Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
mob: 0417 279 437;
email: mdelaney@netspace.net.au
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday 10am-3pm
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au
FaceBook: Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
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 9th - 12th June 2015
Eucharistic Adoration:
Prayer Groups:
Ministry Rosters 13th & 14th June 2015
Devonport:
Readers
Vigil: M Gaffney, M
Gerrand, H Lim 10:30am:
E Petts, K Douglas
10:30am: J Di Pietro, S Riley, B Schrader,
F Sly, M Mahoney, M
Sherriff
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Graham Appleby, Audrey Mitchell, Geok Lan Low, Margaret
Everett, Gertrude Haasmann, Mike O’Halloran, Beryl Purton, Nanette O’Brien, Lorraine
Keen, Joseph Sallese, Bridget Stone, Paul Sulzberger, Tas Glover, Sylvia Street, Daisy Murray, Daphne
Walker, Noelene Britton and Betty Martin.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time:
3rd – 9th June – Anthony Venn, Viv Down, Karen Blackaby, Iris Sullivan, Theresa Maguire,
Jocelyn Waldhauser, Phyllis (Pip) Revell, Delia Lynch, John Deegan, Bernard
Thorpe and Colin Crowden. Also Brian Mitchell.
May they rest in peace
Scripture Readings
This Week - The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
First Reading: Exodus 24:3-8
Responsorial Psalm:
(R.) I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation:
Alleluia, alleluia! I am the living bread from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live for ever. Alleluia!
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
As I enter into my time of prayer I quietly ask the Holy
Spirit to be with me. If I am troubled by any worries I hand them over to my
loving Father. I trust that I am always in the care of the Lord.
Readings Next Week: 11th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:
We have been invited to join people from around Australia
in Prayer this Sunday night regarding the move to introduce a bill into our
National Parliament on Monday to redefine the Marriage Act in this Country.
Gatherings are occurring from 6.30pm – 9.00pm and you are invited to pray at
that time to support those opposing the proposed changes.
The visit of the relic of St Anthony of Padua takes place
in our Parish on Thursday 18th. There will be two Masses during the visit – 12
noon and 6.30pm – both will be followed by a time of Veneration. Some
assistance will be needed during the day so if anyone is able to assist by
being present at some time other than the times of Mass and Veneration as a
form of Security for the Relics then please contact me asap.
On Monday evening I attended the bi-monthly meeting of the
Lay Liturgical Leaders Group. At the meeting in February the question was
raised why, if we (Fr Alex and I) were able to celebrate Masses in all Mass
centres during January, Mass wasn‘t celebrated in every centre every weekend.
After some discussion and a variety of views I undertook to speak to the
communities of Sheffield and Port Sorell about the possibility as there might
also need to be an adjustment to Mass Times to ensure safety of the priest
travelling to the two centres, particularly Sheffield, in winter. Also I was
concerned that there would not be the possibility of spending time with
Parishioners at Ulverstone after Mass if the priest always had to dash off to
Sheffield.
The matter was also discussed at the Parish Pastoral
Council where the concern was raised, also mentioned by the Lay Liturgical
Leaders, regarding the extra workload for the two priests. After further
discussion at the April Lay Liturgical Leaders Meeting, and last Monday, and
after the Parish Pastoral Council Meeting on Wednesday (3rd) it was decided
that Mass would be celebrated, as the norm, at each Mass Centre from the
beginning of July.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks
to all the Lay Liturgical Leaders, present and past, for the absolutely
wonderful commitment they have given to the role they have played in the Parish
over the past 8 years. Whilst their role will not be as regular their support
will still be needed at different times and my hope is that we might be able to
find new ways of being able to use their expertise in the life of the community
in the near future.
We welcome Fr Alexander back next weekend and will continue
to support him after the death of his mother and the time spent with his family
following the funeral.
Next Friday 12th June there will be Mass at
Midday at Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone (no 9:30am Mass) to celebrate the
Feast Day of the Church. The children from Sacred Heart School will participate
in this Mass and families and parishioners are invited to attend. Adults, sorry
children, are invited to a counter meal at the Lighthouse Hotel following the
Mass. There will be a morning tea following the 9am Mass on Sunday 14th
June to celebrate this Feast Day.
Until next week, please take care on the roads and in your
homes.
ST MARY'S CHURCH
PENGUIN:
All welcome after 6pm Vigil Mass,
Saturday
13th June to soup and sandwich night.
menALIVE Weekend for men
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE - WILLIAM ST,
FORTH
CWL DEVONPORT: Next meeting will
be held on Wednesday July 8th at Emmaus House at 2.00 pm. No meeting in June.
PLANNED GIVING PROGRAMME:
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:
Round
9 – Sydney Swans won by 60 points. Winners; Zillah Jones, Veronica Riley,
Ken McKenzie.
Thursday Nights OLOL Hall D’port.
Eyes down 7.30pm –
Callers 11th June Rod
Clark & Merv Tippett
Evangelii
Gaudium
“Small
yet strong in the love of God, like St Francis of Assisi, all of us, as
Christians, are called to watch over and protect the fragile world in which we
live, and all its peoples.”
-
Par.216 from
Evangelii Gaudium, Pope
Francis, Nov. 24, 2013
Saint of the Week – St Ephrem,
deacon, doctor (June 9)
St Ephrem was baptised
around the age of 18, and he may have been ordained a deacon at the same time. Since
one of the chief activities of a deacon is the preaching of the Gospel, Ephrem
began to write deeply theological hymns and biblical commentaries. In his
lifetime, he could have written as many as three million lines, and 400 of his
hymns still survive. His hymnography earned him the title “Harp of the Spirit.”
Fleeing westward from the
Persians, who were ravaging Turkey, Ephrem settled in Edessa, in southern
Turkey, in 363. There, he continued to write hymns, especially defending the
teaching of the Council of Nicaea against the Arian heretics, who were influential in
Edessa.
He died tending
plague victims in 373.
“What
you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
Meme of the week
POPE FRANCIS' HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF
CORPUS CHRISTI
In the Last Supper, Jesus gives His Body and his Blood by means of the bread and the wine, to leave us the memorial of His sacrifice of infinite love. With this viaticum full to overflowing with grace, the disciples have everything they need for their long journey through history, to extend the kingdom of God to everyone. Light and strength will be for them the gift that Jesus made of Himself, sacrificing Himself voluntarily on the Cross. This Bread of Life has come down to us! The Church is in unending awe before this reality – an awe that endlessly nourishes contemplation, adoration, memory. This is seen in a beautiful text of today's Liturgy, the Responsory of the second reading of the Office of Readings, which says: "See in this bread the body of Christ which hung upon the cross, and in this cup the blood which flowed from His side. Take His body, then, and eat it; take His blood and drink it, and you will become His members. The body of Christ is the bond which unites you to him: eat it, or you will have no part in him. The blood is the price he paid for your redemption: drink it, lest you despair of your sinfulness."
