Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year - B
Parish Priest: Fr Mob: 0417 279 437; mdelaney@netspace.net.au
Assistant Priest: Fr Alexander Obiorah
Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office:
90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Mary Davies
Pastoral Council Chair: Mary Davies
Parish Mass Times: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: podomatic.com/mikedelaney
Parish Magazine: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Weekday Masses 14th - 17th July, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am - Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am - Latrobe ... St Bonaventure
Thursday: 10:30am - Karingal
Friday: 11:00am - Mt St Vincent
Next Weekend 18th & 19th July, 2015
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Eucharistic Adoration:
Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Devonport: Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of each month.
Prayer Groups:
Charismatic Renewal – Devonport Emmaus House Thursdays commencing 7.30pm
Christian Meditation - Devonport, Emmaus House Wednesdays 7pm.
Ministry Rosters 18th & 19th July, 2015
Devonport:
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
T Muir, M Davies, J
Cox, M Gerrand, T Bird, S Innes
10:30am: C Schrader, R Beaton, B & N Mulcahy, L Hollister
Cleaners 17th July: G & R O’Rourke, M & R Youd
24th July: K.S.C.
Piety Shop 18th July:
R McBain 19th July: O McGinley Flowers: M Breen, S Fletcher
Ulverstone:
Reader: F Pisano
Ministers of
Communion: M Murray, J Pisarskis
Cleaners: G & M
Seen, C Roberts Flowers: M Webb Hospitality: M McLaren
Penguin:
Greeters: J Garnsey, S Ewing Commentator: Readers:
M & D
Hiscutt
Procession: S Ewing, J Barker Ministers of Communion: T Clayton, E Nickols
Liturgy:
Penguin Setting Up: E Nickols Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Latrobe:
Reader: H Lim Ministers of
Communion: M Kavic,
B Ritchie Procession:
Music: Jenny
Port Sorell:
Readers: D Leaman, T Jeffries Ministers of Communion: L Post, B Lee Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare: A Holloway, B Lee
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Alan Cruse, Fr Terry Southerwood, Yvonne Harvey, Maryanne Doherty, Joy
Carter, Reg Hinkley & …
Let us pray
for those who have died recently:
Imelda Cameron, Kora Pembleton, Sr Gwen Dooley, Winnie Ransley, Paul Mulcahy, Judith Poga, Denis Shelverton, Terry Charlesworth, Leslie Constable, Kath Bennett, Anne Morton, Moira Rhodes and Fr Paul Campbell ofm.
Imelda Cameron, Kora Pembleton, Sr Gwen Dooley, Winnie Ransley, Paul Mulcahy, Judith Poga, Denis Shelverton, Terry Charlesworth, Leslie Constable, Kath Bennett, Anne Morton, Moira Rhodes and Fr Paul Campbell ofm.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 8th – 14th July:
Sr Lucy Jarvis, Guenter Schmalfuss,
Bertha & Edward Belbin, Patrick Milnes, Lorraine Brown, Patrick Kelcey,
Clarrie Byrne, Joy Stephenson, Jean Somers, Mavis Cassidy, Richard
Kelloyne-Lawrence, Bill Scott, Gwen McNamara, Roy O’Halloran, Marcella Rech,
Neville Eatepola, Allan Sheridan, Frances Joan Geale and Norma & John Ellings.
May they rest in peace
Scripture Readings this week - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
First Reading: Amos 7:12-15
Responsorial Psalm:
Responsorial Psalm:
(R.) Lord, show us your
mercy and love, and grant us your salvation.
Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel Acclamation:
Gospel Acclamation:
Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes
of our hearts that we might see how great is the hope to which we are called. Alleluia!
GOSPEL: Mark 6:7-13
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
I take my time to read this passage slowly and prayerfully,
conscious of the Lord’s loving presence with me. Perhaps I find it helpful to
imagine myself in the scene ... watching as Jesus calls the disciples round him
... noticing the trust he places in them as he sends them out … and what his
encouragement enables them to achieve. I ask the Lord to open my ears to his
words of encouragement as he calls me today, exactly as I am ... gently
inviting me to labour with him. Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs, rather
than expecting them to take to the road on their own. I give thanks for those
who journey with me, as together we try to share the Lord’s values with others
… or perhaps I feel drawn to ponder those times when the road seems very
lonely. I share my feelings with the Lord, remembering that he is always with
me. The Twelve are urged by Jesus to take no more than the bare essentials with
them, and to depend on others for hospitality. Are there times when I feel
weighed down by material concerns that come between me and the Lord? Does my
own self-reliance sometimes make it hard for others to minister to me? I ask
the Lord to free me from anything that makes it difficult to share his values.
