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
Weekday Masses 22nd - 25th September, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am - Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am - Latrobe … Padre Pio
Thursday: 12noon - Devonport
Friday: 9:30am - Ulverstone
Next Weekend
26th & 27th September, 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 26th & 27th September, 2015
Devonport:
Readers
Vigil: M Gaffney, M
Gerrand, H Lim
10:30am:
F Sly, J Tuxworth, K Von Bibra
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
M Heazlewood, B & J Suckling, G
Lee-Archer, M Kelly, T Muir
10:30am: G Taylor, M Sherriff, T & S Ryan, M & B
Peters
Cleaners 25th
September: P
Shelverton, E Petts 2nd October: M.W.C.
Piety Shop 26th
September: H Thompson 27th September: D French
Flowers: M Knight, B Naiker
Ulverstone:
Reader: E Cox
Ministers of
Communion: E
Reilly, M & K McKenzie, M O’Halloran
Cleaners: Knights of the Southern Cross Flowers: C Mapley
Hospitality: Filipino Community
Penguin:
Greeters: A Landers, P Ravaillion Commentator: Readers: M & D Hiscutt
Procession: Kiely Family Ministers of Communion: Y Downes
Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C Setting Up: M Murray
Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Latrobe:
Reader: P Cotterell Ministers of Communion: I Campbell, M Kavic
Procession: Cotterell Family Music: Hermie
Procession: Cotterell Family Music: Hermie
Port Sorell:
Readers: V Duff, G Duff Ministers of
Communion: L Post,
B Lee Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare: B Lee, A Holloway
Readings this week:25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 Second Reading: James 2:14-18 Gospel: Mark 9:30-37
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
As I slowly enter my prayer, I take time to use my whole
imagination to discover the depths of this Gospel passage. I picture the scene,
the time of day, the conversations and moments that are shared amongst Jesus
and his disciples as they travel to Capernaum.
If I so choose I also enter this
scene as the story unfolds, perhaps as a disciple or a bystander or as the
little child.
Am I as baffled as the disciples when Jesus tells them that he
must suffer and die?
Can I relate to the stunned silence of the disciples? Even
as a Christian living in the 21st Century do I understand Christ’s suffering?
What do I need to say to Jesus now?
Maybe the only response, like the
disciples, is to stay in silence.
Can I relate to the disciples’ need to feel
important? How does Jesus respond?
Who are the “little children”- the people
without power or status today, that Jesus invites me to welcome: the homeless,
the unemployed, the sick, a migrant fleeing war and poverty?
When I am ready I
finish by making the sign of the cross prayerfully: In the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Readings Next Week: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29 Second Reading: James 3:16-4:3 Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 47-48
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Jenny Morris, Christopher Ockwell, Josephine
Murray,
Reg Hinkley, Noreen Burton, Joanne Haigh,
Harry Cartwright, Shirley Stafford & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
John Freeman (Fr Mark’s brother), Sr
Trish Dance,
Brother
Ernest Travers, Fausta Farrow, Charles Barker, Joan Jones, Joan Collins, Terry McKenna, Dulcie
McCormack,
Bill Calder, Ron Finch, Kevin Court, Godfrey Matthews, Patrick Tunchon, Mark
Gatt and Lyn Howard.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 16th
– 22nd September
Molly Page, Melba Robertson, Dorothy Crawford, Leonard
Payne, Patrick Laird,
Margaret Scanlan, Shirley Ranson, Donald Philp, Peg McKenna, Mervyn Kiely,
Joyce Barry, Arokisamy &
Fabian Xavier. Also Jim
& Beatrice Barry, Muriel Xavier
and Ryan Jackson.
May they rest in Peace
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
Last weekend I mentioned the story about two boys being
offered for their pocket money either a dollar a week or 1c for the first week,
2cents next week and then doubling each week. Several people responded and I
will be in touch with their prize. If you chose 1c the first week and then
doubled up for the whole 52 weeks the total amount you would have received was $45,035,996,273,704.95
– that’s right - $45 trillion – makes $52 look pretty ordinary doesn’t it!!
The point of the story invites us to the challenge to think
about how we might grow our community – not to the sort of numbers above – but
in a smaller yet also dynamic way. For example - if we were to have a group of
10 people meet regularly and then they split into two after 18 months and
invite another 10 people (5 each group) to join the groups and this happened every
18 months then after 11 years there would 640 people involved in small groups.