We ask ourselves what it means today, to be torn from Him, to despair – as cowards – of our sinfulness [what is this cowardliness – svilirci – of which Christ speaks to us through the Church at prayer]?
We are torn from Him when we are not obedient to the Word of the Lord, when we do not live brotherhood between us, when we race to occupy the first places, when we find the courage to witness to charity, when we are unable to offer hope. The Eucharist allows us to be not torn from Him, for it is the bond of communion, is the fulfillment of the Covenant, a living sign of the love of Christ who humbled and annihilated Himself for us, that we might remain united. By participating in the Eucharist and by feeding on it, we are inserted into a way that does not admit divisions. The Christ present in our midst, in the signs of bread and wine, requires that the power of love exceed every laceration, and at the same time that it become communion with the poor, support for the weak, fraternal attention to those who are struggling to carry the weight of everyday life.
And what it means for us today "svilirci" – to be cowardly, to despair of our sinfulness, that is, to let our Christian dignity be watered down, [or to adulterate it ourselves]? It means to let ourselves be affected by the idolatries of our time: appearance, consumption, the self at the center of everything; but also being competitive, arrogance as the winning attitude, the idea that one never need admit to a mistake or to find oneself in need. All this demeans us, makes us mediocre, lukewarm, insipid Christians.
Jesus shed his blood as a ransom and as a lavacrum – a cleansing agent, that we might be purified of all sins: in order that we fall not into cowardice, despair of sinfulness, that we not become weak, let us look to him, let us drink deep draughts from His source, that we might be preserved from the risk of corruption. Then shall we experience the grace of a transformation: we will remain always poor sinners, but the Blood of Christ will deliver us from our sins and give us back our dignity. Without merit of our own, with sincere humility, we can bring to our brethren the love of our Lord and Savior. We will be His eyes that go in search of Zacchaeus and of the Magdalene; we will be His hand who helps the sick in body and spirit; we will be His heart that loves those in need of reconciliation and understanding.
Thus does the Eucharist make present the Covenant that sanctifies us, purifies us and unites us in marvelous communion with God.
Today, the feast of Corpus Domini, we have the joy not only of celebrating this mystery, but also of praising Him and singing in the streets of our city. May the procession we will make at the end of the Mass, express our gratitude for all the journey that God has allowed us to make through the desert of our poverty, to take us out of slavery, by nourishing us with His love through the Sacrament of his Body and the Blood.
In a little while we shall walk along the way, let us perceive ourselves in communion with our many brothers and sisters who do not have the freedom to express their faith in the Lord Jesus. Let us feel ourselves united with them, let us sing with them, praise with them, adore with them. And we venerate in our hearts those brothers and sisters from whom the sacrifice of their lives has been required for fidelity to Christ: let their blood, united to that of the Lord, be a pledge of peace and reconciliation for the whole world.
______________________
THE DEEPEST SECRET INSIDE WISDOM
Everyone longs to know something that’s secret, to know something that others don’t know, but that you know, and the knowledge of which gives you some insight and advantage over others who are outside the inner-circle of that secret. It has always been so. Historically this is called “Gnosticism”, which forever makes an appearance in one form or another.
Today we see this in society at large in the immense popularity of books like The Di Vinci Code and The Celestine Prophecy. Their lure is precisely in the hint that there are secrets that a few elite persons know that contain important, life-altering, information which we, the unenlightened, are ignorant of. Our itch, of course, is to be inside these special circles. We see this paralleled sometimes in religious circles in the over-fascination people have with the private revelations of various self-acclaimed mystics, in special books claiming to disclose critical new revelations from the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in the undue interest shown in things like The Third Secret of Fatima. Gnosticism has many cloaks.
At first glance, Jesus, in Mark’s Gospel, seems to be hinting at just this sort of secret. He tells us there is a secret that is open to us which, if known, puts us into a special circle of enlightenment and community. In Mark 4, 11, he tells his disciples: To you is given the secret of the Kingdom of God, but to those outside everything is in parables. Clearly here Jesus is distinguishing between two circles, one which grasps the secret and is then “inside”, and the other which does not grasp the secret and is then “outside”. Jesus seems to be saying that in following him we can be either “in” or “out”, depending upon whether or not we grasp a certain secret. Genuine disciples are those who (in today’s terminology) “get it”, and those who “don’t get it’ remain outside. But what are we inside or outside of? More importantly, what is the secret?
For Jesus, the secret is the cross; that’s the deep wisdom we need to grasp. If we understand the cross, all the rest of what Jesus teaches will make sense. Conversely, if we don’t understand the cross, all the rest of what Jesus teaches won’t make sense. Grasping the meaning of the cross is the secret to everything. But how, more concretely, should this be understood? What is the deep secret that lies inside the cross of Jesus? What, in essence, do we need to understand?
Various biblical commentators answer this in different, complementary ways. For some, it means grasping the wisdom that’s revealed in the cross. For others, it means understanding the brokenness of Jesus on the cross. Still, for others, it means understanding the invitation that is inside the cross which invites us to live out the demands of the cross. Each of these, in its own way, points to the most-profound secret of all inside human understanding, namely, that in giving love away in total self-sacrifice, at the cost of humiliation, brokenness, and death, we ourselves come to what’s deepest and fullest in life.
But, unlike all Gnostic secrets, ancient or contemporary, this is an open secret, available to everybody and, paradoxically, more-accessible to the “little ones”, the poor, and more-hidden to “the wise and the clever”. Jesus makes the point that he has no hidden secrets by emphasizing again and again that he only speaks openly and in public, never in secret, but in synagogues and market-places. Jesus has no hidden secrets, only open secrets that we fail to grasp.
Interestingly, we see that, in the Gospels, grasping the secret of the cross is not something we do once and for all. Sometimes we grasp it, and we are inside the circle of understanding; and sometimes we don’t grasp it, and we are outside the circle of understanding. For example, after Peter denies Jesus during the passion, the Gospels tell us that “Peter went outside”; and they are referring to much more than simply stepping outside through some courtyard door. In denying that he knew Jesus and in not stepping forward to assume the weight of what would happen if he remained faithful, Peter was stepping outside the circle of both true discipleship and of a true understanding of life. His denial of Jesus took him “outside”. We too, in our following of Jesus, sometimes step “outside” when we give in to temptation or adversity. But then, if we repent of our betrayal, like Peter, we can step back “inside”.
There are various ways that we can enter into an understanding of Jesus’ message and try to appropriate it for our lives, but few, perhaps none, take us so immediately to the center as does the invitation from Jesus in the Gospel of Mark to grasp and accept the wisdom of the Cross.
________________________________________
An Introduction to
Francis of Assisi
A "Prime
Attractor"
One day, Brother Masseo approached Brother Francis and asked
him with complete sincerity, "Why after you? Why after you? Why does the
whole world come running after you, Francis?" We are still asking that
question eight centuries later. Francis is what some call a "prime
attractor"--one who moves history and humanity forward just by being who
he is.
