Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish

Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney mob: 0417 279 437;

email: mdelaney@netspace.net.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 

Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au 

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 28^th April – 2^nd May 2015   

Monday:        9:30am - Ulverstone

Tuesday:       9:30am - Penguin                         

Wednesday:  9:30am - Latrobe  

Thursday:     12noon - Devonport                       

Friday:          9:30am – Ulverstone

                    12noon – Port Sorell

Saturday:      9:00am – Ulverstone

                             

Next Weekend 2^nd & 3^rd May 2015

Saturday Vigil:  6:00pm Penguin & Devonport

Sunday Mass:   8:30am Port Sorell (Feast Day)

                       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.

Ministry Rosters 2^nd & 3^rd May 2015

Devonport:

Readers Vigil: V Riley, A Stegmann

10.30am:  A Hughes, T Barrientos, P Piccolo

Ministers of Communion: 

Vigil: M Doyle, M Heazlewood, S Innes,
M Gerrand, P Shelverton

10.30am: B Peters, F Sly, J Carter, E Petts, 
B Schrader

Cleaners 1^st May: M.W.C.  8^th May: B Bailey, A Harrison, M Greenhill

Piety Shop 2^nd May:  H Thompson 3^rd May: O McGinley Flowers:

Ulverstone:

Reader: K McKenzie 

Ministers of Communion: P Steyn, E Cox, C Singline, J Landford

Cleaners: M McKenzie, M Singh, N Pearce Flowers: M Byrne 

Hospitality: M & K McKenzie

Penguin:

Greeters: A Landers, P Ravaillion Commentator:  Y Downes 

Readers:  M Murray, E Standring Procession: M & D Hiscutt 

Ministers of Communion: T Clayton, E Nickols

Liturgy:  Sulphur Creek J Setting Up: S Ewing 

Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols

Port Sorell:

Readers:              Ministers of Communion:        Clean/ Flowers /Prepare

Latrobe:

Reader:  M Eden Ministers of Communion: Z Smith, P Marlow 

Procession: I Campbell & Co Music: Hermie & Co

Your prayers are asked for the sick:

Geraldine Roden, Tony Hyde, Fr Terry Southerwood, 

Sr Gwen Dooley ssj, Declan Banim, Terry McKenna, 

Robert Windebank, Adrian Brennan, Kath Smith & …

Let us pray for those who have died recently: 

Leo Sheehan, Dawn Ashman, James Keegan, Dorothy Ross, Peter Ray, Emily Sherriff, Noelene Britton, Sr Patricia McNeil, Leith Cowley, Millie McCulloch, Betty Weeks, Ted Parsons,  Fr Ray Wells and Victoria Obiorah

Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time:  22^nd – 28th April

Ray Breen, John Redl, Lillian Stubbs, Flo Smith, Ellen Lynch, 

Ronald Allison, Delia Soden, Ron Batten, Cedric Davey, Maureen Beechey, Frances Hunt, David O’Rourke and Mary Scolyer. Also George Windridge & Leo Kingsley.

May they rest in peace

Readings This Week; Fourth Sunday of Easter

First Reading: Acts 4:8-12

     

Responsorial Psalm:

(R.) The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-2

                              

Gospel Acclamation: 

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my sheep, and mine know me.

Alleluia!

Gospel: John 10:11-18

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL: 

As I settle to pray with this familiar gospel story I become aware of my human need to feel cherished and cared for. I might like to recall people in my life who have cared for me whilst I was growing towards my potential. I express my thanks for their goodness.

I listen as Jesus say to me “I am the good shepherd. I know my own...” I hear Jesus tell me he loves me and cares for me just as I am. I let this truth resonate deeply within me....

Jesus then tells me how wonderful it is to be known by his Father, the source of goodness. What is it like to be really known by someone I see as goodness personified?

How am I called to become good in my own way, to be someone others can trust? How can I be a role model in my own circle of influence? I take my time in this prayer. I wait patiently for the Lord to guide me.  I may like to end my prayer slowly, praying the Our Father …….

Readings Next Week: Fifth Sunday of Easter

First Reading: Acts 9:26-31  Second Reading: 1 John 3:18-24 Gospel:  John 15:1-8

ANZAC DAY:

Remembering, giving thanks and praying

They shall grow not old, 

as we that are left grow old:

 At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. 

Eternal rest grant to them O Lord 

                                                       and may perpetual light shine upon them.

