Mersey LevenCatholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr
Assistant Priest: Fr Alexander Obiorah Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
Postal Address: Parish Office:
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Jenny Garnsey
Pastoral Council Chair: Jenny Garnsey
Parish Mass Times: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com
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.
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Weekday Masses 12th - 15th July, 2016
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 10:30am
Eliza Purton Nursing Home
12noon Devonport
Friday: 11am Mt St Vincent
Mass Times Next Weekend 16th & 17th July,
2016
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am
Ulverstone
10:30am
Devonport
11:00am
Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Every
Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Devonport: Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of
each month.
Legion of Mary: Sacred Heart Church Community Room,
Ulverstone, Wednesdays, 11am
Christian Meditation:
Devonport, Emmaus House - Wednesdays 7pm.
Prayer Group:
Charismatic Renewal
Devonport, Emmaus House - Thursdays 7.00pm
Meetings, with Adoration and Benediction are held each
Second Thursday of the Month in OLOL Church, commencing at 7.00 pm
Ministry Rosters 16th & 17th July, 2016
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: P Douglas, T Douglas, M Knight 10:30am J Phillips, K Pearce, P Picollo
Ministers of Communion: Vigil T Muir, M
Davies,
M Gerrand, S Innes, D Peters, J Heatley
G & S
Fletcher
Cleaners 15th July: K.S.C.
22nd July: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley
Piety Shop 16th July: L Murfet
17th July: D French Flowers: M Breen, S Fletcher
Ulverstone:
Reader: K McKenzie
Ministers of
Communion:
E Reilly, M
& K McKenzie, M O’Halloran
Cleaners: K.S.C. Flowers: C Mapley Hospitality:
T Good Team
Penguin:
Greeters: Fifita Family Commentator: J Barker Readers: J Barker, A Landers
Procession: Y & R Downes Ministers of Communion: E Nickols, M Murray
Liturgy: Penguin Setting Up: E Nickols Care of Church: M Bowles, M Owen
Latrobe:
Reader: M Chan Ministers of Communion: M Kavic, M Eden Procession: Parishioners
Port Sorell:
Readers: P Anderson, T Jeffries Ministers of
Communion: L Post
Clean/Flow/Prepare: A Hynes
Clean/Flow/Prepare: A Hynes
Readings this Week: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
PREGO REFLECTION:
After achieving a measure of inner calm in the way I know
is best for me, I slowly read this parable. The text is so familiar, yet there
may be hidden depths which I have not discovered yet. I ask the Holy Spirit to
help me. This time, I may choose to enter the scene and perhaps be the person
left half dead in the ditch. What sort of person am I? How do I feel? What are
my thoughts as the Samaritan starts to help? Do I speak to him? What do I say?
I try to imagine the scene in all its details. Has there been someone in my
life who has shown me compassion and tended to my need ? I tell the Lord about
it and give thanks. Maybe, on reflection, I also realise that I may have passed
by someone who needed my help. I try to recall the event and the circumstances.
I speak to the Lord about it all and I listen to him. My prayer may lead me to
imagine the same scene happening today. What would it be like? Who would be the
different characters? Eventually, I bring my prayer to a close by thanking the
Lord - perhaps he has touched my heart or given me new insights.
Readings
Next Week: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
First Reading: Genesis 18:1-10
Second Reading: Colossians 1:24-28
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Gwen McCormack, Maureen Clarke, Connie Fulton, Wendy
Lander,
Mary Powell, Joan Singline, Lorna Jones & ...
Mary Powell, Joan Singline, Lorna Jones & ...
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Geraldine Roden, Veronica Lesek, Basil
Triffett, Rita Hord, Ruth Lewis
and Allan Cassidy.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 6th
– 12th July
Brian O’Neill, Frances Gerrand, Jean
Dynan, Margaret McCormack, Judith Polga, Geoffrey Jamieson, Patrick Milnes,
Lorraine Brown, Patrick Kelcey, Imelda Cameron, Neville Betepola and Clarrie
Byrne. Also Genaro Visorro, Ponciano Torbiso, Dominga Carcuevas and relatives
and friends of Sheridan, Bourke & Knight families.
May they Rest in Peace
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
There's an old Country song that says that
sometimes the hardest things are the things that are, in the end, the things
worth fighting for - I can't remember the name of the song but I suspect that
could just about be any country song that not about a lost love or something
sad.
The reason I mentioned the difficulties is
because that what it seemed like to get back - flights were delayed, there were
long periods between flights and I just kept getting more tired by the hour.
But finally I got here - back in my own little space, amongst the people I
really enjoy working with and getting ready to tackle the next stage of my
journey as a priest here in the Mersey Leven Parish.
Firstly, the most important news of the lot
- my weight today (Thursday) when I arrived home was 95.4kgs which is down a
kilo from when I left so all those sceptics, who thought that I would not be
able to keep the weight off - you were wrong for the moment but time will tell.