Francis of Assisi (who died in 1226) has a longer
bibliography in the Library of Congress than any person in history--at least
that's what a librarian there told me. He is taken seriously by all world
religions. When Pope John Paul II wanted to gather the leaders of all the world
religions to have a respectful interfaith dialogue in the 1980s, the only city
in the world that they could agree to meet in was Assisi, because the memory of
St. Francis does not carry any negative baggage, even to other religions.
As you probably know, I live in New Mexico, where the first
Franciscan arrived in 1598, beginning a long and checkered history here. I am
afraid the Order had lost much of Francis' luster by then, because, like the
Church itself, we had aligned ourselves with power, war, and empire (in our
case, the Spanish Empire) for protection. Strange, since this is precisely what
Francis refused to do in order to keep his structural, Gospel, and personal
freedom. But at least we still accompanied the poor and the immigrants and had
not lost Francis' sense of adventure into ever-new worlds.
The world of Francis is a much larger world where sun, moon,
animals, plants, and elements are all shown reverence and even personal
subjectivity as "brother" and "sister." He is the patron
saint of ecology, animals, and peacemaking--because he understood that the
entire circle of life has a Great Lover at the center of it all. He is the only
Christian man ever known to attempt three trips to dialogue with the
"enemy" during the tragic Crusades against Muslims in the Holy Land,
telling the Christians they were wrong for being there! He is truly a universal
man, addressing the same issues that are still urgent and important in our own
time.
Adapted from Richard Rohr's foreword to Mirabai Starr's
book, Saint Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation, pp. vii-ix; and The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom
of St. Francis, disc 1 (CD)
A Spirituality of
Subtraction
Meister Eckhart rightly pointed out that spirituality has
much more to do with subtraction than it does with addition. I am sad to say
that most spirituality in the West has largely become a matter of addition.
This "spiritual consumerism" focuses on learning more spiritual
ideas, earning merit badges from God, trying to attain enlightenment, and the
will power of heroic moral behavior. Yet the counter-intuitive nature of the
Jesus-journey shows it is not at all about getting, attaining, achieving,
performing, or succeeding (all of which tend to pander to the ego). Jesus'
spirituality is much more about letting go of what we do not need anyway. It
more often involves unlearning than learning. Jesus taught us the way of
descent, which we later called "the way of the cross." Like few other
Christians, Francis profoundly understood such a major turn-around. He wanted
God, not his ego, to steer his life; so he practiced letting go of his own
will, his own needs, and his own preferences until he was free of their
domination and able to find happiness at a much deeper and more truthful level.
Much of Francis'
universal appeal is that he took a joyful approach to inner and outer
liberation. His entire lifestyle was a wholesale critique of the way most
people live, yet he did not do this in a negative or moralistic way. After spending
time as a prisoner of war when he was very young, Francis seemed to realize the
intrinsic connection between violence and our preoccupation with money,
possessions, and empty status symbols. He felt the only way to get out of the
world of violence, competition, and hatred was to live a simple life--a life
that did not appropriate anything to itself, sine proprio as he put it, but a
life lived in constant presence to what was right in front of him, which was
nature itself, an always present doorway to the divine. Seeing what was right
in front of him also awakened Francis to the immense amount of suffering in the
world. Francis did not shield himself from that suffering or deny the dark,
negative side of himself and the world. Instead he did a pre-emptive dive right
into "the tears of things," without judgment, rancor, or cynicism.
For Francis, death belonged to life; death did not threaten
life. And so he freely chose what most of us run from: poverty, failure,
humiliation, and the search for human respect. He first worked with the lepers
on the plain below Assisi, and there he "found what was once hateful to me
became sweetness and life." We all learn the mystery of ourselves at the
price of our own innocence. Francis did not try to remain "innocent"
(the word means "unwounded"). He did not run from life's wounding,
because he saw that in Jesus it became the way to resurrection and universal
life.
There are two major approaches to spirituality and to
conversion. We can try to exclude and triumph over the negative parts, the
shadow parts, the "inferior parts" (1 Corinthians 12:22), as Paul
calls them. This leads us to a kind of heroic spirituality based on willpower
and the achievement of some sort of supposed perfection. But if you are honest,
what you are really doing is pretending--and excluding the dark side that you
do not want to look at, or the people you do not want to deal with. The way of
Francis included and integrated the negative--forgiving and accepting the
imperfection and woundedness of life. He agreed with Paul that the supposed
inferior or weakest are, in fact, "the most indispensable."
Adapted from The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of St.
Francis, discs 1 and 5 (CD)
The Marrow of the
Gospel
Many people who are not officially Franciscans are followers
of Francis and have rediscovered again and again what can only be called
radical simplification. I think of people like Thérèse of Lisieux, Charles de
Foucald, Dorothy Day, Vincent de Paul, Seraphim of Sarov, thousands of Catholic
and Protestant missionaries, Mother Teresa, and, most recently, Pope Francis.
The way of Francis of Assisi cannot be contained inside of formal Franciscanism
simply because it is nothing more than the Gospel itself--in a very distilled
and honest form.
Francis says it this way: "The Rule and the life of the
Friars Minor is simply to live the Gospel." In fact, the first Rule that
he wrote in 1221 is simply a stringing together of a whole bunch of quotes from
the New Testament. He sent it off to Rome, and the Pope looked at it and said
in effect, "This is no Rule of Life. This is just the Gospel."
I can just hear Francis saying, "Yes, that's the point.
It is just the Gospel. We don't need any other Rule except the Gospel." In
his "Testament," he says Franciscanism is nothing other than
"the marrow of the Gospel." He said our life is simply to live the
Gospel, to get to the core of what Jesus taught. Honestly, the core of the
Gospel is so simple that it's hard to live. It's so clear that the mind almost
insists on making it complicated, doctrinal, and abstract--so we can argue
about it. Even Francis had to add some niceties to his Rule to make it more
acceptable to the Roman system before it could be approved in 1223. He added
politically correct things such as, "Be sure you are nice to the priests
and always respect the bishop." And wouldn't you know it, this little
ragtag group of Italian laymen were officially approved by the Church, when
many others who were doing the same thing (like the Waldensians and the Poor
Men of Lyons) were not. Humility goes a long way when you are trying to reform
something.
Francis had a sincerity and joy about him, which made him
easy to trust and even like, if we are to believe the responses of the Sultan
in Egypt (who had nothing to gain), Pope Innocent III in Rome (who had achieved
the height of Papal and temporal power), and the local Bishop in Assisi (who
had the most to lose perhaps). Apparently, it was pretty hard to dislike this
guy!
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, p. xvi;
Dying to Live
Francis was at once very traditional and entirely new in the
ways of holiness, and he is still such a standing paradox. He stood barefoot on
the earth and yet touched the heavens. He was grounded in the Church and yet
moved instinctively toward the Cosmos. He lived happily inside the visible and
yet both suffered and rejoiced in what others thought was invisible. Again and again,
he was totally at home in two worlds at the same time, and thus he made them
into one world.
