PLANET EARTH Rain, snow, seeds, sowers, fertile soil and a labouring creation gives birth to the fruits of the Spirit, and all rich ground upon which we can reflect on the importance of our earth’s ecology. In recent years the Church has regularly reminded us that the issue of caring for the environment is an important part of our Christian commitment for justice. We have been reminded that while the earth has been entrusted to us as stewards, to be preserved, it is also given into our hands to be developed in such a way that there will be a productive earth for future generations to inherit.

If this means we must limit our consumption, change our priorities in regard to energy and trade and show the third world the way in developing eco-friendly industries, then all the better for us. Most of us know that we cannot keep going as we are, with ever increasing unsustainable demands on our planet. There is no point any of us crying over the demise of our environment in the future, if we are doing nothing to help it now. Every small thing we do from being conscious of the issues, to recycling and using our cars less, is not unimportant. Some of us are in positions to do a lot more than these things as well and we should take our Christian responsibilities in this regard very seriously. One creative reading of today's Gospel is that it parallels how we can respond to the news of the degradation of the environment. For some of us the facts and figures about the planet's ecosystem fall on rocky ground. We are not receptive to hearing anything that might demand a change in our lifestyle or a lessening of our comfort. For others of us, it falls on thorns. Competing with other issues for our attention and action, the plight of the earth is not able to take root in our consciousness or sympathies. We think it can all wait for another generation who will have the ability to fix the problems For some of us, however, our own sense of environmental changes means that they are falling on fertile soil. We want to do whatever we can to see that the earth continues to bear fruit for as many generations as God intends. The Old and New Testaments are filled with the importance of our relationships to the earth. In the book of Genesis humanity is told to care for and not wreck it. We cannot be irresponsible about the world's finite resources in the hope that we will find solutions in the future. Avarice is not one of the seven deadly sins for nothing. We believe the bread and wine of the Eucharist, which we say are ‘the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands’, are changed into Christ present among us. May these Eucharistic gifts rooted in our soil, effect in us a change that might enable us to have ears to hear the groan of creation as it calls for us to be careful sowers and responsible reapers. May our stand for justice always take into account the care our earth requires so that we have a productive planet to hand on to our children. By how we choose to live now, may we hand the earth on to them in better shape than we found it. Richard Leonard SJ is the Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION My Jesus, I believe that You are truly present

in the Holy Eucharist. I love You above all things, and I desire to

receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at

least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You are already here and unite

myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen . Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Most Divine,

All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine. (say 3x)

PRAYER TO ST JOSEPH St Joseph, You were receptive to God working in your life. Help us by your prayers at this time of trial. You kept Jesus and Mary under your watchful care: may your prayers assist our local Church to respond to those in need. You taught the Christ Child your trade and prayers: help us to follow his example of love. You were part of God’s plan for all humanity: assist us to be vigilant and responsible this day. You spent your life in service: may we be mindful of others, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, caring for them in these difficult days. You trusted in the clear primacy of God over all history and every situation: help us to grow in faith and pray to the Father, Thy will be done. Amen.

“The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word but then the cares of the world and the lure of riches choke

the word and it bears no fruit.” (Matthew 13:22) Does the lure of riches and material goods choke God out of your life? Are you so caught up in earthly activities that you have no time for God? Gratitude and generosity are virtues that we should strive to do on a daily basis. Every decision we make either takes us one step closer to God or one step further away. What we receive at Mass every Sunday should be shared with others all the other days of the week

Fr Tony’s Sunday Mass live streaming at 10:15 AM and replay at

Catholic-Parish-of Greater-Box Hill (root: https://w w w .facebook.com /Catholic -Parish

-of-Greater-Box-Hill-345491692726741/ )

Fr Tony’s Weekdays live stream Mass at 12:00 Noon Catholic-Parish-of Greater-Box Hill

(root: https://w w w .facebook.com /Catholic -Parish-of-Greater-Box-Hill-345491692726741/ )

Fr Tony’s Sunday Mass on Channel 10 at 6 AM

12 July 19 July 26 July

Vietnamese Sunday Mass 5:00 PM

https://www.facebook.com/St Timothy Vietnamese Community

Fr Tony continues to be present for chats, updates, counselling, queries and even prayer requests. You can contact him at tony.kerin@cam.org.au or

call 9401 6371.

ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL SUNDAY MASS

at C31 (listed as Channel 44 on digital TVs).

Live streamed at St Patrick’s and YouTube.