And there is no reason why this can’t happen except we might think it is too
hard or we might feel that this isn’t the way to ‘be’ Church.
As mentioned before I left on my break I was going to do
some reading and I did. Several authors I read suggested that Churches grow
where small groups meet but not just as a self-satisfied group – the group
needs to be prepared to split and change themselves, forming new groups and
everyone who belongs to the Parish Leadership needs to be involved as
well. Obviously I’ll be working with the
Pastoral Council and others to look at how this might happen but I would be
hoping that a program might be in place early in 2016 to start the process.
SICK & RETIRED PRIESTS FUND – THIS SUNDAY 20th
SEPTEMBER:
The Fund began in January 1948 and was set up to ensure
that all diocesan priests incardinated into the Archdiocese of Hobart would
receive adequate material and financial care when they retire or should a
priest become sick. Each year an annual appeal is launched throughout the
Archdiocese of Hobart, so that the Sick and Aged Priest’s Fund, can continue to
provide material and financial assistance to all sick and retired priests. At
the present moment we have a total of fourteen priests who are no longer involved
in active ministry due to health and ageing issues. The Sick and Aged Priest’s
Fund supports these priests, meeting some of their medical, accommodation and
other incidental expenses.
Your ongoing care and generosity towards our sick and aged
priests is gratefully appreciated.
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY
CENTRE:
MARGARET
SILF,
one of the most acclaimed and loved spiritual writers of our time, is returning
to MacKillop Hill Forth on 1st October 10am -12 noon and 7pm-9pm; Burnie 2nd October
7pm - 9pm. don’t miss this
opportunity… Save the dates! Book early!
Ph. 6428 3095 Email: mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au
CANCELLATION: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE
COFFEE SHOPPE
ON MONDAY 28th SEPTEMBER HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
ON MONDAY 28th SEPTEMBER HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
MERSEY LEVEN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY ROSARY GROUP:
For some time there has been hope of bringing Fabienne
Guerrero to Australia so we may hear her story of how she was taken in by New
Age teachings and the dangers of this movement and how she came back to her
Catholic faith.
At last Fabienne is coming here and will give her talk at Our
Lady of Lourdes Church, Devonport Thursday 1st October at 7pm. Fabienne has been sponsored for her trip by a
private person and is accommodated in private homes on her tour. Please come
along, there is no charge but there will be a collection to help to cover
travel costs.
NOVEMBER REMEMBRANCE BOOKS:
November is the month we remember
in a special way all those who have died. Should you wish anyone to be
remembered, write the names of those to be prayed for on the outside of an
envelope and place the clearly marked envelope in the collection basket at Mass
or deliver to the Parish Office by Thursday 22nd October.
COLUMBAN CALENDARS:
The 2016 Columban Art Calendar is now available from the
Piety Shop's at OLOL Church and Sacred Heart Church for $9.00. When you
purchase the calendar, you are participating in God's Mission and assisting
Columbans in meeting the needs of the poor.
Ordinary
$2.00 footy margin tickets
will be sold (as normal) during the Finals.
Qualifying final – West Coast Eagles won by 32 points: Winners; Adele Derrico, Tom Jones,
Pam Barker.
$10 .00 GRAND FINAL TICKETS: All sold!!
Callers 24th September Tony
Ryan & Bruce Peters.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
FEAST OF ST THERESE:
The feast of St Therese will be celebrated with a Sung Mass
at the Carmelite Monastery, 7 Cambridge Street Launceston Thursday 1st October at 9:30am.
Fr Aloysius Rego, OCD, a Carmelite friar from Sydney, will be the celebrant and
homilist. Mass will be followed by morning tea. All are welcome to join the
Carmelite Nuns for this celebration.
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 its
place in the Encyclical.
“Promote smart growth. Create liveable communities with beautiful design and plentiful
green spaces for everyone, especially the poor. Tackle noise and ‘visual pollution,’ and save
cities' cultural treasures. Design spaces that help people connect and trust each other.”