Francis, like all
saints, delighted in both his Absolute Littleness and his Absolute Connection
in the very same moment, knowing they depended on one another. Francis and
Clare, his friend and follower, died into the life that they loved instead of
living in fear of any death that could end their life. They were both so very
eager to love, and they somehow knew that dying to the old and unneeded was an
essential part of living this love at any depth. Most of us do not seem to know
that--and we resist all change.
Jesus himself, Paul
(Jesus' iconoclastic interpreter), and both Francis and Clare made room for the
new by a full willingness to let go of the old. This is quite a rare pattern in
the history of formal religion, which is too often a love affair with small and
comfortable traditions. Each of these game-changing people had the courage and
the clarity to sort out what was perennial wisdom from what was unreal,
passing, merely cultural, or even destructive, which is exactly how Jesus
describes the way "a disciple of the kingdom" behaves. He says that
such disciples are "householders who bring out from their household things
both old and new" (Matthew 13:52). John the Baptist describes Jesus as a
"winnowing fan" within religion itself--that separates the grain from
the chaff (Matthew 3:12) instead of presuming that religion is all
"grain" and the outsiders are all "chaff."
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, pp. xvii-xix
Conserving the
Core
Both Jesus and Francis did not let the old get in the way of
the new, but like all religious geniuses, revealed what the old was saying all
along. I find much wisdom in what the contemporary faith seeker Christian Wiman
writes: "Faith itself sometimes needs to be stripped of its social and
historical encrustations and returned to its first, churchless incarnation in
the human heart."
Francis both named and exemplified that first churchless
incarnation of faith in the human heart, but then he somehow also knew that it
was the half-knowing organized Church that passed this shared mystery on to him
and preserved it for future generations. He had the humility and patience to
know that whatever is true is always a shared truth, and only institutions, for
all their weaknesses, make this widely shareable, historical, and communal.
Francis understood the humility (kenosis) and the patience of incarnation. Even
a little bit of the truth is more than enough for a saint.
Precisely because both Jesus and Francis were "conservatives"
in the true sense of the term, they conserved what was worth conserving--the
core, the transformative life of the Gospel--and did not let accidentals get in
the way, which are the very things false conservatives usually idolize. They then
ended up looking quite "progressive," radical, and even dangerous to
the status quo. This is, of course, the constant and consistent biblical
pattern, from Abraham to Moses to Jeremiah to Job to John the Baptist to Mary
and Joseph. With courage and wisdom, great seers invariably end up saying
something like Jesus did: "The Law says, and I also say. . . ."
(Matthew 5:20-48).
Francis' holiness, like all holiness, was unique and never a
copy or mere imitation. In his "Testament," he says, "No one
told me what I ought to do," and then, at the very end of his life, he
says, "I have done what was mine to do, now you must do what is yours to
do." What permission, freedom, and space he thus gave to his followers!
Bonaventure echoed that understanding of unique and intimate vocation when he
taught: "We are each loved by God in a particular and incomparable way, as
in the case of a bride and bridegroom." Francis and Clare knew that the
love God has for each soul is unique and made to order, which is why any "saved"
person always feels beloved, chosen, and even "God's favorite" like
so many in the Bible. Divine intimacy is always and precisely particular and
made to order--and thus "intimate."
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, pp. xx-xviii
Finding True Center
at the Edges
The biblical prophets, by definition, were seers and seekers
of Eternal Mystery, which always seems dangerously new and heretical to old
eyes and any current preoccupations with security. The prophets lived on the edge
of the inside of Judaism, John the Baptist does the same with Temple Judaism,
and Paul then sharply disagrees with Peter and the new Christian establishment
in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-14). Francis and Clare continued this classic
pattern in their own hometown as they physically moved from upper Assisi among
the majores (the upper class) to the lower side of town and the minores (the
poor and lower class).
There they had nothing to prove or defend, and they gained
opportunities to have fresh and honest experience--and to find their True
Center. It is ironic that you must go to the edge to find the center. But that
is what the prophets, hermits, and mystics invariably know. Only there were
they able to live in a way that was not grasping at the superficial or
protecting the surface of things, but falling into the core and center of their
own souls and their own experiences.
Francis and Clare can show you how to die into your one and
only life, the life that you must learn to love. It will show itself to be one
continuous movement--first learning to love your life and then allowing
yourself to fully die into it--and never to die away from it. Once death is
joyfully incorporated into life, you are already in heaven and there is no
possibility or fear of hell. That is the Franciscan way. The Gospel is not a
fire insurance policy for the next world, but a life assurance policy for this
world. Francis and Clare somehow came to see through the common disguises of
heaven and hell and they seemed to come to this on their own. My hope and
desire in writing these meditations is that you can know heaven on your own,
too--and now!
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, pp. xxi-xxii
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
mob: 0417 279 437;
mob: 0417 279 437;
email: mdelaney@netspace.net.au
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday 10am-3pm
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au
FaceBook: Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
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 9th - 12th June 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am - Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am - Latrobe
Thursday: No Mass ... St Barnabas
Friday: 12noon - Ulverstone Feast Day of Sacred Heart Church
Next 13th & 14th June 2015
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield LWC
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 13th & 14th June 2015
Devonport:
Readers
Vigil: M Gaffney, M
Gerrand, H Lim 10:30am:
E Petts, K Douglas
Ministers of Communion:
Vigil:
B & B
Windebank, T Bird, J Kelly,
T Muir, Beau Windebank
10:30am: J Di Pietro, S Riley, B Schrader,
F Sly, M Mahoney, M
Sherriff
Cleaners 12th June: F Sly, M Hansen,
R McBain 19th June: K.S.C.
Piety Shop 13th June:
H Thompson 14th June: P Piccolo
Flowers: A O’Connor
Ulverstone:
Reader: R Locket
Ministers of
Communion: P Steyn, E Cox, C Singline, J Landford
Cleaners: B & V
McCall, G Doyle Flowers: P Mapley Hospitality: K Foster
Penguin:
Greeters: G Hills-Eade, B Eade Commentator: E Nickols
Readers: J Barker, A Guest Procession: Y & R Downes
Ministers of Communion: Y Downes, M Murray Liturgy:
Pine Road
Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Latrobe:
Reader: S Ritchie Ministers of Communion: Z Smith, M Mackey
Procession: M Clark & Co Music: Jenny
& May
Port Sorell:
Readers: M Badcock, L Post Ministers of Communion: E Holloway, D Leaman Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare: G Wylie
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Kath Smith, Nellie Widger, Michelle Nickols, Lorraine
Duncan, Karen Aiken, Alyssa Otten, Merlyn Veracruz, Sr Carmel Hall,
Meg Collings, Bettye Cox, Phillip Sheehan,
Margaret Hoult,
Shirley Sexton & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Graham Appleby, Audrey Mitchell, Geok Lan Low, Margaret
Everett, Gertrude Haasmann, Mike O’Halloran, Beryl Purton, Nanette O’Brien, Lorraine
Keen, Joseph Sallese, Bridget Stone, Paul Sulzberger, Tas Glover, Sylvia Street, Daisy Murray, Daphne
Walker, Noelene Britton and Betty Martin.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time:
3rd – 9th June – Anthony Venn, Viv Down, Karen Blackaby, Iris Sullivan, Theresa Maguire,
Jocelyn Waldhauser, Phyllis (Pip) Revell, Delia Lynch, John Deegan, Bernard
Thorpe and Colin Crowden. Also Brian Mitchell.
