Transcript
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Inauguration Mass
Prayer Tips
On a Lighter Note
Upcoming Events
Contact Details
GREETI NGS!
1st Issu
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Greetings
Catholic Mission
Voting for the Newsletter Name
School of the Word
INSIDE.. .
Ignite Conference
Fonda's Wedding
Silent Retreat
Working Bee
Archbishop's Canonical Visit
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Welcome to the first issue of our “Word Down Under” Newsletter for our Brisbane community! We are happy
to share with you all that we have lived and enjoyed here in the Brisbane. God has kept our community busy
in the last few months, finding many creative ways for us to collaborate with his urgent mission here in
Australia. We are very appreciative of all the members in our apostolate and the wider community that have
shown us their loving support in many ways from helping with our working bees and
preparation for our Inaugural Mass, and to working together in order to place as many
people as possible in personal contact with God. We also thoroughly enjoyed sharing the
Silent Retreat and School of the Word events. We hope you are inspired and filled with
hope as you read all about it!
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V e r b u m D e i M i s s i o n a r i e s ( F r o m l e f t t o r i g h t ) : G a b i , F r a n c e s & C l a u d i a
7 and 8
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Along with the Federal elections, the missionaries had their own set of voting….for the name of the Verbum Dei Brisbane Newsl etter. The
missionaries said, “We thank everyone for their creativity, collaboration and love towards brainstorming the Newsletter name! The Holy Spirit
inspired some very creative and wonderful names. We are sure it was difficult for everyone to vote for their preferred name!” Here are all the
suggestions:
Testify
Witness
The Messenger
The Word
Voice of Truth
God News
Pax
Shine
Inspire
The Spark
The Flying Dove
Voice of Hope
Grace
The Good Shepherd
Epistle
Expression
Freedom
Authentic Expression
True Light
Light
Be
Be and Live
Total Expression
Entrusted
Chesed (Hebrew for Love with
mercy)
Milah (Hebrew for Spoken
Word)
Spoken Word
Lived Word
Gather
Ahavah (Hebrew for Intimate
Love)
Illuminate
Empower
Seeking Peace
Finding Truth
Way to Eternity
True Happiness
Real Love
Freedom through Loving
Unending Love
Continuing Hope
Sowing the Seeds
The Sower
The Word Speaks
Planting The Word
Connect
Connected
The Vine
The word is alive
The lamb of God
The light in the darkness
The Word is Tangible
Tangible
Tangible WordTangible WordTangible Word
SEED
SALT
True Word
Word of Hope
Word of Truth
Enlighten
Saving Message
Living Word
Word Broken Open
Illumination
Heading North
Word Down UnderWord Down UnderWord Down Under
Word Down South
Word Around
Word Surround
Surrounding Word
Encompassing Word
The Family of God
Foundations
Corpus Christi
The Disciple ScrollThe Disciple ScrollThe Disciple Scroll
Dialogue with God
The Word Dialogued
Disciples
Intimacy with God
The Word Encountered
Encountering the Word
The winning name was WORD DOWN UNDER whereas the runners up were TANGIBLE WORD and THE DISCIPLE SCROLL
CATHOLIC MISSION This year the missionaries have continued to participate in giving their missionary testimonies throughout the Archdiocese of
Brisbane in order to help Catholic Mission fundraise for the different
projects that Catholic Mission is undertaking in Australia and around the
world. We have had the opportunity to meet many different people from
different parishes within the Archdiocese and to experience their
sensitivity to the suffering and needs of our brothers and sisters who are
less fortunate than us due to famine, injustice and ignorance. We
especially have the privilege of sharing our missionary experiences during
our time here in Queensland and the importance of being missionary in
every situation with our testimony of l ife and our openness to share our faith with the people that God places in our path.
VOTING FOR THE NEWSLETTER NAME
Gabi with Catholic Mission Ambassadors and Tamara after an appeal
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We have finished a ten week journey deepening on Christian Spirituality.
