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 , Devonport 7310
(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
Year of Mercy Blogspot: mlcpyom.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 22nd - 25th December, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am - Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am - Latrobe
Thursday: As per Christmas
Mass Times
Friday: As per Christmas Mass Times
Next Weekend 26th & 27th December,
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: will
recommence 15th January, 2016
Devonport:
concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Devonport: Benediction with Adoration
Prayer Groups:
Charismatic Renewal – Devonport Emmaus House Thursdays
commencing 7.30pm
Christian Meditation - Devonport, Emmaus House
Wednesdays 7pm.
Ministry Rosters 26th & 27th December, 2015
Devonport:
Readers
Vigil: V Riley, A
Stegmann 10:30am: E Petts, K Douglas
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 24th
December: K.S.C. 31st December: P Shelverton, E Petts
Piety Shop 26th
December: R Baker 27th
December: P Piccolo
Flowers: M Knight, B Naiker
Ulverstone:
Reader: M McLaren Ministers of Communion: M Byrne, D Griffin, K Foster, R Locket
Cleaners: B & V McCall, G Doyle Flowers: G Doyle Hospitality: S & T Johnstone
Penguin:
Greeters: G Hills-Eade, B Eade Commentator: E Nickols Reader: J
Barker
Procession: Kiely Family Ministers of Communion: J Garnsey, T Clayton
Liturgy: Pine Road Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: J & T Kiely
Latrobe:
Reader: H Lim Ministers of Communion: P Marlow, M Mackey Procession: Parishioners 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: Fourth Sunday of Advent – Year C
First Reading: Micah 5:1-4 Second Reading: Hebrews 10:5-10 Gospel: Luke 1:39-44
 PREGO REFLECTION
As I approach this time of prayer, I become conscious that
I am holding in my heart, like Mary, the living Word of God. I read the text
slowly, paying attention to what touches me. How does this living Word
influence me? What impressions does it make? Perhaps I focus on Mary, the first
disciple. Having received the fullness of the Word, she immediately goes out in
service of her cousin Elizabeth. How do I hear the Word and keep it? Where am I
able to recognize the Lord in works of service? What is my attitude towards
status and image? Maybe Elizabeth is a key figure in my prayer. Her faith
enables her to recognize in Mary the work of God in his people, in her own and
her unborn child’s life. How does my openness allow Jesus to work through me?
Am I sensitive to the actions of God in the world about me? What might my own
prayer be on meeting the mother of my Lord? I might like to end my prayer by
imagining myself in the company of Mary or Jesus. How will pondering on their
experiences as ‘blessed woman’ and ‘obedient Son’ (2nd Reading) help me to say ‘Yes’
to God in all I shall experience during the coming year?
Readings Next Week: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph
First Reading: 1 Samuel 1:20-22. 24-28 Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24
Gospel: Luke 12: 41-52
Your prayers are asked for the sick: Valentin Daug, Debbie Morris, Denise Payne, Hugh Hiscutt, Margaret Charlesworth, Geraldine Roden, Joy Carter & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Marie Williams, Guy d’Hondt, Louise Hanlon, Robert Pratt, Joan Stewart, Sr Augustine Healy, Ludy Broomhall, Shane Rogers, Cooper Morgan, Robyn Pitt, Iolanthe Hannavy, Lorraine Duncan and Pat Haines.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 16th – 22nd December
Jamie Fahey, Beau Reynolds, Sr Marlene Binns ssj, Amy Batt, Laurance Kelcey, Austin Florian, Eileen McIver, Neil Hensby, David Jones and Fr John Wall. Also Gerard Reynolds, George & David Windridge, Edith Tierney, William & Wayne Costello, Brian Smith and Colin Crowden.
May they Rest in
Peace
We welcome and congratulate.......
Frankie Bransden, Evelyn Hooper
and Jack Stansbie
on their baptism this weekend at
Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone
and St Joseph’s Mass Centre, Port Sorell.
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
Because this is printed before Friday it is possible that there is a Notice in the Advocate this weekend saying that there is to be a development at Sacred Heart Church. We have put in an application to complete the first stage of the driving/parking area at the Church – the plan can be found on the Noticeboard in the Community Room. All the school functions have now finished and life can return to some form of ‘normality’ as far as rushing between events is concerned. Remember there are still a few days that you can use to take time to think about the great love of God made real in the birth of our Saviour. There will be supper after the Vigil Mass at Ulverstone and the 8pm Mass at Devonport – could you bring a plate to contribute to the celebration – thanks. Elizabeth and Frank Standring will be leaving the Parish shortly and returning to the UK. They have been part of the community in many ways during their time amongst so thank you. May the future be filled with blessings and peace for you both. 
MENALIVE:
The Friday MenAlive group will recommence their fortnightly
meetings on Friday 15th January, 9am at Emmaus House. Any
interested men are welcome to attend our one hour meetings. Enquiries Tony Ryan
6424:1508.
