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 7th June 9:00am ... The Most Holy Trinity
Mon 8th June No Mass
Tues 9th June 9:00am ... St Ephrem
Wed 10th June 9:00am
Thurs 11th June 9:00am ... St Barnabas
Fri 12th June 9:00am
Sat 13th June 9:00am ... St Anthony of Padua
Sun 14th June 9:00am ... The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
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:
Rex Evans, Athol Bryan, Jill Murphy, Roberto Escobar, Robert Luxton, Jane Fitzpatrick, Marlene Heazlewood, Barry
Mulcahy, Mark Aylett, & …
Let us pray for
those who have died recently:
Shane Yates, Fr Noel Connolly, Veronica Murnane, Brian
Pilling, Peter Evans, Marie Reid, Don & Pat Mapley, Pauline Cooper, Judith Xavier, Pauline Burnett, Reg
Hinkley, Maria Grazia Dell'Orso, Ted Horton, Ian Ravaillion, Robert
Becker, Denis Prior
May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL:
Wherever I choose to pray today, I prepare myself in
silence to enter deeper into the mystery of the Trinity.
As I observe them speaking, what is my
attention drawn towards?
Here I am invited to enter more fully into a loving relationship
with God, who is Father, Son, Spirit – Creator, Word and Wisdom.
I share this
with God: Father, Son, and Spirit.
Weekly Ramblings
Quite a few
things have happened during the past week that have focused our attention on
future activities that remind us that, even though there are still some
restrictions, there is also the everyday life of the Parish which continues.
One was a conversation I had a few days ago that changed how I am looking at
the next stage of our response – rather than talking about the what we will do
about re-opening the Churches I am now looking at what we can do to plan for
Reentry.
It might
sound as if it is the same thing but the Church didn’t actually close – yes we
were shut out of our buildings but the life of the community has continued in a
different space and place. Funerals have still happened; visits to the sick in
hospitals and nursing homes have continued; the newsletter and other forms of
communication have continued each week and we have been celebrating Mass almost
daily for the needs of the Parish and the world.
I have
restarted, albeit in a limited way, my Communion to the Sick Rounds and will
also commence visiting some of the Nursing Homes in the next few days. The plan
for Masses to be celebrated in the Church for 20 people commencing on 16th
June are available today as a letter to the parish with today’s newsletter (or
as an added attachment).
Our planned
giving envelopes for 2020/21 will be posted or hand delivered over the next few
weeks – even though it is something we do every year it still requires a deal
of co-ordination and planning. We have also made the decision to cancel the
Footy Margins Fundraising for this year as almost half the tickets are sold
through Mass Centres and without the community to purchase them it would not
have been a fundraiser at all. Those who pre-purchased tickets have been
contacted by the Office – if you have not heard from us please feel free to
ring.
News came
through that Kanishka Perera – the Sri Lankan seminarian who was with us at the
end of last year will be returning at the beginning of July for his Pastoral
Placement component of his formation for Priesthood. We look forward to his
return and the opportunities we will have as a community to share in his
journey to Priesthood.
Stay safe, stay sane and, if you can, stay at home
SUPPORTING THE PARISH FINANCIALLY
To continue supporting the
Parish (if only in a position to do so)
· Drop
your contribution into the Parish Office during our usual office hours
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 8th June No Mass
Tues 9th June 9:00am ... St Ephrem
Wed 10th June 9:00am
Thurs 11th June 9:00am ... St Barnabas
Fri 12th June 9:00am
Sat 13th June 9:00am ... St Anthony of Padua
Sun 14th June 9:00am ... The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
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:
Rex Evans, Athol Bryan, Jill Murphy, Roberto Escobar, Robert Luxton, Jane Fitzpatrick, Marlene Heazlewood, Barry
Mulcahy, Mark Aylett, & …
Let us pray for
those who have died recently:
Shane Yates, Fr Noel Connolly, Veronica Murnane, Brian
Pilling, Peter Evans, Marie Reid, Don & Pat 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: 3rd – 9th June, 2020
Barbara O'Rourke, Anthony
Venn, Viv Down, Karen Blackaby, Irene Renkowski, Theresa Maguire, Jocelyn
Waldhauser, Mary Allford, Joan Singline, Pip Revell, Delia Lynch, Angus
Barton, Anne Elliott, Allan Cassidy, John Deegan, Colin Crowden, Mary Halligan. Also Hedley
& Enid Stubbs.
