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John the Baptist Catholic Parish John the Baptist Catholic Parish Mount Street, Bonnyrigg Heights 2016 - Jubilee Year of Mercy (incorporating Bonnyrigg Heights, Green Valley, Edensor Park, Abbotsbury, Cecil Hills, Elizabeth Hills & Elizabeth Park) Parish Administrator: Rev Fr James McCarthy Parish Pastoral Centre: Email: [email protected] 45 Mount Street, Bonnyrigg Heights, 2177 Office: 9823 2572 Fax: 9822 9954 Assistant: Rev Fr Phan Nguyen Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] website: www.johnthebaptist.org.au Deacon: Rev Mervyn Francis Parish Secretary: Leanne Lang Email: [email protected] Bookkeeper: Yvonne Smolinski Youth Ministry Co-ordinator: Joe Sullivan Accountant: Michael O’Mara Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesday- Friday 10am to 4pm MASSES THIS WEEK Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C) PSALTER 1 12th & 13th March, 2016 ‘Prayer of the Church’ prayed at John the Baptist “Neither do I condemn you, said Jesus ‘go home, and don’t sin any more” (cf. John 8: 11) 10 minutes The scribes and the Pharisees in the gospel narratives are not only the enemy of Jesus; they before weekday Masses are a foil to him, that is, they set Jesus off to advantage by their contrast with him. They are Morning and Evening Prayer petty when Jesus is generous; they are snobbish when Jesus is gracious; they are self- Monday - No Mass righteous when Jesus is understanding and forgiving. Tuesday - 9:10am Wednesday - 7:00pm In the story of today’s gospel, some of the scribes and the Pharisees hoped to make Jesus Thursday - 9:10am look bad in the eyes of the people. They presented him with the case of a woman. They said St Patrick, bishop they had caught her in the act of adultery. Just how they managed this apprehension induces Friday - 9:10am the imagination to consider their perversity, and perhaps Jesus himself did not fail to attend Stations of the Cross 7:00pm to that aspect of the situation. It is possible that it was one of the thoughts in his mind when Saturday - 9:10am he said to them, “If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw the St Joseph, Husband of Mary stone at her” (cf. John 8:7). SUNDAY 19/20 MARCH Of course their perversity was obvious in the question they proposed to Jesus. It was meant (Palm Sunday of the Passion of the to be a dilemma so that whatever Jesus answered they hoped to use his statement against Lord) him. If Jesus was to consent to the stoning, he would be made to look like a dissembler who Saturday Vigil Mass: 5:30pm preached forgiveness but did not practice it. Sunday Masses : Our Lord’s answer to the men must not be interpreted as indifference to sin. His point was 8:00am, 10:00am, 5:30pm simply that they had no right to judge and condemn a fellow human being, both because of 4th Sunday of the Month: their own sinfulness and because they could not possibly see into the heart of the woman. 5:30pm Mass in Tagalog And our Lord’s refusal to condemn the woman himself does not mean that he condoned her Reconciliation: sin. He did know what was in her heart and he saw there the spark of repentance. He put into Saturday morning 19th March words for the woman what her repentance should be: “go home, and don’t sin any more”. 9:40am—10:20am Jesus was understanding and forgiving, while the scribes and the Pharisees were self- Saturday afternoon 4.15 - 5.00pm righteous in their condemnation to the woman. One thing we should learn from this gospel message is that we must not judge others. And more importantly, we should learn that it is God who will judge us and not one of our fellow human beings. Jesus reveals to us today that God is infinitely more understanding and forgiving than human beings could ever possibly be. He sees the temptations to which we are subject. He understands the weaknesses of our human condition. And he knows the secret workings of the human heart. For this we should cry out with great confidence, “Lord, have mercy”. This confidence should not induce us to be indifferent or careless about sin in our lives. Rather it should make us realize that the repentance to which we are called during Lent is really worthwhile. “Go home, and don’t sin any more”, said Jesus. And the sincere honest Reflection Questions What is satisfying to me in effort to avoid sin with God’s grace is the spark of repentance that will win from God the pointing out the sins of others is … response, “Neither do I condemn you”. What helps me stop this and face In the Creed we will profess our faith in the truth that Jesus “will come again in glory to my own sinfulness is….. When Jesus has said