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
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
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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Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon,
concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport:
First Friday of each month.
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church
Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – In
Recess until Monday 15TH January, 2018
Healing Mass sponsored by CCR will be held at St Mary’s Church Penguin
on Thursday 8th February, 2018
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 Masses12th - 15th December, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am
Penguin
2.30pm Tandara Nursing Home, Sheffield
Next Weekend 16th & 17th December, 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 16th & 17th December, 2017
Devonport:
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
Readings this week – Second Sunday of Advent – Year B
PREGO REFLECTION:
Perhaps I light a candle to remind me of the
presence of Jesus, who comes as the light of God into our world.
Mark
introduces us to the ‘Good News’ about Jesus.
As I read the beginning of his
Gospel, I may like to pray using one (or more) of the following suggestions:
What has the Good News of Jesus meant for me in my life?
I ponder, sharing my
thoughts and feelings with the Lord.
John’s lifestyle and words draw people to
listen to him.
How might I be a messenger, preparing a way for the Lord in the
hearts and minds of those with whom I come in contact?
I listen to what the
Lord might say to me and ask for whatever grace I need.
I may want to beg for
the gift of the Holy Spirit, filling me and guiding me to follow Jesus even
more faithfully in my daily life.
I end my prayer by speaking to the Lord from
my heart; perhaps I remain in stillness before him for a while …. Come, Lord
Jesus ...
Readings next week – Third Sunday of
Advent – Year B
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 6th
– 12th December
Weekly
Ramblings
Many thanks to all those parishioners who attended our Parish Forum –
Next Steps gathering last Sunday afternoon. We will have some information from
the event next weekend in the newsletter as well as at the Bus Stop.
There will be a celebration of the 2nd Rite of
Reconciliation at 7pm on Tuesday 12th at Devonport and Wednesday 13th at Ulverstone. We also have the 1st Rite each Friday following the
9.30am Mass at Ulverstone and at 5.15pm on Saturday before the Vigil Mass.
There has been some question about Masses at Christmas time. There will
be the normal Masses on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th – 4th Sunday of Advent – except there will not be a 5pm Mass at Latrobe on 24th.
So that every centre has the possibility of Mass at a time suitable for any
gathering that people have planned for Christmas Day it is not possible to
celebrate Mass at either Devonport or Ulverstone on Christmas Day. Both Centres
have Mass on Christmas Eve and every effort will be made to ensure that the
Mass Times are broadcast as widely as possible – if you are able to help make
the Mass times known then that would be greatly appreciated.
EMPTY STABLE OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH:
Parishioners are invited to place gifts, non-perishable goods in the empty stable at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The items donated will be placed in the many Christmas Hampers St Vincent de Paul Society will be distributing in the communities. Your kindness and generosity is appreciated and will make life a little more joyful for families and isolated people.
OLOL PIETY SHOP: A variety of Christmas Cards are
now available so hurry and buy some today!!
SACRED HEART CHURCH
CHRISTMAS EVE MASS:
Thursday Nights OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 14th December – Break up callers please!
Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Christmas Mass Times - 2017
OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH
DEVONPORT
Christmas Eve 6.00pm Vigil Mass
LATROBE
HOLY CROSS CHURCH
SHEFFIELD
ST JOSEPH’S MASS CENTRE
PORT SORELL
SACRED HEART CHURCH
ULVERSTONE
PENGUIN
RECONCILIATION
DATES FOR
YOUR DIARY
12th Dec: Reconciliation – Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Devonport – 7pm
21st Dec: Advent Program with Clare Kiely-Hoye: Parish
House Devonport 10am – 11:30am
The Welcoming Prayer
I’d like to offer you a form of contemplation—a practice of
forgiving reality for being what it is—called The Welcoming Prayer.
First, identify a hurt or an offense in your life. Remember
the feelings you first experienced with this hurt and feel them the way you
first felt them. Notice how this shows up in your body. Paying attention to
your body’s sensations keeps you from jumping into the mind and its dualistic
games of good guy/bad guy, win/lose, either/or.