In this section we are going to stop and take a look back on what we have
learnt so far.
In the world around us we hear the word “spirituality” thrown around
often, as we heard in one of the talks, and it is quite common to hear people
say: “I am spiritual but not religious.” So today let us take a moment and
think: “What is Spirituality?”
There are various spiritualties within the Catholic Church which emphasise
different aspects about the life of Jesus. Furthermore, each spirituality
doesn’t just stop at emphasising an aspect but rather attends to ‘God’s will’
through that aspect, i.e. faithfulness to each spirituality is a way of living in
union with God and living out the Gospel. We looked at different aspects of
Jesus’ life and then saw how to live out these aspects in our life.
Week 1 We started with the Verbum Dei Spirituality which is a
combination of the contemplative and active aspects of Jesus’ life. We saw
that Jesus always spent time in prayer and lived in union with God the
Father and let the Holy Spirit guide everything that he did. However, he
also lived out his mission (the active part) by preaching the Word of God
wherever the Spirit led him (Luke 4:42-44, Luke 4:1-2). We were then
invited to live this out….
Week 2 We were invited to connect with the same Spirit who moved
Jesus to cure all the diseases around Him and to collaborate with
Jesus in the healing of the wounds of the world.
Jesus was able to cure any disease because He loved the people
regardless of their illness: “Great crowds came to him, having with them
the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed
them at his feet, and he cured them” (Matthew 15:30).
What kind of love is God inviting us to give so that we can “cure” the
realities of our brothers and sisters?
Week 3 In the third week we looked at the life of Christ as an itinerant
missionary. He was constantly on the move and it was the Holy Spirit that
guided his movement (Luke 4:42 “I must proclaim the good news of the
kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent”). As
his disciples we too need to be more itinerant (not busy) and be constantly
moving (internally) to become more Christ-like (Luke 4:42-44).
Week 4 One aspect of Jesus’ life that stands out was that he constantly
attracted crowds of people wherever he went. This is because he wasn’t just
a teacher but he also lived out what he taught. He made the kingdom of
God a reality by living in a personal relationship with God and with those
around him. Through the passage of the Samaritan woman Jesus taught us
that to connect with someone, we need to first be humble and open to
whatever they might have to offer to us and then to begin to share with
them our experience of the life giving water (i.e. God) and teach them how
to live in a relationship with him (John 4:1-26, Luke 17:20-21).
Thus through the theme of Christian Spirituality throughout the past
couple of months may we learn to live our life to the fullness (i.e. the life
that we were created for) by living in communion with God and our
neighbour. Let us turn our focus towards Jesus, not just looking at him and
admiring him but imitating him.
(*N.B. To continue reading the summary of the other weeks, please see our
webpage: www.verbumdeibrisbane.weebly.com).
(Lynn Nazareth)
SCHOOL OF THE WORD
CHRIST IAN SPIRITUALI TY (MAIN READINGS)
Week 1 : The person of Je sus: His active and contemplative
aspect (Prayer and Preaching) (Luke 4 :42 -44, Luke 4 :1 -2)
Week 2 : Jesus’ mission as the healer (John 9:1 -10)
Week 3 : Jesus an itinerant missionary (Luke 4 :42 -44)
Week 4 : Jesus the teacher (John 4:1 -26, Luke 17 :20 -21)
Week 5 : Jesus taught by questioning and challenging people
(Luke 15:1 -7)
Week 6 : Jesus Proclaimed the Kingdom with his te stimony
of Li f e and Words ( John 2:1-11 ; Mathew 5:1 -12; Romans
10:13 -15)
Week 7: Living in solidari ty with others (Luke 10:29-37)
Week 8 : Inviting others to live in solidarity (Exodus 3 :7 -
10; Deuteronomy 31:1 -8; Joshua 1:1 -8)
Week 9 : Human dignity (Luke 19:45 -46; John 2:13 -17.)
