Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney mob: 0417 279 437;
email: mike.delaney@catholicpriest.org.au
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 24th – 28th March, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
12noon
Devonport (Annunciation of the Lord)
7:00pm Ulverstone
Thursday: 10:00am Karingal
Friday: 9:30am
Ulverstone
Next
Weekend 28th & 29th March, 2015
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
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
RECONCILIATION: Monday 30th March OLOL
D’port 7.00pm
RECONCILIATION: Wednesday 1st April SHC
U’stone 7.00pm
Ministry Rosters 28th & 29th March,
2015
Devonport:
Readers:
Vigil: P Douglas, T Douglas, M Knight
10.30am: E Petts, K Douglas
Ministers of Communion: Vigil J Cox,
B
O’Connor, R Beaton, K Brown,
P Shelverton, B Windebank
10.30am: M & B
Peters, L Hollister, F Sly,
B & C Schrader
Cleaners 27th March: G&R O’Rourke,
M&R Youd 3rd April: M.W.C.
Piety Shop 28th March: R Baker
29th March: P Piccolo
Ulverstone:
Reader: E Standring
Ministers of Communion: B Deacon, J Allen, G Douglas, K
Reilly
Cleaners: V
Ferguson, E Cox Hospitality: M McLaren
Penguin:
Greeters: J & T Kiely Commentator: M Kenney
Readers: E Nickols, A Landers
Procession: Kiely Family Ministers of Communion: J Garnsey, S Ewing
Liturgy: Penguin Setting Up: E Nickols Care of Church: J & T Kiely
Port Sorell:
Readers: L Post, E Holloway Ministers of Communion: P Anderson
Clean /Prepare A Hynes
Latrobe:
Reader: M Eden Ministers of
Communion: Z Smith,
I Campbell Procession: I Campbell & Co Music: Hermie & Co
Your prayers are
asked for the sick: Baby Jai,
Marlene Mary Xuereb, Reg
Hinkley, Betty Weeks,
Adrian Brennan, Kath Smith, Peter Bolster, Shirley White &
...
Let us pray for those who
have died recently:
Nola Bengtell, Marion Sage, Frank
Fitzpatrick, Leonie Heron, Barbara Moncrieff, David
Gibbens, Shirley Brereton,
Bèla Vaszocz, Leigh Martin and Lisa Roach.
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time:
18th March – 24th March:
Jim Suckling, Gaudencio Floro, Myra Dare, Peggy Leary, Eva May Rogers, Brian
John Quilliam, John Hoye, Jamie Fahey, George Windridge, Leo Kingsley and
Nancye & Tony Callinan. Also deceased relatives and friends of Lemuel,
Romeo Macapil & Fatilano families.
May they rest in peace
_______________________________________________________________________
Readings This Week; Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year B
First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Responsorial Psalm: (R.) Create
a clean heart in me, O God.
Second Reading: Hebrews 5:7-9
Gospel Acclamation: Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ!
If you
serve me, follow me, says the Lord; and here I am, my servant will also be.
Glory to you,
Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ!
GOSPEL: John 3:14-21
________________________________________________________________________
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
As I come to pray, I take time to become quiet in mind and
body. When I am ready, I read the gospel slowly and prayerfully,
I may like to place myself in the scene, perhaps picturing
myself with the Greeks who came to Philip: what am I thinking and feeling as I
hear their request, “We should like to see Jesus”?
I may like to reflect: what I am looking for, what do I
really want today, as I come to pray, to meet with Jesus? I share with Him all
that is in my mind and heart. Perhaps I allow my attention to dwell on the
apparent contradictions in Jesus’ words: A grain will die to produce a rich
harvest...whoever loves their life will lose it...whoever gives up their life
in this world will gain eternal life... my death will draw all people to
myself... I ponder their meaning for me.
Jesus says to his disciples, and to me, “Whoever serves me
must follow me, wherever I am, my servant will be there too.” Where do I see
Jesus? How am I being called to follow Him today?
Gently, I end my prayer, perhaps asking for the grace “to
see you, Lord, more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly”... I
speak to Jesus, the one who shows me how to find the ‘balance’ I need to
minister to others in God’s name.
May I be able, like Jesus, to say,
‘This is why I came.’
Readings Next Week: Palm Sunday of the Passion of
the Lord - Year B
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7 Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11 Gospel: Mark 14:1 –
15:47
_________________________________
_________________________________
We Welcome and congratulate
William
Brand
who is being baptised this weekend
at Sacred
Heart Church Ulverstone.
________________________________________
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.
In a remote Andean village, Caritas Huacho is helping farmers like Cristian to grow and harvest a wide variety of high-value, sustainable fruit crops, which will provide a secure income and a wide variety of food for life.
Please donate to Project Compassion 2015 and help farmers
in Peru grow and harvest sustainable crops, providing their families with food
for life.
