Thursday 9 April 2015

Second 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 
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 14th – 17th April, 2015      
Tuesday:          9:30am  Penguin                        
Wednesday:     9:30am  NO MASS                     
Thursday:       10:30am  Karingal                       
Friday:           11:00am   Mt St Vincent   

                             
Next Weekend 18th & 19th April, 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.

                   



Ministry Rosters 18th & 19th April 2015
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye
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 17th April: S Riley, A Stegmann
24th April: Knights of the Southern Cross
Piety Shop 18th April: R Baker 19th April: D French
Flowers: M Breen, S Fletcher

Ulverstone:
Reader: M McLaren 
Ministers of Communion: M Byrne, D Griffin, K Foster, R Locket
Cleaners: G & M Seen, C Roberts Flowers: M Swain Hospitality: K Foster   

Penguin:
Greeters: G & N Pearce   Commentator:  E Nickols
Readers:  A Guest, J Garnsey
Procession: A Landers, A Hyland 
Ministers of Communion: M Kenney, E Standring
Liturgy:  Pine Road Setting Up: A Landers 
Care of Church: M Bowles, A Hyland

Port Sorell:
Readers:  L Post, T Jeffries Ministers of Communion: P Anderson 
Clean/ Flowers /Prepare K Hampton

Latrobe:
Reader: S Ritchie Ministers of Communion: M Kavic, M Marlow 
Procession: Kavic Family Music: Jenny & May


                       

We Welcome and congratulate Archie Holland
 who is being baptised this weekend at St Patrick’s Church, Latrobe.





Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Terry McKenna, Millie McCulloch, Robert Windebank,
Marlene Mary Xuereb, Reg Hinkley, Adrian Brennan, Kath Smith, Shirley White & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Leith Cowley, Betty Weeks, Ted Parsons, Fr Ray Wells, Bill Parker, Peter Bolster, Victoria Obiorah and Joseph Girdauskas.


Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 
8th – 14th April
Vera Speers, James Hannavy, James (Bob) Mahoney, Patricia Winzinberg, Ferruccio Candotti, Jonathen Martinez, James Flight, Gillian Ibell, 
Daphne Walker and Mondo Di Pietro. Also; Doris & Ken Williams,
Robin Seymour, Daisy Kitchin, John Wells, John Walsh and deceased relatives and friends of Di Pietro family.

May they rest in peace



Readings This Week; Second Sunday of Easter

First Reading: Acts 4:32-35
     
Responsorial Psalm:  (R.) Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting

Second Reading: 1 John 5:1-6
                              
Gospel Acclamation: 

Alleluia, alleluia!
You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me; happy are those who have not seen me, but still believe! Alleluia!

Gospel: John 20:19-31



PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:  
As I settle to pray I consider my feelings: perhaps I am at peace or maybe I am not yet filled with Easter joy and certainty.
I try to imagine the disciples’ fear and confusion behind closed doors.
Thomas, like us, hears of Jesus’ appearance second hand — can I imagine how he feels? I stay with this and perhaps I speak to the Lord of my own feelings.
Thomas’ last memory of Jesus is his cruel death on the cross. How does his insistence on seeing Jesus’ wounds affect me? Do I want to separate the cross and the resurrection?
As a follower of Christ am I ready to choose both?
I look at Jesus; he says, ‘Peace be with you’. He accepts Thomas’ questions and lovingly encourages him to believe.
In spirit, am I able to kneel with Thomas before the risen Jesus, and join in his prayer ‘My Lord and my God’?
Maybe my thoughts turn to my own wounds and the wounds of others —
I conclude, praying for the Prince of Peace to be with us all and to deepen our faith in the power of his resurrection.
I end my prayer by making the sign of the cross.



Readings Next Week: Third Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19  Second Reading: 1 John 2:1-5
Gospel:  Luke 24:35-48



WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:
Many thanks to all those wonderful people who assisted, in any way whatever, to make our ceremonies during Holy week and Easter so wonderful – your assistance and efforts were/are gratefully appreciated.

