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 6th - 9th October, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am – Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am - Latrobe … Our Lady of the Rosary
Thursday: 10:30am - Eliza Purton
12noon - Devonport
Friday: 9:30am - Ulverstone
Next Weekend 10th & 11th October, 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 10th & 11th October, 2015
Devonport:
10:30am: J Phillips, K Pearce, P Piccolo
Ministers of Communion:
Vigil: B & B Windebank, T Bird, J
Kelly, T Muir, B Windebank
10:30am: J DiPietro, S Riley, F Sly, M Sherriff
Cleaners 9th
October: B Paul, D
Atkins, V Riley
16th October: K.S.C.
Piety Shop 10th
October: R McBain 11th
October: O McGinley Flowers: A
O’Connor
Ulverstone:
Reader: D Prior Ministers of
Communion: M
Murray, J Pisarskis, C Harvey, P Grech
Cleaners: V Ferguson, E Cox Flowers: C Stingel Hospitality: B O’Rourke
Penguin:
Greeters: J Garnsey, S Ewing Commentator: Readers: E Nickols, A Landers
Procession: S Ewing, J Barker Ministers of Communion: M Hiscutt, M Murray
Liturgy: Penguin Setting Up: E Nickols Care of Church: M Bowles, J Reynolds
Latrobe:
Reader: M Eden Ministers of Communion: H Lim, M Mackey Procession: I Campbell Music: Jenny
Port Sorell:
Readers: M Badcock, E Holloway Ministers of Communion: P Anderson, B Lee Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare: K Hampton
Readings this Week: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Genesis 2:18-24 Second Reading: Hebrews 2:9-11 Gospel: Mark 10:2-16
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
I take time to be still so that I can be receptive to the
Word of God. When ready, I read the text slowly, noticing how the scene
unfolds. I note that when they go inside the disciples are more interested in
continuing the discussion than welcoming those bringing children to Jesus. I
notice Jesus’ reaction. Am I reminded of what Pope Francis writes about
welcoming the vulnerable and not giving exaggerated attention to provocative
issues? What do I want to say to Jesus about my family, my community, our
Church today...? I spend time with him, listening and sharing as I would with a
friend. How am I being invited to have a child’s love of exploring what is new,
puzzling and maybe even different from what I have previously known? I may like
to end my prayer by asking that I remain teachable so that I may grow in love.
Readings Next Week: 28th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
First Reading: Wisdom 7:7-11 Second Reading: Hebrews 4:12-13 Gospel: Mark 10:17-30
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Iolanthe Hannavy, Geraldine
Roden, Joy Carter,
Jenny Morris, Christopher Ockwell, Josephine Murray,
Reg
Hinkley, Noreen Burton, Harry Cartwright,
Shirley Stafford & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Leonard Hoare, Sr. Marjorie
Boutchard, John Mahoney,
Stanley Henderson, Aileen McHale, Anne Bailey, John
Freeman,
Sr Trish Dance, Brother Ernest Travers, Fausta Farrow,
Charles Barker, Joan Jones, Joan
Collins, Ron Finch and
Godfrey
Matthews .
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time:
30th
September – 6th October
Stephen
Harris, George Farrow, Mary Forth, Peter Kirkpatrick, Irene Marston,
Allan
Clarke, Reginald Kelly, Audrey Abblitt, Milton Bynon, Valma Donnelly and
Lorraine Sherriff. Also Ma Arah Deiparine, Genaro & Jeffrey Visorro, Robert
King,
Bruce Smith and Fortunato & Asuncion Makiputin.
May they rest in Peace
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
These past few days have been a little bit stressful due to
issues beyond my control. My sister, Martine, has taken Archbishop Porteous to
the Tasmanian Anti-discrimination Tribunal on the question of whether the
Document ‘Don’t Mess With Marriage’ breaches the anti-discrimination laws. My
sister and I have very different views about many things and we act in very
different ways when we are confronted with issues but she is my sister and so
it has been hard to read on both social and the main stream media comments by
fellow Christian travellers that do not reflect Christ’s call to remove the
plank from ‘my’ own eye before telling someone else about the splinter in
theirs.