Last weekend I managed to find a Liturgy in
Ireland that actually touched the lives of the people at Mass - I celebrated a
Home Mass!!! Actually I feel sorry for many of the priests (and people) because
often it is still a race to get Mass over and done with. I would go mad if I
were there every week and tried to lead the ordinary prayers of the Mass when
everyone speaks so quickly and you can't understand a word they are saying, not
because they are Irish, but because the prayers are said individually and
no-one waits for anyone else.
I'm sure there will be lots of stories that
come out in the weeks ahead but now all I want to say is that it is great to be
home and I hope to be able to catch up with people within the next few weeks
and, especially, touch base with all those for whom these past weeks have been
fraught with difficulties and sadness.
This weekend as a Catholic Church we would like to express
our appreciation to the seafarers in general for their fundamental contribution
to the international trade. We would like to recognise the great humanitarian
effort done by the crews or merchant vessels that without hesitation, sometimes
risking their own life, have engaged in many rescuing operations saving
thousands of migrant lives. Our gratitude goes to all the chaplains and
volunteers of the Apostleship of the Sea for their daily commitment in serving
the people of the sea; their presence in the docks is the sign of the Church in
their midst and shows the compassionate and merciful face of Christ.
Please support the Leaving Collection by donating
today!
O God,
In Your kindness, lead all Seafarers
through the perils of the ocean
And bring them back in safety to their homes and friends.
And bring them back in safety to their homes and friends.
Guide them through the many
temptations their away of life occasions.
Inspire them to make fruitful use of
the clubs and chapels Your Church has established for them,
And grant that they may learn to love
and follow you with strength and loyalty.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome
and congratulate ….
Mark Hingston who was baptised
this weekend at St Patrick’s Church Latrobe.
ST VINCENT
DE PAUL COLLECTION: This weekend
in Devonport, Ulverstone, Port Sorell, Latrobe and Penguin to assist the work
of the St Vincent de Paul Society.
ST VINCENT
de PAUL
VOLUNTEERS URGENTLY NEEDED:
Our Penguin and Ulverstone Vinnies Shops are in urgent need
for volunteers. Join us and help us deliver much needed services to the
community in a rewarding and flexible environment.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES 125 YEAR CELEBRATION
This year Our Lady of Lourdes School is celebrating our 125 Year Anniversary. During the week beginning Monday 8 August we will be hosting a number of events at our school. These include a Whole School Mass, celebrated by Archbishop Julian Porteous, on August 9 at 9:30 am; tours through the school and a Cocktail Evening on Friday August 12, in the McCarthy Centre. Tickets for the Cocktail Evening may be purchased from the school office for $20. For further enquiries, or if you have any memorabilia to share, please call Mary Sherriff on 0400871998.
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS: Round
15 – Port Adelaide won by 38 points Winners: Maney/Clarke, Geoff Pearce
Please remember that each week our Footy Margin tickets
are for the
FRIDAY NIGHT GAME ONLY
(Even if
there are games played on the Thursday night)
BINGO….
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall,
Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 14th
July – Tony Ryan & Terry Bird
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for
news, information and details of other Parishes.
WORLD YOUTH
DAY 2016 – FOLLOW US!
There is now only one week until our Tasmanian pilgrims
depart on their pilgrimage to World Youth Day Krakow via Rome, Assisi, Milan,
Czestochowa, Auschwitz, and Wadowice before meeting with Pope Francis and
millions of young people from around the world. Thank you for your prayers and
support throughout their preparation, please continue to pray for our pilgrims.
You can follow our pilgrimage online and show your support for our pilgrims by
liking our Facebook page. Please go to: www.facebook.com/taswyd16 and select ‘like’.
THE JOURNEY
CATHOLIC RADIO PROGRAM – AIRS 10 JULY 2016
This week
on The Journey Fr Stephen Varney continues his reflects on the Gospel of Luke;
We hear from Sr Hilda Scott OSB, Peter Gilmore in Living the Gospel, Sam Clear
in Walking the Walk challenges us to meet God in the “Silence” and Bruce Downes
The Catholic Guy challenges our “Busyness.” Add to that some great music
and interviews with people doing amazing things right around the globe and you’ve
got a show that is all about faith, hope love and life. Go to www.jcr.org.au or www.itunes.jcr.org.au where you can listen anytime and subscribe to weekly
shows by email.
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STRUGGLING WITH GRANDIOSITY
We live in a world wherein most everything over-stimulates our grandiosity, even as we are handed less and less tools to deal with that.
Several years ago, Robert L. Moore wrote a very significant book entitled, Facing the Dragon. The dragon that most threatens us, he believes, is the dragon of our own grandiosity, that sense inside us that has us believe that we are singularly special and destined for greatness. This condition besets us all. Simply put, each of us, all seven billion of us on this planet, cannot help but feel that we are the center of the universe. And, given that this is mostly unacknowledged and we are generally ill-equipped to deal with it, this makes for a scary situation. This isn’t a recipe for peace and harmony, but for jealousy and conflict.
