MONEY MATTERS: Envelopes: $ 1,428 Loose: $ 458 Tap and Go: $ 780 TOTAL: $ 2,666

WEEKLY TARGET: $4,000 NOTE: If you would like to make direct contributions, our banking details are: BSB: 067 950; Account Number: 00602; Account Name: Wentworthville Catholic Church; So that we can acknowledge your generosity would you please just put your name first and add donation if there is room.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Wentworthville In the care of the Carmelites

PARISH PRIEST: Fr Denis Andrew OCarm ASSOCIATE PASTOR: Fr Januario Pinto OCarm CARMELITE COMMUNITY: Fr Anthony Scerri O Carm PARISH SECRETARY: Lyn Bryant (9.30am—5.30pm Tuesday to Friday) PASTORAL ASSOCIATE: Paola Yévenes SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: Olimpia Pirovic

Phone: 9631 8302; School: 8832 1100

Email: ocarms@tpg.com.au

Web: www.olmcwenty.org.au

www.facebook.com/olmcwenty twitter.com/olmcwenty

SUNDAY MASSES: 6pm (vigil), 8.00am, 10.00am, 6.00pm DAILY MASSES: Monday to Thursday and Saturday 9.00am

Friday 9.15am RECONCILIATION: Saturday 9.30am

Please remember those who are in ill health, especially: Salve Stewart, Michael Bigeni, Nancy Surace, Cody Bailey, Baby Charlie Sultana, Charlie Micallef, Lyn Craddy, Baby Noha Larkin, Francois Tuyau, Sienna Calandruccio, Teresa Li, Lisa Boys, Greg Boys, Carol O’Loughlin and all who are sick.

READERS & COMMENTATORS: 27th & 28th February 2021

MASS TIME READER COMMENTATOR

Saturday 6.00pm Angela Carlino Vanessa D’Souza

Sunday 8.00am Cecilia Cotter Carmel Hetherington

Sunday 10.00am Fiona Bylsma Elaine Gutierrez

Sunday 6.00pm Mark Attwood Carmel Ruddy

During Lent there will be Stations of the Cross at

OLMC at the following times:

Fridays of Lent after 9.15am Mass.

Fridays of Lent at 7.30pm.

Wednesday 25/3/21 after 9.00am Mass. Stations

will be prayed in Maltese.

Jamila is a Rohingya refugee living in a camp in Bangladesh with her elderly mother and young daughter. With the support of Caritas Australia, and through Caritas

Bangladesh, Jamila has been able to access to emergency food, shelter, counselling, and vocational training that will help to support her family. Please donate to Project Compassion 2021 to help mothers like Jamila be more for her family and her community. You can donate through Project Compassion boxes and envelopes (available in the Narthex), by visiting www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion or phoning 1800 024 413.

The latest update from the Diocesan Office regarding Covid restrictions is as follows:

• Masks: Are not now mandatory but the Diocese strongly advises they still be worn.

• Physical distancing in church is now reduced to 2 metres.

• Singing by the congregation in church is still not allowed. Choir remains at 5 members.

• Vigilance is still required regarding sanitising before entering the church.

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Dr Seuss

Lent comes to reawaken us. Pope Francis

Normality is a paved road. It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow. Vincent van Gough

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck! Dalai Lama

Lent comes around each year and presents us with its usual challenge to take stock of our lives, to see more clearly what is in our hearts and to discover what might be calling us out of our comfort zones. It is a time to consider how we might respond to the pain of the world and of its inhabitants. It is a time for personal as well as group reflection, a time for entering into “the wilderness” and for grappling with the mysteries of life. It is a time of preparation for Easter when we will renew our baptismal vows and celebrate the greatest mysteries of our faith.

The gospel reading invites us to reflect on Jesus’ forty-day experience in “the wilderness”. Jesus is said to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” and, like so many human beings before and since, is “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness of life to be “tested” there. [“Tested” is a more accurate translation

of the original Greek term than is “tempted”]. Forty is a symbolic number in Israel’s story: the great flood lasts forty days and forty nights; Moses spends forty days and forty nights on the mountain of God; Israel wanders for forty years in the wilderness; King David reigns for forty years; the prophet Elijah travels forty days and forty nights in the wilderness on his way to the mountain of God.

