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 26th - 29th September, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe … St Vincent de Paul
Next Weekend 30th September & 1st October, 2017
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin … St Jerome
Devonport L.W.C.
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone L.W.C.
10:30am
Devonport
Ministry Rosters 30th September & 1st October, 2017
Devonport: 
10.30am: F Sly, E Petts, K Hull, S Arrowsmith, S Samarakkody,
R Batepola
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Port Sorell:
Readings this week – Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
First Reading: Isaiah 55: 6-9
Second Reading: Philippians 1: 20-24. 27
Gospel: Matthew 20: 1-16
PREGO REFLECTION:
I come to my place of prayer and become aware of being held
in God’s love.
I slowly read the parable a couple of times.
I try not to go
‘into my head’ but note what has struck me.
Is it the way the landowner keeps
hiring rejects? ...
Have I felt called to work in the kingdom at different
times in different ways?
Or is it the way the landowner calls one of the
aggrieved workers ‘My friend’?
Is my compassion open to everyone ... and have I
been the recipient of such attention?
I speak to the Lord about this.
Do I feel
that God’s love is a free gift for us all?
Perhaps I may ask to be free of all
feelings of envy and resentment and to be able to relax into this love. Our
heavenly Father is a giver of gifts.
Maybe I can give thanks and not feel that
I need earn anything.
I turn to him and speak from my heart.
I quietly end my
prayer with a slow sign of the cross.
Readings next week – Twenty-Sixth Sunday
in Ordinary Time Year A
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Rosemary Harcourt- Spencer, Dolor Hewison, Margaret Kenney, Rex
Bates, Victoria Webb, David Welch, Vern Cazaly, Dawn Stevens & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Cyril Smith, Jack Cochrane, Rita Walker, Katherine Adams, Ray
Duffy, Lyn Otley, Dorothy
Leonard, Wendy Lander.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 20th
– 26th September
Weekly
Ramblings
Thanks to all those who helped make Fr Paschal’s 1st Masses
in the Parish a good experience for him and his family – one of the sadness’s
for me was that I wasn’t able to be part of the celebration. Fr Paschal returns
to the seminary for the remainder of the year then will go back to Nigeria for
Christmas with his family, returning to commence his appointment as Assistant
Priest in our Parish on 1st February.
Fr Phil heads off on holidays this weekend, returning for
the final weekend in October. Over these next few weeks we will need to have
Lay Led Liturgy of the Word with Communion in three centres each weekend –
these will follow Fr Phil’s Mass roster and will be listed as LWC in the
Bulletin each week. Steven is also away for a fortnight as he returns to the
seminary for his annual retreat and some further studies – so I am in charge!!
This weekend we celebrate Social Justice Sunday - Everyone’s
Business, Developing an inclusive and sustainable economy. Over the past two
weekends my Message Series has been speaking about - What sort of Community are
we? I’ve looked at how we need to be healed from our brokenness and how we need
to be a compassionate and merciful community. This weekend we are being asked
whether we are a community who lives ‘Justly’ caring for the least in our
community.
Breaking news: Archbishop Julian informed us on Thursday
that Brother Cris (who was with us last year) is to be ordained to the
diaconate on Tuesday 17th October at Bridgewater. More details next
week.
Please take care on the roads and in your homes,
SOCIAL
JUSTICE SUNDAY – 24TH SEPTEMBER:
This year, the Australian
Bishops’ Social Justice Statement is titled: ‘Everyone’s Business: Developing
an inclusive and sustainable economy’.
MACKILLOP HILL
SPIRITUALITY IN THE COFFEE SHOPPE:
MACKILLOP HILL LIBRARY: Library opening hours 10am – 5pm Monday to Friday.
CARE AND CONCERN:
GRAND
FINAL $10.00 FOOTY MARGIN TICKETS:
Footy tipping margin for
15th September 59 points: winners: Joy Dean,
Helen Jaffray and Julie McBain.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
The Verbum Domini Biblical & Catechetical Institute’s
next module of the Sacraments course will be on the biblical foundations of Penance
(Reconciliation) & Anointing of the Sick. Saturday 7th October, 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 previous modules. TCEO staff and
teachers received professional learning credits for attendance. Bring your
bible and lunch. Morning tea provided. All welcome.