May they rest in peace
Scripture Readings
This Week - The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
First Reading: Exodus 24:3-8
Responsorial Psalm:
Responsorial Psalm:
(R.) I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.
Second Reading: Hebrews 9:11-15
Gospel Acclamation:
Gospel Acclamation:
Alleluia, alleluia! I am the living bread from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live for ever. Alleluia!
GOSPEL: Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
As I enter into my time of prayer I quietly ask the Holy
Spirit to be with me. If I am troubled by any worries I hand them over to my
loving Father. I trust that I am always in the care of the Lord.
I read the text slowly. I allow it to touch me.
Maybe I wish to pray the text contemplatively, using my imagination.
Perhaps I am one of the two disciples asked to go and prepare the upper room. I
look at the furnishings and cushions and think of the Lord who will soon come
to celebrate Passover. How do I feel as I prepare that special place? How do I
want everything to be for my Lord’s arrival?
Perhaps I am one of those in the room during the Last
Supper. I listen to Jesus as he speaks. I look intently at his face. What do I
see in his eyes, on his brow? What do I hear in his voice? As he gives me the
bread he looks into my eyes and says ‘This is my body’. How does this move me?
I spend some moments dwelling on his words and relishing being with him.
Perhaps I am struck by the throw-away line at end of the
gospel. I, too, have sung the psalm. How do I feel now? Is there anything in my
life that represents the Mount of Olives? I spend the last few minutes of my
prayer talking to Jesus as we walk, about any fears and struggles, worries or
concerns.
Readings Next Week: 11th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
First Reading: Ezekiel 17:22-24 Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Gospel: Mark 4:26-34
WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:
We have been invited to join people from around Australia
in Prayer this Sunday night regarding the move to introduce a bill into our
National Parliament on Monday to redefine the Marriage Act in this Country.
Gatherings are occurring from 6.30pm – 9.00pm and you are invited to pray at
that time to support those opposing the proposed changes.
The visit of the relic of St Anthony of Padua takes place
in our Parish on Thursday 18th. There will be two Masses during the visit – 12
noon and 6.30pm – both will be followed by a time of Veneration. Some
assistance will be needed during the day so if anyone is able to assist by
being present at some time other than the times of Mass and Veneration as a
form of Security for the Relics then please contact me asap.
On Monday evening I attended the bi-monthly meeting of the
Lay Liturgical Leaders Group. At the meeting in February the question was
raised why, if we (Fr Alex and I) were able to celebrate Masses in all Mass
centres during January, Mass wasn‘t celebrated in every centre every weekend.
After some discussion and a variety of views I undertook to speak to the
communities of Sheffield and Port Sorell about the possibility as there might
also need to be an adjustment to Mass Times to ensure safety of the priest
travelling to the two centres, particularly Sheffield, in winter. Also I was
concerned that there would not be the possibility of spending time with
Parishioners at Ulverstone after Mass if the priest always had to dash off to
Sheffield.
The matter was also discussed at the Parish Pastoral
Council where the concern was raised, also mentioned by the Lay Liturgical
Leaders, regarding the extra workload for the two priests. After further
discussion at the April Lay Liturgical Leaders Meeting, and last Monday, and
after the Parish Pastoral Council Meeting on Wednesday (3rd) it was decided
that Mass would be celebrated, as the norm, at each Mass Centre from the
beginning of July.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks
to all the Lay Liturgical Leaders, present and past, for the absolutely
wonderful commitment they have given to the role they have played in the Parish
over the past 8 years. Whilst their role will not be as regular their support
will still be needed at different times and my hope is that we might be able to
find new ways of being able to use their expertise in the life of the community
in the near future.
We welcome Fr Alexander back next weekend and will continue
to support him after the death of his mother and the time spent with his family
following the funeral.
Next Friday 12th June there will be Mass at
Midday at Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone (no 9:30am Mass) to celebrate the
Feast Day of the Church. The children from Sacred Heart School will participate
in this Mass and families and parishioners are invited to attend. Adults, sorry
children, are invited to a counter meal at the Lighthouse Hotel following the
Mass. There will be a morning tea following the 9am Mass on Sunday 14th
June to celebrate this Feast Day.
Until next week, please take care on the roads and in your
homes.
ST MARY'S CHURCH
PENGUIN:
All welcome after 6pm Vigil Mass,
Saturday
13th June to soup and sandwich night.
Please bring a plate of sandwiches
or a dessert to share.
menALIVE Weekend for men
On 27th /28th June Meander Valley
Parish is holding a men’s weekend. Thousands of Catholic men have been inspired
and encouraged by these weekends across Australia. Presented and run by any
experienced MenAlive team from Hobart. Interesting talks, discussions,
reflection and fellowship. Registration forms available in Church foyers. For
more information please phone John Barton 6393:2221(after hours).
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE - WILLIAM ST,
FORTH
“From Struggle to Hope”- Grief and Loss across the Life Span - Presented by Marea Richardson
Change and transition, loss and suffering are as much a
part of our life as the seasons of the year, and therefore must serve some
purpose. Saturday 27th June 10.00am
– 3.00pm Bookings essential. Cost: $35.00 Phone 6428:3095 email: mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au
CWL DEVONPORT: Next meeting will
be held on Wednesday July 8th at Emmaus House at 2.00 pm. No meeting in June.
PLANNED GIVING PROGRAMME:
New envelopes are being distributed
during June. If you are not already part of this programme and would like to
join, or do not wish to continue giving, please contact the Parish office.
Please note the new envelopes should not be used until July.
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:
Round
9 – Sydney Swans won by 60 points. Winners; Zillah Jones, Veronica Riley,
Ken McKenzie.
Thursday Nights OLOL Hall D’port. Eyes down 7.30pm –
Callers 11th June Rod
Clark & Merv Tippett
Evangelii
Gaudium
“Small
yet strong in the love of God, like St Francis of Assisi, all of us, as
Christians, are called to watch over and protect the fragile world in which we
live, and all its peoples.”
-
Par.216 from
Evangelii Gaudium, Pope
Francis, Nov. 24, 2013
Saint of the Week – St Ephrem,
deacon, doctor (June 9)
St Ephrem was baptised
around the age of 18, and he may have been ordained a deacon at the same time. Since
one of the chief activities of a deacon is the preaching of the Gospel, Ephrem
began to write deeply theological hymns and biblical commentaries. In his
lifetime, he could have written as many as three million lines, and 400 of his
hymns still survive. His hymnography earned him the title “Harp of the Spirit.”
