Sixth 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 12^th – 16^th May 2015          

Tuesday:        9.30am - Penguin                         

Wednesday:   9:30am - Latrobe  

Thursday:    10:30am –  Eliza Purton Home

                     12noon  – Devonport

                    7:30pm  -  Healing Mass Penguin

Friday:        11:00am -  Mt St Vincents

                             

Next 16^th & 17^th May 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

**Monday 18^th May, 2015 7pm – Requiem Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Devonport for the late Victoria Obiorah whose funeral will be taking place in Nigeria at the same time. 

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 16^th & 17^th May 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 15^th May: K Hull, F Stevens, M Chan 22^nd May: K.S.C.

Piety Shop 16^th May: R McBain 

17^th May: D French

Flowers: M Breen, S Fletcher

Ulverstone:

Reader: F Pisano

Ministers of Communion: E Standring, M Fennell, L Hay, T Leary

Cleaners: M Swain, M Bryan Flowers: C Mapley Hospitality: S & T Johnsone

Penguin:

Greeters: G & N Pearce Commentator:  Y Downes 

Readers:  A Guest, J Garnsey

Procession: Kiely Family Ministers of Communion: M Hiscutt, M Murray

Liturgy:  Pine Road Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: Y & R Downes

Latrobe:

Reader:  M Eden Ministers of Communion: I Campbell, H Lim

Procession: Cotterell Family Music: Jenny & May

Your prayers are asked for the sick:

Lorraine Keen, Alyssa Otten, Merlyn Veracruz, Sr Carmel Hall, Meg Collings, Phillip Sheehan, Margaret Hoult, Shirley Sexton, Bob McKay, Geraldine Roden, Tony Hyde, Fr Terry Southerwood, Sr Gwen Dooley ssj, Declan Banim, Kath Smith & …

Let us pray for those who have died recently:

Jean Clare, Sr Maria Kavanagh mss, Pauline Burns, Fr Jim Stephens, Emily Sherriff, Marie O’Connor, Rita McQueen, Noelene Britton, Betty Martin, 

Dawn Ashman, James Keegan, Dorothy Ross, Peter Ray, Sr Patricia McNeil, 

Millie McCulloch and Victoria Obiorah.

Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 

 6^th – 12^th May

Leonard Field, Kathleen Bryan, Kathleen Mack, Lauris Pullen, Don Burrows Tas Purton, Felicia Pereira and Joan Bonner.   Also Kate Last, Enid Stubbs Corrie Webb and all Mothers who are in Heaven.      

                                           May they rest in peace

Readings This Week; Sixth Sunday of Easter

First Reading: Acts 10:25-26. 34-35. 44-48

     

Responsorial Psalm:

(R.) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

Second Reading: 1 John 4:7-10

                              

Gospel Acclamation: 

Alleluia, alleluia!

All who love me will keep my words, and my Father will love them and we will come to them. Alleluia!

Gospel: John 15:9-17

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL: 

As I come to my prayer today, I ask myself how I am feeling. Am I tired, sad, expectant, joyful or …? I ask the Spirit to be with me and guide my prayer. I read this familiar text several times, always stopping where I feel drawn. Of all the facets and consequences of Jesus’ love for me, which one do I particularly relate to? Maybe it is the promise of complete joy. In what areas of my life would this be most welcome? Maybe it is the notion of mutual love: he loves me, I love him, we love one another. Can I bring to mind people around me to whom I relate in this way...my family, my friends, my colleagues… I spend some time pondering on the different kinds of love I have for people and for him. Maybe it’s hearing Jesus telling me he chose and commissioned me as his friend to go out and tell others about him. How does that make feel: privileged, honoured or overawed and inadequate or….? I turn to the Lord and tell him what is in my mind and heart. I ask him to be with me in all I think or do. I take my time and conclude my prayer in the way I feel drawn.

