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
ssm77097@bigpond.com
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 5th - 8th September, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Next Weekend 9th & 10th September, 2017
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
Ministry Rosters 9th & 10th September, 2017
Devonport: 
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
Readings this week – Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
PREGO REFLECTION:
I come to stillness in the way that suits me best, trusting
that I am in the presence of my loving God. When I am ready I turn prayerfully
to the text.
I may find it helpful to imagine myself present in the scene.
What
do I hear and see?
How do I feel as I listen to Jesus’s challenge to the
disciples … and to me?
I notice anything that resonates with me.
Perhaps I
think of a time when I have been a stumbling block to someone else, or when I have
put my own needs first.
If so, I ask for the Lord’s forgiveness, confident of
his merciful gaze upon me.
Or perhaps I ponder the shape of the cross in my own
life, or in the lives of those around me.
I speak to the Lord of this, as I
would to a trusted friend.
If there is a grace I need, I ask for it
confidently.
Jesus promises a fuller, deeper, life to all who have the courage
to follow him.
What is the life that I most desire … for myself … my family …
my church … this world?
I share my hopes and dreams with the Lord … and allow
him space to speak to me.
In time I end my prayer with a slow sign of the
cross, grateful for the gift of God’s unfailing love for me. Glory be ...
Readings next week – Twenty-Third Sunday
in Ordinary Time Year A
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Rex Bates, Victoria Webb, David
Welch, Vern Cazaly, Dawn Stevens & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Lyn Otley, Dorothy Leonard, Wendy Lander, George Flack, Veronica
Ygosse, Gertrude
Koerner, Alexander Obiorah (Snr), Kuppala Devadoss, Reginald (Mick) Poole, Fred
Melen.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 30th
August – 5th September
May they rest in peace
God our Father,
May God bless all Dads on earth and in heaven!
Birthday greetings to…….
Arch Jago - 100 on 26th
August
Weekly
Ramblings
The Parish Forum last Sunday was a great chance for a
goodly number of parishioners to get together and look at some of the things we
might take further as we move to ‘Realise our Vision’. The material that was
collected at the Forum is being collated and will be presented to the Parish
Pastoral Team at their next meeting on Wednesday 13th Sept. It is my hope that
there will be a report from the meeting available to the whole of the Parish
ASAP after that meeting, hopefully by the next weekend.
I don’t normally comment on the sudden death of
Parishioners but the tragic death of Lyn Otley in a traffic accident on Tuesday
afternoon has had a profound effect on quite a number of people. Lyn had been
with us at the Forum on Sunday and was part of our discussion about ways to
move forward. May she rest in peace.
I know they are mentioned elsewhere in the Newsletter today
but I would like to offer a very special prayer for the young people receiving
the Eucharist for the 1st time this weekend. May God continue to bless them and
keep them close to his heart so that they may continue to grow in their love of
God and their brothers and sisters.
I will be in Melbourne attending a Conference during this
coming week so please take care on the roads and in your homes,
SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:
Luca Adams Lily
Farr Joshua Lundstedt Joshua Parsons
ST VINCENT DE
THANKSGIVING MASS:
HEALING MASS:
FOOTY
TICKETS: Round 23 (25th August)
footy margin 9 – Winners; M Badcock, S Fidler
BINGO - Thursday Nights
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
SICK AND AGED PRIEST FUND APPEAL: Sunday 3rd
September: was
established to ensure that all Diocesan Priests incardinated into the
Archdiocese of Hobart would receive adequate accommodation, health care and
support needed in their retirement, or should they become ill. Retirement
expenses are currently met by the Sick and Aged Priest Fund via donations and
bequests, and by priests themselves. There are no federal or state government
grants to support clergy in retirement. The Sick and Aged Priest Fund helps to
meet the following needs of our diocesan priests: A modest monthly allowance,
Nursing home and hostel care, Assistance with transitioning to retirement,
Assistance with out of pocket medical and dental expenses, Assistance with
board and lodging expenses and motor vehicle costs. Please help support this appeal by taking an envelope today!
THE VERBUM DOMINI BIBLICAL & CATECHETICAL
INSTITUTE’S
next module of the Sacraments course will be on the biblical foundations of the
Eucharist Saturday 9th September, 9am - 2.30pm Pastoral Centre, Church of
the Apostles, 44 Margaret St, Launceston. Cost: FREE. Register: christine.wood@aohtas.org.au
or 6208:6236. Come even if you missed the first module. TCEO staff and teachers
received professional learning credits for attendance. Bring your bible and
lunch. Morning tea provided. All welcome.
VISITING BISHOP HILTON DEAKIN: Fr John Girdauskas has invited
Bishop Hilton Deakin, champion of social justice and advocate for Aboriginal
people and East Timor, to visit Burnie/Wynyard Parish. Friday 15th September
at 6pm (informal dinner in the Parish Centre - please bring food to
share), and Saturday 16th September 10am – 12pm dialogue with
Bishop Hilton, followed by shared lunch. All welcome. Bishop Hilton is also
invited to preach at each of the Parish Sunday Masses.
JOHN WALLIS MEMORIAL LECTURE 2017 – delivered by Fr Frank Moloney SDB
– Guilford Young College, Hobart Campus. Thursday 21st September at
7:00pm. Lecture followed by supper. Donation $10 students/card holders
$5. RSVP by Thursday 14th September Eva Dunn 0417734503
eva.dunn@gmail.com
JOURNEY TO CARMEL THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN: A weekend retreat on Carmelite
Spirituality at the Emmanuel Centre, Launceston. Friday 20th – 22nd
October. Fr Paul Maunder OCD Retreat Director. Cost for weekend $170.00
includes all meals and accommodation. Bookings are essential to Robert Archer
6396:1389.
MARYKNOLL RETREAT & SPIRITUALITY CENTRE: Retreat & Reflection Days to be held October/November
2017 – please see Church Noticeboard for Flyer.
Franciscan Spirituality: Week 3
A Fountain Fullness of
Love
There is no other teacher who takes the vision of Francis
and Clare to the level of a theology and philosophy, a fully symmetrical
worldview, as well as Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Italy (c. 1221-1274). As Paul
did for Jesus, so Bonaventure did for Francis. Bonaventure’s vision is
positive, mystic, cosmic, intimately relational, and often concerned with
cleaning the lens of our perception and our intention. With this awareness, we
can see that God is with us in everything we experience in life and can be
found in and through everything, even and often most especially our limits and
our suffering (because in those states we long so desperately for meaning and
purpose).
Bonaventure was profoundly Trinitarian in that his framework
for reality was love itself—always and forever flowing, overflowing, and
filling all things. He called the Trinitarian God a “fountain fullness” of
love. Reality is always in process and fully participatory; it is love itself
in action, and 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 thus all of creation, which we now know from atoms to
circulatory systems, ecosystems, and galaxies is exactly the case.