Historically we now enter the month of windy weather. I pray that the Spirit of God’s love will
move in the hearts of all so that the issues which confront us at this time –
the situation of refugees and asylum seekers, care of young people who are
turning to drugs and alcohol, the challenge of same sex relationships and finding
solutions to the deepening unemployment situation - might be addressed, not as
times of confrontation but opportunities for people to truly work together so
that we might truly bring hope and life to our communities.
On 14th -15th October there is to be an Emergencies
Ministry Training Session organised by the Tasmanian Council of Churches at the
Gateway Church Precinct to ensure that there are a sufficient number of
personnel prepared to assist in the event of an emergency in the North West
during the coming summer (or at any time). The role of those who are trained
for this work is to provide Pastoral & Spiritual care in disaster
settings. If anyone wishes to be part of
this training program see me ASAP as bookings have already closed but there is
room for more volunteers.
CWL ULVERSTONE: Meeting Friday 9th October, 2.00pm at Community
Room, Ulverstone.
ST MARY'S
CHURCH PENGUIN: BBQ tea after Mass,
Saturday
17th October. All welcome!
Please bring a salad or dessert to share.
SACRED HEART SCHOOL FAIR:
we are currently seeking donations of the following items for our School
Fair: craft items, pots, plants, books, DVDs and items for the garage sale. All
items can be dropped into the School Office. If you have something that you'd
like to donate but have no way of getting it to us - let us know and we can
organise for it to be picked up. Enquiries: 6425:2680 or corey.mcgrath@gmail.com
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.
FOOTY
MARGIN TICKETS:
Preliminary Final – Hawthorn won by 27 points: Winners; Margaret Allen, Betty
Foster, unknown.
Callers 8th October Rod Clarke and Bruce Peters.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
SOLEMNITY OF ST THERESE: A Sung Mass WILL BE CELEBRATED IN
HONOUR OF St Teresa of Jesus (Avila), the foundress of the Discalced Carmelite
Order, at Carmelite Monastery, 7 Cambridge Street Launceston Thursday
15th October at 9:30am. Archbishop Julian will be the principal
celebrant and homilist. This celebration will also mark the close of the 5th
Centenary Teresian Year. Morning tea will follow Mass. All welcome. A Novena of
Masses and Prayers will also be offered in preparation for the feast from 6th –
14th October. Intentions may be sent to Mother Teresa-Benedicta at the
Monastery.
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC YOUTH FESTIVAL (ACYF)
– REGISTRATIONS CLOSING! Registrations to join young Tasmanians at the ACYF 3rd –
5th December, 2015 in Adelaide are closing Wednesday 14th October. Join with
over 3000 young Australians in three jam-packed days of fun, concerts, faith,
engaging speakers, interactive workshops, prayer and to celebrate the young
Australian Church. Speakers include: Fr Rob Galea, Steve Angrisano, Jason
Evert, Sr Hilda Scott, Genevieve Bryant, Fr Chris Ryan, Australian Bishops and
so many more! For more information and to register go to: www.cymtas.org.au or contact Rachelle: rachelle.smith@aohtas.org.au or 0400 045 368 (open to young
people from grade 9 – 25 years of age)
WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 – REGISTRATIONS NOW
OPEN!! Registrations to join the Tasmanian Pilgrimage to World
Youth Day 2016 Krakow are now open!! Join with like-minded young Tasmanians on
this experience of a lifetime as we follow in the footsteps of early Christians
through Turkey and Greece, visiting Gallipoli, Istanbul and the ancient city of
Ephesus en route to Poland where we will visit Warsaw, Auschwitz concentration
camp and Czestochowa before meeting with Pope Francis and millions of young
people in Krakow for the main event! Download your application pack at www.wydtas.org.au or contact Rachelle Smith: rachelle.smith@aohtas.org.au or 0400 045 368 (open to those aged
16 – 35 as at 31st December 2016)
FILIPINO MASS: Saturday 24th October at 3 pm St
Paul’s Church Paice Street, Bridgewater. All welcome!
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.
“End the tyranny of the screen, information overload, and distractions. Watch out for
media-induced melancholy and isolation. Cultivate real relationships with others.” (Par 47)
Saint of the Week – St Bruno, priest (October 6)
When St Bruno decided to become a monk, he lived as a hermit under the direction of the
monastic reformer, Robert of Molesmes, the founder of Cistercian abbey of Citeaux.