Readings Next Week: The Ascension of the Lord

First Reading: Acts 1:1-11   Second Reading: Ephesians 4:1-13  

Gospel:  Mark 16:15-20

WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:

Sometimes things creep up on us and dates which seemed some time away are here:

·  

    On Monday 18th we will be celebrate a Requiem Mass for Fr Alexander’s Mother at Our Lady of Lourdes at 7pm. This time will coincide with the Funeral Mass being celebrated in Nigeria so it will be an occasion for us as a Parish community to join with Fr Alex and his family and friends at this special time.  Please note it in your diaries for next week.

·   From Tuesday 19^th through Friday 22^nd my Seminarian classmates will be in the Parish to celebrate their 40^th Anniversary of Ordination prior to celebrating with their Parish Communities the following weekend. There will be a concelebrated Mass on the Wednesday evening at 7pm at Our Lady of Lourdes and all Parishioners are invited to join us on that night. My anniversary is in August so there will be more celebrations about that time.

·  

    Relics of St Anthony of Padua will be in Tasmania in June and here in Mersey Leven Parish on Thursday 18^th. More details will be made available in the next few weeks but there will be several events during the day and the night so please note this date in your diaries.

Many thanks to everyone for their birthday greetings last weekend – I really can now say that next year I’ll be 65.

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

A MOTHER'S LOVE

There are times when only a Mother's love

Can understand our tears,

Can soothe our disappoints

And calm all of our fears.

There are times when only a Mother's love

Can share the joy we feel

When something we've dreamed about

Quite suddenly is real.

There are times when only a Mother's faith

Can help us on life's way

And inspire in us the confidence

We need from day to day.

For a Mother's heart and a Mother's faith 

And a Mother's steadfast love

Were fashioned by the Angels

And sent from God above.

Happy Mother’s Day to all our mother’s here on earth and in Heaven xx

HEALING MASS:  Catholic Charismatic Renewal HEALING MASS at St Mary’s Church Penguin Thursday 14^th May at 7.30pm. Everyone welcome. Please bring a friend and a plate of food for supper to share. If you wish to know more or require transport contact Celestine Whiteley 6424:2043, Michael Gaffney 0447 018 068, Zoe Smith 6426:3073 or Tom Knaap 6425.2442.

CWL ULV/D’PORT: Annual General Meeting Friday 15^th May Community Room Ulverstone 10:30am for 11am start.

MACKILLOP HILL - Reschedule!!

Spending Time with Thomas Merton  –  * 20th Century spiritual master  * gifted religious thinker  *  writer of remarkable insight  *  social commentator of courage & conviction. Tuesday 19^th May, 7:30pm - 9pm; MacKillop Hill, Forth, $15 /Donation.    Bookings phone 6428:3095 / mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au

SACRED HEART CHURCH WORKING BEE: 

Saturday 23^rd May at 9:00am – please bring own gloves and gardening tools. Everyone welcome to help out!

 PENTECOST SUNDAY CHILDREN’S MASS:

Families are 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.

GRAN’S VAN:  A big thankyou to all those parishioners who volunteered to help with Gran’s Van on Sunday nights during April, approximately 30 people were involved. These generous people either cooked, helped serve or drove Gran’s Van and other people donated meat, cookies or cakes. Both St Pat’s and St Brendan Shaw students contributed with cooking – thanks to those staff and students. All these volunteers offered their time, energy and food for this worthy and valuable cause. These efforts were very much appreciated. Sincerely, with thanks Shirley & Lyn.

FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:

Round 5 – Collingwood won by 75 points. Winners; Lucy McLean,                 Jason Barton, Shingle Shed.

Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, D’port.

 Eyes down 7.30pm.

14^th May Callers Tony Ryan & Bruce Peters.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:

WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 INFORMATION SESSION: Are you interested in joining with great young people from around Tasmania on a life-changing journey of faith? Catholic Youth Ministry will be coordinating the Tasmanian Pilgrimage to World Youth Day in July 2016 which will be hosted by the Archdiocese of Krakow, Poland! WYD is open to young people aged 16 – 35. If you are interested in this amazing opportunity, don’t miss Information Session on Wednesday 20th May, 7.00pm at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone.

