Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
To be a vibrant Catholic Community
unified in its commitment
to growing disciples for Christ
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 8383 Fax: 6423 5160
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Jenny Garnsey
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com
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)
Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is sick or in need of assistance in the Parish please visit them. Then, if they are willing and give permission, could you please pass on their names to the Parish Office. We have a group of parishioners who are part of the Care and Concern Group who are willing and able to provide some backup and support to them. Unfortunately, because of privacy issues, the Parish Office is not able to give out details unless prior permission has been given.
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Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
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.
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: - first Friday of each month.
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – meetings will be held on Monday evenings in the Community Room, Ulverstone at 7pm.
Weekday Masses 17th - 22nd April, 2017
Monday: 12noon Devonport
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe Thursday: 10:30am Karingal Friday 11:00am Mt St Vincent
Saturday 9:30am Ulverstone
Saturday 9:30am Ulverstone
Next Weekend 22nd & 23rd April, 2017
Saturday
Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 22nd & 23rd April, 2017
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye 10:30am A
Hughes, T Barrientos
Ministers of Communion: Vigil
M
Heazlewood, B Suckling, M O’Brien-Evans, G Lee-Archer, M Kelly, P Shelverton
10.30am: M Sherriff, T & S Ryan, D & M Barrientos, M
O’Brien-Evans
Cleaners 21st
April: K.S.C. 28th April: F Sly, M Hansen, R McBain
Piety Shop 22nd
April: H Thompson 23rd April: O McGinley Flowers: M Breen
Ulverstone:
Reader/s: D Prior Ministers of Communion: B Deacon, J Allen, G Douglas, K Reilly
Cleaners: B & V
McCall, G Doyle Flowers: M Byrne Hospitality:
M & K McKenzie
Penguin:
Greeters: Fifita Family Commentator: Y Downes Readers: Fifita Family
Ministers of
Communion: J
Barker, A Guest Liturgy: Penguin Setting Up: T Clayton
Care of Church: Y & R Downes
Latrobe:
Reader: P Marlow Ministers of Communion: M Eden, M O’Brien-Evans
Procession of
Gifts: Parishioner
Port Sorell:
Readers: V Duff, G Duff Ministers of Communion: D Leaman
Clean/Flow/Prepare: B Lee, A Holloway
Readings this Week – Easter Sunday
First Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4
Gospel: John 20:1-9
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
As I come to my place of prayer, I take time to note how I
feel. Am I full of Easter joy, or am I downcast, struggling with sadness? I
settle slowly into the awareness of God present in me and in all around me. I
read the text a couple of times. As I imagine the scene, am I with Mary, in the
dark morning, anxious about the stone, full of grief, lost without her Lord? Or
am I more excited and can run with Peter or John? Can I identify more with one
of them? Why is this? I allow my imagination to wander freely as I accompany
the disciples. How do I feel now? I speak to the Lord about this. I consider
the disciples focusing on the details of the cloths and wonder why it seemed so
important to them. Maybe this is easier than pondering on the resurrection?
What do the cloths reveal about the Lord? As I stand in the empty tomb what do
I feel about the resurrection? I leave the tomb ... what do I want to say to
the Lord now? Before I end my prayer, I may wish to pray for those who still
feel imprisoned in the tomb, tied with cloths...... I slowly draw my prayer to
a close. Praising God: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son ………
Readings Next Week – Second Sunday
of Easter (Divine Mercy)
First Reading: Acts 2:42-47
Second Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Gospel:
John 20:19-31
Your prayers are asked for the sick: Elaine Milic, John Munro, George Archer, David Welch & …,
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Glen Graham, Christine
Illingworth, Darcy Atkinson, Anthony May, Daphne Saarman, Antonio Sciamanna, Fr Jim McMahon MSC, Adrian (Tom) Sage, Bonafacia Claveria, Sr Paul Coad MSS, Gwenda Holliday, Aurea Magsayo, Lorraine Bowerman, Lola Hutchinson.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 12th – 18th April
Jonathan Martinez, James Flight, Gillian Ibell, Daphne Walker, Mondo Di Pietro, Valma Lowry, Sandy Cowling, Kathleen Smith, Harold Cornelius, Geraldine Harris, Kate Morris, Raymond Breen, Terrence McCarthy, William Newland and Dawn Ashman. Also Frank & Kathryn McLennan, Glen Clark, Joy Griffiths, Gregory & Damian Matthews Ken & Doris Williams, Daisy Kitchin, John Wells, Erica Paoletti, Rolando Ciolli, Hedley & Enid Stubbs and Arch & Corrie Webb and deceased relatives and friends of Helen McLennan, Cunningham, Clark & Williams families.
May they rest in peace
Weekly
Ramblings:
Happy Easter to you all – may the joy of the Risen Christ
fill your hearts so that these days may bring the peace and love of God to all.
Thanks to all those wonderful people who have worked so
diligently, many in the background, to make our celebrations during these days
so beautiful – the only way a Parish can really witness to who we are and what
we celebrate is when we share together in this wonderful mystery is the saving
death and Resurrection of Christ. I especially thank the people who share the Parish
House with me – Fr Smiley, A1, A2 and Digna – their friendship and support is
important to me in my work.
In the weeks ahead I will be sharing something more of what
it means to be a vibrant Catholic Community and our call to be disciples in the
world. With members of the Parish Pastoral Council I will be sharing what our
Vision means and I will be using the occasions to ask your assistance to find ways
in which we can make it something real in our Parish.
Please take care on the roads and in your homes,
ST VINCENT DE PAUL
CONFERENCE:
You may like to know what the role
of Conference members is.
If you are interested to learn
about the work and perhaps be willing to become a member we hope to have an
information session in the near future. This would be an informal gathering.