Gracious and loving God,

As we mark the ANZAC Centenary,

We remember all who lost their lives through Australia's involvement in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
On ANZAC Day, 
we especially remember the courageous actions undertaken

  by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps 
during the First World War.
On this national day of commemoration,

we pray for the airmen, sailors and soldiers who died in battle, 
sacrificing their lives while on duty.

We commemorate their bravery 
and pray for the families who lost loved ones.

As we strive for peace in our country and world, 
help us to become instruments of your peace.

We ask this prayer through Christ our Lord.

 Amen.

WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:

Well I have survived the first week by myself – I think! We welcome Fr Balasundaram Antonyraj (or Fr Bala for short!) to our Parish this weekend – he will be with us for the first three weekends while Fr Alex is away.

I sent an email to Fr Alex checking to see whether he arrived safely and this was his reply: ‘My journey home was safe and I got to Nigeria around 12:30, 9:30pm of Australian time. Thank you for everything and send my regards to everybody’ - Fr. Alex.

This weekend, as we celebrate the Centenary of ANZAC Day, we recall all those who gave up their time and, many, their lives for the defence of our country over these past 100 years. There is never a rightness to war but there is valour in defending our country and the rights of others to freedom from oppression and threat to their lives and livelihood. Many of us have relatives who served or are serving our country today, there are many of us who have personally served here or overseas – this weekend we remember all who have served our country and pray that there might be peace in our time.

Next week we have a couple of events that I’d like to draw to your attention. We have the two ReFrame sessions – Monday night at 7pm and Wednesday morning at 11am in the Parish House, Devonport. The next Parish Community to celebrate their Feast Day will be Port Sorell – the Feast Day is Friday, 1st with Mass at 12noon followed by lunch and then on Sunday there will also be a morning Tea after Mass (please bring a plate). We also have the 2nd Open House for 2015 at the Ulverstone Community Room on Friday 1st commencing at 7pm. Then on Sunday, at Ulverstone after the 9.00am Mass, we have the next stage for our young parishioners in their preparation for the Sacraments of Initiation – please keep them in your prayers.

This weekend at Sacred Heart Church we will be welcoming Samantha McGrath as a candidate for the RCIA program. With the support of her family and catechists she will be embarking on this journey of becoming a member of our Parish Community – please keep them all in your prayers.

Until next week, please take care on the roads and in your homes.

 

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:

PENTECOST SUNDAY CHILDREN’S MASS:

Families are particularly invited to the Pentecost Sunday Children’s Mass on Sunday 24^th May at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Devonport at 10.30am.

You are invited to wear something red or orange and since Pentecost is commonly thought of as the Birthday of the Church please stay for cake and craft activities in the hall afterwards.

KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS:

Monthly meeting this Sunday 26th April Sacred Heart Church Community Room, commencing with a shared tea at 6pm. All men welcome.

MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE

SPIRITUALITY IN THE COFFEE SHOPPE.   

Monday 27th April    10.30am – 12 noon Come along…share your issues and enjoy a lively discussion over morning tea!  Phone: 6428:3095        Email: mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au

SPENDING TIME WITH THOMAS MERTON – * 20th Century spiritual master * gifted religious thinker * writer of remarkable insight * social commentator of courage & conviction. Tuesday 5th May, 7.30pm - 9pm; MacKillop Hill, Forth, $15 donation.    Bookings ph. 6428 3095 / mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au

MOTHER’S DAY LUNCHEON: Early Mother’s Day Luncheon to be held Friday 8^th May at MacKillop Hill Forth at 12noon. Soup, Sandwich, Sweets. $10 per head.  Bookings by Monday 4^th May, ring Mary Webb 6425:2781 or MacKillop Hill 6428:3095.

HEALING MASS:

Catholic Charismatic Renewal are sponsoring a HEALING MASS at St Mary’s Church Penguin Thursday 14^th May commencing at 7.30pm. All denominations are welcome to come and celebrate the liturgy. After Mass, teams will be available for individual prayer. Please bring a friend and a plate of food for supper to share. If you wish to know more or require transport please contact Celestine Whiteley 6424:2043, Michael Gaffney 0447 018 068, Zoe Smith 6426:3073 or Tom Knaap 6425.2442.

FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:

Round 3 – Collingwood won by 74 points.

 Winners; Margy Badcock, Bobby Crocker, unknown.   

Don’t forget to buy a ticket today – only $2.00 each. 

Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.  Eyes down 7.30pm!

30th April Callers – Merv Tippett & Alan Luxton.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:

Fr Chris Hope will present four sessions at Maryknoll in Blackman's Bay on Jesus in Mark and Before Mark On Mondays May 4, May 11, May 25 and June 1 Each session begins at 10am and concludes at 12 noon.

