3rd 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 17th – 20th December, 2019

Tuesday:           9:30am Penguin

Wednesday:       9:30am Latrobe

Thursday         10:00am Karingal

Friday:          11:00am Mt St Vincent

Next Weekend 21st & 22nd 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 21st & 22nd DECEMBER 2019

Devonport:

Readers: Vigil: M Kelly, R Baker, B Paul 10:30am: E Petts, K Pearce, O McGinley

Ministers of Communion: Vigil M Heazlewood, G Lee-Archer, P Shelverton, J Kelly

10.30am: M Sherriff, T & S Ryan, D & M Barrientos

Cleaners: 20th Dec: P Shelverton, E Petts   27th Dec: D Atkins, V Riley

Piety Shop: 21st Dec: L Murfet 22nd Dec: T Omogbai-musa

Ulverstone:

Reader/s: R Locket   Flowers: M Swain   Hospitality:  M & K McKenzie

Ministers of Communion: B Deacon, K Reilly, E Stubbs, T Portugal

Cleaners: M McKenzie, M Singh, N Pearce, T Portugal

Penguin:

Greeters   P Ravallion, P Lade   Commentator:  A Landers   

Readers: J Garnsey, T Clayton

Ministers of Communion: P Lade, E Nickols   Liturgy: Penguin      Setting Up: E Nickols

Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols

Latrobe:

Reader:  M Chan    Ministers of Communion:   M Mackey     Procession of Gifts:  M Clarke

Port Sorell:

Readers: G Duff, D Leaman    Ministers of Communion: L Post    Cleaners:  C & J Howard

Readings This 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

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAYS GOSPEL

As I come to prayer, I may like to ask the Holy Spirit for the grace of a firmness of faith in the Lord.

Then I read the text slowly a few times, entering imaginatively into the scene if it helps. Even though imprisoned, the Baptist’s ears are open and he asks about the Lord honestly. In return, he receives an honest reply.

What of my own relationship with the Lord?

Can I speak with him honestly, directly? How open am I with the Lord?

Jesus assures his disciples that God will come, and this coming will bring life to areas of struggle.

Where do I detect glimpses of God at work in the world, in my family, in my life?

I am aware, also, of the reality of daily life, with its loss, pain, violence and discord. These can sometimes stifle any reasons to rejoice ... so I talk honestly to the Lord about any times when the sense of joy in me has been lacking.

When ready, I end with the Our Father.

Readings Next Week: Fourth Sunday of Advent – Year A

First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14

Second Reading:  Romans 1:1-7

Gospel: Matthew 1: 18-24

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 third candle of this wreath; may its light reflect the splendour of Christ, who is Lord, for ever and ever.  Amen

              

               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:

Isolde Bissett, Igor Trnovsky, 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: 12th – 18th December

John Gibbons, Kath Last, Paul Rech, Fr Bill Egan, Mark Marshall, Jim Rogers, Thomas Last, Audrey Cassidy, Natasha Gutteridge, Beau Reynolds, Sr Marlene Binns SSJ, Marie Williams, Sr Joy Hanrahan PBUM, Reg Watson, Georgia Lewtas

May the souls of the faithful departed, 

through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Weekly Ramblings

As we begin the last complete week of our Advent Season, and perhaps the busiest time of the year, I would again like to encourage everyone to make a little time for yourself even if it is only a few minutes a day when you can be still before the Lord. These days are a really great opportunity to grow in our awareness of the presence of God in our lives. I hope you can make the time.

This weekend we have copies of the summer edition of the Swag available at all Mass Centres as well as the December edition of the Catholic Standard. As has been the practice in recent years the complete Christmas Mass Times for the Archdiocese can be found in the Standard for those who are travelling – and don’t forget to keep a copy of this Bulletin with our own times close handy.

One of the recommendations arising from the Royal Commission into Institutional Abuse is that we are required to ensure that all parishioners who come into contact with children as part of their ministry need to provide information to the Parish so that it can recorded in a safe place. Archbishop Julian informed the members of the Council of Priests that the Archdiocese will be audited in 2020 by Catholic Professional Standards Ltd and some parishes will be audited as well.

Whilst there is no indication that we will be audited as a Parish there is still the  requirement that all our records are current so early in 2020 we will be asking everyone who sits within those ministries which have contact with children to assist us by either obtaining a WWC Card or by providing the appropriate details. A list of the various ministries will be available in coming weeks and will become a permanent notice in each Mass Centre.

For those who are concerned about the process we will provide all the necessary assistance to anyone who will need to apply for the Card. Please know, this is not meant to be an imposition or a question about anyone’s character – it is simply another, albeit legislative, step to ensure that we do everything in our means to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable people.