There are three conferences in our region. One is in Ulverstone and two in
Devonport. There is also a Junior Conference at St Brendan Shaw College. They
have 29 members. Our work is very valued in the region and to continue being
able to offer the service more members are urgently needed. If you feel you
would like to join in this information session, please ring our Regional Office
on 6427:7100 and leave your details. I would also like to thank parishioners
for their generous donations to our monthly collection at Mass Centres.
Veronica Riley (Regional President)
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY (the 2nd Sunday of Easter) is
preceded by a Novena which commences on Good Friday. DMS involves Mass, Confession,
Veneration of the Image of Our Lord and the Divine Mercy prayer. This
year the official DM Mass will be held at Ulverstone on 23rd April
at 9am. DMS is the most amazing Feast Day because Our Lord made an
astonishing promise to those who carry out the simple Novena and DMS requests.
Here are His words to the Polish Nun, Saint Faustina: “I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession
and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My Mercy. Whoever approaches the
Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and
punishment. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will
obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment”. What a promise! This
is the equivalent to a Plenary Indulgence! Don’t miss out – it happens but once
a year and it’s free! For more information on Divine Mercy check it out on the
internet, also pamphlets will be available in Mass Centres. If you would like
to learn more contact Pascale Cotterill 6426:2305
THE SISTERS
OF ST JOSEPH
Warmly invite Mersey Leven Parishioners to celebrate with
them the 130th anniversary of the arrival of the first Sisters of St Joseph in
Westbury on 24 May 1887.
You are invited to Holy Trinity Church, Westbury on
Wednesday, 24 May 2017 at 1pm for Prayer and Afternoon Tea. For catering
purposes, please rsvp by 5 May 2017 to josephite.mission@sosj.org.au
or phone 6228:1628
PIETY SHOP
DEVONPORT:
CD’s (Religious) now available $5
each. Baptism gifts, Holy/Congratulations & Anniversary cards also
available.
FLOWERS – OLOL CHURCH:
Thank you to the wonderful
volunteers who help out with the weekly flower roster at OLOL Church (the
flowers always look amazing!) We desperately need more volunteers to help out
with this roster. If you are able to assist please ring the Parish Office on
6424:8383.
FOOTY
TICKETS: Round 3 (7th April) footy margin1 point –
winners; Grace Mullet, Margaret Grantham
BINGO - Thursday Nights - OLOL
Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday
20th April – Tony Ryan & Terry Bird.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
THE JOURNEY CATHOLIC RADIO PROGRAM – AIRS 16 April
2017 Easter Sunday
This week on the Journey, we hear a beautiful Easter
message from our very own Bishop Peter Ingham in the Gospel
reflection. Bruce Downs, the Catholic Guy talks to us about Praying
for Lonely Hearts and as we know, Easter can be joyous for some and terribly
lonely for some. And Sr Hilda shares with us her wisdom from the Abbey
reminds of The Present Moment of love. The contemporary Christian music
weaves through our show to help us create a show for you that is all a 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.
CATHOLIC STANDARD NEWSPAPER SURVEY:
The Archdiocese of Hobart is currently seeking feedback on
the Catholic Standard newspaper, which will help influence the content that you
read in the newspaper. Please complete the inserted survey contained in the
newspaper, which can be posted back to the Archdiocese of Hobart free of
charge. Alternatively, you can complete the survey online by visiting www.surveymonkey.com/r/cathstandard
Mersey
Leven Parish Team would like to thank
all
those who helped with the preparation of
all Easter Liturgies.
We wish everyone a very safe and happy Easter.
THE EMPTY TOMB
This article is by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here
Easter 2017
Believers and non-believers alike have been arguing about the resurrection since the day Jesus rose. What really happened? How was he raised from the dead? Did an actual dead body really come back to life and step out of the grave or was the resurrection a monumental life-changing event inside the consciousness of Jesus’ followers? Or was the resurrection both, a real physical event and an event inside the consciousness of believers?
Obviously nobody was there to see what actually happened. Those who claimed Jesus was alive again didn’t see him rise and emerge from the tomb, they met him only after he had already risen and, immediately, believers and sceptics began to divide from each other, persons who claimed to have touched him and persons who doubted that testimony.
There have been sceptics and believers ever since and no shortage of persons, professional theologians and non-scholarly Christians alike, who believe in the resurrection of Jesus as a faith event but not as a physical event, where an actual body came out of a grave. The faith event is what’s important, they claim, and it is incidental whether or not Jesus’ actual body came out of the grave.
Was Jesus’ resurrection a faith event or a physical event? It was both. For Christians it is the most monumental event, faith and otherwise, in history. Two thousand subsequent years cannot be explained, except by the reality of the resurrection. To understand the resurrection of Jesus only as a literal fact, that his body rose from the grave, is to cut the resurrection off from much of its meaning. However, that being admitted, for Christians, the resurrection must also be a radically physical event. Why?
First, because the Gospels are pretty clear in emphasizing that the tomb was empty and that the resurrected Jesus was more than a spirit or ghost. We see, for instance, in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus invites a doubting Thomas to verify his physicality: “Look at my hands and my feet. It’s really me. Touch me. You can see that I have a living body; a ghost does not have a body like this.”
As well, and very importantly, to cut the resurrection off from the literal fact that there was real physical transformation of a once dead corpse is to rob it of some of its important meanings and perhaps of the deepest root of its credibility. For the resurrection of Christ to have full meaning it must, among other things, have been a brute physical fact. There needs to be an empty tomb and a dead body returned to life. Why?
