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

Retreat For First Eucharist

The Year 4 students at Sts Peter and Paul will participate in a First Eucharist Retreat next Friday held in our school hall. The retreat will run for the first 2 sessions of the day, and will be a lovely time for the students to consolidate all they have been learning about the Sacrament of Eucharist. For the students who will be receiving their First Eucharist next weekend, we will have a practice session to ensure everyone knows what to expect at Mass.

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

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

The Gospel passage begins with an accusation that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. This is the gravest social accusation one could level at another because who you ate with was a reflection of your own status. To welcome sinners and to eat with them was to effectively become one of them yourself. In response to this accusation, rather than mounting an argument, the Gospel writer has Jesus tell three parables about the lost being found. The answer to the accusation is that those dismissed as ‘sinners’ are the ‘lost’ who will be celebrated with extravagant rejoicing when they have been ‘found’ again through their acceptance of the message of Jesus.

The parable of the lost son is usually taken in isolation and rarely is heard in the full context of the three parables of the lost being found. We need all three to recognise the ridiculous nature of the celebration of the forgiving father’s actions. All three parables display great folly. What shepherd would leave 99 of his sheep in the wilderness to go in search of just one? Similarly what woman is going to reveal to her friends how poverty-stricken she really is by inviting them to rejoice with her at the finding of one lost drachma – the least valuable of coins. When we come to the father rejoicing at his son’s return, this too would have seemed a ridiculous folly. Because of his actions, the son completely shamed himself and his father. The father’s expected and justified response would have been to turn his back on his son and banish him forever. To welcome him back would have been unthinkable to Jesus’ audience. In an echo of God’s ridiculous and unbounded loving forgiveness, the father welcomes his son with open arms and reclaims him as his own.

(Reflection by Greg Sunter)

Have a blessed week,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator