Home

Precious Parishioners of St. Christopher’s and St. Augustine’s,

According to the decision of the Bishops of Victoria, all Weekday and Sunday Masses as well as all Public Liturgies have been suspended. 

During this time of crisis, the people of God need to be closer to God and each other spiritually. In that spirit, as the Parish Priest and part of your life and one member of our two communities, I would like to share with you some of our parish activities:

1. The St. Christopher’s Church will be opened every day for those who would like to come and pray privately. Particularly, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed from 9:00am to 10:00am.

Note: Please remember to keep silent when you enter the church and sit at least 3 meters from each other, and NO vocal prayers in anyway – just keep quiet, reflect and pray privately from your mind and your heart only. You can come and leave the church quietly at the time that is suitable for you.

2. The 1^st Rite of Sacrament of Reconciliation will be on every Saturday during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The Confessor and the Confessant will be separated by a protective screen, no direct face-to-face reconciliation and at least 3 meters apart.

3. If it is necessary, the Sacrament of Baptism will be celebrated on the appointed day and time - and only parent, God-parent and the child to be present. No extended family.

4. The Funeral, if necessary, will be restricted to immediate family only.

5. The Parish Bulletin will be issued every Friday for Sunday, so you can take one home in order to read the Readings, reflect on them through the reflections provided, pray to God and receive Spiritual Holy Communion with a Little Prayer underneath.

6. The Last Rite will be ready whenever it is needed.

NB:  I encourage my precious parishioners to support our St. Christopher’s and St. Augustine’s Parish with an “online collection”. Those who use Thanksgiving Envelopes for every Week-end Sunday Mass, please kindly consider dropping your envelops off at the Parish Office or setting up a direct debit payment during this time.

Please remember that in my daily private Mass and prayers, each one of you - my dear precious parishioners - is in my mind, my heart and my prayers to God.

With every prayerful and good wish, I remain.

Fr. Peter Hoang.

A Week with the Lord Jesus in the Desert

            The Spirit drives the Lord Jesus into the desert for forty days. He faces three temptations by the Devil. He is comforted by God’s Angels. (Mt 4: 1-11)

             Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ,

           On Saturday, 27 March 2020, Pope Francis presided over an extra-ordinary and exceptional event to implore God in front of the picture of the Perpetual Succour and the Miraculous Crucifix for an end of the Covid-19 pandemic. After that, in front of the Blessed Sacrament inside the front door of St. Peter Basilica, all different prayers for everyone were offered to God in a most trusting way to wake up the Mercy of God upon each human being and ask God to pour down a healing touch on the face of the earth.  This wonderful and spiritual event culminated with the imparting of the Urbi et Orbi Blessing and the receiving a Plenary Indulgence.

             In the homily after the passage of the Gospel of St. Mark 4: 35-41. Pope Francis started: “When evening had come” (Mk 4:35). The Gospel passage we have just heard begins like this. For weeks now it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air, we notice in people’s gestures, their glances give them away. We find ourselves afraid and lost.”

             Yes, in the middle of this crisis, we feel “afraid and lost” like the disciples in the passage of the Gospel: “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” (v. 38). However, in order to strengthen the Faith of his disciples and open their mind of Hope, the Lord Jesus scolded them: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”(v. 40). After these two questions, he ordered the storm to stop and the face of the sea came back to its calmness in the amazement of the disciples….

             This morning, the 5^th Sunday of Lent on 29 March2020, when I celebrated Mass with the Lord Jesus and with all invisible parishioners of St. Christopher’s and St. Augustine’s in the Church, the answer of Martha in the Gospel touched my heart: “Yes, Lord! I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world.” (Jn 11: 27). During this time of crisis, we use again the words of Martha to pray to the Lord Jesus that he extinguish the blazing fire of the Covid-19 from the face of the earth and we believe, through his power and mercy, this pandemic will be wiped away from the world soon.

             Together with the faith of the disciples in the power of God, this week before the Holy Week, I would like to ask you not to be with the Lord Jesus in the boat amidst a stormy sea, but to enter into the desert to encounter God, to see ourselves more deeply and to re-discover our life with God and our brethren.

            Our life, marked by worries and tiredness, busyness and tension, ambition and earthly attractions etc..., has made us at times forget God. If at any time we do remember Him, it is in a routine of prayers and songs.

              Now, it’s time to leave behind everything and to enter the desert to meet with God in a most intimate way. Encountering Him, we’ll have time to talk to Him and share with Him, the secrets of our soul. God is Love. He has patient ears and an endless mercy. He listens and responds to our confidences and our inner-self.

             Desert is a quiet place, a place of silence. There is no noise, nor scrambling for position and privileges. However, there are many dangers: snakes, scorpions and temptations... that ensnare us. In order to avoid such dangers, we try to be as close to God as possible. The desert is an ideal place where we can be close to God in a special and intimate way.

            Pray to God, because He can help us discover deeply our vocation and overcome the snares of the world.

            Talk to God and we can feel that His Words in return are so soft and gentle, so sweet and peaceful. They have a divine power to change our mind and our soul.

             Listen to His voice and we can feel the strength of His Love.

           Let us entrust ourselves wholeheartedly to God and we shall see that He leads us by His Providence, His Spirit and His Love.

          “God speaks to the heart of him who keeps silence in order to listen”

          Fr. Peter Hoang

          St. Christopher’s and St. Augustine’s Parish

          Airport West and Keilor Park

NB: Please go to "PARISH NEWS" on your left-hand side and download each day to read, reflect and pray to the Lord.

My Precious Brothers and Sisters of St. Christopher’s and St. Augustine’s

            After a whole week in the desert to encounter God and see deeply your heart, you may feel at ease now. The heat of the desert might flush away all your troubles and worries and God’s “Fire of Love” may warm up your life.