After some time, Bruno moved on to the diocese of Grenoble, where the bishop Hugh gave
him a charter for a site in the wooded Grande Chartreuse valley. There he and his followers
built an oratory and small cells, but the eremitical life – the life of a hermit in solitude,
poverty, austerity – was central.
The model was the desert fathers of Egypt and Palestine. Vespers and Matins and Lauds took
place in the church: the other hours in solitude. There was Mass on Sundays and major feasts when the monks came together for a main meal. They wore hair shirts, ate no meat and fish
only if it was given to them. They spent their day in prayer, reading, and manual work.
Words of Wisdom - A focus on leadership
For the month of October, Bulletin Notes presents a series of quotes on some of the spiritual disciplines. The first four will focus on the inward disciplines, namely meditation (Oct 4), prayer (Oct 11), fasting (Oct 18) and study (Oct 25. In the following months, the focus will be on the outward disciplines (November) and the corporate disciplines (December).
For the month of October, Bulletin Notes presents a series of quotes on some of the spiritual disciplines. The first four will focus on the inward disciplines, namely meditation (Oct 4), prayer (Oct 11), fasting (Oct 18) and study (Oct 25. In the following months, the focus will be on the outward disciplines (November) and the corporate disciplines (December).
There are some memes which don't really provide any lesson, but which strike such a chord
that people re-post them again and again. This is one of them.
CARING FOR OUR SOUL
An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here
What does it profit you if you gain the whole world but suffer the loss of your own soul?
Jesus taught that and, I suspect, we generally don’t grasp the full range of it meaning. We tend to take Jesus’ words to mean this: What good is it if someone gains riches, fame, pleasure, and glory and then dies and goes to hell? What good is earthly glory or pleasure if we miss out on eternal life?
Well, Jesus’ teaching does mean that, no question, but there are other lessons in this teaching that have important things to teach us about health and happiness already here in this life. How do we lose our souls? What does it mean “to lose your soul” already in this world? What is a soul and how can it be lost?
Since a soul is immaterial and spiritual it cannot be pictured. We have to use abstract terms to try to understand it. Philosophers, going right back to Aristotle, have tended to define the soul as a double principle inside every living being: For them, the soul is both the principle of life and energy inside us as well as the principle of integration. In essence, the soul is two things: It’s the fire inside us giving us life and energy and it’s the glue that holds us together. While that sounds abstract, it’s anything but that because we have first-hand experience of what this means.
If you have ever been at the bedside of a dying person, you know exactly when the soul leaves the body. You know the precise moment, not because you see something float away from the body, but rather because one minute you see a person, whatever her struggle and agony, with energy, fire, tension in her body and a minute later that body is completely inert, devoid of all energy and life. Nothing animates it anymore. It becomes a corpse. As well, however aged or diseased that body might be, until the second of death it is still one integrated organism. But at the very second of death that body ceases to be one organism and becomes instead a series of chemicals which now begin to separate and go their own ways. Once the soul is gone, so too are gone all life and integration. The body no longer contains any energy and it’s no longer glued together.
And since the soul is a double principle doing two things for us, there are two corresponding ways of losing our souls. We can have our vitality and energy go dead or we can become unglued and fall apart, petrification or dissipation, in either case we lose our souls.
If that is true, then this very much nuances the question of how we should care for our souls. What is healthy food for our souls? For instance, if I am watching television on a given night, what’s good for my soul? A religious channel? A sports channel? A mindless sitcom? The nature channel? Some iconoclastic talk-show? What’s healthy for my soul?
This is a legitimate question, but also a trick one. We lose our soul in opposite ways and thus care of the soul is a refined alchemy that has to know when to heat things up and when to cool things down: What’s healthy for my soul on a given night depends a lot upon what I’m struggling with more on that night: Am I losing my soul because I’m losing vitality, energy, hope, and graciousness in my life? Am I growing bitter, rigid, sterile, becoming a person who’s painful to be around? Or, conversely, am I full of life and energy but so full of it that I am falling apart, dissipating, losing my sense of self? Am I petrifying or dissipating? Both are a loss of soul. In the former situation, the soul needs more fire, something to rekindle its energy. In the latter case, the soul already has too much fire; it needs some cooling down and some glue.
