Parish Bulletin
PARISH NEWS
Father!
Where does it come from? Well, from Jesus of course. But there are strong elements from Old Testament prayer and the Jewish prayer tradition with which Jesus was familiar. Our Catechism teaches that this prayer is “truly the summary of the whole gospel” yet, sadly, in our human frailty, we rarely stop to savour it as we should. This week’s gospel features the less well known Luke version (Luke 11:1-13), essentially the same as Matthew’s but with some interesting variations.
Jesus encourages us to address the “Father” who is extolled as “holy”. No mention of “heaven” but entering into dialogue with the Creator of all, we are blessed to have a special and personal connection. The core of Jesus’ mission is to bring us the Good News of the Father’s Kingdom, which is coming in fullness but is observably already here. Luke’s prayer doesn’t mention the Father’s will (that’s a given in his kingdom) and Jesus encourages us ask for our needs for each and every day, for forgiveness of our sins and to be spared time of trial.
Rattling it off in rote form as we often do is exactly the wrong way to pray. The disciple asks for guidance (Luke 11:1) and Jesus models how to pray rather than the detail of what to pray. He might have said, “these are the main things: remember you are speaking with the Creator of all, who is your loving Father and who wants what is truly best for you and for everyone.” It is in thoughtfully articulating our issues we pray best. The Father knows it anyway but, rather than going around in circles, we might trustingly nestle to this loving Father and telling him how we adore him and what is happening in our lives at the moment.
Deacon Mark Kelly
CONFIRMATION REMINDER
A letter of invitation for this year’s Confirmation families was sent home at the end of last term with our Grade 6 children. If you are wishing for your child to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this year and didn’t receive this letter please call Thérèse on 0439 306 642.
We will be holding a parent/child information session on Wednesday, 20th July in St Ita’s Church, Drouin at 7pm and on Thursday, 21st July in St Joseph’s Church Warragul at 7pm. This meeting is for parents and candidates. We are looking forward to seeing you on one of these nights.
COMMITMENT MASS
Our Confirmation Commitment Masses will be held on Saturday 23rd July at 7pm and Sunday 24th July at 9am at St Joseph’s Church Warragul.
And on Sunday July 24th at 10:30am and on Sunday July 31st at 10:30am at St Ita’s Church Drouin.
We ask families to please attend one of these weekend Masses to make your Commitment.
WORKSHOP
Our first workshop will be held on Wednesday, August 3rd in St Ita’s Church commencing at 7pm. Also on Thursday, August 4th in St Joseph’s Church at 4pm or 7pm.
Please bring along your completed choice of Confirmation name and sponsor’s name form.
PARISH SACRAMENT ENQUIRIES
Sacrament Enquiries: Mrs Therese Meggetto
Mobile: 0439 306 642 Email: Warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au
