Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
mike.delaney@aohtas.org.au
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
pmccormack43@bigpond.com
Deacon in Residence: Rev Steven Smith
Mob: 0411 522 630
steven.smith@aohtas.org.au
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
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.
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,
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.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC ACTIVITIES ARE SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Eucharistic Adoration Devonport, Benediction with Adoration Devonport,
Legion of Mary, Prayer Group.
NO PUBLIC MASSES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO THE COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS) PANDEMIC
DAILY AND SUNDAY MASS ONLINE: You will need to go to the following link and register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gHY-gMZ7SZeGMDSJyTDeAQ
Sun 31st May 9:00am ... Pentecost Sunday
Mon 1stJune No Mass ... The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
Tues 2nd June 9:00am ... Sts Marcellinus and Peter
Wed 3rd June 9:00am ... Charles Lwanga & companions
Thurs 4th June 9:00am
Fri 5th June 9:00am ... St Boniface
Sat 6th June 9:00am ... St Norbert, St Marcellin Champagnat
Sun 7th June 9:00am ... The Most Holy Trinity
If you are looking for Sunday Mass readings or Daily Mass readings,
Universalis has the readings as well
as the various Hours of the Divine Office - https://universalis.com/mass.htm
Your
prayers are asked for the sick: Fr Peter O'Loughlin, Jane Fitzpatrick, Marlene Heazlewood, Barry Mulcahy, Mark Aylett, & …
Let us pray for those
who have died recently: Shane Yates, Brian Pilling, Peter Evans, Marie Reid, Don Mapley,
Pauline Cooper, Judith Xavier, Pauline Burnett, Reg Hinkley, Maria Grazia
Dell'Orso, Ted Horton, Ian Ravaillion, Robert Becker, Denis
Prior
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
Weekly Ramblings
A constant mantra by people in management is that we need
to communicate the message, then communicate the message and finally
communicate the message. I know that sounds like overkill in one sense but I am
becoming more convinced that the information we are sending out is only being
read by relatively few people and understood by even less – as evidenced by the
very brief survey of one person above!!!.
Now in case you think I am being unkind as I say this –
half of you who are reading are probably thinking this anyway – that’s both the
reality and the challenge. So how do we get information to people that is
meaningful, time sensitive and relevant? We are making some phone calls but
email and Facebook (and YouTube videos of the Ramblings) are our main platforms
for communication – and as many people are suggesting, these platforms will
become more important into the future. We are making some information available
at the end of our livestreamed Masses but that is also limited in reach.
There are a significant number of people who are getting
this newsletter via Australia Post – which means that there is quite a deal of
information you are not receiving and I’m not sure how to correct that.
However, as we move closer to re-entry I will be exploring every possibility to
get the message to as many people as possible by whatever means available.
The access to Mass via Zoom is listed above the Mass times
for the coming week and you can also find Masses on Facebook by going to https://facebook.com/MLCP1
where you will also find other resources and videos.
Stay safe, stay sane and, if you can, stay at home
ONLINE
GIVING: The
details for online Planned Giving are: Bank Commonwealth; Account Name: Mersey
Leven; BSB: 067 000; Acc No: 1031 5724. In the Description area simply add your
Name or Envelope Number.
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL:
I acknowledge that God is present with me.
I may sense the fear and loneliness of the disciples
locked in the house.
Perhaps this resonates with recent weeks when I may have
had to self-isolate, or felt afraid of going out due to the ongoing pandemic.
If
it helps, I may like to place myself in the scene.
How do I feel as I see Jesus
come into the room and I hear him say to me, ‘Peace be with you’?
I sense his
closeness as he breathes the gift of the Holy Spirit into my heart.
What
difference does his presence make?
Maybe I have a sense of hope … or joy ... or
comfort? How might I like to respond?
How do I feel now?
Maybe there are areas
in my own life where I haven’t felt at peace, whether now or in the past?
I listen to whatever
he is saying to me, drawing comfort from his presence.
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
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: BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC ACTIVITIES ARE SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Eucharistic Adoration Devonport, Benediction with Adoration Devonport,
Legion of Mary, Prayer Group.
NO PUBLIC MASSES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO THE COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS) PANDEMIC
DAILY AND SUNDAY MASS ONLINE: You will need to go to the following link and register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gHY-gMZ7SZeGMDSJyTDeAQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please keep this confirmation email as that will be your entry point for all further Masses or Liturgies.
Mon 1stJune No Mass ... The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
Tues 2nd June 9:00am ... Sts Marcellinus and Peter
Wed 3rd June 9:00am ... Charles Lwanga & companions
Thurs 4th June 9:00am
Fri 5th June 9:00am ... St Boniface
Sat 6th June 9:00am ... St Norbert, St Marcellin Champagnat
Sun 7th June 9:00am ... The Most Holy Trinity
If you are looking for Sunday Mass readings or Daily Mass readings,
Universalis has the readings as well
as the various Hours of the Divine Office - https://universalis.com/mass.htm
Your
prayers are asked for the sick: Fr Peter O'Loughlin, Jane Fitzpatrick, Marlene Heazlewood, Barry Mulcahy, Mark Aylett, & …
Let us pray for those
who have died recently: Shane Yates, Brian Pilling, Peter Evans, Marie Reid, Don Mapley,
Pauline Cooper, Judith Xavier, Pauline Burnett, Reg Hinkley, Maria Grazia
Dell'Orso, Ted Horton, Ian Ravaillion, Robert Becker, Denis
Prior
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 27th May – 2nd June, 2020
Dalton
Smith, Robert & Frances Roberts, Mary Marlow, Graeme Garland, Pamela Jack, Bernard
Stubbs, Vera Tolson, Mary Hyland, Beryl Purton, Rita Beach, Barbara O’Rourke, Nanette
O’Brien, Johanna Smink, Lois Dudfield, Noreen Burton, Dorothy Hamilton, June
Morris, Beverley Russell, Cheryl Robinson, Helen Armsby, Sr Josie Berry, Jean
Phillips, Don Bower, Paul Streat.
May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
Weekly Ramblings
One of the many challenges I am facing is knowing what
information people are actually getting about what is happening in the Parish
at this time. In the past two days we
have been contacted by two people who have not had any contact from, or been in
contact with, the Parish since the lock-down and I’ve spoken to another person
who has received all the emails but who then asked when we were going to
re-open. I heard one person comment on a webinar this morning that they have
prepared a Re-Entry Plan because the Church hasn’t been closed – just it has
been launched on a different platform.