This weekend there is the leaving collection to assist Fr Alexander as he heads home to Nigeria to be with his family in the time leading up to his mother’s Funeral. There will be a Mass in the Parish on the day of her funeral and details will be made known later – the funeral will be celebrated towards the middle of May as per the custom in Nigeria.

Last week I mentioned that I will be running a program – ReFrame: Connecting Faith and Life. My hope is that it might run over two 5 week blocks and I am seeking participants – the program is so new that it is not yet released in Australia!!! Please let me know if you are interested so that a start date can be organised.

Next weekend is the Set a Fire Down in My Soul Retreat at Sacred Heart Church & Community Room at Ulverstone.  There are a 3 members of the Team (1 male & 2 female) who need accommodation for Friday and Saturday evening. Any parishioners in the Ulverstone area able to assist are asked to contact the Parish House as soon as possible.

Next Tuesday and Wednesday there are meetings in Hobart – I will be away on both Tuesday and Wednesday and Fr Alex will be away on Wednesday hence the change in Mass times for the week.

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



SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:
We continue to pray for the children as they prepare for Confirmation and First Eucharist.
Some dates coming up worth noting for all parishioners are:
Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer – at all masses or liturgies on the weekend of 2nd / 3rd May.
Presentation of the Creed – at all masses or liturgies on the weekend of 23rd / 24th May. 
Children’s Mass – The Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, Sunday 24th May, 10.30am.  This is for all children in the parish, not just those preparing for the Sacraments. It is also Pentecost Sunday.

Confirmation and First Eucharist Masses (with Archbishop Porteous) Saturday 1st August, Devonport, 6pm and Sunday 2nd August, Ulverstone, 9am.



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).


ST VINCENT DE PAUL FUNDRAISER:
All welcome to come along and support St Vincent De Paul fundraising at CMAX Devonport to view the movie Boychoir starring Dustin Hoffman on Thursday 23rd April. Cost $20 which includes drinks, nibbles and a lucky door prize. Starting at 6:15pm with the movie at 7pm. All proceeds to go towards help for the less fortunate in our community. For more information please contact Jill Di Pietro 0400 113 573 or Sally Riley 0400 386 313.


FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:
Round 1 – Richmond won by 27 points. 
Winners; Sr Colleen Power, unknown,               unknown. Don’t forget to buy a ticket             today – only $2.00 each. 



      
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.
 Eyes down 7.30pm!
16th April Callers  -  Rod Clark & Merv Tippett.




NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:

ST TERESA OF AVILA: PRAYER FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS:
Two talks to be given by Fr Paul Maunder, Carmelite Friar, to celebrate the V Centenary of the Birth of St Teresa. Held at 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. Please ring Sandra Walkling 6331:4991 for bookings.


JUST SPORTS:
Catholic Youth Ministry are running a new program! Young adults are invited to join us in visiting Ashley Youth Detention Centre to play sports with the young people there. If you are aged 17 – 35 and would like to be a part of this program we would love to hear from you.  We need people from right around the state, people with specific sporting abilities who can lead, and, people with no particular sporting abilities, but are willing to give it a good go! Please contact Rachelle: rachelle.smith@aohtas.org.au or 0400 045 368  


Evangelii Gaudium

“... it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local solutions for enormous global problems which overwhelm local politics with difficulties to resolve. If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy , what is needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of interacting with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few.”

-        Par 206 from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov. 24, 2013


