2nd Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish

OUR VISION

To be a vibrant Catholic Community 

unified in its commitment 

to growing disciples for Christ 

Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney 
Mob: 0417 279 437 
mike.delaney@aohtas.org.au
Assistant Priest: Fr Paschal Okpon
Mob: 0438 562 731
paschalokpon@yahoo.com
Seminarian in Residence: Kanishka Perera
Mob: 0499 035 199
kanish_biyanwila@yahoo.com
Priest in Residence:  Fr Phil McCormack  
Mob: 0437 521 257
pmccormack43@bigpond.com
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310 
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160 
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies
Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair:  Felicity Sly
Mob: 0418 301 573
fsly@internode.on.net

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au

Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au

Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com 

Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.

         

PLENARY COUNCIL PRAYER

Come, Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia 
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another 
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other 
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future, 
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.   
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.

Parish Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for gathering us together 
and calling us to serve as your disciples.

You have charged us through Your Son, Jesus, with the great mission

  of evangelising and witnessing your love to the world.

Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern your will

 for the spiritual renewal of our parish.

Give us strength, courage, and clear vision 
as we use our gifts to serve you.

We entrust our parish family to the care of Mary, our mother,

and ask for her intercession and guidance 
as we strive to bear witness

 to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.

Amen.

Our Parish Sacramental Life

Baptism: Arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session organised with a Priest.

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)

Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport:  First Friday each month - commences at 10am and concludes with Mass

Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone

Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – In Recess until Mon 13th January. For information: Michael Gaffney 0447 018 068

Weekday Masses 9th  – 13th December, 2019                                                       

Monday:         12noon Devonport … Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary 
Tuesday:         9:30am Penguin                                 
Wednesday:    9:30am Latrobe … St Damasus I 
Thursday        10:30am Eliza Purton … Our Lady of Guadalupe
                      12noon Devonport 
Friday:           9:30am Ulverstone … St Lucy
                     10:00am Meercroft

Next Weekend 14th & 15th December

Saturday Vigil:  6:00pm Devonport
                         6:00pm Penguin
Sunday Mass:     8:30am Port Sorell  
                        9:00am Ulverstone

                        10:30am Devonport
                        11:00am Sheffield
                         5:00pm Latrobe
                      

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish 

Christmas Mass Times 2019

OUR LADY OF LOURDES, Stewart Street, Devonport

Christmas Eve 6pm Children’s Mass

              8pm Family Mass 

                  

ST PATRICK’S, Gilbert Street, Latrobe

Christmas Day 10am  

HOLY CROSS, High Street, Sheffield

Christmas Day   9:30am

ST JOSEPH’S MASS CENTRE, Arthur Street, Port Sorell

Christmas Day 8:30am   

SACRED HEART Alexandra Road, Ulverstone

 Christmas Eve   6pm   Children’s Mass

                    

ST MARY’S King Edward Street, Penguin

Christmas Eve   8pm   Family Mass

MINISTRY ROSTERS 14th & 15th DECEMBER 2019

Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: V Riley, A Stegmann, G Hendrey 10:30am: J Henderson, J Phillips, P Piccolo
Ministers of Communion: Vigil T Muir, M Davies, D Peters, J Heatley, K & K Maynard
10.30am: N Mulcahy, K Hull, G Keating
Cleaners: 13th Dec: F Sly, M Hansen, I Hunter 20th Dec: P Shelverton, E Petts
Piety Shop: 14th Dec: R Baker 15th Dec: D French

Ulverstone:
Reader/s: D Prior   Flowers: G Doyle   Hospitality:  K Foster 
Ministers of Communion: P Steyn, E Cox, C Singline, M Barry

Penguin:
Greeters   G Hills-Eade, B Eade      
Commentator:  J Barker    Readers: E Nickols, K Fraser
Ministers of Communion: M Hiscutt, S Coleman   Liturgy: Pine Road      
Setting Up: A Landers
Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton

Latrobe:
Reader:  S Ritchie    Ministers of Communion:   B Ritchie     
Procession of Gifts:  Parishioner

Port Sorell:
Readers: L Post, T Jeffries    Ministers of Communion: G Gigliotti    
Cleaners:  C & J Howard

ADVENT BLESSING
Lord God, your Church joyfully awaits the coming of its Saviour, who enlightens our hearts and dispels the darkness of ignorance and sin.
Pour forth your blessings upon us as we light the second candle of this wreath; may its light reflect the splendour of Christ, who is Lord, for ever and ever.  Amen 

