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Pietà Lenten Series–Fr Chris Sarkis–With All Our Heart (Fr Chris Sarkis says that the young scribe in the Gospel for this coming Friday was clearly searching for God and seeking him with all his heart by asking Jesus “which is the first of all the commandments?” It is a question that flows from the heart of every sincere believer who is genuinely seeking God. The command to love God is not a duty that can be forced upon us, or something we do because we have been told to. Loving God is a privilege freely offered to us when he embraces us in a personal relationship with him and will only grow and deepen when we freely accept his words and teachings, and open ourselves to his love and grace in our lives. This will only happen as we gradually align our will to his will through the countless and often small decisions we make in our daily lives, seeking him “with all our heart.”)

On The Journey This Week: Sr Katherine Stone MGL says all the readings this weekend helps us with our struggle to know God as our loving Father and ourselves as beloved sons and daughters. Mother Hilda says God put little things into our life so that we might just see God saying I love you. Fr Tony Percy says that Jesus is transfigured immediately, not so us, however as we offer ourselves to God, we are slowly, but surely transfigured. Sr Anastasia Reeves OP reminds us that we, too, much practice what we preach, and Fr Antony Jukes says our prayer this week can be: Lord, help me to recognise your infinite love and mercy.

Gospel Reflection–Sr Katherine Stone MGL–Beloved Sons and Daughters (Sr Katherine Stone says that the two sons who sit at the centre of today’s readings, Isaac, the son in the first reading and Jesus, the Beloved Son of the second reading and the Gospel point us to a third beloved child—you and me! Most of us struggle to know God as our loving Father and ourselves as beloved sons and daughters. Stories like the one about Abraham and Isaac today, let us know God as our loving Father and ourselves as beloved sons and daughters. The disciples’ experience of the Transfiguration was a crucial moment that helped them to understand that the man, Jesus, wasn’t just another prophet, but God himself come among us. As both God and man, he reveals to us both what God is really like, and who we really are. If we “listen to him”, as today’s Gospel asks us to do, we will notice that every word that he speaks, every miracle, every action, shows us one, or both, of these things. In him, we experience both the compassion of th

Wisdom from the Abbey–Mother Hilda–Pizza (Mother Hilda remembers a particularly difficult day many years ago. The worst thing I did that day was get out of bed and that gives you a clue to how bad it was. It was one thing after the other that went wrong until we came to the end of the day. And for me, that came up to supper time. For supper we only ever have leftovers and salad. Now, on this day we mustn't have had many leftovers, so the sisters in the kitchen had put together some pizza. I like pizza. Love pizza, in fact. I looked at that pizza on the table and to tell you the truth, listeners, I could have cried for there was God saying to me; It's been a rotten day, hasn't it? Look, get that pizza into you. It'll make you feel so much better. There was God with an act of kindness that now, about 20 years later, I haven't forgotten. I wonder how many pizzas are going to come your way? How many times has God put some little thing into your life and hope that you might just see that's God saying I know, I lov

The Word–Fr Tony Percy–Slowly But Surely Transfigured (Fr Tony Percy says that this week we're being invited to see the mystery of Christ, to understand and encounter the mystery of Christ. A mystery is something you believe graciously with a specific gift we call faith and then you try and live the mystery. We have the beautiful event of the transfiguration of Christ. His whole persona is seen, his whole divine persona in and through his human nature manifests itself like a foretaste of the resurrection. In Romans 12, Paul sets up all the theology of the whole mystery of Christ. Then he says, this is the way we're supposed to live. Paul says we are being, through our offering of ourselves to God, we are being transfigured into the glory of God, slowly but surely. So not immediately like Jesus, but slowly but surely. At the beginning of this particular passage today it says that Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John. That's the same idea for us. We've got to let Jesus take us so that over time, over the

Pietà Lenten Series–Sr Anastasia Reeves OP–Practice What We Preach (Sr Anastasia Reeves OP is a reflection on Matthew’s Gospel for Tuesday, 27 February. In this Gospel passage Jesus charged the Pharisees with an attitude of hypocrisy. Jesus' critique ran deeper than words contradicted by actions. He wanted his community to be marked by humility. Jesus invites his listeners to concern themselves not with other people’s hypocrisy, but with their own. As members of the Church—the Body of Christ, God’s family—we are trying in our faltering ways to reach our eternal destiny. Yet, we all fail along the way, whether it be in bad moods, cutting remarks, white lies, and sometimes a lot worse. It seems this is all God’s mysterious plan: that we will have to rub shoulders with lovely and prickly people as part of our journey of salvation. And we ourselves are right there, both lovely and prickly.)

