Greed is destroying the earth’s populations - and now even the earth itself.

Just a few thoughts

·        What incredibly courageous efforts by the marathon runners at Birmingham, especially South Australia’s Jessica Stenson

·        Archie Roach –  RIP - what a legacy!

·        National Tree Day – May our efforts to care for the earth make the world a safer and healthier place.

Reflections

ü Australian Women Preach

ü Homily by Frank Brennan

The Signs Of The Times

Ø Global common goods and new international institutions

Ø The return of the invisible worm

Ø Contemporary Challenges for Global Catholicism

Musical Reflection

¯ Set Your Heart on the Higher Gifts

¯ Christ Has No Body Now But Yours

¯ One Song

 We can see from Dreaming place

A planet that is empty

So we sing through time and space

That she may have plenty

 

We sing out across the land

And across the water

We sing woman, we sing man

We sing son and daughter

 

Remember well what we have told you

And don't forget where you come from

Mother Earth will always hold you

And you are born of just one song

 

We sing mountains and the trees

And the rivers flowing

We sing the rain that falls so free

And the wind that's blowing

Now we are blessed that we've been given

This beautiful land where we belong

Dreaming story we are living

Dreaming dance and dreaming song.

 

Remember well what we have told you

Oh don't forget where you come from

Mother Earth will always hold you

And you are born of just one song

Yeah you are born of just one song

Being a spokesperson for God’s way.

Just a few thoughts

·        High sentiments always win in the end, The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic. -- George Orwell

·        "Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love take no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes." -- Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember

·        May the Church not be frightened of her prophets, but rejoice that God continues to call us to faithfulness through them.

Reflections

ü Religion has something to say to everyone, including politicians.

ü How to be Happy

The Signs Of The Times

Ø After the Plenary

Ø "Us" not "Them"

Ø Why debt forgiveness may be inevitable

Musical Reflection

¯ Be Still My Soul

¯ Hold On to Love

¯ A Change Is Gonna Come

The Light Of The World

Just a few thoughts

·        The more one judges, the less one loves. -- Honore de Balzac

·        Stay strong as you live your life story and remember your blessings, no matter what circumstances you face. -- Dr. Damary M. Bonilla-Rodriguez

·        It’s Earth Overshoot Day. It marks the date each year when humanity has used up more natural resources than our planet can regenerate.

Reflections

ü God IS Love

ü PhD in Living

ü Gracious hospitality –Listening to the guest

The Signs Of The Times

Ø Decision to abolish ‘unjust’ cashless debit card welcomed

Ø The ethical value of access to water

Ø You can’t ask that

Musical Reflection

¯ Otche Nash

¯ Lord's Prayer - Reggae

¯ Be Still, My Soul

The end of time

Just a few thoughts

·        "Show kindness whenever possible. Show it to the people in front of you, the people coming up behind you, and the people with whom you are running neck and neck. It will vastly improve the quality of your own life, the lives of others, and the state of the world." -- Ann Patchett

·        There are years that ask questions and years that answer. -- Zora Neale Hurston

·        A big tick for schools and communities observing National Tree Day (31 July), that their efforts to care for the earth will make the world a safer and healthier place.

Reflections

ü There is a continuing and creative tension between what has been handed down in the past and the new understandings which arise with changing circumstances.

ü Fishers and their nets

ü Ask, Ask, Ask, Ask, Ask

ü The invitation of Jesus to join him in prayer

The Signs Of The Times

Ø Be agents of social change: Pope Francis

Ø Good Samaritan community commits to Laudato Si’ Action Goals

Musical Reflection

¯ Te Karakia O Te Atua

¯ The Lord's Prayer

¯ Alleluia! Raise the Gospel

Like a hidden treasure

 Just a few thoughts

·        I am sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonising mentality of the powers that oppressed the indigenous peoples. – Pope Francis

·        When life hands you a difficult situation where you feel undervalued and disrespected, be bold and brave enough to know your worth. -- Yai Vargas

·        May the world community unite to reverse the growing inequality within and between nations fuelled by global warming, famine and war.

Reflections

ü Jesus is the Way, Truth, Life.