A constant mantra by people in management is that we need
to communicate the message, then communicate the message and finally
communicate the message. I know that sounds like overkill in one sense but I am
becoming more convinced that the information we are sending out is only being
read by relatively few people and understood by even less – as evidenced by the
very brief survey of one person above!!!.
Now in case you think I am being unkind as I say this –
half of you who are reading are probably thinking this anyway – that’s both the
reality and the challenge. So how do we get information to people that is
meaningful, time sensitive and relevant? We are making some phone calls but
email and Facebook (and YouTube videos of the Ramblings) are our main platforms
for communication – and as many people are suggesting, these platforms will
become more important into the future. We are making some information available
at the end of our livestreamed Masses but that is also limited in reach.
There are a significant number of people who are getting
this newsletter via Australia Post – which means that there is quite a deal of
information you are not receiving and I’m not sure how to correct that.
However, as we move closer to re-entry I will be exploring every possibility to
get the message to as many people as possible by whatever means available.
The access to Mass via Zoom is listed above the Mass times
for the coming week and you can also find Masses on Facebook by going to https://facebook.com/MLCP1
where you will also find other resources and videos.
Stay safe, stay sane and, if you can, stay at home
ONLINE
GIVING: The
details for online Planned Giving are: Bank Commonwealth; Account Name: Mersey
Leven; BSB: 067 000; Acc No: 1031 5724. In the Description area simply add your
Name or Envelope Number.
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL:
As
I settle into my place of prayer, I take time to notice how I am feeling, both
mentally and physically.
I acknowledge that God is present with me.
I acknowledge that God is present with me.
When
I am ready, I slowly read and re-read the Gospel. I stay with any word or
phrase that touches me.
I may sense the fear and loneliness of the disciples locked in the house.
Perhaps this resonates with recent weeks when I may have had to self-isolate, or felt afraid of going out due to the ongoing pandemic.
If it helps, I may like to place myself in the scene.
How do I feel as I see Jesus come into the room and I hear him say to me, ‘Peace be with you’?
I sense his closeness as he breathes the gift of the Holy Spirit into my heart.
What difference does his presence make?
Maybe I have a sense of hope … or joy ... or comfort? How might I like to respond?
I may sense the fear and loneliness of the disciples locked in the house.
Perhaps this resonates with recent weeks when I may have had to self-isolate, or felt afraid of going out due to the ongoing pandemic.
If it helps, I may like to place myself in the scene.
How do I feel as I see Jesus come into the room and I hear him say to me, ‘Peace be with you’?
I sense his closeness as he breathes the gift of the Holy Spirit into my heart.
What difference does his presence make?
Maybe I have a sense of hope … or joy ... or comfort? How might I like to respond?
Hearing
Jesus speak about forgiveness may bring to mind a time when I have forgiven
someone, or someone has forgiven me.
How do I feel now?
Maybe there are areas in my own life where I haven’t felt at peace, whether now or in the past?
How do I feel now?
Maybe there are areas in my own life where I haven’t felt at peace, whether now or in the past?
Whatever
is stirring within my heart, I talk to Jesus about it now.
I listen to whatever he is saying to me, drawing comfort from his presence.
I listen to whatever he is saying to me, drawing comfort from his presence.
I
close my prayer slowly, asking for any grace that I feel I myself or others may
need at this difficult time.
Our
Father …
Letter From Rome
Of Monks And Men
Letter From Rome
Of Monks And Men
What's behind the scandal at the Ecumenical Monastery of Bose in northern Italy? -
Robert Mickens, Rome, May 29, 2020.
This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete full access is via paid subscription
This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete full access is via paid subscription
This week the Ecumenical Monastery of Bose – a Vatican II-inspired religious community of women and men near the northern Italian city of Turin – announced that the Holy See had ordered its 77-year-old founder, Enzo Bianchi, to leave the premises and go live elsewhere.
The order came on May 13 from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State. And Pope Francis personally approved the decision in "forma specifica", which means it is final and cannot be appealed.
It seems the Vatican had intended to carry this out quietly. But it authorized the community to make it public this past week because it appears that Bianchi – and three others who were also ordered to leave Bose – refused to budge.
The alleged reason for the ouster was that the founder's "exercise of authority" was creating a "tense and problematic situation" in the life of the monastic community.
Vague accusations
Bianchi had voluntarily stepped down as prior three years ago and the community elected his assistant to replace him as its leader. But it would seem, by what the Vatican has said, that the charismatic and internationally known founder never really let got of the reins.
This was not a last minute or snap decision. The Holy See carried out two separate investigations in the course of the past six years – most recently this past December-January – to follow up on complaints made by some of the members of the community.
The accusations against Bianchi are vague.
But they must include some quite serious details for the pope to approve such a harsh exile of the man who founded Bose in 1965 and worked over the years to develop it into a center of "ecclesial and ecumenical importance" both in Italy and abroad, as the Vatican has described it.
As one who has been to the Monastery of Bose to attend a number of international liturgical conferences, I – like many – am saddened by what happened this past week.
And I share the concern of those who worry how this will affect Bose's future. As often happens in new religious communities, the original project risks falling apart once the founder has died or withdrawn from the scene.
An ecumenical, non-clerical community
It could be even more pernicious in this present case should Bianchi try to fight the Vatican decision or defy it in any way. Several eminent Church figures in Italy have urged him to accept this sentence in obedience and silence. There are obviously worries that if he does not go quietly, he could split the community.
The Vatican intervention is curious and also worrisome. Bose is an ecumenical monastery. Not all its members are Catholic. And Bianchi, as almost all the other members are not ordained – neither to the presbyterate nor the diaconate.
In fact, the founder has resisted attempts by others to have him ordained. He said his intuition for setting up the community on the very day the Second Vatican Council held its concluding session – Dec. 7, 1965 – was to create an environment like that of the early monastic communities, as baptized believers sharing a communal life of prayer and work.
But now the Vatican has put an ordained priest in charge of Bose, under the title of pontifical delegate.