Not as some kind of miracle proof, but because of the incarnation. To believe in the incarnation and not to believe in the radical physical character of the resurrection is a contradiction. We believe that in the incarnation the Word was made flesh. This takes the mystery of Christ and the reality of the resurrection out of the realm of pure spirit. The incarnation always connotes a reality that’s radically physical, tangible, and touchable, like the old dictionary definition of matter as “something extended in space and having weight.”
To believe in the incarnation is to believe that God was born into real physical flesh, lived in real physical flesh, died in real physical flesh, and rose in real physical flesh. To believe that the resurrection was only an event in the faith consciousness of the disciples, however real, rich, and radical that might be imagined, is to rob the incarnation of its radical physical character and to fall into the kind of dualism that values spirit and denigrates the physical. Such a dualism devalues the incarnation and this impoverishes the meaning of the resurrection. If the resurrection is only a spiritual event then it is also only an anthropological one and not also a cosmic one. That’s a way of saying that it’s then an event only about human consciousness and not also about the cosmos.
But Jesus’ resurrection isn’t just something radically new in terms of human consciousness; it’s also something that’s radically new in terms of atoms and molecules. The resurrection rearranged hearts and minds, but it also rearranged atoms. Until Jesus’ resurrection, dead bodies did not come back to life; they stayed dead, so when his came back to life there was something radically new both at the level of faith and at the level of the atoms and molecules. Precisely because of its brute physicality, Jesus’ resurrection offers new hope to atoms as well as to people.
I believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, literally. I believe too that this event was, as the rich insights within contemporary theology point out, highly spiritual: an event of faith, of changed consciousness, of new hope empowering a new charity and a new forgiveness. But it was also an event of changed atoms and of a changed dead body. It was radically physical, just as are all events that are part of the incarnation wherein God takes on real flesh.
THE COSMIC CHRIST
This reflection is taken from the Daily email series by Fr Richard Rohr OFM. You can subscribe to receive the emails here
The Christ Is Bigger
than Christianity
And in everything that I saw, I could perceive nothing
except the presence of the power of God, and in a manner totally indescribable.
And my soul in an excess of wonder cried out: This world is pregnant with God!
—Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) [1]
Just as the Trinity is foundational to understanding the
loving, inclusive, and participatory nature of God, a proper notion of the
Cosmic Christ brings the mystery even closer to home. The health and survival
of our planet and all its inhabitants may depend upon recognizing the inherent
sacredness of all materiality. The God many Christians worship is far too
small. God is not and never has been a “tribal” God, somewhere “out there,”
belonging only to Judaism or Christianity. It’s no wonder so many educated, postmodern
people have given up on such a God. This God is not nearly as big as science is
discovering the universe itself to be. How could the Creator be smaller than
the creation and less loving than most creatures?
The mystery of Christ is much bigger than Christianity. And
if we don’t make that clear, we’re going to have little ability to make
friends, build bridges, understand, or respect anybody other than ourselves—and
finally not even understand ourselves. Jesus did not come to create an elite
country club with an arbitrary list of requirements for who’s in and who’s out.
Jesus came to reveal something that has always been true everywhere—for
everyone—and for all time. Otherwise it is not “true”!
It seems to me that we’ve had more Jesus-ology than Christology.
The first 2000 years of Christianity have largely dealt with Jesus—and even
that not very well because we did not recognize his “corporate personality”
(which Cynthia Bourgeault and I will try to explain over these next four
weeks). Jesus came to reveal the larger mystery of the Christ; Paul
“demonstrated that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9:22). For Paul that was the
exact implication of the new Risen Presence that he perceived in creation
itself (Romans 8:19-23), in humans (1 Corinthians 12:12-13), and even in
elements symbolized by bread and wine (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). The
resurrection of Jesus was the symbolic way of saying his presence was beyond
any limits of physical space and time. Jesus was historically bound; the Christ
is omnipresent.
Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus
(1265/66–1308) taught that Christ was the very “first idea” in the mind of God.
In other words, God wanted to manifest the Godself externally, so an eternal
love affair could begin between matter and God who is spirit. This divine love
affair, eventually called “the Christ,” has been unfolding and manifesting for
about 14 billion years now. Jesus came as its personification a mere 2000 years
ago, I guess when human consciousness was mature enough for a face-to-face
encounter.
References:
[1] Angela of Foligno: Complete Works, trans. and intro.
Paul Lachance, preface by Romana Guarnieri (Paulist Press: 1993), 169-170.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Christ, Cosmology, &
Consciousness: A Reframing of How We See (CAC: 2010), MP3 download; and
The Cosmic Christ, disc 2 (CAC: 2009), CD, MP3 download.
Full Circle Salvation
Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (1217-1274), a Doctor of the
Church, philosopher, and mystic, also brought Francis of Assisi’s intuitive
vision to philosophical and theological heights. Bonaventure and John Duns
Scotus (1265/66–1308) both had a cosmic, universal notion of the Christ. The
key texts for their Franciscan Christology were the first paragraphs of several
New Testament books: Colossians 1:15-20, John 1:1-5, 15-18, Ephesians 1:3-14,
Hebrews 1:1-4, and 1 John 1:1-4. I must list them clearly so you do not think I
am creating some new theology unfounded in Scripture. We do not normally see
what we are not told to pay attention to. So I am telling you to pay attention
to what Paul calls “the hidden wisdom” or “hidden mystery” (1 Corinthians
2:6-8) where “the fullness of divinity lives in embodied form” (see Colossians
2:9).
Like Francis, Bonaventure is positive, mystical, cosmic, and
takes the mystery of incarnation to its logical conclusions. Jesus is the
stand-in for everything else! Bonaventure starts very clearly: “Unless we are
able to view things in terms of how they originate, how they are to return to
their end, and how God shines forth in them, we will not be able to
understand.” [1] His whole theology is often summed up as Emanation >
Exemplification > Consummation.
