First Eucharist

 We continue to pray for the students preparing to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist. 

Upcoming events:

Presentation Masses - 26 August at 6:00pm & 27 August at 9:30am, Holy Trinity Church, Curtin

First Eucharist Retreat - 8 September, Holy Trinity Primary School, Curtin

Sacrament of First Eucharist - 16 & 17 September, Holy Trinity Church, Curtin

Sunday Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

You are Peter, to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Gospel Reflection by Greg Sunter

Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is. They report that people associate Jesus with one of the great prophets of Jewish tradition. By people identifying Jesus with other great prophets they were projecting Jesus into the same mould as that prophet. What they were saying was that Jesus will be a great leader in the style of John the Baptist, or Elijah or even Jeremiah. The expectation of a messiah was running very high at the time of Jesus and everyone had their own idea about what that messiah would be like – usually aligned with some previous leader. They didn’t seem to understand that Jesus was breaking the mould and was not going to fit in with any of those expectations. To see him as one of the great prophets come again is always going to be an inadequate understanding of Jesus as messiah.

When Jesus pushes the disciples for their own ideas, it is Simon Peter who speaks up and identifies Jesus as being the Son of the living God. Making a play on Peter’s name (in Greek, petros = Peter and petra = rock), Jesus states that hereafter, Simon Peter will be known as Peter and upon the rock of his profession of faith the church will be built.

Blessings for the week ahead,

Veronica Hall

Religious Education Coordinator