After you can identify the hurt and feel it in your body,
welcome it. Stop fighting it. Stop splitting and blaming. Welcome the grief.
Welcome the anger. It’s hard to do, but for some reason, when we name it, feel
it, and welcome it, transformation can begin.
Don’t lose presence to the moment. Any kind of analysis will
lead you back into attachment to your ego self. The reason a bird sitting on a
hot wire is not electrocuted is quite simply because it does not touch the
ground to give the electricity a pathway. Hold the creative tension, but don’t
ground it by thinking about it, critiquing it, or analyzing it.
When you’re able to welcome your own pain, you will in some
way feel the pain of the whole world. This is what it means to be human—and
also what it means to be divine. You can hold this immense pain because you too
are being held by the very One who went through this process on the cross.
Jesus was holding all the pain of the world; though the world had come to hate
him, he refused to hate it back.
Now hand all of this pain—yours and the world’s—over to God.
Let it go. Ask for the grace of forgiveness for the person who hurt you, for
the event that offended you, for the reality of suffering in each life.
I can’t promise the pain will leave easily or quickly. To
forgive is not to forget. But letting go frees up a great amount of soul-energy
that liberates a level of life you didn’t know existed. It leads you to your
True Self.
Reference:
In all healthy people there’s a natural reticence about revealing too much of themselves and a concomitant need to keep certain things secret. Too often we judge this as an unhealthy shyness or, worse, as hiding something bad. But reticence and secrecy can be as much virtue as fault because, as James Hillman puts it, when we’re healthy we will normally “show the piety of shame before the mystery of life.”
When are secrets healthy and when are they not? When is it healthy to “cast our pearl” before others and when is it not? This is often answered too simplistically on both sides.
No doubt secrets can be dangerous. From scripture, from spirituality in every tradition, from what’s best in psychology, and, not least, from the various “12-Step Programs” that today help so many people back to health, we learn that keeping secrets can be dangerous, that what’s dark, obsessive, and hidden within us has to be brought to light, confessed, shared with someone, and owned in openness or we can never be healthy. Scripture tells us that the truth will set us free, that we will be healthy only if we confess our sins, and that our dark secrets will fester in us and ultimately corrupt us if we keep them hidden. Alcoholics Anonymous submits that we are as sick as our sickest secret. Psychology tells us that our psychic health depends upon our capacity to share our thoughts, feelings, and failings openly with others and that it’s dangerous to keep things bottled up inside ourselves. That’s right. That’s wise.
There are secrets that are wrongly kept, like the dark secrets we keep when we betray or the secrets a young child clutches to as an exercise in power. Such secrets fester in the soul and keep us wrongly apart. What’s hidden must be brought into the light. We should be wary of secrets.
But, as is the case with most everything else, there’s another side to this, a delicate balance that needs to be struck. Just as it can be bad to keep secrets, we can also be too loose in sharing ourselves. We can lack proper reticence. We can trivialize what’s precious inside us. We can open ourselves in ways that takes away our mystery and makes us inept subjects for romance. We can lose our depth in ways that makes it difficult for us to be creative or to pray. We can lack “the piety of shame before the mystery of life.” We all need to keep some secrets.
Etymologically to keep a secret means to keep something apart from others. And we need to do that in healthy ways because a certain amount of honest privacy is necessary for us to nurture our individuality, for us to come to know our own souls. All of us need to keep some secrets, healthy secrets. What this does, apart from helping us know more deeply our individuality, is that secrets protect our mystery and depth by shielding them under a certain mystique, from which we can more richly offer our individuality to others.
We derive both the words mystery and mystic from the Greek word myein which is a word that’s used to describe what we are left looking at when a flower closes its petals or a person closes his or her eyelids. Something’s hidden then, something of beauty, of intelligence, of wit, of love. Its depths are partially closed off and so that individual flower or person takes on a certain mystique which triggers a desire within us to want to uncover those depths. Romance has its origins here, as does creativity, prayer, and contemplation. It’s no accident that when artists paint persons at prayer normally they are depicted with their eyelids closed. Our souls need to be protected from over-exposure. Just as our eyes need to be closed at times for sleep, so too our souls. They need time away from the maddening crowd, time alone with themselves, time to healthily deepen their individuality so as to make them richer for romance.