This understanding of incarnation as a universal event with
social implications had been much more common in the Eastern Fathers, like
Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Maximus the Confessor. Unfortunately, these teachers
were less seriously studied in the Western Church after the tragic schism of
1054. The 12th century Rhineland mystic Hildegard of Bingen, and later Francis
of Assisi (1182-1226) and his early followers, brought back what I call
“incarnational mysticism”—finding God through things instead of ideas,
doctrines, and church services, which still persists as the mainline orthodoxy
down to our time.
For Bonaventure, the perfection of God and God’s creation
moves full circle, which is the meaning of resurrection. He intuited that Alpha
and Omega had to be the same, and the lynchpin holding it all together was the
“Christ Mystery” visible everywhere—the essential unity of matter and spirit,
humanity and divinity. The Christ Mystery is thus the template, model, and goal
for all of creation. The end is included and the trajectory set from the very
beginning. Likewise for Duns Scotus, Jesus is not plan B, or a mere historic
problem solver; he is Plan A from the very start. Christian faith is not merely
in Jesus or merely in Christ, but precisely in Jesus Christ—both!
The theology of Francis, Duns Scotus, and Bonaventure was
never about trying to placate a distant or angry God, earn forgiveness, or find
some abstract theory of justification. They were all about cosmic optimism,
deep time, and implanted hope! Salvation was social more than individual, just
like the Old Testament covenants. Once we lost this kind of inherent mysticism,
Christianity became preoccupied with fear, unworthiness, and guilt much more
than delighting in an all-pervasive plan that was already and always in place.
As Paul’s school says, “Before the world was made, God chose
us, chose us in Christ” (Ephesians 1:4). The problem was solved from the
beginning. Any Gospel of hope must start with the “original blessing” announced
in Genesis 1 instead of the problem described in Genesis 3. It invites us
beyond the negative notion of history as being a “fall from grace” to the long
and positive view of history as a slow emergence/evolution into ever-greater
consciousness.
References:
[1] Bonaventure, The Works of St. Bonaventure, Hexaemeron
(St. Anthony Guild: 1960), 3, 2.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative
Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 162-164.
The Blueprint of
Creation
To be proclaimed a “Doctor of the Church” one’s teaching
must be considered entirely reliable and orthodox. In Bonaventure’s world, the
frame of reality was always big, inclusive, and hopeful. First of all,
Bonaventure was profoundly Trinitarian; he saw love always and forever flowing
in a positive and forward direction, just as between the three persons in whose
image all is created (Genesis 1:26-27). Most of Christian history has not been
Trinitarian except in name. Christians have largely worshipped Jesus extracted
from the Trinity—and thus tried to define Jesus apart from the eternal Christ
which he represented. Jesus then became more a harsh judge of humanity than a
shining exemplar of all humanity and creation, “holding all things in unity”
(see Colossians 1:17-20).
For both Francis and Bonaventure, God is not an offended
monarch on a throne throwing down thunderbolts, but a “fountain fullness” that
flows, overflows, and fills all things. Reality is thus participatory; it is
love itself, not a mere Platonic world, an abstract idea, or a static
impersonal principle. God as Trinitarian Flow is the blueprint and pattern for
all relationships and all of creation.
Franciscan sister and scientist Ilia Delio writes:
[Bonaventure] grounded the incarnation in the Trinity
itself, describing the Trinity as a communion of persons-in-love. The Father,
he writes, who is without origin is fecund, overflowing goodness. The Son is
that person eternally generated by the Father’s self-diffusive goodness. . . .
As the total personal expression of the Father, the Son is Word, and as
ultimate likeness to the Father, the Son is Image. The Son/Word is generated by
the Father and with the Father generates the Spirit, who is that eternal bond
of love between the Father and the Son. [1]
Try to think of this highly theological notion of “the Word”
(Logos) as a Blueprint, maybe even the blueprint, because Christians believe
that the inner reality of God became manifest in the outer world first in
creation and later personally in Jesus. Here’s how I paraphrase the prologue to
John’s Gospel (1:1-5), although I think it is actually the original meaning:
In the beginning was the Blueprint. The Blueprint was with
God. The Blueprint was God. And all things came to be through this inner plan.
No one thing came to be except through this universal plan. All that came to be
thus had life in him.
Notice that God’s revelation has now become personalized as
him. This great universal mystery since the beginning of time now becomes
specific in the body and the person of Jesus. “And the Word was made flesh and
lived among us. . . . No one has ever seen God. It is his Son nearest to the
Father’s heart, who has made him known” (John 1:14, 18).
That is the core of
the Christian proclamation; all else follows from it.
References:
[1] Ilia Delio, Christ in Evolution (Orbis Books: 2008),
57-58.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Christ, Cosmology, &
Consciousness: A Reframing of How We See (CAC: 2010), MP3 download.
The Great Chain of
Being
Francis called all creatures, no matter how small, by the
name of brother and sister; because he knew they had the same source as
himself. —Saint Bonaventure (1217-1274) [1]
We must rebuild from the very bottom up, and that means
restoring the inherent sacrality of all things—no exceptions. We can no longer
leave it to individuals to decide what is sacred and what is not sacred. Most
people are excluded when we create small circles of sacredness around church
boundaries, holy days, totems, and members of our group. Did it ever strike you
that Jesus, a good Jew, did most of his work on the Sabbath to show that
Saturday was not really any more holy than Tuesday or Thursday? It was just a
good social tradition that kept the group together—which is why we Christians
felt completely free to move it to Sunday. But then, darn it, we did the same
thing with Sunday!