Bonaventure taught that there are three books from which we
learn wisdom: The Book of Creation, The Book of Jesus and Scripture, and The
Book of Experience. He also taught that there are three pairs of eyes. The
first pair sees all things as a fingerprint or footprint of God (vestigia Dei),
which evokes foundational respect and teachability. The second pair of eyes is
the hard work of honest self-knowledge—awareness of how you are processing your
reality moment by moment. This is necessary to keep your own lens clean and
open, and it is the work of your entire lifetime. The third pair is the eyes of
contemplation, which allow you to see things in their essence and in their core
meaning. Only then can you receive the transmitted image of God on your soul.
“Deep calls unto deep” as the Psalmist says (42:8), and all outer images can then
mirror and evoke your own inner divine image.
Bonaventure says we must begin “at the bottom, presenting to
ourselves the whole material world as a mirror through which we may pass over
to God, the Supreme [Artisan].” [2] He teaches that to really see things, we
must “consider this world [i.e. all material things] in its origin, process and
end.” [3] Everything comes from God, exemplifies God, and then returns to
God. Bonaventure says that sums up all
his teaching.
References:
Remain in Love
This gives us a foundation for understanding the sacredness
of everything and our connection with everything. We are already connected to
everything—inherently, objectively, metaphysically, ontologically, and
theologically. We don’t create the connection by going to church or reading the
Bible, although we hopefully enliven the connection. In Francis’ worldview, we
begin with “original blessing,” as Matthew Fox rightly said. Our DNA is already
divine; that is why we naturally seek to know and love God. There has to be a
little bit of something inside you for you to be attracted to it; like knows
like. You are what you are looking for!
A heart transformed by this realization of oneness knows
that only love “in here” can spot and enjoy love “over there.” Thus true
spiritual teachers see fear, constriction, and resentment as blindness that
must be overcome. These emotions impede growth. Thus all mystics are positive
people—or they are not mystics. Their spiritual warfare is precisely the work
of recognizing and then handing over all of their inner negativity and fear to
God. The great paradox here is that such a victory is a gift from God, and yet
somehow you must want it very much (Philippians 2:12b-13). God does not come
unless invited.
The central practice in Franciscan mysticism, therefore, is
that we must remain in love, which is why it is a commandment (John 15:4-5), in
fact, the great commandment of Jesus. Only when we are eager to love can we see
love and goodness in the world around us. We must ourselves remain in peace,
and then we will see and find peace over there. Remain in beauty, and we will
honor beauty everywhere. This concept of remaining or abiding (John 15:4-5)
moves religion out of esoteric realms of doctrinal outer space where it has for
too long been lost. There is no secret moral behavior required for knowing or
pleasing God, or what some call “salvation,” beyond becoming a loving person in
mind, heart, body, and soul. Then each of us will see all that we need to see!
References:
Freedom
Francis’ phrase, “left the world,” did not mean leaving
creation. It meant leaving what we might call the “system.” Francis left
business as usual, and he began an alternative lifestyle, which at that time
was called “a life of penance” or abandoning the system. He decided to focus on
alleviating the needs and the suffering of others instead of self-advancement.
Most of our decisions are usually based on personal, egoic preference and
choice. This is the life that we are called to “leave,” the self that Jesus
says must “die” to fall into our Larger Life or True Self. Freedom for both
Jesus and Francis was purely and simply freedom from the self, which is
precisely freedom for the world. This is so utterly different than our American
notion of freedom.
In order to be free for life, we must quite simply be free
from our small selves. Francis knew that Jesus was not at all interested in the
usual “sin management” task that many clergy seem to think is their job. He saw
that Jesus was neither surprised nor upset at what we usually call sin. Jesus
was upset at human pain and suffering. What else do all the healing stories
mean? They are half of the Gospel! Jesus did not focus on sin. Jesus went where
the pain was. Wherever he found human pain, there he went, there he touched,
and there he healed.
Francis, who only wanted to do one thing—imitate Jesus—did
the same. But you cannot do that, or even see it, unless your first question is
something other than “What do I want?” “What do I prefer?” or “What pleases
me?” In the great scheme of things, it really does not matter what I want. We
are not free at all until we are free from ourselves. It is that simple and
that hard.
References:
The Path of Descent
Authentic spirituality is always on some level or in some
way about letting go. Jesus said, “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Once we see truly what traps us and keeps us from freedom we should see the
need to let it go. But in a consumer society most of us have had no training in
that direction. Rather, more is usually considered better.
True liberation is letting go of our small self, letting go
of our cultural biases, and letting go of our fear of loss and death. Freedom
is letting go of wanting more and better things, and it is letting go of our
need to control and manipulate God and others. It is even letting go of our
need to know and our need to be right—which we only discover with maturity. We
become free as we let go of our three primary energy centers: our need for
power and control, our need for safety and security, and our need for affection
and esteem. [1]
Francis sought freedom in all three parts of life. My good
friend Fr. John Dear puts it very well:
Francis’ logic points the way toward personal, social, and
global justice and peace. If each one of us practiced Gospel simplicity,
voluntary poverty, and downward mobility, like Francis, we would share the
world’s resources with one another, have nothing to fear from others, and live
in peace with everyone. [2]
We always knew that following Jesus was “a narrow gate,” as
he himself put it (Matthew 7:13-14). But for some reason we thought the narrow
path had to do with private asceticism (usually in regard to the body), instead
of simple living, altruism, non-violence, and peacemaking. These virtues would
have created a very different society and civilization, but to this day many
Christians feel much more guilt and shame about their private sexual body than
about our social body. This seems to me a massive misplacement of attention.
When you pay too much attention to one issue, you invariably pay no attention
to another. Francis was only “moralistic” about neglected and under-emphasized
issues. He learned that directly from Jesus.
References:
A Spirituality of the
Beatitudes
Franciscan spirituality proceeds from the counterintuitive
spirituality of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). [2] Read them and see how
Francis exemplifies each one so well. While the Ten Commandments are about
creating social order (a good thing), the eight Beatitudes of Jesus are all
about incorporating what seems like disorder, a very different level of
consciousness. With the Beatitudes, there is no social or ego payoff for the
false self. Obeying the Commandments can appeal to our egotistic consciousness
and our need to be “right” or better than others.
Obedience to the Ten Commandments does give us the necessary
impulse control and containment we need to get started, which is foundational
to the first half of life. “I have kept all these from my youth,” the rich
young man says, before he then refuses to go further (Mark 10:22). The
Beatitudes, however, reveal a world of pure grace and abundance, or what Spiral
Dynamics and Integral Theory would call the second tier of consciousness and
what I call second-half-of-life spirituality. Francis doesn’t call it anything;
he just lives it on his path of love. Mature and mystical Christianity is “made
to order” to send you through your entire life journey and not just offer you
containment.