SOLEMNITY OF ST TERESA OF JESUS
- A Sung Mass will
be celebrated in honour of St Teresa of Jesus (Avila), the foundress of the
Discalced Carmelite Order, at the Carmelite Monastery, 7 Cambridge St.,
Launceston Sunday 15th October at 9:30am. Archbishop Julian will be the
principal celebrant and homilist. Morning tea will follow Mass. All welcome. A
Novena of Masses and Prayers will also be offered in preparation for the feast
from 6th – 14th October. Intentions may be sent to Mother Teresa-Benedicta at
the Monastery.
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.
DIRECTED RETREAT AND INDIVIDUAL DAYS OF REFLECTION "TO
KNOW THE SHEPHERD" - MARYKNOLL RETREAT CENTRE
A number of years ago I attended a funeral. The man to whom we were saying goodbye had enjoyed a full and rich life. He’d reached the age of 90 and was respected for having been both successful and honest. But he’d always been a strong man, a natural leader, a man who took charge of things. He’d had a good marriage, raised a large family, been successful in business, and held leadership roles in various civic and church organizations. He was a man who commanded respect although he was sometimes feared for his strength.
His son, a priest, was presiding at his funeral. He began his homily this way: “Scripture tells us that seventy is the sum of a man’s years, eighty for those who are strong. Now, our dad lived for ninety years. Why the extra ten years? Well, it’s no mystery really. It took God an extra ten years to mellow him out! He was too strong and cantankerous to die at eighty! But during the last ten years of his life he suffered a series of massive diminishments. His wife died, he never got over that. He had a stroke, he never got over that. He had to be moved into an assisted living complex, he never got over that. All these diminishments did their work. By the time he died, he could take your hand and say: ‘Help me’. He couldn’t say that from the time he could tie his own shoelaces until those last years. He was finally ready for heaven. Now when he met St. Peter at the gates of heaven he could say: ‘Help me!’ rather than tell St. Peter how he might better organize things.”
This story can help us understand Jesus’ teaching that the rich find it difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven while little children enter it quite naturally. We tend to misunderstand both why the rich find it hard to enter the kingdom and why little children enter it more easily.
Why do little children enter the kingdom quite naturally? In answering this we tend to idealize the innocence of little children, which can indeed be striking. But that’s not what Jesus is holding up as an ideal here, an ideal of innocence which for us adults is impossible in any case. It’s not the innocence of children that Jesus praises; rather it’s the fact that children have no illusion of self-sufficiency. Children have no choice but to know their dependence. They’re not self-sufficient and know that they cannot provide for themselves. If someone doesn’t feed them they go hungry. They need to say, and to say it often: “Help me!”
It’s generally the opposite for adults, especially if we’re strong, talented, and blessed with sufficient wealth. We easily nurse the illusion of self-sufficiency. In our strength we more naturally forget that we need others, that we’re not self-reliant.
The lesson here isn’t that riches are bad. Riches, be that money, talent, intelligence, health, good looks, leadership skills, or flat-out strength, are gifts from God. They’re good. It’s not riches that block us from entering the kingdom. Rather it’s the danger that, having them, we will more easily also have the illusion that we’re self-sufficient. We aren’t. As Thomas Aquinas points out by the very way he defines God (as Esse Subsistens – Self-sufficient Being) only God does not needs anyone or anything else. The rest of us do, and little children more easily grasp this than do adults, especially strong and gifted adults.
Moreover the illusion of self-sufficiency often spawns another danger: Riches and the comfort they bring, as we see in the parable of the rich man who has a beggar at his door, can make us blind to the plight and hunger of the poor. That’s one of the dangers in not being hungry ourselves. In our comfort, we tend not to see the poor.
And so it’s not riches themselves that are bad. The moral danger in being rich is rather the illusion of self-sufficiency that seems to forever accompany riches. Little children don’t suffer this illusion, but the strong do. That’s the danger in being rich, money-wise or otherwise.
How do we minimize that danger? By being generous with our riches. Luke’s Gospel, while being the Gospel that’s hardest on the rich is also the Gospel that makes most clear that riches aren’t bad in themselves. God is rich. But God is prodigiously generous with that richness. God’s generosity, as we learn from the parables of Jesus, is so excessive that it’s scandalous. It upsets our measured sense of fairness. Riches are good, but only if they’re shared. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus praises the generous rich but warns the hoarding rich. Generosity is Godlike, hoarding is antithetical to heaven.