to me, judge the living and the dead”. Today Jesus gives us every hope that if with God’s grace we “Neither do I condemn you,” I are truly repentant and we will share in that glory. Amen. have felt….. What helps me repent of my own Fr Phan Nguyen sinfulness and change my way of living is… Your Prayers are requested for the following, YOUTH CORNER for whom Mass will be offered: Sick: Fr John LANGTRY, Archbishop Anthony FISHER. QUOTE OF THE WEEK Sebastian AGUIAR, Maria KONTREC, Bishop George PHIMPISAN, Fr Paul STENHOUSE, Fr John B CHIANG, Ray CLARKE, Maila CORKILL, Fahed JREISAT, Emmanuel ARAPA, Bishop Geoffrey ROBINSON, Facunda MARTINO (7 years), Luis MARTINO, Anna MILLZARSKI, Bogdan MILLZARSKI, Justin ZERAFA, Cherish ADINA (1 year), Carmen SPITERI, Audrey SPITERI, Christine TRIGAS, Crystel SACOBOS, Eugene KLEIBERT, Dora BADINO, Guido BADINO, Sue SHERMAN, Emmanuel POLJAK, Ciro PUNZO, Valerie McCARTHY, Gemma GATT, Pamela LEVERS, Lily TANTIYA, Cecilia ABELA, Brindley and Virginia JORDAN & GALILEE YOUTH GROUPS Thank you to all those who came last CAVALLARO weekend to help kick-start our year! Recently Deceased: Fr Francis (Frank) MARTIN (in his 100th year, We hope to see more years 7-10 students at our Galilee the oldest Priest in the Archdiocese of Sydney), Solidad SWING, Youth Group, the next big one being Friday 8th April, from 3:30pm- Mario CABILUNA, Samuel CARUSO, Joseph Le NGUYEN, 5:30pm. The next Jordan Youth Group for our years 5-6 students will be held on Saturday 9th April, from 3:30-5:30pm. Listen out James A SMITH, Irene V SMITH, Elaine TREUER, to see what’s going to be happening and what we’ll be doing! Renato ANTONELLI Anniversary: Paul RADMAN Y-FACTOR “SHINE” 2016! Join us for Y-FACTOR “SHINE 2016! We can’t even begin Other: Philiphe (Phan Bat Thien), Very Special Intention to tell you how incredible last year’s camp was. You’ll just have to pack a bag and join us this time round. ATTENTION EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS: The new The CYS Staff and Youth Ministers from all over the Roster is now available for collection after all Masses. Sydney Archdiocese have been working for months to make this year’s camp even better (if that’s possible). So, if you are currently PARISH BULLETIN DEADLINE: in years 7-12, then come have the time of your life these Easter school holidays with 60 friends you haven’t met yet! If you have any items that need to be included in the Parish There’ll be heaps of time for games, activities, talks, discussion, Bulletin could they please be at the Parish office NO LATER prayer and a chance to grow in your faith and relationship with God. than 12:00pm on Wednesday. Any late items will not be This camp is so big we can only run it once a year so get on board included in the Parish bulletin for that coming weekend. now or miss out! Please check out more of the details at http:// Thank you for your understanding and our apologies if this causes www.catholicyouthservices.org/events/y-factor-archdiocesan-youth- any inconvenience. camp/ CADBURY CHOCOLATES RCIA PROGRAM - Adult Initiation to the Sacraments If you would like to support our youth going to Poland in another An RCIA program facilitated at St John the Baptist will start in way, we have chocolates that need selling! All help would be mid April 2016. Included in this program is adult preparation for greatly appreciated and is something relatively simple. If you would those who have not yet received Baptism, Holy Communion, like to help, please come and visit me in the parish office. Reconciliation and/or Confirmation. There is now a good number Thank you. of applicants who are wanting to join the program. During this LENTEN PROGRAM time of waiting for the program to start, we continue to extend our Please join some of our young adults in a parish Lenten program invitation to everyone who would like to become a Catholic or that will be running throughout the next 5 weeks of Lent. It will would like to receive other sacraments as listed above to contact commence at 6:30pm on Sundays in the parish hall. Since this is a the Parish Office. Jubilee Year of Mercy, each week we will be primarily focused on Mercy and how we can apply it to our day-to-day lives during this HEAR OUR LORD JESUS’ WORDS OF MERCY Lenten season and beyond. Saturday 19th March from 9am - 4pm at the Shrine of Youth Prayer Intentions and Mass St Benedict’s Hall, Cnr of Justin and Neville Streets, Smithfield All the youth and young adults of JB Parish are Talk: Rev Jarek Zan invited to the weekly Wednesday night Mass to pray for specific intentions (which will change each week).
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