Paul's Reflections National Police Remembrance Day

National Police Remembrance Day 2008. Maryborough Catholic Church. 10am.

 

From today’s beautiful readings and prayers for Police Remembrance Day,  it really brings to the fore, the distinction between a job and a vocation…..

 

There may be much quieter jobs, much easier, less hazardous jobs than the police…..  but we know this is much more than a job…..//  the vocation of police officer, (and those who support this fine calling)….   is absolutely vital……   this vocation is essential, //and my prayer today, is that we will always keep close to our hearts our “gratitude and respect” for the police  ………..which is  a vocation… a calling, to service…..// and as a vocation…. it is capable of providing an enormous sense of fulfillment…. and also, (as today reminds us) can be an incredible sacrifice and cross….    // Without the Police, the secure, peaceful,  lifestyles that we enjoy in our communities would be in jeopardy. They protect boundaries that ensure our safety and hold back crime. We acknowledge on a day such as today, the risks that face police each day, //and that the ramifications of decisions they make in the course of their duties is profound, // as is the impact that the loss of an officer has on their families, colleagues and the community. and I know that this reality has touched our community here too over the years. 

 

From the first reading, we recall that a key quality of Our Lord’s ministry, (which the Police , and which we all seek to emulate), is “Service of others”… putting the needs of others… of the community, first…   and today we are very much mindful of the enormous service that the Police do for the community….   

 

And, as we reflect on the values of God’s Kingdom, shown in the today’s  gospel from Matthew (known as the ‘beatitudes’) – it  is very clear that the qualities that we so “need, recognize and admire” in our police, are to be found listed in this important bible passage……..    You (and those whom we commemorate today) DO hunger and thirst for justice …//.. blessed are you….   yours is the Kingdom of heaven…

 

you are peacemakers….  (peace-keepers)………your vocation in ensuring the peace of the community is essential…// (and it is an honour to join our voices today in saying “thank you” for this,  it is enormously appreciated by the community,  …….and we are so grateful for that…. and today are very mindful of the enormous cost this can exact….  / and that is why its so important that we gather her today…./

 

words cannot adequately convey the debt of gratitude that we have for members of the police, whose service, sacrifice and dedication, was (just as St Pauls’ letter (read today) says…..”an obedience even unto death”….   and we trust that, “that faithfulness” will be rewarded, by constant remembrance in this life….., and eternal reward at God’s table in the next life… in heaven….

finally…..

·         The support, encouragement and love of family and friends… is a treasure beyond estimation..,…   and we give thanks for the love and dedication, and sacrifice of families too… (we do keep in our thoughts and prayers, all family members who have suffered enormously at the loss of their loved ones,….   // as the gospel says, Our lord is mindful of those who mourn…..   that they be comforted and supported//emotionally and practically…//   .,…….. and all family, of police officers past and present…….// you too know the cost of thirsting for what is right and good…  and thirsting for  peace and safety……  //   we pray that you will experience deep…. and abiding peace and strength…..   /  and for loved ones of presently serving police, may they experience serenity and peace when their loved ones are on duty. //  May the God of the beatitudes, grant that “peace, justice and service” for which those we remember today, dedicated their lives, and gave their lives to protect….  

 

 

 

 

Paul W. Kelly

269 Adelaide Street

Maryborough Qld 4650

Australia

 

Office:  (07) 4121 3701

Fax: (07) 4121 2829

Phone 041 778 6456

Please visit our website: www.marycatholic.com

 

P Save a tree. Don't print this e-mail unless it's really necessary

************** IMPORTANT MESSAGE ***********

This e-mail (including all attachments) is intended solely for the named addressee/s and may contain confidential information. If you have received this e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your computer system and destroy any copies.
This e-mail is subject to copyright. Any unauthorised disclosure, modification or distribution is expressly prohibited. Unless explicitly attributed, the opinions expressed in this e-mail do not necessarily represent the official position or opinions of Saint Mary's Catholic Parish Maryborough, Childers Catholic Parish or the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane. Saint Mary's Catholic Parish Maryborough, Childers Catholic Parish or the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane gives no warranties that this e-mail is free from computer viruses or other defects. Except for responsibilities implied by law that cannot be excluded, Saint Mary's Catholic Parish Maryborough, Childers Catholic Parish or the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, its employees and agents will not be responsible for any loss, damage or consequence arising from this e-mail.

The parish complies with laws relating to Privacy and Safety.

