One of the nice vollies at work, Christine let me borrow Sally Morgan’s My Place. I had better get stuck into it!
Always a voracious reader as a kid, I’m sorry it has dropped off. If I needed any further convincing about getting back to reading I need go no further than Brad Isaac’s 26 Major Advantages to Reading Books article (a Stumble).
Following Archbishop Bathersby’s Advent Pastoral Letter, the focus for this Christmas Season and beyond, will be on encouraging Catholics to rediscover the wealth of this faith that is so important to all of us. The Christmas Masses seem to overflow every year with people who come to share and to celebrate as members of our faith communities, and it is always great to see them at Mass. But what happens when Christmas has come and gone. Where are these people of faith during the Ordinary season of our Church Year?
Perhaps it is important for all of us who come along each week to endeavour to encourage these members of our faith Community who are part of the Church, but absent for so much of it to return. That will only happen if they feel welcomed and at home in our midst. If these people of faith arrive at any of the Masses and made to feel like outsiders because we simply ignore them, then why should they come back to God through us?
So, in highlighting the Archbishop’s concerns and his focus on evangelisation, it is important for all of us to play our part in welcoming others into our midst. That is the mission of the Church. That is the mission of the People of God. That is the mission that each of us are charged: to welcome and to reach out, not only at Christmas, but throughout the whole of our year. Then those occasional Catholics may see the need for our Church and our Community to be a part of their lives and the lives of their family members. But it begins with us, and our call to mission and ministry as members of this Body of Christ.
– Fr. John Conway
Busy days! At the Hospice we are having our office Christmas party on Saturday night, about 100 persons attending. Then on the following Monday we are having Carols by Candlelight with about 200 persons expected. Today vollie Gwen and I were sent out armed with a shopping list that was three pages long. Four hours later we had managed to get most of the items; the rest I have to pick up tomorrow.
For my other job, Melissa is taking a month off from Christmas. During this time the Sales/Accounts office will be closed for phone calls, we will only be dealing with enquiries/sales via email – this will be my job. So I’ll be checking the emails every day and otherwise taking it easy. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of the speed issues we’ve been having lately, and nothing else happens to cause unhappy customers.
I have finished most of my Christmas shopping! I don’t know yet what I’m doing for Christmas. I have to go into work on Christmas eve (Hospice), but have the rest of the week off. Hubby will most likely be working. Bah humbug.
Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
Spread it thick, say it quick!
Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
Spread it thicker, say it quicker!
Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
Don’t eat with your mouth full!
Real rock wall, real rock wall, real rock wall
Many more at http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm
For some more fun, try feeding some of the tongue twisters into this text to speech conversion tool, vozMe.
It’s official, I work in one of the world’s most liveable cities – Ipswich, about 50km west of Brisbane. At the 2007 Livcom Awards for Liveable Communities held in London, Ipswich scored the win in Category C for cities with a population between 75,001 – 200,000, from a field of eight other cities around the world. One of the factors behind its win is the city’s trend of growth, last year it scored the sixth greatest population growth of any local government area in Australia.
Great news for the community, a pretty amazing result.
Luke 23:35-43
Today’s Gospel presents Christ as the Crucified King. He reigns not through political power and material wealth but through his blood poured out for love of his people. A king whose strength is seen in weakness is both a comfort and a challenge to us. Can we find God’s presence even in suffering and failure?
– Fr. John Conway