MESSAGE ON THE 16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR B)
Friday 19th July 2024
My dear people,
It is wonderful to write to you again after five weeks. When I last wrote to you, I provided some information about the pilgrimage and the wonderful blessings received by those who were on that pilgrimage.
Since then, I accompanied my dad to Mauritius for his court case. Sadly, this has yet to be resolved and the case has been adjourned to January next year. After spending a weekend here at home in Caroline Springs, I went to North America for my annual leave, together with Fr David, visiting Las Vegas, Miami, New York and Los Angeles. I also went to Toronto, visiting Downsview Park where I attended the WYD Mass in 2002 celebrated by St John Paul II. It has been 22 years since I first heard Our Lord calling me to follow him more closely, which was the start of my conversion. This then led to my joining the seminary and now I can give thanks to God for having been a priest for 13 years. It all started at Downsview Park! I was also blessed to spend some time in Montreal with my cousin whose wedding I celebrated in 2015. There, I was fortunate to visit St Joseph’s Oratory, the largest shrine dedicated to St Joseph in the world. After North America, I returned home for one weekend and then went to Bali with Fr David for a week of relaxation. I thank God that all these trips went very smoothly, and I am immensely grateful to be safely back home. I have missed all of you very much! I sincerely thank Robert, Maggie, Ann and Greg as well as members of the PLT and Ministry Coordinators for keeping things going while I was away. I am blessed indeed.
Now that I am back, I have turned my mind to all the wonderful events happening in the parish between now and the end of the year. The Sunday Masses are certainly the bread and butter of what we do as a parish. While they take up a lot of energy and resources, they provide us with the greatest rewards. On top of the Sunday Masses, we look forward to other events which will take place in the next few months, all of which serve to deepen our faith, help us grow in the bonds of friendship which unite us and raise our awareness of the needs around us. No doubt I will call upon you for many of them. I will progressively speak to you about all these things and I look forward to your active participation and engagement with them.
Our Men’s Group will meet this evening Friday 19th July. We will start with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 7:30pm. There will be a period of Adoration when the Sacrament of Confession will be available, and Fr David Cartwright will be here for that. We will conclude with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at 8:15pm and supper at the presbytery. Greg will be our guest speaker and he will speak to us in greater details about his vocation story.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I invite you to continue praying for our younger parishioners who will receive their First Holy Communion from next weekend. An Afternoon Tea will be held this Sunday where the parents will hear from me the importance of this event in the lives of their children and their families. They will also hear about activities in the parish which help us grow in our relationship with Christ. I dearly want these children and their families to realise how awesome it is for them to be receiving Holy Communion for the first them and to make sure it is not an isolated event in their lives but one which ignites in their heart a great love for Jesus and for his Church.
We continue turning to our patron saint and we ask for her intercession.
St Catherine of Siena, Pray for us.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Fr Richard Rosse PP