me, my country and our world; why it should concern me; and what I might be able to do about its consequences”.

The social effects of the Pandemic may last for years. The Pandemic will be a major reality, if not the overarching reality, in the lives of students for some time yet. It will particularly affect students; in their studies and in its impact on their hopes and plans for their future lives.

The Pandemic Enquiry is designed for use in classrooms and parishes (in RE classes and in parish youth groups) and not just for YCS groups.

The Pandemic Enquiry is free and can also be downloaded from the YCS website, which includes a promotion by Archbishop Mark Coleridge; https://www.aycs.org.au/pandemic-enquiry

For further enquires please contact Lys Crowe, Project Officer, Melbourne YCS,

Need For Volunteers

We are in urgent need of volunteers to:

1. visit and bring Holy Communion to the sick and elderly in the nursing homes.
2. clean the Parish Centre on a fortnightly basis.
3. set up the Altar and arrange flowers.

Please see father or let the parish office know if you are able to help.

Thank you.

Happy Families Pray Together

"The family that recites the Rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of Nazareth: its members place Jesus at the centre, they share his joys and sorrows, they place their needs and their plans in his hands, they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on."

- John Paul II, Apostolic Letter on the Rosary of the Virgin Mary

View Rosary Prayer Card

Individual Confession vs. "General Absolution"

The Church hasn't banned the Third Rite which, by the way, consists in the general absolution of a large number of people at once without individual confession.

The rite was first introduced during World War I to allow priests to absolve a large number of soldiers before they went into battle when it would have been impossible to hear all the confessions individually. At the time of the World War II the conditions were extended to other circumstances of imminent danger of death, and finally in 1972 they came to include situations such as those in mission territories where, if the priest did not absolve a large number of people at once, they would have to go for a long time without the grace of the sacraments through no fault of their own.

The norms on what has come to be called "general absolution" were incorporated into the 1983 Code of Canon Law in Canons 961-963 and into the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraphs 1483-1484 (cf. J. Flader, Question Time 1, Connor Court 2012, q. 80).

Up until some 15 years ago the Third Rite was used in many parishes in Australia. Significant numbers of people took advantage of it, partly because they were helped by the readings from Scripture, prayers and often a homily, and because many others were attending as well, emphasising the communal, ecclesial aspect of the sacrament. And since there was no need to confess their sins individually to the priest, they found it much easier than going to individual confession.

Why did it suddenly stop? Perhaps the more apposite question would be why it began in the first place. It is clear that the conditions required for its use simply do not exist in Australia, particularly the condition that if the priest did not absolve a large number of penitents collectively they would have to go for a long period of time without the grace of the sacraments through no fault of their own. While the number of priests has diminished somewhat, we are still well served with priests and parishes so that the sacrament of Reconciliation is readily available all over this country.

By the late 1990s the use of general absolution was fairly widespread, especially in some dioceses. During their five-yearly ad limina visit to Rome in 1998, the Australian bishops discussed this matter, along with others, with Pope [St.] John Paul and Vatican officials. At the end of their visit a long Statement of Conclusions was signed by representatives of the Australian bishops and of the Roman Curia. Among other matters, it encouraged the use of individual confession and, with respect to general absolution, said: "Unfortunately, communal celeb­rations have not infrequently occasioned an illegitimate use of general absolution. This illegitimate use, like other abuses in the administration of the sacrament of Penance, is to be eliminated. The bishops will exercise renewed vigilance on these matters for the future, aware that departures from the authentic tradition do great wrong to the Church and to individual Catholics" (n. 45).

Naturally, while general absolution is not to be used in this country, it still remains an option in countries where the conditions for its use exist.

Those who do take regular advantage of individual confession know how much good it does them. Apart from receiving forgiveness of their sins, they have an opportunity to do a thorough examination of conscience, to tell their sins personally to God through the priest and to receive helpful spiritual direction and encouragement. With the abundant grace the sacrament gives them, they begin their spiritual struggle anew each time, with their soul free from sin and filled with hope.