(Pars 44-45, 113, 143, 147)
Saint of the Week – St Pius of Pietrelcina, priest (Sep 23)
Francesco, named in honor of St Francis of Assisi, was born to Giuseppa and Grazio Forgione,
peasant farmers, in the small Italian village of Pietrelcina on May 25, 1887. From his
childhood, it was evident that he was a special child of God. Francesco was very devout even
as a child, and at an early age felt drawn to the priesthood. He became a Capuchin novice at
the age of 16 and received the habit in 1902. Francesco was ordained in 1910 after seven years
of study and became known as Padre Pio.
On September 20, 1918, Padre Pio was kneeling in front of a large crucifix when he received
the visible marks of the crucifixion, making him the first stigmatized priest in the history of
Church. The doctor who examined Padre Pio could not find any natural cause for the
wounds. Upon his death in 1968, the wounds were no longer visible. In fact, there was no
scarring and the skin was completely renewed. He had predicted 50 years prior that upon his
death the wounds would heal. The wounds of the stigmata were not the only mystical
phenomenon experienced by Padre Pio.
The blood from the stigmata had an odour described by many as similar to that of perfume or
flowers, and the gift of bilocation was attributed to him. Padre Pio was able to read the hearts
of the penitents who flocked to him for confession which he heard daily for 10-12 hours.
Even before his death, people spoke to Padre Pio about his possible canonisation. He died on
September 23, 1968 at the age of 81, and was beatified in 1999.
This week, we continue our series of quotes on leadership. It is such an important aspect of
church life – we hope this will inspire some of the people in your community to step up and
fulfil their potential as servant leaders.
Meme of the week - For a whole host of reasons, don’t speed when you are driving!
OUR OVERSTIMULATED GRANDIOSITY
– AND OUR IMPOVERISHED SYMBOLS
An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser. The original article can be found here
There are now more than seven billion people on this earth and each one of us feels that he or she is the center of the universe. That accounts for most of the problems we have in the world, in our neighborhoods, and in our families.
And no one’s to blame for this, save God perhaps, for making us this way. Each of us is created in the image and likeness of God, meaning that, each of us, holds within a divine spark, a piece of infinity, and an ingrained knowledge of that unique dignity. We are infinite souls inside a finite world. To paraphrase St. Augustine, we are made for the divine and our hearts aren’t just dissatisfied until they rest there again, they’re also grandiose along the journey, enflamed by their own uniqueness and dignity. God has made everything beautiful in its own season, Ecclesiastes tells us, but God has put timelessness into the human heart so that we are out of sync with the seasons from beginning to end. We’re overcharged for this planet, and we know it.
Moreover that sense of specialness lies at the center of our awareness: I think, therefore I am! Descartes was right: The only thing we can be absolutely sure of is that we exist and that our own thoughts and feelings are real. We may be dreaming everything else. We awake to self-consciousness aware of our specialness, frustrated by the fact that the world cannot give us what we crave, and insufficiently aware of the fact that everyone else on this earth is also equally unique and special. That’s human nature and it’s always been this way.
Today however a number of things are conspiring together to exacerbate both our grandiosity and our restlessness. In brief, today we are mostly overstimulated in our grandiosity and are not generally given the tools to handle that inflammation of soul.
How are we overstimulated in our grandiosity today? Various factors play together here, but contemporary media and information technology need to be highlighted. Through them, in effect, the whole world is being made available to us during every waking minute of our lives. We are not easily equipped to handle that. While information alone is mostly neutral, and at times even morally inspiring, the downside is that contemporary media overstimulates our grandiosity and restlessness by inundating us with the intimate details of the lives of the rich, the famous, the beautiful, the talented, the powerful, the super-intelligent, the mega-achievers, and the perverted in a way that titillates, seduces, and at times assaults our interior balance so as to leave us cultivating private fantasies of grandiosity, of standing out in a way that makes the world take notice. We see this in an extreme and perverted form in some of the mass shootings that occur in our society, where a lonely, deranged person randomly kills others out of sick vision of grandiosity. We see it too in the growing phenomenon of anorexia. These examples may be atypical, but we’re becoming a society within which most everyone is perilously overstimulated in his or her grandiosity.
And today we are generally without sufficient personal tools to handle this. Human beings have always been restless and grandiose, but in previous generations they had more tools – religious and societal – to handle restlessness, grandiosity, and frustration. For example, in previous generations the cultural ethos gave people much less permission to cultivate ego than it does today. Previous to our own generation, one had to be more apologetic about self-promotion, self-canonization, overt greed, and crass self-centeredness. Humility was espoused as a virtue and no one was supposed to get too big for his or her britches. That threw a lot of cold water on ego, crass self-assertion, and greed, in effect dampening grandiosity. The message back then was clear: You’re not the center of the universe!