This tension between the principle of energy and the principle of integration within the human soul is also one of the great archetypal tensions between liberals and conservatives. In terms of an oversimplification, but a useful one, it’s true to say that liberals tend to protect and promote the energy-principle, the fire, while conservatives tend to protect and promote the integration-principle, the glue. Both are right, both are needed, and both need to respect the other’s instinct because the soul is a double principle and both these principles need protection.
After we die we can go to heaven or hell. That’s one way of speaking about losing or saving our souls. But Christian theology also teaches that heaven and hell start already now. Already here in this life, we can weaken or destroy the God-given life inside us by either petrification or dissipation. We can lose our souls by not having enough fire or we can lose them by not having enough glue.
IF YOU LIKE POPE FRANCIS…
From the weekly blog by Fr Michael White posted on September 25, 2015 - the original post can be found here
Two of the most highly contagious things in the world are 1) a smile, and 2) a yawn. Depending on where you go, you’ll find both of them in our churches. One thing about Pope Francis is that he is always smiling. More than his provocative wisdom, what really keeps people engaged is his contagious joy, and its been spreading plenty of smiles in our country this week.
A while back he even wrote an important letter (called an encyclical) “The Joy of the Gospel,” which is exerting a major influence on the way parishes and dioceses are approaching evangelization, liturgy, missions, and even church management.
In this way, Pope Francis is really challenging church leaders to get out of the “club” mentality and let the church be a movement. It explains why it’s sometimes hard to keep up with him! He’s always on the move. I’m awed and frankly a bit jealous of the energy that animates the 78 year-old Pope. Only joy could fuel that kind of witness and lifestyle.
The major events on his fast-paced trip to America are highly symbolic as well, and will be a source of rich reflection for a long time to come. If I may make few early observations of my own about what this might mean for us as the church, even if said event hasn’t happened just yet:
Canonization of St. Junipero Serra: The Church is always on mission, its called evangelization. In the Pope’s own words from his homily: “[Junipero Serra] was the embodiment of ‘a Church which goes forth’, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God.”
Surprise Visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor Community: We can’t call ourselves the Church unless we are willing to place ministry and outreach to the poor, sick, or elderly as one of our greatest priorities.
Addresses to Congress and the United Nations: We should strive to be one Church with one message, and not give into political ideologies that tear us apart, often in parishes.
Visit to Ground Zero: As the Body of Christ we must stand with those who mourn and acknowledge the reality of sin and suffering in the World.
Participation in the World Meeting of Families: We can’t rebuild the Church without going out of our way to welcome children and families into our communities and helping to strengthen family life.
A year or so ago I ran across a line somewhere that read, “If You Like Pope Francis, You’ll Love Jesus.” Well, the nation is certainly getting the chance to see Pope Francis up close and personal. The question now is, when they come to your church, will they find a Jesus they will fall in love with?
Hinduism: Week 1
A series of reflections taken from a daily email from Fr Richard Rohr. You can subscribe to the email here
Mystery and Multiplicity
In 1965, the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church
issued its historic conclusions that still stand as inspired and authoritative
for many Christians. In the Council's document Nostra Aetate, it specifically
addressed other world religions, seeing what was good and eternal in each of
them:
From ancient times down to the present, there is found among
various peoples a certain perception of that hidden power which hovers over the
course of things and over the events of human history; at times some indeed
have come to the recognition of a Supreme Being, or even of a
"Father." This perception and recognition penetrates their lives with
a profound religious sense.
Thus in Hinduism, [humans] contemplate the divine mystery
and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through
searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our
human condition either through ascetical practices, or profound meditation, or
a flight to God with love and trust.
Hinduism prescribes eternal duties such as honesty,
refraining from injuring all living beings (non-violence), patience,
forbearance, self-restraint, tolerance, and compassion. The Hindu texts are
very non-dualistic and poetic, opening the spiritual imagination. The Sanskrit
language itself seems to allow non-dual thinking, much more than the Western
languages which are often based on the Greek and Latin languages. In Greek and
Latin, reality comes across as logical contraries or distinctions, with less
room for nuanced and various interpretations. The ancient and native languages
tend to be more subtle, descriptive, poetic, and non-dualistic than most
Western languages which pride themselves on being clear, definitive, and final.
