Our Lady of the Rosary Parish - Blogs

6th Sunday of Easter

27/5/2019

Jesus assures his disciples that he will send the Holy Spirit
We are celebrating the 50 days of Easter. We fast approach the Feast of Pentecost. In this time we are living life in the Spirit though we are yet to read Luke's account of Pentecost.
We are listening to the last discourse of Jesus at the Last Supper. We have heard of the Good Shepherd and the new Commandment of Love. Now we listen to a very private conversation of Jesus with is eleven. Judas has departed into the dark. Jesus shares deeply his love for his team.
There are ambiguities in this passage that are worth noting. Jesus is sharing his love for the Father and his disciples. It is as though the past and the present and the future are all happening NOW.
What was his Prayer? "If anyone loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home in him." God is dwelling in my heart! What a promise. It is conditional on not just hearing but keeping the word. There is a simple test "Those who do not love me do not keep my words." If we love God, he dwells in us.
But like all the good adverts say, there is more! "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you." We are being taught by Jesus what will happen in the future. We are being taught about the Holy Spirit.
Today's teaching is that the Spirit will teach us everything and will remind us of the teachings of Jesus. These themes will reoccur in the Pentecost Season.
Note. Early in all the Gospels the theme of Jesus is that he will be with us always. As we get nearer to Calvary, the theme changes to "I am going away" and this causes some anxiety. Today the assurance is in the words "I am going away and shall return."

5th Sunday of Easter

27/5/2019

Some Notes on the Gospel of John
There are two parts of the Gospel
The first is the book of Signs Ch 1-12. "These are the signs Jesus did." John does not use the word "miracles". He sees all the actions of Jesus as signs of his divinity. Water into wine, the Holy Spirit, the woman at the well, the blind man and the bread of life, even the raising of Lazarus are signs.
The second part of the Gospel
The last discourse at the Last Supper. John does not tell the story of the Last Supper. That was well-known. John tells us the great actions and prayers of Jesus, the washing of the feet and his prayer for unity. Today we hear Jesus' prayer at the table of the Last Supper. The new Covenant has a new Commandment; love one another as I have loved you.

Rev Kev - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

15/2/2019

We skip the healing miracles in Luke that are mentioned in Mark. We go to Luke's version of the Beatitudes. The Sermon on the Mount becomes the Sermon on the plain. "A huge crowd gathers including Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon. (Typical of Luke, the Gentile.) In Luke there are four Beatitudes matched by four Woes. They are not addressed to the crowds. As in Matthew, it is the disciples who are taught the Beatitudes. Luke is more based on social issues than spiritual ones; poverty, hunger, sorrow, exclusion. Luke, more than the other evangelists teaches freedom from material possessions.
Luke's method of replacing happiness with woes is for emphasis. There is no room for softness of teaching.

Beatitudes are taught only to disciples. cf Matthew
Disciples are people who leave the crowd and come to be taught.
They replace the Old Law. Jesus is compared to Moses as the new Lawgiver.

Luke gives a Gentile version of Matthew's very Jewish version of the teaching of Jesus.

Rev Kev - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

5/2/2019

This story and last week's encounter in Nazareth are found only in Luke.
The public ministry of Jesus begins by the Lake of Gennesaret. Another name for this same lake is the Sea of Galilee and the town nearby is Capernaum. Jesus is shown as standing with a crowd pressing around him. They are listening to the Word of God.
The story is in sections. Jesus is standing and reading the Word of God. Jesus sees two boats close to the bank. The fishermen were absent cleaning their nets. Simon appears.
Jesus gets into Simon's boat and asks him to put out a little from the shore.
Jesus sits down and teaches the crowd from the boat.
Jesus asks Simon to pull out into the deep. The miracle of the full nets of fish.
At the time of Jesus, the Rabbi sat down to teach. (How things have changed.) We see this often in the Scriptures. The very posture indicates the mindset of the teacher. we have seen this already two weeks ago in the Synagogue in Nazareth. Jesus stood up to read the scroll and he sat down to teach. Jesus sat down in the boat and changes his method from reading the Word of God to teaching the crowds.
Again we do not know the content of the teaching. Simon is obviously greatly impressed. He is a professional fisherman and he knows the fish are not biting. He obeys the command of Jesus to put out into the deep even though it seemed useless to him. The miracle that followed was enough to force Peter to his knees and pray the sinner's prayer; "Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man." He was completely overcome. He heard the voice of Jesus saying to him, "Do not be afraid: from now on it is men you will catch."
The ministry has begun. Jesus has his first disciple. He is ready for the journey.

Meditation: The call of Peter, "From now on it is men you will catch."
"Bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed Jesus."

