Sunday, 28 December 2025
THE HOLY FAMILY
Questions for the Week:
FIRST READING: ECCLESIASTICUS 3:2-6,12-14
Sirach emphasizes the importance of children honoring and respecting their parents. What are some of your favorite memories of your parents?
SECOND READING: COLOSSIANS 3:12-21
Paul taught the Colossians that families should show mutual respect and love toward one another. How do you encourage these virtues in your family?
GOSPEL: MATTHEW 2:13-15,19-23
We hear how the Holy Family faced some very dangerous circumstances early on. Can you think of some challenges your family has had to overcome?
©LPi
A Word from Fr Danny:
The Holy Family may have felt safe in Bethlehem, but while the wise men brought gifts to Jesus, they also brought the spotlight. Although the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, we might ask why the Holy Spirit did not warn them about Herod beforehand, so that they might have avoided drawing attention to Jesus in the first place. They could then have warned the Holy Family themselves of Herod's murderous intentions. Had this happened, the Holy Innocents, whom we normally commemorate on 28 December, might have been spared.
That none of this occurred should give us comfort, for if it happened in the way it did, then it was seemingly willed so. Therefore, the flight into Egypt was part of God's saving plan. In going down into the land of former enslavement, Christ already symbolically begins his work of redemption.
Christ, through and with the Holy Family, is taken out of the Promised Land, through the wilderness where his people once worshipped the golden calf, and down into the place of enslavement in order to free us. All of this is done as an infant. This alone would have been sufficient, had God so willed it, to redeem all things. This should move us to surrender every desert, false god, and bondage in our own lives to Christ.
- Fr Danny
PARISH NEWS & EVENTS
Here’s what's happening
Sunday, 28 December: The Holy Family
5pm Saturday Vigil Mass, Tūrangi | 9am Mass, Taupō
Sacrament of Penance
8.30am | Chapel | Taupō
Divine Mercy
3pm | Chapel | Taupō
Monday, 29 December
Mass
7pm | Church | Taupō
Tuesday, 30 December
Mass
9am | Church | Taupō
Wednesday, 31 December
Ave Connect | Rosary
11.30am | Church | Tūrangi
Mass | Tūrangi
12pm | Church | Tūrangi
Fair-Weather Gardeners
12pm - 3pm | Taupō
Ave Connect | Rosary
7pm | Chapel | Taupō
Thursday, 1 January
Mass
9am | Church | Taupō
Friday, 2 January
Mass
12pm | Church | Taupō
Divine Mercy
3pm | Chapel | Taupō
Holy Hour | Adoration, Confession & Benediction
6.30pm | Church | Taupō
Saturday, 3 January
Mass
9am | Church | Taupō
Sacrament of Penance
9.30am | Taupō
Vigil Mass
5pm | Church | Tūrangi
Sunday, 4 January: The Epiphany of the Lord
5pm Saturday Vigil Mass, Tūrangi | 9am Mass, Taupō
Sacrament of Penance
8.30am | Chapel | Taupō
Prayer for Life
After 9am Mass | Chapel | Taupō
Divine Mercy
3pm | Chapel | Taupō
Monday, 5 January
Mass
7pm | Church | Taupō
Tuesday, 6 January
Mass
9am | Church | Taupō
Wednesday, 7 January
Ave Connect | Rosary
11.30am | Church | Tūrangi
Mass | Tūrangi
12pm | Church | Tūrangi
Fair-Weather Gardeners
12pm - 3pm | Taupō
Ave Connect | Rosary
7pm | Chapel | Taupō
Thursday, 8 January
Mass
9am | Church | Taupō
St Vincent de Paul Meeting
5pm | Cafe | Taupō
Friday, 9 January
Mass | Anointing of the Sick
12pm | Church | Taupō
St Vincent de Paul Lunch
After Mass | Cafe | Taupō
Divine Mercy
3pm | Chapel | Taupō
Holy Hour | Adoration, Confession & Benediction
6.30pm | Church | Taupō
Saturday, 10 January
Mass
9am | Church | Taupō
Sacrament of Penance
9.30am | Taupō
Ministers for Sunday, 28 December
The Holy Family
Taupō
Tūrangi
THIS WEEK….
Don’t our gardens look beautiful?! If you’re keen to lend a hand on a casual basis, to pull a few weeds, come along on a Wednesday anytime between 12noon and 3pm and join some of our gardening team.
COMING UP…
RETREATS
Retreats
Tyburn Monastery, Ngakuru &
Cluny Retreat Centre, Tauranga
DIOCESAN NEWS & EVENTS
Called by Name is a Catholic Summer Camp for children going into Year 7, up to those who have just completed Year 9.
Run by Catholic parents, this event has been supported by the Bernadette Trust through the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton.
The main purpose is to help children enter their tumultuous teenage years knowing they are seen, known and loved by God, that there is a plan and a purpose for their lives.
The camp will endeavour to encourage our youth to begin the journey of taking ownership of their own prayer life, by giving them the time and space at camp to listen to testimonies of older teens, spend time in personal prayer, Adoration, and be given the opportunity for Confession, while having summer camp-style fun with other Catholic kids.
Jan 18 to Jan 21, 2026. Waitawheta Camp, 439 Waitawheta Road, Waihi
INTERNATIONAL NEWS & EVENTS
Click the image above to go to the Jubilee Year website.