            You are now at the exit-gate. You are ready to go out of the desert into the world. You experienced the heat, the dangers, the snares, the difficulties.... in the desert. All your “Spiritual Luggage” is on your shoulder.

The Lord is at the gate to shake hands with you. He invites you:  “Follow me!” (Mk 1:17; Mt 4:19).

            The invitation “Follow me” of the Lord at this special moment is not to invite us to come back to our normality in order to enjoy our life after a week with Him in the desert. It becomes a challenge for our perseverance in following Him until the end: Death and Resurrection.

            Holy Week is a journey leading us to reach our goal and understand the meaning of our faith.

            During HOLY WEEK, I would like to invite you to read and reflect on the Topics I share with you. Please use the Holy Bible during this time according to the instructions of each theme from Monday to Easter Sunday in order to participate in the life our Lord Jesus: Think of Him, Journey with Him, Share with his suffering, Be part of His life and death and finally Celebrate His Resurrection.

          In all topics of reflections, I use the 1^st person singular pronoun “I” or “me” when I reflect. You can assimilate yourself as an “I” or “me” when you read and reflect on the topic. That way helps you think that you are reflecting by yourself.

             May the Lord Jesus bless each one of you, protect you and journey with you every moment of your life.

            You are in my heart and prayers

            Fr. Peter Hoang

NB: Please go to Parish News on the top of your left-hand side, look at the topic you would like to read and click on the “download” and you can see.

If you would like to read the previous/past topics, please click on “view more” and all previous topics will appear. You can download whichever you like.

HOLY WEEK

                                                               IN THE FOOTSTEP OF JESUS

          Freedom in the Spiritual Life is a free gift. This may sound strange to some people, but it’s true for me!

In the Spiritual Life, “freedom” makes me close to God. I can talk to Him from my heart without any imposition and listen to Him with emotion, love and conversion that is, without any outside intervention. That’s why, when I am free, I feel closer to God in both mind and heart.

        God is the aim of my life. Without God, I am nothing. Even though I exist in this world I cannot live for ever. One day, I will disappear from this passing world and where I am going is a mystery! However, with God I have a “wholeness” in God’s existence. Because I am created in God’s image, I can share in God’s life.

However, who is God? Can I see Him? Can I touch Him?

         Of course, I cannot see God physically in the way I can see a human-being in front of my eyes. I cannot touch God with my hands. However, I can see Him with my Faith and I can touch Him with my Heart.

And who is God? Every Catholic knows of the definition: God is Love. I know it too, and therefore, I can feel close to God in my life:

             * I can talk to Him in my prayers.

* I can feel Him in my inspiration.

* I can love Him through my emotion.

* I can listen to Him with every palpation of my heart.

* I can think of Him in my mind.

* I can live with Him by my wholehearted trust in Him.

* And I can be one with Him as a believer in Him.

         Those spiritual elements intermingle in the Journey of my Soul towards God, my Lord during this HOLY WEEK.

          Fr. Peter

My Precious Parishioners,

Today, we enter the Three Holy Days to commemorate the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I share with you 3 Reflections on this First Holy Day:

1. Jesus surrenders to His Passion - The Last Supper with the Establishment of the Eucharist - The Washing of Feet.
2. Jesus spends the Night in the Garden.
3. Simon Peter - The Fisherman and his Ambitions.

I would like to ask my Precious Parishioners together with me who bears the name PETER, originated from St. PETER, to be with the Lord Jesus and other Apostles, reflect on the loneliness and suffering of the Lord as a human being on earth like us.

We reflect on ourselves and on the Apostles on that night .... and ....

- We pray for the old, the lonely (particularly this time of crisis), the afflicted.

- We pray for doctors, nurses and those on the front line in hospitals helping patients in fighting against the Wuhan Virus Pandemic.

- We pray to God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and all the Saints to extinguish the blazing fire of this Wuhan Virus Pandemic from our country Australia and the world.

- We pray for all of us to follow our Lord Jesus to the end.

You are in my heart and prayers

With every good wish and may God bless you always.

Fr. Peter

NB: Tomorrow is GOOD FRIDAY. Please remember to keep FASTING and ABSTINENCE from MEAT and DO CHARITY for the POOR.

MAY THE RISEN CHRIST POUR DOWN HIS ABUNDANT BLESSINGS and GRACES UPON YOU, and FILL YOU and YOUR FAMILY WITH PEACE and JOY.

I WISH YOU A HAPPY, HOLY AND PEACEFUL EASTER !

Fr. Peter Hoang

St. Christopher's and St. Augustine's.

To our Parishioners,

During this time, when visits to our Church are suspended, we are striving to ensure that our parishioners remain connected through new and creative pastoral programmes. While we continue to help those in our community the parish continues to incur ongoing overhead costs and we need your help.

Ways in which you can still help is by dropping your weekly Thanksgiving envelopes in the Parish door slot or through online transfers.

Please go to the PARISH NEWSLETTERS on your Left-hand Side, download the Letter and you can see more details.

Thank you in advance for your contributions and generosity.

You are in my heart and prayers.

With every good wish and may God bless you always.

Fr. Peter Hoang

Dear Precious Mothers

We thank you for the love you have given us,
whose love is so precious that it can never be measured,
whose patience seems to have no end.

We pray for you and love you all, our wonderful Mothers!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Dear Precious Fathers,

We, the children of St Christopher's Parish, would like to thank you for being our loving and caring fathers, and our wonderful role models of faith and love.

We ask God to bless you and pour down His abundant graces upon each one of you on this special day.

May we honour you always with a spirit of profound respect.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!