Faith and Mission

Community Mass

Thank you to Magis students for their presence in this morning’s liturgy.

To conclude the term, Year 12s will be preparing the Eucharist next Friday. As it is the last Community Mass for this cohort, family members are especially welcome. After Mass, conversation and fellowship overflows into the Circle of Friends Café.

Community Mass summary

• College Chapel
• Fridays in term time
• Starts: 8:00am and concludes 8:30am.

Sacrament program

Congratulations to the Year 4 students and their families, who joined with other students in the parish of Saint Joseph’s Subiaco to make their First Holy Communion last Sunday.

In his homily, Monsignor Kevin Long encouraged the students to take the time to listen and speak to Jesus in Holy Communion. Remarking that the students before him looked like ‘princes and princesses’, Monsignor Kevin reflected on the significance of the occasion and compared students’ outward preparation to the inner preparation of their hearts. Monsignor invited the children to turn around and see all their families and parishioners who were celebrating the Eucharist with them, and he reminded everyone of the support to be found within their vibrant parish community.

Congratulations to…

Reflection on this Sunday’s Gospel

Mark 8:27-35

The setting of Sunday’s gospel is Jesus on the way to the villages. The reading quickly turns from a geographical pathway to a journey of faith. 

Jesus’ question about ‘who do people say that I am’ is not about his own self-discovery, and the responses of the believers reveal that they understand him through the lens of a prophet.

Jesus’ announcement of his impending death comes as a surprise to the disciples. Rejection and death are not on their agenda, though suffering and defeat have become clear to Jesus as the path. The disciples scarcely understand what rising from the dead could mean!

To live life is to embrace the cross. There is something challenging here, but also something so familiar. It is almost an everyday occurrence for parents, whether raising tiny children, growing adolescents, or nurturing adult offspring from afar. The costs of parenting are deeply felt, but they are a cross taken up and a burden that is carried with will and passion.

We are in the midst of the Season of Creation, and environmental degradation and climate change loom over our every action. The weather is changing, the land is suffering, the ocean patterns are being modified. The Pope is communicating extensively on the need for integral conversion. 

Jesus reminds that to follow him is to engage with the struggles of life, and the struggles about life itself. There is a cross here for us to pick up… ©

Reflection adapted from a longer homily by Professor Gerard Moore. Professor Moore is the Principal and CEO of Broken Bay Institute – the Australian Institute of Theological Education. He has written extensively in various liturgical contexts, both in Australia and overseas. Professor Moore is also a member of the Charles Sturt University Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre.

Citation: Moore, Gerard. "24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 15 September 2024." Pastoral Liturgy 54, no. 3 (2024): 1-6. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/pastoral-liturgy/vol54/iss3/18.