And yet this condition isn’t our fault, nor is it in itself a moral flaw in our nature. Our grandiosity comes from the way God made us. We are made in the image and likeness of God. This is the most fundamental, dogmatic truth inside the Judaea-Christian understanding of the human person. However it is not to be conceived of simplistically, as some beautiful icon stamped inside our souls. Rather it needs to be conceived of in this way: God is fire, infinite fire, an energy that is relentlessly seeking to embrace and infuse all of creation. And that fire is inside of us, creating in us a feeling of godliness, an intuition that we too have divine energies, and a pressure to be singularly special and to achieve some form of greatness.
In a manner of speaking, to be made in the image and likeness of God is to have a micro-chip of divinity inside us. This constitutes our greatest dignity but also creates our biggest problems. The infinite does not sit calmly inside the finite. Because we have divine energy inside us we do not make easy peace with this world, our longings and desires are too grandiose. Not only do we live in that perpetual disquiet that Augustine highlighted in his famous dictum: “You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you!” but this innate grandiosity has us forever nursing the belief that we are special, uniquely-destined, and born to somehow stand out and be recognized and acknowledged for our specialness.
And so all of us are driven outwards by a divine gene to somehow make a statement with our lives, to somehow create a personal immortality, and to somehow create some artifact of specialness that the whole world has to take note of. This isn’t an abstract concept; it’s utterly earthy. The evidence for this is seen in every newscast, in every bombing, in every dare-devil stunt, and in every situation where someone seeks to stand out. It’s seen too in the universal hunger for fame, in the longing to be known, and in the need to be recognized as unique and special.
But this grandiosity, of itself, isn’t our fault, nor is it necessarily a moral flaw. It comes from the way we are made, ironically from what is highest and best in us. The problem is that, today, we generally aren’t given the tools to grapple with it generatively. More and more, we live in a world within which, for countless reasons, our grandiosity is being over-stimulated, even as this is not being recognized and even as we are being given less-and-less the religious and psychological tools with which to handle that. What are these tools?
Psychologically, we need images of the human person that allow us to understand ourselves healthily but in ways that include an acceptance of our limitations, our frustrations, our anonymity, and the fact that our lives must make gracious space for everyone else’s life. Psychologically, we must be given the tools to understand our own life, admittedly as unique and special, but still as one life among millions of other unique and special lives. Psychologically, we need better tools for handling our grandiosity.
Religiously, our faith and our churches need to offer us an understanding of the human person that gives us the insights and the disciplines (discipleship) to enable us to live out our uniqueness and our specialness, even as we make peace with our own mortality, our limitations, our frustrations, our anonymity, and create space for the uniqueness and specialness of everyone else’s life. In essence, religion has to give us the tools to healthily access the divine fire inside us and act healthily on the talents and gifts God has graced us with, but with the concomitant discipline to humbly acknowledge that these gifts are not our own, that they come from God, and that all we are and achieve is God’s grace. Only then will we not be killed by failure and inflated by success.
The task in life, Robert Lax suggests, is not so much finding a path in the woods as of finding a rhythm to walk in.
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Bias from
the Bottom Week 2
Continuing the series from Fr Richard Rohr - apologies for taking this long to get Part 2 - the first part can be found in the newsletter for The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Corpus Christi (29th May). If you would like to receive this material as a Daily email you can subscribe here
Blinded by Privilege
You never
really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,
until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. --Harper Lee (1926-2016),
To Kill a Mockingbird
Once in a
place of power, after the 4th century, the Church began to interpret Scripture
in a very different way. Once Pharaoh is your benefactor and protector, there
are many questions you can no longer ask. You can't ask about liberation of
slaves in Pharaoh's house, nor do questions of justice or equality make it to
the cocktail party. And if you do ask such questions, you will not be answered,
but quietly--or savagely--eliminated. That was made very clear in Exodus.
Once
Christianity was protected by the emperors, once we moved from the catacombs to
the basilicas ("palaces"), we could no longer feel the rejection that
Jesus experienced by being born poor in an occupied country. We changed sides,
and therefore we changed our point of view: not from the bottom up, but from
the top down.
The top was
where most clergy henceforth resided or set their sights. That has been the
perspective from which much of our preaching and Scripture interpretation came:
white, European, uniquely educated, mostly comfortable, usually celibate males.
I am one myself, and we are not all bad. But we are not all. When history and
religion are exclusively taught from the vantage point of the people in
power--which is almost always the case--we can't see the reality right in front
of our noses. We live out of a bias that is unrecognized: privilege and easy
access to privilege. This is what St. Francis, for example, was trying to
reform.