For more information on the privacy policy please visit: http://www.parishes.bne.catholic.net.au/maryborough/privacy.html 

For more information on the compliance with Safety policies and laws, please visit:

http://www.parishes.bne.catholic.net.au/maryborough/maryboroughchild.htm

*********************************************************************

 

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
please reply emails to

holyjoe@ozemail.com.au

This was sent to you by Fr Paul Kelly from St Mary's Catholic Parish, Maryborough, QLD. My apologies if you did not want to recieve this, please contact me and I will delete the email if you do not want to continue receiving news. Back copies of previous logs can be found by visiting the parish website. www.marycatholic.com

and also please visit my photo pages by clicking this link:

www.mysteriousthree.com

or the direct link by pasting the following into your web browser

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554239563oXJIdn

(some of the recent photos appear at the start of the page of photos, other new ones may be right at the last page)
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Paul's Reflections 25th Sunday ordinary time A

21st September, 2008      25th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

 

P Save a tree. Don't print this e-mail unless it's really necessary

 

-        The work of the Kingdom is urgent, and important, and the labourers are few, the harvest plentiful… in fact, it’s more than plentiful…. the harvest God intends is that everyone (absolutely everyone) be included as part of God’s kingdom…. so there is no time like the present, no time for hesitation…..  all hands on deck…..  everyone is needed…….. all are called….

-        God is calling people to ‘be about his work’ that others would not employ…..(never even dream of employing)…….   God can see usefulness… and importance in all people; even people that others reject, ridicule, ignore, and overlook…

-        Envy…..   everyone got what they needed, but not everyone got what they wanted, nor what they expected…..// expectations play an important role…..  in a sense of satisfaction or dissatisfaction……

-        I can remember in incident many years ago, when I was working in St Stephens cathedral in Brisbane…..  I was looking after the cathedral… and also the sacristan for masses  at the cathedral…   it was a Friday afternoon mass…    and many people in town would go to the Friday afternoon mass and not go to Sunday mass, so it was like an alternate Sunday mass for people… so the cathedral had a collection in mass even though it was a weekday mass….  anyway….  this one Friday, the administrator of the cathedral said that someone would come by to pick up a key to the church at St Patricks the valley (about ten minutes down the road),…..for a wedding rehearsal… they would come by some time… and I was to hand this person this key….. but they never came…..  anyways… I went on to my next task at the cathedral…. To be sacristan for the mass …….I was at the late afternoon mass, in the assembly, participating in the mass…  as one of the people…. (this happened before I was ordained)….….  and it was around the gifts time when the bread and wine is brought forward…..…  and a collection plate went around….  and after they take up the collection the collectors would lock the collection in the sacristy so no one would steal it…..   this person came up to me and I thought,…  they are looking for the key to the sacristy to lock the collection away… so, in mainly non verbal gestures… and only some words, since it was in the middle of mass.. I gestured. to him…  (with a wave of the key… and thumbs up and pointing to him and him pointing to the key… and me nodding and him nodding back…. And I was saying….  … so I thought……are you looking for the key to the sacristy to lock the collection away…..….  I showed him the key… he nodded… and I said…’for the….” and he nodded and said yes and then took the key and walked straight out the front door…. I was confused….that’s odd…. why did he go that way….why did he just walk out the front door of the church…… why didn’t he go to the sacristy….  what was happening….. and then it dawned on me…. oh no…….   I had just handed the key to the cathedral to the man who had come for the church key for st Patricks in the valley… and he has not walked out the door gotten in a car and driven off to the valley…..   and that is how I managed to lock everyone out of half the cathedral/… that day…….    I couldn’t believe the freak coincidence…. and the similarity of the two purposes had led to an assumption that proved very wrong…..  the rehearsal people now had a key that did not work in the valley church….   no one could get back into the sacristy of the cathedral…. and we couldn’t get back into the room that would allow us to turn any lights out or set any alarms in the cathedral…. or secure the building…….and the priest couldn’t get back in the sacristy… it was a minor disaster…. but very, very funny in hindsight…. 

 

and what it really brought home to me was, even when we think we are on the same wavelength with others….   a whole series of assumptions can still be totally different even if we are going…  ‘you want the… ‘ yeah, that’s right,… the “….   is this the….  “  “yeah, that;s the…..’,,,,,  great then I’ll…. “   …. ‘sure you can…..”       (but… ‘what, where, when, how why … is all just assumed….. and may often be assumed wrongly….)……

 

this happened in the gospel…..    people assumed that since they worked all day, they would be getting more than the ones who worked an hour……     have you ever wondered why the landowner didn’t just pay the day long workers first…and send them home  and then quietly pay the latecomers the same…..   why did he do it in that order…. so that the longer workers would SEE the action….  its because it’s a parable… and a confounding story at that…..   the reason its given in that order is because they needed to see the difference so that the different ways and thoughts of God from ourselves could be revealed…..  

