Catholic Parish of Ivanhoe
MOG School Closure Mass - 10th December 2017
Extract from Fr Bill's Homily, published 12 December 2017
Words from today’s 1st Reading from the Prophet Isaiah: “Console my people, console them…..speak to the heart and say…..your time of service has ended.” And at the end there is often need for consolation - end of life, end of relationships, end of institutions, end of schools - yet there is also a reality to be learnt that in every new beginning - each new beginning is a journey to an inevitable end. Just as every new birth heralds an inevitable death from which none of us can escape. So today we gather to give thanks. Some of you will be thinking that thanks is the last thing that ought be on our mind or our lips. But, as I say at many funerals, whatever the circumstances, a Christian funeral is still, even in the midst of grief, pain and tears, a celebration and a time of thanksgiving - and why at the end of every burial we still say: “Go in peace - Thanks be to God”. Why? Because for a time, no matter how brief, we have been blessed with the gift of life: Blessed with friendships and relationships that have given life, hope, and the opportunity to share joys and sorrows. And for that we say “Thanks be to God. In our school - children have been nurtured, educated, gained wisdom and knowledge, formed friendships and endearing relationships, grown in faith, in hope, in love. Thanks be to God. Teachers have.........(read full Homily HERE)
Extract from Fr Bill's Homily, published 12 December 2017
Words from today’s 1st Reading from the Prophet Isaiah: “Console my people, console them…..speak to the heart and say…..your time of service has ended.” And at the end there is often need for consolation - end of life, end of relationships, end of institutions, end of schools - yet there is also a reality to be learnt that in every new beginning - each new beginning is a journey to an inevitable end. Just as every new birth heralds an inevitable death from which none of us can escape. So today we gather to give thanks. Some of you will be thinking that thanks is the last thing that ought be on our mind or our lips. But, as I say at many funerals, whatever the circumstances, a Christian funeral is still, even in the midst of grief, pain and tears, a celebration and a time of thanksgiving - and why at the end of every burial we still say: “Go in peace - Thanks be to God”. Why? Because for a time, no matter how brief, we have been blessed with the gift of life: Blessed with friendships and relationships that have given life, hope, and the opportunity to share joys and sorrows. And for that we say “Thanks be to God. In our school - children have been nurtured, educated, gained wisdom and knowledge, formed friendships and endearing relationships, grown in faith, in hope, in love. Thanks be to God. Teachers have.........(read full Homily HERE)
