67-77 Exford Road, Melton South 3338 . P .O. Box 2152

Ph: 9747 9692, Fax: 9746 0422 Email: meltonsouth@cam.org.au

Parish Homepage: stanthonysmeltonsouth.wordpress.com (includes Padua News)

Office Hours: Wed-Fri. 9.30am—5.00pm

Feast of Christ the King Year B 25th November 2012

Let us pray that all men will acclaim Jesus as Lord.

St. Anthony’s Parish Primary School Wilson Road, Melton South 3338 Phone: 9743 1401 School Secretary: Mrs. Marthese Pace Email: principal@sameltonsth.catholic.edu.au Website: www.sameltonsth.catholic.edu.au

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 92

Leader: THE LORD IS KING; HE IS ROBED IN MAJESTY.

All: THE LORD IS KING; HE IS ROBED IN MAJESTY.

THE LORD IS KING, WITH MAJESTY ENROBED; THE LORD HAS ROBED HIMSELF WITH MIGHT, HE HAS GIRDED HIMSELF WITH POWER. THE WORLD YOU MADE FIRM, NOT TO BE MOVED; YOUR THRONE HAS STOOD FIRM FROM OF OLD. FROM ALL ETERNITY, O LORD, YOU ARE. TRULY YOUR DECREES ARE TO BE TRUSTED. HOLINESS IS FITTING TO YOUR HOUSE, O LORD, UNTIL THE END OF TIME.

ALL: THE LORD IS KING; HE IS ROBED IN MAJESTY.

Gospel Acclamation: ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA! BLESSED IS HE WHO INHERITS THE KINGDOM OF DAVID OUR FATHER; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. ALLELUIA!

Catholic Regional College - Melton (Years 7-12) Principal: Mr Mark Sheahan Contact: 9743 6522 Catholic Regional College - Sydenham (Years 11- 12) Principal: Mr Brendan Watson Contact: 9361 0000

Mass and Devotion Times this Week

WEEKDAY MASSES Tuesday morning 9.15am Tuesday evening: 7.30pm Mass & Novena

Wednesday morning 9.15am Thursday morning: 9.15am Friday morning: 9.15am

WEEKEND MASS TIMES 1st Saturday Mass 9.15am Saturday Vigil Mass 5.30pm Sunday 8.30am & 10.30am

INDIVIDUAL RECONCILIATION: Saturday 5.00pm

BAPTISM

Baptism Preparation Meeting: 7.00-8.00pm in the Church Thursday 29th November for Baptisms on 2nd or 16th December No Baptisms will be held during the month of January. See details on Parish Homepage as listed above. Contact Sr. Patricia for an appointment at the Parish Office: Phone 9747 9692 Or Email: patricia.stone@sosj.org.au

Adult Preparation for the Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist or Confirmation through the R.C.I.A. Program. Please contact Fr. Fabian or Sr. Patricia for information.

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL

Sue Alexander 9743 7281 Godwin Barton 9747 9493 Anne Consiglio 9743 8363 Stephen Fernandes 9743 5331 Natalie Howard 0410 478 046 Rose Ma‟ae 0431 386 473 Gerardo Madafferi 8746 5776 Maria Micallef 9746 9685

Carmen Vella 9743 4378

Ex-Officio: Fr Fabian Smith P.P., Sr Patricia Stone rsj & Damien Schuster

Parish Priest: Fr Fabian Antony Smith Pastoral Associate: Sr. Patricia Stone rsj

Parish Secretary: Mrs. Lesley Morffew St. Anthony’s School Principal: Mr. Damien Schuster

THIS WEEKENDS HYMNS - 5.30

Ent. Book 2, No. 59 Vs 1&2 Coll. Daily, Daily….. See overleaf Off Book 2, No. 17 Com Book 1, No 29. Rec Book 2, No. 59 Vs 1&3 8.30 & 10.30

Ent. Book 1, No. 191 Coll Book 1, No. 15 Off. Book 1, No. 27 Comm. Book 1, No. 49 Rec. Book 1, No. 80

THANKSGIVING ENVELOPES ARE NOW AVAILABLE AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH.

This weekend is

cuppa weekend.

Please join us for a cuppa after all weekend

masses.

