Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
To be a vibrant Catholic Community
unified in its commitment
to growing disciples for Christ
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
Mob: 0417 279 437
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
Mob: 0437 521 257
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 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,
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
Weekday Masses 1st - 4th August, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin … St Alphonsus Liguori
Next Weekend 29th & 30th July, 2017
Saturday: 9:30am Ulverstone
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
Ministry Rosters 5th & 6th August, 2017
Devonport: 
Cleaners 4th
August: M.W.C. 11th August: K.S.C
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
PREGO REFLECTION:
Readings next week – Transfiguration
of the Lord – Year A
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Mark Diaz, Victoria Webb, Dawn
Stevens, Robert Windebank & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Joan Davidson, Margaret Charlesworth,
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 26th July – 1st
August
May they rest in peace
Weekly
Ramblings
As I mentioned a few weeks back our Parish Pastoral Council
has been reflecting on how to find new ways to progress the work on making the
Parish Vision more of a reality. We will be holding a Parish Forum on Sunday
27th August from 2pm in the Community Room at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone
to explore some future directions. An invitation is extended to everyone to be
part of this process – more details will be available over the next few weeks.
A reminder that this coming Friday, 4th August, we have the
next Open House at Ulverstone. As usual the night starts at 6.30pm with food
and drink supplied – it is just an opportunity for people to get together in a
social atmosphere. Again, all welcome.
August is a busy month for other reasons as well. On the
weekend 19th/20th Archbishop Julian will be here to celebrate the Sacrament of
Confirmation. The preparation for 1st Eucharist will be part of this month’s
activities as well. These children will
be receiving the Eucharist for the first time on the 1st weekend of September.
As mentioned over the past few weeks the ordination to the
Priesthood of Deacon Paschal Okpon will take place in the Cathedral on Friday
15th September. Paschal will be here on Sunday 17th to celebrate a Mass of
Thanksgiving at the 10.30am Mass at OLOL – this will be followed by a luncheon
in the hall. If anyone wishing to contribute towards a gift is asked to please
place your offering in an envelope marked with his name on the collection plate
at Mass. A suitable gift for a newly ordained priest will be obtained and
presented to him on the day.
Irrespective of the Swans winning against the Hawks (Steven
Smith) last Friday night or against the Cats (Me) next Friday Fr Phil is
celebrating this weekend as this Sunday, 30th, marks the 46th Anniversary of
his Priestly Ordination – Congratulations and may God continue to bless you and
keep you safe.
Please take care on the roads and in your homes,
KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS: Please note change to
our meeting - this SUNDAY, 30th July, at 4pm at the Devonport Parish
Hall. Any men who are interested in joining this group are invited to come
along.
ST MARY MACKILLOP’S FEASTDAY :
Tuesday 8th August - You are warmly invited to celebrate this
special occasion by joining us for afternoon tea at 123 William Street, Forth –
Tuesday 8th August between 2:30pm and 5:30pm RSVP Monday 7th August,
Phone 6428:3095 Email rsjforth@bigpond.net.au
LIVING IN HOPE: SCRIPTURE GATHERINGS
FOOTY
TICKETS: Round 18 (21st July)
footy margin 21 – Winners; Marie Byrne, Declan Dalton-Smith.
BINGO - Thursday Nights
OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm! Callers for Thursday 3rd
August – Merv Tippett & Terry Bird.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
GRACEFEST: will come to Launceston this year
and it’s going to be HUGE as we will officially launch Tasmania’s pilgrimage to
the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Sydney! The event will be a small
taste of what you can expect at the festival this year which will itself
involve more than 15,000 participants. We’re very excited to welcome Stephen
Kirk and his band along with Sam Clear who will also be speaking at the ACYF.
The night will include live music, food, talks, praise & worship,
activities, discussion, fellowship, adoration, and much more that will all add
to the festivities. Gracefest will be held on Saturday 12 August from 6pm-9pm
at St Ailbe’s Hall, Margaret St Launceston and is open to all young people from
year 9 up until 30 years of age. Registration for the event is free and you
will simply need to visit the following website to register online: www.gracefesttasmania.org.au for more info on the event, email youth@aohtas.org.au or call Tom 0400 045
368.
TASMANIAN PARLIAMENTARY PRAYER BREAKFAST: An opportunity to learn from the story of an exceptional
role model, who as a committed Christian, provided leadership to the NSW Police
Force for 9 ½ years. 
