Fr Anthony's MessageDear brothers
and sisters,
I wish you and your family a blessed Sunday. This
week we return to the liturgical season of Ordinary
Time. However, this Sunday and next are designated
as solemnities, special days that call our attention to
central mysteries of our faith. This Sunday, on Trinity
Sunday we celebrate the mystery of the Holy Trinity,
one God in three persons.
This Sunday’s Gospel is taken from Chapter 3 of
John’s Gospel. The passage we read follows Jesus’
conversation with a Pharisee, Nicodemus, about what
it means to be born of both water and the spirit. What
we know from this conversation is that Nicodemus
approaches Jesus at night and acknowledges Jesus as a teacher
from God. Jesus tells him that only those who
are born from above will see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus misunderstands and questions how a
person can be born more than once. Jesus tells Nico demus that
no one can enter the Kingdom of God
without being born of water and Spirit. Jesus is essen tially
explaining Baptism, which we celebrate as a
sacrament today.
Yet Nicodemus, we

are told, still
does not under stand what Jesus
is saying. Jesus
continues by
testifying to the
need to be born from above so that one might have
eternal life.
After the dialogue with Nicodemus, the author of
the Gospel offers his own explanation of Jesus’ words.
This is what we read in this Sunday’s Gospel, John
3:16-18. In fact, in the context of this Sunday’s focus
on the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the reading calls
our attention to the action of God, who reveals himself
in three persons: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. God the Father, out of love for the
world, sent his Son into the world in order to save it.
Through the death and resurrection of the Son, we
have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. As three
persons, God acts always as a God of love; he does not condemn
the world but acts to save it.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Gospel chosen for
this Sunday calls attention to the response that is
required of us: God’s love for us calls us to respond in
faith by professing our belief in God’s son, Jesus, and
the salvation that he has won for us. This profession of
faith is a sign of the work of the Holy Spirit in our
lives. This profession brings us to the heart of our
faith, the communion of life and love of the Trinity. Let
us live out this communion by sharing our life and
love to our brothers and sisters!
Fr Anthony Ngoc Dung Nguyen
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Parishioners' Column
Continued from last week …
The Risen Jesus appeared to his first
disciples, to confirm and re emphasis his central message that
Love and Redemption overcame His Crucifixion and Burial. He
still found some unable to believe. But he just kept persevering
with them. In this, our Easter Season, He appears to us again,
with reassurance. Yes, He is truly alive in the Spirit,
enriching and strengthening the special, individual charism
planted in each of our hearts at Baptism. How often through
Scripture does He plead with us to understand that He is here,
always, and that He stands near us waiting for us to recognise
Him, take his Hand and let Him guide us forward. Perhaps in our
responses to the parish vision and mission statement, we could
include a desire for personal reflection on each day's Gospel -
these texts are easy to find online. This places us in a
disciple's shoes to listen with refreshed openness to words
coming directly from our Saviour's world. To listen, in this
way, is to enable the gradual awareness of a powerful alertness
to develop. In some ways, it seems we are hearing passages for
the first time. These are the passages the Holy Spirit leaves in
our

consciousness to ponder during the day. The disciples,
hearing His human Voice, would have had this experience often.
Remember the Gospel reading in our Bulletin of Sunday, April
23rd (Luke 24-32)? The Risen Jesus walked with the dispirited
Cleopas and his companion as they headed away from Jerusalem.
They failed to recognise Him but he stayed connected and he once
more explained the Scripture to them. They did not get it, and
he chided them gently. “Did not your heart burn within you?”,
but to reach out to Him with kindness and generosity, inviting
Him to stay with them for the night. Just look what happened!!!
Let us see where a commitment to begin personal Gospel
reflections leads us. Our desire to be open to the prompting of
the Spirit and to continue develoing the life of our parish,
may hold some surprises. Finally, we can take great comfort in
the nearness of our Parish patroness, Our Lady of the Southern
Cross as we seek to open our hearts more to the Holy Spirit who
played such a spectacular role in her life. If you look skyward,
on a clear evening, there you should see, directly over us, the
stars of her comforting Southern Cross.
J Conway
Church Centenary
MPORTANT DATE AND INVITE
Please keep
Sunday 8 October
free as we will be
celebrating the Centenary of the Consecration of our
church on that day.You may have ideas to
share of how best to cele brate that important historic
occasion in the lead up to and on the day.
Leave your name and contact details in the Office.
Be part of our centenary.