Thu 2 April 2020

Dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings from the Parish.

As we enter the second week of lockdown, we continue to be mindful of the pandemic that surrounds us. I have been celebrating Mass daily and at each Mass, I remember all the parishioners of both St Bernard's and St Ignatius.
Celebrating Mass on one's own is not easy and I miss you all.

Life has been very quiet but it has given me an opportunity to spend some more time in prayer. I encourage you to do the same.
Some parishioners might be wondering why I have not been Live-streaming Masses as some Parishes have.
The problem has been that I am not very computer literate and as we are in lockdown, I am not allowed to have anyone on the premises in order for me to be filmed. If anyone has ideas how we could do this without breaking lockdown, I would appreciate the suggestions. Looking at the list on the Archdiocese website of Parishes that are able to Live-stream, it appears to be those that have more than one priest in them. My wish is that you may be able to watch one of these Live-streamings in order to participate in some way.

This coming week, starting Sunday, is Holy Week.
On this Sunday, which is Palm Sunday, we would celebrate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.
This is a time when the Jews welcomed Jesus singing songs of praise and throwing down their cloaks and palms.
We see the Son of God riding on a donkey. This is the humble Jesus who didn't want glory but rather a response to his invitation for the people to repent and believe the Good News. It is a call to humility and service.
As we enter this week, I encourage you to maybe respond more generously to the call of Christ to be humble and give some more time to pray.
During the Mass on Sunday, we would read the the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Matthew.
Reflecting on the Passion, the one thought that struck me was that Jesus, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, having asked his disciples to sit and pray with him, fall asleep. Jesus going on a little further falls down and prays to his Father to let the cup of suffering pass him by, but adds: "not my will but Your will be done". This he does three times.
This shows a very human side to Jesus. Suffering was not going to be easy for him. In fact, it would have most probably been more difficult. Added to his suffering was the fact that the disciples did not stay awake, but slept. This shows the loneliness that Jesus would have experienced.
In this time of lockdown for many of us it is a time of loneliness. It is a time when we, maybe, feel frustrated. This is, therefore, a time we can join Jesus in his loneliness and pray.
During this week especially, we can join with each other spiritually and support one another in prayer. Prayer is the one strong weapon we have to beat the Coronavirus. With prayer and Our Lord united with us, we can overcome this difficult time that we are going through and our faith can become stronger.

At the end of the week, we celebrate the highlight of the Christian calendar, namely, the Easter Triduum.
These three days we reflect on the Last Supper, the Passion of Our Lord and the Resurrection of Our Lord.
On Thursday, I would encourage you to read the Readings of the Mass for the Lord's Supper.
Sit awhile and reflect on the precious gift given by the Lord to us, namely, his Body and Blood, which he shed for us.
Reflect on how do I receive the Lord?
Do I show respect and devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament?
Part of the Mass is the washing of the feet, an Act of Service.
Am I a person of service?
On Good Friday, we reflect on Our Lord's Passion and Death.
This is a wonderful opportunity to read the Passion of the Lord. Also on the website is a Good Friday Service, which the Archdiocese has given to us, that we can pray. I encourage you to do this Liturgy.
Then Saturday and Sunday, we celebrate Easter. This is a time of celebration.
A time to give thanks to the Lord because this is what gives us courage in these difficult times.

God bless.

Fr Mark

Wed 25 March 2020

My dear brothers and sisters,

Greetings in this difficult time, that we as a country and Church, are experiencing at this unpresented time in our history.  As we now are restricted in a national lockdown we face an uncertain few weeks. We might be experiencing a sense of fear or apprehension but I feel this is an opportunity for us as a Parish to be united in prayer and solidarity. This is a time when we are encouraged to spend valuable time to meditate on our relationship with the Lord. I am convinced that we as a Church will emerge stronger and strengthened by the lord. Today the 25^th March is the feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord. This is the day of the Incarnation of the Word made Flesh. As the angel told Our Blessed Mother that the child that would be born to her would be Mighty and the Son of the Most High. Reflecting on this gives us courage that despite what is happening around us we have the Emmanuel (God with us) in our midst. Following the example of Our Blessed Mother we as a Parish need to put our trust in the Lord that he will always be with us and that he is greater than any Pandemic. I encourage you to pray the Rosary or the Stations of the Cross in this time. Archbishop Brislin in a letter dated 23 March (see link below) gives us a link to some examples of the Stations we can pray.

Personally these last two weeks have been difficult. Celebrating Holy Mass is a wonderful gift given to a Priest. Having to celebrate Holy Mass in private is certainly not ideal because Holy Mass is a community activity and the community is of vital importance. In these two weeks you have been close to my heart and I miss you all. I pray for the day that we are able to celebrate Holy Mass together again. Also in this time I have been at pains to try and respond in what is the best way to support all of you parishioners, spiritually. One of the things that I was wishing to do was to live stream the Mass on each Sunday that we were unable to celebrate public Mass together. In fact, it was my intention to try and do it from this Sunday but due to the National Lockdown it does not seem to be possible because we are requested to remain in our homes. I would like to assure you that each of the Holy Masses that I will celebrate in these 21 days of lockdown will be said for the Mass intentions that are on the website but, added to those intentions, will also have you all in mind.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your prayers and ask you to support one another in whatever way we can. I especially encourage you to try and contact those parishioners that live alone and who have no one to help them. This can be done by a phone call or even a prayer. I will try also to do this with those who I am aware of.

Lastly, I don’t like to speak about finance but in this time I appeal to you all to try and continue to support the two parishes financially as the daily debts/expenses of the Parish still has to be paid. I need to thank the Archbishop who has given the parishes relief in this regard by exempting us from the monthly levy that we pay to the Diocese for the month of April.

You are always in my Prayers and please remember me in yours.

God Bless.

Fr Mark

Mon 23 March 2020

THANK YOU DEAR PARISHIONERS

Thank you for your patience, your prayers and your ongoing financial support during this time, which enables me to continue to run the parish.

Fr Mark

Fri 20 March 2020

My dear brothers and sisters,
It is with great sadness that we received the directive from the Archbishop to suspend public Mass in the Archdiocese. Due to the restrictions promulgated by our government, as law abiding citizens we have a moral duty to adhere to these. The decision of the Archbishop was not taken lightly. It was a decision we believe was done in the interest of the community. In his letter, the Archbishop, he dispenses you, the laity, from the obligation of attendance from the Sunday liturgy. But you are still morally obliged to keep holy the Sabbath day. In the light of this, I strongly encourage you to spend the hour that you would have been at Mass in prayer, by reading the Scriptures of the day that we find in our Sunday Missals. This can also be found online if you do not have a hard copy.
As we are in the season of Lent, which is a time of sacrifice, we can look at this in a positive light where we can accept this as part of our Lenten sacrifice and look forward to the time when we can receive the Eucharist again in community.
We can maybe relate this period to the time after Easter when the Lord appeared to His disciples. They were also gathered in prayer, behind closed doors, maybe afraid, longing for Him, uncertain of the times.
I encourage you to daily spend some time to pray the devotional prayers like the rosary, the stations of the cross, novenas etc.
In this time, we need to pray to our Lord that we may stem the infection of the corona virus to the people of our country and remember those that have been infected or have succumbed to the virus. Our prayer is that the Lord may bring healing and peace in this time of uncertainty. I also encourage you to practice basic hygiene that has advised to keep yourself and your families safe.
I stand in solidarity with you. I have celebrated Mass alone this week and have greatly missed you all.
I keep you in my prayers. Please pray for me too.
God bless.
Fr Mark