May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL:
Wherever I choose to pray today, I prepare myself in
silence to enter deeper into the mystery of the Trinity.
I take time to read through the Gospel slowly, asking the
Spirit of truth to help me hear the word of God with an open and attentive
heart.
I pause in silence to allow the words to settle in my
heart.
I read the passage again. It may help my prayer to imagine
the meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus.
As I observe them speaking, what is my attention drawn towards?
As I observe them speaking, what is my attention drawn towards?
How do I feel hearing Jesus speak these words?
I ponder… I listen.
Where have I noticed the love of God at work in my life?
What does this passage tell me about the relationship of
the Trinity?
Here I am invited to enter more fully into a loving relationship with God, who is Father, Son, Spirit – Creator, Word and Wisdom.
Here I am invited to enter more fully into a loving relationship with God, who is Father, Son, Spirit – Creator, Word and Wisdom.
What is my response today to that invitation?
I share this with God: Father, Son, and Spirit.
I share this with God: Father, Son, and Spirit.
I close my prayer in praise of the Trinity, saying ‘Glory
be …’
Weekly Ramblings
Quite a few
things have happened during the past week that have focused our attention on
future activities that remind us that, even though there are still some
restrictions, there is also the everyday life of the Parish which continues.
One was a conversation I had a few days ago that changed how I am looking at
the next stage of our response – rather than talking about the what we will do
about re-opening the Churches I am now looking at what we can do to plan for
Reentry.
It might
sound as if it is the same thing but the Church didn’t actually close – yes we
were shut out of our buildings but the life of the community has continued in a
different space and place. Funerals have still happened; visits to the sick in
hospitals and nursing homes have continued; the newsletter and other forms of
communication have continued each week and we have been celebrating Mass almost
daily for the needs of the Parish and the world.
I have
restarted, albeit in a limited way, my Communion to the Sick Rounds and will
also commence visiting some of the Nursing Homes in the next few days. The plan
for Masses to be celebrated in the Church for 20 people commencing on 16th
June are available today as a letter to the parish with today’s newsletter (or
as an added attachment).
Our planned
giving envelopes for 2020/21 will be posted or hand delivered over the next few
weeks – even though it is something we do every year it still requires a deal
of co-ordination and planning. We have also made the decision to cancel the
Footy Margins Fundraising for this year as almost half the tickets are sold
through Mass Centres and without the community to purchase them it would not
have been a fundraiser at all. Those who pre-purchased tickets have been
contacted by the Office – if you have not heard from us please feel free to
ring.
News came
through that Kanishka Perera – the Sri Lankan seminarian who was with us at the
end of last year will be returning at the beginning of July for his Pastoral
Placement component of his formation for Priesthood. We look forward to his
return and the opportunities we will have as a community to share in his
journey to Priesthood.
Stay safe, stay sane and, if you can, stay at home
SUPPORTING THE PARISH FINANCIALLY
Thank
you to all who have so generously continued their financial support of the
Parish during the COVID-19 restrictions. Your contributions are very much
appreciated.
To continue supporting the
Parish (if only in a position to do so)
· Drop
your contribution into the Parish Office during our usual office hours
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am -3pm)
· Make
an electronic transfer of funds directly into the CDF – Commonwealth Bank; Account Name: Mersey Leven;
BSB: 067 000; Acc No: 1031 5724; in the
description simply add your
name and/or envelope number thank you.