In country
after country that I've spoken in over the years, the laity have come to accept
that the bishops and priests look out at reality from the side of management
and seldom from the side of the laboring class, where Jesus unquestionably
resided. When and where we did have servant leadership, the church flourished;
where they didn't, we often experience, to this day and with good reason, a
virulent anti-clericalism.
Let's turn
to another example of how privilege prevents us from seeing reality. I had
naively thought racism was behind us when I was educated in the 1960s. Those of
us who are white have a very hard time seeing that we constantly receive
special treatment just because of the color of our skin. This is called
"white privilege," and it is invisible to us because it's part of our
culture's very structure. Since we do not consciously have racist attitudes or
overt racist behavior, we kindly judge ourselves to be open minded,
egalitarian, and therefore surely not racist. Because we have never been on the
other side, we largely do not recognize the structural access we enjoy, the
trust we think we deserve, the assumption that we always belong and do not have
to earn our belonging. All this we take for granted and normal. Only the
outsider can spot these attitudes in us.
"States
of sin" are always incapable of critiquing themselves, which is largely why
they are sin to begin with. Evil depends upon disguise and tries to look like
virtue to survive. We would be smart to hear Mary's "Magnificat" in
which she subversively says that God "brings down the mighty from their
thrones and exalts the lowly" (see Luke 1:52). No wonder this courageous
woman was chosen to be the mother of the one who told the truth. Jesus must
have learned some of it from her.
References:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Dancing Standing Still: Healing the World from a Place of Prayer
(Paulist Press: 2014), 37;
and Richard
Rohr's interview with Romal Tune, "Richard Rohr on White Privilege,"
https://sojo.net/articles/richard-rohr-white-privilege.
Learning to See
I would have
never seen my own white privilege if I had not been forced outside of my
dominant white culture by travel, by working in the jail, by hearing stories
from counselees, and frankly, by making a complete fool of myself in so many
social settings--most of which I had the freedom to avoid! And so recognition
was slow in coming. I am not only white, but I am male, overeducated, clergy
(from cleros, the separated ones), a Catholic celibate, healthy, and American.
I profited from white privilege on so many fronts that I had to misread the
situation many, many times before I began to feel what others feel and see what
others could clearly see. Many must have just rolled their eyes and hopefully
forgiven me! Education about white privilege is the best doorway to help those
of us who think we are not racists to recognize that structurally and often
unconsciously we still are. Our easy advancement was too often at the cost of
others not advancing at all.
Power never
surrenders without a fight. If your entire life has been to live unquestioned
in your position of power--a power that was culturally given to you, but you
think you earned--there is almost no way you will give it up without major
failure, suffering, humiliation, or defeat. The trouble is we cannot program
that. All we can do is stop shoring up our power by our de facto idolization of
money, possessions, power positions, superficial entertainment, the idolization
of celebrities and athletes, and the war economy. All of these depend on our
common enthrallment with being on top. As long as we really want to be on top
and would do the same privileged things if we could get there, there will never
be an actual love of equality, true freedom, or the Gospel. This challenges all
of us to change and not just those folks who temporarily are "on the
top."
Jesus' basic
justice agenda was simple living, humility, and love of neighbor. We all have
to live this way ourselves. From that position, God can do God's work rather
easily.
References:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr's interview with Romal Tune, "Richard Rohr on White
Privilege," https://sojo.net/articles/richard-rohr-white-privilege.
Changing Our Minds
People who
are in early stage religion usually love the "two steps backward"
quotes in the Bible. They seem to be drawn toward anything that's punitive,
shame-based, exclusionary of "wrong" people, or anything that
justifies the status quo, which just happens to be keeping them on top
socially, economically, and religiously. They start by thinking that's what
religion is about--maintaining order and social control. They see God as a
glorified Miss Manners.
Once you
idealize power and being at the top, you tend to emphasize the almighty,
all-powerful nature of God, who is made into the Great Policeman in the sky to
keep us all under control (or at least everybody else under control!). Frankly,
you are totally unprepared for Jesus. He is a scandal and a disappointment.
Now you see
how revolutionary God's "new idea," revealed in Jesus, really is.
Suddenly we have a God who is anything but a police officer. This God finds
grace for those who break the law and finds life and freedom among the lepers
and the sinners who do not have good manners. This is now an upside down
universe (Acts 17:6). I am sad to say most Christians have yet to participate
in this Divine Revolution.
Mature
religious people, that is, those who develop an actual inner life of prayer and
outer life of service, tend to notice and imitate the "three steps
forward" quotes in the Bible. First they change their life stance, and
then they can be entrusted with the Bible. For all others who will not change
their idealization of dominative power, the Bible is merely used as
self-serving information and ammunition against others. It actually would be
better if we did not read the Bible until we undergo a conversion.