And he's not just any priest, either. Canossian Father Amedeo Cencini (member of the Sons of Charity) is a psychoanalyst. And he is considered one of Italy's top experts on spiritual and sexual abuse in the Church.
The 71-year-old priest is also a consultor to the Vatican congregation that deals with religious orders and he's a member of the Italian bishops' office for the protection of minors.
Vatican sends a priest and two archbishops to Bose
Father Cencini was part of the team that carried out the most recent Vatican investigation at Bose. And he was the one who personally told Bianchi and the other three members of the community sanctioned by Cardinal Parolin that they must leave.
He did not do it alone, however. Two archbishops came with him – one was the second-in-command of the Vatican congregation that deals with religious orders and the other was head of the Archdiocese of Vercelli, the metropolitan province in which Bose is located (in the suffragan diocese of Biella).
There is still too little information to know exactly what happened and why the Holy See has taken such draconian measures. There are fears among many in the Italian Church that there could be other issues that led to this.
One reason is because Pope Francis has always been supportive of Bianchi, appointing him in 2014 as a consultor of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and even naming him as an expert to the Synod of Bishops.
Bianchi claims he has not been informed of any specific charges to explain why he's being asked to leave his home of 55 years. If this is true, it is scandalous and unjust.
Luigi Bettazzi, the last surviving Italian bishop to have attended Vatican Council II, agrees.
The 96-year-old prelate said the founder of Bose is right to demand the Holy See tell him exactly what the charges are and give him the opportunity to defend himself.
But he added, "There have always been some difficulties having an emeritus around."
Perhaps that's the point Francis and Cardinal Parolin are trying to make…
The Peasant's Alphabet
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
Read these sayings and let them stir deeper questions and
reflection. This is the power of these simple stories.
One day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about
his own thoughts. Someone noticed this and said to him, “Abba Arsenius, how is
it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about
your thoughts?” He replied, “I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I
do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.” [3]
Abba Anthony said, “A time is coming when men will go mad,
and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are
mad, you are not like us.’” [4]
Abba Isaiah, when someone asked him what avarice was, replied,
“Not to believe that God cares for you, to despair of the promises of God and
to love boasting.” [5]
I hope this brief introduction to the Desert Fathers and
Mothers has given you at least a taste of why their simple spirituality is so
valuable for us today. If you are drawn to read more of their sayings, don’t be
surprised if you are quickly offended by some of their seeming lower-stage
thinking. Stay with them, in honesty and humility, and I’m sure they will teach
you something of your own human nature and God’s benevolence. In their
irrelevance to our world, these abbas and ammas end up being amazingly
relevant, precisely because their frame of reference is so utterly different
than ours. We all need radically different frames to recognize our own limitations.
The practice of contemplation took root in these mystics
under extreme circumstances—in the desert wilderness and at the height of the
Roman Empire. Looking for God, first in cities and then far away from
mainstream culture, they ultimately found God’s presence within themselves,
once they got still enough to recognize it. For all their idiosyncratic
teachings and practices, the desert mystics provide a common thread of love
running through their stories. In the words of our own beloved teacher James
Finley:
Contemplation helps us reconnect with our source, which is
love, and compels us to embody love in our actions.
[1] The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical
Collection, trans. Benedicta Ward, rev. ed. (Cistercian Publications: 1984,
©1975), 102.
Faithful Friendship
This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here
I grew up in a close family and one of hardest things I ever did was to leave home and family at the age of seventeen to enter the novitiate of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. That novitiate year wasn’t easy. I missed my family intensely and stayed in touch with them insofar as the rules and communication of the day allowed. I wrote a letter home every week and my mother wrote back to me faithfully each week. I still have and cherish those letters. I had left home but stayed in touch, a faithful family member.
But my life became a lot more complex and socially demanding after that. I moved to a seminary and began to live in a community with sixty others, with people entering and leaving constantly throughout my seven years there so that by the time I’d finished my seminary training I had lived in close community with over one hundred different men. That brought its own challenges. People you’d grown close to would leave the community to be replaced by others so that each year there was a new community and new friendships.
In the years following seminary, that pattern began to grow exponentially. Graduate studies took me to other countries and brought a whole series of new persons into my life, many of whom became close friends. In more than forty years of teaching I have met with several thousand students and made many friends among them. Writing and public lectures have brought thousands of people into my life. Though most of them passed through my life without meaningful connection, some became lifelong friends.
I share this not because I think it’s unique, but rather because it’s typical. Today that’s really everyone’s story. More and more friends pass through our lives so that at a point the question necessarily arises: how does one remain faithful to one’s family, to old friends, former neighbors, former classmates, former students, former colleagues, and to old acquaintances? What does fidelity to them ask for? Occasional visits? Occasional emails, texts, calls? Remembering birthdays and anniversaries? Class reunions? Attending weddings and funerals?
Obviously doing these would be good, though that would also constitute a full-time occupation. Something else must be being asked of us here, namely, a fidelity that’s not contingent on emails, texts, calls, and occasional visits. But what can lie deeper than tangible human contact? What can be more real than that? The answer is fidelity, fidelity as the gift of a shared moral soul, fidelity as the gift of trust, and fidelity as remaining true to who you were when you were in tangible human community and contact with those people who are no longer part of your daily life. That’s what it means to be faithful.
It is interesting how the Christian scriptures define community and fidelity. In the Acts of the Apostles we read that before Pentecost those in the first Christian community were all “huddled in one room”. And here, though physically together, ironically they were not in real community with each other, not really a family, and not really faithful to each other. Then after receiving the Holy Spirit, they literally break out of that one room and scatter all over the earth so that many of them never see each other again and now, geographically at a distance from each other, ironically they become real family, become a genuine community, and live in fidelity to each other.
At the end of the day, fidelity is not about now often you physically connect with someone but about living within a shared spirit. Betrayal is not a question of separation by distance, of forgetting an anniversary or a birthday, or of not being able to stay in touch with someone you cherish. Betrayal is moving away from the truth and virtue you once shared with that person you cherish. Betrayal is a change of soul. We are unfaithful to family and friends when we become a different person morally so as to no longer share a common spirit with them.
You can be living in the same house with someone, share daily bread and conversation with him or her, and not be a faithful family member or friend; just as you can be a faithful friend or family member and not see that friend or family member for forty years. Being faithful in remembering birthdays is wonderful, but fidelity is more about remembering who you were when that birth was so special to you. Fidelity is about maintaining moral affinity.