Pope [St.] John Paul II, in an address to priests at the beginning of Lent in 1981, said that "confession periodically renewed, the so-called confession 'of devotion', has always accompanied the ascent to holiness in the Church." And on 13 March, 1999, he told priests hearing confessions in the patriarchal basilicas of Rome: "It should not be forgotten that the so-called confession of devotion was the school which formed the great saints."

Would that more people made frequent use of this sacrament. Their growth in holiness through it would be a great blessing for themselves, for their families, for the Church and for the whole of society.

Fr John Flader
The Catholic Weekly, www.catholicweekly.com.au
12 May, 2013

Consecration of The House To The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Please speak to Fr. Joseph or the parish office to organize day and time.

Fr Joseph would like to congratulate everyone who had their house consecrated recently.

Consecration Of The Family

View / Download full flyer

Daily Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary

Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary,

I consecrate my entire self to the Most Holy Love of Your Two Hearts. I wish to make reparation for all the sins of the world, including my own. I offer these things for the love of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

I will keep my mind on beauty and turn my thoughts from evil things. I will hold my temper and bear the mistakes of others with love and a forgiving heart. I will admit when I am wrong and ask others to forgive me. I will not show off, but remain humble. I will offer up all my sufferings, sicknesses and hurts and seek God’s Will, not my own. I will show appreciation for the kindness and blessings that I receive, and thank God for all things. I will do everything in my life for love of God and I will love others as God has loved me.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the intercession of the Im-maculate Heart of Mary, receive the offering and consecration I now make of myself to You. Keep me faithful until death and bring me one day to the happy home in heaven. I desire to live forever with God the Father and the Most Holy Spirit and You my Lord Jesus, together with Your Most Immaculate Mother.

Amen.

Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary,
please protect us.

Pope Tells Teens:
Happiness 'Is Not An App'

Happiness is not an app you can download on your mobile phone, Pope Francis told thousands of teenagers on Sunday at a mass to mark a weekend dedicated to youth.

"Freedom is not always about doing what you want. In fact it is the gift of being able to choose the right way," he said in a homily punctuated by regular bursts of applause from the crowd on a packed St Peter's Square.

"Your happiness has no price. It cannot be bought and sold: it is not an application you download on a mobile phone. Even the latest version cannot help you to grow and become free in love."

An estimated 70,000 teenagers were in Rome for a weekend of events to celebrate Francis's Jubilee year dedicated to the theme of mercy.

In a surprise move on Saturday, the 79-year-old pontiff heard confessions from 16 of them and a video message from him was broadcast at a rock and rap concert in the Stadio Olimpico.

One of the teenagers chosen to confess to the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics said she had been trembling as she approached the chair on which the pope was sitting in St Peter's Square.

"But as soon as I sat down I had the feeling of being next to a normal person rather than the pope. Francis is really one of us," Anna Taibi, 15, told La Repubblica newspaper.

The Sicilian teenager said she had been touched by Francis's tenderness as he listened to her confession.

"I expected him to give me a penance ... instead he absolved me and let me go."

The importance of mobile phones to contemporary teenagers was also reflected in Francis's message to the concert.

Clutching an iPhone, he told his audience that living without Jesus was like not having any signal. "Always be sure to go where there is a network: family, parish, school," he said.

www.businessinsider.com/afp-pope-tells-teens-happiness-not-an-app-2016-4?IR=T

Family Mass

Sunday 16 Oct 2022, Time: 10:00am

Followed by free Morning Tea.

St Luke’s Parish invites all families to take part in our Family Mass as we continue to celebrate the Year of the Family in 2022. All families are encouraged to come along and invite grandparents, relatives and friends to join in the celebration. Readings and hymns are all child friendly and aimed to encourage all children to participate.

If your child/children wish to participate in the Mass by reading a prayer or offering the gifts to the altar, please contact Marie Camilleri on 0452-600-283.

