67-77 Exford Road, Melton South 3338 P .O. Box 2152 Ph: 9747 9692, Fax: 9746 0422 Email: meltonsouth@cam.org.au Parish Homepage: stanthonysmeltonsouth.wordpress.com (includes Padua News) Office Hours: Mon, Wed, Thurs, Friday. 9.00am-12.30pm & 1.15pm –4.00pm

Responsorial Psalm: 97

Comm: The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

All: The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders. His right hand and his holy arm have brought salvation.

The Lord has made known his salvation; has shown his justice to the nations. He has remembered his truth and love for the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout to the Lord all the earth,

ring out your joy.

All: The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

Gospel Acclamation Alleluia, alleluia! All who love me will keep my words, and my Father will love them and we will come to them.

Alleluia!

ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE—MASS

COUNTS

Parishioners and visitors to our Parish please

note, to maintain an up-to-date picture of

Mass attendance in the Archdiocese a mass

count will be held at all weekend Masses in

May.

Parish Priest: Fr Fabian Antony Smith Assistant Priests: Fr John Paul Mount and Fr Patrick Bradford Parish Secretary: Lesley Morffew Assistant Parish Secretary: Judy Johnson St Anthony’s School Principal: Mr Damien Schuster

ST. ANTHONY’S PARISH PRIMARY SCHOOL

Wilson Road, Melton South 3338 Phone: 9743 1401 Email: principal@sameltonsth.catholic.edu.au Website: www.sameltonsth.catholic.edu.au Catholic Regional College - Melton (Years 7-12) Principal: Mr Mark Sheehan Contact: 8099 6000

MASS & DEVOTION TIMES THIS WEEK

Monday : No Mass

Tuesday morning: 9.15am Mass CRC Back to Parish All Welcome Tuesday evening: 6.30pm Mass Wednesday morning: 9.15am Mass Thursday morning: 9.15am Mass Friday morning: 9.15am Mass Saturday Vigil Mass: 5.30pm Mass Sunday : 8.30am Mass 10.30am Mass Saturday

Individual Reconciliation : 4.45pm

PARISH OFFICE HOURS - THIS WEEK

Monday 9am—4pm Tuesday 12noon—4pm Wednesday 9am—4pm Thursday 9am—4pm Friday 9am—4pm

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL Sue Alexander 0400 171 843 Naim Chdid 0437 004 790 Lillian Christian 0400 441 257 Stephen Fernandes 0439 743 533 Amy Honrade 03 9747 0078 Natalie Howard 0410 478 046 Rose Ma’ae 0431 386 473 Marthese Mercieca 0421 378 691

CHILD SAFETY Coordinator: Godwin Barton 0425 734 449 Officers: Aloysious Dacunha, Karina Dunne & Lorraine Tellis

Ex-Officio: Fr Fabian Smith PP Fr John Paul Mount Fr Patrick Bradford Damien Schuster Council Secretary: Judy Johnson

6th Sunday of Easter 6th May 2018 Year B

WORSHIP QUADRANT NEWS NEXT WEEK - 12th & 13th May The Ascension of the Lord Readers Special Ministers 5.30pm Liza Fernandes Ann Tennakoon (P) Philip Anyayahan 8.30am Amy Honrade Ineke Allen (P), Denise Van Rooyen & Edwina LaRose 10.30am Faustina Ma’ae Doris Bonello (P) George Bonello

Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Eph 4:1-13 Mk 16:15-20

MASS COORDINATORS: 12th & 13th May 5.30pm Godwin Barton & Dolores Turcsan 8.30am Godwin Barton & Lina Calleja 10.30am Godwin Barton & Ken Dumandan

PIETY STALL VOLUNTEERS FOR NEXT WEEKEND 12th & 13th May

5.30pm: Lorraine Tellis 8.30am: Ineke Allen 10.30am: Imalsha Silva

CLEANING ROSTER : Thursday: Lorelle Porter Volunteers would be appreciated as well.

FAITH FORMATION QUADRANT BAPTISM Baptism Preparation Meeting: 6.30-7.45pm in the Church Thursday 24th May for Baptisms 3rd and the 17th June. See details on Parish Homepage as listed on front page and download forms. Forms are also available from the Parish Office or from the Sacristy after Mass from Father. Both parents are required to attend these meetings. We kindly request adults only please. Contact Father Fabian, Father John Paul, Father Patrick or the

Parish Office for queries.