Grace and mercy teach us that we are all much more than the
good or bad stories we tell about ourselves. These self-made identities are
based on hurts and unconscious agendas that allow us to see and judge things in
a very selective way. Strangely, your real life is not about “you.” It is part
of a much larger stream.
References:
This is an article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI, The original of the aticle can be found here
Several years ago Hollywood made a movie, City of Angels, about an angel named Seth whose job it was to accompany the spirits of the recently deceased to the afterlife. On one such mission, waiting in a hospital, he fell in love with a brilliant young woman surgeon. As an angel, Seth has never experienced touch or taste and now, deeply in love, he longs to physically touch and make love to his beloved. But this is his dilemma: As an angel with free will he has the option to let go of his angelic status and become a human person, but only at the cost of renouncing his present immortality as an angel.
It’s a tough choice: Immortality, but no sensual experience, or, sensual experience, but with all the contingencies that earthily morality brings – diminishment, aging, sickness, eventual death? He chooses the latter, renouncing his status as an immortal angel for the pleasure that earthly senses can bring.
The vast majority of people watching this movie, I suspect, will laud his choice. Most everything in our hearts moves us to believe that it’s cold and inhuman not to make this choice. The overpowering reality of the senses, especially when in love, can make everything else seem unreal, ethereal, and second best. What we experience through our senses, what we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is what’s real for us. We have our own version of Descartes. For us, the indubitable is: I feel, therefore, I am!
Spirituality, in virtually every major religious tradition, at least in its popular conception, has seemingly said the opposite. Spirit has classically (and sometimes almost dogmatically) been affirmed as above the senses, as higher, superior, a needed guard against the senses. Sensual pleasure, except for how it was occasionally honored in the realm of aesthetics, was perennially denigrated as furtive, superficial, and a hindrance to the spiritual life. We took St. Paul’s admonition that the “flesh lusts against the spirit” in the Greek, dualistic sense where body is bad and spirit is good.
Today, in the secularized world, the opposite seems true. The senses resoundingly trump the spirit. Secularized angels, unlike the religious angels of old, make the same option as Seth. The seeming vagueness of the spirit is no match for the reality of the senses.
So which is more real?
At the end of the day, it’s a false dichotomy. Our senses and our spirit both offer life, both are very important, and neither operates without the other.
As Christians, we believe that we’re both body and soul, flesh and spirit, and that neither can be separated from the other. We’re both mammal and angel, and in our search for life, meaning, happiness, and God, we should not forget that we are both. Our spirit is open to life only through our senses, and our senses provide depth and meaning only because they are animated by spirit.
We all know the few things that man, as mammal, can do, William Auden once wrote. He’s right, but we’re not just mammal we’re equally part angel and once we add that to the equation then the very limited joys that mammals can enjoy (animal pleasure) can become unlimited joys for us as human in what we can experience in love, friendship, altruism, aesthetics, sexuality, mysticism, food, drink, humor. Our senses make these real, even as our spirit gives them meaning.
And so a healthy spirituality needs to honor both the senses and the spirit. The ordinary pleasures of life can be deep or shallow, more mystical or more mammal, depending upon how much we honor what’s spirit and what’s angel within us. Conversely, our spirituality and our prayer lives can be real or more of a fantasy, depending upon how much we incarnate them in what’s sensual and what’s mammal within us.
This holds true in every realm of our lives. For example, sexuality can be deep or shallow, more mystical or more mammal, contingent upon how much of it is soul and how much of it is merely sensual; just as it can be disembodied, sterile, and merely fantasy, contingent upon it also being body and not just soul. The same is true of our experience of beauty, be that in our seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, or smelling. Any sensual experience can be deep or shallow; depending upon how much soul is in it, just as any experience of beauty can seem unreal and imaginary if it is too divorced from the senses.
Some years ago, I was attending a seminar in anthropology. At one point, the lecturer said this: “What psychology and spirituality keep forgetting is that we are mammals.” As a theologian and spiritual writer (and celibate) the truth of his words hit me hard. He’s right! How easily do we forget this in religious circles. But religious circles are right too in consistently reminding us that we are also an angel.
Poor Seth, the tormented angel of City of Angels, he shouldn’t have had to make that choice.
GOSSIP: IT CAN POISON YOUR STAFF AND STUNT CHURCH GROWTH
Taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore USA. You can read the original blog here
As a Pastor or staff leader, one of the biggest challenges you’ll face is managing and mentoring your staff. You’ll often be involved in things that will take you out of your comfort zone – handling gossip will be one of those things. Unfortunately, your church will never be a healthy growing church if gossip is part of your staff culture.