To the best of my abilities, I try to stay in contact with the family, old friends, former neighbors, former classmates, former students, former colleagues, and old acquaintances. Mostly it’s a bit beyond me. So I put my trust in moral fidelity. I try as best I can to commit myself to keeping the same soul I had when I left home as a young boy and which characterized and defined me when I met all those wonderful people along the way.
Dear Nativity Family
This article is taken an email posted by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore.
While the Covid crisis has changed how we gather and worship, it has not
changed our vision and mission. Our mission is to love God, love others, and make disciples. Our
vision is to be a church that people who don’t like church, like. Our strategy
is to create experiences that welcome people wherever they are in their faith
journey and to help them take their next steps.
In the midst of all the rules and regulations issued by various authorities
recently, it can be easy to lose sight of who we are. Yesterday brought an
announcement from our County Executive that churches in Baltimore County can
now open to fifty percent capacity, provided that various restrictions are
followed. The announcement came on the heels of our own decision, as the
church’s leadership team, that our reentry needs to be driven more by our
vision and mission and less by the news of the day.
Over the past 15 years as a community we have worked to make our weekend
worship an uplifting and inspiring experience. As a parish we value excellence
over urgency and hospitality over haste. At this time, in considering the
current restrictions, and given the complications presented by a church our
size, it seems impossible to be able to host the experience we expect at
Nativity.
Accordingly, we are approaching reentry in a measured and deliberate way.
Currently, our online campus is exploding with growth as God is using various
digital platforms to bring people into a deeper relationship with his Son. We
are grateful for your support of these efforts.
For the next few weeks we will continue to offer seven online broadcasts of our
weekend Mass with live chat, including our children’s programs (All Stars and
Time Travelers). Our plan is to transition to live-streaming online with the
introduction of our next message series the weekend of June 20-21. Meanwhile,
Tracy Giordano from our staff is heading up planning efforts for the safe and
successful opening of our Ridgely Road campus, when we are confident to take
that step.
We deeply appreciate your continued patience while our Ridgely Road campus
remains closed. Thank you for all your support.
Sincerely,
Nativity Strategic Leadership Team
(Rev.) Michael White
Kellie Caddick
Tom Corcoran
Brian Crook
Brandon Hollern
Sue Mihok
Prayer and Discernment In Lockdown
During extended periods of isolation, we are likely to be more-than-usually sensitive to changes of mood. Ignatius of Loyola’s own experience of this led him to develop techniques to respond to feelings of ‘darkness and disturbance’. David Lonsdale explores Ignatius’s observations about what he called ‘consolation’ and ‘desolation’, and finds in the Spiritual Exercises a helpful tactic to work against the latter.
David Lonsdale taught Christian spirituality at Heythrop College, University of London, for many years and is the author of Eyes to See, Ears to Hear: An Introduction to Ignatian Spirituality and Dance to the Music of the Spirit: The Art of Discernment.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here
It is a common experience that in circumstances of isolation, whether it’s enforced solitary confinement or voluntary withdrawals to solitude and silence in spiritual retreats, we tend to become more aware than usual of changes of mood, while the moods themselves can be more intense, pronounced and difficult to negotiate. They can be more powerful and demand our attention more insistently when we’re in solitude, confined to a small space or deprived of our usual conditions for working and mixing with family, friends and colleagues. There is less either to help or to distract us.
I’m suggesting here that Ignatius Loyola’s reflections on his experience of isolation, prayer and discernment can offer us valuable help in our present circumstances. It is well known that Ignatius went through two periods of isolation, one a necessary convalescence at Loyola, the other several months of voluntary self-isolation in a cave at Manresa. He reported later that during his convalescence he had noticed something important about his changes of mood that he had not realised before. When he was reading or thinking about the life of Christ and the lives of the saints or the romances of chivalry that he loved, he had the same reaction: he was fired with a desire to imitate the great deeds of the people he admired in the stories. But there was a difference: his desire to follow the knights of the romances in the service of a lady tended to fade rather quickly and left him feeling dissatisfied, while the appeal of imitating Jesus and the saints lasted much longer and was far more satisfying.
It was experiences like this and his months in the cave at Manresa that led Ignatius to stress the importance of the distinction between two kinds or groups of human affective movements or moods, which he called ‘consolation’ and ‘desolation’. His description of consolation includes several different but related elements. It may involve, for example, an experience of being profoundly moved by love of God; it also includes ‘every increase of hope, faith and charity’, thoughts and feelings that lead us to the service and praise of God, or an ‘interior happiness’ that draws us towards heavenly things and leaves us quiet and at peace in God . Desolation is the opposite of consolation. Its typical features are ‘darkness and disturbance’ of spirit, an attraction to what is base and of the earth, anxiety arising from agitations and temptations, leading to a lack of confidence, a weakening or loss of hope and love so that one becomes ‘lazy, lukewarm, sad’ as if cut off from God (Spiritual Exercises §316, 317). From Ignatius’s descriptions it is clear that with regard to a person’s spiritual health and growth, one essential question about feelings and moods is not so much their intensity or duration or their psychological significance, important though these are, but the moral direction in which they are leading. Consolation tends to increase or strengthen confidence in God, hope and generous love of God and neighbour. Desolation, on the other hand, if it is allowed to govern a person’s attitudes, choices and actions, is potentially destructive. It tends to weaken or destroy faith, hope and love of God and neighbour and, if unopposed, has the potential to involve us in a downward spiral of bitterness, cynicism and despair.
My interest here is in using one of the Ignatian exercises to understand and respond to experiences of desolation in a time of pandemic with imposed isolation and restricted social contacts. The main principle behind Ignatius’s comments on dealing with desolation, based on his own experience and inherited wisdom, is patiently to look for ways of praying and acting that work against the direction in which desolation tends to lead (SpExx §319).
We cannot change our affective moods simply by choosing to do so, by deciding to feel differently, but we can choose to change our thoughts (as in cognitive behavioural therapy). Ignatius recognises that there is two-way traffic between thoughts and feelings: feelings give rise to thoughts and influence what and how we think, and thoughts affect what and how we feel. One of the tactics in times of desolation that he proposes has to do with memory and thought: choosing to remember and reflect on previous experiences of consolation as a response to desolation and as a way of sustaining, strengthening or restoring confidence in God, hope and love of God and neighbour.
