Catholic Outlook December 2016

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LIFE, MARRIAGE & FAMILY We wish you a Mercy Christmas By Ben Smith, Director Life, Marriage & Family Office NOW THAT THE Holy Doors are closed and the Year of Mercy is over, does that mean that we can forget about the importance of mercy? Not at all. The seasons of Advent and Christmas present us with a great opportunity to cement the graces we have received from this special year. But isn’t mercy more of a topic for Lent and Easter? What have the seasons of Advent and Christmas got to do with mercy? Pope Francis has emphasised that, “We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it.” (Misericordiae Vultus, 2) So mercy has an ongoing significance beyond the Year of Mercy and also beyond the seasons of Lent and Easter. Mercy is highly relevant to the seasons of Advent and Christmas as “Jesus of Nazareth, by his words, his actions, and his entire person reveals the mercy of God.” (MV, 1) He is “the bridge that connects God and man.” (MV, 2) God’s mercy is revealed in every moment of Jesus’ life. The nativity scene, therefore, connects us with God’s mercy. What the nativity shows is that God was prepared to empty himself of his divinity to become a baby who was born in a stable and slept in a hay-filled livestock feeding station. God has heard the cry of his people. This joyful scene captivated the hearts of those who witnessed the first Christmas. This joy can be experienced by us in front of a nativity scene allowing us to open “our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.” (MV, 2) The nativity scene can help to remind us that God is reaching out to us just like the father of the prodigal son. St Therese of Lisieux expressed this truth a different way: “A God who makes himself so little can only be love and mercy.” This is really important for children or grandchildren to grasp and Christmas creates a wonderful opportunity to present this message. If Jesus is the bridge that manifests the mercy of God then Advent and Christmas represent one support pillar and Lent and Easter represent the other support pillar. Both of these pillars have a special connection with Mary. A pregnant Mary joyfully sang of the mercy of God in her Magnificat on her way to meet her cousin St Elizabeth. The birth of Jesus gave her great joy as well. She also experienced the mercy of God in As Catholics death is both a time of hope and sadness. You will feel the full range of emotions; our faith can be challenged at this most difficult time. Timmins Funerals has helped families with Celebrations of Life through the Catholic Liturgy since 1950. During all that time our values remain the same, care, respect and dignity. Still owned by the Timmins family. The nativity scene can help to remind us that God is reaching out to us. sorrow when she stood by the cross on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday she experienced the joy of seeing Jesus again after he had conquered sin and death. In summary, Mary was the first witness to the revelation of God’s mercy in the person of Jesus Christ. By accompanying Mary on her journey with Jesus in the mysteries of the rosary we can keep the mystery of mercy close to our hearts and the hearts of our children and grandchildren. Christmas is a special time for children. It is a time in which one of them is the focus. It is important that all the trappings of the Merry Christmas and best wishes to All May God Bless you for a safe and Happy New Year Thank You All For Your Support Closed on all Christmas and New Year Public Holidays Bulk Billing for GP Services MEDICAL CENTRE OPENING HOURS Monday-Friday 9.00am-6.00pm Saturday 9.00am-2.00pm CLOSED SUNDAYS NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY DOCTOR HOME VISITS AND AFTER HOURS SERVICES AVAILABLE Parking on-site available Pathology on premises DOCTORS DR. ARUNTHA JESUTHASAN (Female GP) DR. CHARLES HAYES (Male GP) DR. VAN NGUYEN (Male GP) Natural Family Planning is Available in the Surgery • Children’s/Women’s/Men’s Health • Immunisations • Health Assessment • Prevention of Chronic Illnesses • Weight Loss Programme • Skin Diseases Management – including Skin Cancer • Minor Surgical Procedures • WorkCover • Pre-employment Medicals • Travel Medicine season don’t get out of proportion with the reason for the season. Setting up a nativity scene in your house helps capture the imagination of children. Playing some nice traditional Christmas music in the car or at home creates a peaceful mood. The lyrics also help to educate the children to help them be aware of the loving mercy of God who descended to earth in the form of a babe to free us from our sins and offer us eternal life in heaven. Ben Smith can be contacted at the Life, Marriage & Family Office: lmf@parra.catholic.org.au NaPro TECHNOLOGY & Fertility Care ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS DILHAN JAYAMANNE (Physiotherapist) ERNESTINA BURCHMORE (Acupuncturist) BUDDY ABDULAHAD (Podiatrist) www.timminsfunerals.com.au Join us on Ph: 9630 9688 www.facebook.com/timminsfunerals MEDICAL & DENTAL CENTRE 81 – 83 Richmond Rd, Blacktown, NSW l 9622 1998 10 CatholicOutlook DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017 www.catholicoutlook.org
