Waiting for the ‘Billy to Boil’!

Waiting with purpose is very different to procrastination. Procrastination refers to unduly deferring action, using delaying tactics, putting off what needs to be attended to. It is passive and often inept. Whereas waiting with purpose implies there is an intention to act. Before the action takes place there is often a period of reflection, observation and planning.

When we read about Mary MacKillop’s life we observe she had many times in her life where she had to wait…hers’ was a purposeful waiting. We know she was a very down to earth person who believed in getting things done despite the obstacles and challenges she had to face. In 1898 she wrote about her experiences with a particular community: ‘Of all the slow workers I have ever met they beat them. I should have been away from here a fortnight ago but had to remain and urge them on.’ When reading this I think of all the graced moments when I have had to learn to wait upon the needs of others: teaching children with disabilities; sitting with a sick or dying person; listening to the story of a refugee. As Sue and Leo Kane in the Little Brown Book 11 point out: ‘ Just as out in the bush we learn to wait for the billy to boil, or the damper to rise or in the long term for the drought to end – can we sit around our imaginary campfire under the Southern Cross and silently ponder Mary’s wisdom? [pg91] It is the same wisdom of the Psalmist who prays ‘My soul awaits the Beloved as one waits the birth of a child.’ [Psalm 130:6]

Waiting … Now … Soon … in a little while!

In today’s gospel {John 13:31-35] Judas has hardly left the Upper Room and gone out into the night. Jesus knows he is about to betray him. Against this contemptible background Jesus speaks to his disciples in an extraordinary way. He uses words such as ‘Now … soon … in a little while.’ What sort of time is implied here? This is the time after Easter when Jesus ‘having been reinstated in his glory at the right hand of the Father, awaits with his disciples [the Church] the full manifestation of that glory. [The Glenstal Bible Missal pg1131].

Soon, after a little while, Jesus will no longer be with his disciples. Not that he wants to abandon them or leave them to themselves but Jesus is preparing them to adjust from been accustomed to his physical presence to faith in his unseen presence in the very experience of his absence. He chooses this moment to command his disciples to love one another in the same way as he has.

May I be a living sign of God’s love in the world today. May I be the one to ‘open the door of faith’ and love those I encounter in an authentic and practical way. This is living out our Easter Faith.

Marie Weatherall

ST BERNARD’S PARISH SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2025

CONFIRMATION

Enrolment is now open for eligible students to participate in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Packs and information are available at the Parish office, Tuesday – Friday 10-5pm

The cost of the program is $40 and can be paid by EFTPOS, Cash or bank transfer.

Commitment Masses will be held on Saturday 24th May at 5pm and Sunday 25th May at 9am at St Bernard’s Church. Attendance is a requirement of the sacramental journey.

IF YOUR CHILD HAS COMPLETED OTHER SACRAMENTS, THEY WILL ALREADY HAVE A STOLE. PLEASE RETURN BY 29TH MAY SO THEY MAY BE TAKEN FOR EMBROIDERY. If not, please let the parish office know.

For further information:

Roslynne Trompp- Parish Sacramental Co-ordinator 4472 4153

Rebecca Keough – St Bernard’s Primary School REC 4472 4446

Fr Rex Curry – 0407 068 413