Here are three steps you can take today:
1. Be clear about what gossip is and what it is not.
Dave Ramsey, at Ramsey Solutions, has a zero-tolerance policy about gossip. You get one warning and if you continue to gossip you are fired. Although this may seem harsh, it works. To enforce such a policy however, you’ve got to be clear about what gossip is and what gossip is not. Here’s our definition:
Gossip is when you’re talking critically about someone or something, and you’re not part of the problem and you’re not part of the solution.
2. Deal with the problem right away.
When you hear about gossip, you need to deal with the problem right away, especially if you’re the pastor or hold a leadership position on staff. Gossip is a poison in your staff culture, it must be purged, it cannot be ignored or its impact will expand. Confront it: discreetly, firmly, and immediately, whenever you uncover it or whenever you suspect it.
Also, when staff or volunteers come to you to “complain” about others, hear them out and then graciously send them back to that person, or agree to go with them.
3. Encourage “positive” gossip.
When parish staffs share positive stories with one another it can be very good for the staff culture. Every Monday, we have a “Wins” meeting. Our staff prays together and discusses what happened during the previous weekend that constitutes a win for us. This gives us the opportunity to share positive stories from the weekend, encouraging everyone and thanking those involved. As a staff we are not in the least self-congratulatory in front of the congregation, but behind the scenes we definitely are. “Positive” gossip, over time, can change your staff culture and when people see a healthy staff culture, they want to be a part of it. Nothing is more attractive.
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Weekday Masses 1st - 4th August, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin … St Alphonsus Liguori
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon Devonport … St Dominic
Friday: 9:30am
Ulverstone …St John Vianney
9:30am Devonport
Next Weekend 29th & 30th July, 2017
Saturday: 9:30am Ulverstone
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 5th & 6th August, 2017
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: V Riley, A Stegmann, M Stewart
10:30am: A
Hughes, T Barrientos, P Piccolo
Ministers of
Communion: Vigil: D
Peters, M Heazlewood, T Muir, M Gerrand, P Shelverton, M Kenney
10.30am: F Sly, E Petts, K Hull, S Arrowsmith, S Samarakkody,
R Batepola
Cleaners 4th
August: M.W.C. 11th August: K.S.C
Piety Shop 5th
August: R McBain 6th August: P Piccolo
Ulverstone:
Readers: J & S Willoughby
Ministers of Communion: M Byrne, D Griffin, K Foster, R
Locket
Cleaners: B & V
McCall, G Doyle Flowers: G Doyle
Hospitality:
B O’Rourke, S McGrath
Penguin:
Greeter: J Garnsey Commentator: E Nickols
Readers:
J Garnsey, A
Guest
Ministers of
Communion: M
Hiscutt, T Clayton Liturgy: Pine Road
Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: Y & R Downes
Latrobe:
Reader: M Eden Ministers of Communion: Z Smith, M Mackey Procession of Gifts: M Clarke
Port Sorell:
Readers: M Badcock, D Leaman Ministers of Communion: T Jeffries Cleaners/Flowers/Prep: G Bellchambers, M Gillard
Readings this week – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
First Reading: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Second Reading: Romans 8:28-30
Gospel: Matthew 13:44-52
PREGO REFLECTION:
In a place where I like to pray, I take a deep breath and
try to slow down. Perhaps I repeat a favourite phrase such as: 'Speak, Lord,
your servant is listening'. When I am ready, I read today’s Gospel passage
prayerfully, maybe more than once. I ponder. The treasure was found by
accident, while the merchant was actively looking for the pearl. When I reflect
on my faith and the riches it has brought me, do I identify with the one who
found this treasure unexpectedly, or with the one who did a lot of searching
first? I speak to the Lord about this and I listen to him. Perhaps, in my
imagination, I see the fishermen hauling a net full of all kinds of fish, but
also plastic bottles, and other flotsam and jetsam. Is that the image I have of
the kingdom of heaven? How do I feel at the prospect of the fishermen sorting
the contents of their catch: anxious, threatened, or trusting in the Lord’s
absolute love for me? When the Lord asks me: 'Have you understood all this?’
what response do I make? To conclude my prayer, I may want to simply say: 'Thy
Kingdom come'.