____________________________________
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
Last weekend I mentioned Anne Marie – the young woman who
has gone to Sierra Leone to work in an Ebola Hospital. I got an email from her
during the week (16th March) – this is what she said: Tomorrow is already my third week here in
Freetown at the Hastings Airfield Ebola Treatment Centre. It is sad and very emotional but there are some cases who are Ebola
negative and can get discharged to go home or are transferred to another
hospital. Many people have malaria. It is a tremendous experience and I am so
glad I came here. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for your prayers. I know they help.
Please continue to pray for the doctors and nurses.
There are many challenges in any Parish and at present I am
finding it difficult to really prioritise what needs to happen first. I know
that we have our Pastoral Plan and the recommendations flowing from that (a
reminder that it can be found at mlcathparishplan.blogspot.com.au or a hard
copy can be organised through the Parish Office) but a plan that sits somewhere
and nothing happens about it is next to useless.
I’ve mentioned over recent weeks the work of Fr Michael
White and Tom Corcoran in their book about how they worked to give new life to
their Parish (‘Rebuilt’). One of their challenges was to lead their
parishioners from being ‘consumers to contributors’ – to become disciples and
evangelisers.
So, over the next few weeks I will be exploring with Fr
Alex, the Parish Pastoral Council and others in the parish how we might begin
to find ways to really step up our implementation of the Pastoral Plan and
other possibilities of growth within our Parish Community and Communities. I am more than willing to explore any of
these conversations with anyone and look forward to whatever opportunities
there are to make this happen.
Until next week, please take care on the roads and in your
homes.
______________________________________________
LEGION OF MARY: Invite members of the Parish to
their annual Acies (Consecration to Our Lady) at Sacred Heart Church, Alexandra
Road Ulverstone, Sunday 22nd March at 2pm with
benediction followed by afternoon tea in the Community Room.
SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:
Last Saturday the candidates in our parish spent the day
together with their mum or dad in preparation for the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. They participated in a
variety of activities together to help them learn about and understand Reconciliation
and particularly about belonging, making choices and reconciliation.
By our birth we have a family to belong to. By our Baptism we have the Catholic family of
the Church to belong to. Being
accepted, included and loved in a family or Church community gives us the
experience of God’s love. The Sacrament
of Reconciliation restores our sense of belonging when we may have been
unfaithful to our baptismal calling.
Through Reconciliation we can admit to making bad choices,
say we are sorry, seek forgiveness and work at making up. We know this is important to heal broken
relationships with our family and friends.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation gives us a special opportunity to
experience the forgiving love of God. To
know we are loved and cherished by God as his beloved children gives us the
strength to live as a loved and loving person, comfortable in who we are and
confident to grow further.
We pray for the candidates as they make their first
Reconciliation in the coming week and remember in our own lives, especially in
this season of Lent, the unconditional love of God.
The First Reconciliation Celebrations for the children will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Monday 23rd at 7.00pm and at Sacred Heart Church on Tuesday 24th March at 7.00pm.
__________________________________________
CWL EASTER RAFFLE: Prize: Easter Basket. Tickets $1.00.
Buy a ticket this Sunday. Lucky winner will be drawn Sunday 29th
March.
__________________________________________
MACKILLOP
HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE, WILLIAM STREET, FORTH
SPIRITUALITY IN THE COFFEE SHOPPE: This Monday 23rd March 10.30 – 12 noon.
Come along….share your issues and enjoy a lively discussion over morning
tea! Phone: 6428 3095 or Email:
mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au
HOUR OF
PRAYER FOR WORLD PEACE:
All parishioners are invited to an Hour of Prayer for World
Peace before the Blessed Sacrament at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Devonport on
Thursday 26th March. Mass will follow at 12noon. For further details
please phone Michael Gaffney 0447 018 068.
EASTER VIGIL CHOIR: There will be practice for all who
are participating at the Easter Vigil on Thursday 26th March and Tuesday 31st March
7.00 pm at Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone.
HOLY SATURDAY EASTER VIGIL (SATURDAY 4TH
APRIL) – SACRED HEART CHURCH:
After Mass there will be supper in the Community Room.
Could parishioners please bring a plate of food to share?
PALM SUNDAY PILGRIMAGE – HAVE YOU REGISTERED?
NEXT SUNDAY (29th March) will see the greatest celebration
of our Tasmanian Church at Palm Sunday Pilgrimage. Please ensure you have
registered for this great event. Register at: www.cymtas.org.au/psp or contact
Rachelle Smith: rachelle.smith@aohtas.org.au
or 0400 045 368. Join with fellow Tasmanian Catholics from around the state in
faith, hope, witness and loads of energy and fun as we kick start Holy Week,
celebrate World Youth Day and unite as one Tasmanian Catholic Community! With
pilgrimage walk, festivities in the park (Giant Inflatable Slide, Sumo Suits,
Children’s Games, School Bands, Food, Drink & More!), street procession and
a vibrant celebration of Mass there is something for everyone of all ages!
