ST MARTHA’S PARISH STRATHFIELD

‘It is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead’ … Luke 24

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This week’s highlights:

Care for the dying: 80% miss out. • Queens of the greens. • All welcome. Mass for Autism. • Just do it. Pope’s new exhortation. • Movie review: Midnight Sun. • History’s lessons: Religious freedom in Australia.

Copies of the Catholic Weekly $2 & Catholic Leader $2.50 are available at the Church Entrances

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

IF YOU PARTICIPATE IN ANY OF THE

FOLLOWING MINISTRIES YOU ARE

REQUIRED TO SIGN IN - ACOLYTES; READERS; EUCHARISTIC

MINISTERS; CHOIR; CHILDREN’S LITURGY (LEADERS & CHILDREN) &

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM (LEADERS & CHILDREN). SIGN IN FOLDERS

ARE KEPT IN THE SACRISTY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.

ALTAR SERVERS ARE NOT PERMITTED IN THE SACRISTY

WITHOUT A PARENT/TEACHER. THE SIGN IN FOLDER IS

LOCATED IN THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE THE SACRISTY.

Please be aware that if you “TAG” St Martha’s in photos on your Facebook page, the images also appear on an “unofficial” St Martha’s Facebook page. This “unofficial”

page was created automatically by Facebook and is not controlled by St Martha’s. We kindly remind you to

take care when uploading photos of any children without parent consent.

If you would like to buy a copy of the

Parish History Book, please contact

the Parish Office $20 each.

SHARING OF THE WORD

The weekly meetings at St Martha’s parish hall

have recommenced on Wednesday evenings at

7:30pm. Everyone is welcome and we would

love to see new parishioners. All Bibles are

supplied.

THE PARISH OF ST MARTHA’S ACKNOWLEDGES THE WANGUL PEOPLE AS THE TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND ON WHICH THE CHURCH IS BUILT

Administrator (Pro tem): Fr Terence Bell

Priests in Residence: Fr Telesphor Zenda & Fr Michael Milinga

Deacon: Rev Mr Constantine Rodrigues

Lectors/Communion Ministry: Helen Williamson

Administration Coordinator: Nicolle Mazzaferro

Sacramental Coordinator: Patricia Saad (Thurs/Fri)

Music Ministry: Marcella Ayoub & Jane Phillips

Parish Office: Mon- Fri 9.00am-3.00pm

70 Homebush Rd Strathfield NSW 2135

Ph: 9746 6131 Fax: 9764 3040

Email: office@stmarthas.org.au

Website: www.stmarthas.org.au

St Martha’s School: 9764 1184

Principal: Judy Gastin

Assist Principal: Caroline Boulis

Acting REC: Angela Smith

Vision:

Welcoming

Eucharistic

Transformed by the Word

Full of Grace

Proclaiming Good News

MASS TIMES

Tuesdays: 7.30am Wednesdays: 9.10am

Thursdays: 9.10am Fridays: 9.10am

Saturdays: 9.10am, 5pm Vigil Mass

Sundays: 8.00am; 10.00am & 6.00pm

RECONCILIATION: Saturday after 9.10am Mass or by appointment.

BAPTISM:

2nd

& 4th

Sundays of the month at 11.00am

by appointment only. (One months’ notice is required).

Contact the Parish Office.

Next Preparation Session: 6

th May 2018 at 9.15am in Parish Hall

MARRIAGES: By appointment only.

(6 months’ notice is required).

Ministry Coordinators and contact numbers may

be found on the Parish Website.

ROSARY: Tuesday after morning Mass, Wednesday to Saturday

8.30am and 7.30pm on Fridays in conjunction with Marian Movement

of Priests Cenacle and Divine Mercy Chaplet.

