Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
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 4th - 8th August, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am - Penguin … St John Vianney
Wednesday: 9:30am - Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon
- Devonport
Friday: 9:30am - Ulverstone & Devonport
Saturday 9:00am
- Ulverstone
Next Weekend 8th & 9th August, 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 8th & 9th August, 2015
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: M Kelly, B Paul, R Baker
10:30am: E Petts, K Douglas
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
B & B
Windebank, T Bird, J Kelly, T Muir, Beau Windebank
10:30am:
J DiPietro, S Riley, B Schrader, F Sly, M Mahoney, M
Sherriff
Cleaners 7th
August: M.W.C.
14th August: B Bailey, A Harrison, M Greenhill
Piety Shop 8th August:
H Thompson
9th August: P Piccolo Flowers: M O’Brien-Evans
Ulverstone:
Reader: D Prior Ministers of
Communion: E Standring, M Fennell, L Hay, T Leary
Cleaners: M
McKenzie, M Singh, N Pearce Flowers: C Stingel Hospitality: K Foster
Penguin:
Greeters: G & N Pearce Commentator: Y Downes Readers: E Nickols, J Garnsey
Procession: Kiely Family Ministers of Communion: J Barker
Liturgy: Pine Road Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: J & T Kiely
Latrobe:
Reader: P Marlow Ministers of Communion: M Eden, M Kavic
Procession: J Hyde Music: Jenny
Port Sorell:
Readers: V Duff, L Post
Ministers of Communion: E Holloway
Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare: G Bellchambers, M Gillard
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Veronica Sylvester, Shirley Ryan, Kath Smith, Marie Knight, Joy Carter, Shirley
Stafford, Dean Frerk, Alan Cruse, Fr Terry Southerwood & …
Let us pray
for those who have died recently:
Merlene Bargamento, Donald Barry, Nolene Toms, Kora
Pembleton, Sr Gwen Dooley, Winnie Ransley, Paul Mulcahy, Judith Poga and Denis Shelverton.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 29th
July – 4th August:
Helga Walker, Terence Maskell,
Kathleen Bellchambers, Dorothy Smeaton, Jean Fox,
Jack O’Rourke, Nancy Padman, Shirley Fraser, Helena Rimmelzwaan
and Peggy Kelly.
Also Jeffrey & Genaro Visorro, Ma. Arah Deiparine, Robert
Patrick King, Bruce Smith and Molly Walsh.
May they rest in peace
Scripture Readings this week - 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
(R.) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Second Reading: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
Alleluia, alleluia!
No one lives on bread alone, but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL: John 6:24-35
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
I take a few moments to become still. When I am ready, I
read the text to get a sense of the scene.
Where would I put myself? How close am I to Jesus? What is
my attitude? Am I curious, a bit tired of the whole thing, sceptical, thinking
of making a commitment, needing some proof....? What questions would I want to
ask before I am ready to believe? Does the passage remind me of another more
individual encounter and conversation with Jesus? Maybe I can have my own
personal conversation where I can ask what Jesus means by “I am the bread of
life” When I am ready I slowly close my prayer with a sign of the cross.
Readings Next Week: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:4-8 Second Reading: Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2 Gospel: John 6:41-51
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
One of the great pleasures of being a Parish Priest is when
we have Parish Celebrations especially when we have the opportunity to rejoice
with those who are celebrating the reception of Sacraments – at whatever stage
of their faith journey. This weekend we welcome Archbishop Julian who joins us
to confer the Sacrament of Confirmation on our 38 candidates and to share with
them as they receive the Eucharist for the first time. Our prayers and
congratulations to all the candidates and their families for their
participation in our Sacramental preparation program.
Another Parish Celebration takes place next Friday, 7th
August, as we have the 3rd of our Open Houses for 2015. As usual this is an
invitation to all members of the parish to come together for a social occasion
with the added opportunity to chat about our parish life and future
possibilities and challenges.
And there’s more! A reminder that from the 20th – 24th
August there will be some extra celebrations as I celebrate 40 years of
priesthood. On Thursday 20th (my anniversary day) there will be Mass at 7pm
followed by light supper (parishioners
are asked to bring a plate of food to share) at Sacred Heart Church. On Sunday
23rd there will be a Combined Parish Mass at St Brendan-Shaw College at 11am
followed by a shared lunch at the College (more details next week). Then on
Monday 24th there will be Mass at OLOL at 11am for the Clergy of the
Archdiocese followed by a clergy lunch – whilst I can’t invite everyone to the
lunch everyone is welcome to come to the Mass.
