Our bulletin is sponsored by the Diocesan Investment Fund (DIF) currently paying 2.15% at call. Local Agent: Roberts, First National Real Estate, 10 Bowra Street, Nambucca Heads

WEEKEND’S READINGS — 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR B

Next Week’s Readings: 4th Sunday of Advent Yr B

2 Sam 7:1-5, 8-12, 14,16; Rom 16:25-27; Lk 1:26-38

FOLLOWING THE MISSAL Preface of Advent III Eucharistic Prayer II

Gospel Jn 1:6-8. 19-28 A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, as a witness to speak for the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, only a witness to speak for the light. This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he de-clared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked, ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not,’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about your-self?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied: a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord.’ Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

First Reading Is 61:1-2. 10-11 The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord. ‘I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity, like a bridegroom wearing his wreath, like a bride adorned in her jewels. ‘For as the earth makes fresh things grow, as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord make both integrity and praise spring up in the sight of the nations.’

Responsorial Psalm Lk 1:46-50. 53-54. R. Is 61:10 (R.) My soul rejoices in my God. 1. My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour. He looks on his servant in her nothingness; henceforth all ages will call me blessed. (R.)

2. The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy his name! His mercy is from age to age, on those who fear him. (R.)

3. He fills the starving with good things, sends the rich away empty. He protects Israel, his servant, remembering his mercy. (R.)

Second Reading 1 Thes 5:16-24 Be happy at all times; pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus. Never try to suppress the Spirit or treat the gift of prophecy with contempt; think before you do any-thing – hold on to what is good and avoid every form of evil. May the God of peace make you perfect and holy; and may you all be kept safe and blameless, spirit, soul and body, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has called you and he will not fail you.

Gospel Acclamation Is 61:1 (Lk 4:18) Alleluia, alleluia! The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he sent me to bring Good News to the poor. Alleluia!

Catholic Parish of the Nambucca Valley *Corpus Christi, Bowraville *St Patrick’s, Macksville *Our Lady Star of the Sea, Nambucca Heads *Christ the King, Taylor’s Arm

Administrator: Fr Shelwin Fernandez

Parish Secretary: Mrs Angela Argent

Parish Office: Postal Address: PO Box 38, Macksville 2447 Street Address: 78 Wallace Street, Macksville Telephone: 6568 1107 Fax: 6568 3671 Email: nvparish@lismore.catholic.org.au

Urgent Matters: 0481 277 532

Office Hours Monday & Tuesday 8.30am to 2.30 pm Thursday 8.30am to 3.30 pm

Nambucca Presbytery:

Telephone: 6568 6642 Parish Schools:

St Patrick’s Primary School—Macksville 32 Macksville Heights Drive, Macksville Phone: 02 6568 1397

St Mary’s Primary School —Bowraville Carbin Street, Bowraville

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT—YEAR B 17TH DECEMBER 2017

Welcome everyone! Especially to the new members of our parish and to our visitors from near and far.

Reaffirming God’s promise In our technological world today, most people are familiar with codes. When we go online to see our emails or down-load a program, we use a password to gain access. We may be told the password must contain a mixture of num-bers and letters, both small and capital. We are told the combination is necessary to make it more difficult for oth-ers to hack into our computers. Our passwords are a form of code.

People in the bible also speak in code. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus speaks about a mysterious evil figure with the unin-telligible name “the desolating sacrilege.” We don’t really know what this expression means, but people did in Jesus’ time. Mark 13:14 reads: “When you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not be (let the reader un-derstand) ...”. There are other places in the scriptures where numbers and animals have symbolic meanings that we do not always comprehend.

In today’s gospel, John the Baptist speaks in code. When John says he is not the Christ, the Jewish leaders put a se-ries of questions to him about his identity: Is he Elijah or the prophet? He answers these by saying “I am not.” When he does answer, he uses those well-known words from the prophet Isaiah: “I am a voice that cries in the wil-derness: prepare a way for the Lord.” Here he is speaking in a kind of code.

Why does the gospel use these words? Why does John quote from the prophet Isaiah? The reasons are not im-mediately clear to us, but people back then would have understood what he meant. Those words from Isaiah were written more than 500 years before Jesus. They were ad-dressed to a group of Jewish people who were exiled from their homeland and living as captives in a foreign land.