Only
converted people, who are in union with both the pain of the world and the love
of God, are prepared to read the Bible--with the right pair of eyes and the
appropriate bias, which is from the side of powerlessness and suffering instead
of the side of power and control. This is foundational and essential
conversion. The Greek word metanoia, poorly translated as "repent" in
the Bible (Matthew 3:2, Mark 1:15), quite literally means "to change your
mind." Until the mind changes the very way it processes the moment,
nothing changes long term. "Be transformed by a renewal of your
mind," Paul says (Romans 12:2), which hopefully will allow the heart to
soon follow.
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Gospel Call for Compassionate Action (Bias from the Bottom) in
CAC Foundation Set (CAC: 2007), CD, MP3 download.
Changing Sides
God chose things the world considers foolish
in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are
powerless to shame those who are powerful. --1 Corinthians 1:27, NLT
In all
honesty, once it was on top and fully part of the establishment, the Church was
a bit embarrassed by the powerless one, Jesus. We had to make his obvious
defeat into a glorious victory that had nothing to do with defeat--his or ours.
Let's face it, we feel more comfortable with power than with powerlessness. Who
wants to be like Jesus on the cross, the very icon of powerlessness? It just
doesn't look like a way of influence, a way of access, a way that's going to
make any difference in the world.
We
Christians are such a strange religion! We worship this naked, bleeding loser,
crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, but we always want to be winners,
powerful, and on top ourselves . . . at least until we learn to love the little
things and the so-called little people, and then we often see they are not
little at all, but better images of the soul.
Yes, those
with mental and physical disabilities, minority groups, LGBTQ folks, refugees,
prisoners, those with addictions--anyone who's "failed" in our nicely
constructed social or economic success system--can be our best teachers in the
ways of the Gospel. They represent what we are most afraid of and what we most
deny within ourselves. That's why we must learn to love what first seems like
our "enemy"; we absolutely must or we will never know how to love our
own soul, or the soul of anything. Please think about that until it makes sense
to you. It eventually will, by the grace of God.
One of the
most transformative experiences is entering into some form of lifestyle
solidarity with the powerless, by moving outside of your own success system,
whatever it is. Move around in the world of others who are not enamored with
your world. This is a good way to feel powerless. We don't think ourselves into
a new way of living; we live ourselves into a new way of thinking. Lifestyle
choices and changes finally convert people. I am not aware that merely
believing a doctrine or dogma has ever converted anybody. That should be
obvious by now.
Someone once
pointed out to me that most of the great founders of religious communities,
people like St. Benedict, Francis of Assisi, Mother Katherine Drexel, Vincent
de Paul, Elizabeth of Hungary, Ignatius Loyola, John Baptist de la Salle, and
Mother Seton, all started out as what we would now call middle class or even
upper class. They first had enough comfort, security, and leisure to move
beyond their need for more of it; they saw it did not satisfy. Each in their
own way willingly changed sides and worked in solidarity with those who did not
have their advantages.
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Gospel Call for Compassionate Action (Bias from the Bottom) in
CAC Foundation Set (CAC: 2007), CD, MP3 download.
In Need of Mercy
Why does the
Bible, and why does Jesus, tell us to care for the poor and the outsider? Is it
first of all because people need help? Maybe, but I believe it has a much
deeper genius. We are the ones who need to move into the worlds of
powerlessness for our own conversion! We need to meet people whose faith,
patience, and forgiveness tell us we are still in the kindergarten of love. We
need to be influenced by people who are happy without having all the things we
think are essential to happiness.
When we are
too smug and content, we really have little need for the Gospel, so we make
Christianity into pious devotions that ask nothing of us and do nothing for the
world. We are never in need of forgiveness because we have constructed a world
that allows us to always be right and "normal." We are highly
insulated from the human situation. When we are self-sufficient, our religion
will be corrupt because it doesn't understand the Mystery of how divine life is
transferred, how people change, how life flows, how we become something more,
and how we fall into the great compassion.
Only
vulnerable people change. Only vulnerable people change others. Jesus presented
us with an icon of absolute vulnerability, and said, "Gaze on this until
you get the point. Gaze on this until you know what God is like!" That
demanded too much of us, so we made the cross instead into a juridical
transaction between Jesus and God ("substitutionary atonement
theory"), which in great part robbed the cross of its deep transformative
power.
It has been
said that religion is largely filled with people who are afraid of hell, and
spirituality is for people who have gone through hell. As all initiation rites
say in one way or another: you have to die before you die, and then you know.
Jesus is always on the side of the crucified ones. Jesus is what mythology
called a "shape-shifter." He changes sides in the twinkling of an eye
to go wherever the pain is. He is not loyal to one religion, to this or that
group, or to the worthy; Jesus is loyal to suffering!
