Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Mob: 0417 279 437; mdelaney@netspace.net.au
Assistant Priest: Fr Alexander Obiorah
Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
Seminarian: Paschal OkponMob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
Mob: 0438 562 731; paschalokpon@yahoo.com.au
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office:
90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au
Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au
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
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Parents are asked to contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for attending a Baptismal Preparation Session and booking a Baptism date.
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation: Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am)
Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)
Penguin - Saturday (5:15pm - 5:45pm)
Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is in need of assistance and has given permission to be contacted by Care and Concern, please phone the Parish Office.
Weekday Masses 24th - 27th November, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am - Penguin..Sts Andrew Dung-Lac & companions
Wednesday: 9:30am - Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon - Devonport
Friday: 9:30am
- Ulverstone
Next Weekend 28th & 29th November, 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.
DO YOU LONG FOR SOME SPACE AND STILLNESS IN YOUR LIFE AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR? 30 minutes of silent prayer could change the rest of your week! There is opportunity for this each Wednesday evening at 7pm at 88 Stewart Street, Devonport. Why not come along and meditate with a small group of people and see what happens? For further information see www.wccm.org or talk with Sr Carmel.
Ministry Rosters 28th & 29th November, 2015
Devonport:
 Readers
Vigil: P Douglas, T
Douglas, M Knight
10:30am:
E Petts, K Douglas
10:30am: M & B Peters, L Hollister, F Sly
Cleaners 27th
November: K Hull, F Stevens, M Chan 4th December: M.W.C.
Piety Shop 28th
November: H Thompson
29th November: P Piccolo
Flowers: M Knight, B Naiker
Ulverstone:
Reader: E Cox Ministers of
Communion: P Steyn,
E Cox, C Singline, J Landford
Cleaners: M Swain, M Bryan Flowers: C Mapley Hospitality: K Foster
Penguin:
Greeters: G & N Pearce Commentator: E Nickols Reader: J
Garnsey
Procession: Fifita Family Ministers of Communion: J Barker,
S Ewing
Liturgy: Pine Road Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols
Latrobe:
Reader: P Marlow Ministers of Communion: M Eden, M Kavic Procession: J Hyde Music: Hermie
Port Sorell:
Readers: V Duff, G Duff Ministers of Communion: P Anderson Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare:
C Howard
Readings This Week: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - Year B
First Reading: Daniel 7:13-14
Second Reading: Apocalypse 1:5-8
Gospel: John 18:33-37
PREGO REFLECTION:
I settle in my place of prayer and try to let go of all
distractions … to allow God to look upon me with the fullness of his love. I
ask him to help me open wide my heart so that I can listen to his voice. In
time, I ponder this conversation between these two very different leaders,
Jesus and Pilate. Perhaps I imagine myself as an onlooker. What do I see in
these two faces? How do their voices sound? … cynical? … curious? …
challenging? … gentle? … loving? … or something quite different? Maybe their
conversation draws me to think of a prominent leader in our own world. I
consider what it is about them and their values that attracts and inspires me …
or perhaps repels and troubles me. Jesus’s own leadership challenges me to seek
out the truth and be ever alert to his voice in my own daily life. Are there
times when I hear Jesus calling me to be with him, and ‘not of this world’? Do
I sometimes struggle to stand alongside Jesus ‘on the side of truth’? I pray
for strength to respond to Jesus’s special call to me as he gently invites me
to build his kingdom, no matter what my limitations and weaknesses. When I feel
ready, I end my prayer slowly, perhaps with an Our Father.
Readings Next Week: First Sunday of Advent - Year C
First Reading: Jeremiah 33:14-16
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Gospel: Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Gabrielle Streat, Lorraine Duncan, Margaret
Charlesworth, Kath Pearce, Robyn Pitt, Terry Reid, Betty Broadbent, Archer Singleton, Iolanthe
Hannavy, Geraldine Roden, Joy Carter, Guy D’Hondt & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Joe Stolp, June Barnard, Emily
Triffett, Jack Armsby,
Anne Shelverton, Pat Harris, Greg McNamara, Robert Grantham, Esma Mibus and John
Stanford.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 18th
– 24th November
David Cooper, Edith
Collis, Marie Kristovskis, Maisie McLaren, George (Bert) Carter, Francis Farruge, Shirley Bellchambers, Joyce
Doherty,
Bernadette Ibell, Georgina Colliver and James & Janet Dunlop.
May they Rest in Peace
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
I don’t normally watch the TDT Program ‘The Project’ but
during the week I saw a Facebook report of an editorial piece done by Waleed
Aly (http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/tv-shows/walked-aly-hits-out-at-isis-over-paris-attacks-calls-them-weak/news-story/e884afd6dd7781d6f7a105b321ca5d2d). In the piece he talks about not
letting ISIS determine how we respond to their terror. He suggests that if
countries (and individuals) retaliate and try to get even by inflicting more
terror on ISIS then ISIS wins.