LIFE ASCENDING GROUP:

17th

April 2018

PRAYER GROUP / ADORATION AT

ST MARTHA’S CHURCH: Mondays 10.30am-11.30am

SYDNEY MALAYEALEE ROMAN CATHOLIC

COMMUNITY

Rosary, Mass & Adoration from 6.30pm to 9pm on

the 2nd

Saturday of each month. Rosary & Bible Sharing 6.30pm

on the 4th

Saturday of the month

ADORATION AT SISTER DISCIPLES

OF THE DIVINE MASTER: Daily from 2.30pm-6.00pm.

Ministry Coordinators and contact numbers

may be found on the Parish Website.

Please continue to support the St Vincent De Paul Society

through the Church Poor Boxes.

Mission:

Alive with the Spirit

Inspired by St Martha

We Celebrate & Witness

God’s love

Using our Gifts & Talents

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The parish office has become aware that some parishioners received parking

fines while attending the Good Friday services at St Martha’s. Could you kindly contact Nicolle at the parish office if you were fined.

In Loving Memory

Mass will be offered for Fr Adrian Horgan on Friday 20th April at 9.10am to mark the 3rd Anniversary of his passing.

May we all continue to keep Fr Adrian in our Prayers.

ANZAC DAY MASS – WEDNESDAY 25TH APRIL MASS WILL BE CELEBRATED AT 9.10AM.

FATHER PAUL RYAN - We acknowledge the 60th Anniversary of Ordination of

our much loved former Parish Priest Father Paul Ryan on Thursday 8th March. To mark

this special milestone, Fr Paul will be joining our parish community on Sunday 6th May to

concelebrate Mass at 10.00am followed by morning tea. The pastoral council are seeking

some volunteers to assist on the day. Could you kindly advise the parish office if you can

assist. Thank you!

COVENANT MASSES AT ST MARTHA’S WITH FATHER CAMILLUS EVERYONE IS WARMLY WELCOME TO ATTEND

7pm on Wednesday 18th April, Friday 18th May, Monday 18th June, Wednesday 18th July, 11am on Saturday 18th August, 7pm on Tuesday 18th September & Thursday 18th October

For more information please contact Sister M Julie Bracr on 0408 738 334

MAY IS THE MONTH OF THE ROSARY - The Rosary will be said each evening at 7.30pm in

Parishioner’s Homes (Fridays will be in the Church). If you would like to host the rosary please leave

your details on the sheet at the back of the Church. All are welcome to attend.

Contact Antoinette Karam on 0421 057 896.

The FIRST CHARITABLE WORKS FUND APPEAL will be held over the

weekend 5th & 6th May. Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated.

Envelopes are now available at the Church entrances. Contributions $2 &

over are tax deductible.

Enrolling @ St Martha’s Primary School - Kindergarten Enrolments for 2019 are

now being taken. Years 1-6 anytime of the year. Please contact the School Office on

9764 1184 for an Enrolment Pack. All enrolments are welcome.

Roster 21st & 22nd April

VIGIL 8AM 10AM 6PM

Special Veni Tandiono Georgette Sahyoun Maria Soares Tony Herro

Ministers Iwan Tandiono Geraldine O’Sullivan Meaghan Williamson Mary L’Estrange

Czarina Mendoza-Cruz Christine Ng Anne Marrins Volunteer Needed

VIGIL 8AM 10AM 6PM

Readers Naomi Petrie Paulina Roncevic Rachel Suriano Theresa Kuk

Ella Murillo Tashya Koelmeyer Sheba Varghese Jenny O’Hehir

VIGIL 8AM 10AM 6PM

Altar Nicholas T. Dominic N. Kristen E. Katarina S.

Servers Patrick T. Thomas C. Aiden E. Volunteer Needed

Lachlan P. Volunteer Needed Nathaniel S. Volunteer Needed

Elizabeth P. Volunteer Needed Volunteer Needed Volunteer Needed

Wardens VIGIL 8AM 10AM 6PM

Ken Goodrick Peter Yamin Tony Khoury / Trudie Jean Duma

Children’s 10AM 10AM

Liturgy School Holidays School Holidays

The April to October Roster is now available on the website or take a copy home from the Ministry trays located at the side entrance of the Church.