Some years ago in an American television sitcom, a mother issued this warning to her teenage daughter just as this young person was leaving for a party with friends: “Now remember your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit – not a public amusement park!” Inside that wit, there’s wisdom. The mother’s warning is about properly guarding one’s body, but the body is connected to the soul and, like the body, the soul too shouldn’t be trivialized and become fodder for recreation.
Jesus warns us to not give to the dogs what’s sacred or throw pearls to swine. That’s strong talk, but what he’s warning us about merits strong language. Soul is a precious commodity that needs to be properly cherished and guarded. Soul is also a sacred commodity that needs to be accorded its proper reverence. We protect that preciousness and sacredness when we confess openly are sick secrets and then properly guard our healthy ones.
Theology and Candles:
Original Sin and Immaculate Conception
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception honours the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin. Philip Endean SJ delves into the mystery at the heart of this feast. What questions does it pose about sin and the human condition, and can we answer these questions with theology?
In the early 1980s, the late and much
loved Kevin Donovan SJ went part-time on the faculty at Heythrop College in
order to become a parish priest in north London. The opening line of his first
lecture after the move ran: ‘Now that I’m working in a parish, I’m coming to
realise that theology is as important as candles.’
Just let that line sink in. It might
mean that theology is trivial, a waste of time; it could be suggesting that
theology at its best is an act of worship. The irony hints at how churchy activity
of any kind is always dealing with far more than it can really handle. And yet
the juxtaposition also jangles: life with candles and life with high theology,
as in different ways both Kevin and his students were realising, do not quite
fit together.
When
we speak of Mary as conceived without original sin, we are using a theological
idea—original sin—to name a reality of faith more naturally expressed by
lighting a candle. And the theology does not quite work.
You can find the complete article here
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Weekday Masses12th - 15th December, 2017
Tuesday: 9:30am
Penguin
7:00pm Devonport … Reconciliation
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe … St Lucy
7:00pm
Ulverstone … Reconciliation
Thursday: 10:30am
Eliza Purton … St John of the Cross
12noon
Devonport
Friday: 11:00am
Mt St Vincent
2.30pm Tandara Nursing Home, Sheffield
2.30pm Tandara Nursing Home, Sheffield
Next Weekend 16th & 17th December, 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 16th & 17th December, 2017
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: M Kelly, B Paul, R Baker 10:30am: A Hughes,
T Barrientos, P Piccolo
Ministers of
Communion: Vigil: T Muir, M Davies, M Gerrand, D
Peters, J Heatley
10:30am: B & N Mulcahy, L Hollister, K
Hull, S Samarakkody, R Batepola
Cleaners 15th
Dec: B Paul, D Atkins,
V Riley 22nd Dec: K S.C.
Piety Shop 16th Dec:
L Murfet 17th Dec: D French Lawns at Parish House: T Davies
Ulverstone:
Reader/s: A & F Pisano Ministers of Communion: M Murray, J Pisarskis, C Harvey, P
Grech
Cleaners: G & M Seen, C Roberts Flowers: M Byrne
Hospitality: M McLaren
Penguin:
Greeters: Fefita Family Commentator: Readers: Fefita Family
Ministers of
Communion: E
Nickols, P Lade Liturgy: Penguin Setting Up: E Nickols
Care of Church: J & T Kiely
Latrobe:
Reader: H Lim Ministers of Communion: M Eden, Z Smith Procession: Parishioners
Port Sorell:
Readers: T Jeffries, L Post Minister of Communion: E Holloway
Clean/Flowers/Prepare: A Holloway
Readings this week – Second Sunday of Advent – Year B
First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Second Reading: 2 St Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
PREGO REFLECTION:
As I come to pray, I find some stillness before God in
whichever way is best for me.