More Info contact Rachelle: rachelle.smith@aohtas.org.au or 0400 045 368 

ST MARY'S COLLEGE OLD SCHOLAR'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND LUNCHEON:  Saturday, May 23rd at Lillian’s home, 11 James Street, Forth. If you would like to attend, RSVP Lillian 6428 2773 or Felicity 6424 1933 by May 18th. The luncheon cost is $10.

  

ST SCHOLASTICA'S COLLEGE, Glebe Point, NSW 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

SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION PROGRAM:

Last weekend the candidates and their parents participated in a day of preparation for Confirmation at the Sacred Heart Church and Community Room.  The children enjoyed a number of activities to help them learn about the Sacrament of Confirmation.  The activities encouraged conversations to help contemplate the gift of Confirmation and the Holy Spirit in their lives and to be able to recognise the gifts of the Spirit in each other and our community.

We thank the Knights of the Southern Cross for cooking a delicious BBQ lunch for the hungry group.  Your generosity and community spirit is very much appreciated.

Evangelii Gaudium

“I have always been distressed at the lot of those who are victims of various kinds of human trafficking. How I wish that all of us would hear God’s cry: ‘Where is your brother?’ (Gen 4:9). Where is your brother or sister who is enslaved? Where are the brother and sister whom you are killing each day in clandestine warehouses, in rings of prostitution, in children used for begging, in exploiting undocumented labour? Let us not look the other way. There is greater complicity than we think. The issue involves everyone! This infamous network of crime is now well established in our cities, and many people have blood on their hands as a result of their comfortable and silent complicity.”

-        Par 211 from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov. 24, 2013

Saint of the Week – St Pancras, martyr (May 12)

St Pancras was born in 289 AD in Synnada, Phrygia a kingdom in central-west Anatolia (modern Turkey). He is also known by the names Pancritas and Pancratius.

He was orphaned at an early age and taken to Rome by his uncle, Dionysius. Pancras converted to Christianity after meeting Christians in Rome and through the influence of Dionysius.

He lived during the rule of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (r.284-305). Emperor Diocletian mounted some of the fiercest persecutions of the early Church especially in the East of the Empire.

Converting to Christianity during this period was highly dangerous and at the age of 14,  Pancras announced his Christian faith publically. He was arrested and then beheaded.

Due to his youthfulness at the time was martyred, St Pancras is now the Patron Saint of Children.

Words of Wisdom

 “Blessed are you among women/and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus...”

-        From the Hail Mary

Meme of the week

What’s that line from the Monty Python movie, The Life of Brian? “He’s just a very naughty boy!” This meme reminded me of that film, and that line. 

EVOLUTION’S ULTIMATE WISDOM

An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser. The original can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/evolutions-ultimate-wisdom/#.VU01O_mqpBc
Evolution, Charles Darwin famously stated, works through the survival of the fittest. Christianity, on the other hand, is committed to the survival of the weakest. But how do we square our Christian ideal of making a preferential option for the weak with evolution?

Nature is evolutionary and, inside of that, we can perceive a wisdom that clearly manifests intelligence, intent, spirit, and design. And perhaps nowhere is this more evident than how in the process of evolution we see nature becoming ever-more unified, complex, and conscious.

However, how God’s intelligence and intent are reflected inside of that is not always evident because nature can be so cruel and brutal. In order to survive, every element in nature has to be cannibalistic and eat other parts of nature. Only the fittest get to survive. There’s a harsh cruelty in that. In highlighting how cruel and unfair nature can be, commentators often cite the example of the second pelican born to white pelicans. Here’s how cruel and unfair is its situation:

Female white pelicans normally lay two eggs, but they lay them several days apart so that the first chick hatches several days before the second chick. This gives the first chick a head-start and by the time the second chick hatches, the first chick is bigger and stronger. It then acts aggressively towards the second chick, grabbing its food and pushing it out of the nest. There, ignored by its mother, the second chick normal dies of starvation, despite its efforts to find its way back into the nest. Only one in ten second chicks survives. And here’s nature’s cruel logic in this: That second chick is hatched by nature as an insurance-policy, in case the first chick is weak or dies. Barring that, it is doomed to die, ostracized, hungry, blindly grasping for food and its mother’s attention as it starves to death. But this cruelty works as an evolutionary strategy. White pelicans have survived for thirty million years, but at the cost of millions of its own species dying cruelly.