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? Come along to practise during 9am Mass at Sacred Heart Church Sunday 22nd December. For more information 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! 

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

                                          

Letter From Rome

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle: The Pope's MVP

Filipino's appointment to Propaganda Fide may be the most significant personnel move of Francis' pontificate by Robert Mickens, Rome. December 12, 2019. 

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

If you are an enthusiastic supporter of Pope Francis and his efforts to reform the Roman Catholic Church make sure you put Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle at the top of your prayer list.

The 62-year-old Archbishop of Manila is soon to take charge of one the most important and powerful offices at the Vatican. And in what will, no doubt, be his most difficult assignment ever, the cardinal will need all the prayers he can get.

On Dec. 8 the pope named the youthful-looking Tagle prefect the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the office founded in 1622 as "Propaganda Fide". He will take up the post in mid-January, succeeding Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni, 73, a career Holy See diplomat who has headed the office since 2011.

The prefect of Propaganda Fide is often referred to as Il Papa Rosso (the Red Pope) because he oversees roughly 1,100 ecclesiastical jurisdictions (about a fourth of all dioceses in the world) and controls vast financial resources and property holdings.

As expected, Cardinal Tagle's appointment to this powerful post has caused a lot of chatter and speculation among Vatican watchers. Some have gone so far as to say that Francis is bringing the Filipino to Rome to give him the seasoning and toughening up he needs to become the next pope.

Leaving that sort of speculation aside, let's take a look at what's really behind this key personnel move and what his means for the Vatican and the worldwide Church.

The Timing of Tagle's Appointment
This was another one of those announcements that no one saw coming. While there had been rumors that Cardinal Tagle was in the running for a top job in Rome, no one expected it to be announced on a Sunday.

Papal appointments (or nominations) are almost never announced on the Lord's Day.

But this past Sunday was also the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. And each year on the afternoon of the December 8th feast the pope goes to downtown Rome to take a floral tribute to a statue of Our Lady.

The statue is perched on a large column near the Spanish Steps, directly in front of the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide. That massive building, which was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is the headquarters of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

And when the pope makes his Dec. 8 visit, the congregation's prefect comes out to ceremoniously greet him. This year, just four hours before the pope's arrival, the Holy See Press Office announced that Francis had chosen Cardinal Tagle to replace Cardinal Filoni.

Nonetheless, the 73-year-old Italian put on a brave face and welcomed the Jesuit pope in the square. But behind Filoni's smile there was surely some anguish and probably some bitterness.

Although still two years away from the normal age of retirement, he had just learned he was being removed from a major Curia office and relegated to little more than a ceremonial post: Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, the 80-year-old former Archbishop of Baltimore, has held that title since 2011. And it is not exactly what Filoni expected or wanted. The person who was really hoping to take O'Brien's place was a cardinal who currently heads the largest diocese in the Eastern United States.

Sidelining a double-crossing Italian cardinal?
The change of the guard was surprising for at least one other reason. No one was expecting Pope Francis to replace heads of any major Vatican offices until the reform of the Roman Curia was finalized. It is expected to be a major overhaul, but will not take place until the publication of Praedicate Evangelium.

The latest thinking is that this won't happen until next June 29, although some people are now saying it could be as soon as the Feast of the Chair of Peter on Feb. 22nd. And until then it was believed that all Vatican chieftains – even a number of prefects who are already 75 years or older – would remain in place.

So why remove Filoni now? One reason may be that it was the outgoing prefect's dealings with the bishops in Japan. It is well known that he harangued the prelates over their refusal to allow the Neocatechumenal Way, a group that he greatly favors, to establish seminaries in Japanese dioceses.

Only one bishop in the Land of the Rising Sun has conceded to Filoni's wishes. And that man, to the chagrin of many, was made a cardinal in 2018. He's Thomas Manyo Maeda of Osaka.

Some people actually believe Francis gave the red hat to the wrong Japanese bishop. And maybe quite unwittingly.

On the day he announced the consistory the pope referred to Maeda as "Thomas Aquinas Manyo". Did he forget or did he not even know that Manyo is actually the bishop's given name. Maeda is the surname. That could have been found out easily enough in the Annuario Pontificio and confirmed by merely asking the papal nuncio.

Cardinal Maeda does not speak Spanish or Italian, so when the pope had his only meeting with him several months before the consistory, another bishop translated for the two men. Some believe the translator may have given to Francis an image of Maeda that did not correspond accurately with the cardinal's true personality and theological-pastoral thinking. Certainly, Filoni had urged the pope to give Maeda Japan's first red hat since 2007, the year Cardinal Stephen Hamao died.

