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unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.” – J.F.X. O’Conor, S.J Immaculate Heart of Mary Thurgoona 20 Hartigan St, Thurgoona 2640 When I graduated from school in 1979, I thought I had graduated from the

Catholic Church. I was free from the and on to public school. Show me your apart from your works and I by my works will show you my faith. James 2:18 Gradually, I stopped going to Mass, then only on holidays, and then not at all. Parish Priest: Fr John Fowles During the summer before I entered college, I began to have a thirst in my soul for Pastoral Associate: Br Denis Devcich | Acolyte: Denis Golden prayer. Sure I knew the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Gloria but I didn’t know Phone: 02 6043 2222 | [email protected] how to talk with God. I voraciously read the bible and my mother’s St. Joseph Mis- Fax: 02 6043 2224 | PO Box 110, Lavington 2641 | www.thurgoonacatholicparish.com Parish Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday from 9:30am to 12:30pm sal, which had the Latin on one side and the English on the other. But something was lacking. I felt that thirst for God, for prayer and for that spiritual connectedness. ~ Parish Program ~ I was being pursued by the Hound of Heaven. Mass Times and Devotions In retrospect, I realize my voracious reading of Scripture entering into the Saturday: - (Vigil) 6pm Adoration - Fri 8:30am to 10:30am unhallowed halls of Academia prepared me to do battle with a very anti-Catholic Sunday: - 9:30am & 5:30pm Precious Blood - 10am Monday - 8am Mass - Thurs 6:30pm and Sun 9am professor who relentlessly attacked the Church. With fact, I countered every lie he Tuesday - 10am, Mass of , 2nd Reconciliation - Thursday after Novena told the class. As I stood strong, slowly the other kids in class who were initially Tues of month of the sick Sat after 8am Mass & 5:30 to 5:50pm cowed by this professor, began to stand strong and profess their faith. The professor Wednesday - 8am Sun 9 to 9.20am & 5.00 to 5:20pm gave me a lower grade than I had earned, but I was happy to take it on the chin for Thursday- 7pm, Mass & Family Novena and - By appointment the Lord and the Church. Friday - 8am Praesidia : Saturday - 8am - 1st Sat of Month Mon 9:30am - Mystical Rose The Hound of Heaven continued to pursue me through college and into the start of Blessed Mary Mass Tues 7.30pm - Mother of Divine Grace my “adult” life. Wed 8:30am - Mary Immaculate While I was dating my wife Sue, we spent many days with her maternal Grandma ~ Parish Notices ~ from Italy, who had a great love for the Lord. Sue and I love gardening; we would Have-A-Chat: 6th February plant a tomato garden for grandma the way grandpa used to do it when he was alive. It’s on again Ladies, Thurgoona Golf Club at 12 noon, our first gathering for 2017. We would kick off the spring cleaning of the garden every year on June 23rd, Looking forward to seeing you there. Bring a friend, all welcomed grandma’s birthday. We would bring a little cake, some gifts and seedlings. 2017 Summer school Our Lady of Fatima—100 Years In 1986, I painted a ceramic crucifix as a birthday gift for her grandma, which she Keynote Speaker: Bishop Columba Macbert-Green asked me to have blessed. I wasn’t going to Mass regularly, so I told her to have it Location: Magnificat House, 456 Queensberry St Nth Melbourne blessed when she went to Mass, but she insisted in a kind way that I get it blessed. I smiled and said “OK” with no intention of having it blessed. While I was disposing of gardening trash in the can out front, a priest walked by. I ran after him and asked him if he would bless grandmas’ birthday gift. He gladly said “yes” and entered the house. His name was Father Nasser, an Egyptian priest assigned to St. Parish. He inquired about our prayer life, chided us for not going to Mass faithfully, sat us around the table and prayed with us. He blessed the Crucifix, blessed us and left. Like that rabbit in the Hound of Heaven Poem, I was still running and not back home at Mass yet. (The Hound of Heaven is a poem by Francis Thompson)

5 Feburary 2017 –Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time- Year A Lord hear our prayers for the: Sick: Theresa McCommack, Margaret George, Lorraine Carty Collect Departed: Karl Jacka. Fr Andrew Quinn, David Carty, Keep your family safe, O Lord, with unfailing care, that, relying solely on the hope of Anniversaries: Michael Baker, John Hanrahan Jean Gibbon, Andrew Trethowan heavenly grace, they may be defended always by your protection. Through our Lord Feasts of the Week: Mon: St Paul Milki & companions, Martyrs Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Frid: St Scholastica, virgin one God, for ever and ever. Readers: this week 4/5 Feb Sat 6pm - Denise Murphy Sun 9.30am - Vera Galvin First reading Isaiah 58:7-10 Readers & Cleaners Roster - 11/12 Feburary 2017 Thus says the Lord: Share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor, Readers: Sat: 6.00 pm - Kieran Williams Sun: 9.30 am - Steve McCrohan clothe the man you see to be naked and do not turn from your own kin. Then will Cleaning: Group 2 Mary and Jenny your light shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed over. Your integrity Financial Report: Please make cheques payable to “Thurgoona Catholic Parish” or will go before you and the glory of the Lord behind you. Cry, and the Lord will Direct Debit: BSB 012-708: Ac No. 3546 39223. Please include name on transfer. First answer; call, and he will say, ‘I am here.’ If you do away with the yoke, the clenched Collection: $376.60, Envelope: $280.00 + Direct Debit: $225.00, Loose: $149.40 fist, the wicked word, if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the Light Breaking Forth: oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness, and your shadows become like noon. Scott Hahn Reflects on the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Responsorial Psalm Psalm 111(112):4-9 Jesus came among us as light to scatter the darkness of a fallen world. As his disciples, A light rises in darkness for the upright we too are called to be “the light of the world,” he tells us in the Gospel this Sunday. Second reading 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 God forever aligned his Kingdom with the Kingdom of David and his sons by a When I came to you, brothers, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy, but “covenant of salt,” salt being a sign of permanence and purity.. simply to tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you, the only Jerusalem was to be a city set on a hill, high above all others, knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified drawing all nations towards the glorious light streaming from her Christ. Far from relying on any power of my own, I came among you in great ‘fear and trembling’ and in my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of Temple. And Israel was given the mission of being a light to the the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the nations that God’s would reach to the ends of the earth. Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human philosophy but The liturgy shows us this week that the Church, and every on the power of God. Christian, is called to fulfil Israel’s mission. By our faith and we are to make the light of God’s life break forth in the Gospel Acclamation John 8:12 darkness, as we sing in this week’s Psalm. Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; This week’s readings remind us that our faith can never be a private affair, the man who follows me will have the light of life. something we can hide as if under a basket. We are to pour ourselves out for the Alleluia! afflicted, as Isaiah tells us in the First Reading. Our light must shine as a ray of Gospel Matthew 5:13-16 God’s mercy for all who are poor, hungry, naked, and enslaved. There must be a Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You are the salt transparent quality to our lives. Our friends and family, our neighbours and fellow of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for citizens, should see reflected in us the light of Christ and through us be attracted to nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men. ‘You are the the saving truths of the Gospel. light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to So let us pray that we, like St. Paul in the Epistle, might proclaim with our whole put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the lives, “Christ and him crucified.” house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.’ The Hound of Heaven Part 1 Edward Monti, Catholic Stand As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its Communion antiphon Cf. Ps 107 (106): 8-9 running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so Let them thank the Lord for his mercy, his wonders for the children of men, for he does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in satisfies the thirsty soul, and the hungry he fills with good things. human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after,