But wait – there’s more! On Thursday 27th Fr Alex will
celebrate 10 years of Priesthood so, he will celebrate the 12noon Mass and, if
you can stand the pace, anyone who wishes is invited to join us as we head off
to one of the local hotels for lunch – more details next weekend.
Until
next week, please take care on the roads and in your homes.
SACRAMENTAL
PROGRAM
This
weekend Archbishop Julian Porteous will confirm the Sacramental Candidates from
across our Parish and they will receive the Sacrament of Eucharist for the
first time.
We congratulate the children and
their families and
we continue to pray for these special young people:
Jonah
Baran- Temperley Eliza Hardy Jim Priestly
Ellen
Butler Ameli
Heath Wilhemina Priestly
Micheal
Chakouch Indianna
Hutchins Jack Purser
Mackenzie Chugg Sophie Jago Alyssa
Quinn
Mia
Crosswell Madeleine
Kirkpatrick Kate
Richardson
Declan Dalton-Smith William
Leaver Megan Rose
Paige Dalton-Smith Elizabeth Leaver Ellie Ryan
Makenzie Daw Ella McDermott Theodora Schofield
Sarah De Santis Sienna
Mee Bax
Scolyer-Chugg
Callie Enright Brennan Murray Amelia Turner
Troy Enright Kallan Murray Sarah
Welch
Kaelan Garrigan Jack O'Rourke Lucy
Wilkinson
Asha Hansen Riley Phipps
Special thanks to Sally Riley, Mandy Eden,
Elizabeth Cox and Felicity Sly who have helped with preparation of the children
and support of their families. Thank you
also to all those who have helped, in other ways, in the preparation for these
special occasions in our Church.
BAPTISM PREPARATION:
The Mersey Leven Parish invites anyone planning for, or
considering, Baptism for their child/ren to a one hour preparation session at
the Parish House, 90 Stewart Street, Devonport, on Tuesday 4th August at 7.30pm.
For more information call the Parish Office on 6424:2783 or just turn up on the
night.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES CATHOLIC
SCHOOL - FOUNDER’S DAY:
All parishioners are welcome to help us celebrate and
commemorate our history as a Josephite School on Thursday 6th August
starting with a whole School Prayer Ritual in Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Devonport at 8:55 am. Parents and past students are encouraged to come
along at any time during the day for a walk down memory lane and/or to see how
Our Lady of Lourdes School has changed over the last 124 years. There will also
be a display of photos and memorabilia in the School Library.
LITURGY GROUP:
The liturgy group will meet at Emmaus house on Thursday. If
you have any liturgy focussed items that you would like discussed, please speak
with Kath Pearce or Felicity Sly, or call 0418 301 573 or email fsly@internode.on.net prior to the meeting.
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY
CENTRE WILLIAM ST, FORTH:
Phone: 6428 3095 Email: mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au
ST MARY MACKILLOP FEAST DAY LUNCHEON FRIDAY 7TH
AUGUST:
Celebrate this special day at MacKillop Hill. Cost $10.00 for soup, sandwich and
sweets. 12.00 noon start
Bookings necessary by 4th August to help with catering. Phone Mary
Webb 6425:2781
CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL STATE CONFERENCE 2015: 123 Abbott St, Launceston 7:30 pm
Friday 7th August to 1.00 pm Sunday 9th August. Guest presenters: Fr Mark Freeman VG, Fr
Graeme Howard, Fr Alexander Obiorah and Maureen O’Halloran. More information
please contact Celestine Whiteley 6424:2043
YOUTH & YOUNG ADULT RETREAT DAY - St
Vincent de Paul Society
Youth and Young Adults (Year 9 and above) are invited to a
retreat day on Saturday 8th August at the St Vincent de Paul state office, 191
Invermay Road, Launceston, from 10am – 4pm. Lunch will be
supplied. The day is open to all interested youth and young adults even if you
are not a Vinnie’s conference member. Contact Melissa White for a registration
form or: melissa.white@vinniestas.org.au - 0477 880 036.