By and large, that’s no longer the case today. Society, more and more, gives us license to be grandiose, to set ourselves up as the center and proudly announce that publicly. Not only are we allowed today to get too big for our britches, we aren’t culturally admired unless we do assert ourselves in that way. And that’s a formula for jealousy, bitterness, and violence. Grandiosity and restlessness need healthy guidance both from the culture and from religion. Today, we generally do not see that guidance.
We are dangerously weak in inculcating into the consciousness of society, especially into the consciousness of the young, a number of vital human and religious truths: To God alone belongs the glory! In this life ultimately all symphonies remain unfinished. You are not the center of the earth. There is real sin! Selfishness is not a virtue! Humility is a virtue! You will only find life by giving it away! Other lives are as real as your own!
We have failed our youth by giving them unrealistic expectations, even as we are depriving them of the tools with which to handle those expectations.
____________________________________________
52% HAVE WALKED AWAY, NOW WHAT?
HOW ABOUT MAKE CHURCH MATTER
Things are certainly abuzz around the Catholic Church in America these days. With less than a week until Pope Francis’ historic first visit to the United States, some heavy theological debates on the table, and a whirlwind year of intense political change and debate, it’s hard to stay focused on our parish ministry.
On the other hand, our basic parish mission of evangelization and discipleship have never been more critical. A recent Pew Research Center survey indicates that 45% of Americans either identify as Catholic or report being connected to Catholicism in some way. In the same survey, another finding indicates that among adults who say they were raised Catholic, just over half (52%) have left the church at some point in their life (although about 11% of those who left later returned at some point).
It’s painful and demoralizing for church leaders to face this kind of data. The best thing we can do is to decide not to hide, but to learn from this information. Here are a few simple principles I think can be gleaned from the Pew data.
Small Groups Matter
While the official Church cannot affirm the equal value of every family arrangement, we need to have a place where every individual will feel welcome and have room to grow spiritually, including the divorced and remarried. Parish based small group fellowship programs are a great place to engage adults with one another to provide needed support and on-going faith formation.
Children & Student Ministry Matter
Everyone wants the best for their children, and churches need to show they do too. Moreover, parents nowadays often follow their children, so creating an engaging children’s ministry will keep parents connected with your church. When you can successfully engage teens parents are even more impressed.
Missions Matter
In the survey many people indicate work with the poor is essential to their expression of faith. Although we want to avoid faith that’s just masked social activism, various service opportunities can be a really approachable entry point for unchurched people.
Ministries Matter
In our action-oriented society, a broad array of well-done ministries can be excellent opportunities for incorporating the personalities and gifts of those who would otherwise avoid church interaction.
From the data, you might be tempted to think these things don’t matter. To some people they might not, but most people feel strongly about what they do believe. Even holding strong to orthodox Catholic beliefs, as we do at Nativity, we find what really keeps many people away isn’t doctrine, but when we do church as if it doesn’t matter.
Buddhism: Week 1
A series of reflections taken from a daily email from Fr Richard Rohr. You can subscribe to the email here
Convergence
Our Living School faculty member James Finley was blessed to
have Thomas Merton as his teacher and spiritual director from 1961 to 1967. Jim
summarizes what he learned from Merton: "I looked on Thomas Merton as the
living embodiment of the mystical, contemplative heritage of my own Christian
tradition. . . . This ancient tradition is not simply about believing in Jesus,
nor is it simply to live as Jesus lived--a life of love for God and for others.
Beyond that, the Christian way is also a life in which we are called to follow
Jesus in a process of self-emptying by which we come to realize that ultimately
there is nothing real in us that is less or other than God's infinite love,
which is our life. In other words, we are called to realize the mind of Christ.
That is, the mind of the boundless oneness of love--knowing that in the end,
love alone remains. That God is love, and all that we really are is a
manifestation of the eternal love of God."
During his time as Jim's mentor, Merton was going through
his own awakenings, both to the social justice dimensions of the Gospel and to
the non-Christian contemplative traditions. Merton was in dialogue with Jews,
Sufi Muslims, and Hindus who visited him at the monastery. He was particularly
interested in an in-depth conversation with the Buddhists.
