Sunday Gospel: All Saints Sunday

Saints are sometimes regarded as ‘Catholic superheroes’. Stories of miraculous and remarkable deeds abound, though more in the vein of conversions and cures than speeding bullets and tall buildings. But to get caught up on the Saints of the stained glass windows is to overlook the vast majority of saints. You see, a saint is anybody whose soul is in heaven. The Church celebrates a certain number of Saints whose lives provide a glimpse of God for the rest of the Church. But there are many, many more saints whose glimpse of God was only ever experienced by their family, friends and those with whom they worked. The feast of ALL Saints is an opportunity to remember and reflect on the lives of those saints who’ve been known and loved by just a few and whose sphere of influence was such that they will never be recognised as Saints by the universal Church.

Today’s gospel, the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount describes perfectly those ‘lower case s’ saints we celebrate in this feast day. The Beatitudes are sometimes referred to in parallel with the Ten Commandments. However, the Beatitudes are not ‘rules’ or ‘instructions’ for life as the Commandments are. They are more in line with a strategy that today we would call ‘positive reinforcement’. They celebrate those who respond to God’s call through particular attitudes towards life and towards others. Jesus presents them to the disciples and the crowd as images to inspire imitation. They’re not hard and fast rules for life, but attitudes for life; the Be-Attitudes, so to speak. Those who live with these attitudes in this life are to be celebrated – ‘Happy are you’ – for they will be saints. They will be welcomed into communion with God in heaven.

 (Gospel Reflection by Greg Sunter)

Grandparents' Day

Thank you to all of the parents and grandparents who submitted a photograph for Grandparents Day last week. It was so lovely to see the many photos of Grandparents within our community, we are so blessed. We will be sharing the video on our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/STPPGARRAN/videos/1016186872181158

Sacrament of First Eucharist

Thank you to all of the parents who have enrolled their child in the First Eucharist Sacramental Program. For anyone who still needs to register their child, please see below.

To enrol online:

Access or download the Qkr! app. 

Tap on ‘North Woden Transfiguration Parish’

Tap Sacrament of First Eucharist (second option)

Complete the form and make your online payment. ($40).

Home groups are also being established now, please use the link below to place yourself and your child into a Home group:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x-B_Dgkud5IlolbLpeGkLKIf7vdBNhXGp-DejSBA8Bw/edit?usp=sharing

Mass Dates and Times can now be selected using the link below. Due to restrictions, only 4 children will be able to register for each Mass. Please remember to also list the number of family members/guests that will be attending (Maximum of 10).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/146FLEi9zYXFb7-ORSpIEnyadSPXt4E8kAxxmC_2ORTM/edit?usp=sharing

Children’s Liturgy

Children’s Liturgy runs on the 2^nd and 4^th Sunday of each month during term time. Below is a timetable with the dates for Term 4. Children’s liturgy occurs during the 9:30am Sunday Mass at Holy Trinity, Curtin. Last Sunday we had a wonderful turn out, 24 children enjoyed spending time with our Youth Ministers, Grace and Maddie, during Mass and completing a craft activity together before returning to the church.

Youth Group is on this Weekend

Youth group will be held this Sunday the 1^st of November, 4-5:30pm before Mass at the Parish Centre at Curtin.

The theme is ‘Learning to love others as your neighbour’, and everyone is encouraged to dress with a Disney theme. Our Youth Ministers Grace and Maddie will run Youth Group, and all children in Years 5 and 6 are welcome to attend.

God bless,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator