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Dear brothers and sisters,
our response to the challenges posed by contemporary migration can be summed up in four verbs: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. Yet these verbs do not apply only to migrants and refugees. They describe the Church’s mission to all those living in the existential peripheries, who need to be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated. If we put those four verbs into practice, we will help build the city of God and man. We will promote the integral human development of all people. We will also help the world community to come closer to the goals of sustainable development that it has set for itself and that, lacking such an approach, will prove difficult to achieve. In a word, it is not only the cause of migrants that is at stake; it is not just about them, but about all of us, and about the present and future of the human family. Migrants, especially those who are most vulnerable, help us to read the “signs of the times”. Through them, the Lord is calling us to conversion, to be set free from exclusivity, indifference and the throw-away culture. Through them, the Lord invites us to embrace fully our Christian life and to contribute, each according to his or her proper vocation, to the building up of a world that is more and more in accord with God’s plan. In expressing this prayerful hope, and through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Way, I invoke God’s abundant blessings on all the world’s migrants and refugees and upon on all those who accompany them on their journey. From the Vatican, 27 May 2019 FRANCIS Excerpt from Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees Fr Frank is very grateful for all the prayers and well wishes. Please keep him in your prayers.
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Dear friends
Jesus in the Word, this week refers to Peace. St Francis de Sales says that there are three things about living in peace that we should never forget. Peace does not mean living without pain. You lose peace not when you are trouble free, but when you cease to be dependent on God and fail in your duties. God is never the source of our anxiety, because anxiety is the enemy of peace, it cannot come from God. Fight anxiety, send it on its way. We cannot keep our peace by losing it. We do what we can to find the peace of Christ and then Jesus does the rest. However this does not mean that there is no price to be paid. Almost certainly we will need to leave things behind we have clung to of being self sufficient and abounding in self-love. This is what Jesus means when He said “not peace but the sword.” It is painful to separate us from our self-love. His sword will leave our hearts raw because we will resist. This wrenching precedes peace. If we try, God will do the rest and the promised peace will come. It comes from a surrender to Him. This is real serenity. God love you Fr. Frank Fr Frank is very grateful for all the prayers and well wishes. Please keep him in your prayers. Dear friends,
4th August is the feast of St John Vianney. St John Vianney teaches us to become people of faith. To discover that “He is Here” amongst us. Jesus can be recognised in those who make Him present through their acts of kindness and genuine concern. Our parishes at Manly and Birkdale are full of such people. We celebrate the joy of being a parish community centred on the love of Jesus, the love of Mary, of Saints John Vianney and Mary MacKillop, the love of the poor, especially our sister parish of Our Lady of Grace in Metinaro, East Timor, and in all our brothers and sisters who need our support and love. Thank you to all the wonderful people who make our parishes a real source of life and joy. God love you for your service and friendship. “Speak with everyone out of your own poverty but let your hands be rich, sharing freely of what you have. We cannot love the poor by keeping at a distance, but only by being with them, by being with them in the church, or the street, wherever poverty leads, wherever need is present.” St John Vianney, pray for us. God love you Fr. Frank Fr Frank is very grateful for all the prayers and well wishes. Please keep him in your prayers. Dear friends
People who focus on eternity are often the ones who do most in this world. Just think of our Australian saint and our patron at Birkdale, whose feast day we celebrate this Sunday, our, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Focusing on eternity doesn’t mean that we are not concerned about the here and now. In fact, eternity means living in the present moment, forever. One writer says, if we live in the past, we tarnish the present and forget the future. Living in the present moment, aware of God’s presence and the divine providence. As St Mary says “How very good, God is to us all.” St Mary of the Cross often went through troubled and humble beginnings. Her one desire was to do God’s will and help those in need. She was the eldest of eight children and met the burden of having to be responsible for helping her mother Flora provide for the family. St Mary experienced an unsettled childhood where the family home was neither happy nor prosperous due to the many failed and flawed business dealings of Mary’s father. Many family homes were sought and lost during Mary’s childhood. A deep sense of hopelessness was always countered by Flora’s sense of providence – the idea that “God will provide” became a staple for Mary and served her well and truly throughout her life. “Never see a need, without doing something about it”. This legacy of St Mary MacKillop is what we experience in our parishes at Birkdale and Manly. I want to thank all the good and generous people who make this saying of St Mary MacKillop, a reality in our parish life. May we experience God’s providence, His goodness and His faithfulness this feast day and throughout the year. Your commitment to our parish life is the source of real blessing to everyone. Let us all be people of trust and gratitude in God. “When I could not see my way, God kept my heart full of trust to make all come right” 1883. Fr Frank’s health is improving steadily. He is very grateful for all the prayers and well wishes. Please keep him in your prayers. |
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