PLANNED GIVING PROGRAM:
New envelopes will be distributed
soon. If you are not already part of this program and would like to join,
please contact the Parish office 6424:2783.
Please do not use the new envelopes until the starting date – Sunday
5th July. Thank you!
Letter From Rome
Blood On Their Hands
Letter From Rome
Blood On Their Hands
Blood On Their Hands
Catholics who helped Donald Trump become president, especially certain bishops, are responsible for the current chaos in the United States - Robert Mickens, Rome, June 5, 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
Catholics who helped Donald Trump become president, especially certain bishops, are responsible for the current chaos in the United States
The United States is an uglier place today.Certainly, because of the "disturbing social unrest… these past days, following the tragic death of Mr George Floyd", as Pope Francis said at his June 3 general audience.
The pope expressed concern for what he's witnessed, probably on television, and directly addressed all Americans who were following his weekly audience via social media.
"My friends," he said, "we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life."
That message should have stung all those Catholic bishops, priests and prominent lay people who worked actively, even if some denied having done so, to make sure Donald Trump became president in 2016.
Those who voted for Trump obviously cast their ballot for a variety of reasons, certainly not all of them noble. Most of the really unsavory motives were unspoken or never admitted. But the fig leaf they used to cover them all was Trump's decision just a couple of weeks before the election to declare his opposition to abortion.
The United States is an uglier place today.
But that was the case well before the current social unrest. The day it became uglier – and the entire world became much darker – was Nov. 8, 2016 when Mr Trump was elected the 45th president in US history.
That electoral victory nearly four years ago set in motion the dangerous erosion and outright destruction of civility and social cohesion in the country that we are now witnessing.
The events of the past several days, following Floyd's "murder", are a direct result of electing a man who has proven over and over again that he lacks even the most basic elements of human decency and compassion.
But we could have predicted this. In fact, many of us did.
"The United States is an uglier place today." That was the opening line of the "Letter from Rome" on Nov. 16, 2016 – a week after Trump won the White House.
This was the title of that piece: "Ugliness has trumped decency, kindness and goodwill".
Here's a bit more of what that article said:Already during the long electoral campaign Mr Trump had begun to unleash this darkness by ruthlessly obliterating all civil discourse and the most basic social conventions that have long distinguished the American people for their well-known (if, at times, superficial) politeness and courtesy towards others.
Crushing all that as mere "political correctness", the candidate Trump proceeded to denigrate every possible minority group – women, Mexicans, African Americans, Muslims, immigrants, the physically handicapped, professional politicians and government employees.
In his words, they were "losers".
Now President-elect Trump has surrounded himself with advisors, some who are known to be white supremacists, American nativists and even neo-fascists. And his choice of the ultra-conservative Mike Pence as Vice President is even more alarming…
Let us be clear. Many US natives, myself included, are deeply embarrassed that our next president is someone who has willingly unleashed the demons that simmer just below the surface of American society – racism, bigotry, misogyny, greed, exclusionism, narcissism and selfishness.
There were many reasons why Mr Trump got elected. Chief among them was the unpopularity of his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Even though the former First Lady and ex-Secretary of State garnered nearly three million more votes, she ran a disastrous campaign, committing strategic blunders that cost her key states and the all-decisive Electoral College tally.
But that's not the whole story.
Many people in the United States love to define their country as a Christian nation and, astonishingly, it was the vote of self-described God-fearing Christians that made the difference in the 2016 election.
Evangelical Christians and even most Catholics (according to the polls) overwhelmingly voted for the twice-divorced and thrice-married Trump.
Unbelievably, they justified their choice by claiming that the man who had displayed all the social and moral vices that stand in contradiction to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ was the one most likely to promote Christian values.
They were hoodwinked by a con man who claimed that he stood with them in the fight against the terrible evil of abortion. How willfully ignorant!