I talk to the Lord as one friend to another, entrusting
things to him. I end my prayer gently, grateful for the gift of his unfailing
love for me.
Readings Next Week: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Second Reading: Ephesians 2:13-18; Gospel: Mark 6:30-34
____________________________________
WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:
I mentioned last weekend that there were a number of priests
who are celebrating milestones over the month of June & July and I’ve just
got a message today (Wed) to say that Fr Jim McMahon is celebrating his 59th
Anniversary on Tuesday 21st. If anyone wishes to send a note of
congratulations Fr Jim’s address is – St Joseph’s Home, 2 Kensington Rd,
Kensington, NSW 2033.
Currently in the Parish Office we are working to complete
on-line modules of the Archdiocesan Workplace Health and Safety Policy as part
of ensuring that we are all aware of the responsibilities we share for the
wellbeing of parishioners according to WHS Law. There are aspects of the policy
which also applies to the Pastoral Council and Finance Committee and these will
be discussed at future meetings of those groups.
With the schools on holidays life seems a little quieter –
not sure exactly why - it might just be that there is less hustle and bustle
around the Parish House and surrounding streets. I hope that families and
children, especially, are getting some relaxation before they head into the 2nd
half of the school year. In a little less than a month quite a number will
celebrate their First Communion and receive the Sacrament of Confirmation (1st
& 2nd August) – again we ask that you keep these children and
their families in your prayer at this time.
Last week in my homily I mentioned that a Canadian priest,
Fr James Mallon, had suggested that there were some things that parishioners
had the right to expect certain things from the Parish – I list them here and
invite anyone, and everyone, to make any response to the list. 1)Dynamic and uplifting Liturgies; 2) A place
where you will experience transformation to become more and more the person God
has created you to be; 3) A place where you will be valued and recognised as
having unique gifts and talents for the service of God and others: 4) A place
where you will be given the opportunity to put your God given talents to help
others and to make the world a better place: 5) A place where you will be loved
and supported in your spiritual journey regardless of the messiness and
struggles of your life: 6) A place where your needs will be listened to and
addressed; 7) A place where your input is valued & 8) A place where your
financial contributions will be honoured and put to work for the building up of
the kingdom of God with transparency and accountability.
Until
next week, please take care on the roads and in your homes.
________________________________________
Welcome and congratulations to Aria Edward and Nash Chisholm who are both being baptised this weekend at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone.
Welcome and congratulations to Aria Edward and Nash Chisholm who are both being baptised this weekend at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone.
SEA SUNDAY LEAVING
COLLECTION
12TH JULY, 2015
This weekend the theme for Sea Sunday for 2015 will be “The
Stella Maris Global Family”. On Sea
Sunday as a Catholic Church we would like to express our appreciation to the
seafarers in general for their fundamental contribution to the international
trade. This year in particular, we would like to recognise the great
humanitarian effort done by the crews or merchant vessels that without
hesitation, sometimes risking their own life, have engaged in many rescuing
operations saving thousands of migrant lives. Our gratitude goes to all the
chaplains and volunteers of the Apostleship of the Sea for their daily
commitment in serving the people of the sea; their presence in the docks is the
sign of the Church in their midst and shows the compassionate and merciful face
of Christ.
Please support the Leaving Collection by donating
today!
PETER’S PENCE COLLECTION – 19th July:
Peters Pence, is the name traditionally given to an annual
contribution or tribute (originally of a penny from each householder holding
land of a certain value) paid to the Holy See. While regular contributions go
to the local parish or diocese, the Peter's Pence collection goes directly to
Rome.
“Peter’s Pence’ is the most characteristic expression of
the participation of all the faithful in the Bishop of Rome’s charitable
initiatives in favour of the universal Church. The gesture has not only a
practical value, but also a strong symbolic one, as a sign of communion with
the Pope and attention to the needs of one’s brothers; and therefore your
service possesses a refined ecclesial character.”