The wilderness of Judah, with its unique desert flora and fauna, its wadis and waterholes, is ever so real. At the same time it functions symbolically in the narrative. In Israel’s story, it is the place of testing for God’s people: “Remember the long way that your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness… testing you to know what was in your heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2). Jesus now passes the tests that Israel failed in the wilderness.

Jesus is “with the wild beasts”. This terse statement recalls the prophet Isaiah’s vision of a future time of reconciliation and harmony when “the wolf will lie down with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6-9). Jesus is presented as the one who ushers in that age of peace and healing of division. God’s agents care for him in his time of testing: “angels minister to him”. In this context, Jesus announces the coming of God’s empire or reign. His message is to “repent” or to “think beyond” in a way that might turn lives around in God’s direction, and to “believe the good news” that he is set to proclaim in word and action. At a time of growing divide between the mega-rich and the desperately poor, we might look back to our symbolic tradition and forward to ways of bringing good news to those mostly deeply affected by the inequities in our world. - Veronica Lawson rsm (with permission)

Recently Deceased: Maureen Salkeld, Paul Domenic, Rejieinamma Seshayyan, Bernie Swan, Fr Lawrence (Joseph) Anžel OFM

Anniversaries & Memorials: Hannah Joseph, Stella Galea, Galpin, Lambert & Davis Families, Annunziata (Nancy) Attard, Joyce Cini, Mary & Frank Teuma, Joseph & Louis Teuma, Mary, Frank & Doreen Camilleri, Tony & Antonia Cini, Joe Vella, Rose Titman, Sonia Spittle, Jessie McManus, Rena Haber, Charlie & Therese Chetcuti, Charlie Sultana, Michael & Carmen Attard, Frank & Pauline Vella, Rani Sathi, Pushpa Kantha, Anthony Peter, Connie Bezzina & Jeanne Black, Pauline Grech, Renato Zammit, Francesca Zammit, Concetta & Joseph Sciberras, Joseph & Josephine Gauci, Holy Souls in Purgatory & All Souls, All Saints

NEXT SUNDAY’S READINGS: 2nd Sunday of Lent Yr B 1st Reading: Genesis 22: 1-2, 9-13, 15 - 18 2nd Reading: Romans 8: 31—34 Gospel: Mark 9: 2—10

Monday: The Chair of St Peter Tuesday *St Polycarp Wednesday: St John Theristus Thursday: St Nestor of Magydos Friday: St Isabelle of France Saturday: St Gregory of Narek Sunday: 2nd Sunday of Lent

McAULEY NOW ENROLLING FOR 2022

Catherine McAuley Westmead is enrolling now for girls entering Year 7 in 2022. Enrolments are due by 19/3/21. They are offering small group school tours in place of their original advertised school open night. Parents can book for these tours by visiting www.mcauley.nsw.edu.au and going to Enrolment/Visit Our School. Don’t delay as tours are filling up fast!

**Enrolment packs are available from OLMC primary school office or by visiting the McAuley website.

Greystanes Maltese Seniors Group

Meetings resumes Monday 8th March at 10.00am in the George Preca Parish Centre. Covid-19 rules must be observed in the Hall (social distancing applies). Please bring a mask. Hand sanitisers will be available at door.

Join the Bellringers of St Patrick’s Cathedral! The Peal of Bells of St Patrick’s Cathedral have been officially installed. Bell ringing commences 10.30am Sundays ahead of the Solemn Mass. If you would like to enquire about learning to ring the bells, please contact Fr Christopher Del Rosario: Christopher.Del-Rosario@parracatholic.org. Please visit https://stpatscathedral.com.au/bellsofstpatricks/ for more information. The Easter edition of CATHOLIC OUTLOOK will be

issued next week. You can find your copy in the

information centre in the Narthex.