ST BRENDAN SHAW
COLLEGE PRESENTS DISNEY - THE LITTLE MERMAID JR:
Shows: Thursday
13th – 7:30pm, Friday 14th – 7:30pm and Saturday 15th
August – 2pm & 7:30pm at the Devonport Entertainment Centre – Prices Adults $20, Concession $18, student
$15. Tickets on sale now! Bookings at the theatre or on-line at www.decc.net.au or phone 6420:2900
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:
Round 16 – Hawthorn won by 138: Margin number is 100 - Winners; Victoria
Webb,
Dawn Cornelius, Nellie Walsh.
Thursday Nights OLOL Hall D’port.
Eyes down 7.30pm - Callers 6th
August
Jon Halley & Rod Clark.
NEWS
FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
MARIST REGIONAL COLLEGE PROUDLY PRESENTS
FR ROB GALEA: Monday, 3 August 2015 6.30pm in Conway Hall -
Father Rob is an ordained Catholic Priest, and internationally-acclaimed singer
and songwriter. Join us for an evening of music and witness.
WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 LAUNCH: ALL youth & young adults (15-35
years) are invited to the official launch of the Tasmanian Pilgrimage to World
Youth Day Krakow, Poland! Whether you are planning on coming to WYD16 or not,
we need you to help us celebrate with some Polish food, Polish dancing, soccer,
music, prayer and all your WYD info as we open registrations to join the
Tasmanian WYD16 pilgrimage. Also joining us is talented young musician from
Melbourne, Genevieve Bryant to help lift our celebrations. Don’t miss it! Saturday
22nd August, 10.30am – 3.30pm at St. Aloysius College, Huntingfield. Make sure
to register at: www.cymtas.org.au
Laudato
Si': On the Care of Our Common Home
Pope
Francis' Encyclical Laudato Si': On the 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 organisations, nations and communities must
move forward and the way individuals -- believers and people of good will --
should see, think, feel and act.
Each week, we offer one of the Pope's suggestions, with the paragraph numbers
to indicate their place in the Encyclical.
“Slash
pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Transition to cleaner and renewable
energies and replace fossil fuels ‘without delay’."
Saint of the Week – St
Mary of the Cross MacKillop (August 8)
Mary MacKillop (1842 -1909), now known as St
Mary of the Cross MacKillop, was an Australian woman of early Australian
colonial times. On March 19, 1866 at Penola in South Australia she, with Father
Julian Tenison-Woods, founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart
(Josephites). Mother Mary of the Cross was its first Religious Sister and
Superior.
In her lifetime, Mary
MacKillop established a number of schools and welfare organisations throughout
Australia and New Zealand with a focus on education of the poor, particularly in
country regions. Conflict with Fr Tenison-Woods and other clergy resulted in
Mary’s ex-communication by
Bishop Sheil on September 22, 1871 for her alleged insubordination.
Consequently most of the schools were closed and the Josephites almost
disbanded. On February 21, 1872, Bishop Sheil, as he lay dying, realised his
mistake and lifted the ex-communication.
In 1873, Mary MacKillop
successfully travelled to Rome and attained Papal approval for the Sisters of
Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. In 1875, after returning from Rome, she was
formally elected Superior General.
Since her death in 1909, St Mary
MacKillop has attracted much veneration in Australia and internationally.
Following recognition of the required miracles, she
became Australia’s first saint on October 17, 2010.
Words of Wisdom - A focus on self-control
This
week, we continue our series of Biblical quotes on self-control. We hope you
find them useful and consider sharing them with your parishioners.
Our
chosen quote is taken from Proverbs 21:23
Meme of the week
This may spark a few smiles among parishioners.
_______________________________
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CHILDREN OF BOTH HEAVEN AND EARTH
An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser. The original can be found here
“Because, my God, though I lack the soul-zeal and the sublime integrity of your saints, I yet have received from you an overwhelming sympathy for all that stirs within the dark mass of matter; because I know myself to be irremediably less a child of heaven and a son of earth.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote those words and they, like St. Augustine’s famous opening in his Confessions, not only describe a life-long tension inside its author, they name as well the foundational pieces for an entire spirituality. For everyone who is emotionally healthy and honest, there will be a life-long tension between the seductive attractions of this world and the lure of God. The earth, with its beauties, its pleasures, and its physicality can take our breath away and have us believe that this world is all there is, and that this world is all that needs to be. Who needs anything further? Isn’t life here on earth enough? Besides, what proof is there for any reality and meaning beyond our lives here?