Do you
realize that takes away all of our usual group-think? Jesus is just as loyal to
the suffering of Iraqi and Russian soldiers as he is to the suffering of
American and British soldiers. He grabs all our boundaries away from us, and
suddenly we are forced to see that we are a universal people. Most people do
not like being that exposed and that shared. Yes, God is on the side of the
pain, and goes wherever the pain is (which is abundantly clear in the Gospels).
We can no longer preempt Jesus for our own group, religion, or country. People
seeking power cannot use him for their private purposes. He belongs to the
powerless.
A lawyer who
joined the Catholic Church and then became a Franciscan said to me one day,
"You know, this Church is harder and harder for me to understand. We claim
to have the perfect medicine, the healing power to restore and renew hearts and
souls, but we seem to say in the same breath, 'But make sure you don't really
need it! Because if you really need it, you are a less than ideal
member!'"
Too often it
seems forgiveness, reconciliation, compassion, and healing are mere
concessions, carefully doled out, to those unfortunate sinners and outsiders,
instead of the very path of salvation itself. Thank God, we live in a time
where we have a Pope who is shouting mercy from the housetops--for everybody
who needs it and wants it. Desire is the only pre-requisite. Some cardinals and
bishops who apparently don't think they need mercy are very stingy and
regulatory in handing it on to others. What does not come around, does not go
around, it seems.
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, Dancing Standing Still: Healing the World from a Place of Prayer
(Paulist Press: 2014), 95-97.
Awakening to Mercy
Her sins, her many sins, must have been
forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love.
--Jesus (see
Luke 7:47)
Jesus also
said, "Those who show mercy will have mercy shown to them" (Matthew
5:7). For the flow to happen, there must be a full opening on both ends, receiving
and giving, giving and receiving, just like the Trinity. When you do not know
you need mercy and forgiveness yourself, you invariably become stingy in
sharing it with others. So make sure you are always waiting with hands widely
cupped under the waterfall of mercy.
We now live
under the weight of so many unhealed memories--including painful woundings of
every stripe, political oppression, and genocides--that we have developed penal
and judicial systems that think of mercy as an affront to justice. We seem to
have a craven fear of--and even hatred for--anyone outside our own kind of
people. After centuries of legalistic religion, sacraments administered in a
juridical fashion, and biblical fundamentalism, the very word "mercy"
seems newly introduced into our vocabulary--as if it were from a language other
than our own, a truly foreign concept. Mercy refuses our capitalistic
calculations. Most religion now offers no corrective to the culture, but
largely reflects cultural self-interest.
Our lack of
human compassion is rather starkly revealed in most of the candidates we
consider worthy of public office in the United States. I am not sure if this is
as much a judgment on the politicians' delusions as it is on the spiritual and
human maturity of the American electorate itself. That so many who call
themselves evangelical ("Gospel") cannot see through this charade,
has become an embarrassment for American Christianity. Many now see our
cultural Christianity really has very little to do with Jesus. Any candidate is
praised and deemed worthy of high office because we think, "He speaks his
mind" (when it is actually our prejudices that he is speaking aloud). Two
thousand years of Jesus' teaching on compassion, love, forgiveness, and mercy
(not to mention basic kindness and respect) are all but forgotten in a
narcissistic rage. Western culture has become all about the self, and that is
just way too small an agenda. The very self that Jesus said "must
die" is now just about all that we think about!
The
rejection of refugee women and children on U.S. borders and of entire Syrian
families fleeing for their very lives into the richest (per capita) continent
of Europe, has suddenly brought our lack of basic compassion and mercy into
sharp and urgent focus. The unloving, glaringly self-centered, and even cruel
behavior of so many Christians, Muslims, and Jews has exposed religious
hypocrisy for all the world to see.
We live in a
cold time, and we must now pray for the warming of hearts and opening of minds.
To use Thomas Merton's lovely invitation:
Make ready
for the Christ, Whose smile, like lightning,
Sets free
the song of everlasting glory
That now
sleeps in your paper flesh. [1]
May we grow
tired of such sleeping and ask for flesh that feels, weeps, and even bleeds for
the immense suffering of our world today. "If we remain silent, the very
stones will cry out" (Luke 19:40). I thank you for letting me not be
silent.
References:
[1] Thomas
Merton, "The Victory," The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton (New
York: New Directions, 1977), 115.
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, "Mercy, within Mercy, within Mercy," the Mendicant, Vol.
6, No. 2 (CAC: 2016), 1, 3.
_______________________________
Social Justice in the Bible
An article by Dominik Markl SJ copied from the ThinkingFaith.org website. The original article can be found here
Social justice is one of the fundamental issues in the Bible. God created the world and humankind, and the life and happiness of all His people are His deepest desires. The Bible brings to centre stage continually those who are oppressed and turn to God in prayer (e.g. Ps 9–10; 22). Prophets such as Isaiah and Amos raise their voices on behalf of the poor and the marginalised, those belonging to the ‘weaker’ social groups. God himself prescribes a brotherly and sisterly social order in his Torah, and, in the same divine wisdom, Jesus develops a Christian ethics of love. We can look at different aspects of the framework for social justice that is set out in the bible and see how the instructions of the Old Testament are developed in the teachings of Jesus.
