Sunday Reflection. Today s Readings

Transcription

1 St Teresa of Avila Featherston St Anthony of Padua Martinborough 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time 4th July 2010 Year C Reading I: Reading 1 ~ Isaiah 66:10-14c Psalm Response: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. Reading II: Galatians 6: Sunday Reflection Today s Readings Gospel: Lk 10:1-12, Acclamation Alleluia, Alleluia Speak O Lord, your servant is listening; you have the words of eternal life. Alleluia Jesus has a vision in this week s Gospel - Satan falling like lightning from the sky, the enemy vanquished by the missionary preaching of His Church. Sent out by Jesus to begin gathering the nations into the harvest of divine judgment (see Isaiah 27:12-13; Joel 4:13), the 70 are a sign of the continuing mission of the Church. Carrying out the work of the 70, the Church proclaims the coming of God s kingdom, offers His blessings of peace and mercy to every household on earth - every town and place He intended to visit. Our Lord s tone is solemn today. For in the preaching of the Church the kingdom of God is at hand, the time of decision has come for every person. Those who do not receive His messengers will be doomed like Sodom. But those who believe will find peace and mercy, protection and nourishment in the bosom of the Church, the Mother Zion we celebrate in this week s beautiful First Reading, the Israel of God Paul blesses in this week s Epistle. The Church is a new family of faith (see Galatians 6:10) in which we receive a new name that will endure forever (see Isaiah 66:22), a name written in heaven. Continued on next page

2 In this week s Psalm we sing of God s tremendous deeds among men throughout salvation history. But of all the works of God, none has been greater than what He has wrought by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Changing the sea into dry land was but an anticipation and preparation for our passing over, for what Paul calls the new creation. And as the exodus generation was protected in a wilderness of serpents and scorpions (see Deuteronomy 8:15), He has given His Church power now over the full force of the Enemy. Nothing will harm us as we make our way through the wilderness of this world, awaiting the Master of the harvest, awaiting the day when all on earth will shout joyfully to the Lord, sing praise to the glory of His name. On the lighter side There was this preacher who was an avid golfer. Every chance he got, he could be found on the golf course swinging away. It was an obsession. One Sunday was a picture-perfect day for golfing. The sun was out, no clouds in the sky, and the temperature was just right. The preacher was in a quandary as to what to do. The urge to play golf overcame him. He called an assistant and told him that he was sick and could not attend church. Then he packed up the car, and drove three hours to a golf course where no one would recognize him. Happily, he began to play the course. An angel up above was watching the preacher and was quite perturbed. He went to God and said, Look at the preacher. He should be punished for what he s doing. God nodded in agreement. The preacher teed up on the first hole. He swung, and the ball sailed effortlessly through the air and landed right in the cup three hundred and fifty yards away. A perfect hole-in-one. The preacher was amazed and excited. The angel was a little shocked. He turned to God and said, Begging Your pardon, but I thought you were going to punish him. God smiled. Think about it -- who can he tell? Readings for Sunday 11th July 2010 First Reading: Psalm: Second Reading: Gospel: Deuteronomy 30:10-14 Psalm 69 Colossians 1:15-20 Luke 10:25-37

3 The Feast of Saint Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 July 6, 1902) Maria Goretti is one of the Catholic Church s youngest canonised saints. By the time she was six, her family had become so poor that they were forced to give up their farm, move, and work for other farmers. Maria s father Luigi became very sick with malaria, and died when Maria was just nine. While her brothers, mother, and sister worked in the fields, Maria would cook, sew, watch her infant sister, and keep the house clean. It was a hard life, but the family was very close. They shared a deep love for God and the faith. She and her family moved to Le Ferriere, where they lived in a building, they shared with another family which included Giovanni Serenelli and his adult son, Alessandro. On July 5, 1902, finding eleven-year old Maria alone sewing, Alessandro Serenelli came in and threatened her with death if she did not do as he said; he was intending to rape her. She would not submit, however, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning Alessandro that he would go to Hell. She desperately fought to stop Alessandro, a 20-year-old farmhand, from abusing her. She kept screaming, No! It is a sin! A statue of St. Maria Goretti in peasant garb holding lilies and a knife. God does not want it! Alessandro at first choked Maria, but when she insisted she would rather die than submit to him, he stabbed her eleven times. She tried to reach for the door, but Alessandro stopped her by stabbing her three more times before running away. Maria s little sister Teresa awoke with the noise and started crying, and when Serenelli s father and Maria s mother came to check on the little girl, they found the bleeding Maria and took her to the nearest hospital in Nettuno. The following day, twenty hours after the attack, having expressed forgiveness for her murderer and stating that she wanted to have him in Heaven with her, Maria died of her injuries. Alessandro Serenelli was captured shortly after Maria s death. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He remained unrepentant and uncommunicative from the world for three years, until a local bishop,