A certain intelligence is certainly evident in this, but where is the compassion? Did a compassionate God really design this? The intelligence in nature’s strategy of the survival of the fittest is clear. Each species, unless unnaturally interfered with from the outside, is forever producing healthier, more robust, more adaptable members. Such, it seems, is nature’s wisdom and design – up to a point.

Certain scientists such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin suggest that physical evolution has reached its apex, its highest degree of unity, complexity and consciousness, inside the central nervous system and brain of the human person and that evolution has now taken a leap (just as it did when consciousness leapt out of raw biology and as it did when self- consciousness leapt out of simple consciousness) so that now meaningful evolution is no longer about gaining further physical strength and adaptability. Rather meaningful evolution is now concerned with the social and the spiritual, that is, with social and spiritual strength.

And in a Christian understanding of things, this means that meaningful evolution is now about human beings using their self-consciousness to turn back and help nature to protect and nurture its second pelicans. Meaningful evolution now is no longer about having the strong grow stronger, but about having the weak, that part of nature that nature herself, to this point, has not been able to nurture, grow strong.

Why? What’s nature’s interest in the weak? Why shouldn’t nature be happy to have the weak weeded out? Does God have an interest in the weak that nature does not?

No, nature too is very interested in the survival of the weak and is calling upon the help of human beings to bring this about. Nature is interested in the survival of the weak because vulnerability and weakness bring something to nature that is absent when it is only concerned with the survival of the fittest and with producing ever-stronger, more robust, and more adaptable species and individuals. What the weak add to nature are character and compassion, which are the central ingredients needed to bring about unity, complexity, and consciousness at the social and spiritual level.

When God created human beings at the beginning of time, God charged them with the responsibility of “dominion”, of ruling over nature. What’s contained in that mandate is not an order or permission to dominate over nature and use nature in whatever fashion we desire. The mandate is rather that of “watching over”, of tending the garden, of being wise stewards, and of helping nature do things that, in its unconscious state, it cannot do, namely, protect and nurture the weak, the second pelicans.

The second-century theologian, Irenaeus, once famously said: The glory of God is the human being fully alive! In our own time, Gustavo Gutierrez, generally credited with being the father of Liberation Theology, recast that dictum to say: The glory of God is the poor person fully alive!” And that is as well the ultimate glory of nature.

The Beginnings of the Way

Taken from a series of emails from Fr Richard Rohr

As we saw in the previous weeks on Jesus and Paul, Christianity first emerged not as a new religion, but as a reform and sect of Judaism. Wherever Paul, Peter, Mark, Thomas, and other early missionaries travelled, they formed small communities of believers in "The Way," a movement that emphasized Jesus' teachings, death, and resurrection as the path to transformation. Members of The Way clearly believed that Jesus was the "Messiah" (although that had many different meanings). Gradually the movement grew and took on a life of its own, welcoming non-Jews as well as Jews, becoming more inclusive and grace-oriented, and surely less tribal, until it eventually called itself "catholic" or universal. 

By AD 80, there were Christians as far away as India and France. The "Early Church" period (the five hundred or so years following Jesus' death and resurrection) was a time of dramatic change in culture, politics, and economy for the ancient Mediterranean world. All of these changes affected the development of the fledgling religion, shaping liturgy, rituals, and theology. Diana Butler Bass writes, "For all the complexity of primitive Christianity, a startling idea runs through early records of faith: Christianity seems to have succeeded because it transformed the lives of people in a chaotic world" (A People's History of Christianity). During this time, Christianity was not so much about doctrines or eternal salvation, but about how to live a better life here and now, within the "The Reign of God."