I hope you can now see more clearly how Francis of Assisi
cannot be written off as a mere soft and sweet figure. His actual life and
practice show how he deliberately undercut the entire “honor/shame system” on
which so much of culture, violence, false self-esteem, and even many of the
ministrations of church depends. Doing anything and everything solely for God
is certainly the most purifying plan for happiness I can imagine. It changes
the entire nature of human interaction and eliminates most conflict.
References:
A Franciscan
Revolution
I hope these meditations can help reignite the Franciscan
revolution, for that is what it was—and will be again. We are extremely blessed
to be living in the time of a pope who most beautifully exemplifies Franciscan
life (even though he is officially a Jesuit), because it is so much harder to
do in our time. Pope Francis shows us that the Franciscan vision is possible at
every level and in every age. Not only did he take the name Francis, but he
seems so eager to proclaim both the “foolishness” and the wisdom of the Gospel
to every level of society. He has the passion, love, and urgency of St. Francis
himself and has moved the papacy from the palace to the streets.
I hope these reflections will help us recognize one helpful
truth: There is a universal accessibility, invitation, and inclusivity in an
authentic Franciscan spirituality. It surpasses the boundaries of religion,
culture, gender, ethnicity, era, class, or any measure of worthiness or
education. Like the Incarnation itself, the Franciscan reading of the Gospel
“brings everything together, in the heavens and on the earth, behind Christ who
is leading the way and in whom we are all claimed as God’s own” (Ephesians
1:10-11).
This is not an elitist journey, not a separatist or clerical
journey. It is not based in asceticism or superiority but in the elements that
are universally available to all humans: nature, embodiment, solidarity with
the necessary cycle of both life (“attachment”) and death (“detachment”), the
democracy of love, and most especially with a God “who is very near to you, in
your mouth, and in your heart” (Deuteronomy 30:14). This is what divine grace
is—always given unawares and unearned and everywhere.
References:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative
Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 265-267.
We aren’t, as we want to think, stuck in a bad political
climate wherein we can no longer talk to each other and live respectfully with
each other. Rather we ourselves have become so rigid, arrogant, and sure of ourselves
that we can no longer respect those who think differently than we do. We are a
bad political climate and not just stuck in one.
Likewise for our churches: We aren’t stuck in churches that
are too self-serving and not faithful enough to the teachings of Jesus. Rather
we are Christians who too often, ourselves, out of self-interest compromise the
teachings of Jesus. We aren’t stuck in our churches, we comprise those
churches.
The same is true apposite the ecological challenges we face
on this planet: We aren’t stuck on a planet that’s becoming oxygen-starved and
a junkyard for human wastage. Rather it’s we, not just others, who are too
careless in how we are using up the earth’s resources and how we are leaving
behind our waste.
Admittedly, this isn’t always true. Sometimes we are stuck
in negative situations for which we bear no responsibility and within which,
through no fault of our own, we are simply the unfortunate victim of
circumstance and someone else’s carelessness, illness, dysfunction, or sin. We
can, for instance, be born into a dysfunctional situation which leaves us stuck
in a family and an environment that don’t make for easy freedom. Or, sometimes
simple circumstance can burden us with duties that take away our freedom. So,
metaphorically speaking, we can be stuck in traffic and not ourselves be part
of that traffic, though generally we are, at least partially, part of the
traffic we’re stuck in.
Henri Nouwen often highlighted this in his writings. We are
not, he tells us, separate from the events that make up the world news each
day. Rather, what we see written large in the world news each night simply
reflects what’s going on inside of us. When we see instances of injustice,
bigotry, racism, greed, violence, murder and war on our newscasts we rightly
feel a certain moral indignation. It’s healthy to feel that way, but it’s not
healthy to naively think that it’s others, not us, who are the problem.
When we’re honest we have to admit that we’re complicit in
all these things, perhaps not in their crasser forms, but in subtler, though
very real, ways: The fear and paranoia that are at the root of so much conflict
in our world are not foreign to us. We too find it hard to accept those who are
different from us. We too cling to privilege and do most everything we can to
secure and protect our comfort. We too use up an unfair amount of the world’s
resources in our hunger for comfort and experience. As well, our negative
judgments, jealousies, gossip, and bitter words are, at the end of the day,
genuine acts of violence since, as Henri Nouwen puts it: Nobody is shot by a
gun that isn’t first shot by a word. And nobody is shot by a word before he or
she is first shot by a murderous thought: Who does she thinks she is! The evening news just shows large what’s
inside our hearts. What’s in the
macrocosm is also in the microcosm.
And so we aren’t just viewers of the evening news, we’re
complicit in it. The old catechisms were right when they told us that there’s
no such a thing as a truly private act, that even our most private actions
affect everyone else. The private is political. Everything affects everything.
The first take-away from this is obvious: When we find
ourselves stuck in traffic, metaphorically and otherwise, we need to admit our
own complicity and resist the temptation to simply blame others.
But there’s another important lesson here too: We are never
healthier than when we are confessing our sins; in this case, confessing that
we are traffic and not just stuck in traffic. After recognizing that we are
complicit, hopefully we can forgive ourselves for the fact that, partially at
least, we are helpless to not be complicit. No one can walk through life
without leaving a footprint. To pretend otherwise is dishonest and to try to
not leave a footprint is futile. The starting point to make things better is
for us to admit and confess our complicity.
So the next time you’re stuck in traffic, irritated and
impatient, muttering angrily about why there are so many people on the road,
you might want to glance at yourself in rearview mirror, ask yourself why you
are on the road at that time, and then give yourself a forgiving wink as you
utter the French word, touché.
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 5th - 8th September, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon Devonport
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone ... Birthday of Blessed Virgin Mary
Next Weekend 9th & 10th September, 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 9th & 10th September, 2017
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye
10:30am: F
Sly, J Tuxworth, K Pearce
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
B&B
Windebank, T Bird, J Kelly, R Baker, B Windebank
10.30am: S Riley, M Sherriff, R Beaton, D Barrientos, M
Barrientos
Cleaners. 8th
Sep: P & T
Douglas 15th Sep: F Sly, M Hansen, R McBain
Piety Shop 9th September:
H Thompson 10th September: O McGinley
Ulverstone:
Reader: S Lawrence
Ministers of
Communion: E Reilly, M McKenzie, K McKenzie, M O’Halloran
Cleaners: G & M
Seen, C Roberts Flowers: C Mapley Hospitality: T Good Team
Penguin:
Greeters: G Hills-Eade, B Eade Commentator: E Nickols Readers: Y Downes, M Murray
Ministers of
Communion: A Guest,
M Hiscutt Liturgy: Penguin Setting Up: E Nickols Care of Church: Y & R Downes
Latrobe:
Reader: M Chan Minister of
Communion: M
Mackey, M Eden Procession of gifts: J Hyde
Port Sorell:
Readers: L Post, P Anderson Ministers of Communion: T Jeffries Cleaners/Flowers/Prep: V Youd
Readings this week – Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
First Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9
Second Reading: Romans 12:1-2
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27
PREGO REFLECTION:
I come to stillness in the way that suits me best, trusting
that I am in the presence of my loving God. When I am ready I turn prayerfully
to the text.