And so from the time we learn to tie our own shoelaces until the various diminishments of life begin to strip away the illusion of self-sufficiency, riches of all kinds constitute a danger. We must never unlearn the words: “Help me!”
Moving toward the
Margins
Francis and Clare found freedom living “on the edge of the
inside,” moving to the bottom where the outcasts, poor, and marginalized lived.
They lived differently by emphasizing alternative values and not participating
in Church and society’s systems. CAC Living School alumnus, Mark Longhurst,
reflected on the powerfully transformative space of “margins” in a recent
Oneing article:
Mark Longhurst, “Transformation at the Margins,”
“Transformation,” Oneing, vol. 5, no. 1 (CAC: 2017), 103-106, 108.
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 26th - 29th September, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe … St Vincent de Paul
Thursday: 12noon
Devonport
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone … Sts Michael, Gabriel,
Raphael
Next Weekend 30th September & 1st October, 2017
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin … St Jerome
Devonport L.W.C.
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone L.W.C.
10:30am
Devonport
11:00am Sheffield L.W.C.
5:00pm Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 30th September & 1st October, 2017
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: M Gaffney, M Gerrand, H Lim 10:30am: A Hughes, T Barrientos, P Piccolo
Ministers of Communion: Vigil: D Peters, M
Heazlewood, T Muir, M Gerrand, P Shelverton
10.30am: F Sly, E Petts, K Hull, S Arrowsmith, S Samarakkody,
R Batepola
Cleaners. 29th Sept: K.S.C. 6th October: M.W.C.
Piety Shop 30th September:
R McBain 1st October: P Piccolo
Ulverstone:
Readers: M & K McKenzie
Ministers of
Communion: P Steyn, E Cox, C Singline, C McGrath
Cleaners: M
McKenzie, M Singh, N Pearce Flowers: M Bryan
Hospitality:
B O’Rourke
Penguin:
Greeters: G & N Pearce Commentator: E Nickols Readers: Y Downes, M Murray
Ministers of
Communion: A Guest,
T Clayton Liturgy: Pine Road Setting Up: A Landers
Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols
Port Sorell:
Readers: G Bellchambers, G Duff Ministers of Communion: L Post Cleaners/Flowers/Prep: A Holloway, B Lee
Readings this week – Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
First Reading: Isaiah 55: 6-9
Second Reading: Philippians 1: 20-24. 27
Gospel: Matthew 20: 1-16
PREGO REFLECTION:
I come to my place of prayer and become aware of being held
in God’s love.
I slowly read the parable a couple of times.
I try not to go ‘into my head’ but note what has struck me.
Is it the way the landowner keeps hiring rejects? ...
Have I felt called to work in the kingdom at different times in different ways?
Or is it the way the landowner calls one of the aggrieved workers ‘My friend’?
Is my compassion open to everyone ... and have I been the recipient of such attention?
I speak to the Lord about this.
Do I feel that God’s love is a free gift for us all?
Perhaps I may ask to be free of all feelings of envy and resentment and to be able to relax into this love. Our heavenly Father is a giver of gifts.
Maybe I can give thanks and not feel that I need earn anything.
I turn to him and speak from my heart.
I quietly end my prayer with a slow sign of the cross.
I slowly read the parable a couple of times.
I try not to go ‘into my head’ but note what has struck me.
Is it the way the landowner keeps hiring rejects? ...
Have I felt called to work in the kingdom at different times in different ways?
Or is it the way the landowner calls one of the aggrieved workers ‘My friend’?
Is my compassion open to everyone ... and have I been the recipient of such attention?
I speak to the Lord about this.
Do I feel that God’s love is a free gift for us all?
Perhaps I may ask to be free of all feelings of envy and resentment and to be able to relax into this love. Our heavenly Father is a giver of gifts.
Maybe I can give thanks and not feel that I need earn anything.
I turn to him and speak from my heart.
I quietly end my prayer with a slow sign of the cross.