FAREWELL MESSAGE TO ALL AT MERSEY LEVEN:
Very soon as you will be enjoying the celebrations of
Christmas with families, Frank and I will be preparing to leave to be closer to
our family in England. Our house is sold and we move out on 31st December
flying off to our daughter for a few weeks and finally boarding the plane to
London and Northampton to be closer to our grandchildren. It is with heavy
heart that we bid you farewell dear friends.
God’s Grace has provided so many friendships here in Mersey Leven. Sharing our Faith in song, prayer, and liturgy
and of course stimulating discussions with the Tuesday group leave outstanding
memories for us to cherish. We wish to extend thanks to everyone for the great
privilege of being a part of such a strong faith filled community together with
the generous spiritual guidance of our priests have taught us so much.
May God’s abundant blessings be with you always. Frank and
Elizabeth Standring
FREE E-BOOK FOR YOUR COMPUTER OR
E-READER:
Son of God: The Daily Gospel Year C-2 - This e-book, which
may be downloaded free of charge to a computer or e-reader (or tablet), offers
the Gospel for every day of this Liturgical Year C-2 (Sundays Year C, weekdays
Year 2), together with a reflection of some 750 words on each daily Gospel...
This Liturgical Year C-2 has now begun and will continue till November of 2016.
It carries the Imprimatur of Archbishop Anthony Fisher, the Archbishop of
Sydney.
The Daily Gospel Year C-2 may be accessed at the
following address: www.catholic-thoughts.info/ebook/
OLOL ANOINTING MASS
COMMITTEE: would like to thank Father Mike & Father Alex for the
Mass and also anyone else who helped in any way. Your kindness and support was
greatly appreciated – Merry Christmas!
CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES
2015
OUR
LADY OF LOURDES DEVONPORT
Christmas Eve 6.00pm
Children’s Mass
8.00pm Vigil Mass
Christmas Day 10.30am
Mass
ST
PATRICK’S, LATROBE
Christmas Day 9.30am Mass
HOLY
CROSS SHEFFIELD
Christmas Day 11.00am
Mass
ST JOSEPH’S MASS CENTRE, PORT SORELL
Christmas Day 8.00am
Mass
SACRED
HEART ULVERSTONE
Christmas Eve 6.00pm Children’s Mass
Christmas
Day 9.00am Mass
ST
MARY’S PENGUIN
Christmas Eve 8.00pm
Vigil Mass
 
During the year many people have been
involved in serving others in ministries too numerous to name. Thank you all
for living out your Baptismal commitment in a way that inspires us all.
Our prayer as we celebrate Christ’s birth is
that we may all continue to grow in faith, hope and love.
Merry Christmas
everyone from
Fathers Mike & Alex, Paschal, Mary, Annie, Anne & Digna
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. “Listen to, protect lands of and involve indigenous peoples. The disappearance of cultures is even more serious than losing a species.” (Par 145)  Saint of the Week – Blessed Jacopone da Todi (Dec 22)
Jacomo, or James, was born a noble member of the Benedetti family in the northern Italian
city of Todi. He became a successful lawyer and married a pious, generous lady named
Vanna. She took upon herself to do penance for the worldly excesses of her husband.
One day Vanna, at the insistence of Jacomo, attended a public tournament. She was sitting in
the stands with the other noble ladies when the stands collapsed. Vanna was killed. Her
shaken husband was even more disturbed when he realized that the penitential girdle she
wore was for his sinfulness. On the spot, he vowed to radically change his life.
He divided his possessions among the poor and entered the Secular Franciscan Order (once
known as the Third Order). Often dressed in penitential rags, he was mocked as a fool and
called Jacopone, or "Crazy Jim," by his former associates. The name became dear to him.
After 10 years of such humiliation, Jacopone asked to be a member of the Order of Friars
Minor (First Order). Because of his reputation, his request was initially refused. He composed
a beautiful poem on the vanities of the world, an act that eventually led to his admission into
the Order in 1278. He continued to lead a life of strict penance, declining to be ordained a
priest. Meanwhile he was writing popular hymns in the vernacular.
Jacopone suddenly found himself a leader in a disturbing religious movement among the
Franciscans. The Spirituals, as they were called, wanted a return to the strict poverty of
Francis. They had on their side two cardinals of the Church and Pope Celestine V. These two
cardinals, though, opposed Celestine’s successor, Boniface VIII. At the age of 68, Jacopone
was excommunicated and imprisoned. Although he acknowledged his mistake, Jacopone was
not absolved and released until Benedict XI became Pope five years later. He had accepted his
imprisonment as penance. He spent the final three years of his life more spiritual than ever,
weeping "because Love is not loved." During this time he wrote the famous Latin hymn,
Stabat Mater.