Rev Kev - 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

5/2/2019

This is a continuation of Jesus' gracious words in the Synagogue in Nazara. Jesus explains his job description of Messiah with the words of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." We have only the text and the reaction of the people. Would it not be wonderful to have the whole lesson!!
The first reaction is very positive. "They were astonished at the gracious words that came from his lips."
But soon the grumbling starts. "Is not this the local boy, Joseph's son?" "Physician, heal yourself." They have head ab out the miracles in Capernaum. They are looking for action. The tension starts.
Jesus is happy to confront them. They become so angry they are prepared to murder him.
Jesus quotes two well-known miracles from the Hebrew Scriptures. The healing of the woman from Zarephath, a Sidonian Town and Naaman, the Syrian leper in the time of Elisha. These miracles show God blessing Gentile people through the Prophets Elijah and Elisha. "When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged." "They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of town." They wanted to kill him.
We see Jesus in this scene quite happy to confront his townies with arguments from Scripture. He is happy to provoke them. He is implying that his mission is to the whole world. He foretells that his ministry will provoke people to murder him. His escape foreshadows the journey to Jerusalem.
In the Gospel of Luke this event is setting the theme for all of the Gospel. In the beginning there is approval and then hostility. This theme will continue in the Gospel until the climax of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
I include the two references for the Biblical stories mentioned by Jesus. They are well worth a read. Naaman is one of my favourite people!
1 Kings 17:7 2 Kings 5:14

Rev Kev - 4th Sunday of Advent

21/12/2018

We have been looking back through the Prophets. We have studied John the Baptist. Now the Liturgy turns to Mary and the coming of the Christ Child.
The story of the Visitation is well known to us. Mary is promised a sign. The sign is that her cousin Elizabeth has already conceived and will bear a son. Is it any wonder that Mary went "as quickly as she could"? She wanted to check out the sign. She needed someone whom she could tell of the wonders within! Who better than an old aunt, the wife of the High Priest. Her long journey to Jerusalem (about 70 miles) must have been a journey filled with questions, but driven by hope.
Note the sequence of events as recorded by Luke. Mary goes into Zechariah's house. She greets Elizabeth. As soon as Elizabeth hears Mary's voice, the child in her womb leaps, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth's greeting confirms all the prophecies made to her. She is "blessed among women," she is "the mother of my Lord," and "blessed is the fruit of her womb." We honour Mary as the mother of the Lord. To be in her presence is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge her privileged position as the mother. But Elizabeth turns our admiration to Mary's faith as one who believes. "Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled."
The two women meet. One is old, the other is young. The whole scene is permeated by the Holy Spirit. Both women are blessed. Elizabeth is filled with and inspired by the Holy Spirit. She is honoured with a visit from the mother of her Lord. What an affirmation for Mary. She is greeted as the mother of Lord before she has time to say one word about her story. Elizabeth's words of knowledge totally affirm the words of the angel: "Know this too: your cousin Elizabeth, in her old age, has herself conceived a son, and she whom people call barren is now in her sixth month."
Mary is put before us in the Gospels as an obedient servant of the Lord. She is a model of faith and hope as attested by Elizabeth. She wisely sought to test the promises of the angel with practical haste. She wisely sought out aged advice and wisdom. Her faith moved her to believe promises.
He life was not always one of celebration. There were many moments of pain and suffering. Like all of us she was called to believe, to walk in faith and hope. We acknowledge her faithfulness and have her as a model.

Rev Kev - 3rd Sunday of Advent

14/12/2018

As mentioned last week, Sundays two and three in Advent are given to John the Baptist. Last Sunday aligned John with the prophets of the past, truly a voice crying in the wilderness. This week the Gospel is in two parts. Firstly John is teaching the rich and the soldiers and the tax collectors how to live honest lives. Then he is making the distinction between his role and the role of the Messiah.
The first part: All the people who came for baptism asked John, "What must we do?" To the rich he says share your food and resources. "Share with the man who has none, and the one with something must do the same." The soldiers and tax collectors are told :No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay."
The second part: John addresses the feeling of expectancy among the people that he might be the Messiah. John is very clear. He baptises with water, but the one who is to come will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. "He is more powerful than I am. I am not fit to undo his sandals."
Among the many other things that John said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News was this phrase: "His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather wheat into his barn: but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out." This reflects the hell-fire stern teaching of John. Repent means to change your attitude or be swept up and burnt. The gospel of try-harder or burn was all he knew. But he did know and was waiting for the more that was to come with the Holy Spirit and fire of the Lamb of God.
We note that to this day there is a small number of John's disciples that have not changed to be followers of Jesus. We know that Andrew and Peter were probably disciples of john before they met Jesus. At the time of Luke's writing this was probably a big issue and is being addressed here.