Readings This Week: Second Sunday of Advent – Year A

First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10

Second Reading:  Romans 15:4-9

Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL
Whether I have the luxury of a prayer space, or whether I need to snatch a few moments of prayer on the way home from work, on the bus, the train or in the car, I read this text several times to become really familiar with it so I can then put it aside. 
What are you going to tell me today, Lord? 
I may want to imagine I am by the River Jordan, with the followers of John the Baptist. 
I look at him; I listen to him and reflect. 
John calls me to repentance ... that is, to a radical change of path, so I can become aware of my dependence on God. 
Where do I need to change within myself ... in my dealings with my family, or my colleagues? 
Perhaps I find myself among the Pharisees and Sadducees. 
How do I feel when John addresses us? 
Maybe I see in myself some of the complacency that John objects to. 
I ponder, and then tell the Lord what is in my heart. 
He knows, he understands. 
As I wait for the One who follows John, I look ahead. 
What can I tell him of my desire to be of service to others, to help bring about a better world? 
When I am ready, taking my time, I close my prayer, thanking the Lord in my own words for being with me today.

Readings Next Week: Third Sunday of Advent – Year A

First Reading: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10

Second Reading:  James 5:7-10

Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11

                                         

Your prayers are asked for the sick: 

Margaret Becker, Brenda Paul, Erin Kyriazis, Carmel Leonard, Philip Smith, Frank McDonald & …

Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Ken Tame, Elise Vandenberg, Kevin Barker, Peter Williams, David Cole, Geoffrey Woods, Sandie Vanbrugh, Fay Glover, Donna Meadowcroft, Des King

Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 5th – 11th December
Annie Williams, Rustica Bibera, Elsie Williams, Patricia Faulkner, Denise Payne, Murray Soden, Theo Kurrle, Zeta Mahoney, Vera Sherston, John Davis, Guy d’Hondt

May the souls of the faithful departed, 

through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

                                       

Weekly Ramblings

One of the main messages that the Church presents to us during these days of Advent is that we are being called to make time and space in our lives to prepare for the 2nd coming of our Saviour. Yet at the same time the rest of society is rushing round with various end of year functions and parties, planning for the Christmas lunch and the Christmas break. There will be people going to the supermarket and buying so much food that anyone looking into our world from outer space would believe that there was a famine about to hit or that the shops were shut for a fortnight and not a day!

So, what can we do about how we respond in this ‘crazy’ season? The best way is to make time for stillness and silence each day – to jump out of the busyness and simply stop for a short time. I know that’s not always easy to do when there is so much going on but making time to be still and pray is important. As I’ve said many times before our spoken prayers are important but learning to be still in the presence of our God is also important and that is nearly always the part of praying that gets dropped when we are busy.

One way we can grow in this reflection process is to make use of different aids available to help our reflection time. Many of you are using the Advent Program – The Way – from the Diocese of Wollongong. If anyone still needs a copy there are some extra copies available in all Mass Centres this weekend. You might also like to explore an online site (advent.theabbotscircle.com) which provides information about Advent using a digital Advent Calendar.

This week, on Monday, we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This year the feast has been transferred from the 8th (Sunday) so that the Church can celebrate this great moment in the story of God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of Lourdes at 12 noon.

Take care on the roads and in your homes,

                                      

CHRISTMAS PLAY - SACRED HEART CHURCH CHRISTMAS EVE MASS 

‘CALLING ALL CHILDREN’ would you like to take part in the nativity play at the 6pm Christmas Eve Mass at Sacred Heart Church? You are very welcome to come along to practise during 9am Mass at Sacred Heart Church Sunday 15th, and 22nd December. If you would like more information please phone Charlie Vella 0417 307 781.

                                 

MT ST VINCENT AUXILIARY
Mt St Vincent Auxiliary will be holding a Christmas craft and cake stall at Mt St Vincent  commencing 9am Wednesday 18th December. Bring a friend or two and your spare change  and buy some last minute Christmas goodies and help support this great fundraiser! 

                               

OLOL READERS ROSTERS  
Rosters are available for collection from the Sacristy this weekend.

                               

PIETY SHOP - OLOL & SACRED HEART CHURCH
A variety of Christmas Cards are now available.

