Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office:90 Stewart Street , Devonport 7310
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
Parish Prayer
Heavenly Father,
We thank you for gathering us together
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
You have charged us through Your Son, Jesus, with the great mission
of evangelising and witnessing your love to the world.
Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern your will
for the spiritual renewal of our parish.
Give us strength, courage, and clear vision
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
We entrust our parish family to the care of Mary, our mother,
and ask for her intercession and guidance
as we strive to bear witness
as we strive to bear witness
to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
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 20th - 23rd September, 2016
Tuesday: 9:30am
Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon
Devonport
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone
Mass Times Next Weekend 24th & 25th September,
2016
Saturday: 11:30am Devonport (Ordination to Diaconate) - Paschal
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 24th & 25th September, 2016
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: P Douglas, T Douglas, M Knight
10:30am E Petts, K Douglas
Ministers of Communion: Vigil M
Heazlewood, B & J Suckling, G Lee-Archer, M Kelly, P Shelverton
M
O’Brien-Evans
Cleaners 23rd Sept: K.S.C
30th Sept: F Sly, M Hansen, R McBain
Piety Shop 24th Sept: H Thompson 25th Sept: O McGinley Flowers: M Knight, B Naiker
Ulverstone:
Readers: J & S Willoughby
Ministers of
Communion:
B Deacon, J
Allen, G Douglas, K Reilly
Cleaners: M Mott Flowers: A Miller Hospitality:
Filipino Community
Penguin:
Greeters: Fifita Family Commentator: Y Downes Readers: E Nickols, A Landers
Ministers of
Communion: J
Barker, M Hiscutt Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C
Setting Up: F Aichberger Care of Church: M Bowles, J Reynolds
Latrobe:
Reader: P Marlow Ministers of Communion: M Mackey, I Campbell Procession: M Clarke
Port Sorell:
Readers: V Duff, G Duff Ministers of Communion: L Post, B Lee Clean/Flow/Prepare: B Lee, A Holloway
Readings this Week: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
First Reading: Amos 8:4-7
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
PREGO REFLECTION:
As I take time to become still in the way that suits me
best, I remind myself that I am in the loving presence of the Lord who yearns
for my company. I ask to respond with openness and generosity to whatever he
wishes to show me today. In time I read through the Gospel passage slowly,
carefully. Perhaps I choose to place myself among the group of disciples,
hearing Jesus address these words to me, too. I notice how this makes me feel …
maybe energised ... affirmed ... challenged … uneasy … or something quite
different? Jesus warns that money can be a ‘tainted thing’ with the power to
take over our lives. I ponder this with him, asking for the enlightenment of
the Holy Spirit. Presently, I may choose to ask: Do I sometimes allow material
possessions or financial concerns to come between me and the Lord? Am I open to
the real riches that God has entrusted to me …? Perhaps I take a moment to name
these in my heart … my gifts and skills … those I love … many other things ....
I share my thoughts openly with the Lord, thanking him for all these gifts, and
asking him to free me from anything that enslaves me. Perhaps I pray: ‘Lord,
help me choose whatever helps me better use my real riches in the way you
desire for me.’ Presently I prepare to take my leave, asking God to stay close
as I continue with my daily life.
Readings Next Week: 26th Sunday in
Ordinary Time – Year C
First Reading: Amos 6:1, 4-7
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
Gayle Chapman, Frank Post, Elaine
Milic, Joan Singline, Connie Fulton, Andrew Bartlett & ...
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Warren Milfull, Jack McLaren, Ken Gillard, Mary Adkins, Ernest Pilcher, Nicolle Gillam-Barber, Fred
Westerway, Rob Marsh, Peter Reid, Margaret Sheehan.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 14th
– 20th September
Jan Deeka, Cyril Scattergood, Sybil
O’Connor, John Hall, Molly Page, Beryl Robertson, Dorothy Crawford, Leonard Payne, Patrick Laird, Peggy
Scanlan, Shirley Ranson,
Donald Philp, Stanley Henderson, Peg McKenna, Evelyn Murray and Denny Sproule.
May they Rest in Peace
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
Thanks
to all those who joined in the Time of Prayer before the Pastoral Council
Meeting on Wednesday evening. This will
be an on-going part of our preparation for the monthly meeting so thanks to all
who supported this special time.
Paschal
arrives this weekend and we will be finalising preparations for his Ordination
to the Diaconate next Saturday. This is a special moment in his life and an
important moment for the Archdiocese and for us as a Parish – the Mass is at
11.30am and all parishioners are invited.