Rev Kev - 2nd Sunday of Advent

7/12/2018

John the Baptist
Luke promises at the beginning of his gospel to "give an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us." the time and place of the events are placed int he reign of Herod and Philip and Lysanias and Annas and Caiaphas. Luke places the life of Jesus in history. His Gospel is a real story about a real person.
"The word of God came to John." This is how the Bible announces a Prophet.
Two important words in the Bible surround John's life. Luke talks about the wilderness of Judea and the hill country of Judea. You could not imagine two vastly different and contrasting neighbourhoods. The hill country is like the very best real estate in your city. It is where a high priest resides. It is where John was raised, where Mary visited. The wilderness is a desert where occasionally a reed blows int eh wind. There is nothing else. It is devastating. John lived there with great fasting, probably with an Essene community in a vastly penitential life. We read about the strange food and clothing. He was a Spartan!
John's message reflects his community life with the Essenes. His message is "Try harder" or "Shape up or ship out." "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." His baptism is a baptism of repentance. He knows there has to be more. He will point tot he one who is greater. he knows that repentance is basic to kingdom living. He can't wait for the more. He is waiting for "the Lamb of God."
John went through the whole Jordan region "proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." Luke tells us that John is fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah: "a voice cries in the wilderness: prepare a way for the Lord." We have explained the term wilderness. The rest of the prophecy is a road building metaphor. The image is of an eastern oriental emperor sweeping away every obstacle in the same way a we see engineers building expressways. We see the huge machinery pushing great quantities of dirt up and down hills making level freeways. This is how Isaiah sees the coming of the Messiah. Prepare the way for the Lord. Remove every obstacle. The Messiah is coming.
How contrasting will it be to see Jesus coming on a donkey!1 We will see John in the gospel next week also. He will continue to point to the salvation of God.

Rev Kev - 1st Sunday of Advent

30/11/2018

Today is New Year's Day in the calendar of the Roman Church. Advent is a season of four Sundays preparing us for the Feast of Christmas. Sometimes Advent is confused with Lent which is a season of penance. This comes from the fact that both use purple vestments. This confusion must be avoided. There is little similarity between the two seasons. In Advent the purple represents royalty and kingship. It is a season of rejoicing. It is a time for JOY. We are called upon to be vigilant, to be awake and to be ready for the day of the Lord.

This year the Gospel readings every Sunday are from Luke. Today's scene takes place in Jerusalem, in front of the Temple on the last day of ministry in Jesus' journey to the Cross.

The themes of the Advent Season:
In each of the four Sunday of Advent there is a similar theme in each of the three liturgical years. Week one, the theme is a reflection on the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Coming of a Messiah. Week two and three give us a study of John the Baptist over each of the three years and week four introduces us to Mary, the Mother of the Lord.

Week One: Jeremiah and Daniel are the prophets.
The language of the Gospel passage is Old Testament and apocalyptic, based on the Book of Daniel. It would be well known to Luke's listeners but foreign to us. It is part of one whole chapter warning of the Fall of Jerusalem and the Second Coming of the Lord. Luke's Gospel is written after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. It is written in times of persecution and terror. The call to stay awake is much like our call today to be aware and not alarmed. Bad things happen and will happen. "Hold your heads high because your liberation is at hand."

Happy New Year to all as we prepare for the Christmas Season.

Rev Kev - Feast of Christ the King

22/11/2018

We read the full text of this Gospel on Good Friday. The account in John's Gospel of the trial of Jesus is very touching. Jesus is asked bout his being a king and the nature of his kingdom. There is a verbal to-ing and fro-ing between one with world power (Pilate), and one who claims to be king. Let us follow the questioning.
"Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asks. Jesus answers with a question. (We have noted many times this frequent tactic of Jesus.) "Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?" Pilate uses the same tactics and answers with another question. "Am I a Jew?" It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me." And another question. "What have you done?"
Jesus explains that this kingdom is not of this world. He has no army to prevent him being surrendered to the Jews. His kingdom is not of this kind. he is not threat to Caesar.
The questions continue. "So you are a king then?" There is no longer time for questions. Jesus answers Pilate, "It is you who say it. Yes, I am a king. I was born for this. I came into the world for this; to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice."
We study the gospel of John always looking for the irony. The thirsty woman at the well met the living water. Then man born blind could see whereas the Sanhedrin were totally blind to a miracle. Pilate passes judgement on the King of Heaven and Earth! And yet it is judgement that is passed on Pilate.
Going past today's reading to verse 13 we read: "Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated himself on the chair of judgement..." Does John leave us with the thought that Pilate is the judge or maybe Jesus is the Judge? This is the irony of John. The accused becomes the judge and the judge becomes the accused.
Thank God we have the chance to hear the whole passage in Holy Week. Today we emphasise the true majesty of Jesus as we end the liturgical year. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.

About Our Lady of the Rosary

Since its inception in 1947 the parish has grown and today boasts one of the most beautiful and prayerful Churches in our Diocese. Substantially designed by Fr Reg Reynolds, the parish church caters for the permanent Catholic population as well as the many visitors who holiday here.

Site designed by Lisa O'Sullivan

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Our Lady of the Rosary Parish
239-243 The Entrance Rd
THE ENTRANCE NSW 2261
T: +61-2-4332 2216
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