I may find it helpful to imagine myself present in the scene.
What do I hear and see?
How do I feel as I listen to Jesus’s challenge to the disciples … and to me?
I notice anything that resonates with me.
Perhaps I think of a time when I have been a stumbling block to someone else, or when I have put my own needs first.
If so, I ask for the Lord’s forgiveness, confident of his merciful gaze upon me.
Or perhaps I ponder the shape of the cross in my own life, or in the lives of those around me.
I speak to the Lord of this, as I would to a trusted friend.
If there is a grace I need, I ask for it confidently.
Jesus promises a fuller, deeper, life to all who have the courage to follow him.
What is the life that I most desire … for myself … my family … my church … this world?
I share my hopes and dreams with the Lord … and allow him space to speak to me.
In time I end my prayer with a slow sign of the cross, grateful for the gift of God’s unfailing love for me. Glory be ...
I may find it helpful to imagine myself present in the scene.
What do I hear and see?
How do I feel as I listen to Jesus’s challenge to the disciples … and to me?
I notice anything that resonates with me.
Perhaps I think of a time when I have been a stumbling block to someone else, or when I have put my own needs first.
If so, I ask for the Lord’s forgiveness, confident of his merciful gaze upon me.
Or perhaps I ponder the shape of the cross in my own life, or in the lives of those around me.
I speak to the Lord of this, as I would to a trusted friend.
If there is a grace I need, I ask for it confidently.
Jesus promises a fuller, deeper, life to all who have the courage to follow him.
What is the life that I most desire … for myself … my family … my church … this world?
I share my hopes and dreams with the Lord … and allow him space to speak to me.
In time I end my prayer with a slow sign of the cross, grateful for the gift of God’s unfailing love for me. Glory be ...
Readings next week – Twenty-Third Sunday
in Ordinary Time Year A
First Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-9
Second Reading: Romans 13:8-10
Gospel:
Matthew 18:15-20
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Rex Bates, Victoria Webb, David
Welch, Vern Cazaly, Dawn Stevens & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Lyn Otley, Dorothy Leonard, Wendy Lander, George Flack, Veronica
Ygosse, Gertrude
Koerner, Alexander Obiorah (Snr), Kuppala Devadoss, Reginald (Mick) Poole, Fred
Melen.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 30th
August – 5th September
Robert Sheehan, Mary Adkins, Ruth Healey, Margaret Newell,
Laurance Kelcey, Terry McKenna, Warren Milfull, Margaret Hayes, Theodore Clarke, Maxine Milton, Audrey Enniss,
Ronald Finch, Geoffrey Matthews, Ken Gillard, Jean Mochrie, Brian Astell, Len Bramich, Jack McLaren,
Gwendoline Jessup, Robert Adkins. Fabian Xavier, Jim Barry and Ariokasomy Xavier, Glen Clark and all fathers in
heaven.
May they rest in peace
God our Father,
In your wisdom and love you made all things.
Bless all fathers who
have accepted the responsibility of parenting.
Bless those who have
lost a spouse to death, separation or divorce, and who are parenting their
children alone.
Strengthen all fathers
by your love that they may be and become the loving, caring people they are
meant to be.
May God bless all Dads on earth and in heaven!
Birthday greetings to…….
Arch Jago - 100 on 26th
August
Pat Mackey - 80 on 30th August
Marie Knight - 96 on 31st August
Jean O’Garey - 101 on 3rd September
Weekly
Ramblings
The Parish Forum last Sunday was a great chance for a
goodly number of parishioners to get together and look at some of the things we
might take further as we move to ‘Realise our Vision’. The material that was
collected at the Forum is being collated and will be presented to the Parish
Pastoral Team at their next meeting on Wednesday 13th Sept. It is my hope that
there will be a report from the meeting available to the whole of the Parish
ASAP after that meeting, hopefully by the next weekend.
I don’t normally comment on the sudden death of
Parishioners but the tragic death of Lyn Otley in a traffic accident on Tuesday
afternoon has had a profound effect on quite a number of people. Lyn had been
with us at the Forum on Sunday and was part of our discussion about ways to
move forward. May she rest in peace.
I know they are mentioned elsewhere in the Newsletter today
but I would like to offer a very special prayer for the young people receiving
the Eucharist for the 1st time this weekend. May God continue to bless them and
keep them close to his heart so that they may continue to grow in their love of
God and their brothers and sisters.
I will be in Melbourne attending a Conference during this
coming week so please take care on the roads and in your homes,
SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:
This
weekend the Sacramental Candidates from across our Parish will receive the
Sacrament of Eucharist for the first time.
We congratulate the children and
their families and
we continue to pray for these special young people:
Luca Adams Lily
Farr Joshua Lundstedt Joshua Parsons
Logan
Beaven-Duncan Liam
Garrigan Tristan
McGrath Tom Ryan
Lexine Biong Keenan Harbach Alexander O’Grady Matilda Spaulding
Mia Birch Conor Kelly Thomas O’Grady Josef Tucker
Ella Curran Lace Kelly William O’Grady Jasmine Turner
Jack Dunn Ava Lakeland Sybille O’Rourke Tom Williams
THANKSGIVING MASS:
On Sunday 17th the newly ordained Fr Paschal Okpon will be
celebrating the 10:30am Mass at OLOL. As has been mentioned previously anyone
wishing to contribute to a gift to our newly ordained priest is invited to
place the gift in an envelope on the collection plate and an ordination gift
will be presented to him at the Morning Tea following the Mass. To
assist with the Morning Tea parishioners attending the Mass are asked to please
bring a plate which can be left in the Hall before Mass.
HEALING MASS:
Catholic Charismatic Renewal are sponsoring a HEALING MASS
at St Mary’s Catholic Church Penguin, Thursday 21st September commencing
at 7.00pm. All denominations are welcome to come and celebrate the liturgy in a
vibrant and dynamic way using charismatic praise and worship, with the gifts of tongues, prophecy, healing and
anointing with blessed oil. After Mass teams will be available for individual prayer. Please bring a friend and a
plate for supper and fellowship in the hall. If you wish to know more or
require transport contact Celestine Whiteley 6424:2043, Michael Gaffney 0447
018 068, Zoe Smith 6426:3073, or Tom Knaap 6425:2442.