I
will be in touch in the next few days with all those who have offered
accommodation for the seminarians and friends who are coming from the mainland
for the ceremony – apologies that we have not been able to conclude details
before this weekend.
Thanks
to all those people who have offered to make a casserole or dessert – there
will be someone in the Parish Hall prior to the Mass who will be able to
organise collection of your contribution and complete any necessary
preparations.
More
information next weekend about the gathering on Friday evening and a further
sharing of our plans for the future. Some of these details will be further
developed at the Finance Committee meeting this coming week.
This
weekend we have included the financial return for 2015/16. This is just a
summary of the major costs and income for the Parish. If anyone has any
questions please feel free to contact the Finance Committee.
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome
and congratulate ….
Dakota Jones who is being baptised
this weekend.
SICK & AGED PRIESTS FUND – SUNDAY 18th
SEPTEMBER: The
Fund began in January 1948 and was set up to ensure that all diocesan priests
incardinated into the Archdiocese of Hobart would receive adequate material and
financial care when they retire or should a priest become sick. Each year an
annual appeal is launched throughout the Archdiocese of Hobart, so that the
Sick and Aged Priest’s Fund, can continue to provide material and financial
assistance to all sick and aged priests.
Your ongoing care and generosity
towards our sick and aged priests is gratefully appreciated.
CHOIR REHEARSAL FOR ORDINATION:
We
are meeting this Sunday (18th Sept) 2 pm at Our Lady of
Lourdes Church Devonport. Please come along and join in this musical
opportunity.
MACKILLOP HILL:
Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe. Monday
26th September 10:30am – 12 noon. Come along … enjoy a lively
discussion over morning tea! 123 William Street, Forth. Phone: 6428:3095
No bookings necessary.
MACKILLOP HILL LIBRARY
Want something to read?? Make sure you pick up the
monthly library handout from your church foyer this weekend. Instructions on the sheet tell you how to
access the library catalogue online.
Library opening hours 9 – 5 Monday to Friday.
NOVEMBER REMEMBRANCE BOOKS:
November is the month we remember in a special way all
those who have died. Should you wish anyone to be remembered, write the names
of those to be prayed for on the outside of an envelope and place the clearly
marked envelope in the collection basket at Mass or deliver to the Parish
Office by Tuesday 25th October.
COLUMBAN CALENDARS:
The 2017 Columban Calendar is now available from the Piety
Shop's at OLOL Church and Sacred Heart Church for $9.50.
Thursday
Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.
Eyes down
7.30pm! Callers for Thursday 22nd
September - Terry Bird & Jon Halley
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN
TICKETS: Qualifying
Final – margin 2 points. Winners; Cathy Wells, G & M,
Charlies Angels.
GRAND FINAL FOOTY MARGIN TICKETS: All $10.00 tickets are now sold! $2 tickets will be sold as normal.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for
news, information and details of other Parishes.
FEAST OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL: All are warmly invited to Festival
Mass to celebrate the Feast of St Vincent de Paul. Mass will be concelebrated
by Fr Gerald Quinn and Fr Terry Yard at St Joseph’s Church Hobart Tuesday 27th
September commencing at 7pm. A
celebratory supper will follow Mass. The coming together at our Festival Mass
is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the Feast of St Vincent de Paul and the
Society’s good works. For catering purposes please RSVP to Ashley Rabe by
Thursday 22nd September via email ashley.rabe@stvinnies.org.au or phone 6234:4244.
LEGION OF MARY ANNUAL RETREAT: will be held at the Emmanuel Centre
Launceston Wednesday 28th September 10am – 3pm. All Legionary
and auxiliary members welcome. Please bring a shared lunch.
FEAST OF ST THERESE The
feast of St Therese will be celebrated with a Sung Mass at the Carmelite
Monastery, 7 Cambridge St. Launceston Saturday 1st October at 9:30am. Archbishop
Julian will be the celebrant and homilist. Mass will be followed by morning
tea. All are welcome to join the Carmelite Nuns for this celebration.
JOURNALING PRAYER RETREAT – FR RAY SANCHEZ: will be running a two day live in
retreat at Maryknoll House of Prayer 15th & 16th October. This is the most precious gift you can give
yourself. If you wish to enquire about attending please phone Anne on 0407 704 539
or email: journallingretreat@iinet.net.au
CARMELITE WEEKEND RETREAT: on Carmelite Spirituality looking
at The Environment through the eyes of St John of the the Cross, St Francis of
Assisi and Pope Francis will be held at the Emmanuel Centre from Friday
21st - Sunday 23rd October Cost of weekend $170.00 which includes accommodation
and meals. Call Sandra on 6331:4991 for bookings.