Fleeing westward from the
Persians, who were ravaging Turkey, Ephrem settled in Edessa, in southern
Turkey, in 363. There, he continued to write hymns, especially defending the
teaching of the Council of Nicaea against the Arian heretics, who were influential in
Edessa.
He died tending
plague victims in 373.
“What
you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
Meme of the week
POPE FRANCIS' HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF
CORPUS CHRISTI
In the Last Supper, Jesus gives His Body and his Blood by means of the bread and the wine, to leave us the memorial of His sacrifice of infinite love. With this viaticum full to overflowing with grace, the disciples have everything they need for their long journey through history, to extend the kingdom of God to everyone. Light and strength will be for them the gift that Jesus made of Himself, sacrificing Himself voluntarily on the Cross. This Bread of Life has come down to us! The Church is in unending awe before this reality – an awe that endlessly nourishes contemplation, adoration, memory. This is seen in a beautiful text of today's Liturgy, the Responsory of the second reading of the Office of Readings, which says: "See in this bread the body of Christ which hung upon the cross, and in this cup the blood which flowed from His side. Take His body, then, and eat it; take His blood and drink it, and you will become His members. The body of Christ is the bond which unites you to him: eat it, or you will have no part in him. The blood is the price he paid for your redemption: drink it, lest you despair of your sinfulness."
We ask ourselves what it means today, to be torn from Him, to despair – as cowards – of our sinfulness [what is this cowardliness – svilirci – of which Christ speaks to us through the Church at prayer]?
We are torn from Him when we are not obedient to the Word of the Lord, when we do not live brotherhood between us, when we race to occupy the first places, when we find the courage to witness to charity, when we are unable to offer hope. The Eucharist allows us to be not torn from Him, for it is the bond of communion, is the fulfillment of the Covenant, a living sign of the love of Christ who humbled and annihilated Himself for us, that we might remain united. By participating in the Eucharist and by feeding on it, we are inserted into a way that does not admit divisions. The Christ present in our midst, in the signs of bread and wine, requires that the power of love exceed every laceration, and at the same time that it become communion with the poor, support for the weak, fraternal attention to those who are struggling to carry the weight of everyday life.
And what it means for us today "svilirci" – to be cowardly, to despair of our sinfulness, that is, to let our Christian dignity be watered down, [or to adulterate it ourselves]? It means to let ourselves be affected by the idolatries of our time: appearance, consumption, the self at the center of everything; but also being competitive, arrogance as the winning attitude, the idea that one never need admit to a mistake or to find oneself in need. All this demeans us, makes us mediocre, lukewarm, insipid Christians.
Jesus shed his blood as a ransom and as a lavacrum – a cleansing agent, that we might be purified of all sins: in order that we fall not into cowardice, despair of sinfulness, that we not become weak, let us look to him, let us drink deep draughts from His source, that we might be preserved from the risk of corruption. Then shall we experience the grace of a transformation: we will remain always poor sinners, but the Blood of Christ will deliver us from our sins and give us back our dignity. Without merit of our own, with sincere humility, we can bring to our brethren the love of our Lord and Savior. We will be His eyes that go in search of Zacchaeus and of the Magdalene; we will be His hand who helps the sick in body and spirit; we will be His heart that loves those in need of reconciliation and understanding.
Thus does the Eucharist make present the Covenant that sanctifies us, purifies us and unites us in marvelous communion with God.
Today, the feast of Corpus Domini, we have the joy not only of celebrating this mystery, but also of praising Him and singing in the streets of our city. May the procession we will make at the end of the Mass, express our gratitude for all the journey that God has allowed us to make through the desert of our poverty, to take us out of slavery, by nourishing us with His love through the Sacrament of his Body and the Blood.
In a little while we shall walk along the way, let us perceive ourselves in communion with our many brothers and sisters who do not have the freedom to express their faith in the Lord Jesus. Let us feel ourselves united with them, let us sing with them, praise with them, adore with them. And we venerate in our hearts those brothers and sisters from whom the sacrifice of their lives has been required for fidelity to Christ: let their blood, united to that of the Lord, be a pledge of peace and reconciliation for the whole world.
______________________
THE DEEPEST SECRET INSIDE WISDOM
Everyone longs to know something that’s secret, to know something that others don’t know, but that you know, and the knowledge of which gives you some insight and advantage over others who are outside the inner-circle of that secret. It has always been so. Historically this is called “Gnosticism”, which forever makes an appearance in one form or another.
Today we see this in society at large in the immense popularity of books like The Di Vinci Code and The Celestine Prophecy. Their lure is precisely in the hint that there are secrets that a few elite persons know that contain important, life-altering, information which we, the unenlightened, are ignorant of. Our itch, of course, is to be inside these special circles. We see this paralleled sometimes in religious circles in the over-fascination people have with the private revelations of various self-acclaimed mystics, in special books claiming to disclose critical new revelations from the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in the undue interest shown in things like The Third Secret of Fatima. Gnosticism has many cloaks.
At first glance, Jesus, in Mark’s Gospel, seems to be hinting at just this sort of secret. He tells us there is a secret that is open to us which, if known, puts us into a special circle of enlightenment and community. In Mark 4, 11, he tells his disciples: To you is given the secret of the Kingdom of God, but to those outside everything is in parables. Clearly here Jesus is distinguishing between two circles, one which grasps the secret and is then “inside”, and the other which does not grasp the secret and is then “outside”. Jesus seems to be saying that in following him we can be either “in” or “out”, depending upon whether or not we grasp a certain secret. Genuine disciples are those who (in today’s terminology) “get it”, and those who “don’t get it’ remain outside. But what are we inside or outside of? More importantly, what is the secret?
For Jesus, the secret is the cross; that’s the deep wisdom we need to grasp. If we understand the cross, all the rest of what Jesus teaches will make sense. Conversely, if we don’t understand the cross, all the rest of what Jesus teaches won’t make sense. Grasping the meaning of the cross is the secret to everything. But how, more concretely, should this be understood? What is the deep secret that lies inside the cross of Jesus? What, in essence, do we need to understand?
Various biblical commentators answer this in different, complementary ways. For some, it means grasping the wisdom that’s revealed in the cross. For others, it means understanding the brokenness of Jesus on the cross. Still, for others, it means understanding the invitation that is inside the cross which invites us to live out the demands of the cross. Each of these, in its own way, points to the most-profound secret of all inside human understanding, namely, that in giving love away in total self-sacrifice, at the cost of humiliation, brokenness, and death, we ourselves come to what’s deepest and fullest in life.
But, unlike all Gnostic secrets, ancient or contemporary, this is an open secret, available to everybody and, paradoxically, more-accessible to the “little ones”, the poor, and more-hidden to “the wise and the clever”. Jesus makes the point that he has no hidden secrets by emphasizing again and again that he only speaks openly and in public, never in secret, but in synagogues and market-places. Jesus has no hidden secrets, only open secrets that we fail to grasp.
