Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney mob: 0417 279 437; email; mike.delaney@catholicpriest.org.au
Assistant Priest: Fr Alexander Obiorah Mob: 0447 478 297; email: alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday 10am-3pm
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
FaceBook: Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: podomatic.com/mikedelaney
Parish Mass Times: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Parish Magazine: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au
Secretary: Annie Davies/Anne Fisher Pastoral Council Chair: Mary Davies
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Weekday
Masses 10th - 14th March, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 10:30 am
Eliza Purton Home
12noon Devonport
Friday: 9:30am
Ulverstone
Next
Weekend 14th & 15th March, 2015
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell (LWC),
9:00am Ulverstone,
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Eucharistic
Adoration:
Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon,
concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Devonport: Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of
each month.
Prayer Groups:
Charismatic Renewal – Devonport Emmaus House
Thursdays commencing 7.30pm
Christian Meditation - Devonport, Emmaus House Wednesdays 7pm.
HOLY WEEK & EASTER CEREMONIES 2015
DEVONPORT: Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Holy Thursday: Mass of the Lord’s Supper 7.30pm
(Adoration till 9pm followed by Evening Prayer of the Church)
Good Friday: Commemoration of the Passion 3.00pm
Easter Sunday: Easter Mass 10.30am
PORT SORELL: St Joseph’s Mass Centre
Good Friday: Stations of the Cross 10.00am
Easter Sunday: Easter Mass 8.30am
LATROBE: St Patrick’s Church
Good Friday: Stations of the Cross 11.00am
Easter Sunday Easter Mass 10.00am
SHEFFIELD: Holy Cross Church
Good Friday: Stations of the Cross 11.00am
Easter Sunday: Easter Mass 11.30am
ULVERSTONE: Sacred Heart Church
Good Friday: Commemoration of the Passion 3.00pm
Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil 7.00pm
PENGUIN: St Mary’s Church
Good Friday: Stations of the Cross 11.00am
Easter Sunday: Easter Mass 8.30am
Ministry Rosters 14th & 15th March, 2015
Devonport:
Readers:
Vigil: V Riley, A Stegmann
10.30am: F Sly, J Tuxworth, K Pearce
Ministers of Communion: Vigil
T Muir, M
Davies, J Cox, M Gerrand, T Bird, S Innes
10.30am: C Schrader, R Beaton, B & N Mulcahy, L Hollister
Cleaners 13th March:
B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley
20th March: K.S.C.
Piety Shop 14th
March: R McBain 15th
March: M Doyle
Ulverstone:
Reader: F Pisano Ministers of Communion: M Murray, J Pisarskis
Cleaners: Knights of
the Southern Cross Hospitality: M Byrne, G Doyle
Penguin:
Greeters: J Garnsey, S Ewing Commentator: J Barker Readers: M Murray, A Guest
Procession: M & D Hiscutt Ministers of Communion: M Kenney, E Standring
Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C Setting Up: M Murray Care of Church: Y & R Downes
Port Sorell:
Readers: L Post, T Jeffries Ministers of Communion: E Holloway Clean /Prepare A Hynes
Latrobe:
Reader: M Eden Ministers of
Communion: I
Campbell, H Lim Procession: Cotterell Family Music: Jenny & May
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Betty Weeks, Peter Bolster, Adrian Brennan, Frank Fitzpatrick, Yvonne Harvey, Leonie Heron, Margaret Hoult, Emma
Newton, Michele Nickols, Valerie & Tom Nicolson, Kath Smith, Candida
Tenaglia, Shirley White, Eva Zvatora & ...
Let us pray for those who
have died recently: Barbara Moncrieff, Fr James Sayers, Shirley Brereton, Bèla Vaszocz, Leigh Martin, Lisa Roach, Dorothy Leary, Ted Dolliver, Stan Tibble, Doug
Howard, Andrew Cooper, Bob Lovell, Tony Wesley, Veronica Obiorah, Monica Okeke, Rustica Visorro, Josefina Ancajas; also Kathleen Wesley and Gerry Mircea.
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 4th March – 10th March:
Pat Chisholm, Pauline Lamprey, Romualdo Bibera Snr, Doris
Roberts, Betty Waldon-Cruse, Sybil Dobinson and Betty Boskell, Nancye &
Tony Callinan, Tony Jarvis and Roy Woodcock.
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Readings This Week; Third Sunday of Lent - Year B
First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
Responsorial Psalm: (R.) Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
Second Reading: Corinthians 1:22-25
Gospel Acclamation: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!
