Celebrating Christian Leadership
Brothers and Sisters,
This week we celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the two pillars of the Church. It is a celebration of Christian leadership. These two men laid down the foundation for the Christian community, establishing the Church and encouraging its growth. As we heard last week, persecution was the order of the day and their task of spreading the Good News about Jesus Christ was not a simple one. Despite these trials and persecutions, these two men built the Church with the holiness of hope, grace and joy. As Pope Francis says, hope, grace and joy are siblings: all of them are gifts from Christ; furthermore they are other names for him that have been inscribed on his body.
Taking this even further, to be a good leader is also about reflecting the mercy of God. This is exactly what Saints Peter and Paul did. Paul reflected the mercy of God through his words and writings and Peter reflected the mercy of God through his work and actions. The two men were completely different individuals; however it was their faith in Jesus that brought them together so that they could work with mercy. As leaders, when we work with the holiness of hope, grace and joy and reflect the mercy of God, we too like Peter and Paul will be foundational and constructive in all that we do.
On a parish note, last week our parish together with NSW Police, PCYC, Parramatta Eels, White Stone and MaroniteCare worked in collaboration with each other to bring together our children, teens and youth to “Meet and Greet” their local police and football players who talked to them about some of the social issues that we are faced with in our community. The day was full of fun activities and informative talks and everyone got a chance to meet with the Parramatta Eel players. We thank the organisers of this event for their continued support to our community.
This week, we will be celebrating the First Holy Communion of 57 of our young children who have been preparing themselves to receive Christ through the sacrament of the Eucharist. This will be our second group for the year and we extend our congratulations to them, their parents and their wonderful teachers who have been volunteering their time for the last six months to prepare them for this day.
On a final note, our parish will be celebrating the Feast of the Assumption of our Lady between the 5th and 15th August this year. The theme for this year is “Mary, icon of the Father’s Mercy”. The program for Feast Week will be issued soon. If you would like to help us in any capacity, we will be holding a meeting on Monday 4th July at 7.00pm in the Seniors Room.