From the Romans' perspective, the Christian sect was radical because it encouraged alternative behaviors that were both attractive and threatening to the worldview of empire--rather than acquiring wealth, sharing possessions equally; rather than segregation, living together with people of different ethnicities and social classes.

Early Christianity, one of the key building blocks in my lineage of faith, is largely unknown and of little interest to most Western Christians. The very things the early Christians emphasized--such as the prayer of quiet, the Trinity, divinization, universal restoration, and the importance of practice--have been neglected, to our own detriment. As I have said in other places, every time the church divided, it also divided up Christ, and both sides of the divide were weaker as a result. As formally happened in AD 1054--the schism between what are now the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches--we, in effect, excommunicated one another, and we were all losers. That is what dualistic thinking always does.

During the next few weeks I'll try to reclaim some of these forgotten pieces of the Christian tradition for our wholeness and blessing. We are still carrying the DNA of our great, great grandparents of faith, and knowing that can give us deep identity and meaning. Not knowing this heritage will allow you to cling to superficial Christian distinctions that emerged much later, and largely as historical accidents.

Adapted from the Mendicant, Vol. 5, No. 2

Early Christian Values

Much of what Jesus taught seems to have been followed closely during the first several hundred years after his death and resurrection. As long as Jesus' followers were on the bottom and the edge of empire, as long as they shared the rejected and betrayed status of Jesus, they could grasp his teaching more readily. Values like nonparticipation in war, simple living, inclusivity, and love of enemies could be more easily understood when Christians were gathering secretly in the catacombs, when their faith was untouched by empire, rationalization, and compromise.

Several early writings illustrate this early commitment to Jesus' teachings on simplicity and generosity. The Didache, written around AD 90, says: "Share all things with your brother; and do not say that they are your own. If you are sharers in what is imperishable, how much more in things which perish."

The Shepherd of Hermas, written around AD 120, gives the image of the church as a tower to be built of white round stones. Many of the stones are not suitable for use in construction; those stones are not rejected, but they are put away to one side. These stones represent believers who are still relying upon their wealth and success and, therefore, cannot build this new community. They cannot be used until they have been reshaped by the Gospel, and their reliance upon money and success has been taken from them.

Around the year AD 175, St. Clement of Alexandria wrote a letter entitled "Can a Rich Man Be Saved?" The very fact that it was posed as a question lets us know that Jesus' teaching was still taken seriously. St. Clement concludes that it is not necessary to renounce all your worldly possessions to be a believer, but it is surely questionable and dangerous to be rich. If greed is not warned against, it almost always takes over. Usury, the taking of interest on loans, remains a "mortal sin" until well into 12th century when the first middle class tradesmen begin to emerge.

Tertullian, another recognized "Father of the Church," writes around the year 200: "If anyone is worried by his family possessions, we advise him, as do many biblical texts, to scorn worldly things. There can be no better exhortation to the abandonment of wealth than the example of our Jesus who had no material possessions. He always defended the poor and he always condemned the rich."

I am not making a political-economic judgment here, but illustrating how Christianity has indeed changed with the times; there are both good and bad aspects to these changes. Let's try to hear the important truth that is presented, and read such statements from the early Christians with wisdom, prayer, and a non-dualistic mind. They can only make us wiser and more discerning.

Adapted from Dancing Standing Still: Healing the World from a Place of Prayer, pp. 48-49

From Bottom to Top

The last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ended in AD 303. Ten years later, Christianity was legalized by Constantine I. After this structural change, Christianity increasingly accepted, and even defended, the dominant social order, especially concerning war and money. Morality became individualized and largely sexual. The Church slowly lost its free and alternative vantage point. Texts written in the hundred years preceding 313 show it was unthinkable that a Christian would fight in the army, as the army was killing Christians. By the year 400, the entire army had become Christian, and they were now killing the pagans.