And Francis may have learned more about all that during his pastoral visit to Japan this past November. In any event, something happened to make him decide to demote Fernando Filoni now and not wait for the completion of the Curia reform.

Inside Out and Outside In
The Italian cardinal is not only a consummate diplomat, but also the consummate Vatican insider. Cardinal Tagle is neither.

Filoni climbed slowly and progressively up the rungs of the Holy See's diplomatic corps. He courageously stayed on as papal nuncio in Iraq, even as the US-UK-led invasion devastated the country. Later he became the Deputy Secretary of State for internal affairs (Sostituto) under Benedict XVI before being named to Propaganda Fide.

The Italian cardinal knows the Roman system as well as anyone. And he has a stake in protecting it and the privileges the Vatican's top brass enjoy. While he has always shown outward signs of loyalty to Pope Francis, his vision of the Church is more conservative institutionally.

Tagle, on the other hand, is a theologian and pastor. He rose quickly through the ranks of academia and the hierarchy. He did his doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America under the direction of Joseph Komonchak, the distinguished theologian and editor of the English edition of History of Vatican II.

It was through Komonchak that Tagle was invited to submit a chapter for the five-volume series, which was produced originally in Italian by the so-called "Bologna School" directed by the late Giuseppe Alberigo.

That theological circle often has been criticized, ham-fistedly and inaccurately, for holding that Vatican II marked a rupture with previous Church teaching and tradition. Being a contributor to the group's work certainly did not hurt Tagle's reputation among the people who count. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger got him made a member of the Vatican-sponsored International Theological Commission (1997-2002), after which John Paul II named him bishop of his home diocese in the Philippines.

Then it was Ratzinger who, as pope, appointed Tagle to head the Archdiocese of Manila, the largest local Church in Asia. And it was also Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, in the very last consistory of his pontificate, who made the Filipino a cardinal.

But Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle (Gokim is his mother's Chinese surname) not only found favor with now retired pope. He has always been perceived, at least by the public, to be a favorite of the current one, as well. And his appointment to Propaganda Fide would seem to support that.

Tagle is only the second Asian to head this powerful office. Ivan Dias of India (2006-2011) was the first. He is also just the second Filipino to be prefect of a Vatican congregation. He follows Cardinal José Sanchez, who headed the Congregation for the Clergy from 1991-96.

Sanchez died in March 2012 before Tagle even got his red hat. Interestingly, before heading Clergy he also served at Propaganda Fide. He was archbishop-secretary, the No. 2 official, from 1985-1991.

In the kingdom of the new Red Pope
Cardinal Chito, as Tagle likes to be called, is the second outsider in less than a month to be brought into Vatican governance.

On Nov. 14 the pope appointed a 60-year-old Jesuit priest, Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. That vacant post was initially held Australian Cardinal George Pell who was subsequently convicted for sexual abuse of minors.

There is a connection between the appointment of Guerrero and Tagle. The first is in charge of overseeing all the financial entities of the Holy See. The second is head of one of more lucrative of those entities. Both will come up against fierce opposition if they try – as expected – to bring greater transparency and accountability to the way in which the finances are being managed.

Some commentators have surmised that Francis named Tagle to his new Vatican post because of the pope's burning desire to further ties with China and visit Beijing.

That's because Tagle not only has Chinese ancestry from his maternal grandfather, he is also seen to be in full agreement with the Vatican's strategy to engage China. Filoni, though he refrained from publicly criticizing that strategy, is known to be much less in favor of it.

But, actually, it may be in the financial sector where Tagle will prove to be the pope's MVP – most valuable player. Propaganda Fide is a vast empire and, up to now, it has operated its finances and property holdings in almost complete independence.

The two outsiders – Cardinal Tagle and Father Guerrero – could change that. But it will mean the main outsider, Pope Francis, will need to have their backs. And that will likely require bringing in other outside forces to join them.

Phase-Two of the pontificate, which began in earnest last October with the Synod of Bishops' assembly on the Pan-Amazon Region, is likely to bring more and even bigger surprises. To use a well-known colloquial phrase:

"You ain't seen nothing yet!"

                                     

Primordial Template

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 

Is Christ simply Jesus’ last name? Or is it a revealing title that deserves our full attention? How is Christ’s function or role different from Jesus’ role? What does Scripture mean when Peter says in his very first address to the crowds after Pentecost that “God has made this Jesus . . . both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36)? Weren’t they always one and the same, starting at Jesus’ birth?

