Reflections

My dear friends in Christ,
I cannot help but wonder in the midst of this crisis and difficult times, if God is actually setting things right. Is He allowing all these so the world can be shaken, and then things will well? I wonder if he is resetting some things. Is there a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens whether what we perceive as being good or being bad? It's quite the unexpected, isn't it?

My dear friends in Christ,

Moving in as your new Parish Priest felt strange. The whole situation deprives us from getting together as a family and community of God to celebrate the Eucharist due to the Covid-19 crisis. There's uncertainty and anxiety. But rest assured of my thoughts and prayers for you and the whole parish as I still celebrate Mass privately.

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2020 - Homily by Fr. Paul Castley

During these devastating times of bushfire and drought I sometimes experience a strange and eerie feeling. All of these horrendous events and all of that loss, suffering and grief is not that very far away from me but it’s as if I am far away from it. Many, many years ago when I was a young boy in Townsville – and that is a long time ago – a flood did rip through our backyard. Fortunately our house was on the proverbial Queensland stilts and it passed underneath us.

"Homily: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph" from Most Rev Peter A Comensoli
Archbishop of Melbourne

Christmas Day evening for me was spent back in Wollongong with my extended family – brothers, partners, grandkids and great-grandkids. This has been our family tradition for several decades, so it works well for me, even though I now live in Melbourne.

Of course, I’m completely different from each of my brothers. I’m my own man, as the saying goes. At least, that’s what I think. My non-blood relatives, however, think otherwise. “You’re so like your brothers,” they say. According to them, we have similar mannerisms, similar physical gestures, similar ways of laughing and talking. It seems that our family resemblances go well beyond our shared DNA.

A Christmas message from Most Rev Peter A Comensoli
Archbishop of Melbourne

Hello friends
I love Christmas. It is such a beautiful time of hope. Behind the tinsel, the advertising, the stress and frantic energy of the season, we encounter a profound simplicity in the story of God's arrival.

We just need to think about Mary and Joseph. They weren't welcomed into any warm hotel or inn, they weren't able to put themselves down by the fireplace in someone's home. They had come from far away and arrived in a place they did not know.

Dear Friends,

I wish you all a very happy Easter. May this Easter bring peace, happiness, and new life to each of your families. Pope Francis says "Christians must not give in to failure" while celebrating the Mass at the Casa Santa Marta Pope commented on the 'spirit of tiredness that takes away hope'.

Dear Parishioners,
Lent is the time to pray, fast and to do penance.

• Prayer; Mass attendance; family prayer; a visit to a Church or Chapel; reading the Bible; making the Stations of the Cross; praying the Rosary.
• Fasting; not eating meat, not eating sweets or deserts; giving up entertainment to spend time with the family; limiting food and drink so as to give to the poor of one's own country or elsewhere. Project Compassion is a major means of expressing our self-denial in Australia.
• Helping Others; special attention to someone who is poor, sick, elderly, lonely or over-burdened; or in other ways.

Dear Parishioners,
Christmas is the time we experience the divine love more closely in our hearts. During this season we celebrate Christ who was born in to this world to save us from sin and death. The four weeks of preparation during Advent helps us to reflect on the Love, Peace and Joy which Jesus brought into this world. The Advent wreath, Candles, Stars, greeting cards, illuminations, all these add to our spiritual joy.

Dear Parishioners,
In June I attended the Annual Clergy Conference along with many fellow priests. This year the event was held at Torquay. The topic was "Young people and religion in Australia: The Bigger Picture"

The conference discussed youth and draws from research and census data. Following are my notes.

My dear Friends,
I am amazed at how time flies. More than seven years have passed since I first came to the communities of Park Orchards and Ringwood North. As I glance at those years, I realize that God has been wonderfully gracious to me in different ways through these communities. How lucky I am to have been in these communities for these years. Perhaps I was the luckiest priest in the Archdiocese of Melbourne to be in the best community of people.