4 Monsignor Giovanni Blandini visited him in jail. Serenelli wrote a thank you note to the Bishop asking for his prayers and telling him about a dream, in which Maria Goretti gave him lilies, which burned immediately in his hands. After his release, Alessandro Serenelli visited Maria s still-living mother, Assunta, and begged her forgiveness. She forgave him, saying that if Maria had forgiven him on her deathbed then she couldn t do less, and they attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side. Alessandro reportedly prayed every day to Maria Goretti and referred to her as my little saint. On the evening of the beatification ceremonies in the Saint Peter s Basilica, April 27, 1947, Pope Pius XII walked over to Assunta. She almost fainted. When I saw the Pope coming, I prayed, Madonna, please help me. He put his hand on my head and said, blessed mother, happy mother, mother of a Blessed! They both had eyes wet with tears. Three years later, on June 24, 1950, Pius XII canonised Goretti as a saint, the Saint Agnes of the 20th century. Assunta was again present at the ceremony, along with her four remaining sons and daughters. Alessandro Serenelli was also present at the canonisation. Serenelli later became a lay-brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, living in a monastery and working as its receptionist and gardener until dying peacefully in Every virtue in your soul is a precious ornament which makes you dear to God and to man. But holy purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like the angels of God in Heaven, even though clothed in mortal fl esh. St. John Bosco Oil Spill, continued from previous page... pension funds and insurance companies. Fund managers are always looking for the best returns, and are in no position to check out what risks BP is taking at the bottom of the sea or anywhere else. Pensioners may be happy to pocket a cheque, but do not ask such questions. This separation between ownership and responsibility in the world of gigantic corporations and their institutional shareholders is one of the major moral issues of our time. The Mexican Gulf disaster has helped to identify it.

5 OIL SPILL EXPOSES MORAL GULF What is becoming the worst environmental disaster in United States history has still not been brought under control, though BP s attempts to block off a gigantic plume of oil escaping from the sea bed in the Mexican Gulf have begun to have some effect. Public opinion in America is enraged with BP, which changed its name from British Petroleum when it merged with an American oil conglomerate to become the world s third largest energy company, though it is still largely British-owned. Egged on by President Barack Obama, the America media and political leadership have seized on every public relations gaffe by BP s chief executive, Tony Hayward, to depict him and his company as unfeeling and irresponsible, as if a more graceful way with the media would have stopped the oil spill dead. In fact, as far as anybody knows, BP is doing all it can, with the best brains in the industry and the most advanced technology at its disposal, with money no object. The site of the blow out, which killed 11 oil-rig workers and injured 26 in April, is more than a mile under the sea. Thus BP s efforts have been at the limits of what the latest technology can achieve. This is where the questions start. Why did BP decide to drill and why was it allowed to do so at such a remote and inaccessible site without being able to demonstrate that it had the technical means to deal with an accident of this kind, which must have been foreseeable? Considering how tightly the nuclear industry is monitored because of the potentially catastrophic consequences if anything going wrong, why are the same standards not applied in the oil industry? Vast stretches of the Mexican Gulf coastline, where hundreds of thousands of people earn their living, have been ruined, possibly for many years. Such environments are fragile. They are not BP s to spoil. BP cannot argue that it was only doing what it was allowed to do, if what it was allowed to do was risky and socially irresponsible. But those who allowed it also bear responsibility, and that buck stops at the White House. America s appetite for cheap and plentiful oil is notorious it is said that with 5per cent of the world s population, the US consumes a quarter of the world s oil production. It wants to exploit home-grown oil reserves, to minimise the risk of oil blackmail by unfriendly states in the Middle East. Hence drill, baby, drill! became one of the slogans in the last presidential election. The Mexican Gulf crisis bears marks of a self-inflicted wound. BP is driven by the need to make profits for its share -holders, who include many British Continued on centre right page...