Jim says, "So, taking Merton as my teacher, it was just
very natural to me that I could see in these non-Christian contemplative
traditions a kind of expansive enrichment of the path of non-dual
consciousness, of the realization of the mystic way. I got the impression that
when we seek what is truest in our own tradition, we discover we are one with
those who seek what is truest in their tradition. There is a point of
convergence where we meet each other and we recognize each other as seekers of
awakening. . . . And what is truest is that we are called to recognize,
surrender to, and ultimately be identified with the mystery of God utterly
beyond all concepts, all words, all designations whatsoever. . . . What's more,
we are to realize that this boundless, birthless, deathless mystery of God is
manifesting itself and giving itself to us completely in every breath and
heartbeat. . . . If we could really experience all that we really are sitting here
right now, just the way we are, we'd all experience God loving us into our
chair, loving us into the present moment, breath by breath, heartbeat by
heartbeat. And we would then bear witness to that realization by the way we
treat ourselves, the way we treat others, the way we treat all living things.
This is the way, this is the great way. . . ." [1]
Jim suggests that learning from each other's contemplative
and religious traditions, as Merton did, is even more important today than it
was when Merton was living. It appears that religions--and perhaps even
humanity itself--will not survive if we stay within tribal consciousness,
believing our religion is the only "one true religion." On the
surface, our traditions are different; but in their depths, there is a similar
tradition of the transformation of the human heart and mind. In Jim's words,
"There is the free fall into the boundless abyss of God in which we all
meet one another, beyond all distinctions, beyond all designations. This is the
oneness that includes all distinctions." [2]
References:
[1] James
Finley, Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2008), disc 2 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[2] Ibid.
The Life of the Buddha
I would like to let James Finley, who has long studied
Buddhism, briefly give you the story of the Buddha's life, so that you have
some context for Buddhist teachings.
The Buddha's given name is Siddhartha. He was born in India
about the year 560 BCE. His father was the king of a clan. He kept Siddhartha
sequestered on the palace grounds while he was growing up in order to rear him
toward his destiny of kingship.
Siddhartha grew up, married, and had a son. Around the time
of his son's birth, he finally went into town. On his first visit, he saw an old
person; on his second visit, he saw an ill person; and on his third visit, he
saw a dead person. He asked his guide if these things happen to everyone. Being
assured that they did, Siddhartha became disillusioned and disheartened. He
said to himself, "How can I live in these conditions conducive to
happiness knowing that so many of my fellow human beings do not live in these
privileged conditions? How can I be happy knowing they are out there? And how
can I myself be happy, knowing that all these possessions and all this wealth
cannot protect me from illness, old age, and death?"
Siddhartha went into town for a fourth visit and he saw a
sadhu (a wandering ascetic monk). The monk, although dressed in rags, radiated
an inner peace not dependent upon conditions conducive to happiness. Siddhartha
felt a call in his heart for a quest to come to the understanding of the
liberation from suffering, and to come to true and abiding happiness, for
himself and others. So at around age 29, he left the palace and his family to
begin a six-year inner journey.
First, he joined a yoga community that practiced deep,
meditative states. But Siddhartha came to see this as using meditation to evoke
certain altered states of consciousness, which was a rarified version of a life
based upon conditioned states. So he joined a wandering group of ascetics who
practiced severe fasting. But he became so emaciated and weak that he was in
danger of dying. He realized that since his goal was to discover freedom from
suffering and the nature of true happiness, things weren't going well! So he
started to take food. The other ascetics were scandalized and left him.
Then Siddhartha, utterly alone, stopped and calmed himself
and looked deeply into his situation. Since his situation was stripped of all
superficiality, of all adornment of the extremes of wealth and the extremes of
poverty, his situation is our situation. He reveals us to ourselves. He is the
human being who has discovered the bankruptcy of the ego's agenda to come to
true abiding happiness and fulfillment based upon strategies of the ego. He
made a vow to himself to sit there under a Bodhi tree until he resolved the
human dilemma of suffering and the search for inner peace and fulfillment in
the midst of life as it is. Through the night he was tempted by the demon Mara,
but he was unshaken in his resolve. He stayed through the night gazing deeply
into the bankruptcy of the human life based upon its own strategies.