Saint of the Week – St Martin (April 13)
“When Martin I became Pope in 649AD, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine empire and the patriarch of Constantinople was the most influential Church leader in the eastern Christian world. The struggles that existed within the Church at that time were magnified by the close cooperation of emperor and patriarch.
“A teaching, strongly supported in the East, held that Christ had no human will. Twice emperors had officially favored this position, Heraclius by publishing a formula of faith and Constans II by silencing the issue of one or two wills in Christ.
“Shortly after assuming the office of the papacy (which he did without first being confirmed by the emperor), Martin held a council at the Lateran in which the imperial documents were censured, and in which the patriarch of Constantinople and two of his predecessors were condemned. Constans II, in response, tried first to turn bishops and people against the pope.
“Failing in this and in an attempt to kill the pope, the emperor sent troops to Rome to seize Martin and to bring him back to Constantinople. Already in poor health, Martin offered no resistance, returned with the exarch Calliopas and was then submitted to various imprisonments, tortures and hardships. Although condemned to death and with some of the torture imposed already carried out, Martin was saved from execution by the pleas of a repentant Paul, patriarch of Constantinople, who was himself gravely ill.
“Martin died shortly thereafter, tortures and cruel treatment having taken their toll. He is the last of the early popes to be venerated as a martyr.”
Words of Wisdom –Janet Smith on ‘the immortal soul’


“Now, this is the most amazing thing when you think about it. Sperm, this little sperm, it does not have an immortal soul. And the ovum, you see, it does not have an immortal soul. And when the two come together, where does that immortal soul come from? The sperm doesn’t carry it. The egg doesn’t carry it. Where does it come from? It comes from a new act of creation by God. In each act of conception, there needs to be a new act of creation by God. ”