On Christmas Eve, in 1306, Jacopone felt that his end was near. He was in a convent of the
Poor Clares with his friend, Blessed John of La Verna. Like Francis, Jacopone welcomed Sister
Death with one of his favourite songs. It is said that he finished the song and died as the
priest intoned the Gloria from the midnight Mass at Christmas. From the time of his death,
Brother Jacopone has been venerated as a saint.
 Words of Wisdom – The Outer Spiritual Disciplines
Bulletin Notes continues its presentation of a series of quotes on some of the spiritual
disciplines. Last month, we highlighted four inward disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting
and study). Last week, we began focussing on the corporate disciplines, starting with
confession and worship. This week, we highlight the final corporate discipline of Celebration.
This week’s image draws upon Paul’s famous line from his letter to the Philippians (4:4):
Meme of the week
He’s making a list and checking it twice... not long to go before we each find out if we are on
it or not!
Twelve-Step
Spirituality: Week 3
Step 7:
Letting God
We humbly
asked [God] to remove our shortcomings -- Step 7 of the Twelve Steps
We can never
engineer or guide our own transformation or conversion. If we try, our
so-called conversion will be self-centered and well-controlled, with most of
our preferences and addictions still fully in place but now well disguised. Any
attempts at self-conversion would be like an active alcoholic trying to
determine his own rules for sobriety. God has to radically change the central
reference point of our lives. We do not even know where to look for another
reference point because up to now it has all been about me! Too much
"me" can never find "you"--or anything beyond itself.
So Step 7
says that we must "humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings." Don't
ever bother to go after your faults yourself because you will usually go after
the wrong thing (the real thing remains denied in the unconscious). Or you
might actually obstruct your "golden shadow" which is your gift.
"If you try to pull out the weeds, you might pull out the wheat along with
it," as Jesus puts it (Matthew 13:29).
Instead you
have to let God reveal your real faults to you, usually by falling many times,
and by other people's opinions of you. You must allow God to remove those
faults in God's way and in God's time. If you go after them with an angry
stick, you will soon be left with only an angry stick--and the same faults at a
deeper level of disguise and denial. Thus most people at early stages in
alcoholic recovery just replace one addiction with another. Now it's nicotine,
caffeine, shopping, "stinkin' thinkin'," or the angry stick itself,
which is supposedly okay because it is a Christian angry stick.
Jesus said,
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). He was telling us to stay in the
position of a beggar, a petitioner, a radical dependent. This is always our
spiritual posture, if we are honest. To know that you don't know, to know that
you are always in need, keeps you situated in right relationship with Life
itself. Life is a gift, totally given to you without cost. A daily and chosen
"attitude of gratitude" will keep your hands open to allow and
receive life at ever-deeper levels of satisfaction. But don't ever think you
deserve or have earned it. Humility is foundational. Those who live with such
open and humble hands receive life's gifts in abundance and throughout their
years, "full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over into
their lap" (Luke 6:38).
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
(Franciscan Media: 2011), 62-65.
Step 8:
Making a List
We made a
list of all the persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to
them all. --Step 8 of the Twelve Steps
Despite the
higher economy of grace and mercy lived and taught by Jesus, he did not
entirely throw out the lower economy of merit or "satisfaction." They
build on one another. The lower level simply finds itself inadequate to the
truly great tasks of life--love, forgiveness, unjust suffering, and death
itself. The universal principle is called "transcend and include."
When you move to higher states of love and transformation, you do not jump over
the earlier stages but must go back and rectify the earlier wrongs, or there
will be no healing or open future for you or for those you have hurt.
Our family,
friends, associates, and enemies need a clear accounting to be free themselves and
go ahead with their lives. Often they just need to talk it through, hear our
understanding, and receive our sincere apology. Usually they need to offer
their understanding of the situation and how it hurt them. No shaming or guilt
is helpful here. Neither side needs to accuse or defend, but just state the
facts as we remember them and be open to hear what the other needed, heard, or
felt.This has developed into a true art form that some rightly call
"redemptive listening" or "nonviolent communication."
Unfortunately,
few of us were taught nonviolent communication at the personal level. Is it any
surprise that we do not have the skills at the national, cultural, or church
levels? Understandably, our history is full of wars and violence. We have not
developed much capacity for redemptive listening or "fighting fair."
Thankfully, many are now rebuilding society from the bottom up; honest
communication skills are now being taught to married couples, families,
therapists, children, prisoners, and educators. I see life coaches and martial
arts instructors teach nonviolence more directly and more effectively than most
Sunday sermons or religious education classes, which have tended to proceed
from much more dualistic thinking.