By the image of the great chain of being, Scholastic
theologians tried to communicate a linked and coherent world. The essential and
unbreakable seven links in the chain included the Divine Creator, the
angelic/heavenly, the human, the animal, the world of plants and vegetation,
the waters upon the earth, and the earth itself with its minerals. In
themselves and even more in their union together, the links proclaimed the
glory of God (Psalm 104) and the inherent dignity of all things. If we
eliminated even one link, the whole chain would fall apart—which is exactly
what happened. Now many doubt all seven of the links as sacred!
What some now call creation spirituality, deep ecology, or
holistic Gospel found a much earlier voice in the spirituality of the ancient
Celts, the Rhineland mystics, and most especially Francis of Assisi
(1182-1226). Scholars like Bonaventure created an entire world view based on
Francis’ spiritual seeing: “In the soul’s journey to God we must present to
ourselves the whole material world as the first mirror through which we may
pass over to the Supreme [Artisan].” [2] The Dominican Meister Eckhart
(1260-1327) said the same: “If humankind could have known God without the
world, God would never have created the world.” [3]
The “Catholic synthesis” of the early Middle Ages saw one
coherent world. It was a positive intellectual vision not defined by being
against something but by the clarity and beauty of form and the relationship
between those forms. God is One. I am whole and so is everything else. How
different from the postmodern morass we now live in.
Sadly, we seldom saw the Catholic synthesis move beyond
philosophers’ books and mystics’ prayers. The rest of us Catholics remained in
a fragmented and dualistic world, usually looking for the
contaminating/heretical element to punish or the unworthy member to expel. Once
the great chain of being was broken, we were soon unable to see the Divine
Image even in our own species, except the few folks who were just like us. Then
it was only a short time before the Enlightenment and modern secularism denied
the whole heavenly sphere, and finally doubted Divinity itself and “God was
dead.” Many now live in such an un-enchanted universe, and the results are not
pretty.
Either we acknowledge that God is in all things, or we have
lost the basis for seeing God in anything.
References:
[1] Bonaventure, The Life of Saint Francis, trans. Ewert
Cousins (HarperCollins, 2005), 84.
[2] Bonaventure, Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey to God, I,
9, trans. Ewert Cousins (New York: Paulist Press, 1978) 63.
[3] Meister Eckhart, The Complete Mystical Works of Meister
Eckhart, ed. by Maurice O’Connell Walshe, revised by Bernard McGinn (New York:
Crossroad, 2009), 275.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, “The Great Chain of Being,”
Radical Grace, Vol 20 No 2 (CAC: 2007); and
Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (Jossey-Bass:
2013), 117.
God's Fingerprints
There is one God and Creator of all, who is over all, who
works through all, and is within all. —Ephesians 4:6
Bonaventure took Francis of Assisi’s lay intuitive genius
and spelled it out in an entire philosophy and theology. He wrote: “The
magnitude of things . . . clearly manifests . . . the wisdom and goodness of
the triune God, who by power, presence and essence exists uncircumscribed in
all things.” [1] God is “within all things but not enclosed; outside all
things, but not excluded; above all things, but not aloof; below all things,
but not debased.” [2] Bonaventure spoke of God as one “whose center is
everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.” [3] Therefore the origin,
magnitude, multitude, beauty, fullness, activity, and order of all created
things are the very “footprints” and “fingerprints” (vestigia) of God. Now that
is quite a lovely and very safe universe to live in. Welcome home!
Bonaventure continues:
Whoever, therefore, is not enlightened by such splendor of
created things is blind; whoever is not awakened by such outcries is deaf;
whoever does not praise God because of all these effects is dumb; whoever does
not discover the First Principle from such signs is a fool.
Therefore, open your eyes, alert the ears of your spirit,
open your lips and apply your heart so that in all creatures you may see, hear,
praise, love and worship, glorify and honor your God, lest the whole world rise
against you. [4]
It is hard to imagine how different the last 800 years might
have been if this truly catholic vision had formed more Christians. But our
common seeing has been partial, punitive, and prejudicial. The individual was
allowed to decide and discriminate as to where and if God’s image would be
recognized and honored. Sinners, heretics, witches, Muslims, slaves, Jews,
blacks, natives, buffalo, whales, elephants, land, and water were all the
losers. And we dared to call ourselves monotheists or believers in one coherent
world.
Until we weep over these sins and publicly own our own
complicity in the destruction of God’s people and God’s creation, we are surely
doomed to remain blind; and we will likely keep looking for “acceptable”
scapegoats. We always think the problem is elsewhere, whereas the Gospel keeps
the pressure of conversion on me. As far as the soul is concerned, no one else
is your problem. You are your problem. “You be converted, and live” says the
biblical tradition (Mark 1:15).
Jesus tried to keep us within and connected to the great
chain of being by taking away from us the power to scapegoat and project onto
enemies and outsiders. We were not to break the chain by hating, eliminating,
or expelling the other. He commanded us to love the enemy and gave us himself
as universal Victim so we would get the point—and stop creating victims.
References:
[1] Bonaventure, Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey to God, I,
14, trans. Ewert Cousins (Paulist Press: 1978), 65.
[2] Ibid., 5, 8, 100-101.
[3] Ibid., 5, 8, 100.
[4] Ibid., 1, 15, 67-68.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, “The Great Chain of Being,”
Radical Grace, Vol 20 No 2 (CAC: 2007).
Loving both Jesus and
Christ
I believe that Francis of Assisi was unique and ahead of his
time for loving and relating to both the historical Jesus and the eternal
Christ at the same time, surely without fully realizing what he was doing.
Francis himself just “knew” it and lived it intuitively. Most Christians were
never encouraged to combine the personal with the universal, or Jesus with
Christ; nor were we told that we could honor and love both of them.