I agree with him but for a different reason. I believe that
peace will only come when our attitude to evil is stronger than the evil
itself, as when we strive to make all people feel as if they are welcome and
not judged or condemned because of their race or faith. Jesus told us in the
beatitudes that we will be blessed because we are peacemakers, because we are
merciful – which is not to say that we agree with what ISIS, or any terrorist
for that matters, does – it means that we make a difference when we believe
that peace can win.
Yes it might be pie in the sky but it’s what Jesus taught
us and if we believe in his word then we also have to believe that the peace he
proclaimed is possible. His saving action on the cross was not without a cost
but the disciples who were filled with the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the Risen
Christ, at Pentecost then went onto change the world – not overnight but in the
years and centuries which followed. The change faltered when people like us
forgot what the message was all about and were more concerned with protecting
what their own space and things than on continuing to proclaim the Gospel
message of peace to all.
What choice will we make and what message will we proclaim?
So please take care
on the roads and in your homes.
EDUCATION OF PRIESTS COLLECTION THIS WEEKEND:
The Education of Priests collection enables the Archdiocese
of Hobart to fund training to seminarians. A person needs 7 years of study to
become a priest. The Archdiocese is responsible for the cost of tuition for
each seminarian throughout these years. This is paid to the Catholic
Theological College. Each students’ accommodation, food and on costs are also
paid for. This amount to approximately $45,000 per year for each student. The
Archdiocese of Hobart also pays a portion of the ongoing building maintenance
costs of the Corpus Christi Seminary in Victoria. This fixed cost is $26,000
per year.
MacKillop
Hill Spirituality Centre:
Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe. Monday 23rd November 10:30am – 12 noon come along … enjoy a
lively discussion over morning tea! Last
one for the year.
Advent Celebration 2015 “Go out and tell the Good News ……. Peace be to all peoples”
Thursday 3rd December
7:30pm – 9 pm Donation $15. Bookings essential MacKillop Hill Phone 6428:3095 Email:
rsjforth@bigpond.net.au
VINNIES CHRISTMAS APPEAL:
The Vinnies Christmas appeal will be taking place over the
weekend 28th & 29th November. Envelopes to
place your donation in are available from all Mass Centres.
Your donation this Christmas can help Vinnies restore hope
to the people who need it most.
CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR SENIORS – ULVERSTONE:
Christmas Party for seniors will be held on Tuesday
December 8th at 1.45pm. Most people who have attended before
should have their invitation by now. If you do not have yours, or you have not
attended the function before but would like to this year, please approach
Joanne Rodgers or Debbie Rimmelzwaan. We particularly welcome new parish
members, and hope you will come along for some entertainment, a cuppa and a
chat. We hope that people who have previously contributed with cooking, or
other assistance, will continue that in 2015.
CWL Christmas luncheon will be held at the Lighthouse Hotel
Ulverstone on Friday 11th December, 12noon for 12:30pm. Cost $25.
All parishioners are very welcome to join us! RSVP 30th November to
Marie Byrne on 6425:5774
 ST MARY'S
CHURCH PENGUIN:
All welcome to help with the gardens
at the Church Saturday 12th December 9am - midday for a pre-Christmas spruce
up. Please bring some gardening tools with you.
Thursday Nights OLOL Hall D’port.
Eyes down 7.30pm.
Callers 26th November Merv Tippett & Tony Ryan.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
WORLD YOUTH
DAY 2016 – FIRST PREP SESSION:
Applications are now open to join the Tasmanian Pilgrimage
to WYD16 Krakow. Please visit: www.wydtas.org.au for all your information and to
download an application pack. The first preparation session for Tasmanian
pilgrims will be held on Wednesday 9th December, 6pm-9pm in Launceston.
All pilgrims currently registered to go to WYD16 as well as ANYONE who is even
considering coming on the pilgrimage needs to come along to this session. This
is an important step in the discernment process and to the beginning of your
pilgrimage. PLEASE REGISTER to attend prep session at www.wydtas.org.au or contact Rachelle: rachelle.smith@aohtas.org.au
HAVE YOU
GOT YOUR STAR WARS EPISODE VII TICKET??
Come along to Village Cinemas for Opening Night of the
highly anticipated Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and support young
Catholic Tasmanians in the process! Don’t miss this state-wide WYD fundraiser
and be amongst the first to see the film! Thursday 17th December,
6pm at Launceston Village Cinemas. Tickets are $30 and include small popcorn
and 600ml drink. Dress-up competitions, other give-aways and pre-film
entertainment included! We appreciate early bookings! Get your ticket
online at: www.cymtas.org.au/starwars7 or call Rachelle: 0400 045 368
We welcome and congratulate.......