FOOTY
TICKETS: Round 23 (25th August)
footy margin 9 – Winners; M Badcock, S Fidler
BINGO - Thursday Nights
OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm! Callers for Thursday 7th
September – Tony Ryan & Terry Bird
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
SICK AND AGED PRIEST FUND APPEAL: Sunday 3rd
September: was
established to ensure that all Diocesan Priests incardinated into the
Archdiocese of Hobart would receive adequate accommodation, health care and
support needed in their retirement, or should they become ill. Retirement
expenses are currently met by the Sick and Aged Priest Fund via donations and
bequests, and by priests themselves. There are no federal or state government
grants to support clergy in retirement. The Sick and Aged Priest Fund helps to
meet the following needs of our diocesan priests: A modest monthly allowance,
Nursing home and hostel care, Assistance with transitioning to retirement,
Assistance with out of pocket medical and dental expenses, Assistance with
board and lodging expenses and motor vehicle costs. Please help support this appeal by taking an envelope today!
THE VERBUM DOMINI BIBLICAL & CATECHETICAL
INSTITUTE’S
next module of the Sacraments course will be on the biblical foundations of the
Eucharist Saturday 9th September, 9am - 2.30pm Pastoral Centre, Church of
the Apostles, 44 Margaret St, Launceston. Cost: FREE. Register: christine.wood@aohtas.org.au
or 6208:6236. Come even if you missed the first module. TCEO staff and teachers
received professional learning credits for attendance. Bring your bible and
lunch. Morning tea provided. All welcome.
VISITING BISHOP HILTON DEAKIN: Fr John Girdauskas has invited
Bishop Hilton Deakin, champion of social justice and advocate for Aboriginal
people and East Timor, to visit Burnie/Wynyard Parish. Friday 15th September
at 6pm (informal dinner in the Parish Centre - please bring food to
share), and Saturday 16th September 10am – 12pm dialogue with
Bishop Hilton, followed by shared lunch. All welcome. Bishop Hilton is also
invited to preach at each of the Parish Sunday Masses.
JOHN WALLIS MEMORIAL LECTURE 2017 – delivered by Fr Frank Moloney SDB
– Guilford Young College, Hobart Campus. Thursday 21st September at
7:00pm. Lecture followed by supper. Donation $10 students/card holders
$5. RSVP by Thursday 14th September Eva Dunn 0417734503
eva.dunn@gmail.com
JOURNEY TO CARMEL THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN: A weekend retreat on Carmelite
Spirituality at the Emmanuel Centre, Launceston. Friday 20th – 22nd
October. Fr Paul Maunder OCD Retreat Director. Cost for weekend $170.00
includes all meals and accommodation. Bookings are essential to Robert Archer
6396:1389.
MARYKNOLL RETREAT & SPIRITUALITY CENTRE: Retreat & Reflection Days to be held October/November
2017 – please see Church Noticeboard for Flyer.
Franciscan Spirituality: Week 3
This article is taken from the Daily email produced by Fr Richard Rohr OFM and the Centre for Contemplation. You can subscribe here
A Fountain Fullness of
Love
For as a human being, Christ has something in common with
all creatures. With the stone he shares existence; with plants he shares life;
with animals he shares sensation; and with the angels he shares intelligence.
Therefore, all things are said to be transformed in Christ since¬–in his human
nature–he embraces something of every creature in himself when he is
transfigured. —Bonaventure [1]
There is no other teacher who takes the vision of Francis
and Clare to the level of a theology and philosophy, a fully symmetrical
worldview, as well as Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Italy (c. 1221-1274). As Paul
did for Jesus, so Bonaventure did for Francis. Bonaventure’s vision is
positive, mystic, cosmic, intimately relational, and often concerned with
cleaning the lens of our perception and our intention. With this awareness, we
can see that God is with us in everything we experience in life and can be
found in and through everything, even and often most especially our limits and
our suffering (because in those states we long so desperately for meaning and
purpose).
Bonaventure was profoundly Trinitarian in that his framework
for reality was love itself—always and forever flowing, overflowing, and
filling all things. He called the Trinitarian God a “fountain fullness” of
love. Reality is always in process and fully participatory; it is love itself
in action, and 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 thus all of creation, which we now know from atoms to
circulatory systems, ecosystems, and galaxies is exactly the case.
Bonaventure taught that there are three books from which we
learn wisdom: The Book of Creation, The Book of Jesus and Scripture, and The
Book of Experience. He also taught that there are three pairs of eyes. The
first pair sees all things as a fingerprint or footprint of God (vestigia Dei),
which evokes foundational respect and teachability. The second pair of eyes is
the hard work of honest self-knowledge—awareness of how you are processing your
reality moment by moment. This is necessary to keep your own lens clean and
open, and it is the work of your entire lifetime. The third pair is the eyes of
contemplation, which allow you to see things in their essence and in their core
meaning. Only then can you receive the transmitted image of God on your soul.
“Deep calls unto deep” as the Psalmist says (42:8), and all outer images can then
mirror and evoke your own inner divine image.
Bonaventure says we must begin “at the bottom, presenting to
ourselves the whole material world as a mirror through which we may pass over
to God, the Supreme [Artisan].” [2] He teaches that to really see things, we
must “consider this world [i.e. all material things] in its origin, process and
end.” [3] Everything comes from God, exemplifies God, and then returns to
God. Bonaventure says that sums up all
his teaching.
References:
[1] Bonaventure, “Sermon I for the Second Sunday of Lent,”
trans. Zachary Hayes, “Christ, Word of God and Exemplar of Humanity,” The Cord,
vol. 46, no. 1 (1996), 13.
[2] Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey into God, I, 9. See
Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey to God, trans. Ewert Cousins (New York: Paulist
Press, 1978), 63.
[3] Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey into God, I, 12. See
Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey to God, trans. Ewert Cousins (New York: Paulist
Press, 1978), 64.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative
Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 161, 164-165; and exclusive
video teaching within the Living School.
Remain in Love
John Duns Scotus (c. 1266-1308) was a Franciscan philosopher
and theologian who in many ways paralleled Bonaventure’s ideas. Duns Scotus
helped develop the doctrine of the univocity of being. Previous philosophers
said God was a Being, which is what most people still think today. Both the
Dominican Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and Duns Scotus said Deus est ens, God is
being itself. The Dominicans said everything other than God participated in
being only by analogy and by attempts to make connections, but it was not
really the same being as God’s being. Yet Duns Scotus believed we can speak
“with one voice” (univocity) of the being of waters, plants, animals, humans,
angels, and God. We all participate in the same being. God is one (Deuteronomy
6:4), and thus reality is one, as well (Ephesians 4:3-5).
