Mission News

In this third week of Easter, the Sunday gospel is from Luke (24: 35-48) in which the two disciples, having encountered the Risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus, return to Jerusalem and excitedly share their experience of Jesus with the gathered community. As they share the encounter, Jesus becomes present amongst them, though not at first recognised as more than a ghost. Luke records that the disciples offered Jesus a piece of “grilled fish which he took and ate in front of them”. What a wonderful image, how human on the one hand but absolutely transcendent on the other, and how it reminds the hearer of the disciples’ earlier experience of meeting the stranger, blessing, breaking and sharing the bread with the startling realisation that in this act Christ is truly present. More than just his spirit makes itself known to the disciples. 

The Resurrection is central to the Easter story and to the experience of each Christian person. Richard Holloway, formerly Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, encourages people to see religion as an art that uses literature and faith practices to express all that is great and all that is challenging about the human condition. For Holloway, belief in the Resurrection becomes a symbol of transformation. As we are reminded in Luke’s Emmaus story, those who deserted Jesus and fled from his dying found the courage to return and proclaim him as the reason for living. Our belief in Resurrection enables our capacity for transformation through and beyond tragedy. 

For Holloway this is “the Resurrection voice”, this is the refusal “to be gripped forever by the fingers of winter, whatever our winter maybe. Whether it is a personal circumstance that immobilises us, a social evil that confronts us or a virus that has locked us away from each other... If we say we believe in the Resurrection, it means we are choosing to be Resurrection people, people who are working for the possibility of transformed lives and transformed attitudes and transformed societies.” (The Tablet, 3 April 2021)

College Community Mass Schedule for Term 2

Chaplain’s Corner

There is an old saying from the past to the effect that we are “the company we keep.”

If we associate with cynics, we become cynical.

If we associate with people who are bitter, that bitterness will enter us.

If we associate with people who are deeply Christian, that will change us as well.

Part of the power of the Risen Christ is the Lord’s ability to change us to make us like Himself. It’s not just knowing about Jesus but knowing the Lord in prayer that can profoundly transform us. The Sacraments are our continuing contacts with the Risen Christ.

• Baptism is about more than the elimination of original sins. It’s the start of a lifelong commitment to Christ and His mission.
• Marriage is not just a bond between two people but the start of a lifelong commitment to show forth Christ’s kind of fidelity to each other and to the world.
• Holy Orders is not just the transmission of priestly power but a commitment to serve the Church and its people.
• The Eucharist is not just receiving Holy Communion but a commitment to the sacrificial love that the Eucharist embodies.
• Penance is not just the forgiveness of sin but a commitment to resetting our life around Christ.
• Confirmation is not just receiving the Holy Spirit but a deeper commitment to the mission of Christ.
• The Anointing of the Sick is not just strengthening the sick but a commitment of our pain and suffering to Christ for the good of others and of the Church.

The Sacraments are our ways of becoming companions of Jesus and of being changed by Him.

Mary, our Good Mother, pray for us.

St. Marcellin Champagnat, pray for us.

St. Mary of the Cross, pray for us.

And may we always remember to pray for one another.

Vinnies Morning Yard BBQ Thursdays

The St Vincent de Paul morning BBQ’s will return in Term 2 on a Thursday morning. Both monitor and cash payment are available for the purchase of breakfast. 

Marist Solidarity Immersion Update 2021 (Year 11 Students and Parents) 

Solidarity immersions involving visiting and living as part of a Marist Communities locally and nationally has been part of our suite of offerings here at Ashgrove for many years. This community supports (through the Lenten appeal and other fundraising events) Marist communities that welcome us. Solidarity immersions engage with some of the most marginalised in our society. Marist Schools Australia have notified us due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID 19 we are unable to undertake these immersion experiences in 2021 (as in 2020). The communities we visit house some of the most vulnerable in our world. We appreciate the disappointment this will cause to students, families, staff and our receiving communities. We offer prayer and support for all. 

Community Prayers

We pray for all in our community who are unwell and are suffering at this time. 

We pray for the repose of the souls of:

• David Eastman, (friend of staff member Donald Brown)
• Heather (mother of staff member Catherine Ball)
• Angus Colquhoun Burns (father of staff member Adam Burns)

May our loving God, with Mary and Champagnat, walk with all members of the Marist family. Amen