Gilbert Bowen son of Kristan
& Zana
On his baptism this weekend
at Sacred Heart Church,
Ulverstone.
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.
“Be consistent. Pro-life, environmental and social justice movements are all connected.
Protecting vulnerable species must include the unborn, endangered animals and the
exploited.” (Pars 91, 120)
 Saint of the Week – St Columban (Nov 23)
St Columban was the greatest of the Irish missionaries who worked on the European
continent. As a young man who was greatly tormented by temptations of the flesh, he sought
the advice of a religious woman who had lived a hermit’s life for years. He saw in her answer
a call to leave the world. He went first to a monk on an island in Lough Erne, then to the great
monastic seat of learning at Bangor.
After many years of seclusion and prayer, he traveled to Gaul (modern-day France) with 12
companion missionaries. They won wide respect for the rigor of their discipline, their
preaching, and their commitment to charity and religious life in a time characterised by
clerical laxity and civil strife. St Columban established several monasteries in Europe which
became centres of religion and culture.
Like all saints, he met opposition. Ultimately he had to appeal to the pope against complaints
of Frankish bishops, for vindication of his orthodoxy and approval of Irish customs. He
reproved the king for his licentious life, insisting that he marry. Since this threatened the
power of the queen mother, St Columban was deported to Ireland. His ship ran aground in a
storm, and he continued his work in Europe, ultimately arriving in Italy, where he found
favour with the king of the Lombards. In his last years he established the famous monastery
of Bobbio, where he died. His writings include a treatise on penance and against Arianism,
sermons, poetry and his monastic rule.
Words of Wisdom –
The Outer Spiritual Disciplines
During November, Bulletin Notes is presenting a series of quotes on some of the spiritual
disciplines. Last month, we highlighted four inward disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting
and study). This month, we are focussing on the outer spiritual disciplines, including
simplicity, solitude, submission and service. This quote relates to service and is inspired by
Matthew 20: 25-28.
Meme of the week
Science Week 1
A collation of emails from Fr Richard Rohr. You can subscribe to this email series here
An Evolving Cosmology
We're living in a truly amazing time. The ever broader shape
of the cosmos is becoming an ever broader shape for theology itself. [1] Our
sun is nothing more than a minor star in one small part of a single galaxy. We used
to believe our universe was static, but it is still expanding outward. When I
was growing up, the common perception was that science and religion were
definitely at odds. Now that we are coming to understand the magnificent nature
of the cosmos, we're finding that many of the intuitions of the mystics of all
religions are being paralleled by scientific theories and explanations. If
truth is one (which it has to somehow be, if it is truth), then all disciplines
are just approaching that truth from different angles and levels and questions.
[2]
When, as a young man, Francis of Assisi was looking at the
stars in his backyard, he exclaimed, "If these are the creatures, what
must the creator be like?" [3] Some think this moment of wonder was the
beginning of Francis' spiritual curiosity and search. Thomas Aquinas also
intuited the same when he said, "Any mistake we make about creation will
also be a mistake about God." Somehow they both knew that inner and outer
reality had to mirror one another.
At a recent CAC conference, Ilia Delio, a Franciscan sister
and scientist, shared how our view of the universe and God has been evolving.
During the Middle Ages, when most of our Christian theology was developed, the
universe was thought to be centered around humans and the earth. Scientists saw
the universe as anthropocentric, unchanging, mechanistic, orderly, predictable,
and hierarchical. Christians viewed God, the "Prime Mover," in much
the same way, with the same static and predictable characteristics--omnipotent and
omniscient, but not really loving. God was "out there" somewhere,
separate from us and the universe. The unique and central message of the
Christian religion--incarnation--was not really taken seriously by most
Christians. In fact, our whole salvation plan was largely about getting away
from this earth!
Today, we know that the universe is old, large, dynamic, and
interconnected. It is about 13.8 billion years old, and some scientists think
it could still exist for 100 trillion years. The universe has been expanding
since its birth. Our home planet, Earth, far from being the center of the
universe, revolves around the Sun, a medium sized star in a medium sized
galaxy, the Milky Way, which contains about 200 billion stars. The Milky Way is
about 100,000 light years in diameter. Furthermore, it is one of 100 billion
galaxies in the universe. We do not appear to be the center of anything. And
yet our faith tells us that we still are. This cosmic shock is still trying to
sink into our psyches.