Adult Preparation for the Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist or Confirmation through the

R.C.I.A. Program. See Fr Fabian, Fr John Paul or Fr Patrick.

DIVINE MERCY 1st Sunday of the Month at 3pm.

FATIMA STATUE These families are praying together for the mission of the Parish. Group 1: Richard & Rosabella Tuala 0422 390 617 Group 2: Gavin & Alison Pereira 0423 960 538 ANNUAL WORD AMONG US SUBSCRIPTIONS If you would like to subscribe or continue to subscribe to receiving Word Among Us daily meditations for another

year, please give your name, contact number and $50 to Fr John Paul. Thank you Word Among Us is a booklet of daily mediations that is delivered monthly to the parish for pick-up by those who

subscribe.

CUPPA WITH MARY/MARY’S GROUP

“Cuppa with Mary” begins on the Monday and Tuesday, May 7, 8; “Mary’s Group” (Scripture) will begin on Monday, May 21, at 10.30am. Both Groups will meet at 28 Bridgeford Cres, Melton South. If interested in attending please contact Sr Therese Dagge RSJ on 0418 480 880.

JOSEPHITE ASSOCIATES A group of Josephite Associates, is being formed at Melton. For anyone interested in investigating what this means, an application form can be obtained from Sr Mary Fermio Ph 5367 2078. The five meetings for the Introductory program will be held in the Meeting Room at St Dominic’s Presbytery at 10.30 am on the Second Tuesday of each month beginning on 8th May. You are welcome to attend the first meeting to see what being an Associate means. Sr Mary Fermio rsj, Co-ordinator for Victoria and who lives at Bacchus Marsh, will conduct the

program for new Associates.

ALL VOLUNTEERS IN OUR PARISH MUST HAVE A CURRENT WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK

PASTORAL CARE QUADRANT

We pray for the death anniversary at this time of: Karen Austin, Annie Fernandes, W M Campbell, Walter German, George Mercieca, Georgia Mercieca, Paul Spiteri, Lawrence Tanti (Junior ) & Frank Xiberras

Please pray for the Sick: Nickolia & Klara Butkovic, Jean Barnett, Charlie Spiteri, Zac Edmond, Judy Layton, Catherine Roberts, Peter Roberts, Clint Abela Wadge, John Osborne, Veronica Michael, Peter Manicaro, Wanda Nowak, Pat Roberts, Maria Caruana, John Xuereb, Irene Rahilly and all those who have

requested our prayers.

SERVICE / COMMUNITY QUADRANT

ST ANTHONY’S BINGO

We have 3 sessions per evening with a cost of $9 a set (45 games). Finish time is 9.45pm. Bingo supports our Parish financially so come and have a great social evening with your fellow parishioners. Coffee and tea are provided

and there are canteen services available. Remember you have to be in it to win it!

INTERNATIONAL FOOD DAY 20th MAY Padua Hall 11.30am-3.00pm Come join your fellow parishioners for an International Food Fest whilst being entertained by Samoan dancers plus music to your ears by Tony and Holly . Be enticed by Cuisine from India, Malta, Philippines, Australia and Samoa.$2.00 tokens can be purchased at the door on entrance. Food on sale from $2.00 to $6.00. Drinks also available. Thanking you in advance for your support. We very much look forward to seeing you there.

THANK YOU—MEAT TASTING VOLUNTEERS

The Fund Raising Committee would like to thank all the Meat Tasting Volunteers for their participation. $2000.00 was presented to the Parish. A big thank you to Anthea & John Scerri and Lillian Christian for organising the event. Thank you to all our 120 tasters, their families and friends who travelled near and far to give

of their time so generously . The proceeds will go towards the extension of the Church .

THANK YOU— MALTESE COMMUNITY The Fund Raising Committee would like to thank the Maltese Community for raising $203.60. A big thank you to

Doris Bonello and the Community; and special thanks to all who supported. The proceeds will go towards the extension of the Church.

NEWS FROM THE PARISH OFFICE

ANOINTING MASS - 23rd MAY We will be having an Anointing of the sick and elderly Mass on Wednesday 23rd May at 11am. A light luncheon will be served after Mass at the back of the Church. Please feel free to bring along friends and relatives who

would like to receive the anointing. There is a clipboard at the back of the Church for catering purposes.

THANKSGIVING ENVELOPE No. 112

Could the Parishioner who has Thanksgiving envelope No.112 please contact the Parish Office. Thank you.