MASS INTENTIONS

Recently Deceased:

Br Ken Clancy msc, Arthur Charles Smith, Gregory Kelly, John Burton Langrell, Margaret McManus, Pina Palermo, Samia Moussa, David Small, Tiarnan Rafferty, Gail Rice, Vincenzo Mazzaferro, Andrew Coote.

Repose Of The Soul:

Fr Adrian Horgan, Br Ray Dowding, Aldo Amarino, Salvatore (Phillip) Puglisi, Faado Herro, Ken Fraser, Lisa Cooke, Michael & Mary Cassar, Giuseppe & Romilda Reginato, George Chiramel, CC Varghese, Kunjamma Kurian, VK Georgie, Claramma Joseph, PJ Francis, Lois Walsh, Philip Winfield, Dominic Wang, Maria Huang, Threasa Anthony-Pillai, Dorothy & Sidney Carlisle Butler, Anne Cecilia Glass, Reginald & Agnes Glass, Gerald Gleeson, Mereani Chang, Pojito Torres Phan, Raymond & Gnanamma Abraham, Josephine Durana, Monica, Patrick & Cornelius Ryan, Franceso & Maria Colagiuri, Chan Chau, Dominic Wang, Maria Huang.

Anniversaries: Frances Gleeson, Sabino Scolamiero, Salam Moussa, Aida Arena, Leo & Joyce O’Donnell, Keith Davis, Christopher John Stewart, Tannous & Alida Mounayer, Maud Soares, Julie & Bill Thomas, Edmund Campion, Vincenzo Furfaro, Elvira Petrillo, Mercedes Kamirex Villaruel, Steven Boroczky, Anna Asztalos & all those whose anniversaries occur at this time.

Sick Intentions: Patrick & Elisa Chang, Michael Rumore, Lynne Chaudhuri, Kathleen Hughes, Peter Starr, Raymon Jewell, Michael Suriano Snr, Valerie Bleasel, Sophia Druart, Rob Reberger, Anthony Chow, Tony Khoury, Francisca Mendoza.

Special Intentions: Luke Kim, Marie & Denis Lesslie, Roberta & Les Young, Michael & Elizabeth Sinclair, Nishaanthy, Elizabeth, Feris, Ashley, Tonia, Ruby, Dona, Paul, Elizabeth Sinclair, The Massad Family, Bruno Bagetti, Members of the Sullivan Family, Steven Boroczky, Joseph Asztalos Jnr, Thomas, Deceased Friends, Relatives & Benefactors of the Dominican Order, Deceased members of the St Vincent de Paul Society & Benefactors, Holy Souls.

Mass Intention Envelopes are available at the Church Entrances

Volunteer with Palms Australia - Get out there and be the Church, ”bruised, hurting and dirty”. Communities in Myanmar, PNG, Samoa, Timor Leste, Kiribati and Kenya

seek volunteers to mentor locals and build capacity. Palms volunteers don’t do quick fixes, but immerse themselves in overseas communities for long-term skill exchange. If you have

teaching, medical, business, admin or trade skills, share them with our global family! Contact Christine at Palms on 02 9560 5333 or go to www.palms.org.au/volunteer/

Join Pope Francis in Panama for the

34th World Youth Day January 2019

Sydney Catholic Youth are inviting you on the pilgrimage of

a lifetime to Panama where you will celebrate Mass with Pope Francis and millions of young Catholics from around

the world.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP will lead the Sydney

pilgrimage departing on 15 January 2019 which will travel from Sydney to Washington DC, then to WYD Panama with

the optional extension to travel to Mexico City. Register your interest and find out more by visiting the website

www.sydneycatholicyouth.org/wyd

C O P I N G W I T H T R A G E D Y

B Y R O N R O L H E I S E R

Several years ago, late on a Sunday night, I received an email from one of my

nephews. Three of his close friends had just been killed in a senseless automobile

accident. He was beside himself with grief, and with questions: “Why?” “What does

