French's Forest Catholic Parish eNEWS

Dear Parishioners, In the Gospel this week Jesus does not command us to love ‘God’ in the abstract. Teaching Jew to Jew he says: ‘You shall love the Lord your God’ – the Lord who had rescued the Jewish people from slavery. So, commanding a love which responds to an initiative of Divine Love. Why wouldn’t one respond ‘heart, mind, strength, soul’ in gratitude for the gift of life itself, for some particular person or incident, for the beauty and grandeur of nature, for rescue from some situation which seemed to engulf us? And if the Lord God loved you in such a way, why wouldn’t you love yourself? Then you can properly ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. There is nothing sentimental in his teaching from Leviticus 19:18 and the preceding verses. Jesus was pointing to the system of social justice which looked after the poor. It is up to us as global citizens of the 21st century to recognise as ‘neighbours’ those beyond our borders and to love them in the practical ‘Levitical’ way. I wish t

It is amazing to note how leaving out just one half of one verse of the Gospel can affect the Christian life for centuries. All of us know by rote the command of Jesus that we must love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and we must love our neighbour. But the second half of verse 31 is not usually quoted because, sadly, it is not as imbedded in our memory. It reads: ‘You shall love your neighbour AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.’ There are very clear historical reasons why the second part of Jesus' summary of the commandments was quietly forgotten. Given the chequered personal experience he had of his own body, St Augustine, in the fifth century, had very ambivalent feelings about the human body. He thought that, generally, it was to be feared as the instrument through which we would sin. He encouraged us to tame it through prayer, mortification and penance. Augustine's ideas about the body held sway until Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century and the Jesuit Theologians of the

The month of November each year is a time when we especially remember in our prayers all those who have died. What is the purpose of Mass intentions for the dead? Mass intentions can be applied to living persons, but why pray for the dead? As Catholics, we believe the Mass is the highest act of worship — the greatest form of prayer. We know the practice of Masses for souls of the dead dates to the early church. Praying for the dead is a great act of mercy. Praying for the dead, lighting a candle which symbolizes this prayer and offering a Mass for these souls is a beautiful and powerful way to live our faith. And we care for each other by our prayers. If you wish to offer a Mass for your departed dear ones, please you may collect the November Mass envelope and write the names of your loved ones you wish to pray for. You are welcome to bring back those Mass offerings and give to the priests or place them in the collection bag or bring it to the parish office. A daily mass will be offere

Youth Landcare Day is on at St Anthony in the Fields, Sunday 3rd, Nov 3-5pm finishing with refreshments. A community actively caring for plant and wildlife communities at Kierans Creek. Tools provided. Please contact Anne Lanyon or Brian Norman via the Parish Office for details.

In response to the call by Pope Francis to ‘Hear the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor’ by implementing a LAUDATO SI ACTION PLAN, interested parishioners met at St Anthonys on 20th Oct and discussed the first stages of looking at what is already happening in all three churches and the parish generally. This was in order to assess what we can do into the future starting next year.  We will report this back to the PPC. We would like some more interested people from each of the 3 churches, especially OLGC, to join us for another such meeting to be held after 10am mass at the OLGC parish meeting room at a date tbc soon . Please rsvp if interested via Parish Office.

Dear friends, We need your generosity and support! Our Diocese of Broken Bay will be launching at the start of November the Pastoral Works (PWBB) November Appeal. The Appeal supports various charities in our Diocesan community, particularly the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) and the Hospital Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care Program. PWBB also supports St Lucy's School and St Edmund's College for students with disabilities, and the Ephpheta Centre supports the deaf community. This financial year, 2024/2025, our Frenchs Forest Parish, has been asked to contribute to the charity works of our Diocese with $ 38527.00. These ministries need our community’s generosity as they get little or no Government funding. Please consider donating to help us reach this year’s goal.  At Frenchs Forest Parish make our November appeal on the weekend of 9/10 & 16/17. ALL DONATIONS OVER $2 ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE! Kind Regards Fr. Satheesh Antony OSH, PP

Durning October we welcomed our newest members to our parish. Congratulations and welcome to, Alexander McPherson,  Geneieve Hoy,  Harry Clubbe,  Jack Caristo,  Sandon Welling Who have been Baptised at our Churches during October. May this act of faith bring you immense peace, strength, and fulfillment as you continue to walk your path.  We continue pray for them and their families.