                               

THURSDAY 12th December. Eyes down 7:30pm. All Callers

                               

Letter From Rome

We can't wait for Christmas, not even at the Vatican

A lost sense of Advent anticipation and growing impatience with Pope Francis by Robert Mickens, Rome. December 5, 2019. 

This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete access is via paid subscription

One of the symptoms of our current age of instant communications is that people are no longer capable of waiting. For anything. We want everything right now, or – truth be told – yesterday.

The month-long (more or less) season of Advent – with its focus on hopeful waiting and patient preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ – is an antidote to this seductive gravitation towards impatience.

At least, it used to be.

Not anymore. And not even at the Vatican, where – of all places – one might expect to find the true meaning of Advent.

A full week-and-a-half before the liturgical season got underway, officials in Vatican City hoisted a giant Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square and began constructing, behind a shrouded barrier, a larger-than-life Nativity Scene.

They were scheduled to ceremoniously turn on the decorated tree's lights and unveil the massive Christmas crèche on Dec. 6, the feast of St. Nicholas.

That's a jump-start to Christmas, at least here in the Eternal City. The traditional launch of the holiday period – characterized by decorating shops, public squares and private homes; opening Christmas markets and shopping for presents – used be the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8.

Kicking of the holiday season in preparation for Christmas

And it was the pope, somewhat as in the role of the Grand Marshall at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, who kicked off the season. Or, rather, it was his visit to the Spanish Steps area on the afternoon of Dec 8, where each year on the feast he lays a floral tribute at the feet of the towering statue of Our Lady.

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The Feast of the Immaculate Conception – certainly in Rome – was always perceived as an essential part of the quiet and somewhat mysterious season of Advent, that period of growing anticipation and unfolding festivity for the coming of the Prince of Peace.

Now it is just one more event of a "Christmas Season" that bursts into view (evidenced by holiday decorations throughout the city) shortly after Halloween – another observance once completely foreign to Italy.

People just can't wait for anything. Not even Christmas.

And this, it seems to me, is a metaphor for the growing impatience many Catholics are displaying towards Pope Francis. The reform-minded or Vatican II types are restless because he's been unwilling or unable to more quickly change Church structures and replace personnel – especially bishops.

The self-described traditionalists or "orthodox" Catholics, on the other hand, can't wait for this pontificate to come to an end. They see it as a disaster that won't be over soon enough.

Impatient for reform or waiting out the pope?

Francis has been Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church for nearly seven years. And probably the majority of both his supporters and detractors can agree on one thing: it's been a sufficient amount a time – to do something positive or to wreck everything.

There's not much to say to the detractors. They just want this all to end. When it comes to this pontificate they have no real hope and even less joy.

But the pope's supporters, those whose hope and joy in this pontificate are being dampened by impatience, should take to heart several things.

Phase Two of the pontificate now underway

Pope Francis reaches new and significant milestones in the next several days. He will mark the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on Dec. 13. And four days later he will celebrate his 83rd birthday.

This means the clock is ticking. And while Francis does not display the signs of impatience (quite the contrary!), he has begun to show a renewed determination to complete – and even accelerate – his mission to reform and renew the Church.

If you need proof, just look at the dizzying pace of activities he's been carrying out the past several weeks. It all began with the Synod of Bishops' special assembly on the Amazon Region back in October.

The Synod assembly, far from being limited to one particular region of the world or specific portion of the Church, was actually an event with hugely significant global implications – in terms of worldwide social justice (humanly, ecologically and politically) and Catholic ecclesiology, ministry and mission.

The so-called "Amazon Synod" marked the beginning of Phase Two of the pontificate. One of the most important developments that is sure to come from that gathering is the establishment of an Amazon Rite, a way of liturgical worship that incorporates key cultural elements of the people of the region.

Unannounced papal celebrations of "inculturated" liturgies

As if to emphasize the validity of such an inculturated liturgy, the pope opened the season of Advent on Dec. 1st with the Congolese community living in Rome by celebrating the Zairian (or Congolese) Rite inside St. Peter's Basilica.

This modified form of Mass was devised in 1969 shortly after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and given the Holy See's approval in 1988. It features traditional African modes of worship and praise not usually found in European liturgical celebrations.

There was no public announcement or indication that Francis was going to celebrate the Dec. 1 Mass until the day before. One wonders if this was in order to avoid any possible protests by traditionalists that might overshadow the occasion.