A DIRECTED RETREAT AND INDIVIDUAL DAYS OF
REFLECTION:
in preparation for the Christmas Season celebrating the birth of Jesus, will be
run at Maryknoll from the 5th – 13th November
2016. Participants may come for the entire retreat or for
individual days, with the option to live in or be a day visitor. For
further information or a copy of the retreat brochure please contact Sr
Margaret Henderson 0418 366 923 or mm.henderson@bigpond.com.
FROM PARANOIA TO METANOIA
Sometimes we’re a mystery to ourselves, or, perhaps more accurately, sometimes we don’t realize how much paranoia we carry within ourselves. A lot of things tend to ruin our day.
I went to a meeting recently and for most of it felt warm, friendly towards my colleagues, and positive about all that was happening. I was in good spirits, generative, and looking for places to be helpful. Then, shortly before the meeting ended, one of my colleagues made a biting comment which struck me as bitter and unfair. Immediately a series of doors began to close inside me. My warmth and empathy quickly turned into hardness and anger and I struggled not to obsess about the incident. Moreover the feelings didn’t pass quickly. For several days a coldness and paranoia lingered inside me and I avoided any contact with the man who had made the negative comments while I stewed in my negativity.
Time and prayer eventually did their healing, a healthier perspective returned, and the doors that had slammed shut at that meeting opened again and metanoia replaced my paranoia.
It’s significant that the first word out of Jesus’ mouth in the Synoptic Gospels is the word, metanoia. Jesus begins his ministry with these words: “Repent [metanoia] and believe in the good news” and that, in capsule, is a summary of his entire message. But how does one repent?
Our English translations of the Gospels don’t do justice to what Jesus is saying here. They translate, metanoia, with the word, repent. But, for us, the word repent has different connotations from what Jesus intended. In English, repentance implies that we have done something wrong and must regretfully disavow ourselves of that action and begin to live in a new way. The biblical word, metanoia, has much wider connotations.
The word, metanoia, comes from two Greek words: Meta, meaning above; and Nous, meaning mind. Metanoia invites us to move above our normal instincts, into a bigger mind, into a mind which rises above the proclivity for self-interest and self-protection which so frequently trigger feelings of bitterness, negativity, and lack of empathy inside us. Metanoia invites us to meet all situations, however unfair they may seem, with understanding and an empathic heart. Moreover, metanoia stands in contrast to paranoia. In essence, metanoia is “non-paranoia”, so that Jesus’ opening words in the Synoptic Gospels might be better rendered: Be un-paranoid and believe that it is good news. Live in trust!
Henri Nouwen, in a small but deeply insightful book entitled, With Open Hands, describes wonderfully the difference between metanoia and paranoia. He suggests that there are two fundamental postures with which we can go through life. We can, he says, go through life in the posture of paranoia. The posture of paranoia is symbolized by a closed fist, by a protective stance, by habitual suspicion and distrust. Paranoia has us feeling that we forever need to protect ourselves from unfairness, that others will hurt us if we show any vulnerability, and that we need to assert our strength and talents to impress others. Paranoia quickly turns warmth into cold, understanding into suspicion, and generosity into self-protection.
The posture of metanoia, on the other hand, is seen in Jesus on the cross. There, on the cross, we see him exposed and vulnerable, his arms spread in a gesture of embrace, and his hands open, with nails through them. That’s the antithesis of paranoia, wherein our inner doors of warmth, empathy, and trust spontaneous slam shut whenever we perceive a threat. Metanoia, the meta mind, the bigger heart, never closes those doors.
Some of the early church fathers suggested that all of us have two minds and two hearts. For them, each of us has big mind and a big heart. That’s the saint in us, the image and likeness of God inside us, the warm, generative, and empathic part of us. All of us harbor a true greatness within. But each of us also has within us a petty mind and a petty heart. That’s the narcissistic part of us, the wounded part, the paranoid part that turns self-protective and immediately begins to close the doors of warmth and trust whenever we appear threatened. Such is our inner complexity. We are both big-hearted and petty, open-minded and bigoted, trusting and suspicious, saint and narcissist, generous and hording, warm and cold. Everything depends upon which heart and which mind we are linked to and operating out of at any given moment. One minute we are willing to die for others, a minute later we would see them dead, one minute we want to give ourselves over in love, a minute later we want to use our gifts to show our superiority over others. Metanoia and paranoia vie for our hearts.
