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Bishop Graeme's Musings for Ordinary Sunday 3

24 January, 2016

Last Saturday week I had the privilege of conducting the marriage of Christy and Sakunthala Thiagarajah's daughter, Angeline to Konstantinos Tsanaktsidis. (I was sorely tested in making sure I got the pronunciation of names correct!). St Peter's Church was full to capacity with over 300 guests. The gospel for the following day was about the wedding in Cana of Galilee when there was an embarrassing shortage of wine for the guests. There was no need to worry about that problem at the reception following this wedding! Everything in the church and at the reception had been meticulously planned and ran smoothly.

Although Christy and Sakunthala live in Burwood and attend their local church, Christy shares in our daily mass at St Peter's. His deep and disciplined faith is evident to all who know him and it shone out for all the guests to see as he handed his 'little bundle of joy' to her husband in the wedding ceremony. I was moved by Christy's speech at the reception when he unashamedly testified to his faith in the Lord. After an early morning mass this week I commended him for his speech and he shared with me the origin of his passionate faith. As a young unmarried man he arrived in this country as a refugee fleeing the persecution in the civil war in his own country of Sri Lanka. He witnessed the death of many of his friends and was himself badly injured. His daily presence at mass can be summed up in the following words.

Lord,
I'm glad I can talk to you
Nothing surprises you.
You've been where I've been.

Lord,
You make me feel whole again.
You make me feel understood.
Your extravagant generosity
leaves me speechless.
Words fail me as I try to say
Thank you. You draw me.
You give me a place in the picture.
You tell me I belong even when I can't believe.
Lord, you're unbelievable!

Bishop Graeme Rutherford

Illustration for Ordinary Sunday 3 Musings



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