And now the pope is going to celebrate another yet-to-be-announced inculturated Mass on Dec. 15, again in St. Peter's Basilica. He will begin a novena in preparation for Christmas that has been a beloved feature of Filipino Catholicism since the 17th century. Known as the Simbáng Gabi, it is tied to agricultural practices and features sharing.

By celebrating these special "rites" that are an expression of local or regional communities, Francis is preparing, wittingly or not, the restoration of a more ancient practice of the Church; namely, the recognition that there can be a wide variety of ways and styles of worship that do not, in any way, threaten the unity of the Church.

Liturgical diversity, even within Europe, was commonplace until the Council of Trent (1545-1563) cobbled together numerous rites, while suppressing others, and – with the allowance for some exceptions – created a single Roman Rite.

A tireless pope

Less than a month after the Synod assembly for the Amazon was over, Pope Francis went to Thailand and Japan for a Nov. 19-26 pastoral visit, one of the longest in his pontificate.

He arrived back in Rome on a Tuesday evening and, without taking a breather, was in St. Peter's Square the very next morning for his Wednesday general audience. And he has not stopped moving ever since.

Beginning on Nov. 27 Francis has addressed three or four large groups of people nearly every day, individually greeting each of their members at the end of every session.

On Nov. 29 he traveled across Rome to a Caritas center where he spent some 90 minutes walking around, conversing with volunteers and the charity's recipients, patiently posing for "selfies." He also answered a series of questions in a public forum, despite having a bad cold.

On the afternoon of Dec. 1, the first Sunday of Advent and the day he celebrated Mass with the Congolese community, Pope Francis was flown by helicopter to the town of Greccio in the Apennine Mountains north of Rome.

There, in the place where St. Francis of Assisi "invented" the very first Christmas crèche, the pope presided at a Liturgy of the Word, greeted the local townspeople and the Franciscan friars, and then issued a letter on the significance of the Nativity scene.

From C9 to C6 and a still-unreformed Roman Curia

Finally, this past week he met with the remnant of what was once called the C9 Council of Cardinals.

This special advisory group, a sort of kitchen cabinet or crown council, has dwindled to only six members. But its task remains the same: to advise Francis in governing the universal Church and, more pointedly, to help him write the apostolic constitution for a reformed Roman Curia.

And it is in this area of reform – of the Church's central bureaucracy in Rome – where the patience of many Catholics is being put to the test. This was the 32nd time the Council of Cardinals has met and, yet, the long-awaited constitution is still not completed.

Some of the members of what is now the C6 had proclaimed back in April that the constitution would be ready by the end of June. Then it was announced that there would be more consultation – with bishops around the world, heads of religious orders and some professors at the pontifical universities.

"Suggestions for the apostolic constitution have continued to come in," a communiqué on the recent C6 gathering said. "They will be read and evaluated in the first (C6) session of February 2020," it added.

The note said that this past session looked at two issues that are given great importance in the draft constitution: "the relationship between the Curia and episcopal conferences and the presence of lay people – men and women – in decision-making positions within Curia offices and other Church organisms."

"What is taking them so damn long?" many people are wondering.

The impatience is understandable. But one must also realize that the Roman Curia and the centralized governing structure of the Catholic Church have developed steadily and solidly over many centuries. And deeply rooted in this reality is an ethos or mentality that is largely resistant to change.

That is certainly true among those who work at the Vatican. The clerics, and even the laypeople, who work there have perhaps a greater difficulty in discerning what is essential to Catholic Tradition and what – though ancient and even beautiful, to paraphrase the pope's blueprint for reform, Evangelii gaudium – is peripheral.

From Advent to Christmas: candy or coal?

Francis, as a Roman outsider, surely sees the difference better than most of those who are working with and for him at the Vatican. He has tried patiently to change the mentality and the ethos, slowing and gradually making changes to the structures of the Curia.

But he has not tried to "clean house" by replacing all the key players and officials. In the few cases where he has had to remove people, he has not done so abruptly or violently.

The Jesuit pope has been playing a long game up to now. He has painstakingly and patiently prepared the groundwork for a solid foundation that cannot be easily replaced or swept away.

But time is growing shorter. And before long Francis will have to issue that constitution, the final plan for the reformed Curia.

So far his pontificate has been in a sort of Advent, marked by patient waiting, prayerful preparation and a gradual unfolding of festivity. But soon this pontificate will also have to reach its own sort of Christmas, metaphorically speaking.