There are biblical precedents for this approach. In times of oppression, suffering and crisis or when confidence and hope are weak and God seems to have abandoned his people, different biblical texts encourage recalling and retelling the stories of the deeds done by God in creation, history and personal life. Psalm 77 is a particular example. Verses 1-10 are the words of a person in desolation: ‘My soul refuses to be comforted’. The speaker’s confidence in God is failing:
‘Will the Lord spurn for ever
And never again be favourable?
Has his steadfast love ceased for ever?...’
‘It is my grief
that the right hand of the Most High has changed’ (Ps 77: 7-10)
The speaker’s response to this situation comes in verse 11: rather than continuing to cry out in grief, pain and protest, the speaker turns to memory, focusing no longer on his/her own anguish but on God and God’s ‘work’:
‘I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord,
I will remember your wonders of old,
I will meditate on all your work,
And muse on your mighty deeds’ (Ps 77:11-12).
The final part of the psalm (vv. 15-20) is a dramatic retelling of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea, with a noticeable change of mood from grief and anguish to (implicit) hope for the future.
I am suggesting that in a time of pandemic, when many of us are struggling to find or sustain confidence and hope, or to live in love and charity with ourselves and others, the prayer of ‘Contemplation for love of God’ in the Spiritual Exercises can help as an effective response. This ‘exercise’ is a form of prayer in which memory and reflection are deployed to focus on the ‘work’ of God in creation and redemption and in human life, at both cosmic and personal levels (the full text is at SpExx §230-237). The purpose of the exercise is to help those who use it towards a fuller appreciation of God’s love for the world and a loving, generous response (SpExx §233).
For Ignatius, love consists in a sharing of gifts and of self: ‘the lover gives and communicates to the beloved whatever the lover has, or something of what the lover has or is able to give, and the beloved in turn does the same for the lover’ (SpExx §230). Thus Ignatius invites us to ‘bring to memory the benefits received – creation, redemption, and particular gifts’, and to ponder ‘with great affection how much God our Lord has done for me, and how much he has given me of what he has…’ (SpExx §234).
Further, Ignatius suggests we ‘see how God dwells in creatures – in the elements giving being, in the plants, causing growth, in the animals, producing sensation, and in humankind, granting the gift of understanding – and so how he dwells in me…To see too how he makes a temple of me, as I have been created in the image and likeness of His Divine Majesty’ (SpExx §235).
Thirdly he invites us ‘to consider how God works and labours on my behalf in all created things on the face of the earth…’ i.e., ‘He behaves in the same way as a person at work’ in the whole of creation (SpExx §236).
And finally he recommends that we ‘see how all that is good and every gift descends from on high…as rays descend from the sun and waters from a fountain’ (SpExx §237).
Ignatius’s method, therefore, of helping us to love God more fully is by way of memory. He invites us to contemplate God’s love for the world by calling to mind, like the psalmist, ‘the deeds of the Lord’ in creation, redemption, history and personal lives and reflecting on these memories. His purpose is to evoke, sustain, strengthen or restore in us – whichever is needed – a reciprocal response of love, confidence and hope. It is this aspect of this exercise that seems to me to be well suited to our present predicament when, particularly in conditions of isolation and reduced social interaction, we can feel so helpless and be so susceptible to the dangerous experiences of loss of confidence and hope in God, creation and humanity. As it was for the psalmist, prayerful memory of the gifts of God in the past can also inspire in us confidence and hope in a present and a future with God.
Quotations from the Spiritual Exercises are from Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Personal Writings, edited and translated by Joseph A. Munitiz and Philip Endean (1996).
This week the Ecumenical Monastery of Bose – a Vatican II-inspired religious community of women and men near the northern Italian city of Turin – announced that the Holy See had ordered its 77-year-old founder, Enzo Bianchi, to leave the premises and go live elsewhere.
The order came on May 13 from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State. And Pope Francis personally approved the decision in "forma specifica", which means it is final and cannot be appealed.
It seems the Vatican had intended to carry this out quietly. But it authorized the community to make it public this past week because it appears that Bianchi – and three others who were also ordered to leave Bose – refused to budge.
The alleged reason for the ouster was that the founder's "exercise of authority" was creating a "tense and problematic situation" in the life of the monastic community.
Vague accusations
Bianchi had voluntarily stepped down as prior three years ago and the community elected his assistant to replace him as its leader. But it would seem, by what the Vatican has said, that the charismatic and internationally known founder never really let got of the reins.
This was not a last minute or snap decision. The Holy See carried out two separate investigations in the course of the past six years – most recently this past December-January – to follow up on complaints made by some of the members of the community.
The accusations against Bianchi are vague.
But they must include some quite serious details for the pope to approve such a harsh exile of the man who founded Bose in 1965 and worked over the years to develop it into a center of "ecclesial and ecumenical importance" both in Italy and abroad, as the Vatican has described it.
As one who has been to the Monastery of Bose to attend a number of international liturgical conferences, I – like many – am saddened by what happened this past week.
And I share the concern of those who worry how this will affect Bose's future. As often happens in new religious communities, the original project risks falling apart once the founder has died or withdrawn from the scene.
An ecumenical, non-clerical community
It could be even more pernicious in this present case should Bianchi try to fight the Vatican decision or defy it in any way. Several eminent Church figures in Italy have urged him to accept this sentence in obedience and silence. There are obviously worries that if he does not go quietly, he could split the community.
The Vatican intervention is curious and also worrisome. Bose is an ecumenical monastery. Not all its members are Catholic. And Bianchi, as almost all the other members are not ordained – neither to the presbyterate nor the diaconate.
In fact, the founder has resisted attempts by others to have him ordained. He said his intuition for setting up the community on the very day the Second Vatican Council held its concluding session – Dec. 7, 1965 – was to create an environment like that of the early monastic communities, as baptized believers sharing a communal life of prayer and work.
But now the Vatican has put an ordained priest in charge of Bose, under the title of pontifical delegate.
And he's not just any priest, either. Canossian Father Amedeo Cencini (member of the Sons of Charity) is a psychoanalyst. And he is considered one of Italy's top experts on spiritual and sexual abuse in the Church.