Interestingly, we see that, in the Gospels, grasping the secret of the cross is not something we do once and for all. Sometimes we grasp it, and we are inside the circle of understanding; and sometimes we don’t grasp it, and we are outside the circle of understanding. For example, after Peter denies Jesus during the passion, the Gospels tell us that “Peter went outside”; and they are referring to much more than simply stepping outside through some courtyard door. In denying that he knew Jesus and in not stepping forward to assume the weight of what would happen if he remained faithful, Peter was stepping outside the circle of both true discipleship and of a true understanding of life. His denial of Jesus took him “outside”. We too, in our following of Jesus, sometimes step “outside” when we give in to temptation or adversity. But then, if we repent of our betrayal, like Peter, we can step back “inside”.
There are various ways that we can enter into an understanding of Jesus’ message and try to appropriate it for our lives, but few, perhaps none, take us so immediately to the center as does the invitation from Jesus in the Gospel of Mark to grasp and accept the wisdom of the Cross.
________________________________________
An Introduction to
Francis of Assisi
A "Prime
Attractor"
As we move chronologically
through my wisdom lineage, the next teacher and tradition that has most
impacted my faith is Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan Way (particularly as
shaped by Clare, Bonaventure, and John Duns Scotus). As a Franciscan priest, this
forms a large portion of my spirituality, my worldview, and my teaching. So I
hope you'll be patient with me as I spend the next six weeks exploring the
wonderful treasures of Francis and other early Franciscans. This might seem
like a lot, but you will see I am just covering major Christian themes from a
Franciscan angle. In these weeks, I hope you will come to love this simple,
joyful spirituality as much as I do!
One day, Brother Masseo approached Brother Francis and asked
him with complete sincerity, "Why after you? Why after you? Why does the
whole world come running after you, Francis?" We are still asking that
question eight centuries later. Francis is what some call a "prime
attractor"--one who moves history and humanity forward just by being who
he is.
Francis of Assisi (who died in 1226) has a longer
bibliography in the Library of Congress than any person in history--at least
that's what a librarian there told me. He is taken seriously by all world
religions. When Pope John Paul II wanted to gather the leaders of all the world
religions to have a respectful interfaith dialogue in the 1980s, the only city
in the world that they could agree to meet in was Assisi, because the memory of
St. Francis does not carry any negative baggage, even to other religions.
As you probably know, I live in New Mexico, where the first
Franciscan arrived in 1598, beginning a long and checkered history here. I am
afraid the Order had lost much of Francis' luster by then, because, like the
Church itself, we had aligned ourselves with power, war, and empire (in our
case, the Spanish Empire) for protection. Strange, since this is precisely what
Francis refused to do in order to keep his structural, Gospel, and personal
freedom. But at least we still accompanied the poor and the immigrants and had
not lost Francis' sense of adventure into ever-new worlds.
The world of Francis is a much larger world where sun, moon,
animals, plants, and elements are all shown reverence and even personal
subjectivity as "brother" and "sister." He is the patron
saint of ecology, animals, and peacemaking--because he understood that the
entire circle of life has a Great Lover at the center of it all. He is the only
Christian man ever known to attempt three trips to dialogue with the
"enemy" during the tragic Crusades against Muslims in the Holy Land,
telling the Christians they were wrong for being there! He is truly a universal
man, addressing the same issues that are still urgent and important in our own
time.
Adapted from Richard Rohr's foreword to Mirabai Starr's
book, Saint Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation, pp. vii-ix; and The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom
of St. Francis, disc 1 (CD)
A Spirituality of
Subtraction
Meister Eckhart rightly pointed out that spirituality has
much more to do with subtraction than it does with addition. I am sad to say
that most spirituality in the West has largely become a matter of addition.
This "spiritual consumerism" focuses on learning more spiritual
ideas, earning merit badges from God, trying to attain enlightenment, and the
will power of heroic moral behavior. Yet the counter-intuitive nature of the
Jesus-journey shows it is not at all about getting, attaining, achieving,
performing, or succeeding (all of which tend to pander to the ego). Jesus'
spirituality is much more about letting go of what we do not need anyway. It
more often involves unlearning than learning. Jesus taught us the way of
descent, which we later called "the way of the cross." Like few other
Christians, Francis profoundly understood such a major turn-around. He wanted
God, not his ego, to steer his life; so he practiced letting go of his own
will, his own needs, and his own preferences until he was free of their
domination and able to find happiness at a much deeper and more truthful level.
Much of Francis'
universal appeal is that he took a joyful approach to inner and outer
liberation. His entire lifestyle was a wholesale critique of the way most
people live, yet he did not do this in a negative or moralistic way. After spending
time as a prisoner of war when he was very young, Francis seemed to realize the
intrinsic connection between violence and our preoccupation with money,
possessions, and empty status symbols. He felt the only way to get out of the
world of violence, competition, and hatred was to live a simple life--a life
that did not appropriate anything to itself, sine proprio as he put it, but a
life lived in constant presence to what was right in front of him, which was
nature itself, an always present doorway to the divine. Seeing what was right
in front of him also awakened Francis to the immense amount of suffering in the
world. Francis did not shield himself from that suffering or deny the dark,
negative side of himself and the world. Instead he did a pre-emptive dive right
into "the tears of things," without judgment, rancor, or cynicism.
For Francis, death belonged to life; death did not threaten
life. And so he freely chose what most of us run from: poverty, failure,
humiliation, and the search for human respect. He first worked with the lepers
on the plain below Assisi, and there he "found what was once hateful to me
became sweetness and life." We all learn the mystery of ourselves at the
price of our own innocence. Francis did not try to remain "innocent"
(the word means "unwounded"). He did not run from life's wounding,
because he saw that in Jesus it became the way to resurrection and universal
life.
There are two major approaches to spirituality and to
conversion. We can try to exclude and triumph over the negative parts, the
shadow parts, the "inferior parts" (1 Corinthians 12:22), as Paul
calls them. This leads us to a kind of heroic spirituality based on willpower
and the achievement of some sort of supposed perfection. But if you are honest,
what you are really doing is pretending--and excluding the dark side that you
do not want to look at, or the people you do not want to deal with. The way of
Francis included and integrated the negative--forgiving and accepting the
imperfection and woundedness of life. He agreed with Paul that the supposed
inferior or weakest are, in fact, "the most indispensable."
Adapted from The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of St.
Francis, discs 1 and 5 (CD)
The Marrow of the
Gospel
Many people who are not officially Franciscans are followers
of Francis and have rediscovered again and again what can only be called
radical simplification. I think of people like Thérèse of Lisieux, Charles de
Foucald, Dorothy Day, Vincent de Paul, Seraphim of Sarov, thousands of Catholic
and Protestant missionaries, Mother Teresa, and, most recently, Pope Francis.