And, most likely, some Catholics will receive it like a stocking full of candy. Others like a lump of coal.

                              

Christ Is Risen

This article is taken from the Daily Email sent by Fr Richard Rohr OFM from the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the email by clicking here 

I am making the whole of creation new. . .  It will come true. . .  It is already done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. —Revelation 21:5-6

Who is speaking here at the very end of the Bible? Is this Jesus of Nazareth or Someone Else? Whoever is talking is offering an entire and optimistic arc to all of history. This is much more than a mere “religious” message; it is also a historical and cosmic one. It declares a definite trajectory where there is a coherence between the beginning and the ending of all things. It offers humanity hope and vision. History appears to have a direction and a purpose; it is not just a series of isolated events.

This is the Universal Christ speaking. Jesus of Nazareth, the humble carpenter, did not talk this way. It was Christ who “rose from the dead.” Resurrection is hardly a leap of faith once you realize that the Christ never died—or can die—because the Christ is the eternal mystery of matter and Spirit as one. Jesus willingly died—and Christ arose—yes, still Jesus, but now including and revealing everything else in its full purpose and glory. (Read Colossians 1:15-20 so you know this is not just my idea.)

When these verses in Revelation were written, sixty to seventy years had passed since Jesus’ human body “ascended into heaven.” The author is describing a fully available presence that defines, liberates, and sets a goal and direction for life. Largely following Paul, who wrote in the 50s CE, Revelation calls this seemingly new and available presence a mystery, “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36) more than just “Jesus.”

The Risen Jesus is the divine presence beyond any confines of space and time. The Eternal Christ appeared in a personal form that humans came to know and love as “Jesus.” The Resurrection is not so much a miracle as it is an apparition of what has always been true and will always be true.

Such divine presence had always been there, as we know from the experiences of “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Luke 20:37-38). But through Jesus, this eternal presence had a precise, concrete, and personal referent. In Jesus Christ, vague belief and spiritual intuition became specific—with a “face” that we could “see, hear, and touch” (1 John 1:1).

Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 209-210, 289-290.

                                 

Anchoring Ourselves Within God's Goodness

This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here 

What would Jesus do? For some Christians, that’s the easy answer to every question.  In every situation all we need to ask is: What would Jesus do? 

At a deep level, that’s actually true. Jesus is the ultimate criterion. He is the way, the truth, and the life and anything that contradicts him is not a way to God. Yet, I suspect, many of us find ourselves irritated in how that expression is often used in simplistic ways, as a fundamentalism difficult to digest. Sometimes, in our irritation at this, we spontaneously want to say: Jesus has nothing to do with this! But, of course, as soon as those words escape our mouths we realize how bad that sounds! Jesus has a lot to do with every theological, ecclesial, or liturgical question, no matter its complexity. Granted, there’s the danger of fundamentalism here; but it’s equally as dangerous to answer theological, ecclesial, and liturgical questions without considering what Jesus might do. He’s still, and forever, a non-negotiable criterion.

But while Jesus is a non-negotiable criterion, he’s not a simplistic one. What did Jesus do? Well, the answer isn’t simple. Looking at his life we see that sometimes he did things one way, sometimes another way, and sometimes he started out doing something one way and ended up changing his mind and doing it in a different way, as we see in his interaction with the Syro-Phoenician woman. That’s why, I suspect, within Christianity there are so many different denominations, spiritualities, and ways of worship, each with its own interpretation of Jesus. Jesus is complex.

Given Jesus’ complexity, it’s no accident then that theologians, preachers, and spiritualities often find in his person and his teachings ways that reflect more how they would handle a situation than how he would. We see this in our churches and spiritualities everywhere, and I say this with sympathy, not with judgment. None of us gets Jesus fully right.

So where does this leave us? Do we simply rely on our private interpretation of Jesus? Do we give ourselves over uncritically to some ecclesial or academic authority and trust that it will tell us what Jesus would do in every situation?  Is there a “third” way?

Well, there’s a “third” way, the way of most Christian denominations, wherein we submit our private interpretation to the canonical (“dogmatic”) tradition of our particular church and accept, though not in blind, uncritical, obedience, the interpretation of that larger community, its longer history, and its wider experience, humbly accepting that it can be naïve (and arrogant) to bracket 2000 years of Christian experience so as to believe that our insight into Jesus is a needed corrective to a vision that has inspired so many millions of people through so many centuries.  