Video - June 2022 Family Mass

PRAYER FOR FAMILIES

Loving God, We thank you for the gift of families.
We ask your blessing on all families today and always.
Be with us in our daily life together. Be our guide in times of challenge.
Be our strength in times of difficulty. Be our joy in times of delight.
Help our families to grow stronger in your love
and show us how to love one another as you have loved us.
May we welcome Jesus as the unseen guest in our home.
May we be His voice and hands, respecting and caring for those we meet.
May we look to the example of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, as we strive to be the best family that we can be.
Most Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us.
Amen.

Australia Needs Fatima

Join Australia Needs Fatima in a Rosary to honour Our Lady of the Rosary and pray for special intentions.

Please, bring some flowers to help decorate Our Lady's statue carrier.

Bring a plate to share. Coffee and tea will be provided.

Saturday, 15 October 2022
10:30am – 11:30am
Monbulk RSL Building Lawn,
48 Main Road,
Monbulk

All welcome!

For all queries, call Don on (9756-6946).

125th Anniversary Of Consecration
– St Patrick's Cathedral

As we celebrate our 175th Anniversary year as a diocese – we also mark a significant milestone for our Cathedral.

Archbishop Comensoli warmly invites you to join him for Mass to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the Consecration of St Patrick’s

Thursday 27 October 2022
at St Patrick’s Cathedral,
commencing at 1:00pm.

This is a beautiful opportunity to come together in the house of the Lord – built by the faithful and generous people from every part of our Archdiocese, and home for all.

Mass will be followed by the Launch of the Catholic Precinct Walking Tour App, an initiative of the Mary Glowrey Museum.

The Combined Catholic Parishes Raffle 2022

Raffle tickets can be purchased from the weekend of 24/25th September.

How exciting would a new car be?

To win, you need to buy a ticket.
It would be great if each family could take a book of 10 tickets to sell.
It is a great opportunity for everyone to be a winner!

Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, Readers & Counters

Our parish would like to invite parishioners to become Readers and Extraordinary Ministers for our Masses.

These roles are a small but significant way to quietly participate in our parish community and your contribution would be greatly appreciated.

The current roster for Readers and Extraordinary Ministers at each of the Masses finishes at the end of September and we would really love to have more volunteers for both of these very important ministries.

A few years ago St Luke’s, along with neighbouring parishes, was able to provide information evenings for both of these ministries, using the service of Mary Ryan from the Archdiocese. Unfortunately this service is no longer available, but if you would like to offer your services but feel you’d need some form of training, please don’t hesitate to contact me and we will arrange to take you through the process.

It would be wonderful to have more people take part in either one of both of these ministries, so please contact me if you feel you’d like to participate.

Thank you to all who contribute their time and talent in this way.

Kaye Edgell
0408-816-321

Mothers Who Pray for Their Children

Come Mothers to Pray for our Children and for the Children of the whole world!

We will be at St. Luke's church, in the Chapel, every Wednesday at 9:00am.

Straight after school drop off, this is a great opportunity to reconnect with God and strengthen ourselves for daily battles we face.

"On my knees I beg you, let my children stand brave. God you sustain me and please increase my faith!"

Please contact Giovanna Perrone, 0424-945-130, for more information.

St. Vincent de Paul

Dear Parishioners,

Our St. Vincent de Paul team are asking for help with various items for our food store room, that people in our community so desperately need. Items may include: sandwich spreads (not peanut butter), breakfast cereals, snacks for kid’s school lunch boxes.

These can be placed in the Vinnies basket, located on the left hand side of the Piety Shop, or to the Parish Office.

Thank you.

Honor Tanner
President

Celebrating the Year Of The Family in 2022

2022 marks a special year in our parish of St Luke’s where we will be celebrating the Year of the Family.

To help make this year memorable, Fr Joseph invites each family to share stories about their family by inviting each family to briefly compose a short paragraph about your family. Information would include the following: family photo, family name and names of those in your family, pets, family hobbies, how your family relaxes together and a brief explanation about what faith means to your family.

Please submit these to the parish office via email to Linda at , so that each week a different family may be represented in our weekly newsletter. It is a lovely way to see our similarities and differences that make each family unique while uniting us closer into our wider Catholic St Luke’s family.