Isaiah spoke as a messenger from God, and was telling them that God was about to intervene in their world, for-give them their sin, free them from captivity and bring them back to their homeland. Isaiah presented a vision of a wonderful future which would be blessed by God.

However, when they eventually returned, the reality did not live up to the vision. They returned to conflict and were still captive, as their land was occupied by a foreign power. Despite this, the people still clung to the idea that at some point in the future, God would again intervene, and this time they would be free and live as a people blessed by God.

John the Baptist uses the words from Isaiah to tell the people that God was about to intervene by sending Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus would free them from sin and bring about the wonderful future promised by God through Isai-ah those 500 or so years earlier.—John Hill CSsR

ADVENT PRAYER—THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Thank you God for the joy you give us. We ask that as we wait

for all your promises to come true, and for Christ to come

again, that you would remain present with us. Help us today, and everyday to worship you, to

hear your word, and to do your will by sharing your joy with each other. We ask this in the

name of the one who was born in Bethlehem. Amen.

Parish Diary

Tuesday 19TH DECEMBER

5:00 pm Reconciliation, Macksville 5:30 pm Mass, Macksville

Wednesday 20TH DECEMBER

9:00 am Rosary, Bowraville 9:30 am Anointing Mass, Bowraville

Thursday 21ST DECEMBER

9:30 am Mass, Macksville 6:30 pm 2nd Rite of Reconciliation, Nambucca Heads

Friday 22ND DECEMBER

9:00 am Mass + Benediction, Nambucca

Saturday 23RD DECEMBER

5:30 pm Reconciliation, Nambucca 6:00 pm Mass, Nambucca Heads

Sunday 24TH DECEMBER

CHRISTMAS EVE

8:00 am Mass, Macksville 10:00 am Mass, Taylors Arm

4:00 pm Christmas Eve Mass, Macksville

6:00 pm Christmas Eve Mass, Nambucca Heads

MONDAY 25TH DECEMBER CHRISTMAS DAY

8:00 am Mass, Macksville 10:00 am Mass, Bowraville

Min

23rd DECEMBER

Nambucca Heads

6:00 PM

Macksville 8:00 AM

Commentator W Bolton J Miles

Reader M Smith S Allan

Extra-ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

J Ingold, D Nicholls,

P McShane J Hasson, N Latham,

M Schuppe

Procession of Gifts J & L Smith B & J Costa

Greeters/Hospitality Betty/ Melina J Cowin, K Flippence

Altar Servers T & T Nguyen A Quinn, W Butler

S Costa

Sacristan M Tait M Henry

Counters J & M Harris (27 Dec)

Church Caring * I Dallas * I Dallas

FEAST DAY OF THE WEEK –– St Olympias (December 17)

Olympias was born into a wealthy, noble, Constantinople family. She was orphaned when a child and was given over to the care of Theodosia by her uncle, the prefect Procopius. She married Nebridius, also a pre-fect, was widowed soon after, refused several offers of marriage, and had her fortune put in trust until she was thirty by Emperor Theodosius when she also re-fused his choice for a husband. When he restored her estate in 391, she was consecrated deaconess and with several other ladies founded a community.

She established a hospital and an orphanage, gave shelter to the expelled monks of Nitria, and was a firm supporter of St John Chrysostom when he was ex-pelled in 404 from Constantinople and refused to ac-cept the usurper Arsacius as Patriarch. She was fined by the prefect, Optatus, for refusing to accept Ar-sacius, and Arsacius' successor, Atticus, disbanded her community and ended her charitable works. She spent the last years of her life beset by illness and per-secution but comforted by Chrysostom from his place of exile. She died in exile in Nicomedia on July 25, less than a year after the death of Chrysostom.

PREGNANCY HELP TRAINING Volunteer Counsellors are needed for the Pregnancy Assistance line in NSW. Training will be provided in the new year. Phone Carmel for further information at 9730 0258

Sharing my ACYF experi-ence!

On the 6th of December, over four hun-dred staff and students from the Lismore Diocese trav-elled to Syd-

ney to attend the third Australian Catholic Youth Festi-val, held at Sydney Olympic Park. We were among nine-teen thousand other young people at the Festival for 3 days, as well as other members of the public for the final Mass in the Domain.

On the first day, I was quite moved seeing all the young people from all across Australia praising God in songs at Qudos Bank Arena. It was beautiful to see so many young Australians 'on fire' for God, participating in the many talks, workshops and activities offered at ACYF.