Pietà Lenten Series–Antony Jukes–Not My Will But Yours (Fr Antony Jukes says that Jesus speaks about the cup or the chalice that he must drink, a cup given to him by God, the Father. Jesus is without sin (Heb 4:15), and yet, he seems to be given this cup to drink. Why? When Jesus takes that image of the cup upon himself, he is reassuring us that whatever punishment we as humans deserve or think we deserve for our sins, whatever punishment others deserve, or whatever punishment we think others might deserve for their sins, Jesus is taking that punishment upon himself, reassuring us that the God of love and compassion has no desire to reject us. Our prayer this week can be: Lord, help me to recognise your infinite love and mercy.)

Wisdom from the Abbey–Mother Hilda–I’m Sorry (Mother Hilda tells the story of Archbishop Thuc of Saigon who was bishop of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. He was taken prisoner and for more than 13 years suffered immense deprivation. We can learn much from the way he handled humiliation by his gaolers. Each time he was humiliated by his guards, he simply said that he forgave them for the inconvenience he caused them. When those little humiliations come our way, how do we react?)

The Word–Fr Tony Percy–Catapulting Event (Fr Tony Percy says that in this Gospel passage St. Mark tells us quite remarkably that Jesus is thrown by using a very specific Greek word, Jesus was thrown into the desert by the Holy Spirit to be tested or tempted by Satan, which means accuser, Satan is the accuser. Jesus lived there with the wild beasts and the angels for 40 days and 40 nights, which evokes, of course, that biblical imagery of 40 days or rather long periods, very prominent in the Old Testament. It doesn't matter who you are. We have this experience in life of being uprooted, from our normal existence, of being dislocated, disrupted. We're almost catapulted, I call it a catapulting event, catapulted into a form of suffering, something that we would not necessarily choose. And this of course happens to Jesus. He's a human being. He's a divine person but he has a totally human nature, and he has this experience of being disrupted. When this happens, as it will inevitably happen to each one of us, what

Pietà Lenten Series–Darren McDowell–Holiness in Action (Darren McDowell says Lent challenges us in our attitude towards holiness. The readings for Monday of the 1st week of Lent encourage us to go higher than just prayer, devotions, communal worship that are essentially our inner life. These practices are important. However, our readings today clearly point to another aspect of holiness—our movement into action. Indeed, the holiness of life in love of others is equated with God’s holiness. The Leviticus reading describes this holiness as the just and loving ways we treat our brothers and sisters, giving them justice and love. In the Gospel for Monday, Jesus shares a parable about the final judgement, teaching us that when we show love to the poor, lonely, homeless, marginalised, and captive, we are showing love to him. In doing so, we reflect the holiness of God. The mystery of God is that he continually moves out in love, caring for each one of us and the whole of creation. It is this mystery which we journe

Pietà Lenten Series–Sr Mary Helen Hill–Our Good Shepherd (Sr Mary Helen Hill says that the readings for this coming Thursday in the 1st week of Lent ask us to reflect on who is this Good Shepherd that we have. What is he like? The psalms praise him as the One who leads us beside restful waters to revive our drooping spirits, guiding our steps along the right paths. These images of the Good Shepherd bring us comfort. The Gospel on Thursday is a powerful reminder of the eternal authority of the Shepherd to dispel the darkness and rescue us from all danger and every “prison” of our own, or others’ making. Yes, we have a Good Shepherd who goes in search of us, right into the very heart of darkness. Let us renew our hope in the saving authority of Christ ever present among us and ask for the grace to follow his ways.)

On The Journey This Week: We begin our Lenten reflection series with Sr Katherine Stone MGL. This week Sr Katherine says Lent leads us into the wilderness to face the wild beasts of our life. Mother Hilda tells the story of Archbishop Thuc of Saigon and how he handled humiliation. Fr Tony Percy that like Jesus in the Gospel, we too experience catapulting events. Darren McDowell and Sr Mary Helen Hill give their Lenten reflections from our Pietà series

Gospel Reflection–Sr Katherine Stone MGL–Wilderness and Wild Beasts (Sr Katherine Stone says that the 40 days of Lent can seem like a long, bleak stretch of time. It makes us wonder why the Spirit would take Jesus out to spend 40 days in the wilderness. The wilderness (or desert) has traditionally been a place of encounter with God. For millennia, men and women of prayer have taken themselves into the desert to be rid of all distraction and encounter the living God. Each Lent, we, too, follow the Holy Spirit into our own experience of “wilderness”. However, in the wilderness we’re prey to temptation, which is ultimately trying to get us to settle for less than what we had set out for. While in the wilderness, like Jesus, we too discover the wild beasts. They’re living in us all of the time, but they tend to behave in a more civilized manner when we feed them with regular coffee and take the edge off their appetites with alcohol or Netflix. But without those distractions, we see more of our inner wild beasts i

Wisdom from the Abbey–Mother Hilda–The Word of God (Mother Hilda remembers the time around the death of their former Abbess, Mother Abbess Benedicta Philips OSB, who died on 24 August 2006. Mother Hilda remembers how God responded to her prayer at that time through his Word, preparing her for the events about to unfold in the abbey and her own life. She randomly opened the scriptures and it fell open at the words “prepare yourself for an ordeal.” Mother Hilda goes on to declare how those words and the Word of God has consoled her, given direction, confirmed and guided her decisions and expressed how much she is loved by God. The Word of God will do the same for each of us now in both our difficult and joy-filled times. God is always present in his Word and he always speaks to our heart to whatever our circumstances are each day. Will you let him chat to you today?)