EASTER URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE to the City and to the World - 5 April 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Jesus Christ is risen!
Love has triumphed over hatred, life has conquered death, light has dispelled the darkness!
Out of love for us, Jesus Christ stripped himself of his divine glory, emptied himself, took on the form of a slave and humbled himself even to death, death on a cross. For this reason God exalted him and made him Lord of the universe. Jesus is Lord!
By his death and resurrection, Jesus shows everyone the way to life and happiness: this way is humility, which involves humiliation. This is the path which leads to glory. Only those who humble themselves can go towards the “things that are above”, towards God (cf. Col 3:1-4). The proud look “down from above”; the humble look “up from below”.
On Easter morning, alerted by the women, Peter and John ran to the tomb. They found it open and empty. Then they drew near and “bent down” in order to enter it. To enter into the mystery, we need to “bend down”, to abase ourselves. Only those who abase themselves understand the glorification of Jesus and are able to follow him on his way.
The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete, that we prevail… But Christians, by the grace of Christ, dead and risen, are the seeds of another humanity, in which we seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help.
This is not weakness, but true strength! Those who bear within them God’s power, his love and his justice, do not need to employ violence; they speak and act with the power of truth, beauty and love.
From the risen Lord we ask the grace not to succumb to the pride which fuels violence and war, but to have the humble courage of pardon and peace. We ask Jesus, the Victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence.
We ask for peace, above all, for Syria and Iraq, that the roar of arms may cease and that peaceful relations may be restored among the various groups which make up those beloved countries. May the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees.
We pray for peace for all the peoples of the Holy Land. May the culture of encounter grow between Israelis and Palestinians and the peace process be resumed, in order to end years of suffering and division.
We implore peace for Libya, that the present absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence may cease, and that all concerned for the future of the country may work to favour reconciliation and to build a fraternal society respectful of the dignity of the person. For Yemen too we express our hope for the growth of a common desire for peace, for the good of the entire people.
At the same time, in hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world.
We ask the risen Lord for the gift of peace for Nigeria, South Sudan and for the various areas of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. May constant prayer rise up from all people of goodwill for those who lost their lives – I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya –, for all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones.
May the Lord’s resurrection bring light to beloved Ukraine, especially to those who have endured the violence of the conflict of recent months. May the country rediscover peace and hope thanks to the commitment of all interested parties.
We ask for peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups. Peace and liberty for the victims of drug dealers, who are often allied with the powers who ought to defend peace and harmony in the human family. And we ask peace for this world subjected to arms dealers.
May the marginalized, the imprisoned, the poor and the migrants who are so often rejected, maltreated and discarded, the sick and the suffering, children, especially those who are victims of violence; all who today are in mourning, and all men and women of goodwill, hear the consoling voice of the Lord Jesus: “Peace to you!” (Lk 24:36). “Fear not, for I am risen and I shall always be with you” (cf. Roman Missal, Entrance Antiphon for Easter Day).
Originally published at http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-urbi-et-orbi-message-2
_______________________________________
WHERE TO FIND RESURRECTION
A Reflection by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/where-to-find-resurrection/#.VScXiPmUeNE
Something there is that needs a crucifixion. Everything that’s good eventually gets scapegoated and crucified. How? By that curious, perverse dictate somehow innate within human life that assures that there’s always someone or something that cannot leave well enough alone, but, for reasons of its own, must hunt down and lash out at what’s good. What’s good, what’s of God, will always at some point be misunderstood, envied, hated, pursued, falsely accused, and eventually nailed to some cross. Every body of Christ inevitably suffers the same fate as Jesus: death through misunderstanding, ignorance, and jealousy. 
But there’s a flipside as well: Resurrection always eventually trumps crucifixion. What’s good eventually triumphs. Thus, while nothing that’s of God will avoid crucifixion, no body of Christ stays in the tomb for long. God always rolls back the stone and, soon enough, new life bursts forth and we see why that original life had to be crucified. (“Wasn’t it necessary that the Christ should so have to suffer and die?”) Resurrection invariably follows crucifixion. Every crucified body will rise again. Our hope takes its root in that.
But how does this happen? Where do we see the resurrection? How do we experience resurrection after a crucifixion?
Scripture is subtle, though clear, on this. Where can we expect to experience resurrection? The gospel tell us that, on the morning of the resurrection, the women-followers of Jesus set out for the tomb of Jesus, carrying spices, expecting to anoint and embalm a dead body. Well-intentioned but misguided, what they find is not a dead body, but an empty tomb and an angel challenging them with these words: “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? Go instead into Galilee and you will find him there!”
Go instead into Galilee. Why Galilee? What’s Galilee? And how do we get there?
In the gospels, Galilee is not simply a geographical location, a place on a map. It is first of all a place in the heart. As well, Galilee refers to the dream and to the road of discipleship that the disciples once walked with Jesus and to that place and time when their hearts most burned with hope and enthusiasm. And now, after the crucifixion, just when they feel that the dream is dead, that their faith is only fantasy, they are told to go back to the place where it all began: “Go back to Galilee. He will meet you there!”
And they do go back to Galilee, both to the geographical location and to that special place in their hearts where once burned the dream of discipleship. And just as promised, Jesus appears to them. He doesn’t appear exactly as he was before, or as frequently as they would like him to, but he does appear as more than a ghost and a memory. The Christ that appears to them after the resurrection is in a different modality, but he’s physical enough to eat fish in their presence, real enough to be touched as a human being, and powerful enough to change their lives forever. Ultimately that’s what the resurrection asks us to do: To go back to Galilee, to return to the dream, hope, and discipleship that had once inflamed us but has now been lost through disillusionment.
This parallels what happens on the road to Emmaus in Luke’s gospel, where we are told that on the day of the resurrection, two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem towards Emmaus, with their faces downcast. An entire spirituality could be unpackaged from that simple line: For Luke, Jerusalem means the dream, the hope, and the religious centre from which all is to begin and where ultimately, all is to culminate. And the disciples are “walking away” from this place, away from their dream, towards Emmaus (Emmaus was a Roman Spa), a place of human comfort, a Las Vegas, or Monte Carlo. Since their dream has been crucified, the disciples are understandably discouraged and are walking away from it, towards some human solace, despairing in their hope: “But we had hoped!”
They never get to Emmaus. Jesus appears to them on the road, reshapes their hope in the light of their disillusionment, and turns them back towards Jerusalem.
That is one of the essential messages of Easter: Whenever we are discouraged in our faith, whenever our hopes seem to be crucified, we need to go back to Galilee and Jerusalem, that is, back to the dream and the road of discipleship that we had embarked upon before things went wrong. The temptation of course, whenever the kingdom doesn’t seem to work, is to abandon discipleship for human consolation, to head off instead for Emmaus, for the consolation of Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.
But, as we know, we never quite get to Las Vegas or Monte Carlo. In one guise or another, Christ always meets us on the road to those places, burns holes in our hearts, explains our latest crucifixion to us, and sends us back – and to our abandoned discipleship. Once there, it all makes sense again.
_____________________________________
Paul 
taken from a series of emails from Fr Richard Rohr (posted from  29th March 2015)