Week 10: Fullness of human dignity (Gen 37 :26 -28,
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The Call - Here I am Send Me was the theme for the Ignite
Conference, 2013.
My first Ignite Conference was everything I hoped it would be!!
The atmosphere was life giving and Christ centered.
During Ignite I was privileged to help the Verbum Dei
Missionaries at their stall where we evangelized by inviting
people to have a missionary experience! People could choose
from categories that made them think deeper on their
relationship with God and on how
they can share God’s love with others.
I enjoyed evangelizing with the missionaries and
learning that evangelizing is a vital part in God’s
mission – A mission that he calls us all to be
actively part of .
The Ignite conference opened my eyes to the love
that young teenagers have for God and I saw the
importance of nurturing and supporting young
teenagers and all people on their faith journey.
(Tamara Gillies)
IGNITE CONFERENCE
FONDA S WEDDING
Fonda married George at a beautiful ceremony in Newcastle on the 21st of September. To celebrate Fonda’s marriage
send off, the School of the Word members planned a special activity for her. This involved putting together a puzzle, as
a group, in the shape of a heart which contained the bible verse 1 C o r 1 3 : 4 - 8 . T h e s i g n i f i c a n c e of the activity
was that the foundation of marriage is unconditional love of which God is always the source. Also to remind them that
marriage is not just the union of two people but also families and the community at large. The School of the Word
members offer our heartiest congratulations to
Fonda and George on this joyous occasion and
support them with our prayers
so that they may be faithful and
have a happy and life-giving
marriage.
(Lynn Nazareth)
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Alainna, Millet & Tamara preparing materials for Ignite Participating in an activity Our table at the conference
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My experience began the day before the silent retreat: I was speaking with
a mentor of mine about a feeling of emptiness that had been really
bothering me in my life. I was feeling
terrible, so I wanted that gone, I believed it
reasonable for that feeling to be taken away
by God that very evening. However, my
mentor felt that, over the retreat, I needed
to have a 'wrestle' with God about this. So I
came to the silent retreat with a mission: I
wanted the things in my life dealt with, and
I was going to fight with God over it.
At first my prayer that came forth from the reflections at the retreat
seemed fruitful, but irrelevant to my problem. I let it be for a while before I
got impatient and tried to get God to deal with the struggles I had. I tried
to get God to speak into a memory I had that might have been part of the
feeling of emptiness. I found myself unable to focus on the memory, the
details were fuzzy and I was uncertain whether what I was remembering
was true. I got frustrated. I wanted this to be dealt with.
Through conversation with one of the Sisters guiding the retreat, and
through my prayer after that point, I was able to see that I had a real
problem with pride. I was trying to control God and get him to deal with
my struggles in the way I wanted them dealt with. Instead, I needed to be
surrendering to God and giving him control. I chose to surrender, and the
next day, God was able to lead me to something else that was in my life. I
felt asked to give it to him, and as soon as I did, I experienced a great
feeling of freedom, and some of the emptiness eased. The journey did not
end there, but the Silent Retreat was an important step along the way.
(Anthony Dyer)
SI
LENT
RETREAT
"When you search with all your heart for me …" (Jeremiah 29: 13)
I am so very grateful to the Verbum Dei sisters for the recent silent
retreat weekend held at their home in Bardon. It was the first silent
retreat I have participated in and I
dearly hope not the last.
The theme scripture for the retreat
was from Jeremiah 29:13-14, where the
Lord tells us, ‘If you seek me with all
your heart I will let you find me.’ As we
prayed with this and various others
scriptures, one message spoke to me
the strongest. This message was the reminder that we are children of
the living God! I am a child of God! I was also reminded that we find
Jesus when we seek with all our hearts; and not just our heads.
During the retreat I was made aware that Jesus reveals our authentic
identity and has the power to restore it – just as he healed many people
by acknowledging their dignity and changed their lives forever. These
were deeply healing messages for me. Such great gifts that we have been
given!