Jesus, in his message and his person, invites us to metanoia, to move towards and stay within our big minds and big hearts, so that in the face of a stinging remark our inner doors of warmth and trust do not close.
Contemplation
Taken from the daily email sent by Fr Richard Rohr. You can subscribe to these emails here
Each week I offer an invitation to contemplative
practice, though I hope you're finding quiet, contemplative moments every day.
There are many different ways to meditate or pray. If you haven't yet found a
regular practice, I encourage you to try different experiences and stay with
one for a while. Over time--months, years, a full lifetime--contemplation
gradually opens our hearts, minds, and bodies to Love as our True Self. Here
are a few contemplative practices I recommend:
- Centering Prayer
- Lectio Divina
- Welcoming Prayer
- Yoga, Tai Chi, and other meditative movement
- Wandering or sitting in nature
- Simply focusing on your breath
(For additional ideas, see the "Tree of Contemplative
Practices" from The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society.)
Each week I also
suggest a different "Gateway to Silence," a phrase to help lead you
into non-dual consciousness and openness to God's presence. You might repeat
the phrase as a mantra--speaking, chanting, or thinking the words with
intention and an attitude of surrender. You might take the phrase further and
deeper through journaling or art. Or you could choose a single word from the
phrase to use as a touchstone in Centering Prayer.
For this week's Gateway to
Silence, "AND," perhaps list some seeming paradoxes in your life for
which you need Love's reconciliation and transformation.
TOOLS FOR COMMUNICATION
5 RESOURCES FOR GETTING YOUR MESSAGE OUT
Taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity. The original blog can be found here
Even the most powerful, life-changing message can fail to get off the ground if it’s poorly communicated. Taking some time to evaluate what communication tools and strategies your church is currently using and to what effect is well worth the effort and can avert a lot of frustration and disappointment. Here are five areas Nativity looks to on a constant basis to ensure creative and effective communication of our message.
1. You Are Your Website
The first place anyone looks when they want to check out your church is your website. I’ll brag just a little that our parish just launched a brand new website that we think is pretty great. But while having an attractive website is nice, it’s more important that it’s constantly updated.
In fact, I’d even go so far as to say it’s better not to even have a website than a dreadfully out of date one. Advertisements for events that happened a year ago communicate one message: “Out of business.”
2. Your Online Campus Is Your Next Best Opportunity
Just this past weekend someone came up to a staff person and said, “I’ve been watching you guys online for a while and decided it was about time I actually came it check it out for myself.” Live-streaming the liturgy will always have critics (though it’s been happening on traditional Catholic TV networks for decades). We totally agree that it is not a replacement, but it has been an invaluable communication tool for reaching outsiders not ready to darken the doors of a church. We believe the purpose of an online campus is leading people to our physical congregation, and we have seriously seen fruit in our congregation as a result.
3. Social Media Is Your Partner
Believe it or not, I admit I am fairly illiterate about the ins-and-outs of social media. I know how to send a tweet, and that’s about it. But I accept that it is an indispensible element for any organization today and I rely on my more tech-savvy staff to build a great social media platform. Social media is an extension of your church in your local community- it’s where people make plans, get news, engage in discussion. You don’t need to post 100 times a day, but your parish needs to have a presence on the popular platforms.
Not to mention- if your website is lackluster, think of social media as a free and easy way to provide updated news and information (see above). But please, don’t flood it with random articles and cute videos; use it to establish a clear identity and purpose that defines what your church is all about.
4. Your Announcements Are More Important than You Think
When to deliver the announcements is one debate churches will probably have until the Second Coming.
Whatever you do, stop reading the announcements like a laundry list. We began doing them in video format before Mass starts. Rather than spell out every detail no one will remember anyway, hit the main idea and send them to your website. We recently switched to a new format of our video announcements called the “5 be4,” where we count down the top five things parishioners need to know for this week. In this format when the announcements are done, we’ve actually caught, not lost, their attention for Mass.
5. Your People Are Part of Your Communication Plan
For all I’ve just mentioned, the truth is, when it comes to communicating what your church is all about, your best asset isn’t a website or device, but your parishioners. Nothing replaces personal invitation. People who love their parish don’t have a hard time inviting their unchurched friends and family.