ü Ask and You Will Receive

ü Searching and Finding

The Signs Of The Times

Ø Pray as you go slow

Ø Pope apologises for Church role in ‘cultural destruction’

Ø How the Catholic Church in Australia is learning to be a synodal Church

Musical Reflection

¯ Pater Noster

¯ Otche Nash

¯ The Supper Of The Lord

Weeding

Just a few thoughts

·        "When things just don't work out as good as you really thought they would... It's not rotten, it's not over, it's not finished, or the end. All it means is something better is waiting for you around the bend." -- Doe Zantamata

·        Life isn’t perfect, any failures you have are actually learning moments. They teach us how to grow and evolve. -- Phillipa Soo

·        We pray for all who are downcast and disheartened, that they will have the courage to wait for the grace of hope.

Reflections

ü The Power of Prayer and Ritual Inside Our Helplessness

ü Seeds are the beginning of things, not the end

ü The parable about the wheat and the weeds.

The Signs Of The Times

Ø Australian Catholics welcomes your observations on July’s Plenary Council.

Ø What the US needs most right now, what we lack, is community – Also applies to Australia, I suggest

Ø The modern parish is a lot like a factory farm. Laypeople can change that. – also from USA

Musical Reflection

¯ Our Father

¯ Baba Yetu

¯ St Teresa's Prayer

He came to serve and not to be served.

Just a few thoughts

·        Listen to everyone. Learn from everyone. Nobody knows everything but everyone knows something. -- Charlie Hough

·        The Church in Australia is learning how to be a synodal Church – and its experience is offering valuable lessons to global Catholicism -- Christopher Lamb

·        May those in leadership in the Church not seek power over others, but rather be filled with the spirit of a servant.

·        Click the graphic for another “thought”

Reflections

ü Sunday homily-Frank Brennan

ü Sunday homily - A prayer of self-offering

ü Servant Leadership

The Signs Of The Times

Ø Where is Francis leading our Church?

Ø On Behalf of Justice

Musical Reflection

¯ The Lord's Prayer

¯ Baba Yetu

¯ Our God Is Here

WANTS and NEEDS

Just a few thoughts

·        "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought." =-- Matsuo Basho

·        The answer does not lie in doing what we have always done. The answer does not lie in going back. The answer lies in doing what's right, what's wise, for now. --- Matsuo Basho

·        May the young and their parents look with gratitude to the lives of grandparents and the elderly, and celebrate that their lives are still fruitful with faith, love and good example.

Reflections

ü Australian Women Preach

ü God as “Father.”

ü God is the one who is knocking, gently but persistently, at our door

The Signs Of The Times

Ø How the Catholic Church in Australia is learning to be a synodal Church

Ø Church reform is systemic not personal

Ø War, truth and Christianity

Musical Reflection

¯ "Our Father” in Aramaic, the mother tongue of Jesus.

¯ Our Father

¯ The Lords Prayer

¯ The Lord's Prayer

The Church and pruning?

Just a few thoughts

·        "When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you'd like them to be." -- Leo Tolstoy

·        "Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light." -- Groucho Marx

Reflections

ü The Church is messy: not in its ideal, but in actual experience.

ü The Church is and always will be a Church of sinners and for sinners.

The Signs Of The Times

Ø Plenary Council Australia – A Reflection

Ø Prayer everywhere

Ø How a papal teaching subjugated Australia’s First Nations people

Musical Reflection

¯ Micah's Song

¯ Never See a Need

¯ In Christ There Is No East Or West

I have seen the Lord

Just a few thoughts

·        "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'" -- Martin Luther King Jr.

·        Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people. -- Spencer Johnson

·        May all women in the Church be inspired by St Mary Magdalene give witness to the Risen Christ by their faith and love.

Reflections

ü Mary Magdalene - a woman of love, of faith, of energy and determination.

ü “The apostle to the apostles,”

ü I have seen the Lord

ü What must I do?

The Signs Of The Times

Ø 10-year anniversary of offshore detention places spotlight on Australia’s treatment of refugees

Ø Refugees seeking health care face major challenges

Ø Hearing the voices of many

Ø Why do we pray to saints?

Musical Reflection

¯ Mary Magdalene

¯ In The Garden

¯ In the Garden