As I look back at the occasion of the Opening of the Parish Year Mass last Sunday at Our Holy Redeemer, a particular psalm comes to mind – Psalm 133. This psalm is one of the fifteen psalms in the collection called “Songs of Ascent”. The word ascent refers to the physical climb of the Israelite people, journeying toward Jerusalem to participate in various significant festivals through the year, e.g. Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles. Being able to be in the House of God – the Temple is a special joy for the Israelite people as they journey together toward it. Along the way, they would sing out their hearts these Songs of Ascent.
Psalm 133 expresses:
How good and pleasant it is
When God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing
Even life forevermore.
I recall the first two verses of this palm being used and quoted quite often in Vietnamese households. Some families even inscribe these two verses on wooden tablets or canvas to hang in their family house as a prayer for the unity among the siblings of their family. What intrigues me though is the image of ‘precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard.’ What ‘oil running on the beard… on the collar of his robe’ has anything to do with unity?
In fact, this image refers to the practice of anointing of a King or in this case a High Priest – Aaron. As the oil is being poured over the head of Aaron, it signifies God’s blessing and as a result, blessing over the people with unity and harmony. In this particular image, God’s blessing is not only present, but also overflowing. Just as the oil spreading richly over his entire body, including “his beard and …collar of his robe,” depicts a complete and overflowing unity among the people.
It is indeed “good and pleasant” to experience the special blessing of the overflowing oil upon the anointed people of God in this parish. We should not overlook God’s blessings. They are not only present but overflowing within our communities.
In his homily for our Opening of the Parish Year Mass, Fr Frank emphasised that when we follow Jesus Christ and listen attentively to his word and instruction, he takes us beyond our limitations and shortcomings as he did for Peter and his companions. What a blessing it is to have.
Let us encourage and help each other to heed Jesus’ word and instruction and so to bring about the Kingdom of God among us.
On a practical note, we would love to hear from you as we continue to build an active and engaged parish community!
We are in the process of updating our records of all parishioners. The personal information we collect will be used to administer the Sacraments and pastoral care, for future pastoral planning, to keep you informed about parish activities, initiatives and services through newsletters and other communications, and to coordinate volunteers for parish ministries.
To help us with this, we will be conducting a parish census during all Masses on the weekends of 22 & 23 February and 1 & 2 March. Census cards and privacy envelopes will be distributed to you upon arrival at Mass, and we kindly ask that you return the completed card in the collection basket. For those unable to complete the census in person, we invite you to fill out the online form.
The information collected in this census will be kept in accordance with the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne Privacy Policy and is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act. Our parish is committed to safeguarding the personal information entrusted to us by parishioners and members of the community. All personal information is treated with the utmost confidentiality. We adhere to the Data Protection Act, ensuring that no information will be shared with third parties without your prior consent.
19 Brenbeal Street, Balwyn VIC 3103
Telephone: 03 9816 9291
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours:
Tue - Fri 9:00am – 5:00pm
Fulvio says:
Thankyou for your inspiring messages.
Please please use a darker print font in lieu of the faint grey.
It is so difficult to read
Jim Boyle says:
Thanks Father Sang for sharing your thoughts on the “pouring of oil” in Psalm 133.
Doesn’t that also bring to mind Jesus’ title as Christus – the “Anointed One” and our title of “Christians” that we should all relish and try to keep in our minds. We are blessed and that bestows responsibilities on us all.