Still, we’re not meant to park the dictates of our private conscience, our critical questions, our unease with certain things, and the wounds we carry, at our church door either. In the end, we all must be true to our own consciences, faithful to the particular insights that God graces us with, and mindful of the wounds we carry.  Both our graces and our wounds are meant to be listened to and they, along with the deepest voices within our conscience, need to be taken into account when ask ourselves: What would Jesus do?

We need to answer that for ourselves by faithfully holding and carrying within us the tension between being obedient to our churches and not betraying the critical voices within our own conscience. If we do that honestly, one thing will eventually constellate inside us as an absolute: God is good!  Everything Jesus taught and incarnated was predicated on that truth.Anything that jeopardizes or belies that, be it a church, a theology, a liturgical practice, or a spirituality is wrong. And any voice within dogma or private conscience that betrays that is also wrong.

How we conceive of God colors for good or for bad everything within our religious practice. And above all else, Jesus revealed this about God: God is good. That truth needs to ground everything else, our churches, our theologies, our spiritualities, our liturgies, and our understanding of everyone else. Sadly, often it doesn’t. The fear that God is not good disguises itself in subtle ways but is always manifest whenever our religious teachings or practices somehow make God in heaven not as understanding, merciful, and indiscriminate and unconditional in love as Jesus was on earth. It’s also manifest whenever we fear that we’re dispensing grace too cheaply and making God too accessible.

Sadly, the God who is met in our churches today is often too-narrow, too-merciless, too-tribal, too-petty, and too-untrustworthy to be worthy of Jesus … or the surrender of our soul.

What would Jesus do? Admittedly the question is complex. However we know we have the wrong answer whenever we make God anything less than fully good, whenever we set conditions for unconditional love, and whenever, however subtly, we block access to God and God’s mercy.

                                 

Advent 2019

This article is taken from the Blog posted by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore. You can find the original blog by clicking here 

This week we begin one of my very favorite seasons of the year.

To mark the season we are launching a new message series called “Light,” all about … light, which will also be the theme of our Christmas Eve celebration this year.

As an Advent gift to our parishioners, we are distributing a little booklet that Tom, my associate, and I put together. This is a new project for us, not something we have ever attempted before. It is a daily “devotional,” simple prayers and reflections for each day of Advent, which Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, published recently. They only published a limited edition, and have already sold out, but we obtained copies for the parish, on a first come first serve basis. If you’re here on our Ridgely Road campus this weekend be sure and pick up a copy.

While here, why not check out our Christmas Shoppe on the Glass Colonnade. Our little store has plenty of gift ideas, all with a Nativity theme to them. If you’re wondering what to get the guy or gal on your list who has it all, take a look at some unique gifts and promote your church at the same time. You might even find something for yourself. The Nativity logo on your coffee mug or water bottle can be a subtle form of Evangelization.

This week our Christmas Eve planning kicks into high gear. But I have already made my first visit to the “Cow Palace” at the State Fairgrounds, the home of our Christmas Eve Masses. There is much work to be done in preparation, that is for sure, but the good news is that about 780 parishioners have signed up to serve…really an unprecedented number.

Planning is also moving forward currently on a most exciting Advent Project. Each year we undertake a mission “project” with one of our mission partners aiming at making a game-changing impact on their communities. In past years we have built schools, provided fresh water, established micro-economies in communities in West Africa, Haiti, and elsewhere. The support of an overwhelming number of our parishioners has ensured consistent success. Many parishioners make their donations as a Christmas gift for friends and family, thereby scoring a double win. Anyone who makes a donation will receive as many gift cards as they request. It’s a great way to honor others without more needless gifts. And meanwhile, your gift can be contributing to something really special.

And what is this year’s project, you ask?

Well, I can tell you it will be a little closer to home and it will definitely be our most ambitious project ever.

However,  we’re not announcing it until the weekend of December 14 & 15th. So, stay tuned.

                            

A Reflection on Jesus' Leadership

What qualities do we look for in a good leader? How can we become better leaders ourselves? Thinking Faith invited Thomas Shufflebotham SJ to guide us in a prayerful reflection on just three of the innumerable qualities of Jesus that any good Christian leader should seek to emulate. Thomas Shufflebotham SJ directs the Spiritual Exercises at St Beuno’s Jesuit Spirituality Centre in North Wales.