REGISTER TODAY: www.cymtas.org.au/psp
BUS – If you missed the deadline for booking a seat from
Burnie or Devonport, please contact Rachelle as soon as possible.
KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS: Next meeting Sunday 29th March, Sacred Heart
Church Community Room, Ulverstone commencing at 6:00pm with a
shared tea. All men welcome.
BINGO Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall,
Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm! Callers Thursday
26th March Tony Ryan & Merv
Tippett.
ST TERESA OF AVILA: PRAYER
FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS: Launceston
Parish Pastoral Centre, 44 Margaret Street, Launceston from 7pm-8pm, Wednesday
15th April and Thursday 16th April. An opportunity to share a
cuppa and chat afterwards. Ring Sandra Walkling 6331 4991 for bookings.
SET A FIRE DOWN IN MY SOUL!
For all young adults in Mersey Leven Parish, you are
invited to FIRE, a weekend retreat, held at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone.
Speakers include: Archbishop Julian Porteous, Sisters of the Immaculata and
special guest, Sam Clear. When? Friday, 17 April (6.30pm
Gathering for a 7pm start) to Sunday, 19 April. Cost?
$20 (includes Friday night, light supper; Saturday, main meals; and Sunday,
morning tea).
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN
TICKETS:
AFL Footy is about to start and once again we will
be selling points margin tickets each week for $2.00 There are three $100
winners every week. The first roster game for the footy point’s margin ticket
will be Thursday 2nd April (Richmond v Carlton), then all tickets for
the rest of the season will be on Friday night’s game. Make
sure you buy a ticket (or two). You need to be in it to win it!!
________________________________
Evangelii
Gaudium
“The
dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns
which ought to shape all economic policies. At times, however, they seem to be
a mere addendum imported from without in order to fill out a political
discourse lacking in perspectives or plans for true and integral development.”
Par 203 from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov.
24, 2013
___________________________________
Saint of the Week – St
Turibius of Mogrovejo, Bishop (March 23)
Together with Rose of Lima, Turibius is the first known saint of the New
World, serving the Lord in Peru, South America, for 26 years.
Born in Spain and educated for the law, he became
so brilliant a scholar that he was made professor of law at the University of
Salamanca and eventually became chief judge of the Inquisition at Granada. He
succeeded too well. But he was not sharp enough a lawyer to prevent a
surprising sequence of events.
When the archdiocese of Lima in Peru required a new
leader, Turibius was chosen to fill the post: He was the one person with
the strength of character and holiness of spirit to heal the scandals that had
infected that area.
He cited all the canons that forbade giving laymen
ecclesiastical dignities, but he was overruled. He was ordained priest and
bishop and sent to Peru, where he found colonialism at its worst. The Spanish
conquerors were guilty of every sort of oppression of the native population.
Abuses among the clergy were flagrant, and he devoted his energies (and
suffering) to this area first.
He began the long and arduous visitation of an
immense archdiocese, studying the language, staying two or three days in each
place, often with neither bed nor food. He confessed every morning to his
chaplain, and celebrated Mass with intense fervor. Among those to whom he gave
the Sacrament of Confirmation was St. Rose of Lima, and possibly St. Martin de
Porres (November 3). After 1590 he had the help of another great missionary,
St. Francis Solanus.
His people, though very poor, were sensitive, dreading to accept public
charity from others. Turibius solved the problem by helping them anonymously.
_________________________________________________
Words of Wisdom – St John Paul II
“Human progress planned as alternatives (to
God’s plan) introduce in justice, evil and violence rising against the divine
plan of justice and salvation. And despite transitory and apparent successes,
they are reduced to simple machinations destined to dissolution and failure.”
________________________________________________
Meme of the week
If you have ever
done any sort of personal training, planking is an exercise designed to improve
your core (ie build up your tummy muscles). Not sure how it helps our priests,
but they sure do play an important role in helping build up the body of Christ.
________________________________________________
Pope Francis:
homily with announcement of Year of Mercy
Pope Francis presided over a penance service in St. Peter's Basilica on
Friday afternoon (13th March 2015), during which he announced an
extraordinary Jubilee dedicated to Divine Mercy. Below, please find Vatican
Radio's English translation of the Holy Father's homily, in which he made the
announcement.
****************************************
This year as last, as we head into of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we are
gathered to celebrate the penitential liturgy. We are united with so many
Christians, who, in every part of the world, have accepted the invitation to
live this moment as a sign of the goodness of the Lord. The Sacrament of
Reconciliation, in fact, allows us with confidence to draw near to the Father,
in order to be certain of His pardon. He really is “rich in mercy” and extends
His mercy with abundance over those who turn to Him with a sincere heart.