Step 8 is
quite programmed, concrete, and specific. "Make a list," it says, of
all those we have harmed. The plan is absolutely inspired. The Twelve Steps
program knows that we need to push the addict out of his or her immense
selfishness. A.A. and other Twelve-Step groups are the only ones I know that
are willing and honest enough to just tell people up front, "You are damn
selfish!" Or, "Until you get beyond your massive narcissism you are
never going to grow up." They are similar to Jesus who told us without any
hesitation that we had to "deny" ourselves (Mark 8:34) to go on the
journey. Most of us still do not believe that, much less like it. After years
of shaming and guilt producing sermons, clergy do not have much freedom to talk
this way, but Twelve Step sponsors do!
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
(Franciscan Media: 2011), 68, 70-71.
Step 9:
Skillful Amends
We made
direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others -- Step 9 of the Twelve Steps
Here is
where the rubber meets the road. The Big Book says, "The spiritual life is
not a theory. We have to live it." [1] By being honest about his or her
failings, the alcoholic sees how many people, relationships, hearts, promises,
and maybe even laws have been broken in the course of his or her addiction. It
takes great discernment and wisdom to try to make things right. Utterly aware
of the addict's powerlessness to "fix" things, A.A. suggests
"some general principles. . . . We ask that we be given strength and
direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences may
be." [2] The Twelve Steps program recognizes that "at the moment, we
are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. Our
real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people
about us." [3]
Because
those in the program are trying to "always [be] considerate of
others," [4] Step 9 says they are to make amends to people "except
when to do so would injure them or others." If not done skillfully, an
apology can actually make the problem and the hurt worse. We have a myth of
"total disclosure" in our culture that is not always fair or even
helpful. Just because something is factually true does not mean everyone can
handle it, needs to know it immediately, or even has a right to the
information. You must pray about and discern what the other needs to hear and
also has the right to hear. What people want to hear in gossipy detail has now
been fed by our media-saturated society, and our wanting to know seems to have
become our supposed right to know. Gossip is not a right but a major obstacle
to human love and spiritual wisdom. Paul lists it equally with the much more
grievous "hot sins" (Romans 1:29-31), and yet most of us gossip
rather easily, with so many sad and unfair results. If only we could keep what
is shared to ourselves--for the sake of love--then perhaps full disclosure
could be a virtue.
The ninth
step is about two things: making amends and keeping us from wounding one
another further. Too much earnest zeal here, "spilling the beans" on
everybody's lap, will usually create a whole new set of problems. Many people
simply do not have the proper filters to know how to process ideas or information.
Once it is said, somehow it has the authority of "fact." [5]
References:
[1]
"J," A Simple Program: A Contemporary Translation of the Book
"Alcoholics Anonymous" (Hyperion: 1996), 77. (A Simple Program is a
gender-neutral translation of the original Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.)
[2] Ibid.,
73.
[3] Ibid.,
71.
[4] Ibid.,
69.
[5] Adapted
from Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
(Franciscan Media: 2011), 78-80.
Step 10:
Examination of Consciousness
We continued
to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
--Step 10 of
the Twelve Steps
I must admit
when I first read Step 10, I wanted to say, "OK, come now, let's get on to
something a bit more positive and evolved. This is beginning to feel like an
endless examination of conscience that will keep people navel-gazing
forever." I do recognize that as a danger for some. Now many Jesuits are
recommending instead an "examination of consciousness," which to me
feels much more fruitful.
Consciousness
is the subtle and all-embracing mystery within and between everything. It is
like the air we breathe, take for granted and undervalue. Consciousness is not
the seeing, but that which sees me seeing. It is not the knower, but that which
knows that I am knowing. It is not the observer, but that which underlies and
observes me observing. You must step back from your compulsiveness and your
attachment to yourself to be truly conscious.
Consciousness
is as hard to describe as soul is hard to describe--perhaps because they are
parts of the same thing. If "obeyed," consciousness will become a
very wise teacher of soul wisdom, teaching us from deep within. Jeremiah 31:33
and Romans 2:15 both call it "the law written on our hearts." Others
call it the "Inner Witness." Christians have called this teacher the
Holy Spirit. I have often called it the "observation deck" from which
I can calmly and non-judgmentally watch myself. It takes years to build
yourself a good and honest observation platform.
In some
ways, soul, consciousness, and the Holy Spirit can well be thought of as the
same thing--something which is always larger than me, shared, and even eternal.
That's what Jesus means when he speaks of "giving" us the Spirit or
sharing his consciousness with us. One whose soul is thus awakened actually has
"the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). That does not mean the
person is psychologically or morally perfect, but such transformed people do
henceforth see things in a much more expanded and compassionate way. In
Ephesians it's referred to as "a revolution of the mind" (4:23). And
it is!
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
(Franciscan Media: 2011), 84-87.