The 71-year-old priest is also a consultor to the Vatican congregation that deals with religious orders and he's a member of the Italian bishops' office for the protection of minors.
Vatican sends a priest and two archbishops to Bose
Father Cencini was part of the team that carried out the most recent Vatican investigation at Bose. And he was the one who personally told Bianchi and the other three members of the community sanctioned by Cardinal Parolin that they must leave.
He did not do it alone, however. Two archbishops came with him – one was the second-in-command of the Vatican congregation that deals with religious orders and the other was head of the Archdiocese of Vercelli, the metropolitan province in which Bose is located (in the suffragan diocese of Biella).
There is still too little information to know exactly what happened and why the Holy See has taken such draconian measures. There are fears among many in the Italian Church that there could be other issues that led to this.
One reason is because Pope Francis has always been supportive of Bianchi, appointing him in 2014 as a consultor of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and even naming him as an expert to the Synod of Bishops.
Bianchi claims he has not been informed of any specific charges to explain why he's being asked to leave his home of 55 years. If this is true, it is scandalous and unjust.
Luigi Bettazzi, the last surviving Italian bishop to have attended Vatican Council II, agrees.
The 96-year-old prelate said the founder of Bose is right to demand the Holy See tell him exactly what the charges are and give him the opportunity to defend himself.
But he added, "There have always been some difficulties having an emeritus around."
Perhaps that's the point Francis and Cardinal Parolin are trying to make…
The Peasant's Alphabet
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
Abba Poemen (340–450) taught that the right question in all
circumstances was “Who am I?” [1] St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) would spend
whole nights praying “Who are you, my most dear God, and who am I . . . ?” [2]
It is through encountering the absolute safety of God that we discover our True
Self, and in finding our truest self, we find a God who is always and forever
larger than we expected. The truth of our identity, wrapped up in God, gives us
a deep sense of radical okayness and yet humility about our fragility. What a
paradox!
Read these sayings and let them stir deeper questions and
reflection. This is the power of these simple stories.
One day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about
his own thoughts. Someone noticed this and said to him, “Abba Arsenius, how is
it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about
your thoughts?” He replied, “I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I
do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.” [3]
Abba Anthony said, “A time is coming when men will go mad,
and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are
mad, you are not like us.’” [4]
Abba Isaiah, when someone asked him what avarice was, replied,
“Not to believe that God cares for you, to despair of the promises of God and
to love boasting.” [5]
I hope this brief introduction to the Desert Fathers and
Mothers has given you at least a taste of why their simple spirituality is so
valuable for us today. If you are drawn to read more of their sayings, don’t be
surprised if you are quickly offended by some of their seeming lower-stage
thinking. Stay with them, in honesty and humility, and I’m sure they will teach
you something of your own human nature and God’s benevolence. In their
irrelevance to our world, these abbas and ammas end up being amazingly
relevant, precisely because their frame of reference is so utterly different
than ours. We all need radically different frames to recognize our own limitations.
The practice of contemplation took root in these mystics
under extreme circumstances—in the desert wilderness and at the height of the
Roman Empire. Looking for God, first in cities and then far away from
mainstream culture, they ultimately found God’s presence within themselves,
once they got still enough to recognize it. For all their idiosyncratic
teachings and practices, the desert mystics provide a common thread of love
running through their stories. In the words of our own beloved teacher James
Finley:
In the freedom with which you freely choose to give yourself
in love to the love that gives itself to you, in that reciprocity of love, your
destiny is fulfilled, and God's will for you is consummated. That all of life
when you distill it out to its simplest terms, it has to do in the intimate
always utterly personal way that each of us serendipitously stumbles upon this
great truth. When everything is said and done, only love is real, only love
endures. Outside of love, there is nothing, nothing at all. [6]
Contemplation helps us reconnect with our source, which is
love, and compels us to embody love in our actions.
[1] The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical
Collection, trans. Benedicta Ward, rev. ed. (Cistercian Publications: 1984,
©1975), 102.
[2] “The Deeds of Blessed Francis and His Companions,”
IX.37. See Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 3 (New City Press: 2001),
455.
[3] Sayings, Ward, 10.
[4] Ibid., 6.
[5] Ibid., 70
[6] James Finley, Intimacy: The Divine Ambush, disc 1
(Center for Action and Contemplation: 2013), CD, MP3 download.
Faithful Friendship
This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here
I grew up in a close family and one of hardest things I ever did was to leave home and family at the age of seventeen to enter the novitiate of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. That novitiate year wasn’t easy. I missed my family intensely and stayed in touch with them insofar as the rules and communication of the day allowed. I wrote a letter home every week and my mother wrote back to me faithfully each week. I still have and cherish those letters. I had left home but stayed in touch, a faithful family member.
But my life became a lot more complex and socially demanding after that. I moved to a seminary and began to live in a community with sixty others, with people entering and leaving constantly throughout my seven years there so that by the time I’d finished my seminary training I had lived in close community with over one hundred different men. That brought its own challenges. People you’d grown close to would leave the community to be replaced by others so that each year there was a new community and new friendships.
In the years following seminary, that pattern began to grow exponentially. Graduate studies took me to other countries and brought a whole series of new persons into my life, many of whom became close friends. In more than forty years of teaching I have met with several thousand students and made many friends among them. Writing and public lectures have brought thousands of people into my life. Though most of them passed through my life without meaningful connection, some became lifelong friends.
I share this not because I think it’s unique, but rather because it’s typical. Today that’s really everyone’s story. More and more friends pass through our lives so that at a point the question necessarily arises: how does one remain faithful to one’s family, to old friends, former neighbors, former classmates, former students, former colleagues, and to old acquaintances? What does fidelity to them ask for? Occasional visits? Occasional emails, texts, calls? Remembering birthdays and anniversaries? Class reunions? Attending weddings and funerals?
Obviously doing these would be good, though that would also constitute a full-time occupation. Something else must be being asked of us here, namely, a fidelity that’s not contingent on emails, texts, calls, and occasional visits. But what can lie deeper than tangible human contact? What can be more real than that? The answer is fidelity, fidelity as the gift of a shared moral soul, fidelity as the gift of trust, and fidelity as remaining true to who you were when you were in tangible human community and contact with those people who are no longer part of your daily life. That’s what it means to be faithful.