To be here in order to experience His love, however, is first of all the
fruit of His grace. As the Apostle Paul reminds us, God never ceases to show
the richness of His mercy throughout the ages. The transformation of the heart
that leads us to confess our sins is “God's gift”, it is “His work” (cf. Eph
2:8-10). To be touched with tenderness by His hand and shaped by His grace
allows us, therefore, to approach the priest without fear for our sins, but
with the certainty of being welcomed by him in the name of God, and understood
notwithstanding our miseries. Coming out of the confessional, we will feel
God’s strength, which restores life and returns the enthusiasm of faith.
The Gospel we have heard (cf. Lk 7:36-50) opens for us a path of hope and
comfort. It is good that we should feel that same compassionate gaze of Jesus
upon us, as when he perceived the sinful woman in the house of the Pharisee. In
this passage two words return before us with great insistence: love and judgment.
There is the love of the sinful woman, who humbles herself before the
Lord; but first there is the merciful love of Jesus for her, which pushes her
to approach. Her cry of repentance and joy washes the feet of the Master, and
her hair dries them with gratitude; her kisses are pure expression of her
affection; and the fragrant ointment poured out with abundance attests how
precious He is to her eyes. This woman’s every gesture speaks of love and
expresses her desire to have an unshakeable certainty in her life: that of being
forgiven. And Jesus gives this assurance: welcoming her, He demonstrates God’s
love for her, just for her! Love and forgiveness are simultaneous: God forgives
her much, everything, because “she loved much” (Luke 7:47); and she adores
Jesus because she feels that in Him there is mercy and not condemnation. Thanks
to Jesus, God casts her many sins away behind Him, He remembers them no more
(cf. Is 43:25). For her, a new season now begins; she is reborn in love, to a
new life.
This woman has really met the Lord. In silence, she opened her heart to
Him; in pain, she showed repentance for her sins; with her tears, she appealed
to the goodness of God for forgiveness. For her, there will be no judgment
except that which comes from God, and this is the judgment of mercy. The
protagonist of this meeting is certainly the love that goes beyond justice.
Simon the Pharisee, on the contrary, cannot find the path of love.
He stands firm upon the threshold of formality. He is not capable of taking the
next step to go meet Jesus, who brings him salvation. Simon limited himself to
inviting Jesus to dinner, but did not really welcome Him. In his thoughts, he
invokes only justice, and in so doing, he errs. His
judgment on the woman distances him from the truth and does not
allow him even to understand who guest is. He stopped at the surface, he was
not able to look to the heart. Before Jesus’ parable and the question of which
a servant would love his master most, the Pharisee answered correctly, “The
one, to whom the master forgave most.” And Jesus does not fail to make him
observe: “Thou hast judged rightly. (Lk 7:43)” Only when the judgment of Simon
is turned toward love: then is he in the right.
The call of Jesus pushes each of us never to stop at the surface of
things, especially when we are dealing with a person. We are called to look
beyond, to focus on the heart to see how much generosity everyone is capable.
No one can be excluded from the mercy of God; everyone knows the way to access
it and the Church is the house that welcomes all and
refuses no one. Its doors remain wide open, so that those who are
touched by grace can find the certainty of forgiveness. The greater the sin, so
much the greater must be the love that the Church expresses toward those who
convert.
Dear brothers and sisters, I have often thought about how the Church
might make clear its mission of being a witness to mercy. It is journey that
begins with a spiritual conversion. For this reason, I have decided to call
an extraordinary Jubilee that is to have the mercy of
God at its center. It shall be a Holy Year of Mercy. We want to live this Year
in the light of the Lord's words: “Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful. (cf. Lk 6:36)”
This Holy Year will begin on this coming Solemnity of the Immaculate
Conception and will end on November 20, 2016, the Sunday dedicated to Our Lord
Jesus Christ, King of the Universe – and living face of the Father’s mercy. I
entrust the organization of this Jubilee to the Pontifical Council for
Promotion of the New Evangelization, that [the dicastery] might animate it as a
new stage in the journey of the Church on its mission to bring to every person
the Gospel of mercy.
I am
convinced that the whole Church will find in this Jubilee the joy needed to
rediscover and make fruitful the mercy of God, with which all of us are called
to give consolation to every man and woman of our time. From this moment, we
entrust this Holy Year to the Mother of Mercy, that she might turn her gaze
upon us and watch over our journey.
________________________________________________
Open House
How Pope Francis Sees the Church
by Cardinal Walter Kasper March 13, 2015
The Bible and Catholic tradition have various images for describing the
essence of the church. At the center of Pope Francis’s understanding of the
church, corresponding to the approach of the Argentine theology of the people,
stands the image of the church as the people of God (Evangelii gaudium,
111–34). It is firmly anchored in the biblical, patristic, and liturgical
tradition. The Second Vatican Council renewed that understanding and presented
the church as the messianic people of God (Lumen gentium, 9–12). Before
long, however reservations grew loud among European theologians. One suspected
a one-sided sociological, political, grassroots ecclesiology. It was different
in Argentina. There the impulse of the council was eagerly seized upon and
further developed into the Argentine form of liberation theology, into the
theology of the people. Pope Francis imbues this ecclesiology of the people of
God with concrete life.