Step 11: The
Contemplative Mind
We sought
through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we
understood [God], praying only for the knowledge of [God's] will for us and the
power to carry that out -- Step 11 of
the Twelve Steps
The word
prayer, which Bill Wilson rightly juxtaposes with the word meditation, is a
code word for an entirely different way of processing life. When you
"pray," you are supposed to take off one "thinking cap" and
put on another that will move you from an egocentric perspective to a
soul-centric perspective. This new perspective is what Canadian writer Malcolm
Gladwell calls the genius of "thinking without thinking." Francisco
de Osuna said the same thing in the 16th century. When Teresa of Ávila read
Osuna's words, she understood what prayer was really about and began to
practice contemplation.
I call the
egocentric perspective "the calculating mind," and I call the
soul-centric perspective "the contemplative mind." The first mind
sees everything through the lens of its own private needs and hurts, angers and
memories. It is too small a lens to see truthfully, wisely, or deeply. The
contemplative mind is an alternative processing system that is actually a
positive widening of your lens for a better picture. It is hard work to learn
how to pray this way, largely the work of emptying the mind and filling the
heart.
In
early-stage praying, there has usually been no real "renouncing" of
the small and passing self (Mark 8:34), so it is not yet the infinite prayer of
the Great Body of Christ, but the very finite prayer of a small
"body" that is trying to win, succeed, and take control, with a
little help from a Friend. God cannot directly answer such prayers because,
frankly, they are usually for the wrong thing and from the wrong self, although
we don't know that yet.
If you are
able to switch minds to the mind of Christ, your prayer has already been
answered! That new mind knows, understands, accepts, and sees correctly,
widely, and wisely. Its prayers are always answered because they are, in fact,
the prayers of God. True prayer is always about getting the "who"
right. Who is doing the praying? Is it you, or is it God in you? Is it the
little you or the Christ Consciousness? The contemplative mind prays from a
different sense of who-I-am. It rests and abides in the Great I AM, and draws
its life from the Larger Vine (John 15: 4-5), the Deeper Well (John 4: 10-14).
Paul puts it this way: "You are hidden with Christ in God. When Christ is
revealed--and he is your life--you too will be revealed in all your glory
within him" (Colossians 3:3-4). Basically prayer is an exercise in divine
participation--you opting in and God always there!
Step 11
emphasizes opening to God's will. Thomas Merton said, "The will of God is
not a 'fate' to which we must submit, but a creative act in our life that
produces something absolutely new, something hitherto unforeseen by the laws
and established patterns. Our cooperation consists not solely in conforming to
external laws, but in opening our wills to this mutually creative act [emphasis
mine]." I wish someone had taught me that when I was young. God allows us
to be in on the deal. God's will is not domineering but alluring and inviting,
until it is somehow our will too.
The Divine
Will is best heard and understood inside of a life narrative. It does not fall
prefabricated from the heavens. Our willingness to be open to "conscious
contact with God," and to creatively work with the hand that life and sin
and circumstance have dealt us, is our deepest prayer and truest obedience to
God.
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps
(Franciscan Media: 2011), 94-97, 102-103.
Step 12:
Recovery
Having had a
spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message
to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs -- Step 12
of the Twelve Steps
The real
authority that changes the world is an inner authority that comes from people
who have lost, let go, and are re-found on a new level. These are the people
who can heal, reconcile, understand, and change others. The pattern for this
new kind of authority was taught by Jesus when he said, "Simon, you must
be sifted like wheat and I will pray that you will not fail; and once you have
recovered, you in turn can strengthen the brothers [and sisters]" (Luke
22:31-32, italics mine). This sifting and then recovering is Peter's real and
life-changing authority, as it is for anyone. Unless a bishop, teacher, or
minister has, on some level, walked through suffering, failure, or humiliation,
his or her words will tend to be fine but superficial, okay but harmless, heard
by the ears but unable to touch the soul. It is interesting to me that
Twelve-Step programs have come to be called the "Recovery" movement.
They are onto something!
The friend
who came to talk to Bill Wilson when Bill was at his lowest point had the
authority of one who had suffered--who had been in the place of no control over
the outcome--and then come out the other side, larger and more alive, and thus
able to invite others into that same Bigger Field. Bill could see that
"there was something at work in a human heart which had done the
impossible. . . . Here sat a miracle directly across the kitchen table. He
shouted great tidings." [1] Early in his own recovery, Bill writes:
While I lay
in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless
alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me. Perhaps
I could help some of them. They in turn might work with others.
My friend
had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all
my affairs. Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked
with me. Faith without works was dead he said [James 2:17]. And how appallingly
true for the alcoholic! For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge her
or his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, that
alcoholic could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. [2]
Indeed,
during times when Bill was nearly driven back to drinking, "I soon found
that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the
day. . . . It is a design for living that works in rough going." [3]
In his
letter to believers, James writes, "Anyone who looks steadily at the perfect
law of freedom and keeps to it--not listening and forgetting, but putting it
into practice, will be blessed in every undertaking" (1:25). What makes us
think that we really believe in Jesus, much less follow him, unless we somehow
pass it on "to the least of the brothers and sisters" (Matthew 25:40)
as he commanded?