It is interesting how the Christian scriptures define community and fidelity. In the Acts of the Apostles we read that before Pentecost those in the first Christian community were all “huddled in one room”. And here, though physically together, ironically they were not in real community with each other, not really a family, and not really faithful to each other. Then after receiving the Holy Spirit, they literally break out of that one room and scatter all over the earth so that many of them never see each other again and now, geographically at a distance from each other, ironically they become real family, become a genuine community, and live in fidelity to each other.
At the end of the day, fidelity is not about now often you physically connect with someone but about living within a shared spirit. Betrayal is not a question of separation by distance, of forgetting an anniversary or a birthday, or of not being able to stay in touch with someone you cherish. Betrayal is moving away from the truth and virtue you once shared with that person you cherish. Betrayal is a change of soul. We are unfaithful to family and friends when we become a different person morally so as to no longer share a common spirit with them.
You can be living in the same house with someone, share daily bread and conversation with him or her, and not be a faithful family member or friend; just as you can be a faithful friend or family member and not see that friend or family member for forty years. Being faithful in remembering birthdays is wonderful, but fidelity is more about remembering who you were when that birth was so special to you. Fidelity is about maintaining moral affinity.
To the best of my abilities, I try to stay in contact with the family, old friends, former neighbors, former classmates, former students, former colleagues, and old acquaintances. Mostly it’s a bit beyond me. So I put my trust in moral fidelity. I try as best I can to commit myself to keeping the same soul I had when I left home as a young boy and which characterized and defined me when I met all those wonderful people along the way.
Dear Nativity Family
This article is taken an email posted by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore.
While the Covid crisis has changed how we gather and worship, it has not
changed our vision and mission. Our mission is to love God, love others, and make disciples. Our
vision is to be a church that people who don’t like church, like. Our strategy
is to create experiences that welcome people wherever they are in their faith
journey and to help them take their next steps.
In the midst of all the rules and regulations issued by various authorities recently, it can be easy to lose sight of who we are. Yesterday brought an announcement from our County Executive that churches in Baltimore County can now open to fifty percent capacity, provided that various restrictions are followed. The announcement came on the heels of our own decision, as the church’s leadership team, that our reentry needs to be driven more by our vision and mission and less by the news of the day.
Over the past 15 years as a community we have worked to make our weekend worship an uplifting and inspiring experience. As a parish we value excellence over urgency and hospitality over haste. At this time, in considering the current restrictions, and given the complications presented by a church our size, it seems impossible to be able to host the experience we expect at Nativity.
Accordingly, we are approaching reentry in a measured and deliberate way. Currently, our online campus is exploding with growth as God is using various digital platforms to bring people into a deeper relationship with his Son. We are grateful for your support of these efforts.
For the next few weeks we will continue to offer seven online broadcasts of our weekend Mass with live chat, including our children’s programs (All Stars and Time Travelers). Our plan is to transition to live-streaming online with the introduction of our next message series the weekend of June 20-21. Meanwhile, Tracy Giordano from our staff is heading up planning efforts for the safe and successful opening of our Ridgely Road campus, when we are confident to take that step.
We deeply appreciate your continued patience while our Ridgely Road campus remains closed. Thank you for all your support.
Sincerely,
Nativity Strategic Leadership Team
(Rev.) Michael White
Kellie Caddick
Tom Corcoran
Brian Crook
Brandon Hollern
Sue Mihok
In the midst of all the rules and regulations issued by various authorities recently, it can be easy to lose sight of who we are. Yesterday brought an announcement from our County Executive that churches in Baltimore County can now open to fifty percent capacity, provided that various restrictions are followed. The announcement came on the heels of our own decision, as the church’s leadership team, that our reentry needs to be driven more by our vision and mission and less by the news of the day.
Over the past 15 years as a community we have worked to make our weekend worship an uplifting and inspiring experience. As a parish we value excellence over urgency and hospitality over haste. At this time, in considering the current restrictions, and given the complications presented by a church our size, it seems impossible to be able to host the experience we expect at Nativity.
Accordingly, we are approaching reentry in a measured and deliberate way. Currently, our online campus is exploding with growth as God is using various digital platforms to bring people into a deeper relationship with his Son. We are grateful for your support of these efforts.
For the next few weeks we will continue to offer seven online broadcasts of our weekend Mass with live chat, including our children’s programs (All Stars and Time Travelers). Our plan is to transition to live-streaming online with the introduction of our next message series the weekend of June 20-21. Meanwhile, Tracy Giordano from our staff is heading up planning efforts for the safe and successful opening of our Ridgely Road campus, when we are confident to take that step.
We deeply appreciate your continued patience while our Ridgely Road campus remains closed. Thank you for all your support.
Sincerely,
Nativity Strategic Leadership Team
(Rev.) Michael White
Kellie Caddick
Tom Corcoran
Brian Crook
Brandon Hollern
Sue Mihok
Prayer and Discernment In Lockdown
During extended periods of isolation, we are likely to be more-than-usually sensitive to changes of mood. Ignatius of Loyola’s own experience of this led him to develop techniques to respond to feelings of ‘darkness and disturbance’. David Lonsdale explores Ignatius’s observations about what he called ‘consolation’ and ‘desolation’, and finds in the Spiritual Exercises a helpful tactic to work against the latter.
David Lonsdale taught Christian spirituality at Heythrop College, University of London, for many years and is the author of Eyes to See, Ears to Hear: An Introduction to Ignatian Spirituality and Dance to the Music of the Spirit: The Art of Discernment.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here
It is a common experience that in circumstances of isolation, whether it’s enforced solitary confinement or voluntary withdrawals to solitude and silence in spiritual retreats, we tend to become more aware than usual of changes of mood, while the moods themselves can be more intense, pronounced and difficult to negotiate. They can be more powerful and demand our attention more insistently when we’re in solitude, confined to a small space or deprived of our usual conditions for working and mixing with family, friends and colleagues. There is less either to help or to distract us.