Morning Tea with Fr Tony on Zoom every Sunday at 11:10AM Meeting ID: 288 646 3871 -

https://zoom.us/j/2886463871

THANKSGIVING OFFERING With the re-closure of churches due to Covid-19, we will be mailing our Thanksgiving envelopes.

The changes in our new normal life has seen the shift from less direct contact to more digital handling of donations. We have therefore, posted together with the quarterly thanksgiving statements the option to use direct debit. Complete the authorization form and post or email it back to St Timothy’s (foresthill@cam.org.au). The direct debit authorization form will also be attached in the emailed Newsletter this week.

Alternatively, the online portal payment option of CDFPay may be used.

https://secure.artezpacific.com/registrantTeamFundraisingPage.aspx?

teamID=116521&langPref=en-CA

Our sincere thanks on your continuing support to our parish.

#11 UPDATE: GENERAL GUIDELINES COVID-19 Implications for the Catholic Archdiocese of

Melbourne Information Updated:

Wednesday 08 July 5.00pm

The following Guidelines are approved by Most Rev Peter A Comensoli, Archbishop of Melbourne, to assist Clergy and Faithful with questions pertaining to specific areas of liturgy and ministry in the Archdiocese of Melbourne during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In relation to the latest directives announced by Government (Tuesday 7 July 2020), there are tw o separate areas of information:

New directives for local governm ent areas designated as ‘hot zones’ across metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire, and

Directives for areas OUTSIDE these ‘hot zone’ areas, where there is essentially no further changes for places of worship, with numbers remaining the same as outlined in Archdiocesan Guidelines #7 and #9 until 12 July 2020 (or as otherwise directed). It is important to note that serious caution and precautionary measures are recommended for all areas of Victoria at this time.

As of 11.59pm Wednesday 08 July 2020 the following will apply for places of worship for 6 weeks, or otherwise directed. If you live in the Melbourne metropolitan area and the Shire of Mitchell you must stay at home. People m ay leave their home for four reasons:

Shopping for food or other essential item s To provide care giving, for com passionate reasons

or to seek medical treatment For exercise (outdoor exercise only, w ith only one

other person or members of your household) Work or study, only if you cannot w ork or study

from home PLEASE NOTE: The Government has indicated that police patrols will be present in the Hot Zone Postcode areas to restrict travel to the four reasons listed above Additional restrictions have also been put in place:

Weddings in a restricted zones will be limited to 5 people (the couple, two witnesses and the celebrant).

Baptisms in a restricted zone are to be postponed where possible, unless there is an urgent and grave pastoral need. (Can. 857; 860). In that instance, numbers will be limited to 5 people (the child, couple and godparents within the total of 5 limitations) + celebrant.

Funerals held in a restricted zone will be restricted to 10 people plus those required to conduct the funeral.

A wedding or funeral held in a private residence outside of a restricted postcode will be limited to five visitors, plus the celebrant.

Religious services and private worship will need to be streamed online as places of worship will be closed in restricted postcodes except to hold weddings, funerals or public services such as foodbanks.

For those liturgies permitted above, all density, number and hygiene regulations must be adhered to, including the recording of participant contact details (first name and phone number). Except for the exemptions noted regarding Weddings and Funerals, all public Masses, Liturgies and communal devotions (whether indoors or outdoors) are temporarily suspended for 6 weeks or until further notice. Also affected by this closure are church buildings, adoration chapels and other church buildings used for public prayer and religious services. Priests may celebrate Mass privately in a closed church, including for the purposes of live streaming. In doing so all precautions such as physical distancing and hygiene measures must be modelled and met.

Masses in family homes or other such private or domestic locations are not permitted until further notice.

AROUND THE CHURCH—THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

Catholic Resources : melbournecatholic.org.au; cathnews.com

POPE’S PRAYER INTENTION FOR JULY “PRAY FOR FAMILIES”

In his prayer intention for the month of July 2020, Pope Francis asks everyone to pray that today’s families may be accompanied with love, respect and guidance. The full text of his intention is below:

The family ought to be protected. It faces many dangers: the fast pace of life, stress…

Sometimes, parents forget to play with their children. The Church needs to encourage families and stay at their side, helping them to discover ways that allow

them to overcome all of these difficulties. Let us pray that today’s families may be accompanied with love, respect and guidance, and especially, that

they may be protected by the State.

ARCHBISHOP PETER STATEMENT FOLLOWING THE LATEST ANNOUNCEMENT

FROM THE PREMIER

The decision to place Metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire areas back into Stage 3 lockdown for the next six weeks from 11.59pm Wednesday 8 July is sobering news. It is truly disheartening and will bring renewed distress to so many families and individuals.