Some Eastern Fathers and early mystics—like Maximus the
Confessor, Symeon the New Theologian, and Gregory of Nyssa—brilliantly taught
these ideas, but they remained largely undeveloped in the West after the Great
Schism of 1054. This is one example of how the Christ Mystery was portioned out
each time the Body of Christ divided (1 Corinthians 1:12-13) or identified with
Empire (Matthew 4:8-10), as it did in both Rome and Constantinople.
It is important to place ourselves in the largest possible
frame, or we always revert back to a very non-catholic (“unwhole”) place where
both the savior and the saved ones end up being far too small, where Jesus of
Nazareth has been separated from the Eternal Christ. Here Christianity becomes
just another competing world religion and salvation is privatized because the
social and historical message has been lost. The full Gospel is so much bigger
and more inclusive than that: Jesus is the historical figure and Christ is the
cosmic figure—and together they carry both the individual and history forward.
We made Christ into Jesus’ last name instead of realizing it
was the description of his universal role in history and potentially in all
world religions. I fully believe that there has never been a single soul that
was not possessed by the Eternal Christ, even in the ages before the
incarnation of Jesus. And I believe both well-studied Scripture and the Great
Tradition will lead you to the same conclusion. Christ is eternal; Jesus is
born in time. Jesus without Christ invariably becomes a time-bound and
culturally-bound religion that excludes much of humanity from Christ’s embrace.
On the other end, Christ without Jesus would easily become an abstract metaphysics
or a mere ideology without personal engagement. We must believe in Jesus and
Christ.
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative
Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 211-213.
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR EASTER “SEASON”
This comment is taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the nativity, Timoneum, Archdiocese of Baltimore. His weekly blog can be found here
We have a saying here at Nativity: “You’re always in a season.” Just as in nature, we always find ourselves in corresponding seasons of growth and fertility, seasons of maturation and harvest, seasons of decline and death. Knowing what “season” you and your church are in can be a great help for reflecting on the past and present as well as preparing for the future. Even on a secular level, retailers, for instance, know that customers are more likely to come on certain days, times, or seasons of the year, and so focus their attention and energy on making the most of the opportunity.
For whatever reason there seems to be a “mini-season” between Easter Sunday and Mother’s Day of increased attendance and activity at church. Maybe it was a great Easter experience that prompted a resolution to give church another try, or just the feeling of renewal, of getting up and active now that the last of winter is gone.
Here are a few ideas to take the full advantage of the spring season at your church.
A Season of Fellowship
Fellowship—sharing and growing together as a community—is one of the five purposes of the church (along with worship, service, evangelization, discipleship). When you know attendance will be high, focus on activities that build fellowship. Look for fun and enjoyable ways to introduce visitors to your community as well as deepen bonds between your regular attendees.
If your church indoor space is limited, take advantage of the nice weather and move outdoors. Pick a weekend to rent a tent, invite some local food trucks, and create an environment your parishioners and visitors can relax and play not limited to their usual Mass times or ministry circles.
A Season of Celebration
Liturgically, Easter is a season of celebration. So celebrate. Make celebration not just a one-day event but what the season actually is- 50 days of rejoicing. Find opportunities to celebrate what’s been good and what you look forward to for your church community. At Nativity, we are launching a new message series called “Vision” to help paint a positive picture of where we want our church to go. For someone who’s been away and just stepping back into the life of the church, witnessing joy and celebration can get them excited about what they’re getting themselves into.
A Season of Preparation
Now is the time people are making summer plans, not after summer starts. Summer matters for a church, and spring is the time to get the word out. Even though attendance drops in the summer in most places, the slower pace and more one-off programs like missions, youth camps and trips, summer Bible school, can encourage different faces to experience your community. Summer, in turn, can be a set up for more extensive participation in the fall. For example adults, summers at Nativity are times for hosting more flexible and short-term small groups and Bible studies, especially aimed at those who liked the idea but felt too busy during the rest of the year.
Make the most of the Easter “Season.”
Story, theology and drama in the Gospel of John
During our liturgies over the coming weeks we will hear frequently from the Gospel of John, which is chosen by the Church to ‘introduce the profound mysteries celebrated each year during Lent and Easter’. Peter Edmonds SJ guides us through the evangelist’s unique narrative and encourages us to read the whole of this ‘religious classic’ for ourselves. Peter Edmonds SJ is a member of the Jesuit community in Stamford Hill, North London. The original of this article can be found here
‘Religious classics can prove meaningful in every age; they have an enduring power to open new horizons, to stimulate thought, to expand the mind and the heart,’ writes Pope Francis in his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (§256). One such religious classic is the fourth gospel, commonly known as the Gospel of John. This is the gospel from which we hear most often in the Sunday liturgies of the most solemn part of the Church’s year, Lent and Easter. Before Easter, we meet the Samaritan woman, the man born blind and Lazarus who was brought back from the tomb. In Holy Week, we hear John’s account of the Washing of the Feet and the Passion of Jesus. After Easter, we have John’s version of the finding of the empty tomb, the commissions of the risen Christ to his apostles both in Jerusalem and Galilee, Jesus’s self-description of himself as the Good Shepherd, and extracts from the long Last Supper discourse which prepare us for Pentecost.
Yet if we consult the gospel itself, we realise that there are many parts which we do not hear. A positive exercise for the seasons of Lent and Easter is to read this religious classic as a whole and to make it our own. What follows is offered as a help to facilitate such a reading. We recall first how we may divide the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, the Synoptic Gospels, into four parts.