During the next two weeks of Daily Meditations, we will be
contemplating this cosmos in some small way. The findings of modern science are
an exciting and evolving part of my lineage. Science can now join with religion
to the benefit of all creation and all creatures. We can be good partners. This
is what Pope Francis promotes in his timely encyclical, Laudato Si'. As Ilia
Delio says, "We're reaching a fork in the road; two paths are diverging on
planet earth, and the one we choose will make all the difference for the life
of the planet. Shall we continue our medieval religious practices in a medieval
paradigm and mechanistic culture and undergo extinction? Or shall we wake up to
this dynamic, evolutionary universe and the rise of consciousness toward an
integral wholeness?" [4] This is the paradigm shift that is being asked of
our generation.
References:
[1] Richard
Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan
Media: 2014), 169.
[2] Richard
Rohr, "Scientific evidence from the universe," Lineage,
cac.org/rohr-inst/ls-program-details/ls-lineage.
[3] Rohr,
Eager to Love, 169.
[4] Ilia
Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love
(Orbis Books: 2013), xxii-xxiii.
The Blueprint: Past,
Present, and Future
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be
through him, and without him nothing came to be. --John 1:1-3
The Greek word used for Word in John's prologue is Logos.
Philosophy has often defined Logos as the rational principle that governs and
develops the universe. Christian theology would say it is the Divine reason,
logic, or plan that was revealed in the life course of Jesus. The early sermons
in Acts tried to "demonstrate that Jesus was the [Eternal] Christ"
(2:36, 9:22) and therefore the deepest pattern for everything that preceded and
followed him. This is a major game changer, although most will not allow their
game to be changed. I like to use the word blueprint to make the point here.
Every time you read "the Word" in John's prologue, just substitute
the word "blueprint," and it all makes much more sense to the
contemporary mind.
The Primal Anointing--"Christening"--of all matter
with Spirit, which began in Genesis 1:1-2, is called "the Christ" in
Christian shorthand. As both Colossians (1:15-20) and Ephesians (1:3-14) make
clear, Christ is "the first born of all creation," which makes
everything else--you and I included--the second born. He is the Archetype and
we are the Type. According to Duns Scotus, Bonaventure, and the continuing
Franciscan school, Christ is Plan A from the very beginning. This is far
different than the Plan B exercise that most of us were taught as children.
Jesus, the Christ, is not a mere problem-solving answer to the issue of sin
(various atonement theories), but in fact, the very meaning, purpose,
direction, beauty, joy, goal, and fulfillment of the whole divine adventure. As
the Book of Revelation puts it, the Christ is "the Alpha and the Omega"
of all history and of all creation (1:8, 21:6, 22:13). With this perspective,
Christianity need not compete with other religions; rather, authentic
Christians can see and respect the Christ Mystery wherever and however it is
trying to reveal itself--which is all the time and everywhere, and not just in
my group. This is far beyond tribal religion; in fact, it makes all tribalism
impossible.
In Another Turn of the Crank, our Kentucky sage, Wendell
Berry, writes, "I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that
God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love,
that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is
redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. I believe that divine love,
incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward
wholeness, which ultimately is reconciliation and atonement [at-one-ment] with
God." [1] Quite a daring statement from a Fellow of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences.
Before we say that God is Being itself, which we will
develop tomorrow, let's dig even deeper and farther back and ask what is the
nature of that Being? Is it consciousness? Is it just naked existence? The
Trinitarian and Christian answer is that the very nature of Being is first of
all "an event of communion," outpouring love, universal connection, a
"fountain fullness flowing outward" (Bonaventure), or what we now
call in less poetic language, a total ecosystem. The nature of Being is that it
is first of all love.
The only way you and I can appreciate and know God's Being,
our being, and the being of anything else is by first entering into communion
with it. Appreciation for the core and foundation must precede analysis of the
parts. In the Franciscan school, love precedes--and makes possible--all
authentic knowledge. This is not typical philosophy and it put us at odds with
the Dominican school. To try to know something without first loving it is not
to know it very well at all, Francis would say. Our failure to understand Being
Itself in this foundational way has made much of the Christian search for truth
and supposed orthodoxy brutal, arrogant, divisive, the possession of an
academic elite, and "all in the head."
Reference:
[1] Wendell
Berry, as quoted in Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth, Llewellyn
Vaughan-Lee, ed.(The Golden Sufi Center: 2013), 77.
God Is Being
Itself
God is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we
live and move and have our very being.
