New Year Welcome and Parish Life Resuming at St Ann’s

As we begin a new year – a new gift from God – we warmly welcome everyone back to parish life at St Ann’s Catholic Church, Kingston Hill. After the Christmas season, we return renewed in body, mind, and spirit, ready to continue our shared journey of faith.

Over the coming weeks, our regular parish activities will resume:

• Monday, 12 January 2026
  First Holy Communion sessions restart from 5:30 pm to 6:15 pm, and the RCIA programme will also recommence.
• Wednesday, 14 January 2026
  The 60+ Club, along with Yoga and Christian Meditation sessions, will resume. These initiatives support wellbeing of body, mind, and spirit, and all are warmly welcome. Volunteers are also invited to assist with this parish outreach.
• Sunday, 1 February 2026
  We look forward to St Ann’s Second Winter Celebration and Mass, to be held at the Holy Cross Preparatory School Campus.

As we return to our parish rhythm, we give heartfelt thanks for the past year. It has been a meaningful journey for our St Ann’s community – walking together, celebrating together, and supporting one another through both joyful and challenging moments.

Sincere gratitude is extended to all our volunteers, catechists, well-wishers, and parish supporters. To our elders, thank you for your wisdom and quiet strength. To our children and young people, thank you for the life and joy you bring to our parish.

From the coming week onwards, parish life begins again in full measure. Let us continue this journey together as one parish family, trusting that God, who has guided us so faithfully, will continue to lead us in the year ahead.

Tea and coffee continue to be served after Sunday Mass in the church hall near the car park – a wonderful opportunity to meet, share, and connect as a community. Children are also welcome to enjoy the Kids’ Corner.

Homily – Epiphany

My dear brothers and sisters,

Tuesday the Church will celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. And I feel this feast carries such a deep and beautiful message that it deserves to be heard, reflected upon, and lived – even today. I would like to have this Sunday homily for Epiphany.

Epiphany is not first of all about kings, crowns, or gifts. Epiphany is about search. It is about a journey. It is about people who dared to look beyond the familiar and trusted a call that was not fully clear.

Saint Matthew tells us:
“They set out and followed the star.” (Matthew 2:9)

The Wise Men were scientists, thinkers, observers of the skies. They were not satisfied with what was comfortable or already known. When they saw the star, they could have admired it and carried on with their lives. Instead, they left. They let go of routine, certainty, and security. That itself was a sacrifice.

Every real journey demands something from us. The journey of the Magi cost them time, comfort, reputation, and safety. They travelled through uncertainty. They faced questions. They risked being misunderstood. Yet they trusted that the search for truth was worth everything.

As Saint Augustine beautifully says,
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Along the way, the Wise Men learned something very important. Power and truth are not always found in palaces. They went first to Herod, expecting greatness there. But the palace was full of fear, insecurity, and manipulation. Real kingship was not there.

And so the star led them elsewhere – to a humble house, to simplicity, to a child.
“They saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage.” (Matthew 2:11)

This is Epiphany. God revealing Himself not in power, but in vulnerability. Not in prestige, but in humility. Not in noise, but in silence.

The journey also sharpened their conscience. When they realised what was right and what was wrong, they chose courage over convenience.
“They returned to their own country by a different way.” (Matthew 2:12)

Encountering Christ always changes our direction. You cannot meet Jesus and remain the same.

This feast speaks deeply to us today – as parents, as citizens, as believers, as seekers. Every day, consciously or unconsciously, we are journeying towards something. Success. Security. Recognition. Peace. Meaning.

The question Epiphany asks us is simple but searching:
What star are you following?

Jesus says,
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” (John 8:12)

Fix your gaze on that star. Let His Word guide you. Let His values shape your decisions. Let His humility teach you what truly matters. The journey may not always be easy. Sometimes you may feel lost. Sometimes the road will be uncertain. But the journey itself becomes grace when it leads you to Christ.

As Rabindranath Tagore once wrote,
“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”

May this Epiphany message help us trust the call, embrace the journey, and keep our focus on Jesus – the true light, the true King, the fulfilment of every honest search.

Amen.