Cooper s Corner: Be blessed always Audrey Cooper

Transcription

1 1 Corinthians 2:13

2 Cooper s Corner: God uses a cloud in the Old and New Testament as a sign of His protection. Just as in Sunday s first reading there are many instances in the Bible in which God appeared or spoke in a cloud. Do you remember a cloud in the baptism of Jesus and at the Transfiguration, and the cloud that led the chosen people across the desert? For Moses the cloud was the sign of God's presence. Moses was a great leader and prophet, a man filled with the Spirit. One day God gave the same spirit to seventy others in the camp. While Moses rejoices in this sharing of the Spirit, his friend and helper, Joshua, was afraid that Moses would lose his power as God's spokesman. Moses response is beautiful. He rejoices. He is not jealous that others are chosen as a channel of God s Spirit. His desire is that all people receive the same gift of the Spirit. It is good for us to remember what jealousy can do to within our own community. We have only to think of Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, Saul and David. Perhaps we should examine our own feelings toward friends or family members. We should not be afraid to raise up another fellow Christian in his/her ministry. We are not rivals but, like Moses, we rejoice as the Spirit works through all people so that the Gospel can be spread to all nations. Be blessed always Audrey Cooper

3 Vatican Views: In Lithuania, Francis tells priests to hear their people's cries By Hannah Brockhaus. Kaunas, Lithuania, Sep 23, 2018 (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told priests and religious in Lithuania Sunday to listen to the cries of suffering that come from the People of God, who are looking to them for hope. The cry of our people must strike us, like Moses, to whom God revealed the suffering of his people in the encounter at the burning bush, the pope said Sept. 23. Listening to the voice of God in prayer makes us see, makes us hear, know the pain of others in order to free them. The cry that makes us seek God in prayer and adoration is the same that makes us listen to the lament of our brothers, he continued. They hope in us and we need, starting from a careful discernment, to organize ourselves, plan and be bold and creative in our apostolate. There is no room for improvisation when it comes to responding to the needs of God s people, he said. Pope Francis spoke during an encounter with priests, religious, and seminarians in the Cathedral of Kaunas in Lithuania, part of the program of the second day of a visit to the Baltic states Sept In their encounter, the pope offered one piece of advice in particular for priests to be close to their people and close to God in the tabernacle. He said a priest more concerned with the administrative or functionary parts of his job opens the office at that time, does his job, closes the office. And meanwhile, the people are all outside. He does not approach people. Dear brothers and sisters, if you do not want to be an executive, I will tell you one word: closeness!...

4 Closeness to the Tabernacle, face to face with the Lord. And closeness to people. The Lord wants you shepherds of the people, and not clerics of the State! The pope said that closeness and mercy are linked, and a priest cannot but be merciful. Above all in the confessional. He told priests to think about how Jesus would treat the person coming to confession and to welcome them. Already enough has he been beaten by life, that poor guy! Let him feel the embrace of the forgiving Father, he said. If absolution cannot be given to someone right away, he advised encouraging the person to pray and to come back to talk. Never chase someone from the confessional! Never drive [someone] away, he said.

5 Wisdom 4 the week: Stop chasing the wrong things in life, and the right things in life will have a chance to catch up with you. Food 4 thought: don t tell secrets in the garden, cause potatoes have eyes, corns have ears and beanstalk. Quote 4 the week: Forgive others.not because they deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace. Thought 4 the week: If you don t heal what hurt you, you will bleed on people who didn t cut you.

6 ES bible study for children: It has been a few months now since I have given up my one day a week in prison.as my position has turned into a 20hours a week part-time position.(and I do not have that many hours to put into prison ministry) But it has been for a while now that the Lord has put it in my heart to teach The Word to younger children, and so it is an idea that I have been praying and pondering on for some time now. Fortunately I still have the resources that I used to use for the children some 10 years ago. So I just have to improvise on that. Robin has offered to finance both my bible study ministries.for the kids as well as for the adults. If all goes well, I would like to start with a minimum of 10 children. I plan to conduct it between the age groups of 8-12years of age. It will be held every Sunday from 3-4pm, except school holidays. For anyone wishing to know, I am a trained Catechist with the following qualifications: A grade Diocesan Catechetical Diploma in Catechists Training and Modern Catechetics signed by the Director for Catechetics Fr Aniceto Pereira and Archbishop of Bombay Ivan Dias A certificate in CARE course (Chaplaincy, Assessing, Resourcing, Equipping) facilitated by (CEC) The Churches Education Commission, New Zealand A certificate in school Chaplaincy course through Lifewalk, New Zealand The syllabus will be according to the Catholic Liturgical calendar. If you know anyone who is interested please let me know.

7 Thanks: Thanks to all those who sent in your prayers and good wishes. Robin and I had a marvellous holiday in Manila. The weather was awesome.(as my mantra is Where sunshine goes, sunshine is ). ESB ministry meeting: I attended the ESB monthly ministry meeting and was pleasantly surprised to hear Michelle break the Word for the day. Even though she had only one scripture from the Psalms to expound on, she took the opportunity to recap all the verses in that chapter and link them together to the various attributes of God. But what was really very impressive was the fact that she delivered her talk in record time of 10mins and without looking into her notes every now and then. Which for me was absolutely FANTASTIC. So well done my dear..you have done your God proud Workshop ESB and ESR ministries: There will be an ESB and ESR combined ministry workshop at COTS on Sunday the 7th of Oct from 2-4pm followed by bible class as usual at 4pm. Labour day picnic: Lydia, Jeff and Michelle will be taking charge of the Labour day picnic details. Please liaison with them re menu s and car-pooling etc.

8 Revelation: I will be holding yet another 3 hour teaching on the book of Revelation at my place.especially for the newcomers. I will let you know the date shortly. To our skype viewers from Australia You are more than welcome to join us on skype. To our viewers from Pukekohe, I would appreciate if you could come over. It will most probably be on a Saturday afternoon. Lydia, Jeff, Belinda, Amelia, Davison, Corvin, Pearl and Arlene, kindly give me your preferred dates in Oct ES Website is undergoing a few changes: The website tiles and the front page article are undergoing a few changes Also there will be a separate tile for the testimonies that people have sent in. Those who have stuff to put up on the website for sale please can you send it across to Johnsy asap? A few of us have already sent in our products. Daily Gospel reading: For those who cannot make it to church on a daily basis. Oct 2 Tue: Jb 3: / Ps 88: / Mt 18: Oct 3 Wed: Jb 9: / Ps 88: 10bc / Lk 9: Oct 4 Thu: Jb 19: 21-27/ Ps 27: 7-8a. 8b-9abc / Lk 10: 1-12 Oct 5 Fri: Jb 38: ; 40: 3-5/ Ps 139: ab/ Lk 10: Oct 6 Sat: Jb 42: / Ps 119: / Lk 10: Oct 7 SUN: Gn 2: 18-24/ Ps 128: / Heb 2: 9-11/ Mk 10: 2-16

9 Audrey Cooper , To all our visitors: If you wish to join us for a time of praise and worship and a study of the Word, you are more than welcome to come every Sunday at Church of the Saviour, 2 Heaphy street. Entrance from Kinross rd. Timings are from 4-6pm