Who Is Paul?
This week we begin looking at the next part of my wisdom lineage, St. Paul. This man is in a category all his own, with no parallels. He is the outsider who dares to challenge the insiders--first of his own Judaism and then of the new sect that we now call Christianity. Paul is a Greek-speaking Jew and an educated Roman citizen living in the Diaspora (the dispersion of Jews beyond Israel), from the little town of Tarsus in what is now southeastern Turkey. He pays his way by tentmaking and yet is a pastor and mystical theologian of the first magnitude.

Paul is not one of the Twelve Apostles, and he never knew Jesus in the flesh. In fact, he hardly ever quotes Jesus directly. Paul writes his astounding letters in a seeming vacuum, several decades before the four Gospels were written or before there was such a thing as Christian theology. Approximately one third of the Christian Scriptures are written by Paul directly (the authentic seven letters), written by Paul's students (Colossians and Ephesians), attributed to Paul (2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, and Titus), or written largely about Paul (Acts of the Apostles).
There are those who say that Paul is the founder of the Christian religion, a case one could strongly make. Jesus proclaims the Reign of God; Paul gives shape and structure to the implications of that message. He tries to bring Jesus' teaching down to a practical, ethical, pastoral level, so that it can "happen." Paul wants to create a concrete vehicle for the Christ vision. He begins the inevitable organization of the message, the ministry, and the shape of what became Christianity. Whether or not we like it, Christians have to acknowledge and pay attention to Paul.

A Man of Contradictions
Paul's conversion experience on the Damascus Road, which we'll explore in more depth tomorrow, is the source of his immense inner authority and most of his themes. It is a phenomenal transformation of consciousness, which is why he becomes such a courageous teacher of what he is convinced is the very mind of Christ. Paul is able to trust his own experience of Christ against Peter (Galatians 2:11), James, the "circumcisers," many of the Jewish Christians, and his own early training as a Pharisaic Jew. He undoubtedly has a huge ego, which God uses to good purpose. Paul often comes across as arrogant and overly self-assured. He is a complex man and seems to humbly admit in a number of places that he is a mass of contradictions--which allows him to proclaim and even define the mystery of grace and the meaning of mercy.

Paul accomplishes a lot in his brief ministry, nearly half of which he spent in jail. His three missionary journeys take him through Cyprus, Asia Minor, Crete, Greece, Malta, and on to Rome. These took place during the only hundred-year period in the first millennium of Western history when safe travel was possible, thanks to the roads and protection of the Roman Empire. The house churches he starts in places like Corinth, Ephesus, and Philippi were probably each composed of only forty people, but Paul was confident that this "leaven" of transformed people, living in a transformed way, would make a qualitative difference in the debauched, egocentric society of the time.

Paul is one of the most influential thinkers and doers in Western history. He is the first Christian theologian and mystic, which I will illustrate in the weeks ahead. He is probably one of the most misunderstood and disliked teachers in the Church, largely because we have tried to understand a mystic with our simplistic, dualistic minds (there are several anti-feminist paragraphs that we now know are later additions to his letters or found in letters not actually written by Paul). But his many unitive paragraphs and memorable one-liners are more than enough to allow us to love him and forgive Paul. He joins all of us in being both terribly human and wonderfully divine at the same time.

We will have the key to understand Paul once we understand his capacity to participate in a deeper and universal reality, a cosmic notion of a new humanity. His central theme is that the new temple of God is the human person. It made his message magnificent and utterly magnetic for an empire overrun by slavery, abuse of women and minorities, debauched sexuality, oppression, and injustice. He almost single-handedly changed the assumptions of an Empire--toward love.