That is not a new in itself, but is certainly a renewed view of the
church, which should lead to a new style of ecclesial life. In Evangelii
gaudium, Pope Francis speaks of “pastoral care in conversion.” In his
speech to the bishops of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, he said very clearly what he
meant by such a conversion:
In reference to the
conversion in pastoral care, I would like to remind you that “pastoral care” is
nothing other than the exercise of the church’s motherhood. She gives birth,
breastfeeds, lets grow, corrects, nourishes, leads by the hand…. There is need
therefore for a church that is capable of rediscovering the womb of mercy.
Without mercy it is scarcely possible today to penetrate into a world of the
“injured,” who need understanding, forgiveness, and love.
Pope Francis’s style is correctly understood against the background of the
theology of the people. This style is not good-natured folksiness or even cheap
populism. Behind the pope’s pastoral style, which is close to the people,
stands an entire theology, indeed a mysticism of the people. For him the church
is far more than an organic and hierarchical institution. It is above all the
people of God on their way to God, a pilgrim and evangelizing people that
transcends every (however necessary) institutional expression.
Ultimately, the church is rooted in the secret of the most holy Trinity.
Salvation is a work of God’s mercy. Out of sheer grace God draws us to himself
through his Spirit and brings us together as his people. Thus, the church
stands under the primacy of grace; the Lord always precedes us with his love
and his initiative. Through his Spirit he draws us to himself, not as isolated
individuals, but as his people. So the church must be the place of renegotiated
mercy, where all can feel themselves welcomed and loved, where they experience
pardon and can feel encouraged to live according to the good life of the
Gospel.
On the basis of his theology of the people of God, Pope Francis is
averse to every form of clericalism. “Laypeople are, put simply, the vast
majority of the people of God. The minority—ordained ministers—are at their
service” (EG, 102). The shepherds should not feel that they are fine,
genteel lords, but rather should take on the smell of the sheep. Francis wants
the participation of the entire people of God in the life of the church—women
as well as men, laypeople as well as clerics, young and old. On the basis of
baptism and confirmation, all are missionary disciples; they should be included
in decisions. Lay ministries ought not be restricted to intra-ecclesial tasks;
they are supposed to have an impact on advancing Christian values in the
social, political, and economic world and should be engaged in applying the
gospel to the transformation of society. The education of the laity and the
evangelization of the professional and intellectual life pose, therefore, a
significant pastoral challenge.
The topic of women is especially important to the pope; he devotes two
sections to them inEvangelii gaudium (103–4) John XXIII counted the
participation of women in public life and consciousness-raising concerning their
human dignity among the signs of the times. Pope Francis recognizes that women
make an indispensable contribution to society and he joyfully notes how many
women exercise pastoral responsibility in the church, together with priests.
“But we need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female
presence in the church. Because ‘the feminine genius is indispensable in all
forms of expressions of the life of society’” (EG, 103). All the same,
the reservation of the priesthood to men, as a sign of Christ, the bridegroom
who offers himself in the Eucharist, is not open to discussion. Yet in the case
of sacramental power, we are moving on the plane of function and not of dignity
or superiority. “Indeed, a woman, Mary, is more important than the bishops.”
For Pope Francis that is not a defensive argument. Rather, he sees in it
“a great challenge for pastors and theologians”; it is a matter of recognizing
more fully “what this entails with regard to the possible role of women in
decision-making in different areas of the church’s life” (EG, 104).
There are, in fact, many influential positions in the church, including the
Roman Curia, that do not require ordination and are open to women, where women
could introduce their specific talents for the well-being of the church and
could break up an all too one-sided clerical atmosphere simply through their
presence and their collaboration.
Young people are also important to the pope—one might say, as a matter
of course. In his welcoming address at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro on
July 25, 2013, he said:
I have come as well
to be confirmed by the enthusiasm of your faith. You know that in the life of a
bishop there are many problems that need to be resolved. And with these
problems and difficulties, a bishop’s faith can grow sad. How horrible is a sad
bishop! How bad is that! So that my faith might not be sad, I came here to be
filled with your contagious enthusiasm!
Pope Francis knows about the difficulties of young people today and the
difficulties of youth ministry (EG, 105–6). But he also knows that
“young people call us to renewed and expansive hope, for they represent new
directions for humanity and open us up to the future, lest we cling to a
nostalgia for structures and customs which are no longer life-giving in today’s
world” (EG, 108).