Please contact Sr Margaret RSM for details and notification of attendance 0418 366 923           mm.henderson@bigpond.com

JUST SPORTS:

Catholic Youth Ministry are currently seeking volunteers to join in our Just Sports program, visiting the young people at Ashley Youth Detention Centre for an afternoon of fun and sports. We need people with particular sporting skills to help lead different sports, as well as people with limited sporting ability, but are willing to have a go, have some fun, and share with the young people at Ashley!  We will visit regularly, but volunteers will go on a roster so you don’t need to attend each time. If you are aged 17 – 35 and would like to be part of this current intake of volunteers please contact Rachelle ASAP: rachelle.smith@aohtas.org.au or 0400 045 368  

ST SCHOLASTICA'S COLLEGE, Glebe Point, NSW is holding its annual re-union at the College on Sunday 24th May 2015 commencing with Mass in the Chapel at 12 noon followed by a light lunch. All ex-students are warmly invited to attend. For more information contact Karen Debenham: 029460:4462, 0419999084 - email: karendebenham@optusnet.com.au

Evangelii Gaudium

“I am interested only in helping those who are in thrall to an individualistic, indifferent,    and self-centred mentality to be freed from those unworthy chains and to attain a way of living and thinking which is more humane, noble and fruitful, and which will bring dignity to their presence on this earth.”

-        Par 208  from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov. 24, 2013

Saint of the Week

St Catherine of Siena, virgin, doctor (April 29)

St Catherine ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Church. In 1939, she and Francis of Assisi were declared co-patrons of Italy. Paul VI named her and Teresa of Avila doctors of the Church in 1970. Her spiritual testament is found in The Dialogue.

She was the 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa and grew up as an intelligent, cheerful and intensely religious person. St Catherine disappointed her mother by cutting off her hair as a protest against being overly encouraged to improve her appearance in order to attract a husband. Her father ordered her to be left in peace, and she was given a room of her own for prayer and meditation.

St Catherine entered the Dominican Third Order at 18 and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer and austerity. Gradually a group of followers gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious. An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life. Her letters, mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers, began to take more and more note of public affairs. Opposition and slander resulted from her mixing fearlessly with the world and speaking with the candor and authority of one completely committed to Christ. She was cleared of all charges at the Dominican General Chapter of 1374.

Her public influence reached great heights because of her evident holiness, her membership in the Dominican Third Order, and the deep impression she made on the pope. She worked tirelessly for the crusade against the Turks and for peace between Florence and the pope

In 1378, the Great Schism began, splitting the allegiance of Christendom between two, then three, popes and putting even saints on opposing sides. Catherine spent the last two years of her life in Rome, in prayer and pleading on behalf of the cause of Urban VI and the unity of the Church. She offered herself as a victim for the Church in its agony. She died surrounded by her “children” and was canonized in 1461.

Words of Wisdom – St Catherine of Siena, our Saint of the Week

                 

“Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavoured with the light of true discretion without which the soul is worth nothing."

Meme of the week

OK, I know we are all about making life easier for you but this is one that is more fun if you Google the relevant verse and then come back and look at the picture. 

You’re welcome! 

WHO AM I TO JUDGE?

An article by Fr Ron Rlheiser. The original can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/who-am-i-to-judge/#.VTr_PiGqpBc

Perhaps the single, most-often quoted line from Pope Francis is his response to a question he was asked vis-à-vis the morality of a particularly-dicey issue. His, infamous-famous reply: Who am I to judge?

Although this remark is often assumed to be flighty and less-than-serious; it is, in fact, on pretty safe ground. Jesus, it seems, says basically the same thing. For example, in his conversation with Nicodemus in John’s Gospel, he, in essence, says: I judge no one.

If the Gospel of John is to be believed, then Jesus judges no one. God judges no one. But that needs to be put into context. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t any moral judgments and that our actions are indifferent to moral scrutiny. There is judgment; except it doesn’t work the way it is fantasized inside the popular mind. According to what Jesus tells us in John’s Gospel, judgment works this way:

God’s light, God’s truth, and God’s spirit come into the world. We then judge ourselves according to how we live in the face of them: God’s light has come into the world, but we can choose to live in darkness.  That’s our decision, our judgment. God’s truth has been revealed, but we can choose to live in falsehood, in lies. That’s our decision, our judgment to make. And God’s spirit has come into the world, but we can prefer to live outside that spirit, in another spirit. That too is our decision, our judgment. God judges no one. We judge ourselves. Hence we can also say that God condemns no one, though we can choose to condemn ourselves. And God punishes no one, but we can choose to punish ourselves. Negative moral judgment is self-inflicted. Perhaps this seems abstract, but it is not. We know this existentially, we feel the brand of our own actions inside us. To use just one example:  How we judge ourselves by the Holy Spirit.

