By Nicolas Calandra
If you drive for about 1.5 hours north of Melbourne into the heart of the historic goldfields region of Victoria, you will reach Castlemaine. This was to be the parish that I would spend Holy Week in – a beautiful place and a wonderful Church. Castlemaine sits on the edge of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, and includes four churches: St. Mary’s Castlemaine and Catholic churches in Maldon, Newstead and Sandon.
I arrived on the Saturday morning of Holy Week before Palm Sunday. I would serve Fr. Wahid’s Masses in the different communities around the parish.
Palm Sunday morning we had Mass in the small town of Maldon at 8:30am. Then, once Mass had finished, we drove back to St. Mary’s Castlemaine for the 10:30am Mass. The hectic Sunday morning schedule reminded me of something one of the priests in the seminary once told me: you must make it a priority to start the day with the Divine Office and Meditation because you do not know when you will next be able to spend time in prayer. I definitely saw the wisdom of this advice as I got a glimpse into how Sundays can be busy.
The interior of St Mary’s Church, Castlemaine. PICTURE: Nicolas Calandra.
Then, Sunday night we had Mass in Sandon. After Mass, one of the parishioners set up a fire and stove to have some supper. And so, after Mass, we stayed and had a good chat by a fire out under the clear night sky.
The barbecue after Mass at Sandon Catholic Church. PICTURE: Nicolas Calandra.
I was impressed by the people I met from the parish. They were friendly and easy-going, had a strong sense of community, and a deep piety. I remember being moved by the people staying in silence at the Altar of Repose after the Holy Thursday Mass. There were some who stayed a couple hours until 11 pm, keeping our Eucharistic Lord company on the night of His prayer in Gethsemane.
I saw the beautiful universality of our Catholic Faith in the Holy Week ceremonies. Whether in inner-city Melbourne or in rural Victoria, we behold the same Wood of the Lord’s Cross on Good Friday, hear the same Psalms, and stand around the same Paschal Fire at the Easter Vigil.
Nicolas Calandra is pictured in the countryside during his Easter parish pastoral placement in Castlemaine.
There is a pain many parents and grandparents around Australia who actively live their Catholic Faith each day share in: the sadness that their children or grandchildren that do not practice the faith, or who have ‘drifted away’ in different ways. It is an ubiquitous problem. Seeing and talking to people gave a new impetus for prayer. You see and hear about concrete situations. People ask for prayers. And they also assure you of their prayers. This is all real motivation to pray and sacrifice for others. And, for the seminarian and priest, this is done especially by praying the prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours. It is one thing to pray the Divine Office because it is on the daily Seminary timetable. But it is another thing to pick up the breviary with the souls you have met in your mind, and to offer up that sacrifice of praise to God for them and their families.
The stain glass window behind the sanctuary in St Mary’s Church, Castlemaine. PICTURE: Nicolas Calandra.
I thought of what Venerable Fulton Sheen says in The Priest Is Not His Own. When the priest picks up the breviary to pray the Psalms, he is picking up the needs of the whole church throughout the world. Prayer takes on a whole new weight and urgency in the parish. There you see the needs and intentions to pray for. I was especially moved by the example of Fr. Wahid and his great spirit of prayer for all the people in his parish, remembering their names, their needs, and their prayer intentions.
I will forever remember this beautiful Holy Week spent in Castlemaine. It was a great glimpse into the life of a priest, and it certainly makes me look forward to being in a parish in the future, God-willing!