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MASS TIMES FOR NEXT WEEK-END
Saturday (Vigil) 22.05.2021
Rainbow Beach 6.00 pm
Sunday 23.05.2021
Tin Can Bay 7.00am
Gympie 9.00 am
Gympie 5.30 pm
(The Rosary will be said 8.30 am before Mass each Sunday)
Liturgy of the Word & Holy Communion
Gunalda 7.00 am

MASS TIMES DURING THE WEEK: 17-21.05.2021
Monday 7.00 am
Tuesday 9.00 am 30 minute adoration and
benediction after mass.
Wednesday 5.30 pm combined with evening Prayer
Thursday 9.30am Healing Mass
Friday 5.30pm
NEXT SUNDAY’S READINGS:
First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
Second Reading: Galatians 5:16-25
Gospel John 15:26-27, 16:12-15
PRAYERS FOR THE SICK Your prayers are asked for Lillian Rouse, Pat Carroll, Carolyn Gargan, Laurie Walsh husband of Eileen, Moya Robertson, Ronell Asher, Mark Thompson, Bret Argar, Maree Walker, Brian Langton, John McCabe, Baby Ivy Adele, Maree Friswell, Gerri & Colin Willison, Basil Garner, Leon Garner, Peter Nicholls, Peter & Marie Corfield, Billy Balkin, Joanne Dodt, Mary Merrin, Joe Costello.
Lord Jesus, who went about doing good and healing all, we ask You to bless Your friends who are sick. Give them the strength in body, courage in spirit, and patience in pain. Let them recover their health, so that, restored to the parish community, they may joyfully praise Your Name, for You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
THE DECEASED: Let us remember in our prayers those loved ones who are recently deceased especially Robert Eyears, Pat Gibney, Robert Hoffman & Pauline Plunkett (sister of Marie Bochow), Marie Trease and those whose anniversaries fall around this time especially Werner Liedel (3rd anniversary).
Reminder: to all those who require gluten free hosts to please notify priest prior to Mass beginning. Thank you
Hearing Loop in St Pat’s. For those who are wearing hearing aids, the hearing loop is situated in the middle of the church to the columns on the outer. You will need to turn your hearing aid to T.

LITURGY ROSTER for weekend: 16.05.2021
Welcomers:
9.00 am D Liedel
5.30 pm H Lunn
Ministers of the Word:
9.00 am S O’Brien, N Gambling,
5.30 pm S Lunn, M Newton, T Hallam
Communion Minister:
9.00am I Laherty
5.30pm B Doak
LITURGY ROSTER for weekend: 23.05.2021
Welcomers:
9.00 am P. Tobin
5.30 pm A. Eames
Ministers of the Word:
9.00 am I. Laherty, D. Dillon, S. O’Brien
5.30 pm M. Norris, M Hillcoat, M. Rush
Communion Minister:
9.00am D. Curtain
5.30pm B. Doak

Are you interested in joining one of our church ministries?
We need readers, welcomers, Communion Ministers, altar
servers, musicians and singers for St Patrick’s church. If you are interested please contact the parish office. All training will be provided.
If you are already a volunteer, then please check that the office has your current and correct contact details.

ST PATRICK’S CARE AND CONCERN GROUP.
St Pat’s Care and Concern Group reaches out to help parishioners who may appreciate some extra support. During these covid days, much of our support is by phone contact.
Our group meets monthly at 1:15pm on a Tuesday.
Meeting dates for 2021 are as follows:
1st June, 13th July, 3rd August, 7th September, 6th October,
2nd November Mass of Remembrance,
7th December Christmas Break Up.
Everyone is welcome to attend our meetings. If you require more information please contact Berry on 0427 886 998.