Envelopes for Peter’s Pence
collection will be available at all Mass Centres next weekend!
MT ST VINCENT AUXILIARY:
Will be holding a Craft and Cake Stall at Sacred Heart
Church, Ulverstone, after Mass Sunday 19th July. Your
support will be gratefully appreciated.
MACKILLOP
HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE WILLIAM ST, FORTH
Getting more out of the Sunday Gospel - An invitation to
explore ways of tuning in to what the Gospel is inviting you to be. Sunday’s
Gospel speaks to each of us in a different way. What is the Gospel saying to you? Presented by Richard and
Belinda Chapman. Thursday 23rd July 7.30pm –
9.00pm. Cost: $15.00/Donation. Bookings: Phone 6428:3095 Email: mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au
CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL STATE CONFERENCE 2015:
Is being conducted at the Emmanuel Retreat Centre, 123
Abbott St, Launceston 7:30 pm Friday
7th August to 1.00 pm Sunday 9th August. The theme “Expectant Faith is not believing
God can – it is knowing He Will”. Guest presenters: Fr Mark Freeman VG, Fr Graeme Howard, Fr Alexander Obiorah and Maureen O’Halloran. Application
forms with details including accommodation and daily attendance costs are
included on Church notice boards. Please contact Celestine Whiteley on 6424:2043
if you wish to attend.
SACRED HEART CHURCH ROSTERS:
Rosters are now being prepared.
Please let Barbara O’Rourke 6428:2723 know as soon as possible if you are
interested in taking on a role within the Church or if you are unable to
continue on the roster.
SHEFFIELD COMBINED CHURCHES: Have prayer meetings the third
Thursday of each month at 7:30pm. July 16th will be held at the
Sheffield Bible Chapel – All welcome! Also the Combined Churches have a shared
luncheon every 2nd month. The next one will be September 6th
at the Bible Chapel and 8th November at the Uniting Church. All welcome!
Holy Cross Catholic Church will be early in the New Year.
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:
Round
14 – Hawthorn won by 10 points. Winners; M Murray, S McGuire, R Alford.
Thursday
Nights OLOL Hall D’port Eyes down 7.30pm
Callers 16th July, Rod Clark & Bruce Peters.
ST. TERESA OF AVILA'S SPIRITUALITY INSPIRES WOMEN
AFTER 500 YEARS:
Though she had been a well-known partier in her own times,
St. Teresa of Avila would likely raise her dark eyebrows in surprise. This
year, all over the world, people have been celebrating the 500th anniversary of
her birth on March 28, 1515.
Birthday festivities for her certainly make Catholic sense.
Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada was a profoundly influential Spanish mystic,
a Carmelite reformer, the first woman doctor of the church, and the author of
best-selling spiritual classics, including her masterpiece, The Interior
Castle (1577). Nonetheless, some wonder what a 16th-century mystic can say
to 21st-century people of faith. Theologians, Carmelite historians, and women
who teach or act as spiritual directors insist that Teresa of Avila is a
marvel. In talking about her impact, they seem to run out of superlatives.
"Teresa revolutionized spirituality by teaching that
God deeply wants relationship with us," said Gillian Ahlgren, professor of
theology and director of the Institute for Spirituality and Social Justice at
Xavier University in Cincinnati.
For more
information click here
Laudato Si': On the Care of Our Common Home
Pope Francis' Encyclical Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home is a call for global action as well as an appeal for deep inner conversion.
He points to numerous ways world organizations, nations and communities must move forward and the way individuals -- believers and people of good will -- should see, think, feel and act.
“Do not give in to denial, indifference, resignation, blind confidence in technical solutions.”
Saint of the Week – St Henry (July 13)
According to 11th-century custom, St Henry took advantage of his position and appointed as bishops men loyal to him. In his case, however, he avoided the pitfalls of this practice and actually fostered the reform of ecclesiastical and monastic life. He was canonised in 1146.
Meme of the week
The fist pump, the satisfied grin – they are images we often associate with conquering sportspeople. But as this meme suggests, there are other ways of feeling satisfied and victorious – this little lad certainly knows one of them.
___________________________________
THE VALUE AND POWER OF RITUAL
An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original can be found here.