God loved the world so much, he gave
us his only Son that all who believe in him might have eternal life.
Praise
to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!
Gospel: John 2:13-25
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PREGO REFLECTION:
As I come into the
presence of the Lord, I try to become still and relaxed. I know God is with me.
In silence, I entrust myself into the care of the Holy Spirit. Then, slowly, I
read the gospel, pausing between each scene.
I may like to read the text contemplatively. Using my
imagination, I try to see, hear and feel the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem at
Passover. In the Temple courtyard I watch the clamour of market-sellers and
money-changers. I become aware of Jesus making a whip, which he then uses to
drive them out of the Temple. Does this action of Jesus surprise me? Do I feel
challenged, disturbed, energised.
I then hear the people asking Jesus for a sign to prove his
authority. Do I hear my own voice joining theirs? Are there times when I seem
to ask for signs as a pre-requisite for belief? How fully do I believe that the
sign, par-excellence, is the scandal of the Cross?
Jesus presents himself as the new temple. It may be that I
think of my own life as a temple, or do I feel it is
more like a market-place at times? Is there any place in my life where I desire
cleansing or healing? Perhaps I could use this opportunity to consider the
quality of my prayer and worship and the relationship I have with the Lord. I spend two or three minutes letting
Jesus look on me with love.
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Readings Next Week; Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year B
First Reading: Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
Second Reading: Ephesians 2:-10
Gospel: John 3:14-21
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OUR LENTEN LITURGY IN 2015:
The entire Christian community is invited to live this
period of forty days as a pilgrimage of repentance, conversion and renewal. In
the Bible, the number forty is rich in symbolism. It recalls Israel’s journey
in the desert, a time of expectation, purification and closeness to the Lord,
but also a time of temptation and testing. It also evokes Jesus’ own sojourn in
the desert at the beginning of his public ministry, a time of profound
closeness to the Father in prayer, but also of confrontation with the mystery
of evil. The Church’s Lenten discipline is meant to help deepen our life of
faith and our imitation of Christ in his paschal mystery. In these forty days
may we draw nearer to the Lord by meditating on his word and example, and
conquer the desert of our spiritual aridity, selfishness and materialism.
Our words, actions and music in the liturgy lead us ever
deeper into the paschal mystery this Lent:
• After the introduction, Mass begins
with the priest greeting from the rear of the
church and then proceeds while
Kyrie Eleison or Lord have mercy is sung. On the
1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of
Lent, the Rite of Sprinkling (Asperges) may take place
during the singing of
the Kyrie. The name ‘Asperges’ comes from the first word in the 9th verse of
Psalm 51 in the Latin translation, the Vulgate.
• By the use
of violet/purple vestments. Violet recalls suffering, mourning,
simplicity and
austerity.
• By having
moments of silence before and after the readings and after the homily
RGIRM
(2007) 45.
• At the breaking of the bread (the
Fraction Rite) there will be a short narrative before intoning the Lamb of God
• By the
absence of flowers due to the penitential nature of the season.
• The congregation leaves the church
after the singing of a brief final hymn, then following the celebrant in
respectful silence.
• There is
no Gloria or Alleluia verse (replaced by a Gospel acclamation).
• Images are
veiled immediately before the 5th Sunday of Lent in accordance with local
custom.
• On
the 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) flowers are permitted as well as music
(eg music – that is musical instruments – being played during preparation of
the gifts, or during the communion procession). Rose vestments may be worn on
this Sunday.
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Karen is a First Australian living in a remote rural community. Like many, she can’t always afford or access healthy food. At Centacare Wilcannia-Forbes, Karen gained the skills she needed to provide healthier food for her family.
Please donate to Project Compassion 2015 and help First
Australians in remote communities gain the skills to make healthier food
choices, building a better future for their families.
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WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:
Last week we welcomed the children and families who have
enrolled into our Sacramental Preparation Program. Over the next few weeks they
will be having their preparation day and then will be celebrating the Sacrament
of Reconciliation for the first time. Also, gradually you will see their names
and photos appearing in our Mass Centres inviting parishioners to pray for them
– we would ask you to please remember them in this time before their
information is made available.
Sometimes things are very obvious, at other times not quite
so. Last weekend at Sheffield I mentioned that Fr Alex and I have less than 18
months experience in the Parish and there are many things that we don’t know,
including details about parishioners who might not be attending Mass these days
because of age or sickness. If you know of people who fit into this category
please let the Parish Office know – even if we already know it is better to be
sure than sorry.