one say in a situation like this?” “What do you say to their families?” I’m old enough

to know that there are no simple answers to those questions at a time like this. Those

questions are hard enough to answer when the person who has just died has lived a

long, full life and has died with loved ones holding his or her hand and giving

permission to let go and move on. They are paralyzing in the face of this kind of

tragedy, a senseless accident where someone’s carelessness takes three young people out of this world in a totally unnecessary

fashion. So what does one say in the face of this? Initially, for the first days after a tragedy of this kind, there is almost nothing

we can say that is helpful. We have the words we need, drawn from our faith: “They are with God!” “We believe in the

resurrection!” “They are in gentler hands than ours!” “They are still alive in another place!” “We will meet them again

someday!” Those words eventually will bring the consolation they contain, but in the first hours and days after a tragedy they

don’t carry their full power or sometimes much power at all; not because they aren’t true, but because, like a seed, they need

time to take root and grow. But, because our words are inadequate, doesn’t mean that there is nothing we can do. What’s

needed more than our words is our presence, our sharing in the helplessness, and our sharing in the waiting. In the first hours

and days that follow a tragedy we don’t need to speak a lot, we need to touch a lot. We simply need to be there. Moreover the

words that we do speak need to honor how deep and resistant to consolation the wound is. They should not be an untimely

balm, good medicine but bad timing. They must speak honestly to the senselessness of the situation and how disconsolate it

leaves us. I like the words that Rainer Marie Rilke sent to a friend who was beside himself with grief: “Give that heaviness

back to the earth; the seas are heavy, the mountains are heavy, the earth is heavy.” When we are in the middle of a storm we

shouldn’t pretend that the sun is shining or, indeed, that there is anything we can do to stop the storm. The task is to wait it out,

together, hand in hand, offering each the assurance that we aren’t alone. Waiting it out is precisely what is required. The Book

of Lamentations tells us that there are times and seasons when all you can do is “put your mouth to the dust and wait.” That’s

bitter, stoic advice, but it imparts real hope rather than false optimism. What it tells us and draws us to is the fact that, right

now, for this immediate time, this pain must be borne, however crushing. There is nothing to be done. Consolation will come

eventually, but it must be waited for and, in the meantime, we need to keep “vigil”. And that is why we call the service before

funeral a “vigil”. We gather not just to celebrate the deceased life, but to, together, “put our mouths to the dust and wait.” And

that waiting can be very painful, a time when we see everything through the dark prism of our loss and where for a while we

sincerely believe that we will never find joy again. This kind of waiting brings to the surface a frightening kind of loneliness

that reveals to us how fragile and vulnerable it all is. But that is exactly what we need to accept and process. And so we

shouldn’t be afraid to feel afraid, nor despair about feeling despair. Neither negates courage or faith. As Kierkegaard put it,

“courage isn’t the absence of despair and fear but the capacity to move ahead in spite of them.” We believe in life after death,

in the resurrection, in the communion of saints, and in God’s infinite tenderness and mercy. Faith can be trusted. What it tells

us is true. In the end there is consolation. However our God, it would seem, doesn’t always save us from tragedy, but instead

eventually redeems tragedy. Jesus didn’t save his friend Lazarus from death, he raised him up from death after he had died. In

the end, no doubt, “all will be well, and all will be well, and every manner of being will be well”, but in the meantime,

especially in those moments right after tragedy, senseless accidents, senseless deaths, and senseless loss of all kinds, the

consolation and peace of God have to be waited for and we are meant to do that, hand in hand.

