Notices – 01/07/18
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL PARISH – BALLUTA
PARISH NOTICES – SUNDAY 1st July 2018
1. ON THURSDAY, at 7.15pm, at the Balluta Square there will be Adoration with prayers in preparation for the parish feast. Comunità Abramo will lead the adoration.
2. We would like to remind parents whose children will be attending Catechism classes in September to collect a form from the parish office.
3. Friday is the first Friday of the month. At 5.45pm there will be adoration led by the Divine Mercy Group.
4. On Friday, a Gozo by Night is being organised. Tickets from Doris Mallia or from the parish Office.
5. Along this week, envelopes for the last collection of donations for the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel will be collected by the feast’s procurator. We remind you that the purpose for this collection is to cover the expenses of installation and bills for the lighting during the Feast period, and for the four bands taking part during the week of feast celebrations. Expenses are high and we appreciate your help in holding a feast worthy of our Patron, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
6. Another issue of the FLIMKIEN magazinge with the parish’s insert is available. Helpers are requested to collect their copies from the sacristy.
Notices – 24/06/18
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL PARISH – BALLUTA
PARISH NOTICES – SUNDAY 24th June 2018
1. ON TUESDAY, on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish Church in Sliema, we have been invited to take part in the preparations for the feast. On that day, the 6.30pm mass will be with the participation of representatives from our parish. Everybody is invited to join us to share the joy of this occasion with one of the parishes which emanated from our parish.
2. We remind parents who would like their children to attend Catechism classes next September, are kindly requested to collect a form from the parish office, fill it in and return it by 28th June.
3. On Friday a Gozo by Night is being organised. Tickets from Doris Mallia or from the parish Office.
-
During this week envelopes for the last collection of donations for the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel will be distributed by the feast’s procurator. This collection will go towards the expenses of installation and bills for the lighting during the Feast period, and also for the four bands taking part on Wednesday, Thursday and the two bands on Sunday evening. Together with these there are other expenses. The total sum of expenses amounts to about €12,000. We encourage everybody to do his best in helping us to make a feast worthy of our Patron, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
5. We would like to make a call for volunteers to help the External Feast Commission in the street decorations for the feast. Every little help is appreciated. Who would like to offer help is kindly requested to talk to the parish priest. We thank you in advance.
Gozo by Night
Notices -17/06/18
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL PARISH – BALLUTA
PARISH NOTICES – SUNDAY 17th June 2018
1. ON MONDAY, at 7.15pm, at the parish Centre, the Prayer Group that formed itself after the Life in the Spirit Seminars will be meeting again. Everybody is welcome to attend.
2. ON TUESDAY, at 7.15pm, at the Parish Centre there will be a GRUAN meeting.
3. Next SATURDAY and SUNDAY there will be the collection known as the ‘Peter Pence’. With this collection we will be showing our love for Pope Francis and we will be helping him to continue giving charity donations to our brethren in need around the world, especially those who have been struck by accidents, natural disasters and war. The Vicar General encourages us to be generous.
4. Parents who would like their children to attend Catechism classes next September, are kindly requested to collect a form from the parish office, fill it in and return it by 28th June.
5. On Friday 6th July, a Gozo by Night is being organised. Tickets from Doris Mallia or from the Parish Office.
Notices – 10/06/18
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL PARISH – BALLUTA
PARISH NOTICES – SUNDAY 10th June 2018
1. THURSDAY is the World Blood Donor Day. May we remember the value of those who donate blood, and that they donate blood out of love and appreciation for human life.
2. ON SATURDAY we celebrate our ‘PARISH DAY’. That day the 6.30pm Mass will be with the participation of children and families. All Pastoral Operators are encouraged to take part so together we celebrate the founding of our Parish Church.
-
ON THE OCCASION OF FATHER’S DAY, intentions of the evening Mass on Saturday and all Masses on Sunday will be for the needs of fathers, both those alive and those departed. By the church doors there are forms which can be filled with the departed father’s name. These forms can be handed to any of the priests or the sacristan.
4 There are two last places available for the Pilgrimage to Lourdes from the 20th to 24th of August. More information from the Parish Office.
-
The St. Julian’s Local Council would like to inform the public that as from the 15th June 2018 till 15th September 2018 a Mini-Van will be available at 9.30pm and at 10.30pm as transport from St’ Julians Bay to Ta’ Ġiorni.
-
THIS EVENING at 6.00pm Evening Prayers will be sung in front of the Blessed Sacrament. At 6.30pm there will be Mass with the participation of children and families followed by the Sacred Heart of Jesus procession with the partecipation of children who have received their First Holy Communion. Everyone is invited to take part in this procession.
-
On the occasion of the feast of the Venerable Nazju Falzon, Mass is being celebrated at the Jesuits Church in Valletta (Merchants Street corner with Archbishop Street) on Saturday 30th June at 11 am. The Mass is being said in English for the English Speaking Catholic residents on the island.
June 2018
Today we are living in a world which is growing ever “smaller” and where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to be neighbours. Developments in travel and communications technology are bringing us closer together and making us more connected, even as globalization makes us increasingly interdependent. Nonetheless, divisions, which are sometimes quite deep, continue to exist within our human family. On the global level we see a scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor. Often we need only walk the streets of a city to see the contrast between people living on the street and the brilliant lights of the store windows. We have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer unsettle us. Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization and poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic, political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.