But even as we are so powerfully, and rightly, drawn to the world and what if offers, another part of us finds itself also caught in the embrace and the grip of another reality, the divine, which though more inchoate is not-less unrelenting. It too tells us that it is real, that its reality ultimately offers life, that it also should be honored, and that it also may not be ignored. And, just like the reality of the world, it too presents itself as both promise and threat. Sometimes it’s felt as a warm cocoon in which we sense ultimate shelter and sometimes we feel its power as a threatening judgment on our superficiality, mediocrity, and sin. Sometimes it blesses our fixation on earthly life and its pleasures, and sometimes it frightens us and relativizes both our world and our lives. We can push it away by distraction or denial, but it stays, creating always a powerful tension inside us: We are irremediably children of both heaven and earth; both God and the world have a right to our attention.
That’s how it’s meant to be. God made us irremediably physical, fleshy, earth-oriented, with virtually every instinct inside us reaching for the things of this earth. We shouldn’t then expect that God wants us to shun this earth, deny its genuine beauty, and attempt step out of our bodies, our natural instincts, and our physicality to fix our eyes only on the things of heaven. God did not build this world as testing-place, a place where our obedience and piety is to be tested against the lure of earthly pleasure, to see if we’re worthy of heaven. This world is its own mystery and has its own meaning, a God-given one. It’s not simply a stage upon which we, as humans, play out our individual dramas of salvation and then close the curtain. It’s a place for all of us, humans, animals, insects, plants, water, rocks, and soil to enjoy a home together.
But that’s the root of a great tension inside us: Unless we deny either our most powerful human instincts or our most powerful religious sensibilities we will find ourselves forever torn between two worlds, with seemingly conflicting loyalties, caught between the lure of this world and the lure of God. I know how true this is in my own life. I was born into this world with two incurable loves and have spent my life and ministry caught and torn between the two: I have always loved the pagan world for its honoring of this life and for its celebration of the wonders of the human body and the beauty and pleasure that our five senses bring us. With my pagan brothers and sisters, I too honor the lure of sexuality, the comfort of human community, the delight of humor and irony, and the remarkable gifts given us by the arts and the sciences. But, at the same time, I have always found myself in the grip of another reality, the divine, faith, religion. Its reality too has always commanded my attention – and, more importantly, dictated the important choices in my life.
My major choices in life incarnate and radiate a great tension because they’ve tried to be true to a double primordial branding inside me, the pagan and the divine. I can’t deny the reality, lure, and goodness of either of them. It’s for this reason that I can live as a consecrated, life-long celibate, doing religious ministry, even as I deeply love the pagan world, bless its pleasures, and bless the goodness of sex even as, because of other loyalties, I renounce it. That’s also the reason why I’m chronically apologizing to God for the world’s pagan resistance, even as I’m trying to make an apologia for God to the world. I’ve live with torn loyalties.
That’s as it should be. The world is meant to take our breath away, even as we genuflect to the author of that breath.
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Mystics
and Non-Dual Thinkers: Week 1
Taken from a series of email reflections from Fr Richard Rohr. You can sign up for these reflections here
You Are What You Seek
Over the next several weeks, I will
introduce you to a number of mystics who are important in my lineage of
spiritual wisdom. We'll explore these non-dual thinkers from various traditions
and religions in somewhat chronological order, beginning where I left off with
the early Eastern Church and moving to modern times.
Please do not let the word
"mystic" scare you. It simply means one who has moved from mere
belief systems or belonging systems to actual inner experience. All spiritual
traditions agree that such a movement is possible, desirable, and available to
everyone.
The experience of divine union is the goal of all religion.
The spiritual wisdom of divine
union is first beautifully expressed in Sanskrit in the Vedas (the oldest Hindu
text, around three thousand years old) as a "grand pronouncement":
Tat Tvam Asi. This phrase contains condensed wisdom that could likely be
translated in the following ways:
YOU are That!
You ARE what you seek!
THOU art That!
THAT you are!
You are IT!
As I understand it, the meaning of
this saying is that the True Self, in its original, pure, primordial state, is
wholly or partially identifiable or even identical with God, the Ultimate
Reality that is the ground and origin of all phenomena. That which you long
for, you also are. In fact, that is where the longing comes from.
