Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

The Parable of the Sower in this Sunday’s Gospel would have been a very familiar scenario to the audience that Jesus addressed. The terrain of Galilee was very uneven and hilly; it was only the narrow strips of land in the valleys and along the river banks that were sown with seed. The soil on which the good seed falls is the whole world; it represents each individual person. We are the soil for the divine seed of God’s Word. Even though the sowing is carried out with great love—it is God who pours Himself in our souls—the results depend largely on the condition of the soil on which it falls. Christ's words tell us forcefully about the responsibility we all have to prepare ourselves to receive God’s grace and to correspond with it.

We give heartfelt thanks to all those who helped organise and contributed to the Flower Festival this Saturday in the Church. It has been a joyous celebration of the The Beatitudes. Thank you for all your efforts bringing the Gospel into bloom!

We are entering the period of the Summer vacation. This week we will celebrate Mass for our Primary School Leavers and the following week our Schools will break for the Summer holiday. This is the time when I remind every one of us that the holidays are a time for increased relaxation, time with friends and family, and hopefully a time when we can consider spiritual realities with more attention. When on holiday, wherever we go, we should remember the first and most important event of the week is Holy Mass on Sunday. It’s very easy nowadays to research this before we travel, so that we know where the local Catholic church is located and the times of Mass. Wherever you are heading-off over the coming weeks, I wish you safe travel, a blessed time of renewal of body and sprit, and  safe return!

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale