General Notices for Visitors
The rubrics of the Extraordinary Form of Mass require that Holy Communion be given on the tongue and kneeling. Those who cannot kneel because of illness, frailty or old-age are not obliged to kneel and are welcome to stand when receiving Holy Communion (though still on the tongue).
Parking – Do not park in the under-cover parking bay on the immediate left of Charles O’Neill Way. Parking is available further down, or on West St.
Please do not park in yellow-striped bay which is reserved for the St Vincent de Paul Night Patrol vans.
Please leave closer parking bays available for elderly and less mobile Mass-goers.
Sacrament of Matrimony
For parishioners who wish to receive the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, please give at least 6 months notice.
Holy Eucharist
We welcome all new visitors to the Church. Please be advised that one has to be Catholic to receive the Holy Eucharist. The Rite of this Mass prescribes that Holy Communion is to be received on the tongue and kneeling. However, it one is unable to kneel due to age or infirmity, one can remain standing.
Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Thursday August 22nd 2019
Rosary to make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at 6.20pm.
Mass at 7pm followed by the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
August 15th, Feast of the Assumption: Holy Day of Obligation
7am Low Mass
7pm Sung Mass
Please bring herbs, medicinal flowers and fruit for the Solemn Blessing on Assumption Day. Please bring the herbs that you would like to be blessed but present them in a dignified way and label them with your name.
We have fruit and little nosegays of herbs available for distribution after Mass. Please do not take anything that is not yours.
We also give thanks to God also for the elevation of Maternal Heart of Mary community to be a parish in 2013.
The Feast of the Assumption is a very old feast of the Church, celebrated universally by the sixth century. The feast was originally celebrated in the East, where it is known as the Feast of the Dormition, a word which means “falling asleep”. The earliest printed reference to the belief that Mary’s body was assumed into Heaven dates from the fourth century, in a document entitled “The Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God.” The document is written in the voice of the Apostle John, to whom Christ on the Cross had entrusted the care of His mother, and recounts the death, laying in the tomb, and assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Tradition variously places Mary’s death at Jerusalem or at Ephesus, where John was living.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life is a defined dogma of the Catholic Church. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII, exercising papal infallibility, declared Munificentissimus Deus that is a dogma of the Church “that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” As a dogma, the Assumption is a required belief of all Catholics; anyone who publicly dissents from the dogma, Pope Pius declared, “has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.”
Pope Pius XII, in the text explaining his definition of the dogma of the Assumption, refers repeatedly to the Blessed Virgin’s death before her Assumption, and the consistent tradition in both the East and West holds that Mary did die before she was assumed into Heaven. However, since the definition of the Assumption is silent on this question, Catholics can legitimately believe that Mary did not die before the Assumption.
Annual Pilgrimage to McKillop Place
Please mark your calendar for August 11th 2019, Sunday after the second Mass as we will have our annual walk pilgrimage to the shrine of St.Mary of the Cross at McKillop Place.
Please bring your own packed lunch, have adequate hydration and sun protection (hat and sunblock). Reasonable fitness required for the walk. Children must be accompanied and supervised by their parents. It is a good thing to perform a pilgrimage for an intention or to make atonement for sins.
Vocations Day 7th September
The Priestly Fraternity of St Peter will be running a vocations day for men at Maternal Heart of Mary Parish, on Saturday 7th September 9am-3pm.
Please register by Wednesday 4th September by sending your details to Fr Wong: ezechiel@fssp.net
August 5, Our Lady of the Snows
“Improbable as it is for snow to fall during August, history tells of a snowfall that seemed more impossible, namely in Rome, Italy. August 5, 352, snow fell during the night in Rome.
There lived in the Eternal City a nobleman, John and his childless wife, who had been blessed with much of this world’s goods. They chose the Mother of God as the heir to their fortune, and at the suggestion of Pope Liberius, prayed that she might make known to them how to do this by a particular sign.
In answer, the Virgin Mother during the night of August 5, appeared to John and his wife and also to the Holy Father, Pope Liberius, directing them to build a church in her honor on the crown of the Esquiline Hill. And what would be the sign that John and his wife had requested?
“Snow will cover the crest of the hill.”
Snow rarely falls in Rome, but the flakes fell silently during that night, blanketing the peak of the historic hill. In the morning the news quickly spread and crowds gathered to throng up the hill and behold the white splendor. The snow had fallen in a particular pattern, showing the outline of the future church. When it became known that the snow was a sign from Mary, the people spontaneously added another to her long list of titles, Our Lady of the Snows.”
Acknowledgement: https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/our-lady-of-the-snows.html