Readings next week – Transfiguration
of the Lord – Year A
First Reading: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Second Reading: 2 Peter 1:16-19
Gospel:
Matthew 17:1-9
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Mark Diaz, Victoria Webb, Dawn
Stevens, Robert Windebank & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Joan Davidson, Margaret Charlesworth,
Peter
Sulzberger, Jimmy Powell, Fr John Reilly, Ashton Shirley, Michael Byrne, Don Mochrie, Maryanne
Banks, Maria
Minoza, Mary Ann Castillano, David Jones, Frances Preston, John Csoka, Pedro Reyes, Celina
Rego, Patricia Woods.
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 26th July – 1st
August
Bronaslawa Ryba, Lola
Rutherford, Joseph Hiscutt, Andrea Wright, Dorothy Hawkes, Mary Beaumont, Nita
Anthony, Enis Lord, Vicky Bennett, Eileen King,
Shirley Mooney, Molly Walsh, Helga Walker, Terence Maskell, Kathleen
Bellchambers, Dorothy Smeaton, Merlyn
Veracruz, Peggy Kelly, Jean Fox and Bronaslawa Ryba.
May they rest in peace
Weekly
Ramblings
As I mentioned a few weeks back our Parish Pastoral Council
has been reflecting on how to find new ways to progress the work on making the
Parish Vision more of a reality. We will be holding a Parish Forum on Sunday
27th August from 2pm in the Community Room at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone
to explore some future directions. An invitation is extended to everyone to be
part of this process – more details will be available over the next few weeks.
A reminder that this coming Friday, 4th August, we have the
next Open House at Ulverstone. As usual the night starts at 6.30pm with food
and drink supplied – it is just an opportunity for people to get together in a
social atmosphere. Again, all welcome.
August is a busy month for other reasons as well. On the
weekend 19th/20th Archbishop Julian will be here to celebrate the Sacrament of
Confirmation. The preparation for 1st Eucharist will be part of this month’s
activities as well. These children will
be receiving the Eucharist for the first time on the 1st weekend of September.
As mentioned over the past few weeks the ordination to the
Priesthood of Deacon Paschal Okpon will take place in the Cathedral on Friday
15th September. Paschal will be here on Sunday 17th to celebrate a Mass of
Thanksgiving at the 10.30am Mass at OLOL – this will be followed by a luncheon
in the hall. If anyone wishing to contribute towards a gift is asked to please
place your offering in an envelope marked with his name on the collection plate
at Mass. A suitable gift for a newly ordained priest will be obtained and
presented to him on the day.
Irrespective of the Swans winning against the Hawks (Steven
Smith) last Friday night or against the Cats (Me) next Friday Fr Phil is
celebrating this weekend as this Sunday, 30th, marks the 46th Anniversary of
his Priestly Ordination – Congratulations and may God continue to bless you and
keep you safe.
Please take care on the roads and in your homes,
KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS: Please note change to
our meeting - this SUNDAY, 30th July, at 4pm at the Devonport Parish
Hall. Any men who are interested in joining this group are invited to come
along.
ST MARY MACKILLOP’S FEASTDAY :
Tuesday 8th August - You are warmly invited to celebrate this
special occasion by joining us for afternoon tea at 123 William Street, Forth –
Tuesday 8th August between 2:30pm and 5:30pm RSVP Monday 7th August,
Phone 6428:3095 Email rsjforth@bigpond.net.au
LIVING IN HOPE: SCRIPTURE GATHERINGS
What – a series of 3 sessions based on the Sunday Gospels
When – Thursday mornings 10am -11:30am August 10th, 17th
& 24th
Where - ‘Parish House’ 90 Stewart Street, Devonport.
If you would like to join this group for
reflection/discussion please contact Clare Kiely-Hoye 6428:2760 before Friday 4th
August.
FOOTY
TICKETS: Round 18 (21st July)
footy margin 21 – Winners; Marie Byrne, Declan Dalton-Smith.
OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm! Callers for Thursday 3rd
August – Merv Tippett & Terry Bird.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
GRACEFEST: will come to Launceston this year
and it’s going to be HUGE as we will officially launch Tasmania’s pilgrimage to
the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Sydney! The event will be a small
taste of what you can expect at the festival this year which will itself
involve more than 15,000 participants. We’re very excited to welcome Stephen
Kirk and his band along with Sam Clear who will also be speaking at the ACYF.
The night will include live music, food, talks, praise & worship,
activities, discussion, fellowship, adoration, and much more that will all add
to the festivities. Gracefest will be held on Saturday 12 August from 6pm-9pm
at St Ailbe’s Hall, Margaret St Launceston and is open to all young people from
year 9 up until 30 years of age. Registration for the event is free and you
will simply need to visit the following website to register online: www.gracefesttasmania.org.au for more info on the event, email youth@aohtas.org.au or call Tom 0400 045
368.