 

how many of some daily hurts, disappointments and turmoils really come from the fact that we have filled our thoughts with wrong assumptions, unreal expectations and unrealistic constructs of thinking…… 

 

Jesus offers us a new and exciting path….   of graciousness, kindness and giving that does not stop to count the cost, but responds from love and true need….  and is humble and meek in the good sense of the word…..   able to know where we really stand with God and with eachother….  and being grateful for God’s generosity and love to all…..  no matter where they seem to come in the pecking order….

 

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
please reply emails to

holyjoe@ozemail.com.au

This was sent to you by Fr Paul Kelly from St Mary's Catholic Parish, Maryborough, QLD. My apologies if you did not want to recieve this, please contact me and I will delete the email if you do not want to continue receiving news. Back copies of previous logs can be found by visiting the parish website. www.marycatholic.com

and also please visit my photo pages by clicking this link:

www.mysteriousthree.com

or the direct link by pasting the following into your web browser

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554239563oXJIdn

(some of the recent photos appear at the start of the page of photos, other new ones may be right at the last page)
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Paul's Reflections TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS

14th September, 2008     

 

( Save a tree. Don't print this e-mail unless it's really necessary)

 

The cross of Jesus Christ is not a sign that a ‘bloodthirsty God’  has no other way of forgiving sins than by demanding that humans pay for their sins with physical punishment, by forfeiting their lives…..  by dying……   The Cross, in not really about humans paying for their collective sin by satisfying a hard-to-please God by offering up an innocent representative ….  although that certainly in the human way of thinking…..   /  Jesus certainly was seen and described as the Passover lamb, innocent and spotless….   sacrificed to atone for the sins of others….  but what I mean here is….     I don’t believe GOD demanded this be so, but that humans demand that this be so……. and God knew that was the way we humans think and met us where we were…..   out of love… out of a desire to save us…..   //

 

The Cross, then, is really a sign of God’s fiahtfulness and closeness to us through the most difficult times of life….   through the best and worst of what the world offers…..  //   We are told by the Gospel….   Jesus came into the world and died on the cross not to condemn….  but that we might all be saved…….  

 

God looked deep into the human heart….  and sees in us humans a seemingly constant need that we pay for our mistakes with retribution……  (often violent retribution)……   that one person wins….  by others losing……   

 

God, in Jesus, became the scapegoat for the worst of what humanity can throw at each other……     Jesus became a thing of horror on the cross….  so that everyone and anyone can throw… can project all that is wrong and bad about the world…  or about the complexities of their lives and circumstances….  and project it all at this figure on the cross…..  who will disempower it….   defeat it….. nuetralise it……    thus putting an end to violence as a solution to everything….

 

The triumph of the Cross of Christ is God’s ultimate word to humans -   NOW, will you STOP killing yourselves…..   Now will you stop hurting eachother…..      as the price for wrongs suffered…. //    let me bear this in myself….    let me bear the world’s insane need for everything wrong done…..   so that you won’t keep doing this to yourselves…  to each other…..       so you won’t keep thinking that God is demanding blood for sins committed……  

 

//

 

we should never underestimate the human ability to withhold forgiveness…..  to demand incredible price for wrongdoing……  and even then leave people no hope for moving beyond the hurt… the wrong……    the cross can be a powerful sign that there is an infinitely stronger solution to the wrongs in the world than mere eye-for-an-eye….. which leads to an endless cycle of retribution and counter-retribution…..    

 

This weekend’s feast of the Triumph of the cross…  is also a wonderful statement that unmasks many false concepts of what true POWER is really like….. 

 

the cross says that power is NOT really any of the following things..

 

true power is not about domination…  but about love… about freedom and persuasion…

 

true power is being able to forgive… rather than becoming a slave to the necessity of striking back…..   

 

true power is not about controlling… or standing over others…….  but about walking together as one… 

 

true power, in the cross, is revealed in love willing to suffer to others…  to serve to put others first….

 

so, on a weekend celebrating the triumph of the cross… it is good to also name some of the false concepts of power the abuses of power that do so much harm in life… and which the cross of Christ stands in opposition to….

 

this weekend….   is child safety awareness weekend… and there are information brochures at the entrances of the church that share the some thoughts on making our communities (church and wider communities) the most safe they could be……    of opposing any form of abuse of authority, power or responsibility, so that those most needy and vulnerable might be protected…. 

 

true power is shown in protection of the rights and needs of those most vulnerable…..  it is in ensuring that individuals and groups do not silence the voice of those less vocal or less advantaged than others….     true power is being able to provide for the needs of others…. and to protect and respect those needs and rights of every human being… to live peacefully and free from threat or demand… 

 

Jesus believed so completely in the needs and protection of everyone… even those most on the margins…. and put his whole life on the line to ensure it…..      this power is stronger than all others….   and we celebrate the love and care of God revealed in this most contradictory sign …    of victory and love….    in the cross..