These words from Psalm 22 have come immediately to my mind (words that were on the lips of Jesus as he was crucified): My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. (Ps 22.1-2)

Yet, I want to encourage you in grace, trusting in the abiding closeness of our loving Lord, who promised to be with us always.

In returning to Stage 3 restrictions in those specific areas, sadly the public celebration of Mass, which we have only just re-commenced, will need to go back to live-streaming; Churches will need to be closed again to any private prayer; and the numbers allowed for funerals and weddings will severely limited.

Now is a time for attentiveness to the care of one another. In the face of our own despondency and fears, our fatigue and anxieties, may we learn to hold firm in faith and hope, and experience sustaining moments of love. As the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews encouraged: Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works. (Heb 24.10)

Friends, while the Psalmist knew struggle and pain, there were also words of confidence that came from the heart: In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. (Ps22.4-5).

May our Lord Jesus be with you, and may His Blessed Mother accompany us all.

With every grace and blessing, I remain.

Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus.

Most Rev Peter A Comensoli

POPE: THE POOR ARE BUILDERS OF NEW HUMANITY

Pope Francis told a scattering of well-distanced faithful in St Peter’s Square that the solace Christ offers to the weary and the oppressed is not merely psychological relief or almsgiving. The Pope gave a reflection on the Gospel reading of the day (Mt 11: 25-30), which he explained, is divided into three parts. In the first part, he said, “Jesus raises a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to the Father, because He revealed to the poor and to the simple the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven”. Then, he continued, “He reveals the intimate and unique relationship between Him and the Father”. Finally, the Pope added, “He invites us to go to Him and to follow Him to find relief". The Pope then went on to point out that “Just as the Father has a preference for the “little ones”, Jesus also addresses those “who labour and are burdened”. He highlighted that Jesus’ full dedication to the Father, and his meekness and humility are not a model for the resigned, nor he said, “is He simply a victim,” but rather He lives this condition "from the heart" in full transparency to the love of the Father, that is, to the Holy Spirit. “Jesus is the model of the ‘poor in spirit’ and of all the other ‘blessed’ of the Gospel, who do the will of God and bear witness to His Kingdom,” he said.

LOCKDOWN EXPOSES SHORTAGE OF PUBLIC HOUSING

The COVID-19 lockdown of nine Melbourne public housing towers has exposed the severe shortage of social housing in Victoria, welfare groups say. Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Emma King said it was no surprise public housing had become the frontline of the pandemic given the chronic shortage of social housing in the state. She said about 100,000 Victorians were on a social housing waitlist, with this type of demand one of the reasons existing government-supported residences were often so overcrowded. Victoria needs at least 6000 new community and public homes to be built each year, just to keep up with demand, she said. Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Jenny Smith said Victoria had the lowest proportion of social housing of all Australian states and territories. She said a lack of decent housing had put thousands of low-income Victorians at a shocking level of risk during the pandemic.

INTRODUCTION:

God pours his grace lavishly but Jesus lists a number of things we might have to correct in order to accept the gifts he has ready for us. We might be shallow ground or rocky soil. Weeds might choke us.

Let us not pretend to be rich soil and we are not. We must be fully ourselves and allow God to do the rest. To those who come to Christ ready to receive him and willing to be counted as his disciples, he can give the gift of knowledge. In receiving him, these people are also ready to receive the fruits of the Spirit. As Christ says, “to them who have more, more will be given because they want more.”

PENITENTIAL RITE:

FIRST READING: Isaiah 55: 10-11

Thus says the Lord: ‘As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.’

RESPONSORIAL PSALM :

Response: The see that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.

1. You care for the earth, give it water, you fill it with riches. Your river in heaven brims over to provide its grain. (R.)

2. And thus you provide for the earth; you drench its furrows, you level it, soften it with showers, you bless its growth. (R.)

3. You crown the year with your goodness. Abundance flows in your steps, in the pastures of the wilderness it flows. (R.)

4. The hills are girded with joy, the meadows covered with flocks, the valleys are decked with wheat. They shout for joy, yes, they sing. (R.)

SECOND READING: Rom ans 8:18-23

I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us. The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons. It was not for any fault on the part of creation that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God; but creation still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God. From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION:

Alleluia! Alleluia!

The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever.

Alleluia!

GOSPEL : Mt 13: 1-9 [short form] Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.

He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

Lord Jesus, you reveal the mysteries of the kingdom . Lord, have mercy: Lord, have mercy.

Christ Jesus, happy are those who hear your word . Christ, have mercy: Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you call us to bear great fruit . Lord, have mercy: Lord, have mercy.