Mr Trump is, at best, a newcomer to the "pro life" cause, though it is not even clear if he's fully on board with this movement. He changed his position on abortion at least five times between the Republican primaries and the final weeks of the presidential election.
It is wrong for the clergy to tell their congregations how to vote. But a number of Catholic bishops and even more priests – if the many reports are accurate – made it crystal clear to their people that it would be immoral to vote for a "pro choice" candidate that supports the legalization of abortion. Many saw that as a not-so-veiled endorsement of Mr Trump. In any case, these Church leaders were irresponsible.
Their names are well known. There is no need to list them here. Shaming will serve no good end at this point.
But we all know who they are…Here is how that particular "Letter from Rome" in November 2106 ended:
And so now the country that loves to describe itself as the greatest democracy on earth awaits the inauguration of its new president and many of us fear the nightmare that may follow. Merely the sound of "President Trump" sends a chill down the spines of slightly more than half of all Americans who did not cast their ballot for him.
We are not only troubled. We are also ashamed.
And nearly four years later Americans, and the rest of the world, are watching a race-baiting, hate-mongering president pour fuel on the flames that are further incinerating a once great nation.
Those who voted for him or helped get him elected – Catholics included – have blood on their hands.
Tragically, the United States is an uglier place today.
Growing In The Wilnderness
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
If the desert is a place of renewal, transformation, and
freedom, and if the heat and isolation served as a nurturing incubator for
monastic movements, one wonders if a desert experience is necessary to reclaim
this legacy? —Barbara Holmes [1]
Life in the desert is not easy. It does not offer moderate
temperatures to please the human desire for comfort nor abundant water to
quench inevitable thirst. The caves that offer shelter likely don’t provide a
soft place to lay tired bodies. And yet, the desert abbas and ammas sought out
these conditions, believing they would find new and abundant life—even where
life seemed impossible. We invite you to take a few breaths and to slowly and
contemplatively read this passage from Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart,
in which he describes an encounter in another kind of mountain wilderness.
[1] Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative
Practices of the Black Church, 2nd ed. (Fortress Press: 2017), 10-12.
[2] Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart (Beacon Press:
1999), 123-124.
Some Advice On Prayer From An Old Master
This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here
At the risk of being simplistic, I want to say something about prayer in a very simple way.
While doing doctoral studies, I had a professor, an elderly Augustine priest, who in his demeanor, speech, and attitude, radiated wisdom and maturity. Everything about him bespoke integrity. You immediately trusted him, the wise old grandfather of storybooks.
One day in class he spoke of his own prayer life. As with everything else he shared, there were no filters, only honesty and humility. I don’t recall his exact words, but I remember well the essence of what he said and it has stayed with me for the nearly forty years since I had the privilege of being in his class.
Here’s what he shared: prayer isn’t easy because we’re always tired, distracted, busy, bored, and caught up in so many things that it’s hard to find the time and energy to center ourselves on God for some moments. So, this is what I do: no matter what my day is like, no matter what’s on my mind, no matter what my distractions and temptations are, I am faithful to this: Once a day I pray the Our Father as best I can from where I am at that moment. Inside of everything that’s going on inside me and around me that day, I pray the Our Father, asking God to hear me from inside of all the distractions and temptations that are besetting me. It’s the best I can do. Maybe it’s a bare minimum and I should do more and should try to concentrate harder, but at least I do that. And sometimes it’s all I can do, but I do it every day, as best I can. It’s the prayer Jesus told us to pray.
His words might sound simplistic and minimalistic. Indeed the church challenges us to make the Eucharist the center of our prayer lives and to make a daily habit of meditation and private prayer. As well, many classical spiritual writers tell us that we should set aside an hour every day for private prayer, and many contemporary spiritual writers challenge us to daily practice centering prayer or some other form of contemplative prayer. Where does that leave our old Augustinian theologian and his counsel that we pray one sincere Our Father each day – as best we can?