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
please reply emails to

holyjoe@ozemail.com.au

This was sent to you by Fr Paul Kelly from St Mary's Catholic Parish, Maryborough, QLD. My apologies if you did not want to recieve this, please contact me and I will delete the email if you do not want to continue receiving news. Back copies of previous logs can be found by visiting the parish website. www.marycatholic.com

and also please visit my photo pages by clicking this link:

www.mysteriousthree.com

or the direct link by pasting the following into your web browser

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554239563oXJIdn

(some of the recent photos appear at the start of the page of photos, other new ones may be right at the last page)
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Paul's Reflections 23rd Sun ord time A

7th September, 2008      23rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

P Save a tree. Don't print this e-mail unless it's really necessary

 

On the weekend as we celebrate and give thanks for the give of Fathers….   we celebrate the importance of family in our lives….  and acknowledge that we are also God’s children, with God, our heavenly Father…  who calls us to be united in love and care for one another…. and for all..

++++

In our second reading, Saint Paul says “love is the fulfilment of the law”    - that is a wonderful two sided saying…..     the fulfilment of the law is LOVE….  but also…. to truly love, is the fulfilment of the whole law of Moses and the prophets…..    this means that Christian love needs to be real love…  tough love…  brave love….  love that is strong enough to say sorry when we have caused hurt….   love ready to forgive when others seek our forgiveness…. love ready to affirm and encourage others….  and also, just as importantly, love brave enough to speak out when things aren’t right….  to warn people of any harmful things they are doing…. and to speak up when injustice or wrong is occurring…..    Love is NOT turning a blind eye to wrongdoing in the community….  

 

so, love is not to be equated with the word niceness…..   sometimes true love is about drawing a line and refusing to budge on it, out of real concern for truth and what is right in the circumstances…..   

 

The gospel this weekend is also very interesting….  it highlights how absolutely vital the community is in Christ’s vision…… there is no such thing as a solo Christian…..  we followers of Jesus always belong amidst a community of disciples…. and the community has an important role in ensuring that the members remain faithful to the message and command of Jesus… 

 

the gospel shows Jesus teaching us the way the Christian community is to deal with conflict….   this gospel way rejects gossip and badmouthing of others….  if I have a problem with another….    my first duty… go and talk to that person…   deal with them…..   tell THEM the issues, not the neighbour or the friend at the pub…. or the person down the street…..   deal with it, if at all possible, with the parties involved… and in a spirit of constructiveness… in order that the issue may be resolved……..  if that strategy fails…. then…  speak to interested parties…  wise parties…  the gospel says ‘community’  but this might mean a trusted family member, a close wise friend… a discrete church member…  again, not anyone and everyone…  but a party who might bring an objective, affirming and clear insight into the issue, again so that the issue might be dealt with properly ….  not to score points….   and finally,.. if that does not work….  bring it to the wider community for its arbitration…  its resolution……    and if that fails… then the solution the community comes to, will be affirmed by God., because it has tried to deal constructively, positively and lovingly with the difficult issues….   

 

This gospel is very timely, because this Monday night…  our young ones will be making their first reconciliation.  They have been learning that we all belong not only to our own families,… but we are one big family in the church…..    our actions….   affect not only ourselves but also the community…..   even if the community does not know the detail, if we make bad choices and hurt our relationship with other members, or with God…  we hurt not only ourselves and the people directly involved… but we hurt our friendship with God….  we injure our communion with the wider community of disciples in the church…. (even if our actions are not known to others…  it affects our harmony and unity within the family of God)…..  So…  reconciliation is a way of celebrating God’s love and forgiveness and experiencing our reconciliation and forgiveness with God and the church family…..   //    it is good for us to celebrate special sacraments that connect us to our membership to the wider community…..    for where two or more are gathered… there certainly... Jesus is present…… 

 

May God be with our young ones and their family as they prepare to celebrate God’s love for us, in the family of the church…  God who loves us when we do the right thing… and loves us and searches for us when we stray…  when we make mistakes…. and welcomes us back… 

 

let us ask God to give us the grace and the insight to love even more fully as Christ does….  to act with affirmation and encouragement…  to challenge with love and concern and gentleness….  but nevertheless to speak truthfully and constructively….     and to live as members of the family of God, to whom we all belong…

 

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
please reply emails to

holyjoe@ozemail.com.au

This was sent to you by Fr Paul Kelly from St Mary's Catholic Parish, Maryborough, QLD. My apologies if you did not want to recieve this, please contact me and I will delete the email if you do not want to continue receiving news. Back copies of previous logs can be found by visiting the parish website. www.marycatholic.com

and also please visit my photo pages by clicking this link:

www.mysteriousthree.com

or the direct link by pasting the following into your web browser

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554239563oXJIdn

(some of the recent photos appear at the start of the page of photos, other new ones may be right at the last page)
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---