The Catholic Weekly 16 August 2020

9 16, August, 2020 catholicweekly.com.au Fundraising for NEW DIVINE MERCY CHURCH This will be a truly beautiful church and an important place of pilgrimage. As can be seen in the photos cladding of the wall is well underway. We ask for your financial and prayerful support, as a lot of work needs to be done on the inside in order to bring the Church to a stage where we can open it on 19 April 2020. Your generosity and support is greatly appreciated. May God bless you! - Fr Paul DONATION FORM I would like to support the work of building the new Divine Mercy Church with a one-off donation of:  $25  $50  $100  $250  $500  $1000 other $.................................. or  I authorise the Divine Mercy Church Building Fund to make automatic monthly deductions of $........................ from my credit card until further notice. Also, any bequests would be very gratefully accepted. Donations can also be made by Direct Transfer to: Bendigo Bank 633 108 Acc No. 158396895 Payment type:  Cash  Cheque/Money Order  Visa  MasterCard Card No: _________________________________________________ Expiry Date: _____________ Amount: $________________ Card Holder’s Name: ______________________________________ Signature: ________________________________________________ Title:____________________ Name: __________________________ Address: _________________________________________________ Postcode:________________ Phone: ( ) _________________ Email: ______________________________________________ Please send this form with your donation to: DIVINE MERCY CHURCH BUILDING FUND PO Box 8, Bullsbrook, Western Australia 6084. P: +61 (0) 8 9571 8068 Thanks to the generosity of donors good progress has been made on the Divine Mercy Church in Western Australia. Lower Chittering, WA DONATE ONLINE: www.divinemercychurchwa.com.au ly responsive to the crisis of faith in our community. Yet like those first disciples we wonder: “What can I really do about it?The problem is so great, my resources so small.” Jesus’ answer is very simple: start where you are, with what you’ve got, if only some bread and fish. Don’t worry if you don’t have the right degree, or billions of dollars, or political clout. You’ve got what it takes: a heart and hands, and God by your side. So now Jesus gives us a sec- ond direction: “Bring what you have toMe to multiply.” Be generous and leave the rest to God. What transforms our ordinary giving into works of divine charity is that God re- ceives our bread and fish, our time and talents, given in ser- vice to others andmakes them really fruitful. Finally, He says, “Now dis- tribute to the world.” Jesus’ disciples must offer their gifts become His words, His food, His life given for the multi- tude. Which brings us back to ecclesial gathering and sac- ramental proximity. Jesus doesn’t address the crowd virtually: no, He gathers them around Him. And He doesn’t send His miraculous gifts by drone: the disciples minister them in person. The gathering, offering, blessing, breaking, distribut- ing and collecting: it’s a pre- monition, of course, of the Eucharist. At His Last Sup- per Jesus will again congre- gate with His friends. He’ll wash their feet. John will re- cline at His breast. Jesus will offer themnot just thoughts or symbols but His own Body and Blood. He could not be more immediate, more inti- mate, than to give His sub- stance to ours. This is truly the God-who-comes-close. The Eucharist is, of course, a sharing in the one sacrifice of Calvary. Mother Mary, John and the holy women could have stayed home and prayed from the comfort of their lounge rooms; instead they stood by the cross and accom- panied to the tomb. And there at Easter they discovered what the Church has never tired of proclaiming: that “neither death nor life, angel or prince, nothing now or ever, no height or depth, no power or creature, nothing can come between us and the love of Godmade visible in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rom 8:35-9) Ours is a God-come-close religion, a come-close-to-God religion, sacramental, eccle- sial, up close and personal. “That which was from the be- ginning,” John said, “which we have heard” with our own ears, “seen with our own eyes… touched with our own hands — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” (1Jn 1:1) Because we are bodily, God became bodily. Because we are hungry, God became food. Because we are substantial, God lends His substance. No virtual reality, or spiritual feel- ing, or ghostly presence: God in the flesh, body-and-blood, for us to receive. Our pandemic-enforced retreat has highlighted that there’s more to life than keep- ing alive and affluent. Other things like family and friends, arts and entertainments, is- sues of justice or service, the worship of God – such things also matter very much. Our long fast, not for the Eucharist but from it, has shone a spotlight on our com- mon life and worship. Now we may better appreciate the personal connection the Mass occasions with our God and our fellows. Which is not to say that God’s grace can’t reach us if we’re not in His house! As St Paul makes so clear, nothing can come between us and the love of Christ. But if ever there were an example of a physi- cal proximity sort of guy it was Paul. He travelled far and wide to get close to others and bring them close to Christ. He preached the Word to them. He brought them to the waters of Holy Baptism, and to the satisfying Bread and priceless Wine of the Eucharist. Not just out of habit, or obligation, or warm feeling: but in response to the God-who-comes-close. Nothing but our own neglect can come between us and the love of Christ. Do we really need to re- turn toMass in person when it’s safe? “We’ll meet again, don’t knowwhere, don’t know when,” the late great Dame Vera Lynn sang and the Queen repeated. We’ll meet again, soon I hope, at the altar of God: let us never get used to not doing so! This is the edited text of the homily by Archbishop An- thony Fisher OP for Mass for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A, Livestreamed fromSt. Mary’s Basilica, Syd- ney, on 2 August 2020. Though Blessings, like messages, can be delivered virtually; sacraments require a physical presence, says Archbishop Fisher OP. PHOTO: CNS/TRAVIS MCAFEE,ARKANSAS CATHOLIC Because we are substantial, God lends His substance. No virtual reality, or spiritual feeling, or ghostly presence: God in the flesh, body- and-blood, for us to receive.” Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP Through physical realities bodily creatures like us are joined to spiritual realities like God. PHOTO: CNS/DAVE HRBACEK,THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT FROM THE ARCHBISHOP