TASMANIAN PARLIAMENTARY PRAYER BREAKFAST: An opportunity to learn from the story of an exceptional
role model, who as a committed Christian, provided leadership to the NSW Police
Force for 9 ½ years.
Andrew Scipione AO APM, former NSW Police Commissioner, is
the guest speaker at the 12th Tasmanian Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast. Kelly
Ottoway and Randal Muir, accomplished Tasmanian musicians, will be performing
along with St Mary’s College Choir. Wed August 16, 2017 from 7 – 9 am in the
Federation Ballroom of Hotel Grand Chancellor.
For bookings go to our new website:
tasmanianprayerbreakfast.com or contact Susan on 0407 499 456
Trust the River
This article is taken from the daily email series published by Fr Richard Rohr OFM. You can subscribe by clicking here
Grace and mercy teach us that we are all much more than the
good or bad stories we tell about ourselves. These self-made identities are
based on hurts and unconscious agendas that allow us to see and judge things in
a very selective way. Strangely, your real life is not about “you.” It is part
of a much larger stream.
The Spirit is described as “flowing water” and as “a spring
inside you” (John 4:10-14), a “river of life” (Revelation 22:1-2). Faith is
trusting the Big River of God’s providential love, which is to trust the
visible embodiment (the Son), the flow (the Holy Spirit), and the source itself
(the Father). This is a divine process that we don’t have to change, coerce, or
improve. We just need to allow and enjoy it. That takes immense confidence,
especially when we’re hurting.
Usually, I can feel myself get panicky. Then I want to
quickly make things right. I lose my ability to be present, ignoring my body
and heart while my mind is obsessing. I’m oriented toward goals and making things
happen, trying to push or even create my own river. Yet the Big River already
flows through me and I am only one small part of it.
Faith does not need to push the river precisely because it
is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing; we are already in
it. So do not be afraid. We have been given the Spirit by a very proactive God.
Jesus understands this gift as a foregone conclusion: “If you, who are evil,
know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father
give you the Holy Spirit?” (Luke 11:13).
Simone Weil said, “Grace fills empty spaces but it can only
enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes
this void.” [1] Grace leads us to the state of emptiness, to that momentary
sense of meaninglessness in which we ask, “What is it all for? What does it all
mean?” All we can do is try to keep our hands cupped and open. And it is even
grace to do that. But we must want grace and know we need it.
Ask yourself regularly, “What am I afraid of? Does it
matter? Will it matter at the end or in the great scheme of things? Is it worth
holding on to?” Grace will lead us into such fears and emptiness, and grace
alone can fill them up, if we are willing to stay in the void. We mustn’t engineer
an answer too quickly. People of deep faith develop a high tolerance for
ambiguity and come to recognize that it is only the small self that needs
constant certitude or order. The Godself is perfectly at home in the River of
Mystery.
References:
[1] Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace, introductions by Gustave
Thibon & Thomas R. Nevin (Bison Books: 1997), 55.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of
Contemplative Prayer (The Crossroad Publishing Company: 2003), 46, 53, 142-144.
ANGELS AND THE CITY
This is an article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI, The original of the aticle can be found here
Several years ago Hollywood made a movie, City of Angels, about an angel named Seth whose job it was to accompany the spirits of the recently deceased to the afterlife. On one such mission, waiting in a hospital, he fell in love with a brilliant young woman surgeon. As an angel, Seth has never experienced touch or taste and now, deeply in love, he longs to physically touch and make love to his beloved. But this is his dilemma: As an angel with free will he has the option to let go of his angelic status and become a human person, but only at the cost of renouncing his present immortality as an angel.
It’s a tough choice: Immortality, but no sensual experience, or, sensual experience, but with all the contingencies that earthily morality brings – diminishment, aging, sickness, eventual death? He chooses the latter, renouncing his status as an immortal angel for the pleasure that earthly senses can bring.
The vast majority of people watching this movie, I suspect, will laud his choice. Most everything in our hearts moves us to believe that it’s cold and inhuman not to make this choice. The overpowering reality of the senses, especially when in love, can make everything else seem unreal, ethereal, and second best. What we experience through our senses, what we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is what’s real for us. We have our own version of Descartes. For us, the indubitable is: I feel, therefore, I am!