We first identify their prologues, which tell readers what they need to know in order to understand the narrative that follows. (e.g. Mark 1:1-13)
Secondly, we familiarise ourselves with the body of their story, which reports the teaching, preaching and healing activity of Jesus. The bulk of this takes place in Galilee on both sides of its lake (e.g. Mark 1:15-8:21); this Galilean ministry is followed by an account of the journey of Jesus with his disciples to Jerusalem (e.g. Mark 8:22-10:52).
Thirdly, we read of events in Jerusalem. After a brief ministry in the Jerusalem Temple, Jesus is arrested, tried before religious and secular authorities, and then cruelly executed by crucifixion. We may also give this section the title, ‘Final Days’. (e.g. Mark 11:1-13:37; 14:1-15:47)
Finally, there is an epilogue, which tells of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead and the appearances which followed. In contrast to the passion accounts which run in parallel, the three Synoptic gospels vary considerably in their details and contents. (e.g. Mark 16:1-20)
But gospels offer us more than the story they tell. Their story is at the service of the theology they contain, as they teach us about God, Christ, the Church and the demands of discipleship. The evangelists write as pastors to deepen the faith of their communities. We must also investigate the literary means through which they tell the story, the drama of the plot and the characters that are portrayed. Restricting ourselves to John’s Gospel, we explore the four parts of the gospel narrative which we have identified under the headings of ‘Story’, ‘Theology’ and ‘Drama’.
Prologue (1:1-2:22)
The Story
We repeat that the role of gospel prologues is to tell readers what they need to know in order to understand the narrative that follows. The heading of ‘prologue’ is usually given to the first eighteen verses of John, which begin, ‘ In the beginning was the word. . .’ We argue that the contents right up to 2:22 have the function of a prologue, because each part offers basic knowledge which prepares us for the events to be told in the body of the gospel. Thus, after the ‘prologue about Christ’ (1:1-18), we have a prologue about disciples (1:19-51), a domestic story about a wedding (2:1-11) and a public story about the cleansing of the Temple (2:12-22).
The Theology
In these ‘prologues’, we learn theological truths. In the first, we learn about the person and career of Jesus. In the second, we reflect on the vocation and career of disciples with whom we may identify. In the third, we are taught how in Christ, the water of the past becomes the abundant wine of the present (Amos 9:13), as God remarries his people (Hosea 2:16). In the fourth, as Jesus cleanses the Temple, we see how in his own person, he replaces and brings about the fulfilment of the institutions and persons of the Old Testament.
The Drama
As for the dramatic presentation of this material, we may identify the shape of the first part as that of a hymn (1:1-18), but thereafter we note how the story is told in brief paragraphs or, in technical language, ‘pericopes’, which are typical of the Synoptic gospels, but unusual for this gospel.
Body (2:23-12:50)
The Story
There are major differences in the way that John’s Gospel treats the story in the ‘body’ of the gospel in contrast to the Synoptics. We find no mention of exorcisms, no parables and only two references to the ‘kingdom of God’ (3:3,5). The subject of Jesus’s preaching is his own person, his identity and his relationship with the Father who sent him, whose character and teaching he reveals (5:19).
Nor does John include what in the Synoptics are called ‘miracles’, or ‘acts of power’ (Greek: dunameis). In their stead, he presents us with a series of events which he calls ‘signs’ (Greek: semeia), which provide occasion for teaching, dialogue and at times confrontation. We have already mentioned the first ‘sign’ at Cana in our ‘prologue’ section (2:1-12). The second is the healing of the official’s son, which also takes place at Cana (4:46-54). The third is the healing of the sick man at the pool (5:1-9), the fourth the multiplication of the bread (6:1-15), the fifth the cure of the blind man (9:1-7) and the sixth the raising of Lazarus (11:38-44). This makes six, but the perfect number is seven: the seventh and final sign is his being lifted up on the cross and his ascension into heaven (chs.18-21).
Whereas in the Synoptic gospels, Jesus has brief meetings with individuals and communicates in short sayings, in John we read of lengthy encounters with individuals, including Nicodemus (2:23-3:15), the Samaritan woman (4:4-42), the man born blind (9:1-41), and Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary (11:17-37). These can be regarded as representative figures. In chapter 6, he has a long encounter with a crowd and chapters 5, 7, 8 and 10 report long and controversial confrontations with the authorities. These mostly take place at festival times, such as Passover (6:1-71), Tabernacles (7:1-8:59) and Dedication (10:22-42).
The Theology
From these signs and encounters, we build up our vision of the theology of John. Here are some examples. God is one who so loved the world that he gave his only Son (3:16). Jesus is Saviour of the world (4:42), the light of the world (8:12), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the bread come down from heaven (6:51), the gate of the sheepfold (10:7) and the shepherd (10:11). At times he simply describes himself as the ‘I am’ (8:58), which puts us in mind of the name that God gave himself in the presence of Moses (Exodus 3:6).
A major point of difference with other gospels is the claim of Jesus to a previous existence. Not only is he destined to ascend to heaven, as Moses and Elijah were believed to have done in the past (2 Kings 2:11), but as Son of Man, he has come down from heaven (1:51; 3:13). He asks no questions in this gospel, because he knows about people and is in control of events (2:24, 6:6). But he is still human: he is weary when he meets the woman at the well (4:6); he has to take food (4:31), even though his food is to do the will of the Father (4:34); before raising Lazarus from the tomb he is disturbed (11:38); and as his ministry came to an end, he admitted before the crowd, ‘now my soul is troubled’ (12:27).
Three times he announces that he lays down his life for his sheep (10:11,15, 17), but he does this in order to take it up again (10:17). He is to be ‘lifted up’ (3:14; 8:28; 12:32); he came that we may have life and have it more abundantly (1o:10). He brings about the judgement of this world (5:27). Thus he tells the crowds, ‘Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out’ (12:31).