Hinduism has been described as the most tolerant of the
world religions perhaps in part because it honors many gods. This allows many
differing worldviews and does not require having one official scripture.
Because of these qualities, Hinduism and its many children are able to be much
more patient with mystery and multiplicity.
The Eternal Way
Like so many Westerners, I grew up knowing almost nothing
about Hinduism, even though it is by far the oldest of the "Great
Religions." Because many of us had never met a true Hindu, and Hindu
dress, various gods, and temples seemed so foreign to ours, we did not take
Hinduism seriously. That's what happens when everything is seen in reference to
one's self--whenever one's nationality, era, and religion are the only
reference points.
Most of us likely dismissed Hinduism without ever reading a
single text of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, or much less the ancient
Vedas. So we disregarded the usually unconscious commandment of religious
people that "older is better" and closer to the Source. We too easily
forgot that Christianity is the "Johnny-come-lately" as compared to
Hindu and Buddhist Scriptures, and many other spiritual poets, seers, and
philosophers besides. Our inclusion of the Jewish Scriptures in our own
Christian Bible (two thirds of it!) should have cued us that we are building
on, inclusive of, and dependent on other religions older than ours. Most
Christians seem to have never thought of this, for some reason.
Some practitioners refer to the ancient texts that formed
Hinduism as "the eternal law" or the "eternal way."
Hinduism draws upon inspirations, we might now say, from the collective
unconscious or the Eternal One Spirit. Western scholars regard Hinduism as a
fusion or synthesis of various East Asian cultures and traditions with diverse
roots and no single founder. Thus it is much more comfortable with seeming
paradoxes or contradictions. Hinduism begins with complete confidence in the
One, whereas Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, while calling themselves
monotheistic, are actually much more preoccupied with the parts than the whole.
Within Hindu scriptures, each story or text seems to stand on its own, and yet
in the end creates a rather mystical world view.
Christians must be honest enough to know that the Holy
Spirit was not first discovered on Pentecost Sunday somewhere around the year
30 AD. Surely Peter was right when he said, "The truth that I have come to
realize is that God does not have favorites, and anybody of any nationality who
respects the Divine and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts
10:34-35). The majority of human creation could not possibly have been just a
throw-away exercise on the part of what would then be a very indifferent and
inefficient God. Yet the three monotheistic religions often seem to act as if
that were the case--as if God did not start becoming God until we came along.
Of course, if our imagined God is that indifferent, it allows us to be quite
indifferent too! Whereas a "God of all the earth" (Psalm 47:8 and
throughout the Hebrew Scriptures) will inevitably create people of all the
earth.
Pointing in the Same Direction
I was only slowly introduced to Hinduism's profound mystical
depths through two very special authors, and I admit that I first trusted them
because they were both Catholic priests, scholars, and even mystics themselves.
One was Dom Bede Griffiths (1906-1994), an English Benedictine who in the
pivotal year of 1968 founded an ashram in India to combine Western and Eastern
spirituality. Griffith's writings are still monumental and important. He built
a huge and holy bridge, which many have now walked over with great effect.
The other author who led me deeper in Hinduism was a son of
a Spanish mother and a Hindu father, Raimundo Panikkar (1918-2010). Panikkar's
intellect and spirit astounded all who heard him or read his words. Some of his
over 40 books--such as The Silence of God, Christophany, A Dwelling Place for
Wisdom, and The Experience of God--had a twofold and seemingly opposite effect
on many readers. They simultaneously felt that they were in the earliest stages
of spiritual understanding compared to Panikkar, but they equally felt invited,
enlightened, and included inside of something that was universal and available
to all.
Somehow Panikkar's ancient roots, stellar mind, and his
Christian love all came through. He saw the Christ as the fully adequate
Christian symbol for the whole of Reality. I never felt Panikkar compromised
his Christian belief even though he was quite able and willing to use metaphors
for the same experience from Hinduism and Buddhism. In fact, it was his
Hinduism that often led Panikkar to the depths and the full believability of
his Christian experience. I would say the same for Bede Griffiths.