References:
[1]
"J," A Simple Program: A Contemporary Translation of the Book
"Alcoholics Anonymous" (Hyperion: 1996), 11.
[2] Ibid.,
13-14.
[3] Ibid.,
14.
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
(Franciscan Media: 2014), 19, 29-30, 108-109.
SEX AND OUR CULTURE
An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser omi. The original article can be found here  No generation in history, I suspect, has ever experienced as much change as we have experienced in the past sixty years. That change is not just in the areas of science, technology, medicine, travel, and communications; it is especially in the area of our social infrastructure, of our communal ethos. And perhaps nowhere is this change more radical than in the area of how we understand sex. In the past seventy years we have witnessed three major, tectonic shifts in how we understand the place of sex in our lives. First, we moved away from the concept that sex is morally connected to procreation. With few exceptions, prior to 1950, at least in terms of our moral and religious notions around sex, sex was understood as constitutively connected to procreation. This connection wasn’t always respected of course, but it was part of our communal ethos. That connection, while still upheld in some of our churches, effectively broke-down in our culture about sixty years ago. The second severing was more radical. Up to the 1960s, our culture tied sex to marriage. The norm was that the only moral place for sex was inside of a marriage. Again, of course, this wasn’t always respected and there was plenty of sex taking place outside of marriage. But it wasn’t morally or religiously accepted or blessed. People had sex outside of marriage, but nobody claimed this was right. It was something for which you apologized. The sexual revolution of the 1960s effectively severed that link. Sex, in our cultural understanding, has become an extension of dating and one of the fruits of that is that more and more people now live together outside of marriage and before marriage, without any sense of moral implication. This has become so prevalent today that sex outside of marriage is more the norm than the exception. More and more young people today will not even have a moral discussion on this with either their parents or their churches. Their glib answer: “We don’t think like you!” They don’t. But the shift in our sexual ethos didn’t stop there. Today more and more we are witnessing, not least on our university campus, the phenomenon of “hook-up” sex, where sex is deliberately and consciously cut off from love, emotion, and commitment. This constitutes the most-radical shift of all. Sex is now cut off from love. As Donna Freitas (The End of Sex), among others, has documented, more and more young people are making a conscious decision to delay looking for a marriage partner while they prepare for a career or launch that career and, while in that hiatus, which might last anywhere from ten to twenty years, they plan to be sexually active, but with that sexual activity consciously cut off from love, emotion, and commitment (all of which are feared as time-demanding, messy, and in the way of study, work, fun, and freedom). The idea is to eventually tie sex to love and commitment, but first to split it off for some years. Sadly this ethos is taking root among many young people today. Of course, again, as with the other shifts in our understanding of sex, this too has always been around, to which the phenomenon of prostitution and single’s bars attest. But, until now, no one has claimed that this is healthy. What’s particularly disturbing is not that there is sex taking place outside of its prescribed Christian ground, marriage. Human beings have struggled with sex since the beginning of time. What’s more worrisome is that more and more this is not only being held-up as the norm, it is also, among many of our own children, being understood and hailed as moral progress, a liberation from darkness, with the concomitant understanding, often voiced with some moral smugness, that anyone still holding the traditional view of sex is in need of moral and psychological enlightenment. Who’s judging who here? This may not make me popular among many of my contemporaries, but I want to state here unequivocally that our culture’s severing of the non-negotiable tie between sex and marriage is just plain wrong. It’s also naïve. I once attended a conference on sexuality where the keynote speaker, a renowned theologian, suggested the churches have always been far too-uptight about sex. She’s right about that. We’re still a long ways from healthily integrating sexuality and spirituality. However she went on to ask: “Why all this anxiety about sex? Who’s ever been hurt by it anyway?” A more-sober insight might suggest: “Who hasn’t been hurt by it?” History is strewn with broken hearts, broken families, broken lives, terminal bitterness, murders, and suicides within which sex is the canker. Our churches have, admittedly, never produced a fully healthy, robust theology and spirituality of sex, though nobody else, secular or religious, has either. However, what it has produced, its traditional morality and ethos, does give a fair and important warning to our culture: Don’t be naïve about sexual energy. It isn’t always as friendly and inconsequential as you think!