The Drama
Much of John’s gospel is a gift to the dramatist. Many have been the dramatisations of the story of the woman at the well (ch.4), of the man born blind (ch.9) and of the raising of Lazarus (ch.11), scenes which form a traditional Lenten catechesis which prepares for the conferring or recall of Baptism at Easter (Sundays 3-5 in year A, optional in year B and C). Discourse and dialogue are often combined (chs. 4, 6, 9, 11). Chapter 6 seems to be based on a homily centred around texts from the Pentateuch, Wisdom and Prophets (6:31, 35, 45).
Final Days (13:1-19:42)
It is better to give the title ‘Final Days’, rather than ‘Events in Jerusalem’, to this part of John’s Gospel, because Jesus has already made several visits to Jerusalem in contrast to the single visit recorded in the Synoptic gospels. The solemn tone with which chapter 13 begins indicates that here we begin a major section of the gospel (13:1).
The Story
The Last Supper extends over chapters 13-17. A surprise is that we find no mention of the Eucharist, which is an essential part of the Synoptic account of events before the Passion of Jesus (e.g. Mark 14:22-25). John’s story begins with the Washing of the Feet. This is followed by a long discourse, probably modelled on the farewell speeches found in the Old Testament, such as that of Jacob to his sons (Genesis 49:1). John’s passion account is the shortest (18:1-19:42). He repeats much of the tradition that we find in the Synoptics, but he omits the prayer in Gethsemane and the trial before the Jewish authorities. He informs us that Roman soldiers were present at the arrest of Jesus and that after Jesus’s death, blood and water flowed from his side.
The Theology
A key word is in the discourse at the supper is ‘love’: we find it at the beginning (13:1), end (17:26) and the centre of the discourse (15:9-10). Jesus speaks about peace (14:27); of himself as the vine (15:1); of joy (15:11; 16:22), glory (17:1), the world (17:9) and unity (17:22). He explains how his disciples would see him again (14:3) and at the conclusion of the discourse, he prays the longest of gospel prayers (17:1-26). He identifies himself as ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (14:6). He teaches about the ‘Paraclete’ who would continue his own presence in the world once he had departed to the Father (14:15-17; 14:26; 15:26-27; 16:7-11, 12-15).
The passion story is not so much the story of Jesus’s crucifixion as an account of his enthronement, his being ‘lifted up’ (3:14; 8:28; 12:32). It is Pilate rather than Jesus who is on trial. The blood and water that flowed from his side look back to the prophets (Ezekiel 47) and forward to the sacraments.
The Drama
In the farewell speech, a new Jacob speaks to his sons (Gen 49), preparing them for the future and commissioning them. The various questions put by his bewildered disciples add dramatic variety (14:5, 8; 16:7). In the passion story itself, we may highlight the dramatic nature of:
The seven Pilate scenes, with Pilate and Jesus moving inside and outside, and discussing themes like kingship, truth and power. The ‘light of the world’ (8:12) encounters the powers of this world (18:28-19:16)
The five ‘stations of the cross’ which present a king enthroned, ordering the future for the little Church of his believing mother (2:1-11) and the loving and loved disciple (13:23) to whom he hands over his spirit (19:16-37).
Epilogue (20:1-21:25)
The Story
This has two conclusions. The first, set in Jerusalem, after relating various appearances of the Risen Christ, explains why the gospel was written. ‘These are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God and that through believing you may have life in his name’ (20:31). The second is set in Galilee, and has its own conclusion: ‘There are many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself would not contain them’ (21:25).
The Theology
Through the various appearances of the Risen Jesus in Jerusalem, we learn how the disciples were brought to faith. Particular models of faith are the anonymous Beloved Disciple, Mary Magdalen and Thomas. It is made clear that the disciples are to continue the mission of Jesus. They are accompanied by the Holy Spirit (20:1-29).
By means of his appearances in Galilee, we learn how Peter was to take over Jesus’s role as shepherd; the Paraclete, spoken about at the Last Supper, was not sufficient alone. Meanwhile the Beloved Disciple was to remain until Jesus came again. We surmise that this figure was more than a historical person in the life of Jesus but was a symbol of the role that every faithful disciple would play in the life of the Church (21:1-23).
The Drama
This is provided by lively and unforgettable narratives: in Jerusalem, the race to the tomb, the dialogue of the Risen Jesus with Mary Magdalen, the meeting with fearful disciples in the upper room, the confession of ‘doubting’ Thomas; and in Galilee, the miraculous catch of fish, the dialogue with Peter, which echoes his three denials during the passion. In all these incidents, we see the ‘good shepherd’ in action bringing abundant life to his sheep (10:10).
Warning: Weigh the risks
It is fitting that we read this gospel during Lent and Easter when we are at our best spiritually. It took time before this gospel was accepted in early Christianity. It was regarded as a dangerous gospel, to be handled with care, because it carried two main risks. It could lead to a neglect of the humanity of Christ, as if the divine Jesus was only pretending to be human. This is known as the heresy of Docetism. It could also lead disciples to claim they could not sin, because they have already undergone judgement in their encounters with the Christ whose glory they have seen. This is known as Gnosticism. These issues are addressed in the Letters of John, which are probably to be dated after the gospel. This writer ‘declared to you what we have seen and heard’ (1 John 1:3) and warned that ‘if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves’ (1 John 1:8).
A true classic is a text to which we can return again and again, and always discover something new. Rarely indeed will we pick up the fourth gospel and not learn something fresh about the story, the theology and the drama which it contains. It was surely sound instinct and wisdom that led the Church from earliest times to adopt this gospel as its favourite pedagogical means to introduce the profound mysteries celebrated each year during Lent and Easter.
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