Longing for God and longing for our
True Self are the same longing. And the mystics would say that it is God who is
even doing the longing in us and through us (that is, through the divine
indwelling, or the Holy Spirit). God implanted a natural affinity and
allurement between God's Self and all God's creatures.
Religion has only one job
description: how to make one out of two. For Christians, that is "the
Christ Mystery," whereby we believe God overcame the gap from God's side.
God is saying in all incarnations that "I am not totally Other. I have
planted some of me in all things that long for reunion." It is mimicked
and mirrored in erotic desire and the sexual pairing of animals and plants. The
biblical Song of Songs, Rumi, Hafiz, Kabir, and John of the Cross could use
only highly erotic images to communicate their mysticism. Any notion of God as
the "absolute other" will create only absolute alienation. Add to
that any notion of God as petty, angry, or torturing, and the mystical journey
is over. So God created similarity and compassion in the human person to
overcome this tragic gap. God-in-you seeks, knows, and loves God, like a homing
device that never turns off.
Adapted from The Naked Now:
Learning to See as the Mystics See, pp. 29-30; Yes, And . . . Daily
Meditations, p. 355;
and Immortal Diamond: The Search
for Our True Self, pp. 98-100
Symeon the New Theologian
Symeon the New Theologian
(949-1022) was a Byzantine Christian monk and mystic revered to this day by
Eastern Christians. Symeon believed humans had the capacity to experience God's
presence directly. He visualized this union happening within the "force
field" of the Body of Christ. This cosmic embodiment is created both by
God's grace and our response.
Symeon's Hymn 15 in his Hymns of
Divine Love beautifully names the divine union that God is forever inviting us
toward. These twenty-seven mystical lines honestly say it all for me and move
me to an embodied knowing, to a living force field wherein we will know
mystical union on even the cellular level.
We awaken in Christ's body,
As Christ awakens our bodies
There I look down and my poor hand
is Christ,
He enters my foot and is infinitely
me.
I move my hand and wonderfully
My hand becomes Christ,
Becomes all of Him.
I move my foot and at once
He appears in a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous to
you?
--Then open your heart to Him.
And let yourself receive the one
Who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
We wake up inside Christ's body
Where all our body all over,
Every most hidden part of it,
Is realized in joy as Him,
And He makes us utterly real.
And everything that is hurt,
everything
That seemed to us dark, harsh,
shameful,
Maimed, ugly, irreparably damaged
Is in Him transformed.
And in Him, recognized as whole, as
lovely,
And radiant in His light,
We awaken as the beloved
In every last part of our body.
Adapted from Things Hidden: Scripture
as Spirituality, pp. 219-220
Richard of St. Victor
My beloved contemplative teacher,
St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) owes many of his insights to Richard of St. Victor
(1123-1173) who shortly preceded him. Richard was born in Scotland, but we know
little of his early life. At some point he enrolled as a student at the Abbey
of St. Victor in Paris and eventually became the prior. His numerous writings
cover many fields--biblical exegesis, philosophy, and theology. Richard's best
known work focused on the Trinity. He also emphasized personal, interior
experience of God as a way to discovering the True Self. Following this inner
path--through various stages of growth--requires both our human effort and
unearned grace. Richard said, "This gift is from God and not of man's
deserving. But certainly no one ever receives such a great grace without
tremendous labor and burning desire." This is the standing paradox! Paul
says the same in Philippians 2:12-13: "So then, my beloved . . . work out
your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for [God's]
good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work."
Richard and his teacher Hugh of St.
Victor (1078-1141) wrote that humanity was given three different sets of eyes,
each building on the previous one. The first eye was the eye of flesh (the
senses), the second was the eye of reason (meditation or intellectual
reflection), and the third eye was the eye of true understanding
(contemplation). [1] Third-eye seeing is the way mystics see. They do not reject
the first eye; the senses matter to them. Nor do they reject the second eye;
but they know not to confuse knowledge with depth or mere correct information
with the transformation of consciousness itself. They are led still further.
The mystical gaze builds upon the
first two eyes--and yet widens the lens. It agrees to know by pure presence; it
agrees to know without knowing, as it were. This is the genius of the biblical
notion of faith. It happens whenever, by some wondrous "coincidence,"
our heart space, our mind space, and our body awareness are all simultaneously
open and nonresistant. It is actually just presence. It is experienced as a
moment of deep inner connection, and it always pulls us, intensely satisfied,
into the naked and undefended now, which can include both profound joy and
profound sadness at the same time. [2]
References:
[1] Richard of St. Victor, De
Sacramentis and The Mystical Ark, Classics of Western Spirituality (Paulist
Press: 1979).
