This year at Sts Peter and Paul, we are all called to ‘Let Your Light Shine”

Father’s Day Donuts for Dad’s Drive-Thru & Prayer Celebration

This morning on Carline, the Fathers, Grandfathers and special people in our Community were given a Donut as a ‘thank you’ for everything they do for us. Following that, Year 2 shared a Prayer Celebration in honour of Father’s Day. Thank you to the Year 2 students and their teachers for all the hard work they have put into preparing for the Prayer Celebration, and to all of the staff who assisted in preparing the bags and donuts ready to give out this morning – many hands made light work, so thank you!

Presentation Masses for First Eucharist Candidates

Last weekend, the 2022 Candidates for First Eucharist were presented to our Parish Community at the Parish Masses at Holy Trinity. It was wonderful to see the Children and their parents at Mass on this special occasion.  

Celebration of First Eucharist

Parents that have enrolled their child in the Sacrament of First Eucharist will need to nominate a weekend Mass (Sat. 6pm, Sun. 9.30am or Sun. 5.30pm) on the weekend of 17-18 September for the celebration.  There will be a limited number of seats available for candidates, their families and guests, mindful of the need to accommodate other parishioners at each of these Masses.

Please click here to nominate your child for a Mass.

Enquiries can be directed to the Parish Office (6281 3999 / wodennorth@cg.org.au ).

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Gospel Reflection

‘Hate’ is an emotive and extremely harsh word in our society. In its Gospel context, the word is not used as an opposite of ‘love’ but as an indication of deserving of less significance than another thing. So the teaching about hating father, mother, etc can be read as saying that being a disciple of Jesus must take precedence over everything else, even family. In 1st Century culture, family was foremost above everything else; it was the very fibre that held society together. Jesus is saying that discipleship must be put above even that which is most important and most intrinsic to life in this world. That is why he goes on to tell the two stories about the need to count the cost before undertaking an important venture. He makes clear to his listeners that discipleship is more important than anything else and that there are huge costs associated with taking it on. A believer has to literally ‘count the cost’ of what it will mean to place discipleship above family, friendships, career, politics and even life itself. Jesus makes no apologies for the fact that what he is asking is incredibly demanding.

Our ‘possessions’ are all those things – material, emotional, and psychological – that we cling to and that we think give us our identity and status. Jesus called for a radical reinterpretation of status and position. He tells his listeners that they cannot truly be disciples if they continue to cling to those things that are considered important in this world. They have to surrender the things that bind them to this world’s ideas of status and position before they can fully embrace the kingdom view of the world. As Jesus said, you have to really count the cost!

(Reflection by Greg Sunter)

Have a blessed week,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator