The Combined Societies of Mary
Let us enjoy together the Richness and the Beauty of God through Prayer
Devotions
Obituary
Joseph Giansiracusa
January 23, 1946 — September 6, 2022
Co-Founder and Vice President of the Combined Societies of Mary
Had a peaceful and grace filled passing from this life during the Novena leading up to the Feast of Our Lady's Birthday/ Feast of Our Lady of Vailankanni.
Much loved, he will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.
Above
A 4 minute plus video of the procession during the
recent "Walk With Mary"
that took place on 7th April.
The "walk" had been preceded by Holy Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral with Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli and was and was followed by Evensong at St Paul's Cathedral with Bishop Lindsay Urwin.
Report: Walk With Mary 2025
We thank God for a beautiful grace filled afternoon of Prayer at St St Patrick's Cathedral that we had on
Sunday 23rd March
A Short 5 minute video captures some of the moments
of an exceptionally blessed day
A Two minute video clip of the recent Eucharistic Procession for the Feast of Christ the King
Saturday 24th November, 2018
St Patrick's Cathedral,
Melbourne, Australia
main celebrant:
Most Rev. Bishop Mark Edwards
A Beautiful Afternoon
for Christ Our King
2022
By Car:
Holy Cross Church is at 707 Glenhuntly Road very close to Nepean Highway.
Otherwise come down or cross Dandenong road and come down either Hawthorn Road or Kooyong Road till you reach Glen Huntly Road. and There is a very large carpark at the rear which you enter via Murray Street, which runs off Hawthorn Road.
Come and Adore God's Mercy
Many of us are aware of the beautiful and extraordinary gift God gave to His Church through the Devotion to The Mercy of God.
This devotion has received the highest recommendation that the Church can possibly give: She canonised the visionary, Saint Faustina, and following the request of Our Lord, the Church instituted the Feast of Mercy: Divine Mercy Sunday, a Feast for the whole universal Church. This is the highest honour possible and recommendation.
But what did Our Lord come and say to us through Saint Faustina: He gave the world this devotion to prepare for His Second Coming, which He explained was to come in a short time, short even by human terms.
To prepare us and to help us in this time of need he gave the world 5 wonderful gifts which include Divine Mercy Sunday, The Divine Mercy Image, The Chaplet of Mercy, and “The Hour of Mercy”, and the special graces for those who spread His unfathomable Mercy.
The Novena and Feast has always been an extraordinary source of grace for all who attend. This year promises to be a most memorable and blessed one: A wonderful priest who has such a beautiful spirituality and presence, Fr Wodek Szczepanik will be with us to lead us and guide in these novena days and for the great Feast of Mercy. Fr Wodek was with us in 2007, and we always wanted him to come back but he was assigned as a missionary priest to Estonia and he could not find a priest to supply for his parish as hardly anyone back in Poland can speak Estonian.
Estonia is a small former USSR country which had the highest proportion of atheists in the world, but there is good news: recently a whole lot of priests were ordained and so he became free to come to us. This is wonderful news!
The Novena commences in the evening of Good Friday. Please see the back page, coming events for information regarding the time and venue etc.
Jesus told St Faustina that on that day, (that is the Feast of Mercy), “the floodgates of my mercy are opened, and I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the font of My mercy.”
In preparation for the Feast of Mercy Jesus gave Saint Faustina an extraordinary Novena commencing on Good Friday running for nine consecutive days. He gave her specific instructions on how to conduct the novena and even the intentions for those nine days. It is a very powerful Novena. Jesus declared “by this novena I will grant every possible grace to souls”. (Diary 796) Saint Faustina writes, “Jesus is commanding me to make a novena before the Feast of Mercy, and today I am to begin it for the conversion of the whole world and for the recognition of The Divine Mercy” (Diary 1059)
Jesus, regarding the Novena explained:
On each day you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls, and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy, and I will bring all these souls into the house of My Father.” (Diary 1209)
Jesus loves us so much and this Novena is so important to Him. He has made fantastic promises to all who do the Novena. But as with all prayers it isn’t simply a matter of doing, the power of the novena is determined by the amount of love and confidence we have in Jesus when we do it. That is why it is so important to come and share in the grace of the Novena organised by the Combined Societies of Mary. You will be in a prayerful and faithful environment and your efforts will be multiplied by those around you.
Our preparation and our ability to receive all the graces God wants to give us will no doubt be greatly assisted through the presence of a highly recommended, International Divine Mercy Priest, Fr Kasper Gorski from the Archdiocese of Warsaw.
Please spread this good news far and wide and be a blessed apostle of Divine Mercy.
Holy Cross Church
is situated at
707 Glenhuntly Road Caulfield South 3162
Getting There
By Tram:
Tram 67 is the Melbourne University to Carnegie Tram. Stop 50 is just a few metres from the Church.
Tram 64 is the Melbourne University to East Brighton Tram. (Stop 57 is at the corner of Hawthorn Road and Glen Huntly Road.) From here it is just a 2 minute walk or 200 metres to the Church.
By Train:
Take either the Sandringham Line, or the Frankston Line.
Sandringham Line:
Get down at Elsternwick Station
Elsternwick station is 1.7km from the Church
Take tram 67 towards Carnegie
Get off at stop 67 which is just before Hawthorn Road.
Frankston Line:
Get down at Glenhuntly Station.
Glenhuntly Station is 2.2km from the Church.
Take tram 67 towards Melbourne University.
Get off at stop 67, Just after Hawthorn Road
Coming Events
April
2025
Friday 4th April
First Friday
Masses and Devotions
Novena to the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus
7.00 PM
Adoration and Prayers in honour of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus followed by Holy Mass.
St Joseph's Church
71 Orrong Road
Elsternwick
Saturday 5th April
Mass and Devotions
10.30 AM
Adoration, Prayers as requested by Our Lady of Fatima, Holy Mass.
Confessions Available
St Colman's Church
293 Carlisle St , Balaclava
Divine Mercy Novena and Feast
Divine Mercy 2025
with
Polish Divine Mercy Missionary Priest
from Estonia:
Fr Wodek Szczepanik
Novena
Good Friday
29th March to
Saturday 6th April
7.00pm each Night
Prayers, Adoration, Holy Mass
(where the Liturgy permits Holy Mass, ie no Mass on Good Friday Evening.
Divine Mercy Feast
Sunday 7th April
1.00pm
Confessions, Adoration,
Prayers, Holy Mass
6 Priests for Confession