The Parish Pastoral Council met this week and I talked a lot
– probably too much in fact. One reason is that I have just started reading a
new Book (others now left by the wayside for a time) – the book is titled
‘Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church’. It is
saying a lot about Parish Life and some of the challenges ‘we’ face and over
the next few weeks I will be saying more about my reading and thoughts. I’m also listening to the Podcasts from the
same group – rebuilt – available from iTunes. The book is available from Amazon
via Kindle and is good value and I would encourage anyone to consider
purchasing it for a challenging read.
Until next week take care in your homes and on the roads
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SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:
Last weekend our parish welcomed and congratulated about 30
children and their families who are embarking upon the Sacramental preparation
program. The candidates and their
parents publicly committed themselves to the preparation for Reconciliation,
Confirmation and Eucharist and accepted the constant invitation of God to a
deeper relationship in a special way through the Sacraments. The children were presented with a gift from
this community, a sacramental pin, a sign that shows they are preparing for the
Sacraments and that as a community we walk with them.
The candidates and their families will have a day of
preparation and learning for the Sacrament of Reconciliation next Saturday. We pray that this journey will be
an enriching time for all involved.
Loving God,
Pour out your blessing upon our
children that,
During this time of Sacramental
preparation,
They may grow closer to you, and
come to know your special love for them.
May this time of preparation for
the sacraments
of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist
Be a time of blessing for our
families and our community.
Unite us all in your great love.
Amen.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS: held each Friday of Lent starting at 7pm at Ulverstone, Devonport and Latrobe. All welcome!
LITURGY PREPARATION GROUP:
You are very warmly invited to join interested
parishioners and members of local liturgical and musical groups to assist in
the preparation of our parish Holy Week liturgies. A meeting will be held
at Emmaus House this Sunday 8th March from 2.00 pm - 3.30 pm
- For further information contact: Peter Douglas on 0419 302 435
CWL DEVONPORT
& ULVERSTONE: will meet together Wednesday 11th March at Emmaus House
Devonport at 2.00 pm on the occasion of the visit of the State
President, Sandra Harvey.
ST MARY'S
CHURCH PENGUIN:
A Sausage Sizzle will be held after
Mass on Saturday March 14th. Parishioners are asked if they can
bring a salad or a sweet to share, sausages will be provided.
Everyone welcome.
SPECIAL TALK - THE DEEPER MEANING BEHIND THE DIVINE
MERCY DEVOTION:
You are invited to a special evening with Paul and Juliana
Elarde, as they share with you the deeper meaning behind the Divine Mercy
devotion, and how God's mercy has changed their lives at Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Devonport on Thursday 19th March from 6.30pm. For more information
please contact the Sisters of the Immaculata 0406372608.
ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY: The Annual Button Day is Friday
20th March, if you are able to volunteer an hour of your time to sell
buttons to raise money for the good work of St Vincent de Paul Society please
phone Trish on 6427:7100. The Society acknowledges the generosity of
parishioners both financially and voluntary work.
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MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE,
WILLIAM STREET, FORTH
St Patrick’s Day Luncheon – A lighthearted celebration! Bring a friend! Enjoy a delicious lunch! Wear a Shamrock …. Leprechauns welcome! Tuesday
17th March, Cost $12. 12 noon start RSVP 13th March
Bookings essential. Phone Mary Webb 6425:2781 or Office
6428:3095 email rsjforth@bigpond.net.au
ATTENTION ALL MEN!
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PALM SUNDAY PILGRIMAGE – Sunday 29th March
Every member of the Tasmanian Catholic Community, and
friends, are encouraged to join us for the sixth Palm Sunday Pilgrimage event!
Start your Holy Week filled with energy, hope and faith, and celebrate World Youth
Day and our wonderful Tasmanian Church at the same time! Pilgrimage Walk from
Lindisfarne across Tasman Bridge to St. David’s Park (Hobart) for Festivities
in the Park; Heaps of activities for kids big and small; Procession to St.