NEWS & EVENTS Saint John Paul II: ‘work is for man, not man for work’ By Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv THIRTY YEARS AGO, on 26 November 1986, St John Paul II visited the Diocese of Parramatta to address a large crowd of workers gathered at the Transfield factory in Powers Road, Seven Hills. This large engineering factory hosted 12,000 people when it was temporarily cleared of much of its machinery. The Pope opened his address with a reflection on his early life as a quarry and factory worker. “These were important and useful years in my life. I am grateful for having had that opportunity to reflect deeply on the meaning and dignity of human work in its relationship to the individual, the family, the nation, and the whole social order.” His experience and reflection led him to “proclaim again” his “own profound conviction” that “human work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question, if we try to see the question really from the point of view of man’s good.” The world of work has changed dramatically since St John Paul II spoke to the workers at Seven Hills. The disruption of earlier patterns of employment as a result of technological changes and globalisation in Australia and elsewhere have been profound. The Church must respond to the changing economic realities and speak on behalf of those who have been prejudiced or ignored by these changes. How should the Church respond? The answer to this question might start with the address given by St John Paul II at Seven Hills. He recognised the positive aspects of economic change, but warned against “ways of thinking” and proposed a way forward: “In the past, the Church has consistently Catholic Social Teaching opposed ways of thinking which would reduce workers to mere ‘things’ that could be relegated to unemployment and redundancy if the economics of industrial development seemed to demand it. “No one has a simple and easy solution to all the problems connected with human work. But I offer for your consideration two basic principles. “First, it is always the human person who is the purpose of work. It must be said over and over again that work is for man, not man for work. Man is indeed ‘the true purpose of the whole process of production’. Every consideration of the value of work must begin with man, and every solution proposed to the problems of the social order must recognise the primacy of the human person over things. The Catholic Church has developed a body of teaching that that seeks to identify and address a range of social issues. The origins of modern Catholic Social Teaching, with its emphasis on work and economic relations, are found in Pope Leo XIII’s great social encyclical of 1891, Rerum Novarum. The connection between faith and work is illustrated by a passage in St John Paul II’s 1981 encyclical commemorating the 90 th anniversary of Rerum Novarum: “In order to achieve social justice in the various parts of the world, in the various countries, and in the relationships between them, there is a need for ever new movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers. This solidarity must be present whenever it is called for by the social degrading of the subject of work, by exploitation of the workers, and by the growing areas of poverty and even hunger. The Church is firmly committed to this cause, for she considers it her mission, her service, a proof of her fidelity to Christ, so that she can truly be the “Church of the poor”. (Laborem Exercens, paragraph 8, italics in original.) St John Paul II’s encyclicals in 1981 and 1991 (Centesimus Annus) commemorating Rerum Novarum and a range of his other writings have established the framework for, and much of the content of, modern Catholic Social Teaching on work, workers’ rights and economic systems. Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have continued to apply and develop this teaching in the context of the emerging issues of the early 21 st Century. Saint John Paul II visited the Transfield factory at Seven Hills in 1986. St Pope John Paul II in the popemobile with Bishop Bede Heather, the first Bishop of Parramatta. “Secondly, the task of finding solutions cannot be entrusted to any single group in society: people cannot look solely to governments as if they alone can find solutions; nor to big business, nor to small enterprises, nor to union officials, nor to individuals in the work force. All individuals and all groups must be concerned with both the problems and their solutions.” St John Paul II’s message in 1986 is particularly relevant to the work and economic issues that confront Australia in 2016. First, we have to be clear about our values: we must recognise the primacy of the human person. Second, the formulation of solutions to contemporary issues must be based on cooperation, and not a contest, between sectional interests and groups: solutions cannot be solely determined by economic considerations. The ‘Brexit’ vote in Britain in June to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as US President in November owe much to a widespread disillusionment with the personal, family and social impact of economic changes over the past few decades. It is true that other factors came into play in the decisions, but without the loss of faith in contemporary economic policies, many believe that those decisions would not have been made. In Australia, we have not had such a cathartic event, but the public debate has been changed. Recently, we have seen substantial public discussion about the exploitation of low-paid workers, particularly foreign workers. Over recent years there has been an understandable interest in improving productivity, but often the proposals to improve productivity are, in the eyes of the workers involved, at least, proposals to cut wages, reduce reasonable working conditions and increase job insecurity. www.catholicoutlook.org DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017 CatholicOutlook 11
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Page 5 and 6: NEWS & EVENTS Emilio sings and sign
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Catholic Outlook December 2016

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