[2] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The
Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (The Crossroad Publishing
Company: 2009), 28.
Meister Eckhart, Part I
Meister Eckhart (1260-1327), a
German friar, priest, mystic, and renowned preacher, was also an
administrator--prior, vicar, and provincial--for several Dominican houses. My
fellow Living School faculty member, James Finley, suggests this engagement in
the "ways of the world" makes his teachings more accessible to us
all: "They do not require that we lives as a hermit or go into the silence
of the cloister in order to open ourselves to the experience of God's oneness
with us." [1] Busy people can be mystics.
As a professor and theologian,
Meister Eckhart had a deep understanding of scripture and his own Christian
tradition. He was a true meister or spiritual master. I'll introduce a few of
Eckhart's principal themes today and tomorrow, and I hope you'll take the time
to explore more of his rich and still accessible work. In many ways Eckhart is
the mystic's mystic. He speaks with such full non-dual consciousness, that many
do not know what he is talking about! He often summarizes an abstruse passage
with a brilliant one-liner like "What a [person] takes in by
contemplation, that he [or she] pours out in love."
One Franciscan Archbishop accused
Eckhart of teaching pantheism, but as Eckhart said, they simply didn't
understand his words, which requires a non-dual approach. Eckhart said,
"If humankind could have known God without the world, God would never have
created the world." Building on a basic awareness of God's participation
and revelation in nature, Eckhart believed humans have a special role in celebrating
this gift of creation and adding to its beauty and diversity.
Eckhart taught the simple power of
letting go and letting be. To let go is no easy task. But in any loving
relationship, as we see in the Trinity, it is the source of true joy. Matthew Fox
writes that "laughter may well be the ultimate act of letting go and
letting be: the music of the divine cosmos. For in the core of the Trinity
laughing and birthing go on all day long." [2] Eckhart puts it this way:
"The Father laughs with the Son; the Son laughs with the Father. The
Father likes the Son; the Son likes the Father. The Father delights in the Son;
the Son delights in the Father. The Father loves the Son; the Son loves the
Father. This laughter, liking, delighting, loving is the Holy Spirit!" Who
could say it better?
For Eckhart, heaven is now. We are
invited to already participate in the eternal flow of Trinity here, in this
lifetime. The only thing keeping us from God and heaven is our false notion
that we are separate from God.
References:
[1] James Finley,
http://www.myss.com/CMED/media/transcripts/Finley-Jun-06.asp (Caroline Myss
Education Institute: June 2006).
[2] Matthew Fox, Passion for
Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart (Inner Traditions:
1980, 2000), 48.
Meister Eckhart, Part II
Meister Eckhart illustrates the
height of western non-dualism. This is why he is largely impossible to
understand with our usual dualistic mind. When Eckhart says, "I pray God
to rid me of God," our logical mind would see this as nonsense! It takes
unitive consciousness to discover what Eckhart means. There is no concept of
God that can contain God. Your present notion of God is never it. [1] As
Augustine said, "If you comprehend it, it is not God." We can only
come to know God as we let go of our ideas about God, and as what is not God is
stripped away.
Before transformation, you pray to
God. After transformation you pray through God, as official Christian prayers
always say: "Through Christ our Lord. Amen!" Before radical conversion,
you pray to God as if God were over there, an object like all other objects.
After conversion (con-vertere, to turn around or to turn with), you look out
from God with eyes other than your own. As Meister Eckhart put it in one of his
Sermons, "The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which
God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one
love." [2] All we humans are doing is allowing God to "complete the
circuit" within us--until we both see from the same perspective. [3] This
is the "mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), which will be
experienced as a "spiritual revolution" in thinking (Ephesians 4:22).