Mary’s Cathedral for an inspiring celebration of Palm Sunday Mass! Great
opportunity to unite as one Archdiocese, witness to your faith, and have loads
of fun! Bus available from Burnie, but you MUST BOOK! For more information and
to register go to: www.cymtas.org.au
BUS FROM DEVONPORT (PALM SUNDAY PILGRIMAGE)
We really appreciate the huge effort that those from the
beautiful north west of the state make to travel to be a part of this
Archdiocesan celebration – it isn’t a celebration of our Tasmanian Church
without you!! To try and make it as easy as possible we have a subsidised bus
travelling from Burnie to Palm Sunday Pilgrimage and return. Bus will depart
Our Lady of Lourdes Church at 6.30am and return departing Hobart at 4.45pm. Return
single ticket is $15 or Family Ticket $50. PLEASE BOOK your seat on the bus as
early as possible but by no later than 20th MARCH. Book at: www.cymtas.org.au
(Of course you could always take yourself to Hobart and
make a weekend of it if you prefer!)
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall,
Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 12th March Tony
Ryan & Alan Luxton
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Evangelii
Gaudium
“The poor
person, when loved, ‘is esteemed as of
great value,’ and this is what makes the authentic option for the poor differ
from any other ideology, from any attempt to exploit the poor for one’s own
personal or political interest.”
Par 199 from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov.
24, 2013
Saint of the Week – St
Dominic Savio (March 10)
“So many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was Dominic Savio,
the patron of choirboys. Born into a peasant family at Riva, Italy, young
Dominic joined St John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of
12. He impressed John with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his
work with neglected boys.
“A peacemaker and an organizer, young Dominic founded a group he called
the Company of the Immaculate Conception which, besides being devotional, aided
John Bosco with the boys and with manual work.
“All the members save one, Dominic, would in 1859 join John in the
beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time, Dominic had been called
home to heaven. As a youth, Dominic spent hours rapt in prayer. His raptures he
called ‘my distractions.’ Even in play, he said that at times ‘It seems heaven
is opening just above me. I am afraid I may say or do something that will make
the other boys laugh.’ Dominic would say, ‘I can't do big things. But I want
all I do, even the smallest thing, to be for the greater glory of God.’
“Dominic's health, always frail, led to lung problems, and he was sent
home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day, he was bled, but it only
worsened his condition. He died on March 9, 1857, after receiving the Last
Sacraments.
“St. John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life. Some thought that
Dominic was too young to be considered a saint. St Pius X declared that just
the opposite was true, and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonised in
1954.”
“In the sacraments, spirit and matter ‘kiss.’
Heaven and earth embrace in a union that will never end.”
Christopher West, Theology of the Body for Beginners
Meme of the week
There is no doubt
that Oprah is generous to a fault! She is always giving stuff away...and
perhaps she knows that it’s Lent?
Francis: It is a sin
to abandon or discard the elderly
iACOPO SCARAMUZZI
writing in the Vatican insider -
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/francesco-francis-francisco-39513/
VATICAN CITY
VATICAN CITY
“I remember
when I used to visit old age homes, I spoke to each of the people there and the
conversation usually went like this: ‘How are you? And your children?’ – ‘Fine, fine’ – ‘How many do you have? – ‘Lots.’ – ‘And do they come to
visit you? – ‘Yes, yes, always, yes, they come.’ – ‘And when was the last time
they came to visit?’ To which the elderly woman – I remember one in particular
would say: ‘Well, at Christmas.’ And we were in August! Eight months had passed
without her children visiting once; abandoned for eight months! This is a
mortal sin, you understand?” Pope Francis dedicated today’s General Audience in
St. peter’s Square to the elderly – “grandparents, great aunts and uncles” –
continuing his series of catecheses on the family.
“The number of
elderly has gone up but our societies have not done much to make no room for
them, showing a lack of respect and real consideration for their fragility and
dignity,” Francis said. “As long as we are young we ignore old age as if it
were a disease that should be kept at bay; then when we grow old, especially if
we are poor, sick or alone, we experience the holes in a society that is built
on efficiency and consequently ignores the elderly. But the elderly are an
asset, they must not be ignored.”
Francis
recalled Benedict XVI’s visit to an old age home run by the Community of
Sant’Egidio (“The quality of a society, I mean of a civilization, is also
judged by how it treats elderly people and by the place it gives them in
community life”), reiterating: “It is true, attention
for the elderly is what makes the difference within a civilization. Does a
civilization show attention toward the elderly? Is there room for the elderly?”
“A culture based on profit insists on making the elderly seem like a burden, like
deadweights. Not only do they not produce, they are an encumbrance even:
result? They are discarded. It is a horrible thing to see the elderly being
discarded, it is a sin! People do not dare to say it out loud but this is what
happens! There is cowardice in this addiction to a throwaway culture. But we
are used to throwing people away. We want to get rid of our growing fear of
weakness and vulnerability; but in doing so we increasingly make the elderly
feel abandoned and not tolerated.”