NEWS FROM THE WORSHIP QUADRANT NEXT WEEK 1st Week of Advent —Year C 1st & 2nd December Readers Special Ministers 5.30 John Little Doris Bonello, George Bonello, Mary Dodemaide and Eddie Massa. 8.30 Michael Higgins Lilian Christian, Denise Van Rooyen and Carmen Vella. 10.30 Anthea Scerri Ron Howard and Ann Tennakoon.

1st Reading: Jer 33:14-16; 2nd Reading: 1 Thess 3:12-4:2; Gospel: Lk 21:25-28, 34-36

MASS COORDINATORS / COMMENTATORS 5.30pm—Stephen Fernandes and Pat Fernandez 1st & 2nd December 8.30am - Marie Wytkamp and Lina Calleja. 10.30am - Natalie Howard and Rose Ma’ae.

PIETY STALL VOLUNTEERS FOR THIS WEEKEND: 24th/25th November 5.30pm Mass: Judy Van Hoos 8.30am Mass: Chris Fitzgerald 10.30am Mass: John & Kristina Scerri

PIETY STALL VOLUNTEERS FOR NEXT WEEKEND 1st/2nd December 5.30pm Mass: Lorraine Tellis 8.30am Mass: Judy Johnston 10.30am Mass: Rosa Smit.

CLEANING ROSTER : Friday 30th November: Sue Alexander and Doris Bonello.

YEAR OF GRACE PRAYER

Gracious God, You have blessed this ancient land with many gifts, especially its people. We thank you for the Year of Grace a time to start afresh from Christ.

You invite us to contemplate the face of Jesus your Son, that we may experience a new wave of grace, and that the light of Christ may burn more brightly in our lives.

Attune our hearts and minds to the presence of your Holy Spirit, that our church may be transformed, our relationships be healed, and our nation grow in compassion and justice.

With the intercession of St. Mary MacKillop, who showed us new ways of living the Gospel, we make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

NEWS FROM THE FAITH FORMATION QUADRANT

Meditation Wednesday. 7.00 in the MacKillop Room Divine Mercy 1st Sunday of the month at 3.00pm Fatima Statue Angelo & Rita Harinos 0437 838 409

ENROLMENT FOR THE SACRAMENTS OF RECONCILIATION, EUCHARIST, CONFIRMATION - 2013 for children who attend a school other than St. Anthony‟s (these children will attend Saturday classes in Feb./ March) Please note that the arrangements for the reception of these Sacraments will be different for next year.

Parents are asked to enrol the children by 30th November. Enquiries: Sr. Patricia 2012 Yr. 1 children upwards: Sacrament of Reconciliation (for Term 4, 2013 when in Yr. 2 upwards) 2012 Y2. children upwards: Sacrament of Eucharist (for Term 2, 2013 when in Yr. 3 upwards) 2012 Yr.4 & 5 children upwards: Sacrament of Confirmation (for Term 3, 2013 when in Yr. 5/6 upwards)

The Sacrament of Confirmation will not be celebrated in our Parish in 2014.

YEAR OF GRACE / YEAR OF FAITH: Thought for the week

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict, encourages us to renewed reflection and rediscovery of our

Faith. This week we need to give thought to how we

can best prepare for the coming of Jesus. One great opportunity begins next weekend.

Saturday, 1st— Thursday 6th December ADVENT RETREAT WITH FR. CYRIL: All Parishioners are encouraged to take part in this opportunity to prepare for Christmas. The Retreat will begin with talks by Father Cyril during weekend Masses and continue each evening starting Sunday night from 7.30– 9.00pm. The mission will conclude Thursday evening with supper. Please bring a plate

Daily, Daily, sing to Mary Sing my soul her praises due All her feasts, her actions worship With the hearts‟ devotion true Lost in wondering contemplation Be her majesty confessed Call her mother Call her virgin Happy Mother Virgin Blessed

She is mighty to deliver Call her trust her lovingly When the tempest rage is rounding She will calm the raging sea Gifts of heaven she has given Noble lady to our race She‟s the queen who decks her subjects With the light of God‟s own grace ( x 3)

DAILY, DAILY

SING TO MARY

(5.30pm MASS)

NEWS FROM THE PASTORAL CARE QUADRANT We pray for the death anniversary of: Peter Quinn, Lorenz Sapulovic, Martin Giordmaina.

