Brisbane Oratory News
Spiritual Exercises for Daily Life
The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, 19th Annotation Retreat in Daily Life, are to be offered at the Oratory.
The dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a process towards interior freedom: Freedom from whatever burdens and constrains the soul and prevents heroic identification with Jesus Christ in His Paschal Mystery. It is a movement from pragmatism to Divine Love.
St Ignatius developed the main lines of his Spiritual Exercises between 1522 and 1528, based on his deeply experienced sense of God and His individual call to each of us through Jesus Christ His Son. St. Ignatius finalised this small handbook and had it printed for the first time in 1548. Since then his Spiritual Exercises have helped countless people hear Christ’s call to them in a more personal and intimate way and live this out daily with increasing interior freedom, courage and dedication.
The Ignatian Spiritual Exercises are normally meant to be experienced during an intense 30-day retreat; however St Ignatius knew that most lay people would find this very difficult if not impossible to manage. In his 19th Annotation to the Exercises he offers a way of fully experiencing them in the context of daily life over a nine month period, setting aside between half to one hour of prayer time daily for this purpose.
Several times over the last 15 years Fr Wise has directed the full Spiritual Exercises in daily life in a small group setting of about six people, meeting fortnightly over nine months.
If you have a reasonably well developed and committed prayer life, perhaps the Lord is calling you to experience these Spiritual Exercises in this setting between October 2018 and June 2019? If you believe so, you are invited to send a confidential email to Fr Wise, outlining briefly why you feel called to take part in this retreat in daily life at this point in your life. Email aswise@nex.net.au by 14th September please.
Sancte Philippe Neri, ora pro nobis. Sancte Ignati de Loyola, ora pro nobis
The Oratory Dinner and Dance Review
We recently celebrated our major fundraising and social event of the year with a dinner and dance at Riverside Receptions, New Farm. 235 people created a very happy buzz at what seems to have been an enjoyable night for those present. Our final tally indicates that we raised in the vicinity of $29,000 through the event. Also, new pledges have come in following the dinner and through our fundraising push during the month of July, and other regular givers have been able to increase their contributions. We can’t say often enough how grateful we are to all our benefactors and friends who are so generous in helping to ensure the future of the Brisbane Oratory. May God bless you for your generosity.
Wonderful evening at the annual Oratory Dinner & Dance! Thanks to all those who helped support our seminarians.
Posted by Maria Rose Anna Photography on Monday, 30 July 2018
From the Moderators Message of the Oratory Newsletter. If you would like to read the rest, and even more, including the Reflection by Br Shawn on learning to be a priest, be sure to read the latest newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe!
Contacting the Oratory
We would like to apologise to anyone who may have called the Oratory recently and had no response. It has come to our attention that our phone line was down, but we are happy to report it is now up and running again.
New Acolytes: Witnessing to Christ
Recently, Archbishop Mark Coleridge instituted Brothers Tyson, Conor, and Matthew into the Ministry of Acolyte, a necessary step on the path to ordination, along with the Ministry of Lector which the Brothers received last year. As Acolytes, the brothers are called to grasp the spiritual meaning of public worship so that they may better offer themselves to God and grow in love of the people of God especially the weak and the sick. We are very excited that the brothers have taken this next step on the way to ordination to the priesthood.
During the Institution, Archbishop Coleridge reminded the brothers that as Acolytes they are called to give a particular witness to the faith and seek to imitate the martyrs who witnessed to Christ to the point of shedding their blood for him. The brothers were encouraged to live their faith to the full, witness to Christ, and to engage in works of mercy, especially for the weak and the sick. Please pray for the brothers as they strive to imitate Christ and be faithful to Him.
After the institution, the brothers went right into serving as the congregation gathered for wine and cheese to help celebrate this special occasion. We are also grateful to those in attendance who also decided to bring along some food to share. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and enjoyment for all.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge institutes Br Tyson, Br Conor and Br Matthew to the Ministry of Acolyte
Posted by Maria Rose Anna Photography on Monday, 9 July 2018
Young Adults and Youth at the Oratory
When we learn about the Life of St Philip, something that stands out was his concern for aiding young people in holiness. St Philip realised how important it is to help young people to grow in their faith and virtue while they are still young! Often Philip could be found gathering young men to play sport together, keeping them out of mischief, or leading young people on pilgrimages and engaging them in spiritual conversations. Wherever he went people flocked to him. Here at the Brisbane Oratory, we have several groups and events for young men, young women, and youth. In this months Newsletter, Fr Andrew gave an update on these groups.
Our Frassati fraternity for young men has seen a change of leader in the last two months, as Dylan Shogren has now joined the new traditional Benedictine foundation of monks in Tasmania as an Aspirant. Dylan has been succeeded by his brother Jerome as the new Frassati leader and Jerome is proving to be a gifted and natural leader just like his brother. We have eleven men resident in the houses right now, with each of them either working full time or studying and working part time. There is a wonderful spirit of mutual support among these young men as they seek to grow together in faith and virtue in imitation of Our Lord and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Some of the activities of the Frassati members include an early morning rosary together each day and regular Eucharistic Adoration. They also have a dining in night each week along with a monthly dinner together at the Norman Hotel where they gather with other men connected to Frassati in various ways. Each of the Frassati men also contributes to the Oratory Parish in some way, usually as either an altar server or choir member.
The Frassati men and the fathers and brothers of the Oratory enjoying a dinner together.
Our young women’s group Flores Teresianes (flowers of Therese) holds monthly dinners hosted by members in their homes. There are usually around 25 ladies present for these evenings, which also include a short talk of particular interest to young women relating to the Catholic faith and spiritual life. The Flores ladies held a successful retreat day in April at Marian Valley, with another retreat day planned for Advent this year. Flores is led by a leadership team comprising, Bernadette Tomlin, Elyse Beck, Catherine McDowall, Phillipa Hewitt, Michelle Nally and Ally Doig.
Flores Teresianes retreat at Marian Valley exploring how to live the joy of the Paschal Mystery.
The Frassati Youth Group is for our young people from 12 years of age until they turn 18. Once they have turned 18 they are invited to join either Frassati or Flores and continue their path of growing in the fullness of the Catholic Faith. Frassati Youth meet weekly during School terms except on the first Fridays of the month. The young people have time socialising together over Pizza or Fish and chips at the beginning of their meetings. They then have some games together, followed by a short talk on the Faith or spiritual life. The evenings always conclude with a rosary together. Frassati Youth has some new faces in its adult leadership team this year including Chris and Taylor D’Silva as our coordinators and several other leaders who also generously give of their time to help our young people grow in faith and Christ like love.
From the Reflection of the Oratory Newsletter. If you would like to read the rest, and even more, including the Moderators Message, be sure to read the latest newsletter and don’t forget to subscribe!
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