Today we no longer understand the
value and power of ritual. This is more than an individual failing. It’s the
cultural air we breathe. In the words of Robert L. Moore, we’ve gone “ritually
tone-deaf”. The effects of this can be
seen everywhere: Allow me two examples:
First, we see this today in the
failure by so many couples to grasp the need to formalize their relationship in
a ceremony of marriage. They make a private commitment to live together but
feel no need to formalize this before a civil authority or inside a church.
Their belief is that their love and private commitment to each other is all
that’s needed. What does a formal ceremony or a church blessing add to that
commitment? The prevalent feeling is that a formal ceremony, ideally even in a church,
is nice as a celebration and as something to please others, but, beyond that,
it adds little or nothing in terms of anything important. What does ritual
contribute to actual life?
We see this same view in many
current attitudes towards church-going, prayer, and the sacraments. What’s the
value of participating in something when seemingly our hearts aren’t in it?
What’s the value of going to church when we feel it’s meaningless? What’s the
value of praying formally when, today, our hearts are a million miles away from
what our words are saying? Further
still, what’s the value in going to church or in saying prayers at those times
when we feel a certain positive repugnance to what we’re doing? Indeed these
questions are often expressed as an accusation: People are just going through
the motions of church and prayer, parroting words that aren’t really meaningful
to them, going through an empty ritual! What’s the value in that? The value is
that the ritual itself can hold and sustain our hearts in something deeper than
the emotions of the moment.
Matthew Crawford, in his recent
book, The World Beyond Your Head, suggests that ritual acts positively even
when our feelings are negative. His words:
“Consider as an example someone who suffers not from some ragging
emotion of lust, resentment, or jealousy … but rather sadness, discontent,
boredom, or annoyance. A wife, let us say, feels this way about her husband.
But she observes a certain ritual: she says “I love you” upon retiring at
night. She says this not as a report about her feelings – it is not sincere –
but neither it is a lie. What it is is a kind of prayer. She invokes something
that she values – the marital bond – and in doing so turns away from her
present discontent and toward this bond, however elusive it may be as an actual
experience. It has been said that ritual (as opposed to sincerity) has
“subjunctive” quality to it: one acts as if some state of affairs were true, or
could be. … It relieves one of the burden of ‘authenticity’. … “The
ritual of saying ‘I love you’ … alters somewhat the marital scene; it may not
express love so much as to invoke it, by incantation. One spouse invites the
other to join with her in honoring the marriage, something one could honor. It
is an act of faith: in one another, but also in a third thing, which is the
marriage itself.”
What Crawford highlights here is
precisely, “a third thing”, that is, something beyond the emotions of a given
moment and our faith in each other, namely, the institution of marriage itself
as a ritual container, as a sacrament that can hold and sustain a relationship
beyond the emotions and feelings of the moment. Marriage, as an institution,
human and divine, is designed to sustain love inside of and beyond the
emotional and affective fluctuations that inevitably occur inside of every
intimate relationship. Marriage allows two people to continue to love each
other despite boredom, irritation, anger, bitterness, wound, and, in some
cases, even infidelity. The ritual act
of getting married places one inside that container.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, when preaching
at marriage ceremonies, would frequently give this counsel to couples: Today
you are much in love and you feel that love will sustain your marriage. It
wouldn’t. But marriage can sustain your love. Being ritually tone-deaf, we
struggle to understand that.
The same holds true for
church-going, the sacraments, and private prayer. It’s not a question of going
through the motions on days when the feelings aren’t there. Rather it’s going
through the ritual as an incantation, as an honoring of our relationship to
God, and as an act of faith in prayer.
If we only said “I love you” when
we actually felt that emotion and if we only prayed when we actually felt like
it, we wouldn’t express love or pray very often. When we say “I love you” and
when we do formal prayer at those times when our feelings seem to belie our
words, we aren’t being hypocritical or simply going through the motions, we’re
actually expressing some deeper truths.
_______________________________________
The Franciscan Way
A series of email reflection posted by Fr Richard Rohr. You can subscribe here.
Depth,
Breadth, and Process
Saint Francis of Assisi stepped out
into a world being recast by the emerging market economy. He lived amid a
decaying old order in which his father was greedily buying up the small farms
of debtors, moving quickly into the new entrepreneurial class. Francis stepped
into a Church that seems to have been largely out of touch with the masses. But
he trusted a deeper voice and a bigger truth. He sought one clear center--the
Incarnate Jesus--and moved out from there.