A Reflection on Jesus’s Leadership
This article was originally written in 2012 by Fr Thomas Shufflebotham sj. The original article can be found here
It is striking that in the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius attaches virtually no adjectives to Jesus. He seems content to have us watch the Lord’s actions and ponder some of his words, but for the most part he leaves it to us to imagine the characteristics and qualities of Christ as we are moved to do so: that is to say, he leaves it to us and the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, one could go on forever naming qualities and facets of Jesus Christ as he passes through the pages of the gospels.[1] The compilers of the Litanies of the Holy Name and of the Sacred Heart were not short of ideas. Many of those adjectives have a bearing on his leadership.
For now, I want to pick out from the plethora of possibilities three attributes of Jesus which seem to me to be central to Christian leadership, three Christ-centred approaches which I suspect Ignatius might stress were he to walk through the door into our century and its challenges.
Authenticity
First, I suggest authenticity and what it implies: honesty, truthfulness, integrity, or – a word favoured by Ignatius – probity.
Jesus teaches by word and example, and what he says and does are in perfect harmony with who he is. Jesus is truth, Jesus tells the truth and, while he may not distance himself from hypocrites, the gospels time and again show him distancing himself from hypocrisy. He does not twist or manipulate the truth.
President Eisenhower claimed that ‘the supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity’. More informally, the jazz musician Charlie Parker said, ‘If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn’. With words that still speak volumes to us today, Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975: ‘Especially in regard to young people it is said that they have a horror of the artificial or false and that they are searching above all for truth and honesty.’[2]
Forty years on, it is even clearer that manipulating or stifling the truth can do immense harm, both because it does not work and because it is a contradiction of Christianity. It is not the way of Jesus. It rings true when Jesus says, ‘If your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light’ (Matt 6: 22).
Jesus’s gaze is on God, he refers all to the Father; his leadership therefore is not self-regarding. His disciples and companions, too, will be true and honest if they focus on God rather than self. That will require sincere prayer, prayer in which we give God the freedom to show us the opposite of what suits our convenience, the freedom to shatter our preferences. And, to use an Ignatian word, the heart of our prayer needs to be conversation or colloquy that is sincere: I need to be willing to look God in the eye, to meet God’s gaze.
When Peter cures a cripple he tells him, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk’ (Acts 3:6; earlier, perhaps, he might have been tempted to garner the credit). Likewise, the Christian community always gathers in the name of Jesus, not in its own name. A Christian community that does not focus on Jesus soon begins to become its own master, to use others for its own convenience and to descend into hypocrisy: it is not authentic.
Jesus breathes dignity, but without seeking it. He attracted his companions with honesty, not by concealing the challenges but by stating them clearly. ‘Whoever does the truth comes out into the light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God’ (Jn 3:21).
Walking on in faith
A second approach to leadership that Jesus elicits from his followers and companions could be summed up as walking on in faith. That is implying that as we keep step with Christ we gaze ahead, but without ignoring or downplaying the past; and all in a spirit of faith and courage, imitating Jesus who, says Luke, ‘resolutely turned his face towards Jerusalem’ (Luke 9:51).
Jesus reverenced the Law and the prophets; at the Transfiguration he is seen conversing with Moses and Elijah[3]: he comes to fulfil the Law. Even after the Resurrection his followers are still treasuring Israel’s heritage. But Jesus also speaks of new wine and new wineskins.
The risen Lord challenges the travellers on the road to Emmaus to draw inspiration from their tradition, but also to walk with him into the future:
‘So slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer - before entering into his glory?’ (Luke 24:26).
His disciple Peter looks backwards to the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and the Resurrection event, and he preaches out of past experience: ‘We are witnesses’, he says, ‘of everything that he did’. But that same faith and respect for the tradition leads Peter to accept the new vision for the future which the Holy Spirit begins to show him at the house of a Gentile centurion. (Acts 10:1-48) To Simon Bar-Jonah some years earlier, it would have been unthinkable, and in any case he would have lacked the courage. Peter’s leadership had to imbibe courage from his leader, Jesus. St Bernard summed it up neatly when he described the Church as, Ecclesia ante et retro occulata: the Church must have eyes for what is ahead and what is past.
Jesus’s leadership was infectious once the Spirit was given to the infant church, and Acts of the Apostles shows us his disciples walking courageously the thin line of fidelity to tradition combined with fidelity to the Spirit urging them into new paths. Either component could land them in persecution and vicious criticism. Holding to both – the old and the new - could be a crucifixion.