Readings next week – Twenty-Sixth Sunday
in Ordinary Time Year A
First Reading: Ezekiel 18:25-28
Second Reading:
Philippians 2:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 21:28-32
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Rosemary Harcourt- Spencer, Dolor Hewison, Margaret Kenney, Rex
Bates, Victoria Webb, David Welch, Vern Cazaly, Dawn Stevens & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Cyril Smith, Jack Cochrane, Rita Walker, Katherine Adams, Ray
Duffy, Lyn Otley, Dorothy
Leonard, Wendy Lander.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 20th
– 26th September
Peg
McKenna, Joan McCarthy, Marie Stewart, Olive Rundle, Mely Pybus, Mike Downie, Phyliss
Arrowsmith, Kaye Jackson, Harold Davis, Pauline Kennedy, John Mahoney, Harry
Desmond, Kathleen Howard, Pauline Jackson and Sheila Mathew.
May they rest in peace
Weekly Ramblings
Thanks to all those who helped make Fr Paschal’s 1st Masses
in the Parish a good experience for him and his family – one of the sadness’s
for me was that I wasn’t able to be part of the celebration. Fr Paschal returns
to the seminary for the remainder of the year then will go back to Nigeria for
Christmas with his family, returning to commence his appointment as Assistant
Priest in our Parish on 1st February.
Fr Phil heads off on holidays this weekend, returning for
the final weekend in October. Over these next few weeks we will need to have
Lay Led Liturgy of the Word with Communion in three centres each weekend –
these will follow Fr Phil’s Mass roster and will be listed as LWC in the
Bulletin each week. Steven is also away for a fortnight as he returns to the
seminary for his annual retreat and some further studies – so I am in charge!!
This weekend we celebrate Social Justice Sunday - Everyone’s
Business, Developing an inclusive and sustainable economy. Over the past two
weekends my Message Series has been speaking about - What sort of Community are
we? I’ve looked at how we need to be healed from our brokenness and how we need
to be a compassionate and merciful community. This weekend we are being asked
whether we are a community who lives ‘Justly’ caring for the least in our
community.
Breaking news: Archbishop Julian informed us on Thursday
that Brother Cris (who was with us last year) is to be ordained to the
diaconate on Tuesday 17th October at Bridgewater. More details next
week.
SOCIAL
JUSTICE SUNDAY – 24TH SEPTEMBER:
This year, the Australian
Bishops’ Social Justice Statement is titled: ‘Everyone’s Business: Developing
an inclusive and sustainable economy’.
The Statement calls for an
economy that is founded on justice and offers dignity and inclusion to every
person. For further details about the Social Justice Statement, visit the
Australian Catholic Social Justice Council website www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au
or call (02) 8306 3499
MACKILLOP HILL
SPIRITUALITY IN THE COFFEE SHOPPE:
Monday 25th September 10:30am – 12 noon. Don’t miss
a lively discussion over morning tea!
Bring a friend! 123 William Street, FORTH. Phone:
6428:3095 No bookings necessary.
MACKILLOP HILL LIBRARY: Library opening hours 10am – 5pm Monday to Friday.
CARE AND CONCERN:
“Siloam” is the name of a group which meets under the
banner of Care and Concern. We focus on aspects of grief and loss often
experienced following the death of a loved one by offering the opportunity
simply to share and talk about where we are at this time.
The next meeting will be Tuesday 26th September
- 2.00 pm at MacKillop Hill, 123 William Street, Forth. Anyone is welcome to join us. If you require transport please phone Marg McKenzie
6425:1414.
PIETY SHOP:
Pocket Prayer Books are now in stock and are available from
OLOL Church Devonport also 2018 Columban Art Calendar’s from the Piety Shop OLOL
Devonport and Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone for $10.00.
GRAND
FINAL $10.00 FOOTY MARGIN TICKETS:
Hurry the $10 tickets
are selling fast, so make sure you buy one so you don’t miss out!! (You’ve got
to be in it to win it!!) The winner of the $10 tickets will receive $500.00 and the holder of the ticket with the number either side of
the winning number $100.00. The $10.00 tickets are only available
from OLOL
Church Devonport or by phoning the Parish Office 6424:2783.
Normal weekly $2.00 tickets are
still available.
Footy tipping margin for
15th September 59 points: winners: Joy Dean,
Helen Jaffray and Julie McBain.
BINGO -
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.
Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 28th
September – Alan Luxton & Tony Ryan.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
The Verbum Domini Biblical & Catechetical Institute’s
next module of the Sacraments course will be on the biblical foundations of Penance
(Reconciliation) & Anointing of the Sick. Saturday 7th October, 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 previous modules. TCEO staff and
teachers received professional learning credits for attendance. Bring your
bible and lunch. Morning tea provided. All welcome.
SOLEMNITY OF ST TERESA OF JESUS
- A Sung Mass will
be celebrated in honour of St Teresa of Jesus (Avila), the foundress of the
Discalced Carmelite Order, at the Carmelite Monastery, 7 Cambridge St.,
Launceston Sunday 15th October at 9:30am. Archbishop Julian will be the
principal celebrant and homilist. Morning tea will follow Mass. All welcome. A
Novena of Masses and Prayers will also be offered in preparation for the feast
from 6th – 14th October. Intentions may be sent to Mother Teresa-Benedicta at
the Monastery.
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.
DIRECTED RETREAT AND INDIVIDUAL DAYS OF REFLECTION "TO
KNOW THE SHEPHERD" - MARYKNOLL RETREAT CENTRE
28th October - 4th November.
You are welcome to come and stay for the entire time or for individual
days, as each day will stand alone with its content. For more information or a
retreat brochure please contact Sr Margaret Henderson RSM on 0418 366 923 or mm.henderson@bigpond.com
OUR STRUGGLE WITH RICHES
From an article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
A number of years ago I attended a funeral. The man to whom we were saying goodbye had enjoyed a full and rich life. He’d reached the age of 90 and was respected for having been both successful and honest. But he’d always been a strong man, a natural leader, a man who took charge of things. He’d had a good marriage, raised a large family, been successful in business, and held leadership roles in various civic and church organizations. He was a man who commanded respect although he was sometimes feared for his strength.
His son, a priest, was presiding at his funeral. He began his homily this way: “Scripture tells us that seventy is the sum of a man’s years, eighty for those who are strong. Now, our dad lived for ninety years. Why the extra ten years? Well, it’s no mystery really. It took God an extra ten years to mellow him out! He was too strong and cantankerous to die at eighty! But during the last ten years of his life he suffered a series of massive diminishments. His wife died, he never got over that. He had a stroke, he never got over that. He had to be moved into an assisted living complex, he never got over that. All these diminishments did their work. By the time he died, he could take your hand and say: ‘Help me’. He couldn’t say that from the time he could tie his own shoelaces until those last years. He was finally ready for heaven. Now when he met St. Peter at the gates of heaven he could say: ‘Help me!’ rather than tell St. Peter how he might better organize things.”
This story can help us understand Jesus’ teaching that the rich find it difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven while little children enter it quite naturally. We tend to misunderstand both why the rich find it hard to enter the kingdom and why little children enter it more easily.
Why do little children enter the kingdom quite naturally? In answering this we tend to idealize the innocence of little children, which can indeed be striking. But that’s not what Jesus is holding up as an ideal here, an ideal of innocence which for us adults is impossible in any case. It’s not the innocence of children that Jesus praises; rather it’s the fact that children have no illusion of self-sufficiency. Children have no choice but to know their dependence. They’re not self-sufficient and know that they cannot provide for themselves. If someone doesn’t feed them they go hungry. They need to say, and to say it often: “Help me!”
It’s generally the opposite for adults, especially if we’re strong, talented, and blessed with sufficient wealth. We easily nurse the illusion of self-sufficiency. In our strength we more naturally forget that we need others, that we’re not self-reliant.
The lesson here isn’t that riches are bad. Riches, be that money, talent, intelligence, health, good looks, leadership skills, or flat-out strength, are gifts from God. They’re good. It’s not riches that block us from entering the kingdom. Rather it’s the danger that, having them, we will more easily also have the illusion that we’re self-sufficient. We aren’t. As Thomas Aquinas points out by the very way he defines God (as Esse Subsistens – Self-sufficient Being) only God does not needs anyone or anything else. The rest of us do, and little children more easily grasp this than do adults, especially strong and gifted adults.
Moreover the illusion of self-sufficiency often spawns another danger: Riches and the comfort they bring, as we see in the parable of the rich man who has a beggar at his door, can make us blind to the plight and hunger of the poor. That’s one of the dangers in not being hungry ourselves. In our comfort, we tend not to see the poor.