Reflection
“Full, active, and conscious participation” are words from the decree on the sacred liturgy of the second Vatican Council that became very familiar to us. The bishops, all of whom celebrated the Mass in Latin according to the rites laid down by the Council of Trent in the middle of the 16th century and modified in the middle of the 20th century, saw this change in the way Catholics celebrate their faith at mass as an essential part of the way the Holy Spirit was calling Catholics to live their faith in this part of the 20th century and beyond. As an altar server in the 50s and 60s, I and my fellow servers had to participate very fully, actively and consciously when the priest said Mass. Our job was to respond in Latin when required and perform the other actions required by the ritual. We were busy and had to keep our minds on the job. We would be taken to task by the priest if we made mistakes.
That was on our side of the altar rail. On the other side where are our family and friends stood sat and knelt, participation was an interior action more than exterior action. Parishioners “heard” mass that the priest “said”.
What we do when we assemble for the celebration of the Eucharist and what we do day-to-day in living our Catholic faith are always intimately united. Separated we live without purpose and direction. For us Catholics, the celebration of the Eucharist celebration of the liturgy tells the world who we are. Especially the Eucharist is the summit and the source of our lives as Christians. It’s the summit that calls us ever upwards. It’s the source from which we draw the life and strength needed to make Christ present in every nook and cranny of our lives.
The second Vatican Council was a council which engaged the world in which it lived in a way no other council had ever done in the church’s 2000 year history. This was a council which published no canons or rules or condemnations. The last document of the council, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes, was a conciliar document unlike any other conciliar document in the history of the church. It was addressed not to the cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, lay faithful, believers but to all people of goodwill. The church does not exist to be a self-referential, closed in group. It is a people with a purpose. The purpose is to participate fully, actively and consciously in the lives of all people.
In our liturgy today, we celebrate what we call the Ascension of the Lord. St Luke paints a word picture beloved by the creators of religious art. Jesus is lifted up and a cloud takes him from their sight. St Mark in the gospel simply states he was taken up into heaven. The heart of this celebration is that there came a time when the risen Lord did not interact with his disciples in his glorified body. He ceased to appear to them.
This event in his life and in the life of the church is one we constantly recall in the Eucharistic prayer is and in the creed. The central elements of the life of Jesus as recited in the words of the Eucharistic prayer are: his passion, death, resurrection, ascension and second coming.
These elements need to be more than words for us. They are the elements that reveal the identity and destiny of each human being. God, in the humanity of Jesus, immersed the divine essence in all the darkness, pain and misery that we know is part of life.
The resurrection shows that death is not the end of Jesus nor of us. The Ascension is not the risen Lord wiping his hands of us in an act of abandonment. Continue on Page 3
Continued from page 1
Where he has gone we will follow. In his risen state he sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us. Let the impact of this intercession for us dispel all thought that God is not constantly onside with us.
God participates in our life in a full, active and conscious way. As St Paul prays: may he enlighten the eyes of your mind that you can see what hope is call holes for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.
If you have never sat with the words of the Eucharistic prayer and meditated on them, embrace the challenge this week. The words used encapsulate our faith. Our faith gives rise to action. The law of praying manifests itself in the law of believing and acting. May we allow ourselves as we participate in the Eucharist this Sunday to delight what God does to us in Jesus every time we do celebrate the Paschal mysteries. Fr Adrian Farrelly

ST JOHN VIANNEY TCB LUNCH
CRAB CREEK
Our combined Faith user groups are gathering again for BYO lunch to the BBQ Picnic Area, Crab Creek. 11-11.30am start on Sat 29 May - Everyone welcome Tea & coffee supplied but BYO hot water (no electricity). Contact Maggie1Travers@gmail.com or 0400 75 66 15

May Rosary Prayers 2021
Commencing Monday 3rd May to 31st May 2021 (Mon – Fri) At 2pm daily (Brisbane time)

The Men's Afternoons are held on the Fourth Thursday of the Month. Next is Thursday 27 May at 12.30 pm until 2.30 pm. The meetings are now held in the Parish Centre. For transport assistance please contact the parish office, 5482 1213.