The compassion of Christ
I suggest that a third key also is necessary: the compassion of Christ. With authenticity and faith alone we can be impressive but impossible to live with. Being genuine companions implies this extra dimension, this third key, this love infused with empathy. When it is applied to choices, decisions, policy, it becomes Ignatius’s discerning love: discreta caritas.
In this, our inspiration is the example of Christ just as the grace of Christ is our strength, and he challenges us to ‘Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate’ (Luke 6:36).
A model for this compassion is found in Paul’s rhapsody on love in 1 Corinthians. As we read it we could imagine it as spoken to us – as of course it is:
And now I’m going to show you a way that is even more outstanding. If I speak in the languages of human beings and of angels, but do not have love, then I have turned into a sounding brass or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have complete faith, so as to move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing. And if I divide all my possessions into bits, and if I hand over my body in order that I may boast, but do not have love, I am not helped in any way.
Love waits patiently, shows kindness. Love is not jealous, does not brag, is not ‘puffed up’, does not behave improperly, does not seek self- interest, doesn’t get provoked, doesn’t reckon up evil, doesn’t rejoice at injustice, but rejoices at integrity.
Love copes with everything; is always committed, always hopeful, always endures to the end; love never collapses (1 Cor 12:31 – 13:8).
Commenting on this, his own translation of the passage, Nicholas King SJ writes: ‘this “solution” to the problems of Corinth could also be read as Paul’s portrait of his beloved Jesus Christ. With Paul it always comes back to Jesus’.[4] And for companions of Jesus, too, it must always come back to Jesus.
God’s compassion, incarnate in Jesus, embraces the crowd. He had compassion on the multitude (Mark 6:34) and he longed and longed to gather Jerusalem and her children together as a hen gathers her chicks; he died ‘to gather together into one the scattered children of God’ (John 11:52), having prayed beforehand ‘that they may all be one’ (John 17:21).
And equally, that compassion embraces the individual, be it the woman at Simon’s feast, or a leper, or a poor widow, or a rich young man; indeed every human being with a heart open to accept it.
The characteristic backdrop for Jesus’s leadership is not an auditorium or a parade-ground, but a meal. When he imparts leadership to Peter it is in the imagery of shepherding: a preference for the intimate and the personal touch rather than dragooning.
Jesus’s style of leadership – a style without a style – vaults over the centuries and addresses the needs of our time. Nowhere is this more evident than in his attitude to women. Dorothy L. Sayers remarks,
[Women] had never known a man like this Man – there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised … who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension … never urged them to be feminine, or jeered at them for being female; with no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend.[5]
Mary Ward, Mary McAleese, Elizabeth II: none of them have had much power exactly, but they have exercised leadership, and it is clear that in large measure Christ’s attitude and values are their model.
What makes Jesus’s leadership and example so powerful is that his compassion runs so deep that it is inseparable from a spirit of service. A British Army general, Sir John Glubb, said he was convinced that the key to leadership lay in this gospel text: ‘The greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves … here am I among you as one who serves’ (Luke 22:26).
Because Jesus serves without seeking power, he himself empowers, he sets free others’ potential. The Good Shepherd is the one who has come that they may have life and have it to the full. The one who can claim, ‘I am the light of the world’ also says, ‘You are light for the world’. Jesus’s own summary blends compassion with apostolic mission: ‘Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the Good News is proclaimed to the poor…’ (Lk 7:20-22).
The demands of Christian leadership are high, but we will come closer to meeting them if we are people preoccupied with the compassion of Christ, speaking with the honesty of Christ, in a spirit of faith enlivened by our contemplation of Christ steadfastly walking towards Jerusalem, the city from which later he would send his disciples out on mission in the service of all nations. However, any Christian leader will do well to remember one thing more: in the scriptures the Kingdom of God is not built up by human beings. It grows from the soil below, watered by the Spirit, and it is given from above: de arriba – ‘all is grace’.
Thomas Shufflebotham SJ directs the Spiritual Exercises at St Beuno’s Jesuit Spirituality Centre in North Wales.
[1] A note on my references to the gospels: I will be quoting from all four gospels, and do so with an appreciation that the evangelists each have distinct theological slants and are not to be treated simply as biographers.
[2] Evangelii Nuntiandi,§76
[3] Mark 9:2-8; Matthew 17:1-8; Luke 9:28-36
[4] Nicholas King, The New Testament (Kevin Mayhew, 2004), p. 380.
[5] Dorothy L. Sayers, ‘Are Women Human?’ (1947).
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