st simon the apostle, ROWVILLE

For DAILY MASS Online - Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

                                       Livestreamed

• Masses are livestreamed daily on our Archdiocesan YouTube channel
• On Sundays, the 11:00 am Mass is also available to view on free-to-air TV via C31 (channel 44 on digital TV)

MY JESUS,
I believe that You are present in this Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Even when I cannot receive You sacramentally, come spiritually into
my heart. I embrace You as if You are already there, and I unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.       Amen.

14th SUNDAY  in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Sunday, 9 July 2023      

Livestream Saturday, 8 July @ 6:00 pm

2023 Parish Renewal Programe.  "CLICK HERE"
YouTube Channel Link.  "CLICK HERE"  Children's Liturgy.  "CLICK HERE" 
Events & News.  "CLICK HERE"  

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburnened, and I will give you rest

One of the issues faced by the first Christians was how to speak about Jesus and his relationship with God. Within a decade the disciples were giving Jesus divine status and yet holding true to their Jewish creed, ‘Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one.’ They looked to the Old Testament to find precedents for the paradox they experienced—the oneness of God and the divine status of Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel draws on the image of Divine Wisdom—present with God from the beginning, coming forth from God and coming into the world. For his Jewish community, Matthew presents Jesus as Divine Wisdom who invites all to come and ‘team up with’ (be yoked to) him.

Listen to Wisdom describe herself in the Old Testament book of Sirach:

Come to me, you who are untaught, and lodge in my school. Put your neck under the yoke, and let your souls receive instruction; it is to be found close by. See with your eyes that I have laboured little and found myself much rest (Sir 51:23, 26-27)

The wisdom Jesus offers contradicts the wisdom of the world which is why the learned and clever cannot accept it but those with childlike simplicity of heart can. Jesus has a vision of what is essential that cuts through the many false complexities life suggests as ways to find meaning—busyness, wealth, power, having more of everything. The soul finds no rest in such things. In words of St Augustine,

You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.

Sundays under the Southern Cross —Mary Coloe PBVM

In his comments at the Masses of 10/11 June 2023 after the Parish blessing on him,
Fr. Mark mentioned recent consultation sessions about the Archdiocese’s Take the Way
of the Gospel initiative. (For more information on the overall initiative, please have a look at https:// melbournecatholic.org/about/take-the-way-of-the-gospel). There have been two of these consultation sessions with Parishes across Melbourne so far in 2023, with those for the Eastern Region (to which St Simon’s belongs) being on:

3 May – Leading for Mission.
8 June – Collaborating for Mission.

The summary across the four sessions (one for each region) of the Leading for Mission round is available here, with printed copies of this summary being available in the Church foyer. We encourage you to read it online or take a printed copy home and read it, then reflect upon it and what it might mean for our Parish.

The summary of the second session will be published to the Parish when it is available.

The final consultation session for the Eastern Region is on 29 August, with a focus on Formation for Mission. The summary from that session will also be made available when it is finalised.

If you have any questions or comments on these sessions or the overall initiative, please send them to Peter Evans (Parish Business Manager) at: peter@stsimonsparish.com.au and he will do his best to answer them or point you to the right resource.

We will be exploring with our new Parish Priest, Fr. Jerald, how best to engage the Parish in discussions about the Archdiocesan initiative after he starts with us on Wednesday,
19 July.

Regional Consultation Summary

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