God’s spirit, the Holy Spirit, is not something so abstract and slippery that it cannot be pinned down. St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Galatians, describes the Holy Spirit in terms so clear that they can only be rendered abstract and ambiguous by some self-serving rationalization. How does he describe and define the Holy Spirit?

So as to make things clear he sets up a contrast by first telling us what the Holy Spirit is not. The spirit of God, he tells us is not the spirit of self-indulgence, sexual vice, jealousy, rivalry, antagonism, bad temper, quarrels, drunkenness, or factionalism. Anytime we are cultivating these qualities inside of our lives, we should not delude ourselves into thinking we are living in God’s spirit, no matter how frequent, sincere, or pious is our religious practice.  The Holy Spirit, he tells us, is the spirit of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and chastity. Only when we are living inside of these virtues are we living inside God’s spirit.

So then, this is how judgment happens: God’s spirit (charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and chastity) has been revealed. We can choose to live inside the virtues of that spirit or we can choose to live instead inside their opposites (self-indulgence, sexual vice, rivalry, antagonism, bad temper, quarrels, drunkenness, and factionalism). One choice leads to a life with God, the other leads away from God. And that choice is ours to make; it doesn’t come from the outside. We judge ourselves. God judges no one. God doesn’t need to.

When we view things inside this perspective it also clarifies a number of misunderstandings that cause confusion inside the minds of believers as well as inside the minds of their critics. How often, for instance, do we hear this criticism: If God is all-good, all-loving, and all-merciful, how can God condemn someone to hell for all eternity? A valid question, though not a particularly reflective one.  Why? Because God judges no one; God punishes no one. God condemns no one to hell. We do these things to ourselves: We judge ourselves, we punish ourselves, and we put ourselves in various forms of hell whenever we do choose not to live in the light, the truth, and inside God’s spirit. And that judgment is self-inflicted, that punishment is self-inflicted, and those fires of hell are self-inflicted.

There are a number of lessons in this. First, as we have just seen, the fact that God judges no one, helps clarify our theodicy, that is, it helps deflate all those misunderstandings surrounding God’s mercy and the accusation that an all-merciful God can condemn someone to eternal hellfire. Beyond this, it is a strong challenge to us to be less judgmental in our lives, to let the wheat and the darnel sort themselves out over time, to let light itself judge darkness, to let truth itself judge falsehood, and to, like Pope Francis, be less quick to offer judgments in God’s name and more prone to say: “Who am I to judge?”

PAUL

a series of articles by Fr Richard Rohr (originally available as a daily email service)

Grace and Law, Part I 

The relationship between grace and law is a central issue for almost anyone involved in religion. Basically, it is the creative tension between religion as requirements and religion as transformation. Is God's favor based on a performance principle (Law)? Or does religion work within an entirely different economy and equation? This is a necessary boxing match, but a match in which grace must win. When it doesn't, religion becomes moralistic, which is merely the ego's need for order and control. I am sorry to say, but this is most garden-variety religion. Real love of God or neighbor is much too dangerous. 

In Romans and Galatians, Paul gives us sophisticated studies of the meaning, purpose, and limitations of law. He says its function is just to get us started, but it too often takes over. Yet Paul's brilliant analysis has had little effect on the continued Christian idealization of law, even though he makes it very clear: Laws can only give us information; they cannot give us transformation (Romans 3:20; 7:7-13).

Paul says, "Israel was looking for a righteousness derived from the law and yet it failed to achieve the purposes of the law. Why did they fail? Because they relied on being privately good instead of trusting in God for their goodness! In other words, they stumbled over the stumbling stone" (Romans 9:31-32). Law is a necessary stage, but if you stay there, Paul believes, it actually becomes a major obstacle to transformation into love and mercy. Law often frustrates the process of transformation by becoming an end in itself. It inoculates you from the real thing. Paul says that God gave us the law to show us that we can't obey the law! (See Romans 7:7-13 if you don't believe me!) In several contexts, Paul even says that the written law brings death, and only the Spirit can bring life (Romans 2:29, 7:5, 2 Corinthians 3:6). This man is religiously dangerous, but it did not take churches long to domesticate him.