But the elderly
“should be a storehouse of wisdom for the whole of society,” the Pope stressed.
Speaking off the cuff after the example he gave of the woman who had been
abandoned in an old age home, the Pope told another story which resembles of
the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales Lev Tolstoy had also once referred to: “When I
was a child, my grandmother used to tell us a story about an elderly man who
dirtied himself every time he ate because he couldn’t lift the spoon with the
soup to his mouth. His son, the father of the family decided that he was to eat
at a separate table in the kitchen where he was out of sight and would eat
alone. This way he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of friends who came to
lunch or dinner. A few days later, the son came home and found his own son, his
youngest, making something with wood, a hammer and nails. His father said:
‘What are you doing?’ – ‘I’m making a table dad’ – ‘A table? Why? – ‘So that
when you grow old you can eat there’. Children are more conscious than us!” The
Church cannot and does not want to conform to a mentality of intolerance, even
less so one of indifference and disregard toward old age,” the Pope said.
“The elderly
are men and women, fathers and mothers who were on the same paths as ourselves
before us, in the same very house as us, facing the same very battle for a
deserving life. They are men and women from whom we have received a great deal.
An elderly person is not an alien. We are that elderly person: sooner or later
we will inevitably grow old too, even if we don’t think about it. And if we
don’t learn to treat old people well, then this is how we will also be
treated.”
The Pope
concluded by saying: “All of us elderly people are a little bit fragile. But
some are particularly vulnerable, many are alone and
sick. Some depend on essential treatment and care from other people. Does this
mean we will take a step back? Will we abandon them to their fate? A society
without closeness, where gratuity and affection without something in exchange –
even among strangers – are becoming a rarity, in a perverse society. The
Church, which is faithful to the Word of God, cannot tolerate this degenerative
situation. A community in which closeness and gratuity are no longer considered
essential would lose its soul. “Where the elderly are not honoured
there is no future for the young.”
FEAR MASKING ITSELF AS PIETY
An article by FR Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/fear-masking-itself-as-piety/
It is easy to mistake piety for the genuine response that God wants of us, that is, to enter into a relationship of intimacy with Him and then try to help others have that same experience.
We see this everywhere in Scripture. For example, in Luke’s Gospel, after witnessing a miraculous catch of fish, Peter responds by falling at Jesus’ knees and saying: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” At first glance that would seem the appropriate response, a wonderfully-pious one, an acknowledgement of his littleness and unworthiness in the face of God’s abundance and goodness. But, as John Shea points out in his commentary on this text, Jesus names Peter’s response differently and invites him to something else. What? Peter’s response manifests a sincere piety, but it is, in Shea’s words, “fearfully wrong”: “The awareness of God makes him [Peter] tremble and crushes him down. If he clings to the knees of Jesus, he must be on his own knees. Peter does not embrace the fullness; he wants to go away. This is hardly the response Jesus wants. So he instructs Peter not to be afraid. Instead, he is to use what he experienced to bring others to the same experience. As Jesus has caught him, he is to catch others.” Jesus is inviting Peter to move out of fear and into deeper waters of intimacy and God’s abundance.
We see a similar thing in the First Book of Samuel (21, 1-6). King David arrives at the temple one morning, hungry, without food. He asks the priest for five loaves of bread. The priest replies that he hasn’t any ordinary bread, only consecrated bread that can be eaten only after the appropriate fasting and rituals. David, nonetheless, knowing that, as God’s king on earth he is expected to act resourcefully rather than fearfully, asks for the loaves and he eats the bread that, in other circumstances, he would have been forbidden to eat.
What makes this story important is the Jesus, when confronted by the fear and piety of the Scribes and Pharisees, highlights it and tells us that David’s response was the right one. He tells those who were scandalized by his disciples’ lack of fear that David’s response was the right one because David recognized that, in our response to God, intimacy and a certain boldness in acting resourcefully, are meant to trump fear. “The Sabbath,” Jesus asserts, “was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. That axiom might be rendered this way: God is not a law to be blindly obeyed. Rather God is a loving, creative presence that invites us into intimacy and then gives us energy to be more-creative in the light of that relationship.