This gives us a foundation for understanding the sacredness
of everything and our connection with everything. We are already connected to
everything—inherently, objectively, metaphysically, ontologically, and
theologically. We don’t create the connection by going to church or reading the
Bible, although we hopefully enliven the connection. In Francis’ worldview, we
begin with “original blessing,” as Matthew Fox rightly said. Our DNA is already
divine; that is why we naturally seek to know and love God. There has to be a
little bit of something inside you for you to be attracted to it; like knows
like. You are what you are looking for!
A heart transformed by this realization of oneness knows
that only love “in here” can spot and enjoy love “over there.” Thus true
spiritual teachers see fear, constriction, and resentment as blindness that
must be overcome. These emotions impede growth. Thus all mystics are positive
people—or they are not mystics. Their spiritual warfare is precisely the work
of recognizing and then handing over all of their inner negativity and fear to
God. The great paradox here is that such a victory is a gift from God, and yet
somehow you must want it very much (Philippians 2:12b-13). God does not come
unless invited.
The central practice in Franciscan mysticism, therefore, is
that we must remain in love, which is why it is a commandment (John 15:4-5), in
fact, the great commandment of Jesus. Only when we are eager to love can we see
love and goodness in the world around us. We must ourselves remain in peace,
and then we will see and find peace over there. Remain in beauty, and we will
honor beauty everywhere. This concept of remaining or abiding (John 15:4-5)
moves religion out of esoteric realms of doctrinal outer space where it has for
too long been lost. There is no secret moral behavior required for knowing or
pleasing God, or what some call “salvation,” beyond becoming a loving person in
mind, heart, body, and soul. Then each of us will see all that we need to see!
References:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Franciscan Mysticism: I AM That
Which I Am Seeking, disc 1 (CAC: 2012), CD, MP3 download; and
Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
(Franciscan Media: 2014), 7-10.
Freedom
For Saint Francis, “penance” was not some kind of dark
asceticism but a proactive, free leap into the problem. It is the same freedom
that we see in Jesus when he says “You are not taking my life from me; I am
laying it down freely” (John 10:18). In the opening words of his Testament,
Francis brilliantly says:
The Lord gave me, Brother Francis, thus to begin doing
penance in this way: for when I was in sin, it seemed too bitter for me to see
lepers. And the Lord himself led me among them and I showed mercy to them. And
when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of
soul and body. And afterwards I delayed a little and then left the world. [1]
Francis’ phrase, “left the world,” did not mean leaving
creation. It meant leaving what we might call the “system.” Francis left
business as usual, and he began an alternative lifestyle, which at that time
was called “a life of penance” or abandoning the system. He decided to focus on
alleviating the needs and the suffering of others instead of self-advancement.
Most of our decisions are usually based on personal, egoic preference and
choice. This is the life that we are called to “leave,” the self that Jesus
says must “die” to fall into our Larger Life or True Self. Freedom for both
Jesus and Francis was purely and simply freedom from the self, which is
precisely freedom for the world. This is so utterly different than our American
notion of freedom.
In order to be free for life, we must quite simply be free
from our small selves. Francis knew that Jesus was not at all interested in the
usual “sin management” task that many clergy seem to think is their job. He saw
that Jesus was neither surprised nor upset at what we usually call sin. Jesus
was upset at human pain and suffering. What else do all the healing stories
mean? They are half of the Gospel! Jesus did not focus on sin. Jesus went where
the pain was. Wherever he found human pain, there he went, there he touched,
and there he healed.
Francis, who only wanted to do one thing—imitate Jesus—did
the same. But you cannot do that, or even see it, unless your first question is
something other than “What do I want?” “What do I prefer?” or “What pleases
me?” In the great scheme of things, it really does not matter what I want. We
are not free at all until we are free from ourselves. It is that simple and
that hard.
References:
[1] Francis of Assisi, The Testament (1226). See Francis of
Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 1 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1999), 124.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the
Wisdom of St. Francis, disc 1 (Sounds True: 2010), CD.
The Path of Descent
Jesus himself taught and exemplified the path of descent,
which Christians have often called “the way of the cross.” The path downward is
much more trustworthy than any path upward, which tends to feed the ego. Like
few other Christians, it was Francis of Assisi who profoundly understood that.
Authentic spirituality is always on some level or in some
way about letting go. Jesus said, “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Once we see truly what traps us and keeps us from freedom we should see the
need to let it go. But in a consumer society most of us have had no training in
that direction. Rather, more is usually considered better.
True liberation is letting go of our small self, letting go
of our cultural biases, and letting go of our fear of loss and death. Freedom
is letting go of wanting more and better things, and it is letting go of our
need to control and manipulate God and others. It is even letting go of our
need to know and our need to be right—which we only discover with maturity. We
become free as we let go of our three primary energy centers: our need for
power and control, our need for safety and security, and our need for affection
and esteem. [1]
Francis sought freedom in all three parts of life. My good
friend Fr. John Dear puts it very well:
Francis embodies the Gospel journey from violence to
non-violence, wealth to poverty, power to powerlessness, selfishness to
selfless service, pride to humility, indifference to love, cruelty to
compassion, vengeance to forgiveness, revenge to reconciliation, war to peace,
killing enemies to loving enemies. More than any other Christian, he epitomizes
discipleship to Jesus. . . .
Francis’ logic points the way toward personal, social, and
global justice and peace. If each one of us practiced Gospel simplicity,
voluntary poverty, and downward mobility, like Francis, we would share the
world’s resources with one another, have nothing to fear from others, and live
in peace with everyone. [2]
We always knew that following Jesus was “a narrow gate,” as
he himself put it (Matthew 7:13-14). But for some reason we thought the narrow
path had to do with private asceticism (usually in regard to the body), instead
of simple living, altruism, non-violence, and peacemaking. These virtues would
have created a very different society and civilization, but to this day many
Christians feel much more guilt and shame about their private sexual body than
about our social body. This seems to me a massive misplacement of attention.
When you pay too much attention to one issue, you invariably pay no attention
to another. Francis was only “moralistic” about neglected and under-emphasized
issues. He learned that directly from Jesus.
References:
[1] This simple tri-part distinction has been affirmed by
many psychologists in many different ways and is also used by Fr. Thomas
Keating in his understanding of the entrapment of the human person.
[2] John Dear, You Will Be My Witnesses: Saints, Prophets
and Martyrs (Orbis Books: 2006), 38, 45-46.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the
Wisdom of Saint Francis (Sounds True: 2010), CD.
A Spirituality of the
Beatitudes
In the Franciscan reading of the Gospel, there is no reason
to be religious or to “serve” God except “to love greatly the One who has loved
us greatly,” as Saint Francis said. [1] Religion is not about heroic will power
or winning or being right. This has been a counterfeit for holiness in much of
Christian history. True growth in holiness is a growth in willingness to love
and be loved and a surrendering of willfulness, even holy willfulness (which is
still “all about me”).