Life gets so busy and loud sometimes – it can seem like there is little
space for actively seeking out and listening to the Lord. As I
experienced throughout the retreat, listening requires discipline –
especially as there are so many voices surrounding us each day. Praying
with the word and dialoguing with the Lord is now how I desire to grow
truly closer to Jesus. Just as St Augustine said, we are restless until we
rest in the Lord. I encourage you this day to seek out the Lord in the
silence of your heart – wait on Him. He is waiting for you also.
(Teresa Gasparin)
"…I will le t you find. . ." ( Jeremiah 29: 14)
The Silent Retreat was held between 30th August to 1st September, 2013 and was the first retreat to be organised at the
Bardon house. Amidst the preparation for the retreat the missionaries prayed tirelessly for the house plumbing to get
fixed in time! The Retreat turned out to be an enriching spiritual and gastronomic experience. Shared below are
personal spiritual experiences of two young adults. (Glenissa Pereira)
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The missionaries would like to say a BIG thank you to all those who
generously gave up their time and energy to help prepare the house and garden for the
Inauguration Mass. We had a wonderful time working alongside each and every one of you, sharing your stories
and jokes and all your enthusiasm for building the Kingdom of God together as brothers and sisters in
Christ. Our garden and house are transforming day by day because of your generosity!
WORKING BEE
"I always enjoy helping the sisters out at their working bees. There is a
great sense of community and family which is hard to find when new to a
city and away from loved ones and seeing cute baby snakes when working in
the garden"
(Fonda Armagos)
Simon working in the garden
On the 12th of September the Archbishop did a canonical visit to our
house in Bardon with Fr Peter Brannelly and Fr Stanley (parish priests
of Jubilee Parish). He was given a tour of our house and garden and
inspected all the work that has already taken place and that is yet to be
done. We were encouraged by his support and especially
excited by his gift of an olive tree for our garden. Simon is hoping
to plant and take good care of it so that it will bear a lot of
fruit for many years.
( F r o m l e f t o r r i g h t ) : F r . S t a n l e y , M a e v e , F r a n c e s , A r c h b i s h o p
C o l e r i d g e , G a b i & F r . P e t e r
Anthony and Calem varnishing the trunk for the chapel.
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I
NAUG
URATION
MASS
In April, the Verbum Dei Missionaries moved into their new home, Bardon House, in Bardon. It is also their foundational centre in the
Archdiocese of Brisbane where they hope to draw many people to come to
encounter the Lord and experience his love and need for their life to
help carry out his mission of evangelization throughout the whole
world.
With the help of Fr. Peter Brannelly, the Jubilee parishioners, the disciples
and friends of the community and some family members, their Chapel in
their home was finally ready for the first Mass on October the 17th, 2013. The
Chapel and altar were first blessed by the Most Reverend Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane (pictured above), who presided at the Mass.
As part of the rite of blessing, some relics of saints, whether martyrs or not, may be placed in the altar. The rel ics that
were deposited in the altar of the Chapel were those of Saints Padre Pio, Therese of the Child Jesus, and three Carmelite
martyrs. The three Carmelite martyrs names are Pilar, Teresa and Angeles.
It was a joyous occasion for the missionaries, friends and family of the community and we were all glad to witness and be a part of the first Mass
celebrated at the community house. The Mass was followed by finger food and refreshments and beautiful piano music played by one of the
parishioners. The entire evening was indeed a blessed occasion!
The Sisters added, "We are very grateful to all those who attended the Mass, especially our fellow Verbum Dei missionary
sister Louise who came all the way from our Sydney community to celebrate with us."
(Millet Jimenez)
( F r o m l e f t t o r i g h t ) : L o u i s e , M a e v e , F r a n c e s , C l a u d i a & G a b i .
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Wednesdays,
6.30pm - 8pm at
41,The Drive, Bardon, 4065.
Fridays,
5.30pm - 7pm at
Penola Place,
St Stephen's Cathedral
School of the Word
or
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