The way of Francis of Assisi cannot be contained inside of formal Franciscanism
simply because it is nothing more than the Gospel itself--in a very distilled
and honest form.
Francis says it this way: "The Rule and the life of the
Friars Minor is simply to live the Gospel." In fact, the first Rule that
he wrote in 1221 is simply a stringing together of a whole bunch of quotes from
the New Testament. He sent it off to Rome, and the Pope looked at it and said
in effect, "This is no Rule of Life. This is just the Gospel."
I can just hear Francis saying, "Yes, that's the point.
It is just the Gospel. We don't need any other Rule except the Gospel." In
his "Testament," he says Franciscanism is nothing other than
"the marrow of the Gospel." He said our life is simply to live the
Gospel, to get to the core of what Jesus taught. Honestly, the core of the
Gospel is so simple that it's hard to live. It's so clear that the mind almost
insists on making it complicated, doctrinal, and abstract--so we can argue
about it. Even Francis had to add some niceties to his Rule to make it more
acceptable to the Roman system before it could be approved in 1223. He added
politically correct things such as, "Be sure you are nice to the priests
and always respect the bishop." And wouldn't you know it, this little
ragtag group of Italian laymen were officially approved by the Church, when
many others who were doing the same thing (like the Waldensians and the Poor
Men of Lyons) were not. Humility goes a long way when you are trying to reform
something.
Francis had a sincerity and joy about him, which made him
easy to trust and even like, if we are to believe the responses of the Sultan
in Egypt (who had nothing to gain), Pope Innocent III in Rome (who had achieved
the height of Papal and temporal power), and the local Bishop in Assisi (who
had the most to lose perhaps). Apparently, it was pretty hard to dislike this
guy!
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, p. xvi;
and Franciscan Mysticism: I Am That Which I Am Seeking, disc
3 (CD, MP3 download)
Dying to Live
Francis was at once very traditional and entirely new in the
ways of holiness, and he is still such a standing paradox. He stood barefoot on
the earth and yet touched the heavens. He was grounded in the Church and yet
moved instinctively toward the Cosmos. He lived happily inside the visible and
yet both suffered and rejoiced in what others thought was invisible. Again and again,
he was totally at home in two worlds at the same time, and thus he made them
into one world.
Francis, like all
saints, delighted in both his Absolute Littleness and his Absolute Connection
in the very same moment, knowing they depended on one another. Francis and
Clare, his friend and follower, died into the life that they loved instead of
living in fear of any death that could end their life. They were both so very
eager to love, and they somehow knew that dying to the old and unneeded was an
essential part of living this love at any depth. Most of us do not seem to know
that--and we resist all change.
Jesus himself, Paul
(Jesus' iconoclastic interpreter), and both Francis and Clare made room for the
new by a full willingness to let go of the old. This is quite a rare pattern in
the history of formal religion, which is too often a love affair with small and
comfortable traditions. Each of these game-changing people had the courage and
the clarity to sort out what was perennial wisdom from what was unreal,
passing, merely cultural, or even destructive, which is exactly how Jesus
describes the way "a disciple of the kingdom" behaves. He says that
such disciples are "householders who bring out from their household things
both old and new" (Matthew 13:52). John the Baptist describes Jesus as a
"winnowing fan" within religion itself--that separates the grain from
the chaff (Matthew 3:12) instead of presuming that religion is all
"grain" and the outsiders are all "chaff."
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, pp. xvii-xix
Conserving the
Core
Both Jesus and Francis did not let the old get in the way of
the new, but like all religious geniuses, revealed what the old was saying all
along. I find much wisdom in what the contemporary faith seeker Christian Wiman
writes: "Faith itself sometimes needs to be stripped of its social and
historical encrustations and returned to its first, churchless incarnation in
the human heart."
Francis both named and exemplified that first churchless
incarnation of faith in the human heart, but then he somehow also knew that it
was the half-knowing organized Church that passed this shared mystery on to him
and preserved it for future generations. He had the humility and patience to
know that whatever is true is always a shared truth, and only institutions, for
all their weaknesses, make this widely shareable, historical, and communal.
Francis understood the humility (kenosis) and the patience of incarnation. Even
a little bit of the truth is more than enough for a saint.
Precisely because both Jesus and Francis were "conservatives"
in the true sense of the term, they conserved what was worth conserving--the
core, the transformative life of the Gospel--and did not let accidentals get in
the way, which are the very things false conservatives usually idolize. They then
ended up looking quite "progressive," radical, and even dangerous to
the status quo. This is, of course, the constant and consistent biblical
pattern, from Abraham to Moses to Jeremiah to Job to John the Baptist to Mary
and Joseph. With courage and wisdom, great seers invariably end up saying
something like Jesus did: "The Law says, and I also say. . . ."
(Matthew 5:20-48).
Francis' holiness, like all holiness, was unique and never a
copy or mere imitation. In his "Testament," he says, "No one
told me what I ought to do," and then, at the very end of his life, he
says, "I have done what was mine to do, now you must do what is yours to
do." What permission, freedom, and space he thus gave to his followers!
Bonaventure echoed that understanding of unique and intimate vocation when he
taught: "We are each loved by God in a particular and incomparable way, as
in the case of a bride and bridegroom." Francis and Clare knew that the
love God has for each soul is unique and made to order, which is why any "saved"
person always feels beloved, chosen, and even "God's favorite" like
so many in the Bible. Divine intimacy is always and precisely particular and
made to order--and thus "intimate."
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, pp. xx-xviii
Finding True Center
at the Edges
The biblical prophets, by definition, were seers and seekers
of Eternal Mystery, which always seems dangerously new and heretical to old
eyes and any current preoccupations with security. The prophets lived on the edge
of the inside of Judaism, John the Baptist does the same with Temple Judaism,
and Paul then sharply disagrees with Peter and the new Christian establishment
in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-14). Francis and Clare continued this classic
pattern in their own hometown as they physically moved from upper Assisi among
the majores (the upper class) to the lower side of town and the minores (the
poor and lower class).
There they had nothing to prove or defend, and they gained
opportunities to have fresh and honest experience--and to find their True
Center. It is ironic that you must go to the edge to find the center. But that
is what the prophets, hermits, and mystics invariably know. Only there were
they able to live in a way that was not grasping at the superficial or
protecting the surface of things, but falling into the core and center of their
own souls and their own experiences.
Francis and Clare can show you how to die into your one and
only life, the life that you must learn to love. It will show itself to be one
continuous movement--first learning to love your life and then allowing
yourself to fully die into it--and never to die away from it. Once death is
joyfully incorporated into life, you are already in heaven and there is no
possibility or fear of hell. That is the Franciscan way. The Gospel is not a
fire insurance policy for the next world, but a life assurance policy for this
world. Francis and Clare somehow came to see through the common disguises of
heaven and hell and they seemed to come to this on their own. My hope and
desire in writing these meditations is that you can know heaven on your own,
too--and now!
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis
of Assisi, pp. xxi-xxii
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