Francis understood everything from
this personalized reference point. He followed Jesus in at least three clear
ways. First, Francis delved into the prayer depths of his own tradition, as
opposed to mere religious repetition of old formulas. Second, he sought
direction in the mirror of creation itself, as opposed to mental and fabricated
ideas or ideals. Third, and most radically, he looked to the underside of his
society, to the "community of those who have suffered," for an
understanding of how God transforms us. In other words, he found both depth and
breadth--and a process to keep you there.
The depth was an inner life where
all shadow, mystery, and paradox were confronted, accepted, and forgiven. Here
Francis believed God could be met in fullness and truth. The breadth was the
actual world itself, a sacramental universe that is right in front of you and
everywhere, as opposed to the ideal, the churchy, or the mental.
Francis showed us the process for
staying at the center: entering into the world of human powerlessness. In
imitation of Jesus, he chose "poverty" as his honest and truthful
lens for seeing everything. Francis set out to read reality through the eyes
and authority of those who have "suffered and been rejected"--and
come out resurrected. This is the "privileged seeing" of those who have
been initiated by life, which allows you to know something that you can know in
no other way. It is the true baptism of "fire and Spirit" with which,
Jesus says, we must all be baptized (see Mark 10:39). Water baptism is the
ritual symbol for the real baptism.
For Francis, first the true
"I" had to be discovered and realigned (the prayer journey into the
True Self). Then he had to experience himself situated inside of a
meaning-filled cosmos (a sacramental universe). Finally, he had to be poor (to
be able to read reality from the side of powerlessness).
Adapted from Hope Against Darkness:
The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety, p. 4-5
Shared
Knowing
I believe that both Francis and
Clare knew and loved from a different source; they knew and loved by
participation in a Larger Knowing and Loving that many of us call God. Or, as
Paul says, "They knew as fully as they were known" (1 Corinthians
13:12). Francis and Clare were "known through."
This kind of shared knowing, which
is nothing but full consciousness (con scire =to know with) is what I mean by
contemplation. True contemplatives surrender some of their own ego boundaries
and identity so that God can see through them, with them, and in them--with a
larger pair of eyes. It is quite simply a higher level of seeing. If you do not
like the religious language, you can just call it consciousness itself, or deep
consciousness. But you still have to let go of your small, egoic self to get
there (John 12:24). Then some form of contemplative practice can maintain you
in this larger seeing and this larger knowing over the long haul of life.
It comes down to this: when we see
things in a unitive way, in conscious union with the eyes of God, what we see
is qualitatively different. Basically, it is no longer self-referential but
very expansive seeing, and this changes everything. The right energy comes
forth when it is not "all about you." Then a larger presence, an
inner vitality, shines through your very words and actions--and this ends up
becoming the core message itself!
The motivation, meaning, and
inherent energy of any action come from its ultimate source, which is the
person's foundational and core vantage point. What is his or her real and
honest motivation? Who is doing the seeing? Who is the doer? Is it the
"cut-off branch," the egoic self, trying to do the seeing (John
15:5)? Is it a person who needs to be right, or is it a person who wants to
love? There is a very different kind of seeing from a person who has remained lovingly
and consciously connected to the Source (God, Jesus, our Higher Power) than
from mere self-interest and its small lens.
Adapted from Eager to Love: The
Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi,
pp. 61-62, 64-65, 80
Shared
Identity
Francis spent much of his time
praying in solitude in nature. He practiced contemplation, or "a long
loving look at the real," which allowed him to see in a new way. Seeing
from a pair of glasses beyond our own is what I call "participative seeing."
This is the new self that can say excitedly with Paul, "I live no longer,
not 'I' but it is Christ now living in me" (Galatians 2:20). In the truest
sense, I am that which I am seeking. This primal communion communicates
spaciousness, joy, and a quiet contentment. It is not anxious, because the
essential gap between me and everything else has already been overcome. I am at
home in a sacred and benevolent universe, and I do not need to prove myself to
anybody, nor do I need to be "right," nor do others have to agree
with me.