Please pray for the Sick: Victor Dimech, Therese Hall, Albert Nicholls, Vicki & Bill Vassallo, Alex Venasilao, Gloria Cruz,

Ian Nowak, Michael Saunders, Consiglia Bonnici, Anna Persiano, Patricia Coulson, Rose Marslen and all those who have

requested our prayers.

NOVEMBER IS ‘HOLY SOULS MONTH’ „It is indeed a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.‟ 2 Maccabees 12:46

ANNUAL GIVING TREE GIFTS FOR THE CHILDREN - MacKillop Family Services. Gift tags, with age and gender appropriate, will be available for you to collect next weekend from the Basket at the back of the Church. Gifts for the children in the care of MacKillop Family Services are to be placed under the Giving Tree by the following

weekend Sunday 9th December. THANK YOU to all those who helped us to celebrate the Mass of Anointing & lunch on Thursday. We were delighted to have

the Senior children from St. Anthony‟s to participate during Mass and to serve the lovely lunch to all present.

FUTURE EVENTS

1st—5th Dec Advent Retreat with Fr. Cyril 2nd & 16th Dec. Welcome Mass & Baptisms 20th Dec. 2nd Rite of Reconciliation 7.30pm 22nd Dec Renewal of Marriage Vows during 5.30pm Mass

NEWS FROM THE SERVICE / COMMUNITY QUADRANT DONATIONS FOR FLOWERS

Anyone wishing to donate monies towards the cost of our floral arrangements may do so by placing money in the wooden box that is on the Sanctuary near the Oils. Your generosity is kindly appreciated, thank you.

HAVE YOU TRIED ST. ANTHONY’S PARISH BINGO?

St. Anthony‟s conduct Bingo every Tuesday evening in Padua Hall. Doors open 6.30pm, Eyes down at 7.30pm. Cost: $10 for 40 games MR. JACKPOT: $2 per ticket. Jackpot Prizes: $2000, $10,000 & $30,000. Bonus Jackpot feature and world Record Holder (Lowest Winning Full House wins $10,000) . Come along and support your parish and have a good time!

THIS WEEK

27th Nov. Prime Timers Christmas Lunch 29th Nov. Baptism Preparation Meeting

Sacramental Enrolment after Weekend Masses

FROM THE PARISH OFFICE COLLECTIONS: Stewardship: Presbytery Offering: 18/11/2012 $ 2443.75 $ 658.50

Dear Parishioners, could the members of Thanksgiving who are placing Envelopes 174 & 215 in the plate please contact the Parish Office ASAP. There is a problem with your envelope number and your contribution cannot be recorded until the problem is fixed. Many Thanks.

AN INVITATION TO ALL PARISHIONERS !!! Relax and enjoy an evening of Christmas Carols and the Children‟s re-enactment of the Christmas Story: SATURDAY THE 8TH DECEMBER, 2012 AFTER THE 5.30PM MASS IN PADUA HALL. WE WILL BE TAKING THE OPPORTUNITY TO BID FATHER CYRIL FAREWELL ON THIS NIGHT. PLEASE BRING A PLATE. ALL WELCOME.

PRIME TIMERS CHRISTMAS LUNCH—RUPERTSWOOD MANSION—TUESDAY 27TH NOVEMBER Meeting at St. Anthony‟s at 11.00am. The theme for this year is “Aussie Bush Christmas” Cost : $30 per person for Prime Timers Members $45 for non-members Please tell us of any special dietary requirement ASAP. Please place your name on the clipboard at the rear of

the church if you are coming. Also state if you need a lift. Enquiries to: John or Lois Brewis on 9743 6582

On the last Sunday of the liturgical year, we celebrate the

Feast of Christ the King. We may be liable to miss the full

import of this feast as it falls immediately before we

begin a new year and go into Advent, which betokens our

waiting for the arrival of the Messiah; which itself can get

hidden under the intrusion of the wait for Santa.