Towards a just society: freedom; the abdication of power; unity
In the Bible, the tyrannical oppression of the people of Israel in Egypt is the archetype of politically-motivated, social injustice. God perceives it with utmost sensitivity (Ex 2:23-25; 3:7) and he leads Israel in the first half of the book of Exodus ‘to himself’ (Ex 19:4), to Mount Sinai. There he establishes the foundations of Israel as a free people living according to an order of social justice; the Ten Commandments form a kind of constitution for Israel. They are introduced with the words, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’ (Ex 20:2). Freedom through the encounter with God is the prerequisite for a society that respects the life and dignity of fellow humans, the basis of which is unfolded in the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:2-17, cf. Deut 5:6-21). The institution of the Sabbath, for instance, is an instrument for the levelling of social differences, allowing servants and strangers to rest together with employers and citizens (Ex 20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15).
According to the vision set out in the Bible, the totalitarian exercise of power always leads to social injustice. Only by broadening its horizons to include more than the particular interests of specific individuals or groups can a society establish socially just foundations. This has been demonstrated historically and in the modern era, not only by systems of neo-liberalism, but also by nationalist and communist totalitarian systems, which have been seen to collapse during recent decades. Biblical texts take a very critical view of the kings of Israel, who represent national power. This is seen clearly in the story of the people of Israel’s wish to have a king ruling over them (1 Sam 8) as well as in the narrative of the fall of the kingdom (2 Kings 24-25). The true king of Israel and of the whole world is God himself (cf. Ps 95-99).
Jesus develops further the idea of the ‘Kingdom of God’, directing his teaching towards the goal of social justice. He formulates a political principle: ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognise as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all’ (Mk 10:42-44). This notion of community leads Paul to postulate that the common belief in Christ makes it possible to overcome social and cultural differences. ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’ (Gal 3:28; cf. the unfolding of the image of the body in Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12).
Justice in the court – justice out of love
The maintenance of social justice within a society depends largely on the fairness and strength of its legal system; corruption is one of the chief causes of poverty and social injustice in many countries up to the present day, as it violates the legal and moral framework of a society. The Torah prescribes unconditional justice in the court: ‘You shall not render an unjust judgment’ (Lev 19:15); ‘You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the Lord your God.’ (Lev 24:22). The prophets lash out unrelentingly against unjust laws and judges. ‘Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey!’ (Isa 10:1f). ‘Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood, and bring righteousness to the ground! ... Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate’ (Amos 5:7, 15).
God himself is the archetype of the just judge (Ps 9:5) and many psalms praise him as such: ‘He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord’ (Ps 33:5). ‘Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep’ (Ps 36:6). ‘He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday’ (Ps 37:6).
Jesus promotes the effort for justice, yet he urges his disciples not just to orient their actions towards what is prescribed by the law, but to consider always how best to help their neighbours in poverty. This is clearly seen in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37) as well as in the criteria in the Last Judgement: ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40). The ultimate criterion for Christian life is always to love God and one’s neighbour (Mk 12:28-34). By asserting this, Jesus reemphasises the founding principles and values of the Torah (Lev 19:18; Deut 6:4f) and declares these to be the seminal principles for religious living.
Economic justice – God’s option for the poor
Excessive luxury on the one hand, desperate poverty on the other – the problems ensuing from the gap between those at the extremes of this range have characterised the experience of humanity for millennia. In the Bible, God backs vehemently those groups who are particularly vulnerable to suffering from social injustice. ‘You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan... If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry’ (Ex 22:20,23). The victimisation of strangers, women and children remain serious aspects of social injustice in the present day; one only has to call to mind, for example, the countless exploited children all over the world.
A fundamental commitment to the poor is prescribed explicitly: repaying their dues must not prevent a person from making a living (Deut 24:6, 12f, 17); the dignity of the debtor must be respected (Deut 24:10f); poor labourers are to be paid immediately (Deut 24:14); the remaining crop of grain, olives and grapes after harvest shall serve the poor (Deut 24:19-22).
Jesus, in his teaching, addressed the economic manifestation of social injustice by targeting its root in human intentions – excessive fear for personal security and the resulting avarice with regard to material goods. ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?’ (Mt 6:24f). Accordingly, the early Christian community lived in material modesty, sharing their goods, as Luke describes it. ‘All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need’ (Acts 2:44f).