The pope names the theological foundation of the significance of the
laity’s witness in the church. He refers to the teaching of the sensus
fidei, the spiritual sense for what is a matter of faith and living the
life of faith. The doctrine of sensus fidei, which is imparted to every
Christian through the Holy Spirit in baptism, is very well established in the
biblical and theological tradition, but has often been neglected. John Henry
Newman showcased it in a renewed way in his famous essay “On Consulting the
Faithful in Matters of Doctrine,” and Vatican II renewed it again. It holds
that the people of God as a whole cannot err in matters of belief (Lumen
gentium, 12; Evangelii gaudium, 119, 139, 198).
Unfortunately, that teaching was neglected after the council. There was
a fear that it would be misused by dissenting groups inside the church. Pope
Francis doesn’t share those fears. He highlights the doctrine of the sensus
fidei and from it concludes that the church must keep its ear to the
people. He speaks of the laity’s instinct for finding new ways of
evangelization and he argues, therefore, in favor of making provisions for
their voices to be heard and for pastoral dialogue with them.
Pope Francis wants a magisterium that listens. He shows how serious he
is in Evangelii gaudium. In this apostolic exhortation, he cites
not only statements from the Roman magisterium, but often he also cites
documents from episcopal conferences from around the world. Popular piety is
especially important to him. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, a theological
source and is, so to speak, the mother tongue of the faith. In their 2007
Aparecida document, the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean speak of the
“people’s mysticism”—Pope Francis cites the text in Evangelii gaudium (124,
237).
That does not mean that the church creates out of itself the truth and
its power. On the contrary, as the itinerant people of God, the church does not
live out of its own resources, but rather from listening to the word of God and
from the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The pope devotes the entire,
lengthy third chapter of Evangelii gaudium to living on the
basis of the proclaimed word of God.
All evangelization
is based on that word, listened to, meditated upon, lived, celebrated, and
witnessed to…. The church does not evangelize unless she constantly lets
herself be evangelized. It is indispensable that the word of God be ever more
fully at the heart of every ecclesial activity. God’s word, listened to and
celebrated, above all in the Eucharist, nourishes and inwardly strengthens
Christians, enabling them to offer an authentic witness to the Gospel in daily
life…. The preaching of the word, living and effective, prepares for the
reception of the sacrament, and in the sacrament that word attains its maximum
efficacy. (EG, 174)
With respect to the sacraments, the church is a merciful mother with an
open heart for all. The sacraments are medicine and nourishment for the weak;
they are not only for the perfect, according to the pope. The church should be
an open house with open doors. Francis seems to prefer the image of the church
as a merciful mother, an image that was dear to the martyr-bishop Cyprian in
his dispute with Novatian, in contrast to Novatian’s image of the church as a
pure and holy virgin. Against the rigorism of Novatian, Cyprian supported the
cause of clemency and mercy for those Christians who had become weak during
persecution (lapsi). Today Pope Francis says that he prefers a church
that is bruised, hurting, and dirty because it has been out on the streets,
rather than a church remaining shuttered within its structures, while outside a
starving multitude waits.
With these and many other statements in the pope’s daily homilies, it appears
that the pope has laid the groundwork for allowing Christians in irregular
situations, such as divorced and remarried individuals, after examination of
their respective situations, to the sacraments of reconciliation and Eucharist.
The pope has responded that he was not thinking of such concrete situations
when he made his general statement in Evangelii gaudium. Until
there is a decision about this pastorally pressing yet still contentious
question, he wants, in the exercise of his office of unity, first to hear what
the Spirit is saying to the churches (see Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, etc.) and then
decide.
Contrary to many misrepresentations, in my talk before the consistory of
cardinals in 2013, though I did touch on that question, I intentionally left it
open. I expressly referred to the decision of the synod in communion with the
pope. “Remaining in the truth” is for me, as for all the theologians who took
part in the discussion, a matter of course. The question that awaits an answer,
however, is: What does truth mean in the sense of the biblical truth of divine
faithfulness (emet, in Hebrew) in a concrete situation. As many
recent exegetical investigations show, this issue cannot be resolved merely by
quoting the words of Jesus (Mark 10:2–12 and parallels), which were transmitted
differently already in the New Testament. Even if the question under
consideration is not the only—or even the central—question of the family today,
it has nonetheless become for many Christians the test of the viability of the
new pastoral style. Therefore, it is to be hoped that in keeping with the old
conciliar tradition, after all have been heard, a great consensus about it can
be achieved so that, unified, we can turn all the more to the fundamental
questions in the present crisis of the family.
For that reason it would be wrong to stay fixated on internal ecclesial
problems and on what is often characterized as “hot potatoes.” Pope Francis is
thinking beyond the church’s inner space. During the preconclave period,
then-Cardinal Bergoglio pointed out that the church should not be focused on
itself; it ought not be a church that is narcissistically in love with itself,
that revolves around itself. A self-involved human being is a sick human being;
a self-involved church is a sick church (EG, 43). Francis wants out of
the stale air of a church that is self-involved—suffering from its own
condition, bemoaning or celebrating itself. For him the church is an open
house, a father’s house, in which there is a place for everyone with their
difficulties. Therefore, he warns about a fundamentalism as well as about a
one-sided sacramentalization of ecclesial life.