In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all. Good communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately, to grow in unity. The walls which divide us can be broken down only if we are prepared to listen and learn from one another. We need to resolve our differences through forms of dialogue which help us grow in understanding and mutual respect. A culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give, but also to receive. Media can help us greatly in this, especially nowadays, when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented advances. The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God.
This is not to say that certain problems do not exist. The speed with which information is communicated exceeds our capacity for reflection and judgement, and this does not make for more balanced and proper forms of self-expression. The variety of opinions being aired can be seen as helpful, but it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic interests. The world of communications can help us either to expand our knowledge or to lose our bearings. The desire for digital connectivity can have the effect of isolating us from our neighbours, from those closest to us. We should not overlook the fact that those who for whatever reason lack access to social media run the risk of being left behind.
While these drawbacks are real, they do not justify rejecting social media; rather, they remind us that communication is ultimately a human rather than technological achievement. What is it, then, that helps us, in the digital environment, to grow in humanity and mutual understanding? We need, for example, to recover a certain sense of deliberateness and calm. This calls for time and the ability to be silent and to listen. We need also to be patient if we want to understand those who are different from us. People only express themselves fully when they are not merely tolerated, but know that they are truly accepted. If we are genuinely attentive in listening to others, we will learn to look at the world with different eyes and come to appreciate the richness of human experience as manifested in different cultures and traditions. We will also learn to appreciate more fully the important values inspired by Christianity, such as the vision of the human person, the nature of marriage and the family, the proper distinction between the religious and political spheres, the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, and many others.
How, then, can communication be at the service of an authentic culture of encounter? What does it mean for us, as disciples of the Lord, to encounter others in the light of the Gospel? In spite of our own limitations and sinfulness, how do we draw truly close to one another? These questions are summed up in what a scribe – a communicator – once asked Jesus: “And who is my neighbour?” (Lk 10:29). This question can help us to see communication in terms of “neighbourliness”. We might paraphrase the question in this way: How can we be “neighbourly” in our use of the communications media and in the new environment created by digital technology? I find an answer in the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is also a parable about communication. Those who communicate, in effect, become neighbours. The Good Samaritan not only draws nearer to the man he finds half dead on the side of the road; he takes responsibility for him. Jesus shifts our understanding: it is not just about seeing the other as someone like myself, but of the ability to make myself like the other. Communication is really about realizing that we are all human beings, children of God. I like seeing this power of communication as “neighbourliness”.
Whenever communication is primarily aimed at promoting consumption or manipulating others, we are dealing with a form of violent aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable, who was beaten by robbers and left abandoned on the road. The Levite and the priest do not regard him as a neighbour, but as a stranger to be kept at a distance. In those days, it was rules of ritual purity which conditioned their response. Nowadays there is a danger that certain media so condition our responses that we fail to see our real neighbour.
It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters. We cannot live apart, closed in on ourselves. We need to love and to be loved. We need tenderness. Media strategies do not ensure beauty, goodness and truth in communication. The world of media also has to be concerned with humanity, it too is called to show tenderness. The digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people. The impartiality of media is merely an appearance; only those who go out of themselves in their communication can become a true point of reference for others. Personal engagement is the basis of the trustworthiness of a communicator. Christian witness, thanks to the internet, can thereby reach the peripheries of human existence.
Notices – 03/06/18
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL PARISH – BALLUTA
PARISH NOTICES – SUNDAY 3rd June 2018
1. WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY are days of preparation for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On these three days at 6.00pm there will be the recital of the rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament and at 6.30pm there will be Mass with a homely by the Parish Priest on Pope Francis’ new Apostolic Exhortation, ‘Rejoice and be glad’.
-
ON WEDNESDAY at 8.00pm in Independence Gardens, together with parishioners from the parish of St. Gregory, there will be adoration led by the Youth Fellowship.
-
ON THURSDAY AT 5.45PM, there will be adoration with the recital of the rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
-
ON FRIDAY, after the 6.30pm Mass there will be adoration with the participation of the Extraordinary Ministers of the Holy Eucharist, the Lectors and all pastoral operators.
-
ON SUNDAY we will celebrate the feast of the Sacred heart of Jesus. At 6.00pm there will be Evening Prayers front of the Blessed Sacrament. At 6.30pm there will be Mass with the participation of children and families followed by the Sacred Heart of Jesus procession with the partecipation of children who have received their First Holy Communion.
-
On 7th June, the Vice-Postulatur in the case of Fr. Avertan, will be organising a pilgrimage to places linked to Fr. Avertans’s life. The localities will be: Mosta, Valletta, Balluta, Rabat and Mdina. The pilgrimage includes information, prayers and Mass, and also a packed lunch. The pilgrimage starts at 9.00am from Floriana and at the end of the pilgrimage at 5.00pm there will be transport to Valletta. Those interested in joining can register at the sacristy by not later than 4th June.
-
On the occasion of FATHER’S DAY, intentions of the evening Mass on Saturday 16th and all Masses on Sunday 17th will be for the needs of fathers, both those alive and those departed. By the church doors there are forms which can be filled with the departed father’s name. These forms can be handed to any of the priests or the sacristan.
-
There are still some places available for the Pilgrimage to Lourdes from the 20th to 24th of August. More information from the Parish Office.
-
This evening at 7.15pm in Independence Garden, the Holy Rosary will be recited infront of the statue of Our Lady.