Upcoming Bible Society meeting
Wednesday 19th May 9:30 am Gympie Uniting Church CE Room. New members welcome. Please contact Narelle on 5483 2128 or
Also a date claimer please for our proposed Luncheon at the Church of Christ Hall Friday 23 July.

Curiosity Corner
On the 13th of May at 5:00 pm, we'll host our 1st Curiosity Corner session. Over the next few weeks, there will be a Suggestion Box at the entrance of the Church. Alongside the Box will be a form for you to fill out. If you've had any questions about Mass, The Catholic Faith, Theology, or anything Church-related, we warmly invite you to write your question on the form and place it in the Box. Unfortunately, not every question will be answered, but we'll make an effort to group as many topics together as possible.

PIETY STORE will be open most weekends. Opening times are half an hour before both masses. We have a wide selection of religious items to enrich your faith.

Reminder to register for Masses St Patrick’s
Visit the Parish website and register you and your family online for Sunday Mass celebrations.
We are using the Queensland QR code in Gympie only. You’ll need to download the “Check In Qld App” via the App Store/Google Play. If you have any questions about the use of the app please contact the
Parish Office.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CENSUS
Every 5 years, to coincide with the Australian National Census, the ACBC (Australian Catholic Bishops Conference) asks for data on mass attendance. Over the years this data has been very useful and in 2019 the Archdiocese of Brisbane started an annual count of mass attendance. Each weekend in May we will be counting how many people will be attending our weekend services.

THE CATHOLIC GUY EVENT – coming to Gympie soon!
On Saturday, 12th October, the Catholic Guy will come to our deanery. This will be held at St Patrick’s Primary School (Trinity Hall), Gympie, from 9.30am to 4pm.
Free admission and lunch is provided by the Deanery

First Reading
Acts 1:1-11
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles
Why are you standing here looking into the sky? Jesus has been taken into heaven.
In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. When he had been at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. 'It is' he had said 'what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.'
Now having met together, they asked him, 'Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.'
As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, 'Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.'
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 46:2-3, 6-9
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy:
a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
All peoples, clap your hands,
cry to God with shouts of joy!
For the Lord, the Most High, we must fear,
great king over all the earth. R.
God goes up with shouts of joy;
the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.
Sing praise for God, sing praise,
sing praise to our king, sing praise. R.
God is king of all the earth.
Sing praise with all your skill.
God is king over the nations;
God reigns on his holy throne. R.
Second Reading
Ephesians 4:1-13
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Ephesians
To the measure of the full stature of Christ.
I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.
Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would:
When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners,
he gave gifts to men.
When it says, 'he ascended', what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Go and teach all people my gospel.
I am with you always, until the end of the world.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Mark 16:15-20
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
The Lord Jesus was taken into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God.
Jesus showed himself to the Eleven, and said to them, 'Go out to the whole world, proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.'
And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

ST PATRICK’S PARISH
Mass centres: Gunalda, Gympie, Imbil, Kandanga, Rainbow Beach,
Tin Can Bay, Widgee
Parish Priest: Fr Adrian Farrelly & Associate Pastor: Fr Dominic Orih and Deacon William Aupito Iuliano
As we gather we acknowledge the Gubbi Gubbi people and the Indigenous elders of this area, those who once lived here and into whose sacred space our forebears came, changing forever an older way of life.

Office Hours
Office Phone: 07 5482 1213/AH
Monday 8.30 am - 1.00 pm
Tuesday 8.30 am - 1.00 pm
Wednesday 8.30 am - 11.30 am
Thursday 8.30 am - 1.00 pm
Friday 8.30 am - 1.00 pm

Contact Details
Mail: PO Box 1, Gympie. 4570
email: gympie@bne.catholic.net.au
Parish website: www.stpatsgympie.net.au
Facebook: St Patrick’s Parish Gympie

The Ascension of the Lored Year B 16th May 2021
Year of St Joseph
(Please remember to take this newsletter home with you or put it in the bin)