REFLECT
"(...) let yourselves be taken over by the light of Christ, and spread that light wherever you are." - St. John Paul II
Finding God in Our World
source: www.ignatianspirituality.com
So let's try Advent once again. Let's practice a hopeful way of being in the world.
Open your home to those who need welcome; pretend that each one of them is the baby Jesus, born on the road and needing help
Don't hurry through Advent because you're not terribly good at living it; just let it live in the real life you have. Don't forget that God loves you. And please don't forget that God loves everybody else too. He came for us all. Together, we wait for the holy child.
Vinita Hampton Wright
'He is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.'"
Luke 20:38
.
Jesus said .... come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today"
Luke 19:1-10
"Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ looks compassion into the world.Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world."
St. Therese of Avila
invites us to acknowledge God's gifts with wonder and gratitude
Pope Francis
When human history seems to develop contrary to the will of God, "we are called to live this period as a season of trial, of hope and in vigilant waiting for the harvest". The Kingdom grows mysteriously; its power is hidden in a small seed that is filled with "victorious vitality". When times are dark, we need to trust in "God's quiet but powerful action," and "remain anchored in God's faithfulness, in his presence which always saves".
Pope Francis
We ask the Lord today for the grace of not falling into indifference, the grace that all the information we have about human suffering might penetrate our hearts and move us to do something for others.
Pope Francis
God is watching, and waiting, and hoping. God rejoices beyond measure when we restore dignity and value to even one human life.
Fr Brian Maher, OMI
"Jesus tells us that in order to follow him, to be his disciples, one must deny oneself - that is, the claims of one's own selfish pride - and take up one's very cross. (...) Then he gives everyone a fundamental rule. And what is this rule? 'Whoever wants to save his life will lose it.'"
Pope Francis
"Let us ask the Virgin Mary - who was humble all her life - to lead us every day on the way of humility, so that we are capable of making our own gestures of welcome toward and solidarity with the marginalised, seeking nothing in return, so that we might become worthy of the divine reward."
Pope Francis
"The lamp of faith needs to be nourished continuously, with a heart to heart encounter with Jesus in prayer, and in listening to His Word". "True faith opens the heart to one's neighbour, and spurs us on to concrete communion with our brothers and sisters, especially with those in need".
Pope Francis
Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous;
Teach me to serve you as you deserve,
To give and not to count the cost,
To fight and not to heed the wounds,
To toil and not to seek for rest,
To labor and not to seek reward,
Except that of knowing that I do your will.
St. Ignatius of Loyola
CHOOSIING THE BETTER PART
"The most important task in life is to pray, not to pray with many words ... but to pray with the heart"
to gaze upon the Lord, to listen to the Lord, and to ask the Lord for what we need". "And we know that prayer can work miracles".
Pope Francis
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."
Luke 10
"The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life."
St. Thomas Aquinas:
"The Holy Spirit makes Jesus present in us, beyond the barriers of time and space, to make us His witnesses in the world,"
Pope Francis
MAKE ME A CHANNEL OF YOUR PEACE
"Love your enemies and pray ..."
"The Gospel within the Gospel"
What will you do when your nets are full?
She explains the situation to him and he seems to dismiss her; but she is not giving up that easy! She then goes to servants and confidently tells them, 'Do whatever he tells you.'
"no prophet is accepted in his hometown"
'Do whatever he tells you.'
Image by Jesuit Fr. Marko Rupnik
GOD IS WITH US
May Mary help us to keep and ponder all things.
Pope Francis
ADVENT 2021
Stong Faith in God
"Everyone has a destiny, but destiny is God"
Andrea Bocelli
The Power of Silence
"The wound is the place where light enters the heart"
Rumi
Bring It All To The Table
"So bring it all to the table
There's nothing He ain't seen before
For all your trials, all your worries, and your burdens.
There's a Savior and He calls
Bring it all to the table."
Source: Musixmatch
The Church has one essential task -
to pray and to teach how to pray
If prayer ceases, the Church has become like an empty shell that it has lost its bearings, no longer possesses its source of warmth and love.
Pope Francis
Read more here
Feast of the Annunciation
Ave Maria
For having left the path of others, you find a very special hand
Friday| March 19, 2021
Lent is a time to reflect on God's loveread full message here
"For Lent is not a time for useless sermons, but for recognising that our lowly ashes are loved by God," "It is a time of grace, a time for letting God gaze upon us with love and in this way change our lives. We were put in this world to go from ashes to life."
Pope Francis
Tuesday | February 16, 2021
Do You Want To Fast This Lent?
Pope Francis
Fast from hurting words and say kind words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and trust in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.
Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.
Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.
Ordinary Miracle... Today
Monday | February 15, 2021
Make this world a better place
Monday | January 11, 2021
"Our duty is to work so as to make this world a better place, and to fight. Our faith is revolutionary through an impulse that comes from the Holy Spirit. We must follow this impulse in order to go out of ourselves, to be men and women in accord with the Gospel of Jesus. Any life is decided by the capacity to give oneself. It is there that one transcends oneself, that one becomes fruitful." - Pope Francis
Reflection:
When was the last time you called upon the Holy Spirit to help you reach out to another person and bear the fruit of kindness and mercy?
Children of God
Sunday | January 10, 2021
"Do we remember that in baptism we received the 'seal' of our Heavenly Father, and that we became his children? To put it simply: we bear God's surname, our surname is God, because we are the children of God. Here lies the root of the vocation to holiness!" - Pope Francis
Reflection:
What do you know about the day you were baptised? How does being a child of God impact the decisions you make every day?
source: livingwatercatholic.org
Let Christ's light shine in love for one another
Friday | January 8, 2021
"May each one, as far as he or she is able, give his or her best in a spirit of genuine service to others." - Pope Francis
Reflection: Do you give others your best? If not, what holds you back from doing so?
source: livingwatercatholic.org
Gifts of God
Sunday | January 3, 2021
"Creation and the goods of the earth are gifts of God bestowed upon all human beings who are at the same time their custodians and beneficiaries." - Pope Francis
Reflection: What gifts - spiritual and material - has God given you, and how do you use them to give God glory?
source: livingwatercatholic.org
Compassion for all
Saturday | January 2, 2021
"God] has compassion; he has compassion for all of us; he has compassion for humanity and sent his Son to heal, to regenerate, to recreate, and to renew it." -Pope Francis
Reflection: Where do see evidence of God's compassion for humanity today? What places are in most need of Christ's healing and renewal? Bring these to prayer as a sign of your compassion for all.
source: livingwatercatholic.org
Friday | January 1, 2021
"There was a beginning and there will be an end, 'a time to be born, and a time to die' (Eccl 3:2). With this truth, so simple and fundamental and so neglected and forgotten, Holy Mother Church teaches us to end the year and also our day with an examination of conscience, through which we review what has happened; we thank the Lord for every good we have received and have been able to do and, at the same time, we think again of our failings and our sins - to give thanks and to ask for forgiveness." - Pope Francis
Reflection: How do you end each day? For what in the past year do you give God thanks? Where in your life do you need to ask for forgiveness to enter the new year with a clean heart?
source: livingwatercatholic.org
Prayer in Action
MASS TIMES -
Monday - Saturday: 10:00 am
Sunday: 9:30 am - 10:45 am - 12:00 noon
OFFICE HOURS
Monday - Thursday: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Tel.: + 353 1 283 2988
email: parishoffice@newtownparkparish.com
