NEWS - June 20, 21
The theme of the 2026 Autumn edition of “The Madonna Magazine” was Humility in which Fr. Chris Gleeson, in his editorial, made the following statement. “Humility should be appreciated as a strength, rather than an act of self-rejection”. This highlights the difference between the true meaning of the word rather than the way many people perceive it to be.
He believes that over the years many of us have looked on this virtue as some form of self-rejection, as putting ourselves down, rather than appreciating it as a strength to be cultivated. Each of us has been gifted by God with certain abilities which we develop in life and perform very well, thus leading others to praise us for having done things so well. How we respond in this situation is often a denial or diluting the effect of what we have done. Perhaps we tend to downplay our obvious achievements, thinking that is humility - Not so.
The word humility comes from the Latin, “humus” which means “earth” or “ground”. So humility is the art of being grounded. One might also say that “humility is truth”. God has given each of us a specific set of skills and encourages us to develop these during our lives. When we do and others become aware of our efforts the response should be to acknowledge that our efforts are real but are also the result of God helping us to use the gifts He originally gave us. Our response should not be some form of rejection of what we have achieved but an honest acknowledgment of our actual achievements and a feeling of gratitude to God who was with us all the way as we developed His gifts in our lives.
Faith Matters lending library
Perhaps, throughout your hectic week, you are looking for a small book of various articles dealing with common day spirituality and with a touch of humour. We have a number of such booklets written by Br. John Venard (Marist Brother). There are about 6 titles under the theme “The Battlers God”. Why not take one home for a week and browse it. John was very good at communicating spiritual themes with readers. Duck in to the church shop at Grovely at the end of any Masses on the weekend.
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NEWS - June 13, 14
Now that Pentecost and the feasts of The Most Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi have occurred we now come back to the Sundays in Ordinary Time in the Church’s 2026 Liturgical Year. This Sunday is the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Sundays from now until the Feast of Christ the King on Sunday Nov. 22 will go from today until the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time on Nov. 15.Over this time the Scripture readings will be from the evangelist, Matthew, who is the designated one for this year. There is a roster covering Matthew, Mark and Luke and for this year it is Matthew’s turn. You might well ask why John is not on the roster. The Gospel of John was written some time later and it is not in the narrative style as are the other three. You might say it is a more reflective style.
At times though, the rostered evangelist will not follow this pattern. This occurred on Christmas day when the Gospel was from Luke and on Jan. 18 ( Baptism of the Lord ) when it was from John.
During the season of Lent the Gospel of the day for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays in Lent were from John. During the Easter season ( Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday ) most of the readings were from John.
All of the Gospel readings from now to the end of the Liturgical year will be from Matthew. During Ordinary Time the Gospel readings are teaching us various lessons that Jesus taught during His time on earth. They reveal to us the way He wishes us to follow Him during the time He gives us on this earth. Each of us has been given a special mission which can only be done by each one of us, with His help, on every step of the way.
Using knowledge of the Church’s Liturgical year and following it each Sunday is an excellent way of walking with Jesus in our lives.
Faith Matters lending library
Perhaps, throughout your hectic week, you are looking for a small book of various articles dealing with common day spirituality and with a touch of humour. We have a number of such booklets written by Br. John Venard (Marist Brother). There are about 6 titles under the theme “The Battlers God”. Why not take one home for a week and browse it. John was very good at communicating spiritual themes with readers. Duck in to the church shop at Grovely at the end of any Masses on the weekend.
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