The Catholic Parish of Frenchs Forest.

My Dear Parishioners,

We celebrate another Solemnity this weekend with The Most Holy Trinity. In the gospel reading, the extent of God’s love is drawn in bold lines in two different ways. The first is the scope of divine love; the second is the price that God is willing to pay because of that love. The reading from John’s Gospel tells us that God's love for the world is so deep and so magnanimous that nothing is spared for the world’s salvation, not even God's only Son. God sent His Son first in the incarnation and again in his saving death. This Son was truly a gift from God.

I would like to sincerely thank all those who have contributed to the Diocesan Pastoral Appeal. We have not at this stage met our target so if you still have an envelope to donate or wish to contribute please could you do so this weekend. Till today, we are on shortfall of $ 6460 to gain our target. Your generosity is much appreciated.

We continue to pray for the children preparing for First Holy Communion. They attended their third class this weekend and learnt about the Last Supper and why Jesus calls us “The Body of Christ”. Our Parish children will receive their First Holy Communion during the 5.30pm OLGC, 8.30am St Martin’s and 10am OLGC Masses on the weekends of 10/11th and 17/18th June, which is the next two weekends. It will be very special to see the children receive this special Sacrament. As one family, let us warmly welcome the children, their parents and family members on those weekends and make the children feel that their First Holy Communion is a memorable event.

Next weekend we celebrate the Feast of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi. Of course, we will have the Children receiving their First Holy Communion that weekend, we also have the Eucharistic Procession and benediction after the 10am Mass which will be very special.

I would like to let you know that we will be getting our third priest from Kerala Fr. Joseph Methanath OSH and he will arrive on 6 June. Please keep him in your prayer, so that he may have a safe flight. Also, the week beginning 12 June to 15 Fr. Shiju and myself will be away at the Clergy Conference. Hence there will be no weekday Masses at Davidson and Terrey Hills 12-16 June. Also, on 13& 14 at OLGC too. More details in the bulletin.

Please don’t forget to pick up your planned giving envelopes, thank you once again, for your continuous support.

May God bless you,
Fr. Satheesh Antony OSH

Years ago I was asked to take a parish-based catechetics class for children from a government primary school. I started by trying to work out how much the children knew about the basics. I asked, ‘When we make the sign of the cross, what do we say?‘ ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ came the firm reply. So far so good! I tried upping the bar. ‘What do we call the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?’ There was complete silence. I tried another track. ‘What do you think of when you make the Sign of the Cross?’ There was an awkward silence and then a bright little boy cheerily said, ‘The old man, the young fella and the bird!’

No one can blame those children for the poverty of their images of the Trinity. Many older Catholics have similar images from paintings and holy pictures. The mystery of the Trinity means that in whatever way we portray God as Father, Son and Spirit it will always be inadequate and incomplete. No one has ever seen God or the Holy Spirit. No one has a portrait of Jesus. All the images and words we use for the Trinity are more a reflection of our faith than the final word about God. God is always more than any name we use or any concept we have. The special insight into God we celebrate today is that relationships are at the very centre of who God is.

It took the early Christians four hundred years to fully grasp what Jesus was on about when he spoke of his relationship to the Father and Spirit. They struggled to understand how and why God would have three faces and yet exist as One Being – love as One, act as One. They settled the ‘how’ of the Trinity’s nature by teaching us that the persons of the Trinity are co-equal, co-substantial and co-eternal. They settled the ‘why’ of the Trinity by reflecting that their experience of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was an encounter of love. They knew the core of God was not an idea or a principle, but was a loving relationship. Furthermore, the early Christians knew that they were invited into this relationship.

What was true for them is true for us. Think about this for a minute: we believe that the God who creates, redeems and sustains the world seeks us out and invites us into a loving relationship. This is what gives us our greatest dignity and urges us on to share this message with everyone we meet. What a privilege! What an invitation! What a God!

It also follows that if relationships are at the core of God then, for those of us who accept the invitation into the Trinity's embrace, relationships are meant to be our core business too. We are not to be isolated believers or private disciples. The degree to which we understand today's feast will be shown in the care we take in our many and varied relationships, be they social, intimate, professional, civic or international.

Every time we do anything to form new and good relationships, mend those which are broken, help other relationships to be deeper and richer or just enjoy the ones we have, we discover one thing: Trinity Sunday is a moveable feast.