Perhaps I light a candle to remind me of the presence of Jesus, who comes as the light of God into our world.
Mark introduces us to the ‘Good News’ about Jesus.
As I read the beginning of his Gospel, I may like to pray using one (or more) of the following suggestions:
What has the Good News of Jesus meant for me in my life?
I ponder, sharing my thoughts and feelings with the Lord.
John’s lifestyle and words draw people to listen to him.
How might I be a messenger, preparing a way for the Lord in the hearts and minds of those with whom I come in contact?
I listen to what the Lord might say to me and ask for whatever grace I need.
I may want to beg for the gift of the Holy Spirit, filling me and guiding me to follow Jesus even more faithfully in my daily life.
I end my prayer by speaking to the Lord from my heart; perhaps I remain in stillness before him for a while …. Come, Lord Jesus ...
Perhaps I light a candle to remind me of the presence of Jesus, who comes as the light of God into our world.
Mark introduces us to the ‘Good News’ about Jesus.
As I read the beginning of his Gospel, I may like to pray using one (or more) of the following suggestions:
What has the Good News of Jesus meant for me in my life?
I ponder, sharing my thoughts and feelings with the Lord.
John’s lifestyle and words draw people to listen to him.
How might I be a messenger, preparing a way for the Lord in the hearts and minds of those with whom I come in contact?
I listen to what the Lord might say to me and ask for whatever grace I need.
I may want to beg for the gift of the Holy Spirit, filling me and guiding me to follow Jesus even more faithfully in my daily life.
I end my prayer by speaking to the Lord from my heart; perhaps I remain in stillness before him for a while …. Come, Lord Jesus ...
Readings next week – Third Sunday of
Advent – Year B
First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-2. 10-11
Second Reading: 1
Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel: John 1:6-8. 19-28
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Rex Bates, Joseph Kiely, Victoria Webb, David Welch, Faye Bugg, Rose Ackerly & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Kieran Hofer, Ken Lowry,
Margaret Kenney, Kelvin Green, Margaret Devine, Phyllis Ashton, Ken Denison.
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 6th
– 12th December
Rustica
Bibera, Elsie Williams, Murray Soden, Theo Kurrle, Vera Sherston, John Davis, Guy d’Hondt
& John
Gibbons.
Weekly
Ramblings
Many thanks to all those parishioners who attended our Parish Forum –
Next Steps gathering last Sunday afternoon. We will have some information from
the event next weekend in the newsletter as well as at the Bus Stop.
There will be a celebration of the 2nd Rite of
Reconciliation at 7pm on Tuesday 12th at Devonport and Wednesday 13th at Ulverstone. We also have the 1st Rite each Friday following the
9.30am Mass at Ulverstone and at 5.15pm on Saturday before the Vigil Mass.
There has been some question about Masses at Christmas time. There will
be the normal Masses on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th – 4th Sunday of Advent – except there will not be a 5pm Mass at Latrobe on 24th.
So that every centre has the possibility of Mass at a time suitable for any
gathering that people have planned for Christmas Day it is not possible to
celebrate Mass at either Devonport or Ulverstone on Christmas Day. Both Centres
have Mass on Christmas Eve and every effort will be made to ensure that the
Mass Times are broadcast as widely as possible – if you are able to help make
the Mass times known then that would be greatly appreciated.
Please take care on the roads and
in your homes,
EMPTY STABLE OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH:
Parishioners are invited to place gifts, non-perishable goods in the empty stable at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The items donated will be placed in the many Christmas Hampers St Vincent de Paul Society will be distributing in the communities. Your kindness and generosity is appreciated and will make life a little more joyful for families and isolated people.
OLOL PIETY SHOP: A variety of Christmas Cards are now available so hurry and buy some today!!
SACRED HEART CHURCH
CHRISTMAS EVE MASS:
‘Calling all children’ you are very
welcome to participate in the nativity play at the 6pm Christmas Eve Mass at
Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone. Practise
will take place Sunday 10th & 17th December during 9am Mass
at Sacred Heart Church.