Catholic Church urges action to care for the earth, the poor

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has made an historic commitment to work towards a more sustainable Church in its annual statement promoting social justice.

In the Social Justice Statement 2021-22 launched today, Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor, the bishops commit to a seven-year journey towards seven Laudato Si’ Goals.

‘We are facing an ecological crisis and Pope Francis wants the whole Church globally to act with a greater sense of urgency,’ said Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, chair of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service.

‘In Australia, passionate individuals, religious institutes, schools and organisations have been working on ecological issues for a long time. I want to affirm and thank them all, and to urge the whole Catholic community to join them.’

Bishop Long pointed out that ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been caring for country from time immemorial. The rest of us need to listen, and to learn how we can walk together to care for the whole of creation – in-cluding one another.’

For full article: https:// melbournecatholic.org/news/catholic-church-urges-action-to-care-for-the-earth-the-poor

To listen to Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor Podcasts, go to: https://socialjustice.catholic.org.au/2021/08/05/cry-of-the-earth-cry-of-the-poor-podcasts/

Help for Marriages Under Stress

The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown may have caused stress to many marriages. Restore hope for your relationship’s future.

Visit: www.smartloving.org/breakthrough.

Serra International

Serra International - Prayer for Vocations

"Heavenly Father, help us respond to and live out our mission in the Church. Help all your people to know their vocation in life, and assist them to prepare for it.

For your greater glory, and for the service of your people, call many to be Priests and Religious. Give those whom you call the grace to respond generously and to persevere faithfully. We ask this through Christ Our Lord.
Amen."

For information about Serra or Vocations:

www.scanzspac.org

View / Download Prayer Card (296kB)

Altar Servers

Presently the parish has few altar servers.

Their service and prayerful presence enhances the liturgical celebration.

Fr. Joseph is calling for more children to take up this ministry.

What It Means To Be An Altar Server (Video)

Take Mary Home

As we noticed that our lady statue (Take Mary Home) has been on the bench every couple of weeks in a month. With great thoughts and inputs from various members in the leadership team, considering the weight of the original statue as it is quite heavy to be carried, we would like to make it much easier for our parishioners to take an alternative statue (Our Lady of Fatima) which is much lighter to carry and it also comes in a box where the statue could be handled more safely. We are happy to leave both the statues on the bench behind the divine mercy image. Make yourself comfortable to put your name in the book with your contact details, the tone of the mass which you are planning to take and also which statue as well based on your convenience. I hope and pray that the above arrangement would help the parishioners to take the statue every week so that Our Lady visits every family in our community to intercede for our families and community.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.

Rosy Paul

We Need Your Help

We would like to hear from tradies, handymen and technicians in our community who would like to be included in our directory.

We may have odd jobs around the Church and would very much appreciate your help.

Please contact the parish office or get in touch with Fr Joseph.

To Love To The End: Who will make your choices?

is a Melbourne Archdiocese initiative to focus on an area of bioethics where we can positively contribute to building up a civilization of life and love.

The theme, "To Love to the End", deals with issues about dying and caring for our loved ones, the meaning and purpose of suffering and our duty as Christians to show love to every human being to the end.

Please collect a copy of the informative brochure and prayer card on this theme from the tables at the church entrances or you can view/download the brochure and card below.

View 'Love To The End'   Brochure (927 kB)

View Respect Life Prayer Card (359 kB)

Overcoming Despair With Hope

Through Respect Life Sunday the church aims to equip Catholics to better love those around us by providing vital information about the dangers of the new abortion drug, RU486.

Pope Francis provided a beautiful example of how we reach out to women facing an unplanned pregnancy recently, when he took the time to listen to a story of a 35 year old Roman woman, then telephoned her to offer a listening ear, hope, encouragement and practical support for when the baby was born.

Read more when you pick up your copy of the green Respect Life brochure in the foyer, or

View Respect Life Brochure

View Respect Life Prayer Card

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