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Our Lady of Fatima Church, White City
Church Schedule
Masses
Private/Individual Prayer only
Wednesday: 10am – 11.50 am; Fri 10.15-11am; 5-6pm; Sat 10-11am
Monday: 9:15am
Tuesday: 9.15am
Wednesday: 7:30am & 12pm
Thursday: 09:15am
Friday: 9.15am & 6pm
Saturday: 9.15am & 6.00pm
Sunday: 9am, 11am (also livestreamed) & 6pm
Parish Message
9th February 2025
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – God calls us to new horizons
There is a strong parallel between today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel from the 5th chapter of Luke. In both we see an ordinary man experiencing the power/presence of God (Isaiah in the Temple/Peter in his fishing boat). Both men’s instant response is to be painfully aware, in the light of this holiness, of their own sinfulness and unworthiness – “Leave me Lord; I am a sinful man” as Peter says. But God’s response in both cases is to pick both men up from their knees, and invite them to share in His mission to heal and save others.
What can we learn from Isaiah & Peter’s experience? Both men ask God to leave them because of the shame & sorrow they carry from their past. Happily, Jesus does not take Peter’s advice to put distance between himself and sinners. Jesus has not come to be a hermit with an unreachable address in the desert! Rather, his whole mission moves in the opposite direction – he travels into people’s lives, not away from them. He entertains sinners, visits their homes & families, eats at their table, listens to their stories, and calls them to a new way of life. Throughout his life Jesus is never far away from sinners. And on the cross he will die between two of them, giving his life to save and free us.
Jesus wants Peter to share this saving mission with him, so he calls Peter away from his fixation with his own sinfulness and preoccupation with himself. Peter has acknowledged his own unworthiness – that is enough. Jesus now presents Peter with a new image of himself – as a leader chosen to help others know this same forgiveness and to bring them back to God. We are not defined by our sins/weaknesses – when God looks at each of us he sees our future, not just our past. Sinfulness is not a barrier to keep God out. No, it reveals a real need for God to come in. Peter is the first person in Luke’s Gospel to openly confess his sinfulness; he is also the first to be called. If we too can stand in all honesty before God, he can also open for us a whole new horizon.
With prayers & blessings - Fr Richard, Fr Ephrem & all the parish team
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“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”
St. Maximillian Kolbe