Well, none of this goes against what he so humbly shared. He would be the first to agree that the Eucharist should be the center of our prayer lives, and he would agree as well with both the classical spiritual writers who advise an hour of private prayer a day, and the contemporary authors who challenge us to do some form of contemplative prayer daily, or at least habitually. But he would say this: at one of those times in the day (ideally at the Eucharist or while praying the Office of the Church but at least sometime during your day) when you’re saying the Our Father, pray it with as much sincerity and focus as you can muster at the moment (“as best you can”) and know that, no matter your distractions at the moment, it’s what God is asking from you. And it’s enough.
His advice has stayed with me through the years and though I say a number of Our Fathers every day, I try, at least in one of them, to pray the Our Father as best I can, fully conscious of how badly I am doing it. What a challenge and what a consolation!
The challenge is to pray an Our Father each day, as best we can. As we know, that prayer is deeply communitarian. Every petition in it is plural – “our”, “we”, “us” – there’s no “I” in the Our Father. Moreover, all of us are priests from our baptism and inherent in the covenant we made then, we are asked daily to pray for others, for the world. For those who cannot participate in the Eucharist daily and for those who do not pray the Office of the Church, praying the Our Father is your Eucharistic prayer, your priestly prayer for others.
And this is the consolation: none of us is divine. We’re all incurably human which means that many times, perhaps most times, when we’re trying to pray we’ll find ourselves beset with everything from tiredness, to boredom, to impatience, to planning tomorrow’s agenda, to sorting through the hurts of the day, to stewing about who we’re angry at, to dealing with erotic fantasies. Our prayer seldom issues forth from a pure heart but normally from a very earthy one. But, and this is the point, its very earthiness is also its real honesty. Our restless, distracted heart is also our existential heart and is the existential heart of the world. When we pray from there, we are (as the classical definition of prayer would have it) lifting mind and heart to God.
Try, each day, to pray one sincere Our Father! As best you can!
Love In Action Through Difficult Days
This article is taken an email posted by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
This weekend is marked, ecclesially, by the celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity, which is revealed throughout Scripture, tells us that God is a community of persons, a community of love.
God’s love is so great it is expansive. It doesn’t remain closed in on itself. God’s love is so great it includes the whole world. God the Father so loved the world that he gave his Son and sent their Spirit.
Also, not far from our thoughts this weekend is the tragic situation unfolding across our nation over the past week: the twin scourges of racism, which is very real, and violence, which is always to be regretted. Each has come, in a truly surrealistic way, in the midst of a global pandemic. It has created a scenario that was literally unimaginable.
It is said we only really believe the parts of the Bible that we put into action. One of the most illuminating passages of Scripture on the Trinity is John 3:16, which teaches us that God’s love has no borders or boundaries. If we really believe that, then love is only really love when it’s doing something. We begin with those around us but we reach beyond them too. Application makes all the difference.
Passively avoiding racism and violence is a good start. But Trinitarian love calls us deeper, towards an active work of justice and reconciliation.
How do we make application of God’s word in such a time as this? What can we do? What can we, as individuals and together, as local church communities, do in the face of deeply entrenched, systemic racism and incoherent violence? These problems seem insurmountable in good times; during these difficult days they can become overwhelming.
First thing, we can turn to Scripture and prayer. The feeling of helplessness that has become apparent in the last week is paralyzing and will keep us from the work that we can do. It’s vital that we turn to the Lord and allow Father, Son, and Spirit to move our hearts.
Second, we can use this time to learn what the Church teaches about racism and is doing to combat injustices in our country. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has plenty of resources on their website.
Third, if you’re a member of our parish or would like to get involved at our parish, check out http://www.churchnativity.com/missions. We work directly with partner organizations who live and work in the communities we serve. Locally, we have safe and rewarding opportunities to serve right here in our city of Baltimore. And meanwhile, why not join us this weekend in our “Virtual Café” for a frank discussion of the lessons of the weekend’s Scripture after Mass.