For more information
please phone Charlie Vella 0417 307 781.
Thursday Nights OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 14th December – Break up callers please!
Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Christmas Mass Times - 2017
OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH
DEVONPORT
DEVONPORT
Christmas Eve 6.00pm Vigil Mass
8.00pm Vigil Mass
ST PATRICK’S CHURCH
LATROBE
LATROBE
Christmas Day 9.30am Mass
HOLY CROSS CHURCH
SHEFFIELD
SHEFFIELD
Christmas Day 9.30am Mass
ST JOSEPH’S MASS CENTRE
PORT SORELL
PORT SORELL
Christmas Day 8.00am Mass
SACRED HEART CHURCH
ULVERSTONE
ULVERSTONE
Christmas Eve 6.00pm Vigil Mass
ST MARY’S CHURCH
PENGUIN
PENGUIN
Christmas Eve 8.00pm Vigil Mass
RECONCILIATION
Tuesday 12th December – 7pm OLOL Church Devonport
Wednesday 13th December – 7pm Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone
DATES FOR
YOUR DIARY
12th Dec: Reconciliation – Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Devonport – 7pm
13th Dec: Reconciliation – Sacred Heart Church
Ulverstone – 7pm
21st Dec: Advent Program with Clare Kiely-Hoye: Parish
House Devonport 10am – 11:30am
The Welcoming Prayer
This article is taken from the daily email sent by Fr Richard Rohr OFM. You can subscribe and receive the email here
I’d like to offer you a form of contemplation—a practice of
forgiving reality for being what it is—called The Welcoming Prayer.
First, identify a hurt or an offense in your life. Remember
the feelings you first experienced with this hurt and feel them the way you
first felt them. Notice how this shows up in your body. Paying attention to
your body’s sensations keeps you from jumping into the mind and its dualistic
games of good guy/bad guy, win/lose, either/or.
After you can identify the hurt and feel it in your body,
welcome it. Stop fighting it. Stop splitting and blaming. Welcome the grief.
Welcome the anger. It’s hard to do, but for some reason, when we name it, feel
it, and welcome it, transformation can begin.
Don’t lose presence to the moment. Any kind of analysis will
lead you back into attachment to your ego self. The reason a bird sitting on a
hot wire is not electrocuted is quite simply because it does not touch the
ground to give the electricity a pathway. Hold the creative tension, but don’t
ground it by thinking about it, critiquing it, or analyzing it.
When you’re able to welcome your own pain, you will in some
way feel the pain of the whole world. This is what it means to be human—and
also what it means to be divine. You can hold this immense pain because you too
are being held by the very One who went through this process on the cross.
Jesus was holding all the pain of the world; though the world had come to hate
him, he refused to hate it back.
Now hand all of this pain—yours and the world’s—over to God.
Let it go. Ask for the grace of forgiveness for the person who hurt you, for
the event that offended you, for the reality of suffering in each life.
I can’t promise the pain will leave easily or quickly. To
forgive is not to forget. But letting go frees up a great amount of soul-energy
that liberates a level of life you didn’t know existed. It leads you to your
True Self.
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the
Wisdom of Saint Francis, disc 6 (Sounds True: 2010), CD.
RETICENCE AND SECRECY AS VIRTUE
This article is taken from the archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser. You can find the original article here
In all healthy people there’s a natural reticence about revealing too much of themselves and a concomitant need to keep certain things secret. Too often we judge this as an unhealthy shyness or, worse, as hiding something bad. But reticence and secrecy can be as much virtue as fault because, as James Hillman puts it, when we’re healthy we will normally “show the piety of shame before the mystery of life.”
When are secrets healthy and when are they not? When is it healthy to “cast our pearl” before others and when is it not? This is often answered too simplistically on both sides.