Pope Francis’s paradigm for the church is mission, a pastoral ministry
that is not only preservative but decidedly missionary, a church that is
permanently in a state of mission. That does not mean proselytism. The church
grows not by proselytizing, but by attracting (EG, 14). As the pope
repeatedly says, it is a matter of being a church that goes to the peripheries.
That means not only the bleak peripheries of megalopolises, but also the
peripheries of human existence.
God is a God of the journey, who has patiently traveled a long path with
us in the history of salvation. The church fathers spoke of God’s patience and
forbearance, of his pedagogy and economy. As we have seen, the motif of a
journey or path is important for Francis. For him faith is not a fixed
standpoint, but rather a path on which every person, as well as the church as a
whole, is on the way. The church’s task is to accompany people wisely,
patiently, and mercifully on this path, this process of growth. Francis quotes
Blessed Peter Faber, for whom he has special esteem: “Time is God’s messenger”
(EG, 169-73). The concluding document of the extraordinary synod of 2014
adopted this understanding of a pastoral ministry that meets people where they
are and accompanies them.
That said, we touch upon the deepest—I would say the mystical—dimension
of Pope Francis’s ecclesiology. He wants to encounter Christ—indeed, to touch
Christ—in the poor (EG, 270). The church is the body of Christ;
therefore, we touch the wounds of Christ in the wounds of the others. “Truly I
tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my
family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). That is a mystical point of view. It
calls to mind Francis of Assisi who, at the beginning of his spiritual journey,
embraced a leper; and it recalls Mother Teresa’s experience of her calling,
when she carried a dying person into her cloister and, in the process, had the
experience of carrying Christ in her arms, like a monstrance. Last year In
Albania, Mother Teresa’s native land, Francis spoke movingly of a church that
can administer solace because it too has experienced solace.
At this point the paradigm shift in method, corresponding to the model
of the Good Samaritan, becomes concrete. The Samaritan descends into the dust
and dirt of the street, touches and binds up the wounds of the one fallen among
robbers, and also pays for his care. Francis speaks of a mysticism of
coexistence and encounter, of embracing and supporting one another, of
participating in a caravan of solidarity, in a sacred pilgrimage; he speaks of
a mystical and contemplative fraternity, which “knows how to see the sacred grandeur
of our neighbor, of finding God in every human being” (EG, 92).
Or—Johann Baptist Metz put it—this is not a mysticism of closed eyes, but
rather a mysticism of open eyes, which becomes a mysticism of helping hands.
For Pope Francis, the guiding star of evangelization and of this kind of
pastoral care is Mary, Jesus’s mother—and our mother. Mary is the subject
of Evangelii gaudium’s closing chapter. That has become a tradition
in the encyclicals of the past few popes. For a pope who comes from Latin
America and is devoted to popular piety, such a chapter is completely natural.
Guadalupe in Mexico, Aparecida in Brazil, and Luchan in Argentina are all
Marian pilgrimage sites of national and continental significance. We should not
arrogantly dismiss their mention as a tribute to the ancestry and culture of
the pope, but rather acknowledge the religious power—including the power of the
new evangelization—that emanated and still emanates from these centers in the
history of the Latin American continent. We should take seriously the fact that
without Mary we can never entirely understand the spirit of the new
evangelization and can never entirely understand the church as well.
Without
Mary the church would lack a feminine image. Mary accompanies God’s people on
the path of evangelization, even in periods of darkness, which include many
tribulations. She is the model and advocate of evangelization. Thus, there is a
Marian style in the missionary activity of the church; it is a revolution of
tenderness and love.
This article was adapted from Cardinal Walter Kasper's new book Pope
Francis’s Revolution of Tenderness and Love (Paulist Press).
________________________________________________
SEEING IN A DEEPER WAY
An Article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/seeing-in-a-deeper-way/#.VQuiP46UeNESometimes you can see a whole lot of things just by looking. That’s one of Yogi Berra’s infamous aphorisms. It’s a clever expression of course, but, sadly, perhaps mostly, the opposite is truer. Mostly we do a whole lot of looking without really seeing much. Seeing implies more than having good eyesight. Our eyes can be wide open and we can be seeing very little.
I’ve always been intrigued by how scripture describes Paul immediately after his conversion. We always assume that it tells us that Paul was struck blind by his vision, but, I think, the text implies more. It tells us that Paul got up off the ground with his eyes wide open, seeing nothing. That doesn’t necessarily equate with physical blindness. He may well have been seeing physically, but he wasn’t seeing the meaning of what he was getting himself into. Someone had to come and open his eyes, not just so that he could see again physically but especially that he could see more deeply into the mystery of Christ. Seeing, truly seeing, implies more than having eyes that are physically healthy and open. We all see the outer surface of things, but what’s beneath isn’t as automatically seen.