At first light, Siddhartha turned and looked at the day star
with awakened eyes, as the Buddha, meaning "the one who is awake,"
seeing life the way it really is, free from all projections, all distortions,
all delusions, all strategies, all agendas, all belief systems. He saw, we
might say, the boundary-less, trustworthy nature of what is. He sat in the
bliss of his enlightenment for some days.
Finally he realized that although many would not be ready to
hear his teachings, some would. The Buddha's first words to someone after his
enlightenment were, "In this blind world, I beat the drum of
deathlessness." [1]
Reference:
[1] James
Finley, Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2008), disc 2 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
The Importance of Inner Experience
Marcus Borg, in his marvelous book, Jesus and Buddha: The
Parallel Sayings, describes the many amazing similarities in the lives of Jesus
and the Buddha, who lived five hundred years before Jesus. Borg's explanation
for the similarity in their wisdom teaching is that "both Jesus and the Buddha
had life-transforming experiences of 'the sacred.'" [1] Buddha's
transformational experience happened under the Bodhi tree; Jesus'
transformational initiation happened at his baptism and during the forty days
he then spent in the desert. Both endured temptations by "the devil."
Both men were around thirty years old at the time of their unitive encounter.
We all need such inner experience instead of simple outer
belief systems. You need inner experience whereby you can know things to be
true for yourself instead of believing them because other people say they are
true. [2] This is second-hand religion or hearsay religion which is
unfortunately the most common variety.
James Finley points out that unlike Christianity,
"there is no belief system in Buddhism. That's why you can be a devout
Christian and a devout Buddhist at the same time. The word 'Dharma,' [which is
what the Buddha spent his life teaching] means 'law' or 'rule' but not in the
sense of a dogma. It means the way reality really is. There is no dogma or
anything contrary to any Christian dogma in authentic Buddhism. Alongside
everything the Buddha said, he also said, 'Don't believe it because I said it.
Listen to it and check it out for yourself. See if it rings true with your own
experience.'" [3]
The West has made an art form out of idealizing the separate
individual and trying to make it "holy" by itself. You need a deep
experience of radical participation to break beyond your normal illusion of ego
separateness. Unfortunately, much garden variety Christianity only affirms your
separateness and your supposed superiority. Religion was intended to give you
an experience of what Owen Barfield calls "original participation" or
primal unity. Before you are many, you are one. We have so emphasized the
"many" for centuries now, that it is very hard for Western people to
again experience the "one." We are so self-conscious about either our
private goodness or our private badness. And worse, the self we are conscious
of, the self we are absorbed in, is precisely the self that mystics say does
not exist! It's actually our false self. [4] The Self that exists, in Christian
language, is the communal "Body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12f).
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, uses the
idea of making cookies to illustrate our confusion about who we really are:
Imagine "that the moment each cookie leaves the bowl of dough and is
placed onto the tray, it begins to think of itself as separate. You, the
creator of the cookies, know better, and you have a lot of compassion for them.
You know that they are originally all one, and that even now, the happiness of
each cookie is still the happiness of all the other cookies. But they have
developed 'discriminating perception,' and suddenly they set up barriers between
themselves. . . . 'Get out of my way. I want to be in the middle.' 'I am brown
and beautiful and you are ugly.' 'Can't you please spread a little in that
direction?' We have a tendency to behave this way also, and it causes a lot of
suffering. If we know how to touch our nondiscriminating mind, our happiness
and the happiness of others will increase manifold." [5] This is "the
mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16).
Thich Nhat Hanh continues (emphasis added): "We all
have the capacity of living with nondiscriminating wisdom, but we have to train
ourselves to see in that way, to see that the flower is us, the mountain is us,
our parents and our children are all us. When we see that everyone and
everything belongs to the same stream of life, our suffering will vanish.
Nonself is not a doctrine or a philosophy. It is an insight that can help us
live life more deeply, suffer less, and enjoy life more. We need to live the
insight of nonself." [6] Which with great irony, we discover to be the One
True Self!
References:
[1] Marcus
Borg, ed., Jesus & Buddha: The Parallel Sayings (Ulysses Press: 2004), 10.
[2] Richard
Rohr, Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2008), disc 1 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[3] James
Finley, Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2008), disc 2 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[4] Rohr,
Jesus and Buddha, disc 1.
[5] Thich
Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (Broadway Books: 1998), 133-134.