The great mystics tend to recognize that Whoever God Is, he
or she does not need our protection or perfect understanding. All of our words,
dogmas, and rituals are like children playing in a sandbox before Infinite
Mystery and Wonderment. If anything is true, then it has always been true; and
people who sincerely search will touch upon the same truth in every age and
culture, while using different language, symbols, and rituals to point us in
the same direction. The direction is always toward more love and union--and in
ever widening circles.
An Ancient and Mature Religion
If you have ever traveled to India, you will realize that
Hinduism is less a religion there and more a 5000-year-old culture, formed by
such ancient sources as the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita and
communicated in thousands of other ways. Hinduism is the product of millennia
of deep self-observation, human history, a confluence of cultures, and
innumerable people seeking the Divine and seeking themselves.
Hinduism is much more comfortable with pluriformity and
multiplicity than are the three religions of "the book." This is
symbolized by thousands of gods and dozens of primary deities in Hindu
literature and tradition. Christians have surely dismissed polytheism too quickly
as "wrong" or with nothing to teach us. Claiming monotheism as their
religion has allowed Western "believers" to worship ideologies like
Communism, Capitalism, Jihadism, and Success/Consumerism without recognizing
that they are indeed our real and operative "gods"--and like all gods
they are always "above question." We are de facto polytheists
ourselves, while pretending to have "one God before us."
On a related note, the best way to be captured by a heresy
is to pretend to have condemned it. Christians condemned polytheism and
verbally affirmed our strict monotheism, while fully allowing ourselves to be
polytheistic in practice. We did the same with Gnosticism, pretending to
dismiss it as a heresy in almost every century under a different name--while
most of Christianity floated blissfully along "in its head," which is
the exact meaning of "Gnostic"!
In a recent webcast, Mirabai Starr shared that
"Hinduism is actually quite monotheistic or better said monistic. The
Upanishads assert that there is only one supreme, divine reality." The
ancient, diverse tradition led to the overwhelming consensus and conclusion
that the Atman (True Self/Individual Consciousness) is the same as Brahman
(God). This is summarized in the well-known Sanskrit phrase Tat Tvam Asi, loosely
translated as "Thou art That." This is the final extent and triumph
of non-dual thinking (advaita): God and the soul are united as one.
Hinduism's maturity--which allows it to refrain from
argumentation--is shown in its respect for at least four basic personality
types and four stages of life. This provides for much human variety and
patience with individual growth and understanding, and it moves people toward
both tolerance and compassion. The Hindu religion does not tend to be highly
organized around one right belief or one right ritual or any uniform seminary
training.
This of course can be seen as either its greatest strength
or its greatest weakness. But I cannot deny that people wander in great numbers
in and out of temples all day every day in India and Nepal, while many
Christian churches have a hard time filling up even once each Sunday morning.
You don't need an elite priesthood for people to light candles, bow, sit in
silence, offer flowers, chant, or pour oil over sacred stones. Hindu children just
watch, and the reverence and respect is passed on to another generation; while
we Christians argue in academies about theories of justification and who is
worthy to go to communion--and that is what we too often pass on--not quiet
worship of Mystery but noisy ideas about which we are certain.
Yoga
As I mentioned yesterday, there is allowance for great
variety within Hinduism. Surely there are some temperamentally rigid Hindus,
but the religion of itself emphasizes concrete practices (yogas) which allow
practitioners to know things for themselves. I often wonder if conservative
Christians are afraid of the word yoga because they are in fact afraid of
concrete orthopraxy! They prefer to strongly believe things but have very few
daily practices or yogas.
The summary belief in Hinduism is that there are four
disciplines, yogas, toward which different temperaments tend to gravitate. The
word yoga comes from the Sanskrit for "the yoke which unites the seeker
with the Sought." Hindus believe that all four yogas can lead one to
enlightenment; in other words, there are at least four foundationally different
ways of praying and living in this world. C. G. Jung built on these in his
human typology of Feelers, Thinkers, Judgers, and Perceivers, now used in the
Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator. Yet the West has too often tended to try to
fit everyone into one and the same box. In Catholicism we at least had
Benedictine, Carmelite, Franciscan, Charity, and Ignatian spiritualities, along
with many others.