Franciscan spirituality proceeds from the counterintuitive
spirituality of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). [2] Read them and see how
Francis exemplifies each one so well. While the Ten Commandments are about
creating social order (a good thing), the eight Beatitudes of Jesus are all
about incorporating what seems like disorder, a very different level of
consciousness. With the Beatitudes, there is no social or ego payoff for the
false self. Obeying the Commandments can appeal to our egotistic consciousness
and our need to be “right” or better than others.
Obedience to the Ten Commandments does give us the necessary
impulse control and containment we need to get started, which is foundational
to the first half of life. “I have kept all these from my youth,” the rich
young man says, before he then refuses to go further (Mark 10:22). The
Beatitudes, however, reveal a world of pure grace and abundance, or what Spiral
Dynamics and Integral Theory would call the second tier of consciousness and
what I call second-half-of-life spirituality. Francis doesn’t call it anything;
he just lives it on his path of love. Mature and mystical Christianity is “made
to order” to send you through your entire life journey and not just offer you
containment.
I hope you can now see more clearly how Francis of Assisi
cannot be written off as a mere soft and sweet figure. His actual life and
practice show how he deliberately undercut the entire “honor/shame system” on
which so much of culture, violence, false self-esteem, and even many of the
ministrations of church depends. Doing anything and everything solely for God
is certainly the most purifying plan for happiness I can imagine. It changes
the entire nature of human interaction and eliminates most conflict.
References:
[1] Bonaventure, The Major Legend of Saint Francis, chapter
9. See Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 2 (Hyde Park, NY: New City
Press, 2000), 596.
[2] See Cynthia Bourgeault’s meditations earlier this year
on the Beatitudes, beginning with April 16, 2017,
https://cac.org/be-receptive-or-be-open-2017-04-16/.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative
Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 104-105, 115.
A Franciscan
Revolution
“. . . A man like St. Francis of Assisi, for instance. What
does he really mean? . . . A complete break with the pattern of history. . . .
A man born out of due time. A sudden, unexplained revival of the primitive
spirit of Christianity. The work he began still continues. . . . But it is not
the same. The revolution is over. The revolutionaries have become conformists.
The little brothers of the Little Poor Man are rattling alms boxes in the
railway square or dealing in real estate to the profit of the order. [. . .] Of
course, that isn’t the whole story. They teach, they preach, they do the work
of God as best they know, but it is no longer a revolution, and I think we need
one now.” —Morris West [1]
I hope these meditations can help reignite the Franciscan
revolution, for that is what it was—and will be again. We are extremely blessed
to be living in the time of a pope who most beautifully exemplifies Franciscan
life (even though he is officially a Jesuit), because it is so much harder to
do in our time. Pope Francis shows us that the Franciscan vision is possible at
every level and in every age. Not only did he take the name Francis, but he
seems so eager to proclaim both the “foolishness” and the wisdom of the Gospel
to every level of society. He has the passion, love, and urgency of St. Francis
himself and has moved the papacy from the palace to the streets.
I hope these reflections will help us recognize one helpful
truth: There is a universal accessibility, invitation, and inclusivity in an
authentic Franciscan spirituality. It surpasses the boundaries of religion,
culture, gender, ethnicity, era, class, or any measure of worthiness or
education. Like the Incarnation itself, the Franciscan reading of the Gospel
“brings everything together, in the heavens and on the earth, behind Christ who
is leading the way and in whom we are all claimed as God’s own” (Ephesians
1:10-11).
This is not an elitist journey, not a separatist or clerical
journey. It is not based in asceticism or superiority but in the elements that
are universally available to all humans: nature, embodiment, solidarity with
the necessary cycle of both life (“attachment”) and death (“detachment”), the
democracy of love, and most especially with a God “who is very near to you, in
your mouth, and in your heart” (Deuteronomy 30:14). This is what divine grace
is—always given unawares and unearned and everywhere.
References:
[1] Morris West, The Shoes of the Fisherman (William Morrow:
1963), 270. The ellipses without brackets are from original text.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative
Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 265-267.
STUCK IN TRAFFIC
There’s a famous billboard that hangs along a congested
highway that reads: You aren’t stuck in traffic. You are traffic! Good wit,
good insight! How glibly we distance ourselves from a problem, whether it is
our politics, our churches, the ecological problems on our planet, or most
anything else.
We aren’t, as we want to think, stuck in a bad political
climate wherein we can no longer talk to each other and live respectfully with
each other. Rather we ourselves have become so rigid, arrogant, and sure of ourselves
that we can no longer respect those who think differently than we do. We are a
bad political climate and not just stuck in one.
Likewise for our churches: We aren’t stuck in churches that
are too self-serving and not faithful enough to the teachings of Jesus. Rather
we are Christians who too often, ourselves, out of self-interest compromise the
teachings of Jesus. We aren’t stuck in our churches, we comprise those
churches.
The same is true apposite the ecological challenges we face
on this planet: We aren’t stuck on a planet that’s becoming oxygen-starved and
a junkyard for human wastage. Rather it’s we, not just others, who are too
careless in how we are using up the earth’s resources and how we are leaving
behind our waste.
Admittedly, this isn’t always true. Sometimes we are stuck
in negative situations for which we bear no responsibility and within which,
through no fault of our own, we are simply the unfortunate victim of
circumstance and someone else’s carelessness, illness, dysfunction, or sin. We
can, for instance, be born into a dysfunctional situation which leaves us stuck
in a family and an environment that don’t make for easy freedom. Or, sometimes
simple circumstance can burden us with duties that take away our freedom. So,
metaphorically speaking, we can be stuck in traffic and not ourselves be part
of that traffic, though generally we are, at least partially, part of the
traffic we’re stuck in.
Henri Nouwen often highlighted this in his writings. We are
not, he tells us, separate from the events that make up the world news each
day. Rather, what we see written large in the world news each night simply
reflects what’s going on inside of us. When we see instances of injustice,
bigotry, racism, greed, violence, murder and war on our newscasts we rightly
feel a certain moral indignation. It’s healthy to feel that way, but it’s not
healthy to naively think that it’s others, not us, who are the problem.
When we’re honest we have to admit that we’re complicit in
all these things, perhaps not in their crasser forms, but in subtler, though
very real, ways: The fear and paranoia that are at the root of so much conflict
in our world are not foreign to us. We too find it hard to accept those who are
different from us. We too cling to privilege and do most everything we can to
secure and protect our comfort. We too use up an unfair amount of the world’s
resources in our hunger for comfort and experience. As well, our negative
judgments, jealousies, gossip, and bitter words are, at the end of the day,
genuine acts of violence since, as Henri Nouwen puts it: Nobody is shot by a
gun that isn’t first shot by a word. And nobody is shot by a word before he or
she is first shot by a murderous thought: Who does she thinks she is! The evening news just shows large what’s
inside our hearts. What’s in the
macrocosm is also in the microcosm.