No doubt secrets can be dangerous. From scripture, from spirituality in every tradition, from what’s best in psychology, and, not least, from the various “12-Step Programs” that today help so many people back to health, we learn that keeping secrets can be dangerous, that what’s dark, obsessive, and hidden within us has to be brought to light, confessed, shared with someone, and owned in openness or we can never be healthy. Scripture tells us that the truth will set us free, that we will be healthy only if we confess our sins, and that our dark secrets will fester in us and ultimately corrupt us if we keep them hidden. Alcoholics Anonymous submits that we are as sick as our sickest secret. Psychology tells us that our psychic health depends upon our capacity to share our thoughts, feelings, and failings openly with others and that it’s dangerous to keep things bottled up inside ourselves. That’s right. That’s wise.
There are secrets that are wrongly kept, like the dark secrets we keep when we betray or the secrets a young child clutches to as an exercise in power. Such secrets fester in the soul and keep us wrongly apart. What’s hidden must be brought into the light. We should be wary of secrets.
But, as is the case with most everything else, there’s another side to this, a delicate balance that needs to be struck. Just as it can be bad to keep secrets, we can also be too loose in sharing ourselves. We can lack proper reticence. We can trivialize what’s precious inside us. We can open ourselves in ways that takes away our mystery and makes us inept subjects for romance. We can lose our depth in ways that makes it difficult for us to be creative or to pray. We can lack “the piety of shame before the mystery of life.” We all need to keep some secrets.
Etymologically to keep a secret means to keep something apart from others. And we need to do that in healthy ways because a certain amount of honest privacy is necessary for us to nurture our individuality, for us to come to know our own souls. All of us need to keep some secrets, healthy secrets. What this does, apart from helping us know more deeply our individuality, is that secrets protect our mystery and depth by shielding them under a certain mystique, from which we can more richly offer our individuality to others.
We derive both the words mystery and mystic from the Greek word myein which is a word that’s used to describe what we are left looking at when a flower closes its petals or a person closes his or her eyelids. Something’s hidden then, something of beauty, of intelligence, of wit, of love. Its depths are partially closed off and so that individual flower or person takes on a certain mystique which triggers a desire within us to want to uncover those depths. Romance has its origins here, as does creativity, prayer, and contemplation. It’s no accident that when artists paint persons at prayer normally they are depicted with their eyelids closed. Our souls need to be protected from over-exposure. Just as our eyes need to be closed at times for sleep, so too our souls. They need time away from the maddening crowd, time alone with themselves, time to healthily deepen their individuality so as to make them richer for romance.
Some years ago in an American television sitcom, a mother issued this warning to her teenage daughter just as this young person was leaving for a party with friends: “Now remember your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit – not a public amusement park!” Inside that wit, there’s wisdom. The mother’s warning is about properly guarding one’s body, but the body is connected to the soul and, like the body, the soul too shouldn’t be trivialized and become fodder for recreation.
Jesus warns us to not give to the dogs what’s sacred or throw pearls to swine. That’s strong talk, but what he’s warning us about merits strong language. Soul is a precious commodity that needs to be properly cherished and guarded. Soul is also a sacred commodity that needs to be accorded its proper reverence. We protect that preciousness and sacredness when we confess openly are sick secrets and then properly guard our healthy ones.
Theology and Candles:
Original Sin and Immaculate Conception
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception honours the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin. Philip Endean SJ delves into the mystery at the heart of this feast. What questions does it pose about sin and the human condition, and can we answer these questions with theology?
In the early 1980s, the late and much
loved Kevin Donovan SJ went part-time on the faculty at Heythrop College in
order to become a parish priest in north London. The opening line of his first
lecture after the move ran: ‘Now that I’m working in a parish, I’m coming to
realise that theology is as important as candles.’
Just let that line sink in. It might
mean that theology is trivial, a waste of time; it could be suggesting that
theology at its best is an act of worship. The irony hints at how churchy activity
of any kind is always dealing with far more than it can really handle. And yet
the juxtaposition also jangles: life with candles and life with high theology,
as in different ways both Kevin and his students were realising, do not quite
fit together.
When
we speak of Mary as conceived without original sin, we are using a theological
idea—original sin—to name a reality of faith more naturally expressed by
lighting a candle. And the theology does not quite work.
You can find the complete article here
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