Paul's Conversion Experience
As we will see over the next three weeks, all of Paul's major themes are contained in seed form in his conversion experience, of which there are three descriptions in Acts (chapters 9, 22, and 26). We assume that Acts is written by Luke about twenty years after Paul wrote most of his letters (c. 50 CE). Paul's own account is in the first chapter of Galatians: "The Gospel which I preach . . . came through the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1:11-12). Paul never doubts this revelation. The Christ that he met was not the Christ in the flesh (Jesus); it was the Risen Christ, the Christ who is available to us now as Spirit, as "an energy field" that we eventually called the Mystical Body of Christ, the Cosmic Christ.

Paul continues, describing his life pre-conversion: "You have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church beyond measure. I actually tried to destroy it. And I advanced beyond my contemporaries in my own nation. I was more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers than anybody else" (Galatians 1:13-14). Paul is claiming his Jewish orthodoxy. A Pharisee by training, Paul had achieved some status in the Sanhedrin, the governmental board of Judea during the Roman occupation. He was delegated by the Temple police to go out and squelch this new sect of Judaism called "The Way" (not yet named Christianity).

"Saul [Hebrew for Paul] was breathing threats to slaughter the Lord's disciples. He had gone to the high priest to ask for letters addressed to the synagogues that would authorize him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way" (Acts 9:1-2). At this point, Paul is a black and white thinker, dividing the world into good guys and bad guys. All zealots start here.

"Suddenly, while traveling to Damascus, just before he reached the city, there came a light from heaven all around him. He fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' He asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' The voice answered, 'I am Jesus and you are persecuting me'" (Acts 9:3-5). This choice of words is pivotal; Paul must have pondered: "Why does he say 'me' when I'm persecuting these people?" He comes to this insight that there is a complete, almost organic union between Christ and those who love God. The voice continues, "'Get up now and go into the city and you will be told what you are to do.' Saul got up from the ground, but even with his eyes wide open, he could see nothing at all. They had to lead him to Damascus by hand. For three days he was without sight and took neither food nor drink" (Acts 9:6-9).

Paul realizes on the Damascus Road or shortly thereafter that, in the name of religion, he had become a murderer. In the name of love he had become hate. Paul becomes an image for all generations of religion, showing that religion can be the best thing in the world, and it can be the worst thing in the world. That which makes us holy can also make us evil. If the ego uses any notion of religion to "wrap God around itself" it will be the source of the ultimate idolatry: God serving us instead of us serving God. That is why, for the rest of his life, Paul is obsessed with transformation. He has seen sick religion, because he had become sick religion. This is possible in every religion and every age if religion does not lead to an authentic God experience. Paul is forever the critic of immature, self-serving religion, and the pioneer of mature and truly life-changing religion.

Life as Participation
After conversion, you don't look out at reality; you look out from reality. In other words, God is not "out there"; you are in God and God is in you. You are in the middle of Reality! You're a part of it. It's a mystery of participation. After his conversion experience, Paul is obsessed with the idea that "I'm participating in something that's bigger than me." In fact, he uses the phrase "in Christ" around one hundred sixty times to describe this organic unity and participation in Christ. Paul has the best one-liner of all to describe himself after conversion: "I live no longer, not I; but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Now that's a transformed person!

This is a completely different experience of life. I don't have to fully write my private story. It's being written with me and in me. I am already a character on the stage. I am being used, I am being chosen, I am being led. You will know that after conversion. You will know that your life is not about you; you are about life. You are about God. You're an instance in both the agony and the ecstasy of God that is happening inside of you, and all you can do is say yes to it. After transformation, it's not about doing it right; it's about doing it with pure intention. It's not about being correct; it's about being connected.

After conversion, you don't experience self-consciousness so much as what the mystics call pure consciousness. Self-consciousness implies a dualistic split. There is me over here thinking about that over there. The mind remains dualistic until you have a mystical experience. Then the subject/object split is overcome. You can't maintain it forever, but you'll know it once in a while, and you'll never be satisfied with anything less. In unitive experience, you're freed from the burden of self-consciousness; you are living in, through, and with another. That's the same as the experience of truly being in love. Falling and being in love, like unitive experience, cannot be sustained at the ecstatic level, but it can be touched upon and then integrated within the rest of your life.