Before AD 313, the Church was on the bottom of society, which is the privileged vantage point for understanding the liberating power of Gospel for both the individual and for society. Overnight the Church moved from the bottom to the top, literally from the catacombs to the basilicas. The Roman basilicas were large buildings for court and other public assembly, and they became Christian worship spaces.

The Christian church became the established religion of the empire and started reading the Gospel from the position of maintaining power and social order instead of experiencing the profound power of powerlessness that Jesus revealed. In a sense, Christianity almost became a different religion! This shift would be similar to reversing the first of the 12 Steps to seek power instead of admitting powerlessness. In this paradigm only the "winners" win, whereas the true Gospel has everyone winning. Calling this power "spiritual" and framing success as moral perfection made this position all the more seductive to the ego and all the more disguised.

The failing Roman Empire needed an emperor, and Jesus was used to fill the power gap, making much of his teaching literally incomprehensible and unhearable, even by good people. The relationships of the Trinity were largely lost as the very shape of God: the Father became angry and distant, Jesus became the needed organizing principle, and for all practical and dynamic purposes the Holy Spirit was forgotten. An imperial system needs law and order and clear belonging systems more than it wants mercy or meekness or transformation.

By the grace of God, saints and holy ones of every century and in every denomination and monastery still got the point, but only if they were willing to go through painful descent--which Catholics call "the way of the cross," Jesus called "the sign of Jonah," Augustine called "the paschal mystery," and the Apostles' Creed called "the descent into hell." Without these journeys there's something essential you simply don't understand about the very nature of God and the nature of your own soul. You try to read reality from the side of power instead of powerlessness, despite the fact that God has told us (through the image of the Crucified) that vulnerability and powerlessness is the way to true spiritual power. But Christians made a jeweled logo and decoration out of the cross, when it was supposed to be a shocking strategic plan, charting the inevitable path of full transformation into God.

Adapted from Dancing Standing Still: Healing the World from a Place of Prayer, pp. 48-51;   

and Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 100

All Spiritual Knowing Must Be Balanced by Not-Knowing

As the Christian church moved from bottom to top, protected and pampered by the Roman Empire, people like Anthony of the Desert, John Cassian, Evagrius Ponticus, and the early monks went off to the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria to keep their freedom and to keep growing in the Spirit. They found the Church's newfound privilege--and the loss of Jesus' core values--unacceptable. It was in these deserts that a different mind called contemplation was first perfected and taught. Contemplation alone could understand spiritual things properly, they came to see.

The Desert Fathers and Mothers gave birth to what we call the apophatic tradition, knowing by silence, symbols, and not even needing to know with words. It amounted to a deep insight into the nature of faith that was eventually called the "cloud of unknowing" or the balancing of knowing with not needing to know. Deep acceptance of ultimate mystery is ironically the best way to keep the mind and heart spaces always open and always growing. It really does "work"! Today scientists might call it moving forward by theory and hypothesis so you are always ready for the next new discovery.

We do need enough knowing to be able to hold our ground, and I hope I'm offering a bit of that here in these meditations--a container and structure in which you can safely acknowledge that you do know a bit, and in fact just enough to hold you until you are ready for a further knowing. In the meantime you happily exist in what some have called docta ignorantia or "learned ignorance." Such people tend to be very happy and they also make a lot of other people happy. We are all burdened by "know-it-alls."

It is amazing how religion has turned this biblical idea of faith around to mean the exact opposite: into a need and even a right to certain knowing, complete predictability, and perfect assurance about whom God likes and whom God does not like. It seems we think we can have the Infinite Mystery of God in our quite finite pocket. We know what God is going to say or do next, because we think our particular denomination has it all figured out. In this schema, God is no longer free but must follow our rules and our theology. If God is not infinitely free, we are in trouble, because every time God forgives or shows mercy, God is breaking God's own rules and showing shocking (but merciful) freedom and inconsistency!

Adapted from Dancing Standing Still: Healing the World  from a Place of Prayer, p. 51; and Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, pp. 19-20, 230