We've done it

Walk and pray together with youth from our parish 

Palm Sunday

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"  And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" 11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee."

Matthew 21:9-10

5th Sunday of Lent

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Laz'arus, come out."  The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. 

 John 11:43-44

4th Sunday of Lent

"Go, wash in the pool of Silo'am" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

John 9:7

3rd Sunday of Lent

Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again,  but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 

John 4:13n

2nd Sunday of Lent

RCIA in Brentwood

Last Sunday - Brentwood Cathedral with Bishop Thomas 

RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) - rite of election 

1st Sunday of Lent

PASTORAL LETTER

on

A PERSONAL JOURNEY OF FAITH

My Dear People,

“What are you doing for Lent?”  We’ve all been asked that question at one time or another and, by and large, our answers will range from the routine to the heroic.  I want to suggest in these few thoughts that it is perhaps the wrong question to ask anyhow.

Simply doing something for Lent can mean that we’re running away from the important challenge of this wonderful season of the Church’s year.  Lent isn’t just about doing things, it’s about a) looking at the face of Christ, knowing that when we find it, we will discover there an immense love for us b) Looking into our own lives and discerning what it is that keeps us from an ever deepening relationship with the Lord.  Any form of penance, almsgiving and fasting that we embrace is meant to assist us in overcoming those inner drives that keep us from Him.

Asking about doing is putting the same question that the rich young man asked of Jesus in the Gospel. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  I think he already knew the answer and was just seeking reassurance that he was alright.  And if you read the story (Mark 10: 17-22) you’ll see that Jesus tells him what to do – He lists the commandments for him.  But that wasn’t enough – more was needed. Jesus was trying to reach the young man’s heart, not just hear what he was doing.  We know this because the Gospel goes on to say that “Jesus looked steadily at him and was filled with love for him”.  The tragedy was that he wasn’t ready to experience that face to face encounter with Jesus and the overwhelming love that flowed from it.  He was unable to respond fully to what Jesus asked and “his face fell and he went away sad”.

Lent is very much a time when Jesus looks steadily at us and loves us.  He’s not so much interested in what we do but in who we are.  He wants to hold our eyes with His and lead us into the experience of His unconditional love for us.

Through today’s Gospel He makes similar demands of us as He did to the rich young man to put aside the temptation to wealth, power, deception.  Are we able to enter into ourselves and do battle with such things and make our lives what they could be, in the eyes of the one who created us?  Or do we, too, go away sad and take refuge in something less demanding?

Through our journey of faith during Lent, may we come to the joy of the Easter celebrations and rejoice together in the great gift of God, which is the new life of the Risen Christ.

+Thomas McMahon

Bishop of Brentwood

CWL coffee morning

Catholic Women’s League - National Coffee Morning in our hall together with Superior General Fr Silvano Marisa MS and Fr Joseph Bachand MS (General Councilor) as our guests during their general visitation. 

Our General

Superior General - Fr  Silvano Marisa MS and Fr Joseph Bachand MS (General Councilor) celebrating Eucharist at 11am during general visitation.

8th Sunday

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more  value than they? 

Matthew 6:26

7th Sunday

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 

Matthew 5:44-45

5th Sunday

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything  except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.  "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.  Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

 Matthew 5:13-16

Presentation of the Lord

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

Luke 2:22

3rd Sunday

[...]  the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death  light has dawned.

Matthew 4:16

2nd Sunday A

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29

Baptism of the Lord

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened,and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heavensaid, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

  Matthew 3:16-17

The Epiphany

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Matthew 2:1-2

The Holy Family Sunday

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."

Matthew 2:13

Christmas

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

John 1: 14

Joy to the World: the Lord has come! Merry Christmas!