DATES TO REMEMBER

ZUMBA EVERY WEEK

Monday Zumba from 6.00-7.00pm. Wednesday Zumba from 7pm to 8pm & Saturday boxing class from 8am to 9am in Padua Hall. Call Epi 0410 416 445 8th May Week eight of the Novena to St Anthony 13th May Mother’s Day 20th May International Food Day 11.30am—2.30pm 23rd May Anointing Mass 11.00am 10th June Volunteers lunch—Save the date

His only Son (1) I don’t know if you remember what I said in the

second of these pieces about the Credo. You may

not; after all, it was a long time ago.

So, let me remind you that we were talking,

then, about believing in God; about how some

people, when they are in great distress of mind or

when, unhappily, they have fallen into sin, try to

forget about God; and about how God won’t let

them forget him, because everything in his

creation goes on shouting out to them, “No, God

exists”. And it made us think of that impressive

scene in the third chapter of Genesis, where

Adam and Eve, after they have fallen into the sin

of disobedience, try to hide themselves from the

presence of God, among the trees of the garden.

And of course, that doesn’t work. It isn’t long

before they hear the voice of the Lord God calling

out: “Adam, where art thou?”

You see, we are God’s children; and he does

for us what grown-up people do for children: he

plays hide-and-seek with us. That story in Genesis

only gives us a kind of fancy picture, I suppose, of

what really happened; because God is every-

where and sees everything. He doesn’t really

have to go about hunting for people among the

bushes, as you and I do when people hide them-

selves. But using that story was the best way for

us to understand what happened after man fell;

this fancy picture which the Bible has given us of

eternal God treating us as grown-up people treat

children, playing a game of hide-and-seek.

Well, you don’t need to be reminded what

happens at hide-and-seek when the person who

has hidden has been found. It’s the turn of the

other person, the person who was seeking before

to hide this time. And God is so awfully good to

us that he keeps to the rules of the game. Man

had tried to hide from God, and God had found

him. And now God hid from man, and man had

got to try and find him.

How was it that God hid himself? He came

and hid himself as a little Child, lying on his

Mother’s breast in a dark cave, in a very unimpor-

tant little town called Bethlehem, somewhere in

Judea.

That was a pretty good way to hide, wasn’t it?

And, of course, we men and women are awfully

stupid compared with God. So, for fear we should

be too stupid to find him, he did what grown-up

people do on such occasions: he gave himself

away: gave us hints all over the place. That was

what the prophets were for.

“Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a

Son. … And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Juda,

art not the least among the cities of Juda. … The

ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s

crib. … A branch shall come up from the root of

Jesse” (Jesse was the father of King David) “and

thus a flower shall spring from that root”.

Hints like that made us prepared to go and

look for a child, born of David’s family, at Beth-

lehem. “Go on,” said the prophets, “you’re getting

warm.” And then a star appeared to the Wise

Men in the East, and that was better still. “Go

on,” said the star, “you’re getting warmer.” And

then an angel appeared to the shepherds, and

told them about a child lying in a manger, and

that made it too easy for words. “Go on,” said the

angel, “you’re getting boiling hot now.” And so

the secret was given away; stupid as we were, we

could hardly fail to find out where God was hiding

after that.

Well, what did God do all that for? In the first

place because he wanted to reveal himself;

because he wanted to tell us more about himself

than we should ever have been able to guess by

the use of our unaided reason.

But, remember, there was another purpose he

had in view as well. Man had sinned; he had been

shut out of Paradise, and he would never find his

way back to Paradise again unless atonement

was made for his sin. When I say that, I am not

being quite accurate. It was not, in the strict

sense, necessary that atonement be made; God

could have said: :Very well, if you will say you are

sorry, I will forgive you.” But he preferred not to

do it like that; he preferred that atonement be

made in full.

You know how it is when you have done

something unkind to somebody you are really

very fond of; you don’t want merely to go and say

you’re sorry, you want to do something to make

up for it. You’ve got into a temper with your mum

and called her names; and so you wait till she

isn’t looking, and go out and feed the hens to

save her trouble, or you buy her a mug. You do

something to make up for the beastly way you

treated her. That is what atonement means. And

God decided that the sins of mankind should be

not merely forgiven, but atoned for; something

should be done to make up for them. And that, if

you come to think of it, wasn’t easy.

2018 the Year of Youth: The Creed in Slow Motion XIII

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