We see this, for instance, in what’s contained inside the healing miracles of Jesus. In the Gospels, we see Jesus perform a number of healings. He heals lame people, deaf people, mute people, people with leprosy, and two women who for different reasons are unable to become pregnant. What’s important to see in these various miracles is that, almost always, there’s more at issue than mere physical healing. Jesus is healing people in a deeper way, that is, he is healing the lame so that they can walk in freedom and in service of God. He is healing the deaf so that they can hear the Good News. He is healing the mute so that they can open their mouths in praise. And he is healing those who are hemorrhaging interiorly so that they can bring new life to birth.
We see this most clearly at those times when Jesus heals people who are blind. He’s giving them more than just physical sight; he’s opening their eyes so that that can see more deeply. But that’s only an image. How might it be unpackaged? How can the grace and teachings of Jesus help us to see in a deeper way? Here are some suggestions:
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through familiarity to seeing through wonder.
G.K. Chesterton once affirmed that familiarity is the greatest of all illusions and that the secret to life is to learn to look at things familiar until they look unfamiliar again. We open our eyes to depth when we open ourselves to wonder.
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through paranoia and self-protection to seeing through metanoia and nurture.
It is not incidental that the first word out of Jesus’ mouth in the Synoptic Gospels is the word “metanoia”, a word that opposes itself to “paranoia”. We open our eyes to depth with we shift from a posture of self-protection to a posture of nurture.
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through jealousy to seeing through admiration.
Our perception becomes distorted whenever we move from the happy state of admiration to the unhappy state of envy. Our eyesight is clear when we delight in admiration.
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through bitterness to seeing through eyes purified and softened by grief.
The root of bitterness is wound and the way out of bitterness is grieving. Tears clear our eyesight because they soften a heart hardened by wound.
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through fantasy and auto-eroticism to seeing through appreciation and prayer.
One of the key movements within our spiritual lives is the movement from fantasy to prayer, a movement that ultimately frees us from wanting to press to ourselves all that’s beautiful to appreciating beauty for its own sake. We can only really see and appreciate beauty when we stop lusting for it.
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through relevance to seeing through contemplation.
Our longing for relevance makes us look out at the world with restless, dissatisfied eyes. We practice mindfulness and see the richness of the present moment only when our disquiet is stilled by solitude.
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through anger to seeing through forgiveness.
Nothing taints our eyesight as much as anger. It’s the most debilitating of all cataracts. And nothing cleanses our vision as much as forgiveness. Nobody holding a grudge sees straight.
· By shifting our eyes from seeing through longing and hunger to seeing through gratitude.
Longing and hunger distort our vision. Gratitude restores it. It enables insight. The most grateful person you know has the best eyesight of all the people you know.
Love is the eye! So say the medieval mystics, in wisdom that needs to be added to the medical vocabulary of contemporary optometry. Seeing straight has more dimensions than we normally imagine.
________________________________________________
How to Win by Losing
An email reflection posted by Fr Richard Rohr on 11th March 2015
The heart of Jesus' teaching was the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), together with his parables, many of which are about losing and then finding (the lost son, the lost coin, the lost sheep). All of these teachings, and Jesus' lived example, call us to win by losing, which is so countercultural and so paradoxical that Jesus finally had to live it himself to show us it could be true.
The Sermon on the Mount begins with the so-called Eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Read them from the perspective of how they describe Jesus as the suffering servant:
How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Meister Eckhart, OP, (1260-1328) said that to be poor in spirit is to "know nothing, want nothing, and have nothing." That sounds a lot like Buddhism! And this is Jesus' opening line.
Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage.
This is so contrary to our love of power, certitude, and control. Who of us really believes this? Could you ever build an empire or even an institution with this kind of naïveté?
Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
We now know that grief is a privileged portal into soul work and transformation.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied.
Happy are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.
There is a perfect correlation between how we give and what we can receive. Consider this for the rest of your life.
Happy the pure in heart; they shall see God.
Happy the peacemakers; they shall be called children of God.
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3-10)
Each of these invitations, for that is what they are, are concerned about vulnerable and outpouring relationship, which is necessary for the second half of life, in the same way that the Ten Commandments serve for ego-identity in the first half of life. The Beatitudes are descriptions of a mature human person much more than prescriptions for other-worldly salvation.
They offer something astoundingly new to human consciousness, which is a lifestyle based on vulnerability, mutuality, service--and thus a willingness to be usable for God, history, healing, and one another.
Adapted from The Great Themes of Scripture: New Testament, pp. 21-22 (published by Franciscan Media);
and The Path of Descent, disc 4, (CD, MP3 download)
No comments:
Post a Comment