The four
basic Hindu disciplines are:
• Bhakti yoga--the way of feeling,
love, and the heart, preferred by Christianity and most mystics
• Jnana yoga--the way of knowledge,
understanding, and wisdom, or head-based enlightenment, preferred by Buddhism
in all its forms
• Karma yoga--the way of action,
engagement, and work, which can be done in either a knowledge way or a
service/heart way, preferred by both Judaism and Islam
• Raja yoga--this roughly corresponds
to experimentation or trial and error with mind and body through practices and
empirical honesty about the inner life and the world, preferred by Hinduism
itself
Each of
these paths leads one to union with the Supreme Reality. For example, Raja yoga
focuses on the mind's ability to create our world through eight sequential
steps, ending in enlightenment:
1)
Yamsas--five moral "thou shalt nots," calling for non-violence,
truthfulness, moderation in all things, no stealing, and not being
covetous
2)
Nimayas--five "thou shalts," requiring purity, contentment,
austerity, study of the sacred texts, and constant awareness of and surrender
to divine presence
3)
Asanas--postures (Westerners typically use the word yoga to simply mean
asanas.)
4)
Pranayama--controlling the breath
5)
Pratyahara--withdrawal of the senses
6)
Dharana--concentration of the mind
7)
Dhyana--meditation
8)
Samadhi--enlightenment, union with the Divine
Four Stages of Life
Hinduism teaches there are four major stages of life: 1) the
student, 2) the householder, 3) the forest dweller (the "retiree"
from business as usual), and 4) the wise or fully enlightened person "who
is not overly attached to anything and is detached from everything" and
thus ready for death. I once saw these four stages represented in four stained
glass windows in a Catholic Church in Bangalore, showing how central this
cultural paradigm is.
Western cultures tend to recognize and honor the first two
stages at best. Seeing this missing piece in our societies, I helped develop
men's initiation rites, explained in Adam's Return, and explored the later
stages of life in my book Falling Upward. My experience tells me that when you
do not do the third and fourth stages, you actually lose both the skills and
the elders to do the first and second stages too!
This is foundational to understanding the spiritual problems
we are experiencing in Western religion and culture today, and probably why we
now seem to have an epidemic of mental and emotional illness. It seems so many
people are angry today, especially at religion itself. (Although I hope they do
not waste too many years there.) They are angry because we do not honor
variety, staging, interiority, or depth; but their attachment to that very
anger becomes their major hindrance itself.
Hinduism at its best honors staging, timing, ripening, and
maturity, and not just the zeal and fervor of the newly "born again."
We see this same mature understanding in Christianity in the
"mansions" of Teresa of Ávila and the "nights" of John of
the Cross. But this was seldom mainline Catholicism, which taught "mortal
sin" to seven-year-olds and was quite content with elderly people living
in fear of God and fear of hell. What a huge loss of potential and holiness.
In the first half of life--the student and householder
stages in Hinduism--the focus is on developing an ego, a separate self. It's
all about being safe and law-abiding and doing the right practices. This is as
it should be. It teaches the ego necessary impulse control. The problem is when
we get stuck and stay here. Unless we move toward maturity, we will miss the
real purpose and meaning of our existence and become over-identified with our
small "faithful" self and our practices too often become catatonic,
unconscious repetition. I know Christians who attend Mass every day or read the
Bible every day and are still in the kindergarten of prayer and love.
The first half of life is about building a strong container;
the second half is about discovering the contents the container was meant to
hold. Yet far too often, solidifying one's personal container becomes a
substitute for finding the contents themselves!
The second half of life--represented by the forest dweller
and the wise, enlightened person--moves the willing individual beyond the basic
needs for separateness, status, and security to an awareness of their eternal,
unchangeable identity as one with others and with God. Your concern becomes not
so much to have what you love, but to love what you have. In the second part of
life you have a great sense of freedom, no longer attached to outcomes but
intimately involved in the process and relationships. You can trust that all
will be well because all is held together by Love and Divine Presence.
No comments:
Post a Comment