[6] Ibid.,
134.
Relative Truth and Absolute Truth
Once you move to the level of participative knowing, you
experience the union between us all, and you know that union is more real than
the differences. This really is the heart of the matter. Until it becomes a
realization--that we really are, objectively, metaphysically, ontologically
more one than many--you are not yet at Mysticism 101. It has to be a cellular,
inner experience. It's something you know by prayer, love, and suffering. It is
nothing I can prove to you logically. Paul's explanation of this experience
(which Buddhists say is the most Buddhist of all of Paul's lines) is "I
live no longer, not I, but Christ lives in me and I in him" (Galatians
2:20). That is the experience of the True Self, which is already in union with
God! This Richard self, this little thing that appears to be visible here and
takes itself too seriously, is a relative identity, but it's not my absolute
identity that will exist forever. [1]
Thich Nhat Hahn writes, "According to Buddhism, there
are two kinds of truth, relative or worldly truth . . . and absolute
truth." [2] He uses wonderful imagery to help us grasp the difference
between these truths and between our two selves, the small, false self and the
true, eternal self:
When we look at the ocean, we see that each wave has a
beginning and an end. A wave can be compared with other waves, and we can call
it more or less beautiful, higher or lower, longer lasting or less long
lasting. But if we look more deeply, we see that a wave is made of water. While
living the life of a wave, it also lives the life of water. It would be sad if
the wave did not know that it is water. It would think, "Someday, I will
have to die. This period of time is my life span, and when I arrive at the
shore, I will return to nonbeing." These notions will cause the wave fear
and anguish. We have to help it remove the notions of self, person, living
being, and life span if we want the wave to be free and happy.
A wave can be recognized by signs--high or low, beginning or
ending, beautiful or ugly. But in the world of the water, there are no signs.
In the world of relative truth, the wave feels happy as she swells, and she
feels sad when she falls. She may think, "I am high," or "I am
low," and develop a superiority or inferiority complex. But when the wave
touches her true nature--which is water--all her complexes will cease, and she
will transcend birth and death.
We become arrogant when things go well, and we are afraid of
falling, or being low or inadequate. But these are relative ideas, and when
they end, a feeling of completeness and satisfaction arises. Liberation is the
ability to go from the world of signs to the world of true nature. We need the
relative world of the wave [emphasis mine], but we also need to touch the water,
the ground of our being, to have real peace and joy [and this is what so many
contemporary people lack]. We shouldn't allow relative truth to imprison us and
keep us from touching absolute truth. Looking deeply into relative truth, we
penetrate the absolute. Relative and absolute truths inter-embrace. Both
truths, relative and absolute, have a value. [3]
Thich Nhat Hahn invites us into contemplative, meditative
practice wherein we can experience the reality of our union: "The deeper
level of practice is to lead our daily life in a way that we touch the absolute
and the relative truth. In the dimension of relative truth, the Buddha passed
away many years ago. But in the realm of absolute truth, we can take his hand
and join him for walking meditation every day. . . . You don't have to
[physically] die to enter nirvana or the kingdom of God. You only have to dwell
deeply in the present moment, right now." [4]
References:
[1] Richard
Rohr, Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Center for Action and Contemplation:
2008), disc 1 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[2] Thich
Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (Broadway Books: 1998), 121.
[3] Ibid.,
124-125.
[4] Ibid.,
128.
The Four Noble Truths
After his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha sat
for some days in his inner liberation, which he called a state of nirvana. As
Thich Nhat Hanh explains, "Nirvana means extinction--first of all, the
extinction of all concepts and notions. Our concepts about things prevent us
from really touching them." [1] For the Buddha, the ability to see reality
as it really is, free of all concepts that distort it, was also the extinction
of suffering. James Finley says, "Suffering was blown out from within, so
that it no longer had any footing in his mind or heart."
Here's how Finley describes the Four Noble Truths that
Buddha taught for the rest of his life:
The Buddha felt called to share his discovery to help others
come to this realization. He found the ascetics that he had lived with and told
them, "I come to teach the Middle Way." He embodies the Middle Way in
the Four Noble Truths. The First Truth is the truth of suffering. By suffering,
the Buddha means a pervasive discontent--that the ability to abide in inner
peace and fulfillment is elusive. There is a pervasive sense of precariousness.