To answer these questions, we must first go back and ask: What was God up to in those first moments of creation? Was God totally invisible before the universe began? Or is there even such a thing as “before”? Why did God create at all? What was God’s purpose in creating? Was there any divine intention or goal? Or do we even need a creator “God” to explain the universe?

Most religious traditions have offered explanations, and they usually go something like this: Everything that exists in material form is the offspring of some Primal Source, which originally existed only as Spirit. This Infinite Primal Source somehow poured itself into finite, visible forms, creating everything from rocks to water, plants, organisms, animals, and human beings. This self-disclosure of whomever we call God into physical creation was the first Incarnation (the general term for any enfleshment of spirit), long before the personal, second Incarnation that Christians believe happened with Jesus. Creation is the first Bible, and it existed for 13.8 billion years before the second Bible was written (see Romans 1:20).

Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus (1266–1308) tried to express this primal and cosmic notion when he wrote that “God first wills Christ as God’s supreme work.” [1] In other words, God’s “first idea” and priority was to make the Godself both visible and shareable. The word used in the Bible for this idea was Logos, taken from Greek philosophy; I would translate Logos as the “Blueprint” or Primordial Pattern for reality. The whole of creation—not just Jesus—is the beloved community, the partner in the divine dance. Everything is the “child of God.” No exceptions. When you think of it, what else could anything be? All creatures must in some way carry the divine DNA of their Creator.

The Incarnation, then, is not only “God becoming Jesus.” It is a much broader event. “Christ” is a word for the Primordial Template (Logos) “through whom all things came into being, and not one thing had its being except through him” (John 1:3; my emphasis). Seeing in this way has reframed, reenergized, and broadened my own religious belief, and I believe it could be Christianity’s unique contribution among the world religions.

[1] See Carlo Balić, “Scotism,” Encyclopedia of Theology: A Concise Sacramentum Mundi, ed. Karl Rahner (Burns and Oates: 1975), 1548.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (Convergent Books: 2019), 11-13, 21.

                                 

Justice And Charity - Revisited

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

We’re all familiar, I suspect, with the difference between justice and charity. Charity is giving away some of your time, energy, resources, and person so as to help to others in need. And that’s an admirable virtue, the sign of a good heart. Justice, on the other hand, is less about directly giving something away than it is about looking to change the conditions and systems that put others in need.

No doubt, we’re all familiar with the little parable used to illustrate this difference. In brief, it goes like this: A town situated on the edge of a river finds itself confronted every day by a number of bodies floating downstream in the river. The townsfolk tend to the bodies, minister to those who are alive and respectfully bury the dead. They do this for years, with good hearts; but, through all those years, none of them ever journey up the river to look at why there are wounded and dead bodies floating in the river each day. The townsfolk are good-hearted and charitable, but that in itself isn’t changing the situation that’s bringing them wounded and dead bodies daily. As well, the charitable townsfolk aren’t even remotely aware that their manner of life, seemingly completely unconnected to the wounded and dead bodies they’re daily attending to, might in fact be contributing to the cause of those lost lives and dreams and that, good-hearted as they are, they may be complicit in something that’s harming others, even while it’s affording them the resources and wherewithal to be charitable.

The lesson here is not that we shouldn’t be charitable and good-hearted. One-to-one charity, as the parable of the Good Samaritan makes clear, is what’s demanded of us, both as humans and as Christians. The lesson is that being good-hearted alone is not enough. It’s a start, a good one, but more is asked of us. I suspect most of us already know this, but perhaps we’re less conscious of something less obvious, namely, that our very generosity itself might be contributing to a blindness that lets us support (and vote for) the exact political, economic, and cultural systems which are to blame for the wounded and dead bodies we’re attending to in our charity.

That our own good works of charity can help blind us to our complicity in injustice is something highlighted in a recent book by Anand Giridharada, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. In a rather unsettling assertion, Giridharada submits that generosity can be, and often is, a substitute for and a means of avoiding the necessity of a more just and equitable system and fairer distribution of power. Charity, wonderful as it is, is not yet justice; a good heart, wonderful as it is, in not yet good policy that serves the less-privileged; and philanthropy, wonderful as it is, can have us confuse the charity we’re doing with the justice that’s asked of us.  For this reason among others, Giridharada submits that public problems should not be privatized and relegated to the domain of private charity, as is now so often the case.

Christiana Zenner, reviewing his book in America, sums this up by saying: “Beware of the temptation to idealize a market or an individual who promises salvation without attending to the least among us and without addressing the conditions that facilitated the domination in the first place.”  Then she adds: When we see the direct violation of another person, a direct injustice, we’re taken aback, but the unfairness and the perpetrator are obvious. We see that something is wrong and we can see who is to blame. But, and this is her real point, when we live with unjust systems that violate others we can be blind to our own complicity because we can feel good about ourselves because our charity is helping those who have been violated.

