Lord, send out your Spirit

and renew the face of the earth.

Religious Education

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).

At Pentecost, the Apostles and their followers were gathered in a room. Jews from all over the world were gathered with Peter, the leader of the Apostles and the Eleven. At this time, a great wind blew and a flame appeared as a tongue of fire, which split itself into many individual flames above the heads of all those present. The Holy Spirit came upon these people and each began to speak in tongues. Despite the fact many had no common language, they were perfectly able to understand one another.

John 20:19-23

The Spirit will guide the Apostles to all truth.

Formation

A beginning point for discussion of this week's Gospel with children:

Today we celebrate the coming of the Spirit.

Who do you know who is a Spirit-filled person?

What sort of things show that a person is Spirit-filled?

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts so that we may be Spirit filled.

Catholic Culture

The term ‘Holy Ghost’ is an unfortunate rendering of ‘Holy Gust’, the divine wind, the breath of God, the Holy Spirit which can come into the lives of individuals and communities, sometimes as the merest whisper of a breeze, sometimes at gale force.

This is what happened at Pentecost. St Luke, writing the Acts of the Apostles, grasps for imagery to portray the force of the Holy Spirit’s descending on Mary and Peter and other disciples. This divine flaming Gust cleared away the undergrowth of timidity and anxiety imprisoning those disciples in the upper room. Then they became like seed pods germinating in the ashes, allowing a new community to take root, a community where barriers of language, ethnicity and race were overcome.

The primary task of St Peter, then as now, is to present the Resurrection in a way understandable by people of every language group around the world. Everything else his successor does is secondary to his preaching ‘the marvels of God’. Pope Francis is doing this by word and deed.

We could take a moment to pray for forgiveness for the wind breaks which we, individually and as a parish or larger church community, erect to shield us from the Holy Spirit gusting into our lives. Let us ask for the courage to allow ourselves to be a windswept people ignited by Divine Love.

  (REFLECTION by Fr Michael Tate)

Holy Eucharist

Eucharist, or Communion, is both a sacrifice and a meal. We believe in the real presence of Jesus, who died for our sins. As we receive Christ's Body and Blood, we also are nourished spiritually and brought closer to God. Catholic Education Melbourne.

The communicants for the sacrament of First Eucharist are completing their preparation for the reception of this wonderful, nourishing Sacrament. They have been following a very thorough program with their teachers in class and they are excited and well prepared. The communicants will receive the Sacrament at this weekend's Masses Saturday 19th 6pm and Sunday 20th September 10am.

I would also wish to thank Mrs. Archer, Mr. Nguyen, Miss Rak, Mrs. Denning, Mrs. Dennett  Mrs. Ithier and Mrs. Lesur  who prepared the children so well and to all the other staff members who will be supporting these children at school and on their special day. Thank you also to all parents for your work in preparing the children during this most important time and for helping your children to understand the true meaning of this special Sacrament - that they will receive Jesus for the first time in the Eucharist. I ask that you keep these children and their families in your prayers. May we together continue to support these and all our children in their faith journey.

Class Masses

Please be advised that there will be no School Mass on the 18th of May in light of Naplan. Next Friday Year 3/4IL will be celebrating their Class Mass at 9am in the Church with the theme "Your word Oh Lord is truth make us holy in the truth" 

Mini Vinnies

Social Justice:

Our Mini Vinnie’s team are currently preparing for the annual Giving Mass which will be celebrated on Friday 8th June. In this Mass we attempt to share some of the things that we have with those who are less fortunate. We are currently collecting non-perishable food and good quality second hand clothing which the Parish St Vincent de Paul Society can then use to assist those in our community who are in need. We hope that we can rely upon the generosity of our families to make this initiative a success. 

Have a Peaceful weekend

Mrs. Dawn Heldt

Religious Education Leader.