MAKE CHRISTMAS EVE MATTER: FOUR STRATEGIES FOR A MORE EFFECTIVE EXPERIENCE
A blog by Fr Michael White, pastor at the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore, USA. The original blog can be found here  Despite what you may have heard, Christmas still matters to most people, including the unchurched. The reasons many people come to church on Christmas Eve may be nothing more than to please a family member or sing carols. But it’s the church’s job to transform that experience and use it as an opportunity for evangelization. At Nativity, we’ve been hosting Christmas Eve services at the nearby state fairgrounds, in a facility affectionately called the “Cow Palace,” for ten years, and each year we learn a little more about what is (and isn’t) most effective for making a truly impactful community celebration. Music Matters What would the Christmas season be without the music, both sacred and secular? Even for nonreligious people, Christmas music holds a special magic. Christmas standards like “O Come All Yea Faithful” and “Joy to the World” are still a common point of interest for the unchurched with little knowledge of Christian music. Many of your guests will come for the music alone, viewing church as a type of seasonal concert experience, but your parish can use that as an opportunity to draw someone into meaningful worship. Choose your music wisely, and challenge your music ministers to really lead worship and not just perform. Timing Matters The number one question an unchurched person has coming into your service is, “how long is this going to take?” Our two Christmas Eve Masses, which host about 4,500 people each, last sixty minutes- no more, no less. A beautiful, effective liturgy and a time limit are not mutually exclusive. You’re not compromising Christmas by respecting your guests’ schedule. The key here is preparation. Preparation leads to effectiveness. But when it comes to preparation, here are a few items you many not have considered that are essential for a timely service:
Traditions Matter Every family celebrates Christmas traditions and our church family is no different. One of our favorite traditions is our candle lighting ceremony after Communion while signing “Silent Night.” It is a very powerful and moving moment. Traditions foster a sense of continuity year to year and can actually help your members extend invitations and tell others about what to look forward to. If you don’t have any parish traditions, start one this year. Environment Matters What was lacking at the first Christmas ever? Space. There was no room for Mary and Joseph at the Inn. (Luke 2:7). Many churches have the same problem on Christmas Eve. Regulars and insiders get to church early and take all the prime seats. With no room left for the visitors and guests. This year, why not challenge your regulars to give up their seats and make room for newcomers? But, creating an attractive environment is more than just space- it’s about an all-around atmosphere of worship and excitement truly worthy of the celebration. What do your decorations say about your church? Are your announcements relevant to newcomers? Is there a place for kids? In everything you should be asking: is this relevant and accessible to the unchurched? Ultimately, what is an effective service? It is one that leads an unchurched person to come back to church in the new year. Everlasting Father
An article by Teresa White FCJ. The original article can be found here
Some years ago, I made a retreat in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Walking by the sea one evening, I saw three striking sand models lying side by side on the beach: a huge shark, its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth; an elegant woman with seaweed hair; and a man sitting on a throne, complete with crown, orb and sceptre. I stood there quietly for some time, marvelling at the confident artistry of these intricate figures – they reminded me of the stone carvings of a Gothic cathedral. Aware that the sea was rapidly moving nearer as the tide came in, I pondered their forthcoming natural but inevitable obliteration. All of a sudden, a tiny girl appeared at my side. ‘My daddy made them,’ she said, bursting with pride. ‘But soon the tide will wash them away.’ She ran as near as she could to the models – a clear case of reflected glory – then she disappeared as fast as she had come, her pink bath-robe billowing out behind her in the wind. Minutes later, two teenage boys carrying cricket bats ran up to the models. They battered them in seconds. Once again, a pink whirlwind sped past me, ignoring me this time. Miniscule and furious, she stood in front of the boys, tears streaming down her face. ‘Don’t do that! You mustn’t do that!’ she wailed. ‘My daddy made them.’ It was too late. The models were already destroyed… The child’s father must have been watching, for he came quickly forward, swept his little daughter into his arms and hugged her warmly. As they moved away together, I heard him gently reassuring her that he’d make more models in the morning. Reflecting on this incident afterwards, I realised it had touched me deeply. The father, whose absence – he appears only at the very end – is ‘like a presence’ (‘The Absence’, R. S. Thomas), pervades the entire scene, and he exhibits some of the enduring qualities of fatherhood which Christians attribute to God. He is the one who fashioned out of sand those amazing figures, so clearly loved and admired by his daughter. And then, silently standing there, watching over his child, the father mirrors God’s providence and concern. His daughter is in distress, and in the face of that distress he is loving and compassionate, kind and understanding. The little girl in her turn openly loves her father and praises his handiwork. She also gladly accepts the consolation he offers her. An interesting touch is that both daughter and father show mercy: the daughter makes no demand for punishment for the two boys, nor does her father denounce them… Is it fanciful to suggest that this father is in some sense an image, a reflection, of the ‘Everlasting Father’ of chapter 9, verse 6 of