--Paul to the people of Athens (Acts 17:28)
Science has actually found evidence of the light that burst
forth at the moment of creation. "If we look up at night, the space
between the stars seems black, but radio telescopes reveal that it contains a
faint background glow--cosmic microwave background radiation. This is the
primordial light released when the universe exploded into being at the time of
the Big Bang. That radiation survives as a cosmic relic." [1]
Astrophysicists tell us that 95% of the known universe is dark energy and dark
matter and seemingly empty space--not open to our analysis it seems. Yet we now
know that all that darkness is objectively not darkness at all; what looks to
the human eye like darkness is actually filled with billions of
neutrinos--which are light. This sounds to me like John's Gospel: "A light
that shines on in the dark, a light that darkness cannot overcome" (1:5).
John goes on to say, "The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world" (John 1:9). So the true light, or
what I'm going to call consciousness, precedes and connects and feeds all else.
Being is not just love, but it is light. Note that the creation story itself
says that the moment of creation is precisely the creation of light. The first
words God utters in Genesis are: "Let there be light!" And the first
words about God are: "God saw that the light was good" (1:3-4). Of
course, light implies an ability to see, to be aware, to be conscious. [2] This
is always "coming into the world" (in Greek, erxomenon eis ton
kosmon), which might just be the first biblical indicator of what we eventually
call evolution.
Ilia Delio writes that Teilhard de Chardin "spoke of
evolution as the emergence of consciousness and complexity. As entities become
more complex in nature, consciousness increases or develops. . . . [Teilhard]
sought to articulate a new philosophy based on the energy of love. [His]
ontology of love [is] thus a radical shift from the world of being as substance
to a world of love-energy and consciousness." [3, emphasis mine] In other
words, the very physical structure of the universe is love or mutual
allurement.
This utterly grounds our deeper notion of God as Being
itself, rather than God as a Being, alone and apart. Both Franciscan John Duns
Scotus and Dominican Thomas Aquinas said Deus est Ens, God is Being itself.
Duns Scotus, however, went further and taught about "the univocity of
being," meaning that we can speak with "one voice," consistently
and truthfully, about a rock, a tree, an animal, a human, an angel, and God.
Aquinas said they were the same being "only by analogy." You see why
I am happy to be a Franciscan!
The mystery of cosmic incarnation, when taken to its
theological conclusion, leads us to enjoy a very real participation in the same
single state of Being, to varying degrees and with different qualities. This
eliminates any radical distinction between things, peoples, and creatures
because Christ existed in all matter from the first moment of the Big Bang.
Remember, "There is only Christ! He is everything and he is in everything"
(Colossians 3:11). Now astrophysics tells us that the same molecules which
existed at the beginning are still reshaping the universe now into endlessly
new forms. All those songs about you being stardust are quite literally true.
References:
[1] John
Stanley and David Loy, "At the Edge of the Roof: the Evolutionary Crisis
of the Human Spirit," Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth, Llewellyn
Vaughan-Lee, ed.(The Golden Sufi Center: 2013), 44-45.
[2] Adapted
from Richard Rohr, Christ, Cosmology, and Consciousness (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2010), MP3 download.
[3] Ilia
Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love
(Orbis Books: 2013), xxi.
We Are Already One
There was no place in the universe that was separate from
the originating power of the universe. Each thing of the universe had its very
roots in this realm. --Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry [1]
There is only Christ.
He is everything and he is in everything. --Colossians 3:11
Believe it or not, it was actually a Roman Catholic priest
who first proposed the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. Georges
Lemaître, a Belgian priest, astronomer, and physics professor, not only
proposed the theory of the expansion of the universe, he was the first to note
in 1927 that the expanding universe might be traced back to a single point of
origin called a singularity. As Ilia Delio describes, "Science would say
it appeared like a little quantum size blip on the screen [Creatio ex nihilo]
and inflated rapidly like a balloon and since that time, it has been
expanding." [2]
Delio
explains the implications for this cosmology--our story of the universe:
Every human
person desires to love and to be loved, to belong to another, because we come
from another. We are born social and relational. We yearn to belong, to be part
of a larger whole that includes not only friends and family but neighbors,
community, trees, flowers, sun, earth, stars. We are born of nature and are
part of nature; that is, we are born into a web of life and are part of a web
of life. We cannot know what this means, however, without seeing ourselves
within the story of the Big Bang universe. Human life must be traced back to
the time when life was deeply one, a Singularity, whereby the intensity of
mass-energy exploded into consciousness. Deep in our DNA we belong to the
stars, the trees, and the galaxies.