A mature believer, of course, knows
that it is impossible not to be connected to the Source, or to be "on the
Vine," as Jesus says. But most people are not consciously there yet. They
are not "saved" from themselves, which is the only thing we really
need to be saved from. They do not yet live out of their objective, totally
given, and unearned identity, "hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians
3:3). This is what saints like Francis and Clare allowed, enjoyed, and
"fell into." It is always a falling! For most of us, our own deepest
identity is still well hidden from us. We are all "Sleeping Beauty"
waiting for the redemptive kiss. Religion's primary and irreplaceable job is to
bring this foundational truth of our shared identity in God to full and grateful
consciousness. This is the only true meaning of holiness.
The irony is that this
"holiness" is actually our "first nature"; yet we made it
into such a contest that it did not even become most people's "second
nature." This core identity in Christ was made into a worthiness contest
at which almost no one wins and so most do not even try or give up early.
Francis and Clare totally undermined this contest by rejoicing in their
ordinariness and seeming unworthiness--which I believe is the core freedom of the
Gospel itself, the ultimate coup d'etat of the soul. Now losers are the real
winners, and that includes just about everybody.
Adapted from Eager to Love: The
Alternative Way of Saint Francis of Assisi,
pp. 65-67
The
Scandal of the Particular
Francis, like Jesus before him,
overturned the whole honor/shame system that was the basis of his culture (and
ours today, to a great extent). Francis' identity came from within, from his
core Christ identity. It was not dependent on what he achieved or possessed or
on other's opinions of him. Moreover, this was the lens through which he saw
others and all of God's creation. For Francis, Christ was in everything, so
everyone and every part of creation was inherently deserving of respect because
they all reflected a part of the image of the God who made them.
Because Francis was not an
intellectual, he did not begin with universal philosophies and ideas and
abstractions. He began with the specific, the particular, the concrete: this
person, this squirrel. I believe love is always, by its very nature,
particular. "Just this!" When you start with the specific, you have a
beautiful doorway to the universal. On the other hand, when you start with
universal theories, it makes it very hard to ever get back to respect for the
particular. In fact, you tend to find a reason to see that the particular is
never good enough. It is always flawed and imperfect. There is inevitably a
reason why this particular person or thing cannot be included, because it is
seen to be abnormal, poor, broken, leprous, sinful, or unorthodox. Look at our
Christian history: it seems to have been a nonstop search for who is unworthy
and who does not belong. What a horrible waste of energy.
Walter Brueggemann says the entire
biblical revelation is built on "the scandal of the particular." Get
it in one ordinary, concrete moment. Struggle with it there, fight with it
there, resist it there, fall in love with it there. It's a scandal precisely
because it's so ordinary. What is true in one place finally ends up being true
everywhere. This is especially clear in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The
Eucharist offers one focused moment of truth, showing that the Christ and this
ordinary bit of elemental bread are one, and therefore the spiritual and the
material can apparently coexist. Struggle with that, resist it, fall in love
with it, eat it. You can't just think about it rationally in your mind.
Spiritual things are known in a whole-body way. You know them with your body,
heart, soul, and mind all operating together. In this mysterious sacrament of
Eucharist, you eat the bread; it becomes one with you; you become one with all
those around you who are the same Body of Christ. It's a corporeal, cellular
knowing. The bread is for the sake of the people, it is food for the sick and
weary, a medicine for the soul to let people know that they are what they eat!
Instead, as Pope Francis says, we made it into a distant "prize for the
perfect," and its transformative and healing power was lost.
Adapted from Francis: Turning the
World on Its Head: Subverting the Honor/Shame System (CD, MP3 download);
and Franciscan Mysticism: I Am That
Which I am Seeking, discs 1 and 3 (CD, MP3 download)
Just
Do It
One of the earliest accounts of
Francis, the "Legend of Perugia," quotes Francis as telling the first
friars, "You only know as much as you do." His emphasis on action,
practice, and lifestyle was foundational and revolutionary for its time and at
the root of Franciscan alternative orthodoxy ("heterodoxy").
You may be wondering, "How can
Franciscanism be an alternative and still be called orthodox (right and
true)?" Heterodoxy is precisely a third something in between orthodoxy and
heresy! I sincerely think Francis found a Third Way, which is the creative and
courageous role of a prophet and a mystic. He repeated the foundational message
of all prophets: the message and the medium for the message have to be the same
thing. Francis emphasized the medium itself, instead of continuing to clarify
the mere verbal message (which tends to be the "priestly" job).