A perfect community of love
The biblical vision for society is rooted in a longing for a perfect community of love. Isaiah expresses this in the images of the peace between animals (Isa 11:1-11) and of the ‘new heaven and the new earth’ (Isa 65:17-25). Jesus summarises his life in the last sentence of his prayer before his arrest: ‘I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them’ (Jn 17:26). As Christians, we live with a deep yearning for the perfect community – the communion of all humankind with God – as we struggle in our lives of prayer and action for greater social justice.
Dominik Markl SJ teaches Biblical Studies at Heythrop College, University of London.
Texts for Meditation
The following texts are recommended for personal meditation or for Bible groups, for those who would like to reflect on biblical approaches to social justice:
Ex 3:1-10 – God calls Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt.
Ex 20:1-17 – The Ten Commandments
Ps 10 – Rise, O God! Do not forget the oppressed!
Ps 147 – Praise of God for his creation and for rescuing the oppressed
Isa 35 – Those rescued by God return to Zion full of joy.
Am 5:7-15 – Accusation of injustice and motivation to charity
Mt 6:24-34 – God cares for you – care you for his kingdom!
Lk 10:25-37 – Main commandment and parable of the Good Samaritan
1 Cor 12:12-27 – You are one body with many members!
Bibliography – texts in English
Houston, Walter, Contending for Justice : Ideologies and Theologies of Social Justice in the Old Testament (London: T & T Clark, 2008)
Houston, Walter, Justice: The Biblical Challenge (Biblical Challenges in the Contemporary World) (London: Equinox, 2010).
Malchow, Bruce V., Social Justice in the Hebrew Bible. What is New and What is Old (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1996).
Nel, Philip Johannes, ‘Social Justice as Religious Responsibility in Near Eastern Religions: Historic Ideal and Ideological Illusion’ in: Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 26 (2000) 143–153.
Weinfeld, Moshe, Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East. Publications of the Perry Foundation for Biblical Research in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1995).
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8 SIMPLE CHANGES TO BEGIN GROWING
YOUR WEEKEND ATTENDANCE
Taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White - Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore, MA, USA. The original blog can be found here
Many will hate to hear it, but one sign of a healthy church is growth in weekend attendance. If people are actively leaving, or not a single new family has joined your parish in some time, then chances are, there are things you could be doing to better attract and serve people through your Sunday worship. Here are eight relatively simple, even inexpensive, ways to connect people with your church on Sunday and turn around that decline in attendance.
Teach People to Invite
Invite someone. Sounds so simple people never do it, right? It may be easy to tell people to invite others, which may or may not happen. Too often that sounds like scolding or desperation. It’s more important and effective to teach people how to invite. We call our evangelization strategy “Invest and Invite.” It’s easy to remember, intuitive, and it works.
Create an Experience
People aren’t looking to be entertained on Sunday morning (they can get that better somewhere else). But people do desire an uplifting and meaningful experience. I’m just going to say it- it doesn’t glorify God when the experience at Mass is boring and bad. For some reason, many Catholics are in the habit of seeing an excellent experience at Mass as somehow “inauthentic.” Start creating an experience that matters and watch how people begin to come and stay.
Communicate through the senses
Church is a sensory experience. Too often church environments almost seem engineered to reduce the congregation’s ability to see and hear what’s going on- poor sound and lighting, etc. We began implementing creative uses of technology, including some screens and images to enhance worship, and connect with different learning styles. This has been a great draw for people, not just into the church building, but into worship.
Think about your next step
Make it clear what you want people to do after they leave Sunday. Many people come seeking something they can apply in their lives, but don’t find it at church. The Sunday message has almost no connection to their family, relationships, or job, or we somehow expect people to figure it out themselves. Define the next steps you want your congregation to take and make it easy and accessible for people to get into ministry and groups. At Nativity we even introduced Next STEPS kiosks that make it easy to learn more or sign-up.
Preach in Series
Preaching in series provides a great opportunity to keep people coming back, looking forward to next week. Not to mention a new series can often help people invite a friend or family member with a topic they would really connect. You’ll be surprised how people often remember a past series more than a one-off homily.
Livestream
We livestream all our Masses over the weekend so people can watch online. You probably wonder how this can increase attendance rather than encourage people to stay home. We thought that too, before we tried it. In fact, a lot of people who are now worshipping with us on Sunday were first invited to check us out online by a friend first, and are now a part of our congregation.
Social Media
Social media isn’t just a fad or trend- it’s a powerful and necessary tool. It’s also a free and easy way to extend your footprint in your local community, as well as reach people who at first prefer to remain anonymous. Unchurched people see their church friends involved and happy and are more inclined to give it a try. Almost all our staff people regularly engage in sharing their ministry through social media. Invite people on Sunday to stay tuned on social media.
Make Volunteer Ministries Matter
A lot of the reason we have attendance growth is because of how seriously we take our weekend ministries- parking, information desk, and greeters. Our volunteers are probably the number one factor that creates the contagious joy of the environment when a newcomer steps into the church. Create passionate ministers and start seeing attendance grow.
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