Prepare the Way of the Lord
This is time of great energy and excitement franti cally engaging us into a world of hyper-activity as we
ready ourselves for the most exciting time of year. Tra ically, however, if Christmas is exhausted in a ritual of
frantic energy and maddening commercial hype this
magical time of goodwill and joyful gathering can betray
us into a few hours of tinsel and muzak, hijacking us
into “taking a lot out of us and giving little or nothing in
return”, leaving us deflated, and despondent.
Advent calls us into awareness of God-with-us in
our humanity “now” and the liturgy persistently calls us
to “prepare the way of the Lord”, urging us into radical
transformation with God and with each other. By looking at the original event of this joyful time beyond the
transient and the marginal we are energised into discovering “God-with-us” in our personal and collective narrative behind the external and the ephemeral of daily
experience. 
The story begins with John the Baptist, the most
arresting characters of the original story and the first
and critical exemplar of the Christmas narrative, beginning with an honest self-appraisal and ending with a total commitment to transformation of self and the
world. For John, God was never a distant stranger out/
up there, but very much a present reality in his life and
cultural milieu, in our midst challenging the here-and now here, inviting a personal relationship coupled with
a radical personal and collective transformation.
“Someone IS following me, someone who IS more
powerful than I am”, John declared pointing out to us
that our Christmas cannot remain a memory of a distant
place and time, but it must speak the word IS as a personal experience present in the here and now. John’s
appearance is revolutionary and his striking lifestyle is
only matched by the fiercely passionate words addressed to his hearers and to all of us for all time. He is fired into something much deeper and much more personal than externals. Blazing words and arresting demeanour of camel hair and wild honey stand as the very incarnation of a passion touching the depths of the heart and commitment, demanding a radical response welling up from the inner self of hearers and readers now alike.
John the Baptism is the unwavering prophet proclaiming the onrush of God into the human story, transform
humanity as the place where God is at play and at work
on us the actors of God’s presence.
God is the primary actor in the Christmas story and
the initiator and energy of our story, and like John the
Baptist, “unworthy to untie the thong of is sandals” we
need to be open and stand in trust and hope, sincerely
and humbly acknowledging this divine dimension in
spite of personal weakness, brokenness and need. Only
this kind of honesty will make us alert and aware of the
presence of God in us and around us in spite of peripheral and externals. Only this kind of sincerity will energize us into confronting the questions thrown at us by the unavoidable Advent and Christmas calls for radical transformation. Fr Peter Varengo

OLSC Advent Mass
After a week of cold and rainy weather, we were blessed with a glorious Sunday to celebrate our combined mass on the First Sunday of Advent.
Fr Peter Varengo presided over our mass where we
heard the first reading in Samoan, the Responsorial
Psalm in English and second reading in Vietnamese.
We then had the prayers of the faithful in Italian and English. Our 3 choirs sang beautifully in
English, Samoan and Viet namese. A truly culturally
diverse celebration.
True to OLSC style, we finished up with lots of international dishes ranging from Vietnamese spring rolls, fried rice, fried chicken wings, the much loved Samoan food and of course, our good old sausages and bread.
Thanks to everyone who organised, cooked and
contributed. We look forward to seeing you all over the Christmas celebrations. Wishing you all a Joyful and Blessed Christmas.
The Parish Pastoral Council

The Lighting of the Advent Candle
The lighting of a different candle on each Sunday in Advent invites us to pause and reflect. Each candle has its own symbolism, while the intertwined evergreen leaves of the Advent wreath remind us of the promise of eternal life that Christ brings. In most Christian traditions the first candle, lit on Advent Sunday itself, represents hope – a sign of our hopeful expectation as we await the coming of the Messiah. The next three candles mark the themes of peace, joy and love. The large white candle is the ‘Christ candle’, lit as we mark the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. Courtesy of St Beuno’s Outreach, the Diocese of Wrexham, UK

KEEP THIS DATE FREE….. On Sunday 1 March 2026 we will commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the laying of the Foundation Stone of the Church which took place on 26 February 1876. We still cannot find the foundation stone. Is it buried somewhere? Does anyone have any clues? Let John or Joan know.