Passion seminar
This week a number of our younger men gathered at Holy Cross to participate in a preaching seminar, from midday Tuesday to midday Thursday, led by Chris Monaghan and Brendan Connell. We are living in ‘new times’ and the challenge of communicating the message of the cross calls for creativity, biblical awareness and contemporary ways of ‘preaching’. St Paul reminded us that the message of the cross is illogical for those who are spiritually dead (1 Cor 18).

Our founder, Paul of the Cross famously claimed that the Passion of Jesus is the greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s love, and that it should fall like gentle rain on hardened hearts. That is a clue to its importance, but how that is communicated requires an awareness of modern learning, the nature and culture of the audience and their circumstances, and an openness to read the signs of the times, including how we can best communicate such a deep matter of faith to the people of different ages, cultures and faith perspectives

Happy Luna New Year!
On Wednesday we celebrated Luna New Year. It is more significant for Mike, in the
photo below, in the tent. In Vietnam it is a public holiday as it is for many other
countries in our Holy Cross wider connections. The tent was gifted to Mike by Chris.
They stayed outside and camped overnight in separate tents early in the week.
Below the tent photos is the A-team with mike in it. Brian took it before catching his
flight to PNG. We thank the A-team for making a comeback to 2025- even though
they never had a proper holiday. They were still turning up for emergencies and
other work over Christmas and New Years. Only God knows their generous hearts!
One of the A-team members referred to Mike as Crocodile Dundee because of his
hat. From now on he has been baptised as not Mike but Mick Dundee! He wears the
hat everyday of the week when going to ELSPM, Box Hill, because on his way back he
has to walk under the sun for at least 20min to catch the bus back to Holy Cross.

He was sent to bring good news….(3rd Sunday Year C)
There is a story told about a stranger who arrived in a village. He asked the chief if he could share with his people the good news about Jesus. Neither the chief nor the people had heard of this person Jesus, so they invited him to stay. Unfortunately soon afterwards the man fell seriously ill. He had barely shared anything about this good news before he died in the village.

Among his belongings, the villagers found a small book and one of them, a young and wise man named Kuma could read English. He read the title, “The Good News of Our Lord Jesus Christ”. They knew that this book must contain the news the man had wanted to share.
As they listened to the stories from the book, they became excited by the stories of compassion, mercy, forgiveness, justice and concern for the sick, the weak and the vulnerable.

Los Angeles Fires
Several of the buildings of the Passionist Mater Dolorosa Retreat Centre in Sierra Madre, Los Angeles has been was badly damaged by the raging Eaton fires and water damage caused trying to save them. The Centre Director, Fabin Barose CP said that “seeing the area filled with smoke and dust was devastating and heart-breaking,”. “The garage, apartment, and hermitage are fully burned down. The Seven Sorrows Garden, Paul of the Cross fountain, and Stations of the Cross have fire damage.
As we went into the main building, we found the De Loor Hall roof thoroughly shattered with water damage and several of the Center’s offices have been completely ruined. About 60 people were at the centre at the time of the evacuation, and everyone made it out safely. There was too much smoke and dust to check out other building on the property, including the community residence”.

Feast of Baptism of Jesus…Sunday 12th January I mentioned last week that in the Eastern church, the birth of Jesus, the Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus are celebrated as the one feast. This is to show the continuity between Jesus entering the world in Bethlehem, being recognized by all peoples through the Magi as the Messiah (Christ) and the initiation of Jesus into his ministry by being baptised in the Jordan river.

Jesus’ baptism highlighted that he was a true member of the human family. He shared their longings for liberation. Perhaps one aspect of this feast we might reflect on, is that no one becomes a commissioned follower of Jesus without having to grow and develop in his or her understanding of what this vocation means. Growth in faith was real for Jesus too. Jesus did not sit up in the manager and recite his ‘seven times’ tables. He had to learn like everyone else.

Feast of Epiphany
The Greek word επιφάνεια means ‘manifestation’. The feast of Epiphany on January 6th, was originally anticipated by a time of preparation (Advent) to before celebrating the visit of the wise men from the East. They are likely to have been astrologers and they found Jesus by using their own tradition – following a star. This is a bit sobering when we think how difficult it is for us to truly ‘find’ Jesus. The visit of the ‘wise men’ or Magi is only recorded in Matthew’s gospel so we won’t hear the story this year (in Year C when we hear from Luke).

Epiphany celebrated the manifestation of Jesus as universal Lord. The men from the East signified that people from ‘east and west’ had come to pay homage to Jesus, the ultimate revealer of God’s love and fellowship. So the period of advent began on December 17th and it was a festival period of prayers and activities celebrating Jesus’ arrival, rather than as it has become, a time of preparation while we wait for Jesus to arrive (at Christmas).

Nabil Antaki, aged 75 and a native of Aleppo, has chosen to practice medicine in Syria, no matter the cost. Founder of the Blue Marists association, he has devoted his life to supporting youth and the underprivileged, hoping to help rebuild Syria’s shattered society.
By Alix Champlon 
Nabil Antaki doesn’t want to be “naive.” The “moderate” rhetoric of the new Islamist authorities—who took control of Aleppo on November 30 and a week later hastened the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime—has so far been reassuring for Christian minorities. But this 75-year-old doctor, still practicing as a gastroenterologist at Aleppo’s Saint Louis Hospital, insists on waiting to “truly judge their actions” in Damascus.

End sacramental blackmail and neo-clericalism
From 11th September 2012
This report is twelve years old, when Pope Francis was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The Bishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, has used strong language to criticise priests who refuse to baptise children born to single mothers. Almost apologising for the actions of some priests, Bergoglio recalled the story of a young unmarried mother who had the courage to bring her child into the world and who then “found herself on a pilgrimage, going from parish to parish, trying to find someone who would baptise her child.”
Vatican Insider reports that in his homily at the end of a Buenos Aires convention on urban pastoral care, Bergoglio called for an end to “sacramental blackmail” saying that “hijacking” of the sacraments is an expression of rigorous and hypocritical neo-clericalism.

This week we begin with a brief explanation of the third Sunday of Advent.
Source: Father Hanly, https://fatherhanly.com/journey-with-father/3rd-sunday-of-advent-year-c/
[Thirds Sunday of Advent] is “Gaudete” Sunday. The
word means “rejoice.” But it means more than just
rejoice, it means to jump and dance, clapping your
hands and stamping your feet with wild abandon.
“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” so
says St. Paul to his people, the people of Philippi.
Why? Because the Lord is nigh, the Lord is near, he is at
our very door… and so is Christmas, too.
… You also might have noticed that the pink coloured
candle in the Advent wreath is all lit up. This custom
goes back to the 7th century and it is telling us to get
ready for “the coming of the Lord,” the birth of the
Child.
Why the colour “pink”, why not silver or
gold?

Let’s begin this week’s letter with Mike’s story:
My full name is Nguyễn Huy
Tuyên ( Mike). I was born on April
20, 1987, at Xuan son ward, Do
Luong district, Nghe An province,
the middle of Viet Nam. There are
four seasons. This is a favorable
condition for socio-economic
development in general and
tourism in particular. The best
time to visit Nghe An Province is
none other than the summer.
People flock to Cua Lo Beach to
soak up some sun and hit the
beaches. The temperatures
usually run from 30°C, sometimes
hit more than 40°C and there's
very little rainfall. But it will be
cooler near the sea as the waves
will wash away the hot in your
body.