For example: Imagine I’m a good-hearted man who feels a genuine sympathy for the homeless in my city. As the Christmas season approaches I make a large donation of food and money to the local food bank. Further still, on Christmas day itself, before I sit down to eat my own Christmas dinner, I spend several hours helping serve a Christmas meal to the homeless. My charity here is admirable, and I cannot help but feel good about what I just did. And what I did was a good thing! But then, when I support a politician or a policy that privileges the rich and is unfair to the poor, I can more easily rationalize that I’m doing my just part and that I have a heart for the poor, even as my vote itself helps ensure that there will always be homeless people to feed on Christmas day. 

Few virtues are as important as charity. It’s the sign of a good heart. But the deserved good feeling we get when we give of ourselves in charity shouldn’t be confused with the false feeling that we’re really doing our part.

                                    

Are You The One?

In the gospel reading for the third Sunday of Advent, the imprisoned John the Baptist asks the most heart-breaking question in the bible and asks it for all of us: ‘Are you the one … or must we wait for someone else?’  Rob Marsh SJ, a tutor in spirituality at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, asks us to think about our reaction to Jesus’s response.

This text was first preached as a homily to the Jesuit Community of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, Santa Clara University, in December 1998. 

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

John has never been a patient man. It’s not patience that drives you to take up the prophet’s staff, the hair shirt and the disgusting diet. It’s not patience that drives you out among the desert’s ravines to rave over the coming destruction. It’s not patience that has you mouthing off to all-comers about their hypocrisy and evil. No, there’s a thirst for change, a hunger for ending, a hurry to get it all over with. ‘Even now the axe is laid at the roots of the tree!’ he thunders. ‘It’s all over. Get ready! Be prepared! Because I, John, have a road to build and when it’s built God will come down on you all like a blaze. He will stride down that highway, winnowing fan in hand, reaping the harvest and destroying the stubble. And as for you, Herod – friend of Rome, king of adulterers, living with your own brother’s wife – as for you, beware! Beware the end coming to you.’

Patience? No. But why, when he has done his part, built his highway in the desert, even baptised the one to fulfil the vision – when he’s done all this, why is he in prison waiting? Why is nothing happening? Where is the sound of the axe against the tree, the scent of fire on the wind? Where is the uproar of Israel in rebellion and Rome on the run? Where is it?

So John sits there, impatient, hope fading, doubt growing. Paces there, uncertain. ‘Was I wrong? About Jesus? Has he let me down? Why is he doing nothing?’

Advent turns around in that question. All the waiting, all the patience and all the hope are distilled into that question, a question we have all asked at some time or another. Have I been wrong to trust Jesus? How can he have let me down like this?

So John asks the most heart-breaking question in the bible and asks it for all of us: ‘Are you the one … or must we wait for someone else?’

And should you laugh or should you cry over Jesus’s answer? ‘Tell John what you hear and what you see: the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the poor hear good news, and, yes John, the ones who manage to believe in me are happy.’

John is deaf and blind. Not just because he’s locked up in a hole somewhere, cut off from events but because he’s locked up in a vision of death and judgement, reaping and ending. Where John wants an end, Jesus is bringing a beginning. John is drunk on the desert’s stark beauty but Jesus wants to make a garden of it, a place for people to live and love, without sorrow, without lament.

So to John who doubts him, Jesus says: ‘look and see … the evidence is here … can’t you see the desert blooming, the sorrow melting, the fear falling away?’

It’s a question without an answer … at least in the text. We hear no more from John. We don’t know whether he dies defeated or not. We don’t know whether he learns to see what Jesus sees. But Matthew, the gospel writer, asks that question of John expecting you and me to answer it. Matthew’s John is the last and greatest prophet of a dead age, an age that Jesus has left behind. Between John and Jesus there stands a great gap. A chasm of understanding. And the bridge across is only through that question: ‘Can’t you see the desert blooming?’

Well, can we? Can we rejoice in the present and still hope for the future? When we are unjustly imprisoned, unfairly impoverished; when we are sick before our time, or even just unaccountably saddened by life … can we still not despair, not give in, not grow bitter, but look for signs of life and welcome them with joy? Because even in the darkest times God continues to do good.

It’s not just a matter of being an optimist or being a pessimist … as though the world might be either wonderful or awful depending upon how we look at it. It’s about reality. Is God’s kingdom really among us? Or have we hoped in vain? Is Jesus someone we can trust? Or have we been led up the garden path?

We have to ask him: ‘Are you the one or must we wait for someone else?’ Ask him!