This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here

It is striking that in the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius attaches virtually no adjectives to Jesus. He seems content to have us watch the Lord’s actions and ponder some of his words, but for the most part he leaves it to us to imagine the characteristics and qualities of Christ as we are moved to do so: that is to say, he leaves it to us and the Holy Spirit.

On the other hand, one could go on forever naming qualities and facets of Jesus Christ as he passes through the pages of the gospels.[1] The compilers of the Litanies of the Holy Name and of the Sacred Heart were not short of ideas. Many of those adjectives have a bearing on his leadership.

For now, I want to pick out from the plethora of possibilities three attributes of Jesus which seem to me to be central to Christian leadership, three Christ-centred approaches which I suspect Ignatius might stress were he to walk through the door into our century and its challenges.

Authenticity

First, I suggest authenticity and what it implies: honesty, truthfulness, integrity, or – a word favoured by Ignatius – probity.

Jesus teaches by word and example, and what he says and does are in perfect harmony with who he is. Jesus is truth, Jesus tells the truth and, while he may not distance himself from hypocrites, the gospels time and again show him distancing himself from hypocrisy. He does not twist or manipulate the truth.

President Eisenhower claimed that ‘the supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity’. More informally, the jazz musician Charlie Parker said, ‘If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn’. With words that still speak volumes to us today, Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975: ‘Especially in regard to young people it is said that they have a horror of the artificial or false and that they are searching above all for truth and honesty.’[2]

Forty years on, it is even clearer that manipulating or stifling the truth can do immense harm, both because it does not work and because it is a contradiction of Christianity. It is not the way of Jesus. It rings true when Jesus says, ‘If your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light’ (Matt 6: 22).

Jesus’s gaze is on God, he refers all to the Father; his leadership therefore is not self-regarding. His disciples and companions, too, will be true and honest if they focus on God rather than self. That will require sincere prayer, prayer in which we give God the freedom to show us the opposite of what suits our convenience, the freedom to shatter our preferences. And, to use an Ignatian word, the heart of our prayer needs to be conversation or colloquy that is sincere: I need to be willing to look God in the eye, to meet God’s gaze.

When Peter cures a cripple he tells him, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk’ (Acts 3:6; earlier, perhaps, he might have been tempted to garner the credit). Likewise, the Christian community always gathers in the name of Jesus, not in its own name. A Christian community that does not focus on Jesus soon begins to become its own master, to use others for its own convenience and to descend into hypocrisy: it is not authentic.

Jesus breathes dignity, but without seeking it. He attracted his companions with honesty, not by concealing the challenges but by stating them clearly. ‘Whoever does the truth comes out into the light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God’ (Jn 3:21).

Walking on in faith

A second approach to leadership that Jesus elicits from his followers and companions could be summed up as walking on in faith. That is implying that as we keep step with Christ we gaze ahead, but without ignoring or downplaying the past; and all in a spirit of faith and courage, imitating Jesus who, says Luke, ‘resolutely turned his face towards Jerusalem’ (Luke 9:51).

Jesus reverenced the Law and the prophets; at the Transfiguration he is seen conversing with Moses and Elijah[3]: he comes to fulfil the Law. Even after the Resurrection his followers are still treasuring Israel’s heritage. But Jesus also speaks of new wine and new wineskins.

The risen Lord challenges the travellers on the road to Emmaus to draw inspiration from their tradition, but also to walk with him into the future:

‘So slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer - before entering into his glory?’ (Luke 24:26).

His disciple Peter looks backwards to the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and the Resurrection event, and he preaches out of past experience: ‘We are witnesses’, he says, ‘of everything that he did’. But that same faith and respect for the tradition leads Peter to accept the new vision for the future which the Holy Spirit begins to show him at the house of a Gentile centurion. (Acts 10:1-48) To Simon Bar-Jonah some years earlier, it would have been unthinkable, and in any case he would have lacked the courage. Peter’s leadership had to imbibe courage from his leader, Jesus. St Bernard summed it up neatly when he described the Church as, Ecclesia ante et retro occulata: the Church must have eyes for what is ahead and what is past.

Jesus’s leadership was infectious once the Spirit was given to the infant church, and Acts of the Apostles shows us his disciples walking courageously the thin line of fidelity to tradition combined with fidelity to the Spirit urging them into new paths. Either component could land them in persecution and vicious criticism. Holding to both – the old and the new - could be a crucifixion.

