Sacrament of Reconciliation

Thank you to our Year 3 parents who attended the Reconciliation Parent Sacramental Learning Opportunity last night. It was a great session and we look forward to the Home Groups starting soon.  Any further enquiries can be directed to the Parish Office ( 6281 3999/  wodennorth@cg.org.au )

Upcoming dates to remember: 

• PRESENTATION MASSES: Each family to attend one of the following: Holy Trinity Church, Curtin 6.00pm Saturday 2nd March 2024 OR Holy Trinity Church, Curtin 9.30am Sunday 3rd March 2024

• RETREAT AND PRACTICE FOR CHILDREN: Holy Trinity School Hall 9.15am–2.15pm Friday 22nd March, 18 Theodore Street, Curtin

• SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION: Holy Trinity Church, Curtin 6pm Tuesday, 7th May

Please give generously to Caritas Australia this Lenten season and help vulnerable people around the world, now and for all future generations.

With your support, Caritas Australia has been able to assist communities around the world through income generation, water and sanitation, food security, education and disaster risk reduction programs.

Project Compassion 2024 reminds us that the good we do today will extend and impact the lives of generations to come. Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow.

TAPITAS- This year our school will be focusing on raising money for drinking water. We have a whole school display, where each class will receive a ‘water drop’ for every $5 raised. The children will be learning more about Project Compassion in class during Friday Prayer and at morning assemblies. 

Each class has a Project Compassion Box on their Prayer table for donations and we thank you in advance for supporting such a worthy cause. 

Caritas Project Compassion Prayer

We pray for all who are trying to rise from the ashes in their lives. May our support for Project Compassion remind us that now is the time to turn to the Lord with all our hearts and embrace the needs of God’s whole family.

Amen

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B

Mark 1:12-15- He was tempted by Satan, and the angels looked after him.

Gospel Reflection

The First Reading, from Genesis, and the Gospel this week need to be looked at together. In the Genesis reading, God has just wiped clean the earth and is ready to re-establish the relationship with humanity through Noah and his family. In the short gospel passage, Jesus enters the wilderness as a time of preparation and renewal, ready to embark on his mission of re-establishing the relationship between God and humanity. In both readings there is a sense of a fresh start – a clean slate – for humankind. It is a clear indication of God’s commitment to humanity, even when we have totally distanced ourselves from God and forgotten about keeping up our part of the relationship, God is willing to make a clean start of it all again. Both readings offer a reminder of God’s constant desire for us to be in right relationship with God and with the world. The presence of Jesus in the world was as clear a signal as the rainbow in the sky that God was willing to give us another go – give us a chance to again see God with new eyes and new understanding.

In the gospel passage, we have a picture of Jesus preparing himself for his public ministry. He takes himself out into the wilderness, away from all that he has known until this time, to reflect on his life so far and this next vital stage that he is about to enter. In the wilderness, Jesus is tempted. He has to face his own doubts and demons before he sets off on the road of his public ministry. When he leaves the desert wilderness and enters back into Galilee he immediately begins to preach and, in the first words accredited to him in this gospel, Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is at hand and it’s time to repent and believe. It’s a call to open your eyes and get with the program!

Have you thought? Temptation?

When we adopt a view of Jesus as the Son of God, it is hard to imagine him even facing temptation, let alone the possibility of him giving in to it. However, when we see Jesus as also being fully human, we realise that he was just as likely to face temptation as we are. But what might have tempted Jesus? Was he tempted to simply go back to his life in Joseph’s carpentry business and not respond to God’s call? Was he tempted to display his power in flashy demonstrations for all to see? Was he tempted to despair at what lay ahead of him?

Living the Gospel – Change of heart

Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God is a call to live out God’s transformative dream of right relationship with one another and with our world. To accept this call requires a change of heart and mind (a metanoia) and the adoption of a new orientation, a new worldview based on living the kingdom of God. This is a challenge to be counter-cultural – to go ‘against the flow’ of the majority attitudes at times. It is certainly not an ‘easy option’ that we are called to live. Jesus’ call to ‘repent and believe’ is a very appropriate call to begin the Lenten season.

Adapted by Greg Sunter

Blessings for the week ahead,

Amanda Basedow

Religious Education Coordinator (Acting)