Michael Demkovich, a Dominican
priest and scholar, explains: "It is through our coming to know the truest
self that we are transformed into something divine. Eckhart's notion of
deiformity, a person's conformity to this underlying reality of Godliness, is
critical in his understanding . . . of the soul." [4] Eckhart did not see
the soul as dualistically opposed to the body, but as a guide to the body's
experience. Because God took on a human body in Christ and is present within
humanity, the body is sacred. In his preaching, Eckhart uses a verbal
illustration, exemplum, of eating to illustrate the body-soul relationship:
"The food which I eat, is thus united with my body as my body is united
with my soul. My body and my soul are united in one being . . . which signifies
the great union we shall have with God in one being." [5]
Eckhart's analogy of a flask filled
with water shows how God is in the soul and the soul is in God, together and
yet without losing their uniqueness. In Eckhart's words: "Now He [Christ]
says: 'The Father and I are One'--the soul in God and God in the soul. The
water is inside of the flask, thus [we say it] contains the water within it,
but the water is not truly in the flask and the flask is not truly in the
water. However, the soul is definitely one with God so that the one without the
other would be incomprehensible. One can understand heat even without the fire
and the rays without the sun, but God is unable to understand Himself without
the soul, nor the soul without God, so completely one are they." [6]
You can see why much of the
dualistic church was just not ready for dear Meister Eckhart, and thus he was
never canonized a saint. But he is still a "Meister"! As some have
said, he was a man from whom God hid nothing.
References:
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr,
Following the Mystics through the Narrow Gate . . . Seeing God in All Things (Center
for Action and Contemplation), disc 4 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[2] Meister Eckhart, The Essential
Sermons (Paulist Press: 1981).
[3] Adapted from Richard Rohr,
Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (Jossey Bass: 2013), 106.
[4] Michael Demkovich OP,
Introducing Meister Eckhart (Novalis: 2005), 85.
[5] Ibid., 92.
[6] Ibid., 130.
Rumi
Jalaludin Rumi (1207-1273) was a
Persian Sufi or mystic, a scholar, theologian, and poet. He is the most
translated poet in the world. Rumi inherited a position from his father as head
of a dervish learning community in Turkey. Coleman Barks, who has translated a
great deal of Rumi's poetry, describes the community's purpose: "to open
the heart, to explore the mystery of union, to fiercely search for and try to
say truth, and to celebrate the glory and difficulty of being in a human
incarnation." [1] Like Eckhart, Rumi was not cut off from the common
world. He worked in the gardens and advocated for his students' needs, giving
practical advice on all sorts of so-called secular matters. Perhaps this earthy
grounding allowed Rumi to explore the very heights and depths of mystical
experience.
Sufism is the mystical arm of
Islam. Mainline Islam, like most organized religion, largely emphasizes
external behaviors, whereas Sufism developed and emphasized the interior life.
[2] According to Daniel Ladinsky, "the Sufis themselves say their 'way'
has always existed, under many names, in many lands, associated with the
mystical dimension of every spiritual system." The special emphasis of
Sufism is "intense, often ecstatic, one-pointed devotion to God." [3]
If you have ever seen a Sufi Dervish twirl around one pivot, as I was
privileged to witness in Turkey, all the message is contained therein.
Rumi's experience of ecstasy was
born in grief. It seems his beloved teacher and friend, Shams of Tabriz, was
killed by jealous students. Rumi's sorrow led him into a yet deeper search for
intimacy with the Divine. Ladinsky writes: "Rumi was inconsolable and
began wandering, searching for any trace of his friend who was All-in-All to
him. Finally he realized that his beloved Shams was within him. That is exactly
the role of a Master, to create an intense desire for union with the
Beloved--and when union happens, an atomic mystical power is released that can
be directed toward humanity." [4]
Rumi often refers to the Divine
Presence as a guest or a friend. Here is just one small jewel, translated by
Coleman Barks, of Rumi's approximately 70,000 poems. [5]
One Who Can Quit Seeing Himself
I look for one simple and open
enough to see the Friend, not an intelligence
weighing several perspectives. I
want an empty shell to hold this pearl, not
a stone who pretends to have a
secret center, when the surface is all through.
I want one who can quit seeing
himself, fill with God and, instead of being
irritated by interruption and daily
resentments, feel those as kindness
References:
[1] Coleman Barks, trans., The Soul
of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems (Harper Collins: 2001), 4.
[2] Adapted from Richard Rohr,
Following the Mystics Through the Narrow Gate . . . Seeing God in All Things
(Center for Action and Contemplation), disc 1 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[3] Daniel Ladinsky, A Year with
Hafiz: Daily Contemplations (Penguin Books: 2011), xxii.
[4] Ladinsky, Love Poems From God:
Twelve Sacred Voices From the East and West (Penguin Compass: 2002), 58-59.
[5] Barks, 242.
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