Which is a little bit unfortunate, for we can miss an

aspect of what the Feast of Christ the King represents:

that is, the definitive establishment of the Kingdom and

of Christ‟s reign as King. And a precursor to those facts

will be the end of the world, and an end to cycle of years,

even the cycle of liturgical years.

The liturgy we will all celebrate from then on will be

the same one as the angels and saints even now

celebrate in the very presence of God in his majesty and

power and glory. And then we will realise clearly that

what we have celebrated each Sunday here in this life

when we attend Mass is that very same eternal liturgy.

We will see then that the celebration of the Word and of

the Sacrifice of the Altar is more than an anticipation of

the heavenly worship, it is an actual participation in it.

The big difference will be that once Christ‟s Kingdom is

definitively established, we will be freed of the burden of

our fallen natures, nothing will obstruct our sight and our

celebration will be perfect.

But before that happens, of course, must come the

end of this world, and the Last Judgement.

This year, the Gospel for Christ the King (John 18:33-

37) recounts Jesus‟ conversation with Pilate, in which

Pilate asks Jesus whether he is a king and Jesus‟ reply is

as kingly as it is mysterious — in the meaning of the word

mysterious as referring to something „being full of

mysteries‟, not as being hard to understand. Jesus

responds to Pilate‟s question but does not in fact answer

it:

“You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I

came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone

who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Pilate, as is well known, had rather a modern

sceptic‟s take on truth (“what is truth?”), never realising

that Truth indeed stood right before him (and illustrating

that modern skepticism is not so modern after all).

Of perhaps even greater interest to us in terms of

recapping the Works of Mercy is the Second Reading for

this feast day, which comes from Revelation:

Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the

dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who

loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,

who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God

and Father, to him be glory and power forever (and

ever). Amen. Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,

and every eye will see him, even those who pierced

him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes.

Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord

God, “the one who is and who was and who is to

come, the almighty.” (1:5-8)

This mighty one, the Alpha and the Omega, the „all

in all‟, is the same person, Jesus Christ, who is to be our

judge on the last day, This person of might and majesty.

St John indeed seems to revel in piling on the adjectives

to describe this person in a bewildering and ecstatic

richness as if in a attempt to describe the indescribable

and in so doing make the perfect act of worship.

And what will that person do on that day, he who

was pierced, he for whom every person on earth will

lament. He will judge them and divide them into the

sheep and the goats according to whether they have

done unto others as they would have done unto them, on

whether they have fulfilled the Works of Mercy. That is

how important the works of mercy are; how we spend

our eternity depends on whether we have done them or

left them undone.

All of which suggests that the great Judge, he who

dispenses justice, Jesus Christ, is at the same time the

King of Mercy.

We can have a jaundiced or sentimental view of

kingship, or monarchy as we term it these days. We see

kingship in terms of pomp and ceremony instead of

majesty and awe, or in terms of right and privilege and

wealth instead of authority and responsibility. And worse,

we see it in terms of inevitable corruption, of nepotism

and interest. Christ‟s kingship is not like that. His

kingship will indeed be one of majesty and awe, and all

the adjectives St John brings to bear, and authority and

responsibility, or rule simply. And, when it comes to

interest, those whom the Alpha and the Omega will

promote in his court are not those with wealth and power

and beauty and the rest of this world‟s favoured

categories; rather it will be those who have done the

Works of Mercy:

When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the

angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious

throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations,

and he will separate them one from another as a

shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he

will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at

the left. Then the King will say to those at his right

hand, “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the

kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the

world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was

thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and

you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I

was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you

came to me. (Matthew 25:31-36)

Since the works of mercy must meet all our needs

as human beings, we generally divide them into two

kinds: corporal and spiritual. Earlier this year we looked

at the corporal works of mercy:

(1) To feed the hungry

(2) To give drink to the thirsty

(3) To clothe the naked

(4) To welcome the stranger

(5) To visit the sick

(6) To visit the imprisoned

(7) To bury the dead

Over the next few months, we will take a close look at

the spiritual works of mercy:

(1) To instruct the ignorant

(2) To counsel the doubtful

(3) To admonish sinners

(4) To bear wrongs patiently

(5) To forgive offences willingly

(6) To comfort the afflicted

(7) To pray for the living and the dead

Christ the King and the Corporal Works of Mercy