And so it’s not riches themselves that are bad. The moral danger in being rich is rather the illusion of self-sufficiency that seems to forever accompany riches. Little children don’t suffer this illusion, but the strong do. That’s the danger in being rich, money-wise or otherwise.
How do we minimize that danger? By being generous with our riches. Luke’s Gospel, while being the Gospel that’s hardest on the rich is also the Gospel that makes most clear that riches aren’t bad in themselves. God is rich. But God is prodigiously generous with that richness. God’s generosity, as we learn from the parables of Jesus, is so excessive that it’s scandalous. It upsets our measured sense of fairness. Riches are good, but only if they’re shared. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus praises the generous rich but warns the hoarding rich. Generosity is Godlike, hoarding is antithetical to heaven.
And so from the time we learn to tie our own shoelaces until the various diminishments of life begin to strip away the illusion of self-sufficiency, riches of all kinds constitute a danger. We must never unlearn the words: “Help me!”
Moving toward the
Margins
This article was taken from the daily email from Fr Richard Rohr OFM. You can subscribe to the email here
Francis and Clare found freedom living “on the edge of the
inside,” moving to the bottom where the outcasts, poor, and marginalized lived.
They lived differently by emphasizing alternative values and not participating
in Church and society’s systems. CAC Living School alumnus, Mark Longhurst,
reflected on the powerfully transformative space of “margins” in a recent
Oneing article:
The spiritual practice of befriending margins is
uncomfortable, terrifying, and yet contains transformative power and beauty. . .
. To pay attention to margins is to pay attention to how boundary lines are
constructed in our world and lives—and then to cross those boundaries. The
psyche draws boundaries around what it is willing to face, so exploring
unconscious desires through shadow work is a way of welcoming the Holy Spirit
to our inner margins. Christian traditions have often neglected, shamed, or
marginalized the physical body’s wisdom. To begin conscious re-membering of our
bodies, then, is essential for integral wholeness. Today, more people are
awakening to the way social systems have marginalized society’s most vulnerable
populations. Prioritizing insights, friendships, and leadership from people on
the margins is a way of yielding to holistic political transformation.
For contemplatives to engage margins, especially
contemplatives accustomed to the comfortable, majority center, will require the
heart’s nimble resilience across social space. . . . Margins are nothing less
than what Richard Rohr calls “liminal space.” From the Latin limen, threshold,
in liminal space we dwell before, and sometimes dive through, a doorway of
transformation. As Richard writes in Adam’s Return,
Liminality is an inner state and sometimes an outer
situation where people can begin to think and act in genuinely new ways. It is
when we are betwixt and between, have left one room but not yet entered the
next room, any hiatus between stages of life, jobs, loves, or relationships. It
is that graced time when we are not certain or in control, when something
genuinely new can happen. [1]
. . . The present moment may be asking us, now and always,
to embrace the power and wisdom of the margins—or, as writer-activist Teresa
Pasquale Mateus says, to “center the margins.” For white people coming from
privileged backgrounds, this may mean non-defensive, open-hearted listening to
the marginalized life experiences of black and brown Americans. Once hearts are
cracked open, for example, to hear the horror of African American experiences,
first of slavery and lynching, and now of incarceration, the war on drugs, and
gun violence, it becomes a transformative human response to affirm with
weeping, prayer, solidarity, and action that black lives matter. Once hearts
are cracked open to hear and honor immigrant and refugee stories, our hearts
become broken at America’s long legacy of turning away or disenfranchising
those who differ from the white mold. And, once hearts are broken, it ceases to
become an ideology for people of privilege to stand with the marginalized. Solidarity
with the different is transformed into simply a natural human response of
compassion, reflecting our inherent, yet fragmented, oneness.
References:
[1] Richard Rohr, Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male
Initiation (The Crossroad Publishing
Company: 2004), 135.
Mark Longhurst, “Transformation at the Margins,”
“Transformation,” Oneing, vol. 5, no. 1 (CAC: 2017), 103-106, 108.
Matthew: a saint for today
Peter Edmonds SJ explores the final four verses of the gospel according to St Matthew. How can our understanding of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ last words to his disciples – words through which Jesus continues to speak to the Church today – lead us to a renewed appreciation of the rest of the gospel?
