Audio Gospel Reflections -  Fr Frank Moloney SDB

[Updated Dec 2]

NOTICE: If the Parish landline phone is still out of action, please email the parish  office@olsc.org.au
or for urgent matters contact Fr Anthony directly 0424 376 193

Fr Anthony's Message
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I wish you a week ahead with the joy and peace of the Lord!
We are in the second week of Advent. The Church
places in front of us a concrete personage, who teaches us how to prepare for the coming of the Lord. That person is John The Baptist. In fact, in this Sunday’s Gospel and next Sunday’s, our Advent preparation for Christmas invites us to consider John the Baptist and his relationship to Jesus. In this Sunday's Gospel, Matthew describes the work and preaching of John the
Baptist. 
As we may know, John the Baptist appears in the
tradition of the great prophets of Israel, preaching
repentance and reform to the people of Israel. In fact, the description of John found in this reading is reminiscent of the description of the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). In this reading, John directs a particularly pointed call to repentance to the
Pharisees and Sadducees, parties within the Jewish community of the first century. To be more concrete, John marks the conversion of those who seek him out with a baptism of repentance. Other groups in this period are thought to have practised ritual washings for similar purposes, and John’s baptism may have been related to the practices of the Essenes, a Jewish sect of the first century. John’s baptismcan be understood as an anticipation of Christian baptism. In this passage, John himself alludes to the difference between his baptism and the one yet to come: “I am baptising you with water, for repentance . . . He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). This detail reminds us about our own baptism.
It is not only for repentance or forgiveness of sin, but a bath in the Holy Spirit and in the fire of love of God. When we read this Sunday’s Gospel more closely, we come to realise what John would like to make clear,
that is, his relationship to the Messiah who is yet to come (Jesus), and his role is one of service and subservience: “. . . the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals” (Matthew 3:11). In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, today’s passage is followed by Jesus’ baptism by John, an event that is attested to in all four of the Gospels and appears to have been the start of Jesus’ public ministry.
My dear brothers and sisters, John’s preaching of
the coming of the Lord is a key theme of the Advent season. As John’s message prepared the way for Jesus in the first century, we, too, are called to prepare ourselves and those entrusted to us for Jesus’ coming. We respond to John’s message by our repentance and reform of our lives. We are also called to be prophets of Christ, who announce by our lives, as John did, the
coming of the Lordives, as John did, the coming of the Lord.

Advent / Choir Celebrations
It was a blessed occasion last Sunday for our
parish as we came together as one at St Joseph’s to celebrate our Annual Parish Feast Day on the start of the New Liturgical Year (Year A, Gospel of Matthew) and the start of Advent.
The mass was also an important tribute to the Cung Chieu Choir (Cecilia Choir) of the Vietnamese community, for their 43rd anniversary.
Their choral singing throughout the service in both
languages, included Christmas songs, and brought much joy to the congregation. The new membership team of the choir for the next two years were also introduced and blessed.
The gospel’s strong theme of hope and fulfilment for the people in the coming of Jesus Christ the promised Messiah, became connected to the
lighting of the candle of hope for this The First
Sunday of Advent.
Fr Peter Hoang Kim Huy (our former Parish
Priest) gave the homily in both English and Vietnamese. It focused on Advent as a time to prepare and plan thoughtfully as disciples, as we wait for the birth of Jesus and also for His return, just as we would do for any vital outcome we hope for in our lives.The combined Sunday morning mass was a heartfelt hopeful expression of Catholic faith.Virginia Carter

Christmas
We will be having Reconciliation at St John’s on
Thursday, 22nd December commencing at 7pm.
We have asked Fr Frank Moloney to talk on “The
Meaning of Christmas”. Please come and hear Fr
Frank with one of his beautiful dissertations prior to Reconciliation.
Christmas Masses for St John’s:
Christmas Eve : 7:30pm Family Mass; Midnight
Mass with carols beginning at 11.45pm.
Christmas Day : 9am Italian Mass; 11am English
Mass; 5pm English Mass.
Christmas Masses for St Joseph’s:
Christmas Eve : 6:00pm English Mass
Christmas Day : 10:00am Vietnamese Mass

Carols in our Nursing Homes
We are having our “Carols in our Nursing
Homes” initiative again this Christmas, on Saturday, December 17. We will start the morning off with a visit to Little Sisters of the Poor at 10:15am. Then our lunch break …
bring something to share … then off to visit the
Chapel of the Good Shepherd in the afternoon.
Our rehearsals will be on Friday evenings at
7pm, more information on dates coming soon.

St John's Outreach
St John’s Outreach team is preparing for Christ mas and we invite you to donate Christmas gifts for the 25 children our program supports.
Our theme this year is Beach / Pool / Park !!
We have beautiful beach towels and now need back packs, bags and suitable fillers … eg: sunscreen, lip balm, lollies/snacks, water bottles.
Please take a tag from the tree at the back of the
church. We appreciate your contributions and your support. Alternatively, if you prefer to make a cash donation, we’re happy to shop on your behalf.  Blessings to all.

We now have two more Deacons
We congratulate Deacon Euclidio Marques and
Deacon Felipe Sarmento who were ordained dea cons on Saturday 26th November at St Joseph’s
Collingwood. The ordaining bishop was Bishop
Terry Curtin. 150 people, including many from the
local Timor-Leste community, were present at the
Mass and reception. The newly ordained Dea cons made their promise of lifelong service to the
people of God.
Special thanks to Deacon Jeff Miller and Pauline
Miller for leading the congregation in the singing
and also special thanks to Quyen Le and her team of workers for providing a wonderful supper after wards. Fr Peter Monaghan

MERCY CONNECT MELBOURNE is currently recruiting volunteers to support Refugee Students and Asylum Seekers in Primary and Secondary schools across the Melbourne Archdiocese. The volunteer commitment is approximately half a day per week for four school terms. Experience working in an educational setting is preferred but not limited to. Please contact Sr. Mary Lewis RSM for an application form and further information. Email: somml@ bigpond.com