Catholic Identity

Reflection  

Reflection Religious Education Leader – Catholic Identity – Elizabeth Holligan

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday we are reminded that with God’s love we can turn our life around. Starting over when rejected, recognising our failings, recognising when we have gone too far, recognising the healing and love of Christ in our lives and allowing the God of peace to be with us. In the Parable of the tenants, we hear of those who reject God in their lives, who choose the easy path that leads to their destruction. ‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’(Mat 21:43). God’s work sometimes requires hard work, not the easy path. The challenge for us is to see the hard work required and commit to taking up the privilege and duty to work in the vineyard of the Church. What actions can we commit to in our lives today to foster Christ’s healing and love in our community and the world around us? 

Laudate Deum

Pope Francis this week will release his most recent apostolic exhortation to expand on the messages of Laudato Si, called Laudate Deum. Laudate Deum focuses on care of both humanity and the environment and has been updated to include and address the current issues around us. The release  of Laudate Deum coincides with the conclusion of the Season of Creation which the Catholic Church has been celebrating over the past month. The document is due for release in Rome October 4 (Australia October 5) which is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi and the first day of the Synod on Synodality in Rome. 

Our Bishop of Sandhurst, Shane Mackinlay, has travelled to Rome in his capacity as a delegate from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and will be joined by four fellow Australian Bishops and five ‘non-bishop’ voting members from Australia, three of whom are women to be part of the Synod on Synodality. This is the first synod in which lay people and professed women have been given voting rights so is an exciting moment in the Roman Catholic Church history. 

Daily Prayer on SIMON

Daily prayer is now published on SIMON via PAM for families and students to access. Included in our daily pray notices this week are instructions on how to say the Rosary. As the Catholic Church has named October as the month of the Rosary we invite all families to spend time together and pray the Rosary as a family. The Rosary is a beautiful prayer and meditation. Details of the Rosary can also be found by clicking on the following link.  https://marian.org/mary/rosary/how-to-pray

- Elizabeth Holligan, Religious Education Leader