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection is at Work Now

Throughout the seven Sundays of the Easter season, the church will proclaim passages from the Acts of the Apostles in place of the first

reading. Considering April’s initial feast of Easter, we can appreciate why the Hebrew Scriptures are granted this liturgical hiatus. For the

next five Sundays, our sacred authors are going to take us deeper and deeper into what it means to personally die and rise with Jesus of

Nazareth. Both our deaths and our resurrections are unique, as they were for Jesus’ first followers. That’s why there is no one way to

approach this double phenomenon. Each writer comes at it from a different angle, pointing out some of the diverse ways we can expect to

experience that ongoing event. Psalm 118 can be the theme during these next five weeks: This is the day Yahweh has made! No matter

the reflections, no matter the dreams, today is the day Jesus’ death and resurrection are at work in our lives. Another day, quite like this

one, will never come again. Luke, the author of Acts, is convinced our faith is not rooted just in the historical Jesus’ death and

resurrection, but also in an understanding of how his disciples experienced both. Since none of our sacred authors were actually present

during the historical Jesus’ ministry, we have to fall back on the faith of Jesus’ first- and second-generation followers. In composing these

narratives 40 to 60 years later, they presumed their faith mirrored the faith of the Gospel characters. That is why Peter is given so much

time and space in the first chapters of Acts to announce and explain those core Christian beliefs. They were still the evangelists’ beliefs.

We hear Peter proclaim in the first reading on Easter Sunday that Jesus’ resurrection did not come out of the blue. It was preceded by a

ministry of constant giving of himself for others, including doing works which eventually led to his death. But for Luke that was not the

end. Those who imitate his lifestyle will also, like Jesus, experience a new existence; one in which even our sins are forgiven. But we

don’t have to go to confession, as it were, to pull this off. The evil in our lives will simply be replaced by good. Our sins no longer exist

because the person who committed them no longer exists. The Pauline disciple responsible for writing Colossians also experienced the

same resurrected newness Luke encountered.

The author has discovered those “raised with Christ” (3:1) have an entirely new perspective on life. They’re now focusing on “what is

above, not on what is on earth” (3:3). Acquiring such a unique perspective is not easy to pull off. In John’s empty tomb/apparition

narratives it is given to Mary Magdalene to work through this transformation. Beginning in today’s Gospel pericope, she is the person

who finds it hard to let go of Jesus’ physical body. She announces to Peter and the other disciple, “They have taken the Lord from the

tomb, and we don’t know where they put him” (20:2). Here, and in the passage after the two disciples leave the tomb, she simply wants to

physically get a hold of his body and return it to its resting place. That’s why the risen Jesus eventually has to tell her, in effect, “Stop

hanging onto me!” Now that she’s finally got him, she doesn’t want to let go. Most of us have never learned the distinction between

resuscitation and resurrection. We can presume when someone is resuscitated — Jarius’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, Lazarus —

that we’re dealing with a person who was "clinically dead" whom Jesus has brought back to life. But in each case, they basically come

back as the same person he or she was before they died. On the other hand, when someone is raised from the dead — and Jesus of

Nazareth is the only one in Scripture — he comes back to life as a totally “new creation.” As Paul says in Galatians 3, the risen Jesus is

no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. Just who and what is this risen being? That is part of what we are spending this

month discovering. Obviously, the quest to become a new creation implies we will also start displaying a new personality, exactly what

the earliest Jerusalem Christian community does in Acts. Though many scholars question the historicity of Luke’s summaries in the first

chapters of Acts, no one doubts he is providing his readers with a target for which to aim. His description of a community, proclaimed on

the Second Sunday of Easter, in which “there was no needy person among them,” should be kept constantly before every Christian’s

eyes. Those needy persons even carry over into John’s Gospel where the risen Jesus points out to his followers that their new Spirit-filled

personalities demand they forgive the sins of everyone around them. By doing so, they are not only carrying out 1 John’s command to

“love God and obey his commandments,” they are providing others with a reason to constantly join in singing the refrain of Psalm 118:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love is everlasting.” The big question on the Third Sunday of Easter is: Do we, like the two

Emmaus disciples, actually recognize the risen Jesus in the breaking of the bread? (Luke 24:35). Luke’s mention of this phenomenon in

this passage is the clearest sign that the earliest Christian communities celebrated the Eucharist in such a way that the presence of the

risen Jesus couldn’t be ignored. It seems to have been the foremost way that the Christ surfaced in their midst. This does not refer to Jesus

in the bread and wine, but the Christ all around us, especially in one another; a personal proof the historical Jesus has morphed into a new

creation. As Paul remarks in Chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians, members of the community must give themselves to one another so completely

during each celebration that they can actually recognize the body of Christ which surrounds them. That doesn’t happen automatically.