Deep within we long for unity because, at the most
fundamental level, we are already one. We belong to one another because we have
the same source of love; the love that flows through the trees is the same love
that flows through my being. . . . We are deeply connected in this flow of
love, beginning on the level of nature where we are the closest of kin because
the earth is our mother. [3, emphasis mine]
We began as one and our goal is oneness. Studying evolution,
Teilhard de Chardin found that increased complexity and increased consciousness
ironically lead to greater unity at a much higher level--which we would call
love. We must always be reminded, it seems, that unity is not the same as
uniformity. Not at all! With increased complexity, there is actually greater
diversity and a greater enjoyment of that very diversity, which is the fruit of
love. As Teilhard says, "Everything that rises must converge." We are
in the midst of that convergence today--and seemingly at an accelerated
pace--both in terms of good and resistance to the good.
References:
[1] Brian
Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth
to the Ecozoic Era--A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos (Harper One:
1994), 17.
[2] Ilia
Delio, Creation as the Body of God (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2010,
no longer available).
[3] Ilia
Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love
(Orbis Books: 2013), 179-180.
The Cosmic Christ
Franciscan mysticism has a unique place in the world through
its absolutely Christocentric lens, although the Franciscan emphasis is
actually nothing more nor less than the full Gospel itself. Most Christians
know about Jesus of Nazareth, but very few know about the Christ, and even
fewer were ever taught how to put the two together (which we are trying to do
in these meditations). Many still seem to think that Christ is Jesus' last name.
By proclaiming my faith in Jesus Christ, I have made two acts of faith, one in
Jesus and another in Christ. The times are demanding this full Gospel of us
now.
Though it overlaps with many aspects of non-Christian
mysticism--such as nature mysticism, Islamic Sufi mysticism (ecstasy and joy),
Hindu mysticism (unitive consciousness and asceticism), Buddhism (non-violence
and simplicity), and Jewish prophetic oracles--Franciscan mysticism is both
deeply personal and cosmic/historical at the same time. [1] We must know that
Franciscanism is not primarily about Francis of Assisi. It is about God, and
the utter incarnate availability of God. In fact, when some fixate on Francis
and Clare too long their spirituality invariably becomes sentimental, cheap,
and harmless. Franciscan mysticism is about an intuition of Jesus as both the
Incarnate Human One and the Eternal Cosmic Christ at the same time. (For a
deeper exploration of the Cosmic Christ, see my meditations from earlier this
year.) [1]
The first and cosmic incarnation of the Eternal Christ, the
perfect co-inherence of matter and Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-11), happened at the
Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth was
the human incarnation of that same Mystery a mere 2,000 years ago, when we were
perhaps ready for this revelation. Christ is not Jesus' last name, but the
title of his historical and cosmic purpose. Jesus presents himself as the
"Anointed" or Christened One who was human and divine united in one
human body--as our model and exemplar. Peter seems to get this, at least once
(Matthew 16:16), but like most of the church, he also seems to regress. Christ
is our shortcut word for "The Body of God" or "God
materialized." [2] This Christ is much bigger and older than either Jesus
of Nazareth or the Christian religion, because the Christ is whenever the
material and the divine co-exist--which is always and everywhere.
Ilia Delio writes, "The conventional visualization of
the physical world was changed by Einstein's special theory of relativity,
which showed that matter itself was a form of energy. . . . For all practical
purposes, energy is the 'real world.'" [3] There it is: science revealing
that everything is both matter and energy/spirit co-inhering as one; this is a
Christocentric world. This realization changes everything. Matter has become a
holy thing and the material world is the place where we can comfortably worship
God just by walking on matter, by loving it, by respecting it. The Christ is
God's active power inside of the physical world. [4]
Delio continues: "Through his penetrating view of the
universe Teilhard found Christ present in the entire cosmos, from the least
particle of matter to the convergent human community. 'The Incarnation,' he
declared, 'is a making new . . . of all the universe's forces and powers.'
Personal divine love is invested organically with all of creation, in the heart
of matter, unifying the world." [5]
For many years, imitating Teilhard de Chardin, I used to end
my letters with his own complementary close, "Christ Ever Greater!"
This had little to do with my hopes for the expanding of organized
Christianity, not that there is anything wrong with that. I think we are all
sad to admit that organized Christianity has often resisted and opposed the
true coming of the Cosmic Christ. The coming of the Cosmic Christ is not the
same as the growth of the Christian religion. It is the unification of all
things.
References:
[1] Adapted
from Richard Rohr, "Franciscan Mysticism: A Cosmic Vision," Radical
Grace, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2012). You can read
the full article in the Fall 2015 issue of CAC's newsletter, the Mendicant.
[2] Adapted
from Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (Jossey-Bass:
2013), 77.
[3] Ilia
Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love
(Orbis Books: 2013), 24-25.
[4] Adapted
from Richard Rohr, Christ, Cosmology, and Consciousness (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2010), MP3 download.
[5] Delio,
The Unbearable Wholeness of Being, 127.