Isaiah’s prophecy? Christians traditionally ascribe to Christ the four Messianic titles given in that verse. All the Hebrew prophets speak first to their contemporaries, and in the proximate sense, Isaiah is referring here to the king of his own times, Ahaz, and appears to be conferring these titles on the recently born royal son, Hezekiah: ‘For there is a child born for us…’ He sees the child as in some sense God’s viceroy: ‘… and dominion is laid upon his shoulders’. Hezekiah began to reign about 720 BC and, influenced by Isaiah, he tried to set his people, religiously speaking, on a fresh course and to make law and justice a reality in his kingdom. Nevertheless, Isaiah did not find in Hezekiah, or indeed in any ruler of his own generation, a truly messianic king, a man after God’s own heart and guided entirely by the Spirit of God. The prophetic vision, however, embraces past, present and future, and Isaiah’s declaration relates also to the ideal king, Emmanuel (cf. Is. 7:14), who would be God’s instrument and offer hope of a universal deliverance by reversing the injustice and corruption of the kings of the past. And for Christians, when, year after year, we sing Handel’s famous chorus, ‘For unto Us a Child Is Born’, during our Christmas celebrations, and when we repeat with triumphant musical insistence the names given to the Child: ‘Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’, it is Jesus we are singing about. We take in our stride even the third of the titles, ‘Everlasting Father’, although, if we think about it, it is the most surprising of the four when applied to Jesus. For Christians, ‘Father’, as used here, alongside the prefix ‘everlasting’ with its divine associations, offers a compelling theological analogy, through which we learn something of God through our human experience of fatherhood. To call God ‘Everlasting Father’ is to proclaim God’s perennial care for his people, his love and compassion and forgiveness. Yet the Son being named as Father is ostensibly confusing for us, given our doctrine of the Trinity: Jesus’s designation, as the second Person of the Trinity, is not Father, but Son. Jesus the Christ is distinct from the Father, and we refer to him as God’s only-begotten and beloved Son. Jesus himself frequently calls the first Person his Father, prays to him as Father, teaches his disciples to call the first Person ‘Father’ too, and is our advocate with the Father. As the Way, the Truth and the Life, he leads us to the Father. Jesus was sent by the Father, comes from him and, at his Ascension, goes to him. The Father anoints the Son, and commits all judgment to him. So in what sense may this appellation of ‘Everlasting Father’ be applied to Jesus the Christ? In the Bible, Father, referring to God, signifies the One who is the cause of being, and it may rightly be applied to Jesus, who is, as our liturgy expresses it, ‘the author of our salvation’ (Collect of the second Friday of Advent). The Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:14) held that God would be to the king a father, and the king would be to God a son. Isaiah appears to be saying that the God who enthroned the kings of David’s line would come himself in the fullness of time and rule as the Messiah-King, as the Father of his people. He sees a divine plan unfolding in history and divine promises progressively realised while moving towards their final accomplishment. For Christians, the Messiah-King is Jesus, who is a Father with respect to those who are adopted into the family of his followers and who, generation after generation, are renewed by his Spirit and grace: to these he is an ‘everlasting Father’. Paul called him the Second Adam, and as such he is the father of the regenerated human race: ‘As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive’ (1 Cor 15:22). Jesus is, as he himself says, the expressed image of the Father: ‘I came in the name of my Father’ (John 5: 43) and ‘I and the Father are one’ (John 10: 30). For Christians, the Messiah, Jesus, is the ‘Everlasting Father’ (the Douay/Rheims version translates this title as ‘the Father of the world to come’), and is the One who is Sovereign Lord over the ever-changing years – he produces and directs eternity, he will reign for ever. It is clear that, for Isaiah, the fatherhood of God as expressed in this title is inseparable from kingship; for him, the Messiah would be a powerful and truly righteous ruler. Yet the title ‘Everlasting Father’ encompasses far more than royal power. In the story at the beginning of this article, an anonymous human father is seen to reflect in a humble, everyday way some of the qualities we attribute to God. He reminds us that the Everlasting Father not only rules his people with authority and in justice, but watches over them in love, heals them, comforts them. Does not fatherhood in this sense include and embrace motherhood? Christian theology has always insisted on the essential ‘unnameability’ of God, maintaining that God is beyond all names and words, beyond human gender classifications, in a way that would not have been the case for Isaiah. A long-standing tradition, exemplified especially by Cyril of Alexandria and Anselm of Canterbury, had no hesitation in speaking of God in both male and female terms, and in attributing characteristics most commonly associated with motherhood to the divine. Julian of Norwich confidently followed this tradition: ‘As truly as God is our Father,’ she wrote, ‘so truly God is our Mother’ (The Shewings of Julian of Norwich, §59). She even spoke of the Creation in maternal terms: ‘...we were created by the motherhood of love’ (§60). For her, God is not ‘like’ a mother, but rather, by analogy, a good mother (just like the father in the story) in some way resembles God. How interesting it would be to hear Julian’s comments on this verse from Isaiah chapter 9... Sister Teresa White belongs to the Faithful Companions of Jesus. A former teacher, she spent many years in the ministry of spirituality at Katherine House, a retreat and conference centre run by her congregation in Salford. |
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