Unless they actually die with Christ in that specific way during the breaking of bread, they simply won’t simultaneously rise with Christ.

Through the centuries we’ve transformed what the early church participating in Eucharist regarded as an action into a thing. Our present

task is to plow through all the rubrics and rituals and once again make the celebration an action. Only then, as Peter proclaims on

Pentecost, will the Lord’s Supper make us witnesses of Jesus’ (and our) resurrection. 1 John promises that the love of God will be

perfected in us. No longer will we be afraid to sing, “Lord, let your face shine on us.” No place can this be accomplished better than

during a properly celebrated Eucharist. It automatically sets up the perfect giving of ourselves for others.

Easter’s Fourth Sunday is one of those rare occasions when one of its readings is based on that day’s responsorial psalm: “The stone

rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.” Our biblical authors not only love turnabouts, the psalmist even creates a hymn

based on the phenomenon, singing about how one’s life can make a 180-degree turnaround because Yahweh is working in it. Peter bases

his defense for healing in the name of Jesus on the same principle (Acts 4:8-12). Though the authorities are convinced that the events of

Good Friday brought about the demise of their foe, Peter informs them about Easter Sunday. Their rejected stone has become the world’s

cornerstone. He has shown how death leads to a new life. And, as the author of I John realizes, “We ain’t seen nuttin’ yet!” He’s

convinced that “what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” There’s only one thing certain: “We shall be like him.” Those who die with

him will eventually be transformed into his new creation. Yet this new life isn’t as mechanical as our original, natural life. We had no say

in that event. Jesus in John’s Gospel insists we freely choose our new life, just as he chooses to “lay down his life for the sheep.” Our life

begins to evolve only when we imitate Jesus and start to give ourselves for others. On the other hand, that is precisely the problem we

encounter when we try to imitate Jesus’ generosity. No two people are alike. Even though on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, the author of 1

John reminds his community to love God and others, “not in word or speech but in deed and truth,” we wonder just what deeds should

our love entail? I often reminded my high school students enrolled in a marriage course that “there’s no one action that to everyone at

every time always shows love.” What shows love today could show hatred tomorrow. We constantly have to reflect on how we are to

give ourselves to one another; it is a very personal, ever-changing action. Yet no matter how we show our love, trust is essential. It is

clear almost everyone in the Jerusalem church originally had problems trusting Saul after his encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to

Damascus. According to Acts, if Barnabas hadn’t gone out on a limb, “took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,” perhaps we

would never have heard of Paul of Tarsus. Only after Barnabas vouches for him can Saul “move about freely ... and speak out boldly in

the name of the Lord.” It is amazing what one person’s trustful giving of himself or herself can accomplish. Of course, we can be certain

there will be times when our trust will be dead ended. It is especially on those occasions that we can gain the strength to “do it again” by

reflecting on Jesus’ observation about vines being pruned. I remember once hearing a famous botanist warn orchard growers tha t they

have the choice of producing leaves or fruit. No matter how painful pruning is, it’s the only way to have fruit. If a vine is not scarred by

pruning, you might as well “throw it out” and watch it “wither.” Before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and my later study of

Scripture, I thought there was something valuable in

suffering just for suffering’s sake. It would get me a

higher place in heaven. Now I understand the only

suffering the risen Jesus demands is the suffering that

eventually leads to a resurrection right here and now.

That kind of suffering only happens when we suffer as he

suffered. Such an insight not only makes this month’s

liturgical readings important, it also makes them essential

for surfacing the quality and kind of life Jesus achieved.

His earliest followers simply said, “If it worked for him,

it’ll work for me.”

by Roger Karban

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