This suffering is the presenting problem. The illness that the Buddha seeks to
cure is the propensity for suffering.
The Second Noble Truth is that there is a way of life that
perpetuates the suffering. There are certain habits of the mind and heart that
are perpetuating the very suffering that we seek to be free from. This way of
life has its basis in wanting life to be other than the way it is. This is the
diagnosis.
The Third Noble Truth is that it is possible to be healed
from these symptoms by learning to live as one with the way life is. This is
the truth of nirvana--this way of abiding peace and equanimity in the rise and
fall of daily circumstances just as they are. So this is the hope for the
cure--that it is possible to rest in this abiding inner peace and fulfillment.
The Fourth Noble Truth is the Noble Eightfold Path which is
the way of life in which one is liberated from the tyranny of suffering so that
one might come to this nirvanic peace, this inner peace, the peace that passes
understanding in the midst of life as it is. What good would it do if the
Buddha just pointed out the problem and did not give us a way to be delivered
from the problem? That way is the Noble Eightfold Path. [2]
Thich Nhat Hanh says, "The Chinese translate it as the
'Path of Eight Right Practices': Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech,
Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness, and Right
Concentration." [3] We will unpackage the Noble Eightfold Path in
tomorrow's meditation.
References:
[1] Thich
Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (Broadway Books: 1998), 129.
[2] James
Finley, Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2008), disc 2 (CD, DVD, MP3 download).
[3] Thich
Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, 11.
The Noble Eightfold Path
Thich Nhat Hanh says, "The Fourth Noble Truth is the
way out of suffering. First the doctor looks deeply into the nature of our
suffering. Then she confirms that the removal of our pain is possible, and she
prescribes a way out." [1] The "way out" is the Eightfold Path.
The Buddha said again and again, "I teach only suffering and the
transformation of suffering." I often say: "If you do not transform
your pain, you will almost certainly transmit it" and "All great
religion is about what you do with your pain." The Noble Eightfold Path
describes the Buddha's way to transform your pain. The Buddha said,
"Wherever the Noble Eightfold Path is practiced, joy, peace, and insight
are there." [2]
Thich Nhat Hanh writes that when the Buddha gave his first
sermon to the wandering ascetics, he "put into motion the wheel of the
Dharma, the Way of Understanding and Love. This teaching is recorded in the
Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma. . . . It teaches us to recognize
suffering as suffering and to transform our suffering into mindfulness,
compassion, peace, and liberation. . . . The teachings of the Buddha were not
to escape from life, but to help us relate to ourselves and the world as
thoroughly as possible." [3]
James Finley describes the Eightfold Path in the following
way within our Living School curriculum:
The first two steps of the Eightfold Path are Right Vision
and Right Thinking ("right" meaning effective in evoking happiness
and inner peace). These two are associated with the notion of wisdom. They help
us ground ourselves in this wisdom of the Eightfold Path.
The next four of the eight steps are the paths of the moral
precepts. Do not confuse this with being "moralistic." The intuition
of the Buddha is that one will not come to this inner peace unless one grounds
one's life in an inflowing and outflowing love. This is the core of what it
means to be moral. Love is the outflowing way that we must relate to everything
[read "God"] and the outflowing way we must relate to each individual
person. ["On these two commandments hang the entire Law and the Prophets
as well," says Jesus (Matthew 22:40).]
So, Right View and Right Thinking are the wisdom aspects of
the Eightfold Path. But Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, and Right
Diligence are the life of effort and choice that expands our realm of conscious
freedom. God cannot and will not give us any gift that we do not want and
freely choose--usually again and again.
The last two steps are Right Mindfulness and Right
Concentration. The Buddha felt none of this would work without deep meditation
practice. [4]
I also find that a meditation practice is necessary for
transformation, except for people who allow themselves to be changed through
great love or great suffering. Meditation then preserves and sustains what they
have learned in love and suffering over the long haul. In other words, I know
many "meditators" who are still quite self-absorbed people, and I
have met people who do not even know the word meditation, who live in deep
unitive consciousness. There is no one technique; life and death itself are the
only technique.
References:
[1] Thich
Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (Broadway Books: 1998), 43
[2] Ibid.,
49.
[3] Ibid.,
7-8.
[4] James
Finley, exclusive Living School teaching (Learn more about the two-year program
at cac.org/living-school).
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