True union does not absorb distinction, but actually intensifies it. The more one gives one's self in creative union with another, the more one becomes one's self. This is mirrored in the Trinity: perfect giving and perfect receiving between three who are all still completely themselves. The more one becomes one's True Self, the more capable one is of not overprotecting the boundaries of one's false self. You have nothing to protect after transformation, and that's the great freedom and the great happiness we see in converted people. There's no "little richard" here that I need to protect because it's precisely that little richard that got in the way, and has now passed away--with no noticeable losses. Or as Paul puts it, "Because of Christ, I now consider my former advantages as disadvantages . . . all of it is mere rubbish if only I can have a place in him" (Philippians 3:7-8).

Paul as a Critic of Religion
We need to understand that Paul was a thoroughly Jewish man until the very end. He never thought he was leaving Judaism. That's why he always went to the synagogue when he came into a city. Having met the Messiah on the Damascus Road, Paul thought he had the secret to understanding Judaism and bringing it to its fulfillment.

Paul was in love with the Messiah of Judaism and considered himself a Jew, but he did think the religion of his time had gone down the wrong road by its legalism and ritualism. Paul himself was a Pharisee before he met Christ. Pharisees were the fervent ones, concerned with being absolutely orthodox. Whenever you're concerned about being right, some form of "purity code" takes over--religion as requirements, which is largely about rules. God will love you if you do this or if you don't do that. This appeals to many people, as it gives the false self a sense of security.

Both Jesus and Paul critique that very mentality, precisely because it is so common. It tends to represent early stage religion, and it cannot get you very far. It becomes all about navel-gazing, about how perfect you are and how terrible other people are, and then leads you to the false conclusion that you're better than others because you don't touch this or eat that. If people get stuck here, the purity codes soon morph into what we call debt codes. It's not just about things that you must do or must not do, but debts you must pay to a wrathful God. It all makes sense inside the small frame of retributive justice. It makes no sense inside of love.

Paul as Prophet
Paul of Tarsus is able to critique his own Judaism while still remaining loyal to it because he loves it and because he is not an either/or, dualistic thinker; he is a both/and, non-dual thinker. You've got to critique your own religion to love it honestly. This is why I critique Catholicism and Christianity as a whole: I was encouraged by both Jesus and Paul. The more I understand the teaching of Jesus, the more I'm convinced that he gave Paul and us the necessary wisdom for the reform of all religions: non-dual consciousness, powerlessness, nonviolence, and compassionate action--which is the prophetic calling.

Paul also radically critiques the so-called new religion that is eventually called Christianity. He criticizes the Galatians for acquiescing to the teaching of the Judaizers who believe the Gentiles needed to be circumcised to join this new "sect" of Judaism. Paul reminds them, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). From his experience on the Damascus Road, Paul learned that religion was not to be used for social control and persecution; rather, Christ is about organically connecting us in love.

Paul even tells Peter off to his face, because Peter resisted eating with the Gentiles after the conservatives came from Jerusalem and tried to re-impose purity codes (Galatians 2:11-12). Peter backs down and agrees that Paul should lead the way in reaching out to the non-Jews. So Paul calls himself the "Apostle to the Pagans" (Romans 11:13).

After being largely rejected by the Jews for many years, Paul decides that this message is bigger than Judaism. I think it's truthful to say that Christianity became a universal religion and not just a reform of Judaism largely due to the influence of this one single person. But have no doubt about it: Paul thinks he is bringing the Gentiles into Judaism and making Judaism a universal religion instead of a tribal or ethnic religion. But then, despite Paul, we repeated the same mistake and made Christianity into another tribal religion. God is so patient.

Adapted from In the Footsteps of St. Paul (published by Franciscan Media, 2015); and Jesus as Liberator/Paul as Liberator (MP3 download);  and Great Themes of Paul: Life as Participation, disc 1 (CD)

(To be continued next week)



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