The compassion of Christ

I suggest that a third key also is necessary: the compassion of Christ. With authenticity and faith alone we can be impressive but impossible to live with. Being genuine companions implies this extra dimension, this third key, this love infused with empathy. When it is applied to choices, decisions, policy, it becomes Ignatius’s discerning love: discreta caritas.

In this, our inspiration is the example of Christ just as the grace of Christ is our strength, and he challenges us to ‘Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate’ (Luke 6:36).

A model for this compassion is found in Paul’s rhapsody on love in 1 Corinthians. As we read it we could imagine it as spoken to us – as of course it is:

And now I’m going to show you a way that is even more outstanding. If I speak in the languages of human beings and of angels, but do not have love, then I have turned into a sounding brass or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have complete faith, so as to move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing. And if I divide all my possessions into bits, and if I hand over my body in order that I may boast, but do not have love, I am not helped in any way.

Love waits patiently, shows kindness. Love is not jealous, does not brag, is not ‘puffed up’, does not behave improperly, does not seek self- interest, doesn’t get provoked, doesn’t reckon up evil, doesn’t rejoice at injustice, but rejoices at integrity.

Love copes with everything; is always committed, always hopeful, always endures to the end; love never collapses (1 Cor 12:31 – 13:8).

Commenting on this, his own translation of the passage, Nicholas King SJ writes: ‘this “solution” to the problems of Corinth could also be read as Paul’s portrait of his beloved Jesus Christ. With Paul it always comes back to Jesus’.[4] And for companions of Jesus, too, it must always come back to Jesus.

God’s compassion, incarnate in Jesus, embraces the crowd. He had compassion on the multitude (Mark 6:34) and he longed and longed to gather Jerusalem and her children together as a hen gathers her chicks; he died ‘to gather together into one the scattered children of God’ (John 11:52), having prayed beforehand ‘that they may all be one’ (John 17:21).

And equally, that compassion embraces the individual, be it the woman at Simon’s feast, or a leper, or a poor widow, or a rich young man; indeed every human being with a heart open to accept it.

The characteristic backdrop for Jesus’s leadership is not an auditorium or a parade-ground, but a meal. When he imparts leadership to Peter it is in the imagery of shepherding: a preference for the intimate and the personal touch rather than dragooning.

Jesus’s style of leadership – a style without a style – vaults over the centuries and addresses the needs of our time. Nowhere is this more evident than in his attitude to women. Dorothy L. Sayers remarks,

[Women] had never known a man like this Man – there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised … who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension … never urged them to be feminine, or jeered at them for being female; with no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend.[5]

Mary Ward, Mary McAleese, Elizabeth II: none of them have had much power exactly, but they have exercised leadership, and it is clear that in large measure Christ’s attitude and values are their model.

What makes Jesus’s leadership and example so powerful is that his compassion runs so deep that it is inseparable from a spirit of service. A British Army general, Sir John Glubb, said he was convinced that the key to leadership lay in this gospel text: ‘The greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves … here am I among you as one who serves’ (Luke 22:26).

Because Jesus serves without seeking power, he himself empowers, he sets free others’ potential. The Good Shepherd is the one who has come that they may have life and have it to the full. The one who can claim, ‘I am the light of the world’ also says, ‘You are light for the world’. Jesus’s own summary blends compassion with apostolic mission: ‘Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the Good News is proclaimed to the poor…’ (Lk 7:20-22).

The demands of Christian leadership are high, but we will come closer to meeting them if we are people preoccupied with the compassion of Christ, speaking with the honesty of Christ, in a spirit of faith enlivened by our contemplation of Christ steadfastly walking towards Jerusalem, the city from which later he would send his disciples out on mission in the service of all nations. However, any Christian leader will do well to remember one thing more: in the scriptures the Kingdom of God is not built up by human beings. It grows from the soil below, watered by the Spirit, and it is given from above: de arriba – ‘all is grace’.

[1] A note on my references to the gospels: I will be quoting from all four gospels, and do so with an appreciation that the evangelists each have distinct theological slants and are not to be treated simply as biographers.

[2] Evangelii Nuntiandi,§76

[3] Mark 9:2-8; Matthew 17:1-8; Luke 9:28-36

[4] Nicholas King, The New Testament (Kevin Mayhew, 2004), p. 380.

[5] Dorothy L. Sayers, ‘Are Women Human?’ (1947).