6 St Teresa s News. The senior students celebrated Mass during the week with Father Andrew. Father is an Uncle to several of our students and it was an honour to have him say Mass for us. The children participated and sang well and he told them that he had enjoyed being in Featherston and watching many of the sports our students are involved in e.g. basketball final, cross country, soccer games. Focus on Learning 3-way conferences are being held in Week 1 of next term Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd July. These interviews assist with strengthening home and school partnerships and to work together on goals to support children s learning. There has been much discussion around the National Standards, however as a Catholic School we educate the whole child academic, physical, emotional, social, and spiritually. We recognise and acknowledge that we are all made in the image of God and are unique therefore we all progress at different rates and time. Our reporting shows the progress children make and the next learning steps a child needs to develop. A mufti day was held Friday last day of term. As a school we sponsor a World Vision child, whose name is Blessing. He is a 10 year old boy who lives in the Mporokoso Area in Zambia. Our contribution helps provide a stimulating learning environment so children will want to attend school and take education seriously. Social Justice is an important part of being in a Catholic School and we give our students an opportunity to contribute and participate in such a programme. Congratulations to Meagan Hayes who ran in the Wellington Golden Mile last Sunday. She came 15th out of 380 runners and was the 7th girl home a great achievement. Her entry was sponsored by the Shoe Clinic. Well done to Alex, (32) Ashleigh (3 rd ) Lisa (54) Sandra (43) and Meagan(17) who represented the district at the Wellington Cross Country competition which was held during the week in Waikanae. There performance was outstanding. Chess tournament: this was held last Thursday and we had 24 players participate. Under the guidance of Mrs Fargher the Year 7 & 8 team came 1st with the Year 5 & 6 team coming 2 nd. I will be on a sabbatical next term and Mrs Lorraine Southey will be acting Principal. Mrs Rhonda Jones will be teaching in Room 1 and Mrs Niki Regnault will be the relieving teacher through-out the school. There will be an opportunity for parents to attend my presentation on Inclusive Education learning differences later in Term 4. Don t forget to vote for our Maggie cooking team!!! Details in the Parish centre and Church porch. - God Bless Mrs Carol Pilcher

7 Colour in the letters with a star () to reveal what Jesus wanted the disciples to say to people. In the space below, draw or write how you can bring peace and spread Jesus message.

8 St Teresa of Avila St Anthony of Padua Featherston Martinborough Parish Priest: Fr. Donald Morrison Presbytery: 50 Bell St, Featherston Ph: Baptisms: Featherston ~ 11am Sundays Martinborough ~ 4pm Saturdays St Teresa s School: 63 Bell St, Featherston Ph: offi ce@teresas.school.nz News bulletin and website content: Ph or fossils@catholic.org Anniversaries this coming week Mass Times: Featherston Sunday 9.30am, 5.30pm Weekdays except Wednesdays am in presbytery Martinborough Saturday 5.30pm Wednesday ~ Mass in the church hall (starts between 10.00am and 10.30am) Greytown: Sun 8.30am Carterton: Sat 5.30pm, Sun 10.30am Masterton: Sat 5.00pm, Sun 8.30am & 10.00am Philippino Mass: On the second Sunday of each month in a Wairarapa Parish. Contact Fr. Don for more details. Mary Mc Burney David Flynn Paul Phillips Elsa Thomas Stephanie Conroy James Boonekamp Frank Grough Walter Davis John Vrins Fr. Thomas Haire Patrick McGrath Alexander Manning Fr. John O Rourke Please remember in your prayers these members of our faith family. May they find eternal peace with God. Mass Roster for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary time Year C 11th July 2010 Welcomer V Monk Proclaimers: 1st Reading / Prayers of the Faithful J Knighton 2 nd Reading / Psalm Response P Bleakley Eucharistic Ministers: T Cosgrave & M Boomert Altar Servers: S Makoahi, S Lewis, S Lucas-Berryman Offertory: Makoahi Family Morning Tea: B & J Knighton Church Cleaning St Teresa s School