Spirituality, in virtually every major religious tradition, at least in its popular conception, has seemingly said the opposite. Spirit has classically (and sometimes almost dogmatically) been affirmed as above the senses, as higher, superior, a needed guard against the senses. Sensual pleasure, except for how it was occasionally honored in the realm of aesthetics, was perennially denigrated as furtive, superficial, and a hindrance to the spiritual life. We took St. Paul’s admonition that the “flesh lusts against the spirit” in the Greek, dualistic sense where body is bad and spirit is good.
Today, in the secularized world, the opposite seems true. The senses resoundingly trump the spirit. Secularized angels, unlike the religious angels of old, make the same option as Seth. The seeming vagueness of the spirit is no match for the reality of the senses.
So which is more real?
At the end of the day, it’s a false dichotomy. Our senses and our spirit both offer life, both are very important, and neither operates without the other.
As Christians, we believe that we’re both body and soul, flesh and spirit, and that neither can be separated from the other. We’re both mammal and angel, and in our search for life, meaning, happiness, and God, we should not forget that we are both. Our spirit is open to life only through our senses, and our senses provide depth and meaning only because they are animated by spirit.
We all know the few things that man, as mammal, can do, William Auden once wrote. He’s right, but we’re not just mammal we’re equally part angel and once we add that to the equation then the very limited joys that mammals can enjoy (animal pleasure) can become unlimited joys for us as human in what we can experience in love, friendship, altruism, aesthetics, sexuality, mysticism, food, drink, humor. Our senses make these real, even as our spirit gives them meaning.
And so a healthy spirituality needs to honor both the senses and the spirit. The ordinary pleasures of life can be deep or shallow, more mystical or more mammal, depending upon how much we honor what’s spirit and what’s angel within us. Conversely, our spirituality and our prayer lives can be real or more of a fantasy, depending upon how much we incarnate them in what’s sensual and what’s mammal within us.
This holds true in every realm of our lives. For example, sexuality can be deep or shallow, more mystical or more mammal, contingent upon how much of it is soul and how much of it is merely sensual; just as it can be disembodied, sterile, and merely fantasy, contingent upon it also being body and not just soul. The same is true of our experience of beauty, be that in our seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, or smelling. Any sensual experience can be deep or shallow; depending upon how much soul is in it, just as any experience of beauty can seem unreal and imaginary if it is too divorced from the senses.
Some years ago, I was attending a seminar in anthropology. At one point, the lecturer said this: “What psychology and spirituality keep forgetting is that we are mammals.” As a theologian and spiritual writer (and celibate) the truth of his words hit me hard. He’s right! How easily do we forget this in religious circles. But religious circles are right too in consistently reminding us that we are also an angel.
Poor Seth, the tormented angel of City of Angels, he shouldn’t have had to make that choice.
GOSSIP: IT CAN POISON YOUR STAFF AND STUNT CHURCH GROWTH
Taken from the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore USA. You can read the original blog here
As a Pastor or staff leader, one of the biggest challenges you’ll face is managing and mentoring your staff. You’ll often be involved in things that will take you out of your comfort zone – handling gossip will be one of those things. Unfortunately, your church will never be a healthy growing church if gossip is part of your staff culture.
Here are three steps you can take today:
1. Be clear about what gossip is and what it is not.
Dave Ramsey, at Ramsey Solutions, has a zero-tolerance policy about gossip. You get one warning and if you continue to gossip you are fired. Although this may seem harsh, it works. To enforce such a policy however, you’ve got to be clear about what gossip is and what gossip is not. Here’s our definition:
Gossip is when you’re talking critically about someone or something, and you’re not part of the problem and you’re not part of the solution.
2. Deal with the problem right away.
When you hear about gossip, you need to deal with the problem right away, especially if you’re the pastor or hold a leadership position on staff. Gossip is a poison in your staff culture, it must be purged, it cannot be ignored or its impact will expand. Confront it: discreetly, firmly, and immediately, whenever you uncover it or whenever you suspect it.
Also, when staff or volunteers come to you to “complain” about others, hear them out and then graciously send them back to that person, or agree to go with them.
3. Encourage “positive” gossip.
When parish staffs share positive stories with one another it can be very good for the staff culture. Every Monday, we have a “Wins” meeting. Our staff prays together and discusses what happened during the previous weekend that constitutes a win for us. This gives us the opportunity to share positive stories from the weekend, encouraging everyone and thanking those involved. As a staff we are not in the least self-congratulatory in front of the congregation, but behind the scenes we definitely are. “Positive” gossip, over time, can change your staff culture and when people see a healthy staff culture, they want to be a part of it. Nothing is more attractive.
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