Faith & Mission

VANITY OF VANITIES!  

... All things are vanity! ... Thus would my father mutter as I anguished about whether I would wear my Levi 501 jeans or my Wrangler jeans heading out to a Saturday night Dance at the local parish hall.

Dad was also known to quote ‘What profit comes to one for all the toil and anxiety with which they labour under the sun?”

In my toast for Dad at the celebrations for his 70th birthday, I referenced an advertising slogan that BP was using at the time. ‘The Quiet Achiever’.

The things that were ‘gold’ for my father were my mother, his family, his reading, his church, a glass of red and his home cooked spaghetti.

He was an honest man with a powerful and active commitment to justice. In line with the teaching of St Paul, Dad related to the personhood of all he met. ‘Neither male nor female, Gentile nor Jew, slave nor free’

The readings from last Sunday brought his memory back to me. 

The Gospel from Matthew has Jesus relating a parable of the rich man who was storing up such bountiful harvests that he needed to build bigger and bigger barns to store his growing wealth.

In the parable, this store of earthly wealth amounts to nothing, as the life of the rich man is cut short before he can enjoy the bounty he toiled for.

The people who heard Jesus speak did not have Levi 501s, or iphones or snapchat. Yet like us, and like humans throughout history, they succumbed to the illusory promise of bling and fame. The religious and community leaders that Jesus challenges throughout the Gospels put titles and prestige above justice and integrity.

In the Gospel from last Sunday, the challenge the Jesus presents to us is to find the true nuggets of ‘gold’ in our lives.

Morning Masses: Join us

The Class masses for the next three weeks will be prepared and hosted by our Year 9 students. 

Year 9 Barak: Tuesday 9 August, 

Year 9 Bryce: Tuesday 16 August 

Year 9 Monash: Tuesday 23 August. 

All parents are welcome to join us for these Tuesday morning masses at 8.00am in the College Chapel.

Mr Mark Hyland

Director of Faith and Mission