One of my highlights included the pilgrimage from Mary MacKillop's Shrine to the Domain on the last day of the festival, in which my group joined with a group of MGL brothers, and sung Christian songs as we walked the streets of Sydney. Other highlights included singing along with Matt Maher and Fr Rob Galea, the morning and evening Plenary sessions, and bonding with the rest of the Lismore Diocese staff and students. The next ACYF will be held in Perth in 2019, and I can't wait to attend again! - Evronia Allan

WE PRAY FOR OUR COMMUNITY...

Lord we ask healing for those who are sick. We thank you for those who have recovered. We pray for all who have died and those whose anniversaries occur at this time.

** Mass intention envelopes are located at the back of the church **

SICK: Ron Cook, Ernie Thorne, David Rolfe, Robyn Ryan, Paul Gan, Jenny Guff, Pam Halls, Jim Rogers, Dean Buchanan, David Coleman, Judy Finnelley, Lor-raine Cook, John Brown, Peter Murphy, Marie Dalton, Bill Steller, Al McCabe, Baby Lucy Clark

ANNIVERSARY: Mona Waters, John Clough, Kathy Schuppe, Laurel Schuppe, Ann Cardwell, Fr. Jeremiah Dineen, Katherine Ryan, Gregory Jones, Rita Nicholls, Daniel Lawson, Fr John Durkin, Fr Jim Reilly, David Dalton, Rex Tarlinton, Val Ryan, Reg Darlington, Kevin Cassin, Dorrie Clough, Harry Clough, Brian Scott

RECENTLY DECEASED: Sister Clement, Len Elliot, April Pritchard, Anthony Robert McShane, Anne Egan

SPECIAL INTENTION: For the repose souls of Rex Tape, Rodney Simpson, Marie Rixon, Patrick Fuller, Cameron Townley, Marty Howle, Leo & Leanne Hillery

If you wish us to visit any family members who are in hospital or infirm, please notify the office so the Pastoral Care team or Father can arrange a visit and or administer the sacrament for the sick.

BAPTISM THIS WEEKEND…

We welcome Jordaine Lily Testor into our faith community through the sacra-ment of Baptism this weekend at St. Patrick’s Church, Macksville.

Let us pray for Jordaine Lily and the Testor family. May God guide them every step of the way with His wisdom and grace.

Ministry Roster — 23rd, 24th & 25th December 2017

Macksville 8:00 AM

Taylors Arm

10:00 AM

Macksville 4:00 PM

Nambucca Heads 6:00 PM

Macksville 8:00 AM

Bowraville 10:00 AM

J Miles H Spear Z White M Harris J Thorne

S Allan J Desmond S Allan P Baker E Bonett

J Hasson, N Latham,

M Schuppe

I Allan S Bolton J Hasson

B & J Costa Youth Volunteers Volunteers please C Cresswell

J Cowin, K Flippence Youth Volunteers Betty / Melina Volunteers please

A Quinn, W Butler

S Costa

Courtney, Jack & Brooke Desmond

Volunteers please Volunteers please Volunteers please

M Henry M Henry M Henry

* I Dallas * I Dallas

Nambucca Heads Christmas Raffle — tickets on sale now. Draw on 24th December after Christmas Eve Mass.

St. Pats 3Cs Christmas Raffle on sale before and after Macksville Mass until draw date on 17th December.

Please support our raffle! Buy your tickets now! Thank you.

24th DECEMBER 25th DECEMBER

NO OFFICE FROM 22ND DECEMBER UNTIL 8TH JANUARY 2018 .

OFFICE TO RESUME ON THE 9TH OF JANUARY.

VOLUNTEERS PLEASE!

Don’t forget to vol-unteer for the

different ministries for the Christmas

masses—sheets at the back of the

church.

It's that time of year again when we are appealing to you for your kind donations to assist many needy people in our valley. You will notice the enve-lopes in the church also a basket at the back of the churches. We appreciate

any donation either money in the envelopes and/or non perishable food and unwrapped toys in the basket. In the past you have been very kind and this has allowed us to help many families who would otherwise not have extra food and gifts at this time. We are looking to as-sist up to 60 families this Christmas.

Thank you in anticipation,

Mary Henry, President St Patrick's Conference.