I’m suggesting here that Ignatius Loyola’s reflections on his experience of isolation, prayer and discernment can offer us valuable help in our present circumstances. It is well known that Ignatius went through two periods of isolation, one a necessary convalescence at Loyola, the other several months of voluntary self-isolation in a cave at Manresa. He reported later that during his convalescence he had noticed something important about his changes of mood that he had not realised before. When he was reading or thinking about the life of Christ and the lives of the saints or the romances of chivalry that he loved, he had the same reaction: he was fired with a desire to imitate the great deeds of the people he admired in the stories. But there was a difference: his desire to follow the knights of the romances in the service of a lady tended to fade rather quickly and left him feeling dissatisfied, while the appeal of imitating Jesus and the saints lasted much longer and was far more satisfying.
It was experiences like this and his months in the cave at Manresa that led Ignatius to stress the importance of the distinction between two kinds or groups of human affective movements or moods, which he called ‘consolation’ and ‘desolation’. His description of consolation includes several different but related elements. It may involve, for example, an experience of being profoundly moved by love of God; it also includes ‘every increase of hope, faith and charity’, thoughts and feelings that lead us to the service and praise of God, or an ‘interior happiness’ that draws us towards heavenly things and leaves us quiet and at peace in God . Desolation is the opposite of consolation. Its typical features are ‘darkness and disturbance’ of spirit, an attraction to what is base and of the earth, anxiety arising from agitations and temptations, leading to a lack of confidence, a weakening or loss of hope and love so that one becomes ‘lazy, lukewarm, sad’ as if cut off from God (Spiritual Exercises §316, 317). From Ignatius’s descriptions it is clear that with regard to a person’s spiritual health and growth, one essential question about feelings and moods is not so much their intensity or duration or their psychological significance, important though these are, but the moral direction in which they are leading. Consolation tends to increase or strengthen confidence in God, hope and generous love of God and neighbour. Desolation, on the other hand, if it is allowed to govern a person’s attitudes, choices and actions, is potentially destructive. It tends to weaken or destroy faith, hope and love of God and neighbour and, if unopposed, has the potential to involve us in a downward spiral of bitterness, cynicism and despair.
My interest here is in using one of the Ignatian exercises to understand and respond to experiences of desolation in a time of pandemic with imposed isolation and restricted social contacts. The main principle behind Ignatius’s comments on dealing with desolation, based on his own experience and inherited wisdom, is patiently to look for ways of praying and acting that work against the direction in which desolation tends to lead (SpExx §319).
We cannot change our affective moods simply by choosing to do so, by deciding to feel differently, but we can choose to change our thoughts (as in cognitive behavioural therapy). Ignatius recognises that there is two-way traffic between thoughts and feelings: feelings give rise to thoughts and influence what and how we think, and thoughts affect what and how we feel. One of the tactics in times of desolation that he proposes has to do with memory and thought: choosing to remember and reflect on previous experiences of consolation as a response to desolation and as a way of sustaining, strengthening or restoring confidence in God, hope and love of God and neighbour.
There are biblical precedents for this approach. In times of oppression, suffering and crisis or when confidence and hope are weak and God seems to have abandoned his people, different biblical texts encourage recalling and retelling the stories of the deeds done by God in creation, history and personal life. Psalm 77 is a particular example. Verses 1-10 are the words of a person in desolation: ‘My soul refuses to be comforted’. The speaker’s confidence in God is failing:
‘Will the Lord spurn for ever
And never again be favourable?
Has his steadfast love ceased for ever?...’
‘It is my grief
that the right hand of the Most High has changed’ (Ps 77: 7-10)
The speaker’s response to this situation comes in verse 11: rather than continuing to cry out in grief, pain and protest, the speaker turns to memory, focusing no longer on his/her own anguish but on God and God’s ‘work’:
‘I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord,
I will remember your wonders of old,
I will meditate on all your work,
And muse on your mighty deeds’ (Ps 77:11-12).
The final part of the psalm (vv. 15-20) is a dramatic retelling of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea, with a noticeable change of mood from grief and anguish to (implicit) hope for the future.
I am suggesting that in a time of pandemic, when many of us are struggling to find or sustain confidence and hope, or to live in love and charity with ourselves and others, the prayer of ‘Contemplation for love of God’ in the Spiritual Exercises can help as an effective response. This ‘exercise’ is a form of prayer in which memory and reflection are deployed to focus on the ‘work’ of God in creation and redemption and in human life, at both cosmic and personal levels (the full text is at SpExx §230-237). The purpose of the exercise is to help those who use it towards a fuller appreciation of God’s love for the world and a loving, generous response (SpExx §233).
For Ignatius, love consists in a sharing of gifts and of self: ‘the lover gives and communicates to the beloved whatever the lover has, or something of what the lover has or is able to give, and the beloved in turn does the same for the lover’ (SpExx §230). Thus Ignatius invites us to ‘bring to memory the benefits received – creation, redemption, and particular gifts’, and to ponder ‘with great affection how much God our Lord has done for me, and how much he has given me of what he has…’ (SpExx §234).
Further, Ignatius suggests we ‘see how God dwells in creatures – in the elements giving being, in the plants, causing growth, in the animals, producing sensation, and in humankind, granting the gift of understanding – and so how he dwells in me…To see too how he makes a temple of me, as I have been created in the image and likeness of His Divine Majesty’ (SpExx §235).
Thirdly he invites us ‘to consider how God works and labours on my behalf in all created things on the face of the earth…’ i.e., ‘He behaves in the same way as a person at work’ in the whole of creation (SpExx §236).
And finally he recommends that we ‘see how all that is good and every gift descends from on high…as rays descend from the sun and waters from a fountain’ (SpExx §237).
Ignatius’s method, therefore, of helping us to love God more fully is by way of memory. He invites us to contemplate God’s love for the world by calling to mind, like the psalmist, ‘the deeds of the Lord’ in creation, redemption, history and personal lives and reflecting on these memories. His purpose is to evoke, sustain, strengthen or restore in us – whichever is needed – a reciprocal response of love, confidence and hope. It is this aspect of this exercise that seems to me to be well suited to our present predicament when, particularly in conditions of isolation and reduced social interaction, we can feel so helpless and be so susceptible to the dangerous experiences of loss of confidence and hope in God, creation and humanity. As it was for the psalmist, prayerful memory of the gifts of God in the past can also inspire in us confidence and hope in a present and a future with God.
Quotations from the Spiritual Exercises are from Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Personal Writings, edited and translated by Joseph A. Munitiz and Philip Endean (1996).
