Bless every father and grandfather with the best of your spiritual blessings today. Let him know he is not alone in the tasks you have given him.
A few days ago as I was watching the TV news, there was an interview in which the reporter asked the interviewee about the secrets of happiness. That person said many people in the world try to attain happiness by possessing things of the world the first. For example a job, money, house, marriage, children, grandchildren etc.
According to him that is the wrong approach. He suggested that we must first be happy and then seek worldly possessions. This way will help one to be more efficient to attain worldly success. More than 2000 years ago Jesus said the same thing in a different way when he said, “Therefore, seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you as well.” (Mt. 6:33)
As Melbourne emerged from its recent COVID lockdown, Sydney, parts of Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have headed into a new outbreak of the virus. School holidays and other plans have once again been ruined for many. It seems that just when we relax a little, the pandemic returns to bite again.
And yet, the situation in other places is so much worse than we are experiencing. We think of India, South America and even the UK and US. We are constantly reminded that the pandemic isn’t over anywhere until it’s over everywhere. Where can we find God in all of this?
This week is the 11th Sunday of ordinary time. We continue our journey of faith, from Sunday to Sunday, to be nourished by Christ through his Words.
As this edition of In the Word arrives in your inbox we are still rejoicing in the recent feast of Pentecost and the great gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our Church.
St Arnold Janssen, the founder of the Divine Word Missionaries, had a particular devotion to the Holy Spirit. He felt, that in his lifetime in the late 1800s in Europe, the Holy Spirit was the underrated personage of the Holy Trinity and that more emphasis was placed on the Father and the Son.
The Easter Season is almost drawing to a close with the feast of Pentecost approaching in two weeks’ time. Next week we will celebrate the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.
Temptations are a regular part of our lives. When I was still living in Macquarie Fields, five days a week, I’d go out in the morning and take an hour walk.
Happy New Year! I trust that as you receive this edition of In the Word, you are feeling rested and refreshed after a break over the Summer period.
As 2021 begins to unfold, it’s hard not to wonder what is in store for us after all the turmoil of 2020. And yet, our faith tells us it is better to take each day as it comes than to worry about the future.
The first Sunday after the Solemnity of the Epiphany, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This feast day marks the end of the Christmas liturgical season.
The movie, “To be or not to be” is a comedy film by Mel Brooks which is about a group of stage actors who are trying to escape from the Nazis in the newly occupied Poland in 1939. In one scene, Frederick Bronski, played by Mel Brooks, is asked to act like a Nazi Colonel in order to fool a Polish spy for the Nazis.
