St Mary's

http://johnshelbyspong.com/ January 19 2012

I recently read Walter Isaacson’s provocative and fascinating biography of Steve Jobs, the founder of the Apple Corporation.  He was innovative, iconoclastic, weird and a genius.  He built his company not only into a successful giant, but made it the highest valued company in the entire world.  One of Steve Job’s secrets was that he was never willing to live inside the boundaries of the given.  He adopted as the motto of his company the words, “Think Different.”  I grant you that he would have been more grammatically correct if his words had been “Think Differently,” but things like that mattered very little to this man. Later he added the slogan “Accept Uncertainty.”

On Tuesday night I had the good fortune (or bad fortune) of not being able to sleep, so I got out of bed and went outside to be greeted with a magnificent display of stars. I was in the country away from the city lights so the clarity of the display was all the more spectacular. I had recently paid a visit to the Brisbane Planetarium, where as part of the show they spend 20 minutes explaining the present position of the stars in the summer sky. If you have never gone to the Planetarium, it is well worth a visit. Apart from giving you reclining comfortable chairs, the night sky is placed before you on the domed roof in a way that makes for fascinating viewing.

Emma-Kate Rose

St Mary’s in Exile Homily

Some 10 years ago I was at my usual 6pm Mass at St Mary’s South Brisbane.

At the end of Mass, a young African man was introduced by Fr Peter Kennedy.

ST MARY’S IN EXILE

By Leo Wright, member of the Northern Cluster, discussed and recommended for publication by all members of the Northern Cluster, November 2011.

Regarding our “in Exile” tag, I wanted to drop it. Being in a place of exile carries with it the thought/desire of going back home. But now I find its connection with the Book of Exodus illuminating.  Let me explain. The Israelites first went to Egypt because of famine in their own land. They stayed there and built a new and comfortable way of life. But then came a new power—a Pharaoh who was not familiar with their story. Oppression became the force of the day. YHWH’s solution was to call his people out of the oppression into exile.

Sharing on the third Sunday of Advent 2011.

I want to share with you, more about the experience I wrote about and which now can be read in St Mary’s Matters. Firstly, I will do this by commenting on John’s Gospel 1:6-8, 19-28. These comments will not be from an academic learning or from biblical studies.  They will be coming from my own way of seeing.

Dear Fellow Catholics,
Below is an invitation to a communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a Christmas Vigil Mass with Inclusive language, inclusive values and inclusive spirituality. Please pass this on to any of your Catholic contacts in or near Melbourne who may be interested in joining us.
Special thanks to all those involved in our first Inclusive Mass on 27/11. It was a very joyful and hope-filled celebration with over 100 people in attendance.

Peace,

Greg Reynolds, for Inclusive Catholics.

The essence and central message of the voice that cries in the wilderness is found in this story.

One night Rabbi Isaac was told in his dream to go to faraway Prague and there to dig for a hidden treasure under a bridge that led to the palace of the king. He did not take the dream seriously but when it recurred four or five times he made up his mind to go in search of the treasure.

27 NOVEMBER 2011

Thankyou for attending the second AGM of St Mary’s Community Ltd. One of the major tasks of 2011 was to determine the membership of the Company.