The Cosmic Christ
John Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308), who made the Franciscan
intuition into a philosophy, said Christ was the very first idea in the mind of
God, and God, as it were, has never stopped thinking, dreaming, and creating
the one, eternal Christ. "The immense diversity and pluriformity of this
creation more perfectly represents God than any one creature alone or by
itself," adds Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) in his Summa Theologica (47:1).
[1]
Ilia Delio describes the dance between God and the universe:
"God is eternal, self-sufficient divinity; yet the universe contributes
something that is vitally necessary to God. Creation is integral to God. It
contributes to God what God lacks in his[/her] own divinity, namely,
materiality. Evolution is not only the universe coming to be, but it is God who
is coming to be." [2]
Some Christians are uncomfortable with the idea of
evolution, although it's rather impossible to deny the fossil record. Perhaps
they are afraid to allow themselves to go beyond a very literal reading of the
Bible. Or perhaps they feel God is being replaced by scientific and natural
laws. They may feel like evolution somehow takes away human dignity. But think
about it: we all come from the same origin, the same God. Who else created the
natural laws or the ability of scientists to discover scientific laws? And
doesn't it make sense that God would create things that create themselves? As
Delio points out, Teilhard de Chardin "said that evolution imparts a new
identity to the human person; we are the arrow of evolution and the direction
of its future." [3] We are co-creators with God, in however minor a way.
Delio writes: "Evolution discloses a new God, an immanent-transcendent fullness
of love that inspires us to create anew, a new earth with a new God rising from
within. . . . Evolution is 'wholemaking' in action, the rise of consciousness
that realizes self-separateness is an illusion." [4]
For many of us, it's hard to imagine that God is actually
evolving. We've heard that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Yes, and God is love, and God has always been
love, and God will always be love. But God can also evolve to be more love!
Surely you've noticed that it's the most loving people you know who want to be
more loving. That's just the character of love--it's always expansive and
multiplies itself.
When we
trust that our world and our own selves are evolving, we don't have to cling so
tightly to everything being just so, to being correct and in control. God is
not static, and neither is our universe. It is ever changing, with the
possibility--through our participation--of evolving toward greater love and
wholeness. But this outcome isn't guaranteed. Mary Evelyn Tucker and Brian
Swimme caution and encourage us:
Our sense of
the whole is emerging in a fresh way as we feel ourselves embraced by the
evolutionary powers unfolding over time into forms of ever-greater complexity
and consciousness. We are realizing too, that evolution moves forward with
transitions, such as the movement from inorganic matter to organic life and
from single celled organisms to plants and animals that sweep through the
evolutionary unfolding of the universe, the Earth, the human. All such
transitions come at times of crisis; they involve tremendous cost, and they
result in new forms of creativity. The central reality of our times is that we
are in such a transition moment. This is not an easy moment as already human
suffering and environment loss are widespread. It is not a guaranteed
transition, as it will require tremendous human creativity, emotional
intelligence, and spiritual strength. [5]
Yes, you are the "Second Coming of Christ"!
References:
[1] Adapted
from Richard Rohr, "Creation as the Body of God," Radical Grace, Vol.
23, No. 2 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2010).
[2] Ilia
Delio, unpublished CONSPIRE 2014 conference.
[3] Ilia
Delio, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love
(Orbis Books: 2013), xx-xxi.
[4] Ibid.,
xxvi.
[5] Mary
Evelyn Tucker and Brian Thomas Swimme, "The Universe Story and Planetary
Civilization," Radical Grace, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2011).
LACKING THE SELF-CONFIDENCE FOR GREATNESS
An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here
We all have our own images of greatness as these pertain to virtue and saintliness. We picture, for instance, St. Francis of Assisi, kissing a leper; or Mother Teresa, publicly hugging a dying beggar; or John Paul II, standing before a crowd of millions and telling them how much he loves them; or Therese of Lisieux, telling a fellow community member who has been deliberately cruel to her how much she loves her; or even of the iconic, Veronica, in the crucifixion scene, who amidst all the fear and brutality of the crucifixion rushes forward and wipes the face of Jesus.
There are a number of common features within these pictures that speak of exceptional character; but there’s another common denominator here that speaks of exceptionality in a different way, that is, each of these people had an exceptionally strong self-image and an exceptionally strong self-confidence.
It takes more than just a big heart to reach across what separates you from a leper; it also takes a strong self-confidence. It takes more than an empathic heart to publicly hug a dying beggar; it also takes a very robust self-image. It takes more than mere compassion to stand before millions of people and announce that you love them and that it’s important for them to hear this from you; it also takes the rare inner-confidence. It takes more than a saintly soul to meet deliberate cruelty with warm affection; it also requires that first you yourself have experienced deep love in your life. And it takes more than simple courage to ignore the threat and hysteria of a lynch mob so as to rush into an intoxicated crowd and lovingly dry the face of the one they hate; it takes someone who has herself first experienced a strong love from someone else. We must first be loved in order to love. We can’t give what we haven’t got.
