We like to support and make mention of courses being held at other parishes.
For 4 weeks in the month of March the topic of Parenting will be discussed at St Ioannis Church in Parrammatta.
We have admittedly been a bit slack in posting this message to our readers, as the course started last week... but rest assured late comers are welcome!
Held on Tuesdays at 7pm - For more information, please visit St Ioannis site.
Our approach to Lent and Pascha has begun. Last year we had the 'Step by Step through Lent and Holy Week' course. This year we hope to blog some words as we together walk slowly towards the great Passion of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Every week is another step in this journey.
We begin with the Sunday of Zaccheus (Sun 17th Jan)
"Seek, search, want God - everything is dependent on this. No matter what the condition of your life, your circumstances, the context or what place...just desire God.
One cannot reach God with ones brain. That is impossible. One reaches God with ones desire. That is possible.
The place where ones desire is met, is in the Liturgy. In the liturgy ones thirst for God is quenched."
Yes it is nearly the end of January (can you believe it?!), but we hope that everyone had a good break.
For our first post of the year, and quite fitting, we have a contribution made by one of our parishioners. A reflection of maybe a new year a couple of years ago.
We invite anyone (you don't have to be a part of any "group") who wishes to contribute an experience, a story, a reflection, to feel free and email us at stgerasimosmail@yahoo.com.au with what you want to say. This is most assuredly a place where people can talk.
“What does the song ‘Hristos Anesti’ say and
mean?”
I remember my mother’s face when I asked her
this question.
I have been flicking through some old
keepsakes and I came across my best friend’s published testimony of her return
to her Catholic faith. I kept it because it was inspiring and looking back at
her story, I felt lucky (or should I say blessed) to have been a first hand
witness. It made me reminisce.
We were and remain interstate friends.
Finding we were both on a parallel path back to God, we constantly surprised
each other. Learning about the religions we were baptized into we had similar
discoveries, experiences, fears and confusion. We had no one else that we felt
we could talk to.
Thirty minutes was all I could spare (in
my busy twenty year old life!) to go to church for the Easter midnight service.
My annual effort had allowed me to work out that this was the right timing
needed to secure a good standing position outside the church.
How did I get to be on this journey
alongside my friend? Standing in my prime position spot, I heard what I know
now as the Easter sermon. I listened to the priest speak about Light, while he
himself shone. That was the last Easter service I would spend outside. I wanted
to spend it inside the Church here on.
My question to my mother that night had a
response of shock (as you can imagine!). It was assumed I had learned these
things a long time ago, although never having understood the language it was
spoken in.
I made a new year’s resolution that for
’06 I would try and go to church on Sundays. To the building that God
lived in. For no other reason other than – it just felt necessary.
The weekly sermon was the only thing I
could understand. I spent the rest of the time just looking at everything
around me. Just listening to the sounds. Thinking it was beautiful. But at the
same time I sat, bewildered and with ever-growing feelings of being left behind
from something amazing.
In the world we live in, there is a
common saying that ‘practice makes perfect’, ‘keep at something and
you’ll get it’ for all aspects of our lives. I was starting from scratch
and I knew that although I felt left behind, left out and that I had a lot of
catch up to do – my baby steps were ok. It was the only way I could walk.
It was during these Sunday church
services that I heard my first gospel reading. I stopped being scared and
bought a bible to start reading. Not knowing where to begin…I read it front
(and eventually) to back cover. I discovered what familiar words I heard meant.
I found out about the Trinity and the Holy Eucharist was revealed to me. I hid
many tears. It was also where I heard about a course given about “liturgy”.
Normally I would have run a mile or two,
in the other direction at even a suggestion to me like this course. I’d pull
out every excuse under the sun, to get out of breaking my regular (albeit lazy)
daily routine. I was anxious, stressed and nervous, but I went and found out
that I had been part of liturgy all along. It was for me: mind blowing.
At the course’s end, I left with the most
valuable book in my hands. ‘The Divine Liturgy’ that would now teach, carry and
inspire. A guide for all my new first times, within the church and outside its
walls. Most of all, it made me feel as a part of a mystery… I’m discovering to
be heaven on earth.
It meant the world to me to take my best friend
on a tour of my church, while she was in town for Christmas holidays. I was
able to share with her where my parallel journey led to and looked like. My
friend who inspired me to continue my baby steps, towards The Inspiration. To
the Heart of where I finally heard God knocking within the walls of my heart.
Where He had been all along.