The feast day of St Matthew on September 21 is a celebration not only of the apostle Matthew as a disciple and a model for imitation, but also of the gospel that bears his name. It is an invitation to us to take the gospel down from our shelves and read it for ourselves. It is true that there are libraries of books about Matthew and in the last few years several worthy and stimulating commentaries, up to three volumes in length, have become available, so the non-specialist may well feel intimidated. But there is a quick way into this gospel and this is to begin with its ending, by concentrating on its final four verses. These verses tell us about the Risen Jesus, about his disciples, and the mission that he gave them. They have an easy application for today. We may approach them and unpack their meaning by asking simple questions about the context in which they appear, the setting of the scene, the people who take part and the words they speak. A principle to bear in mind is that the best commentary on a gospel is often the gospel itself: one part of it is illuminated by other parts.
You can find the complete article on the ThinkingFaith.com website by clicking here
Worship in Our New Church
These days we are settling into our new church building. It is a thrilling period in the life of our parish and certainly a lot of fun. But it also raises questions and brings challenges, as do any changes or transitions in life. Here are five that have stimulated some discussion around the parish.
The Position of our Musicians.
One of the most noticeable changes in our weekend liturgy could well be the position of our band members. In our old church they were congregated in a corner beside the Altar, more or less out of sight. Now they are not, the new space won’t allow for such an arrangement. But that is not the only reason for the reconfiguration. Our band members are not only musicians, they are worship leaders, and their more prominent placement, during sung worship, provides them the platform to lead, much like a cantor in a traditional church stands at the front of the altar to lead hymns.
The concern has been raised that this could be perceived as a performance. I would suggest, however, that it is only a performance if the congregation is not worshipping. Admittedly, we still have some tweaking to do before we get this entirely right, so hopefully everyone will be patient with us. Meanwhile, why not take this occasion to examine your heart when it comes to the music. Are you merely listening or are you worshipping through your singing ?
Broadcast in the Café
Our new café is a beautiful and inviting place to spend time. And part of the concept behind it is that it provides a venue for unchurched people to join us, hear the message, and grow in their comfort level of being at church. The decision was made, however, that we would not broadcast the Liturgy of the Eucharist there. We will broadcast the Liturgy of the Word, including the message, and then discontinue the broadcast. At one level, this seems more respectful. At another level, it helps underscore the point that the Café is not the ultimate destination even for the unchurched. We want them in church and participating fully in the Eucharist. The Café is just the starting point. Meanwhile, we will be broadcasting other programming in the Café during that part of the Mass, like our Small Group curriculum, as a way of further engaging our guests and going deeper.
Broadcast on the Concourse and in the Cry Loft is intended for people who are attending Mass while keeping their small children with them, and the entire Mass will be broadcast in those locations and Communion will be available.
Communion Stations
A new seating configuration requires new communion procedures. This is very much a work in progress and we very much appreciate your patience as we continue to discern what works best. Clearly we haven’t figured that out yet.
Kneeling During Mass
Nativity was built in 1970 without kneelers. I have no idea what the thinking was at that time. Hey, it was the 70’s! In more recent years we couldn’t have added kneelers, even if we’d wanted to, in view of space considerations. Now we have kneelers in our new church and we encourage people to use them, especially during the Eucharistic Prayer. Of course, if you can’t kneel or would prefer not to, you are perfectly welcome to sit. For those who do kneel, you are adapting an ancient posture for worship, widely used at Mass from the earliest days of Christianity.
Genuflecting before the Tabernacle
Another ancient custom is genuflecting (kneeling briefly on one’s right knee) before the Tabernacle as a sign of respect to the Blessed Sacrament reserved there. When Nativity was built the Tabernacle was in the chapel, so no one genuflected in the church. The Tabernacle in the new church has been placed at the center of the Altar, and genuflection is in order. This is properly done only when taking your seat and leaving it at the end of Mass. It is not necessary when approaching the Altar at Communion. Again, if you are unable to do so, simply pause and bow, from the neck.
Someone noted that in opening the new space we are pushing the envelope both ways, adapting new technology as well as more progressive worship while layering in more ancient customs as well.
That’s on purpose. We call it Dynamic Orthodoxy.
Peter Edmonds SJ explores the final four verses of the gospel according to St Matthew. How can our understanding of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ last words to his disciples – words through which Jesus continues to speak to the Church today – lead us to a renewed appreciation of the rest of the gospel?