Great men and women like St. Francis, Mother Teresa, John Paul II, and Therese of Lisieux are also people with a stunning self-confidence. They have no doubt that God has specially gifted them and they have the confidence to publicly display those gifts. The sad fact is that many of us, perhaps most of us, simply lack sufficient self-image and self-confidence to do what they did. Perhaps our hearts are just as loving as theirs and our empathy just as deep, but, for all kinds of reasons, not least because of how we have been wounded and the shame and reticence that are born from that, it is existentially impossible for us to, like these spiritual giants, stand up in front of the world and say: “I love you – and it’s important that you hear this from me!” Our tongues would surely break off as an inner voice would be saying: “Who do you think you are? Who are you to think the world needs to hear of your special love?”
Truth be told, too often it isn’t virtue that’s our problem; it’s self-confidence. Mostly we aren’t bad, we’re just wounded. William Wordsworth once said something to the effect that we often judge a person to be cold when he or she is only wounded. How true.
Thankfully God doesn’t judge by appearances. God reads the heart and discerns between malice and wound, between coldness and lack of self-confidence. God knows that no one can love unless he or she has first been loved, and that very few, perhaps no one, can publicly display the heart of a giant, the courage of a hero, and the love of saint when that big heart, courage, and love haven’t, first, been felt in an affective and effective way inside of that person’s own life.
So what’s helpful in knowing this? A deeper self-understanding is always helpful and there can be a consolation, though hopefully not a rationalization, in knowing that our hesitancy to step out publicly and do things like Mother Teresa is perhaps more rooted in our lack of a healthy ego than in some kind of selfishness and egoism. But of course, after that consolation comes the challenge to throw away the crutches we have been using to cope with our wounds and our crippled self-image so as to begin to let our heart, courage, and love manifest themselves more publicly. Our tongues won’t break off if we speak out loud about our love and concern, but we will only know that once we actually do it. But, to do that, we will have to first step through a paralyzing shame to a self-abandon that up to now we haven’t mastered.
TIME FOR THANKS
This is taken from the Pastor's Blog of Fr Michael White, PP of the Church of Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore. The original can be found here
The weekend before Thanksgiving is always a very special one around here. It’s when we ask for money.
A few notes about that.
First, we only ask for money once a year.
Not counting the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal, which we have no control over, we only ask for money once year when it comes to giving to our local parish church. Don’t get me wrong, we talk about money as often as it comes up in the Lectionary (which is a lot because Jesus talked about it all the time). But when it comes to offertory giving, we ask once and only once a year.
Second, we create a path for giving.
Instead of just challenging people to give more, we create a path for them to do it. This is incredibly important for people who aren’t currently giving anything, or just throwing spare change in the basket as it goes by (we call that “tipping God.”) First of all, we talk about planned giving. If you don’t have a plan it is never going to happen, however good the intentions. Whatever the level of giving, a plan is the first and most important step is to make. Toward that end we distribute “commitment cards” and ask people to fill them out and return. We don’t really learn much from the cards, and that’s not really the point. The point is committing to a plan. Next we talk about priority giving, asking parishioners to give first when it comes to their budgeting. Another part of the path is percentage giving, keeping in mind the Biblical standard of the tithe, we challenge people to pick a percentage, any percentage and start giving there. Then, we talk about progressive giving, which is just about growing the percentage toward the tithe.
Third, we talk about vision and mission not need.
Nobody wants to give to need. Sure, people’s hearts can be touched by a special, unexpected need, like disaster relief. And they can sometimes be goaded into giving through guilt. But in terms of an ongoing form of communication about giving, it is not going to ever be a successful strategy. Neediness is not attractive and people don’t want to give to it. People want to give, and to continue to give, to a vision that is compelling and a mission that they care about. Don’t try and raise money in your church based on your church’s needs. Don’t tell them what you need. Tell them what you’re doing and where you’re going.
Fourth, we celebrate wins.
A huge part of our Stewardship Sunday celebration is just about celebrating the good things that are happening in the parish, especially when it comes to changed lives. We tell stories (that we gather all year long) of what a difference the church is having in people’s lives.
Fifth, we say “thank you.”
We have a saying around here “whatever gets rewarded gets repeated.” Saying “thanks” to all our current donors is the best way to challenge them to give moving forward. And it is a far more positive way to motivate people who aren’t currently supporting you.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers.
We are grateful to each of you for your support and friendship.
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