Ironically, until people have had some level of inner God experience, there is no point in asking them to follow the ethical ideals of Jesus. It is largely a waste of time. Indeed, they will not be able to even understand their meaning and purpose. Religious requirements become the source of deeper anxiety. Humans quite simply don't have the power to obey any spiritual law, especially issues like forgiveness of enemies, nonviolence, self-emptying, humble use of power, and so on, except in and through union with God. The Spirit in me awakens the only power that can obey the law or know its true purpose.

Adapted from Things Hidden; Scripture as Spirituality, pp. 72, 78-79, 82

Grace and Law, Part II 

Why did Paul come to the subtle but crucial understanding of the limited and dangerous possibilities of law/requirements? Probably because Paul himself had been a man of the law, and he saw where it led him: to "breathing threats to slaughter the Lord's disciples" (Acts 9:1). As he tells us in Philippians (3:4-8), Paul was a perfect law-abiding Pharisee. "As far as the Law can make you perfect, I was faultless," he says. He seems to be wondering, "How could such perfect religious observance still create hateful and violent men like me?" That was Paul's utterly honest question, and he had the humility to answer it honestly. (Many folks today would be wise to ask the same question of themselves.) 

What is the law really for? It's not to make God love you. God already loves you, and you cannot make God love you any more or any less by any technique whatsoever. The purpose of spiritual law is to sharpen your own awareness about who you really are and who God is for you. Then you will recognize your own radical insufficiency and, in that same movement, find God's fullness. If you have ever tried to get rid of a negative thought by mere will power, instead of by a "Higher Power," you have surely experienced this reality. 

God not only allows us to make mistakes, but even uses our mistakes in our favor! That is the brilliant Gospel economy of grace, and it is the only thing worthy of being called "good news and a joy for all the people" (Luke 2:10). When you come out of the boxing ring of the creative tension of law and grace, you will know that you have finally won the match; but ironically, you will have won it by losing!

Adapted from Things Hidden; Scripture as Spirituality, pp. 82-84;

and New Great Themes of Scripture, disc 4 (CD)

Weakness and Strength, Part I 

Another seeming duality which Paul constructs and then beautifully overcomes is the paradox of weakness and strength: "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). Some call this the spirituality of imperfection, which is really just the Gospel, but which most of Christian history made into an impossible spirituality of "perfection." 

Two of my favorite saints, Francis of Assisi and Thérèse of Lisieux, are grand exceptions to the upward/ascent path of most mainline Christianity. In his earliest biography, Francis is quoted as teaching the friars: "We must bear patiently not being good and not being thought good." It is a rare insight, as the common assumption is that one primarily needs to "think well of oneself"! Thérèse, who lived just over 100 years ago, teaches the same thing and says it is a "new way." She called it her Little Way and called herself a "Little Flower" in God's big garden. This spirituality of imperfection undermines the egoic use of religion for purposes of self-esteem. 

Quite simply, both Francis and Thérèse recognized that you come to God not by being strong, but by being weak; not by being right, but through your mistakes; not by self-admiration but by self-forgetfulness. Surprise of surprises! But it shouldn't have been a surprise at all, because both Jesus and Paul taught it rather clearly. Yet it was just too obvious, simple, and counter-intuitive to be true. This teaching utterly levels the playing field of holiness, so all losers can win--which is everybody--if we are honest. 

This is pure Gospel, in my opinion, and worthy of being called "good news for all the people" (Luke 2:10)

This message is so central for the reform of religion itself that I wrote a shorter meditation, so you will read it at least twice.

Adapted from St. Paul: The Misunderstood Mystic (CD, MP3 download)

Weakness and Strength, Part II 

Paul's encounter with the Eternal Christ on the Damascus Road must have sparked his new and revolutionary consciousness. He recognized that he had been chosen by God even "while breathing murderous threats" (Acts 9:1), and that the God who chose him was a crucified God and not an "Omnipotent" or an "Almighty" God. In fact, Paul never uses the word "Almighty" for the Divine, despite its common usage to this day. His image of God was of someone crucified outside the city walls in the way a slave might be killed, and not of a God appearing on heavenly clouds. Christ was not the strong, powerful, military Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for throughout their history of being enslaved, oppressed, occupied, and colonized. Surely Paul saw in his own Jewish family that God consistently chose the weak to confound the strong (1 Corinthians 1:17-31). It becomes Paul's very definition of wisdom.