The feast day of St Matthew on September 21 is a celebration not only of the apostle Matthew as a disciple and a model for imitation, but also of the gospel that bears his name. It is an invitation to us to take the gospel down from our shelves and read it for ourselves. It is true that there are libraries of books about Matthew and in the last few years several worthy and stimulating commentaries, up to three volumes in length, have become available, so the non-specialist may well feel intimidated. But there is a quick way into this gospel and this is to begin with its ending, by concentrating on its final four verses. These verses tell us about the Risen Jesus, about his disciples, and the mission that he gave them. They have an easy application for today. We may approach them and unpack their meaning by asking simple questions about the context in which they appear, the setting of the scene, the people who take part and the words they speak. A principle to bear in mind is that the best commentary on a gospel is often the gospel itself: one part of it is illuminated by other parts.
You can find the complete article on the ThinkingFaith.com website by clicking here
Worship in Our New Church
These days we are settling into our new church building. It is a thrilling period in the life of our parish and certainly a lot of fun. But it also raises questions and brings challenges, as do any changes or transitions in life. Here are five that have stimulated some discussion around the parish.
The Position of our Musicians.
One of the most noticeable changes in our weekend liturgy could well be the position of our band members. In our old church they were congregated in a corner beside the Altar, more or less out of sight. Now they are not, the new space won’t allow for such an arrangement. But that is not the only reason for the reconfiguration. Our band members are not only musicians, they are worship leaders, and their more prominent placement, during sung worship, provides them the platform to lead, much like a cantor in a traditional church stands at the front of the altar to lead hymns.
The concern has been raised that this could be perceived as a performance. I would suggest, however, that it is only a performance if the congregation is not worshipping. Admittedly, we still have some tweaking to do before we get this entirely right, so hopefully everyone will be patient with us. Meanwhile, why not take this occasion to examine your heart when it comes to the music. Are you merely listening or are you worshipping through your singing ?
Broadcast in the Café
Our new café is a beautiful and inviting place to spend time. And part of the concept behind it is that it provides a venue for unchurched people to join us, hear the message, and grow in their comfort level of being at church. The decision was made, however, that we would not broadcast the Liturgy of the Eucharist there. We will broadcast the Liturgy of the Word, including the message, and then discontinue the broadcast. At one level, this seems more respectful. At another level, it helps underscore the point that the Café is not the ultimate destination even for the unchurched. We want them in church and participating fully in the Eucharist. The Café is just the starting point. Meanwhile, we will be broadcasting other programming in the Café during that part of the Mass, like our Small Group curriculum, as a way of further engaging our guests and going deeper.
Broadcast on the Concourse and in the Cry Loft is intended for people who are attending Mass while keeping their small children with them, and the entire Mass will be broadcast in those locations and Communion will be available.
Communion Stations
A new seating configuration requires new communion procedures. This is very much a work in progress and we very much appreciate your patience as we continue to discern what works best. Clearly we haven’t figured that out yet.
Kneeling During Mass
Nativity was built in 1970 without kneelers. I have no idea what the thinking was at that time. Hey, it was the 70’s! In more recent years we couldn’t have added kneelers, even if we’d wanted to, in view of space considerations. Now we have kneelers in our new church and we encourage people to use them, especially during the Eucharistic Prayer. Of course, if you can’t kneel or would prefer not to, you are perfectly welcome to sit. For those who do kneel, you are adapting an ancient posture for worship, widely used at Mass from the earliest days of Christianity.
Genuflecting before the Tabernacle
Another ancient custom is genuflecting (kneeling briefly on one’s right knee) before the Tabernacle as a sign of respect to the Blessed Sacrament reserved there. When Nativity was built the Tabernacle was in the chapel, so no one genuflected in the church. The Tabernacle in the new church has been placed at the center of the Altar, and genuflection is in order. This is properly done only when taking your seat and leaving it at the end of Mass. It is not necessary when approaching the Altar at Communion. Again, if you are unable to do so, simply pause and bow, from the neck.
Someone noted that in opening the new space we are pushing the envelope both ways, adapting new technology as well as more progressive worship while layering in more ancient customs as well.
That’s on purpose. We call it Dynamic Orthodoxy.
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