The Word–Fr Tony Percy–Blood Healing (Fr Tony Percy says in this healing we really are brought into the mystery of Christ’s blood. Mark is trying to help us to see the tremendous connection between all of Christ's words and actions and the Pascal Mystery, that is, Christ suffering and death and resurrection and ascension. So, the healing of the lepper, to my mind, has three very important levels to this miracle. The first level is the leprosy in and of itself. It leads to a deep sense of isolation that the only way to contain the disease was to isolate people, the social dislocation and people feeling terribly cut off from community. On the second level Mark says Jesus could no longer go openly into any town but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. This is in and through his own actions of healing leprosy, you can begin to get a sense of the foretaste of the exclusion of Christ and the rejection of Christ. The third level comes when the leper is told by Jesus to show himself to a priest and to o

Pietà Lenten Series–Fr Sean Cullen–Discipleship (Fr Sean Cullen says that in the Gospel for Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Jesus tells us the criteria he is seeking for being a disciple. The first thing a follower must do is deny self. It simply means that we get ourselves out of the centre. We must acknowledge that we are not the hub of the universe. No one can lead a selfish life and be a follower of Jesus at the same time. Next, we must take up our cross every day. In his own life, the cross was an unpleasant experience, but more than that, it was a symbol of his commitment to the Father. He was living life according to the will of God, and nothing could deter him from that, not even a cross. These are the conditions of discipleship. Get self out of the centre and put God there, and then follow in Jesus’ steps.)

Pietà Lenten Series–Fr Chris Sarkis–My Tip for Lent (We all know that the purpose of Lent is to prepare our heart, mind, and soul to enter more deeply into the Paschal Mystery of our redemption by the sacred Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. However, this is easier said than done, so I have a simple and concrete suggestion for you that may help. It will require a commitment of time each day of perhaps 15–20 minutes. Choose a Gospel (I suggest Mark as we hear mainly from him this year in our Sunday Gospels), and each day read half a chapter. You will get through it over Lent. Choose a time and place where you can be alone without being disturbed. It can be in a church, at home, a garden, or any place that is quiet. Spend a minute or two recollecting yourself, then slowly read half a chapter. Don’t think too much about it, just read it slowly and let it sink in. Then, sit for the rest of the time in still and quiet prayer, allowing God to speak to you. Give it time. He will, but in his

On The Journey This Week: Fr Mark De Battista says we’re invited to trust ourselves to Jesus, ask him; if you want to you can cure me and see what he says to you. Mother Hilda tells how the Word of God always speaks to us in all our circumstances. Plus, Fr Tony Percy says that all the healing that we will have in spirit, soul and body, all of it comes from the blood of Christ. We’ve got two lead-in reflections for the commencement of Lent from Fr Sean Cullen on discipleship and Fr Chris Sarkis giving his tip on how to have a highly successful and satisfying Lenten period.

Gospel Reflection–Fr Mark De Battista–The Kingdom Cannot Be Enclosed (Fr Mark De Battista says that in this Gospel the lepper realises it's totally up to Jesus and he is humbling himself in order that Jesus would be moved. And the response, of course from Christ is that he is moved. Jesus heals him, but then he goes and tells him to not tell anyone. This part seems a bit curious. Jesus does this many times, not only in the gospel of Mark, but in other gospels as well. Jesus’ secret couldn't be kept a secret for very long because the Kingdom of God cannot be shut down, even though we're told in today's gospel that Jesus couldn't go openly, people still came to him because the Kingdom of God cannot be enclosed. So, wherever your wound may be, I invite you today to trust yourself to Jesus. Ask him if you want to you can cure me and ask with humility of heart and see what he says to you.)

The Bush Deacon–Dcn Josh Clayton–Country Shows (Deacon Josh notes that we are in country show season in the leadup to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Josh says that country shows are renowned for their hospitality, bringing the community together to celebrate and promote the many activities of the local area. Among the strengths of the country show is the ability to welcome the newcomer, celebrate achievements and recognise and respect the difficult times since the last show. This makes Deacon Josh think about our own faith communities and how we welcome the stranger as well as the old-timers, support each other by celebrating achievements and acknowledging the difficult circumstances, and maybe our church communities can learn a lot from how we celebrate the local agricultural show so we can also be a grand-champion parish community this Easter.)