Some years ago, a young mother shared this story with me. Her son, six years-old and now in school, had been trained from his earliest years to kneel down by his bed each night and pray aloud a number of ritual prayers (the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, a prayer to his guardian angel, and blessings and protection for his parents and siblings). One evening, shortly after starting school, when his mother took him to his room, he crawled into bed without first kneeling to say his prayers. His mother asked him: “What’s wrong? Don’t you pray anymore?” “No,” he replied, “I don’t pray anymore. My teacher at school (a nun) told us not to pray but to talk to God … and tonight I’m tired and have nothing to say!” In essence, this is the response of King David, asking the priest for the consecrated loaves. This young boy had an intuitive grasp that God is not a law to be obeyed but an intimate presence that resources us.
A number of the great Christian mystics have taught that, as we grow more deeply in our relationship with God, we gradually become more bold with God, that is, fear gives way more and more to intimacy, legalism gives way more and more to resourcefulness, judgment gives way more and more to empathy, and the kind of piety that would have us clinging to the knees of Jesus paralyzed by our own sinfulness gives way more and more to a joyous energy for mission.
Of course, there’s an important place for piety. Healthy piety and healthy humility are gifts from the Holy Spirit, but they do not paralyze us with an unhealthy fear that blocks a deeper, more-joyous, and more-intimate relationship with God. David had a healthy piety, but that didn’t stop him from acting boldly and creatively inside the intimacy of his relationship to God. Jesus too had a healthy piety, even as he was constantly scandalizing the pious around him.
We too easily mistake unhealthy fear for genuine piety. We do it all the time, naively seeing fear as virtue; however the mark of genuine intimacy is never fearfulness, but bold, joyous energy. The healthiest religious person you know exhibits this boldness and joy rather than a dead, overly-fearful piety.
Roots of Liberation
An email sent by Fr Richard Rohr on 22nd Feb 2015
One of the great themes of the Bible, which begins in the
Hebrew Scriptures and is continued in Jesus, is the preferential option for the
poor, or the bias from the bottom. About 1200 years before Christ, Israel was
at the bottom, an enslaved people in Egypt. The Exodus, the great journey of
the Hebrew people out of slavery and finally into the Promised Land, is an
archetype of the interior spiritual journey from entrapment to liberation. It
is the universal story.
Moses, himself a man at "the bottom" (a murderer
on the run and caring for his father-in-law's sheep), first encounters God in a
burning bush (Exodus 3:2), which, like so many initial religious experiences,
is experienced alone, externally and yet interiorly as well, both earth-based
and transcendent at the same time: "Take off your shoes, this is holy
ground" (3:5). This religious experience is immediately followed by a call
to a very costly social concern for his own oppressed people, whom he had not
cared about up to then. God said, "I have heard the groaning of my people
in Egypt. You, Moses, are to go confront the Pharaoh and tell him to let my
people go" (3:9-10).
There, right at the beginning of the Judeo-Christian
tradition is the perfect integration of action and contemplation. First, the
contemplative experience comes--the burning bush. And immediately it has
social, economic, and political implications. The connection is clear. There is
no authentic God experience that does not situate you in the world in a
different way. After an encounter with Presence you see things differently, and
it gives you the security to be free from your usual loyalties: the system that
you have lived in, your economics, and your tribe. Your screen of life expands
exponentially.
I believe the Exodus story--with Moses and the Jewish
people--is the root of all liberation theology, which Jesus clearly exemplifies
in the synoptic Gospels (see Luke 4:18-19). Liberation theology focuses on
freeing people from religious, political, social, and economic oppression
(i.e., what Pope John Paul II called "structural sin" and
"institutional evil"). It goes beyond just trying to free individuals
from their own particular "naughty behaviors," which is what sin has
seemed to mean to most Christian people in our individualistic culture.
Liberation theology, instead of legitimating the status quo,
tries to read reality, history, and the Bible not from the side of the
powerful, but from the side of the pain. Its beginning point is not sin
management, but "Where is the suffering?" This makes all the
difference in how we read the Bible.
God sees all the many kinds of suffering in the world. The
world tends to define poverty and riches simply in terms of economics. But
poverty has many faces--weakness, dependence, or humiliation. Essentially,
poverty is a lack of means to accomplish what one desires, be it lack of money,
relationships, influence, power, intellectual ability, physical strength,
freedom, or dignity. Scriptures promise that God will take care of such people,
because they know they have to rely on God.
Adapted from Gospel Call for Compassionate Action (Bias from
the Bottom) in CAC Foundation Set (CD, MP3 download);
and Job and the Mystery of Suffering (published by Crossroad Publishing Company), p. 126
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