And so we aren’t just viewers of the evening news, we’re
complicit in it. The old catechisms were right when they told us that there’s
no such a thing as a truly private act, that even our most private actions
affect everyone else. The private is political. Everything affects everything.
The first take-away from this is obvious: When we find
ourselves stuck in traffic, metaphorically and otherwise, we need to admit our
own complicity and resist the temptation to simply blame others.
But there’s another important lesson here too: We are never
healthier than when we are confessing our sins; in this case, confessing that
we are traffic and not just stuck in traffic. After recognizing that we are
complicit, hopefully we can forgive ourselves for the fact that, partially at
least, we are helpless to not be complicit. No one can walk through life
without leaving a footprint. To pretend otherwise is dishonest and to try to
not leave a footprint is futile. The starting point to make things better is
for us to admit and confess our complicity.
So the next time you’re stuck in traffic, irritated and
impatient, muttering angrily about why there are so many people on the road,
you might want to glance at yourself in rearview mirror, ask yourself why you
are on the road at that time, and then give yourself a forgiving wink as you
utter the French word, touché.
TWO WEEKS AND COUNTING #NEWCHURCHCOUNTDOWN
This week allow me to introduce you to a sweeping new space we’re calling “The Concourse.” Think of it as a kind of Main Street, connecting the church, the new café, the theatre, and the kids and student wings. It will also be a great place to hang out and greet friends and fellow parishioners.
The Concourse will be flanked with Information Centers: to the left of the main entrance you’ll find Guest Services, intended for visitors and first timers, where guests can find basic information. To the right of the main entrance you’ll find our “Next Steps” Kiosk where regulars and parishioners can take their next steps and go deeper.
Large screen TVs throughout the space will broadcast the Mass and provide the perfect setting for parents who choose to keep their toddlers with them: kids will have plenty of room to run around, while parents can see and hear everything.
Parents with younger children and babies will enjoy a space designed just for them. Located on the second floor, we’re calling it the “Cry Loft” and you can reach it via the stairs in the Café or the Elevator in the Concourse. The “Cry Loft” gives you a beautiful view of the Sanctuary and includes more large screen TVs, so you can see and hear everything. As we move into our new church, the rest of the balcony will remain unfinished….its space for us to “grow” into in the future.
Outside on the parking lot you’ll find some new features including family friendly parking, guests and first-time visitor parking and expanded handicapped parking. Just follow the directions of our friendly parking ministers.
Also beginning Sunday, September 10 we’ll be reintroducing Shuttle Parking serving all Sunday morning Masses. Just park at the Lutherville Light Rail Station on West Ridgely Road. The shuttle runs on a continuous loop from the station to our front doors from 8:15am to 1:45pm every Sunday. The shuttle is the easiest, and sometimes the fastest way to get on and off our campus. Plus its fun! Take a ride and see for yourself.
If you’re around on Dedication Sunday, September 10, please plan and join us to celebrate, dedicate, and enjoy our new church home. Masses at 9, 10:30, 12n, 5:30pm and a Parish Festival from 1-7pm, including fun, food, live music, and guided tours.
Two weeks…and counting. Check out our map for more details.
Paul the Pastor
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor OP discusses Paul’s role as a pastor to the early Christian communities he established, and looks at how he maintained his relationships with and support of these communities from a distance.
There can be no question in a brief article of a complete treatment of how Paul functioned as a pastor. It must suffice to draw attention to a number of aspects, which have particular importance in that they serve as challenging correctives to much of contemporary pastoral practice.
It took time for Paul to think of himself as a pastor. Originally he believed that he had done his duty by establishing churches and by staying with them for a year or so in order to initiate them into what it meant to live as Christians. Then he entrusted them to the Holy Spirit, and felt free to move on to new mission fields. This was the way he treated the churches of Galatia and Philippi. When he left there is no hint that he intended to return or even to maintain relations.
This article was first published in the May 2008 issue of The Pastoral Review. The articled was reprinted on the Thinking Faith website with kind permission of the journal and the author. You can find the complete article here
This week allow me to introduce you to a sweeping new space we’re calling “The Concourse.” Think of it as a kind of Main Street, connecting the church, the new café, the theatre, and the kids and student wings. It will also be a great place to hang out and greet friends and fellow parishioners.
The Concourse will be flanked with Information Centers: to the left of the main entrance you’ll find Guest Services, intended for visitors and first timers, where guests can find basic information. To the right of the main entrance you’ll find our “Next Steps” Kiosk where regulars and parishioners can take their next steps and go deeper.
Large screen TVs throughout the space will broadcast the Mass and provide the perfect setting for parents who choose to keep their toddlers with them: kids will have plenty of room to run around, while parents can see and hear everything.
Parents with younger children and babies will enjoy a space designed just for them. Located on the second floor, we’re calling it the “Cry Loft” and you can reach it via the stairs in the Café or the Elevator in the Concourse. The “Cry Loft” gives you a beautiful view of the Sanctuary and includes more large screen TVs, so you can see and hear everything. As we move into our new church, the rest of the balcony will remain unfinished….its space for us to “grow” into in the future.
Outside on the parking lot you’ll find some new features including family friendly parking, guests and first-time visitor parking and expanded handicapped parking. Just follow the directions of our friendly parking ministers.
Also beginning Sunday, September 10 we’ll be reintroducing Shuttle Parking serving all Sunday morning Masses. Just park at the Lutherville Light Rail Station on West Ridgely Road. The shuttle runs on a continuous loop from the station to our front doors from 8:15am to 1:45pm every Sunday. The shuttle is the easiest, and sometimes the fastest way to get on and off our campus. Plus its fun! Take a ride and see for yourself.
If you’re around on Dedication Sunday, September 10, please plan and join us to celebrate, dedicate, and enjoy our new church home. Masses at 9, 10:30, 12n, 5:30pm and a Parish Festival from 1-7pm, including fun, food, live music, and guided tours.
Two weeks…and counting. Check out our map for more details.
Paul the Pastor
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor OP discusses Paul’s role as a pastor to the early Christian communities he established, and looks at how he maintained his relationships with and support of these communities from a distance.
There can be no question in a brief article of a complete treatment of how Paul functioned as a pastor. It must suffice to draw attention to a number of aspects, which have particular importance in that they serve as challenging correctives to much of contemporary pastoral practice.
It took time for Paul to think of himself as a pastor. Originally he believed that he had done his duty by establishing churches and by staying with them for a year or so in order to initiate them into what it meant to live as Christians. Then he entrusted them to the Holy Spirit, and felt free to move on to new mission fields. This was the way he treated the churches of Galatia and Philippi. When he left there is no hint that he intended to return or even to maintain relations.
This article was first published in the May 2008 issue of The Pastoral Review. The articled was reprinted on the Thinking Faith website with kind permission of the journal and the author. You can find the complete article here
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