Paul's view of himself, of God, and of all others was turned on its head. He had to utterly redefine how divine power worked and how humans changed. All he knew for sure at the beginning was that it was not what anyone expected. Paul went off to "Arabia" for perhaps as much as three years to pray, test his ideas against the tradition, and slowly allow the metamorphosis of his soul. (Is this not the necessary path for all of us?) Only later does Paul have the courage to confront Peter and James in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:16-21), and then a full fourteen years later he tells Peter "to his face" that Peter is wrong (2:11) for imposing non-essentials on people. (Apparently Peter, the first Pope, was indeed fallible!) 

It takes a long time to move from power to weakness, from glib certitude to vulnerability, from meritocracy to pure grace. In Paul's letters, he consistently idealizes not power but powerlessness, not strength but weakness. It's as if he's saying, "I glory when I fail and suffer because now I get to be like Jesus--the naked loser God."   

The revelation of the death and resurrection of Jesus forever redefines what success and winning mean--and it is not what any of us want or expect. On the cross, God is revealed as vulnerability itself (the Latin word vulnera means woundedness). We ourselves grow through vulnerability and not through any need to posture, pose, or present. How clever of God! Now only the humble will ever find God.

Until you understand that truth on some level, even if it takes until the later years of your life, you can't fully understand the Gospel. And I don't think most people do, not even most Christians. The egoic or unconverted self reads everything in terms of its own ascent, various attempts at spiritual achievement, the attaining of merits and rewards, climbing upward, performing for God, concocting my own worthiness game, and then pretending I am succeeding at it. It is all so futile and so unnecessary. Despite the immense freedom and permission of the Gospel, most of Christian history has been trying to run up the escalator that Jesus (and Reality) has aimed downward. This has produced many frustrated people and frustrating clergy. Yet it is so natural and even easy to go down the downward escalator.

Adapted from Great Themes of Paul: Life as Participation, disc 3 (CD) 

The Misunderstood Mystic 

I'm sure it's obvious that Paul is a major hero of mine. I've spent a good deal of time and effort trying to help people fall in love with Paul as I have. Many people don't like Paul, and I'm convinced it's because they don't understand him. I watch people's eyes glaze over at Sunday Mass when the second reading is introduced as a letter from Paul to one of his communities.

Many people think Paul is a moralist, when he's really a mystic. In fact, he is a living example of how religion is not a moral matter, as most of us have thought; it's a mystical matter. As a mystic, Paul is a non-dual thinker. He loves to teach in a dialectical way, which is a major stumbling block to dualistic thinkers who only know how to affirm or deny. Paul eventually reconciles the two polarities that he often presents (such as weakness and strength), but most people do not stay with him long enough to see that. (This is one of the major problems of short second readings on Sunday!)

I believe Paul creates the mystical foundations for Christianity. Don't let the word "mysticism" scare you. All I mean by mysticism is experience-based religion whereby you come to really know something for yourself. It's not just believing something; it's knowing something. That's why Paul is able to speak with such authority. He's constantly saying, "I know, and I know that I know. I'm telling you what the Spirit has taught me." I think that's why many people who are at a more mature level of Christianity just devour Paul. They want to chew on and relish his words because they know Paul's teaching comes from a high level of consciousness, inner awareness, and inner experience. He sees in wholes, not in parts, but those of us who see in parts just stay at the dualistic level and argue about the pieces.

Dualistic thinking gives false comfort, whereas freedom is always scary. Some passages, like 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, have clearly been inserted into Paul's writing, which can be proved by internal textual analysis. Such passages reflect the black and white, either/or thinking with which the biblical transcribers and editors were more comfortable. Later scribes, obviously offended by what they observed to be haughty women, added passages about how women should not speak in meetings (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). This clearly contradicts what Paul assumes elsewhere (1 Corinthians 11:5). Paul does reflect his patriarchal religion and time in history, but the dye has been cast. Paul's revolutionary and much resisted teaching is that "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).          

The best advice I can give you in regard to understanding Paul is to just stay with him. He'll eventually reach a resolution to most of the dialectics he himself creates. And stay on your own journey. You will find that Paul makes a lot more sense in the second half of life than he did when you were in the first half of life looking for proof in the texts! Paul is indeed a teacher of adult Christianity. Keep experiencing your experiences and depending on divine guidance as he did; watch how the scales begin to fall from your eyes as they did from Paul's (Acts 9:18).

Adapted from Jesus as Liberator/Paul as Liberator (MP3 download);

and St. Paul: The Misunderstood Mystic (CD, MP3 download)