The early Franciscan friars and
"Poor Clares" wanted to be Gospel practitioners instead of merely
"word police," "inspectors," or "museum curators"
as Pope Francis calls some clergy. Both Francis and Clare offered their rules
as a forma vitae, or form of life. They saw orthopraxy (correct practice) as a
necessary parallel, and maybe even precedent, to mere verbal orthodoxy (correct
teaching). History has shown that many Christians never get to the practical
implications of their beliefs! "Why aren't you doing what you say you
believe?" the prophet invariably asks.
The Franciscan School found a way
to be both very traditional and very revolutionary at the same time by
emphasizing practice over theory. At the heart of their orthopraxy was the
practice of paying attention to different things (nature, the poor, humility,
itinerancy, the outsider, mendicancy, and mission instead of shoring up home
base and "churchiness"). Franciscans at their best attempted to live
inside the universal mystery of "church" and from there we went out
to serve the world. Most Christians got it backward by living in the so-called
secular world and occasionally "going to church." Franciscan
spirituality is "a sidewalk spirituality" for the streets of the
world and the paths of the forest. It is not primarily based in the monastery,
in church buildings, or in any asceticism or celibacy.
Francis himself spent most of his
time on the road and in the woods, traveling between scores of towns. He also
traveled with a couple of his followers to Syria, Egypt, and Spain. It does not
seem he had much time for "community" as we now think of it. His life
illustrated Jesus' first and foundational definition of church: where "two
or three gather in my name" (Matthew 18:20). Truthful encounter is always
and already the mystery of "church."
Francis emphasized immediate
experience and lifestyle: living in a different way. We were to live on the
edge of the church in a very different lifestyle than simply running the church
institution. In Franciscan theology, the best criticism of the bad is the
practice of the better. Just go ahead and do it better. If you really believe
in the values you say you believe in, then put them into practice. Don't waste
any time trying to prove someone else is wrong or evil. As it states in the
popular paraphrase of Francis' Rule, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and
when absolutely necessary, use words."
Adapted from Eager to Love: The
Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, pp. 52-53, 81, 86-87
Franciscan Mysticism: I Am That
Which I Am Seeking, disc 3 (CD, MP3 download)
A
Spirituality of the Beatitudes
In the Franciscan reading of the
Gospel, there is no reason to be religious or to love God except "to love
much the one who has loved us much," as Francis said. Religion is not
about heroic will power or winning or being right. This has been a counterfeit
for holiness in much of Christian history. True growth in holiness is a growth
in willingness to love and be loved and a surrendering of our willfulness, even
holy willfulness (which is still "all about me").
Franciscan spirituality proceeds
from the counterintuitive spirituality of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Read
them and see how Francis exemplifies each one so well. While the Ten
Commandments are about creating social order (a good thing), the eight
Beatitudes of Jesus are all about incorporating what seems like disorder, which
is a very different level of consciousness. With the Beatitudes, there is no
social or ego payoff for the false self. Obeying the Commandments can appeal to
our egotistic consciousness and our need to be "right" or better than
others.
Obedience to the Ten Commandments
does give us the necessary impulse control and containment we need to get
started, which is a foundational need in the first half of life. "I have
kept all these from my youth," the rich young man says, while he then
refuses to go further (Mark 10:22). The Beatitudes, however, reveal a world of
pure grace and abundance, or what Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory would
call the second tier of consciousness and what I call second-half-of-life
spirituality. Francis doesn't call it anything; he just lives it on his path of
love. Mature and mystical Christianity is "made to order" to send you
through your entire life journey and not just offer you containment.
I hope you can now see more clearly
how Francis cannot be written off as a mere soft and sweet figure. Looking
clearly at his actual life and practice shows how he was deliberately
undercutting the entire "honor/shame system" on which so much of
culture, violence, false self-esteem, and even many of the ministrations of
church depends. Doing anything and everything solely for God is certainly the
most purifying plan for happiness I can imagine. It changes the entire nature
of human interaction and eliminates most conflict.
Adapted from Eager to Love: The
Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, pp. 104-105, 115
No comments:
Post a Comment