None of these steps are going to change the world. But prayer, learning more, and getting involved through simple, specific acts of service are love in action. And love in action can change the world.
God Is Three And God Is One
On Sunday 7th June we observe the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity can be a ‘dauntingly abstract concept ‘, says John Moffatt SJ, but it is important for us to use words and images, as far as we can, to explore the truth that it represents: ‘the single origin of all things is in essence relationship’.
John Moffatt SJ teaches Scripture at the Jesuit Institute, South Africa and is the author of the blog, Letting the Porcupine out of the Bottle.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here
If your eyes wander upwards from the front row of the Jesuit church in Innsbruck, you will notice on the inner dome above the altar not elaborate pictures, but a simple triangle. This rather plain and slightly cryptic ornamentation draws the eyes and the mind to the ancient Christian teaching that God is three and God is one. It also reinforces the impression we can often have, that after the powerful narratives of Lent and Easter, which take us from creation to Pentecost, the Trinity remains a dauntingly abstract concept. Nevertheless, this is a teaching that has been celebrated in the Western Church since the Middle Ages and one that has, perhaps surprisingly, been a frequent subject of Christian mystical experience, from Julian of Norwich to Teresa of Avila. It is the distinctively Christian understanding of God, the origin of all things.
For those who enjoy philosophical philology, the three-hundred-year journey from the instruction to baptise in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to the creed that we recite each Sunday is fascinating. We see how the early Christians’ intuitive experience of Father, Son and Spirit was first justified simply with reference to scripture. Then the inconsistencies began to be noticed, tough questions got asked and intellectuals began to make their own options. Christianity had to adapt its language and adjust its claims in a world that prized logic, coherence and philosophical thought.
Over the years Christian leaders, arguing amongst themselves, were forced to make decisions, to try and clarify what it was that they believed. A technical language, remote and abstract to us today, emerged. The narratives of the New Testament were augmented with words like ‘being’, ‘hypostasis’, ‘person’, ‘relation’, alongside everyone’s favourite, ‘consubstantial’. The fourth-century struggle to find a coherent way of talking about God underpins our creed. It allows us to say of the Lord Jesus Christ that he is true God from true God and that the Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son.
Why is it so important for us to find some way of talking that does not reduce three persons to three aspects of a single entity and yet does not leave us with the confusion of three separate Gods either?
One set of reasons is abstract, but important for those to whom ideas matter in their life of faith. We find in Aristotle the philosophical insight that all things arise from a single origin. Yet Aristotle’s changeless, solitary prime mover and sustainer of being seems to have little directly to do with our human experience. However, if the single origin of all things is in essence relationship, we can begin to see why the deepest truth in the universe around us is not the laws of physics, but the law of love. Human beings are not atoms in the void, but beings made for love and community. If the God and origin of all things is in essence unity and self-gift, then this affects how we think about the meaning of our own struggle to survive together on this planet.
The writers of the fourth century constantly draw on images from the New Testament to paint a picture of a God whose dynamic creativity is still at work. The Spirit transforms the hearts of believers, enabling them to follow the pathway of the Word and find their way home to the presence of the Father. The divine three, who share all they have in common, call, guide and raise up humankind to participate in the oneness of their glory and delight.
But they are also careful to point out the limits of what they say and indeed of what can be said. In the end our words and concepts crumble when we speak of God. We are left with images to guide our understanding in the direction it needs to go. Three suns, one light. One ray of light refracted into three colours. Three notes forming a single harmony. These give us hints and glimpses of how it can be that the reality behind all things begins and ends in love.
The United States is an uglier place today.Certainly, because of the "disturbing social unrest… these past days, following the tragic death of Mr George Floyd", as Pope Francis said at his June 3 general audience.
The pope expressed concern for what he's witnessed, probably on television, and directly addressed all Americans who were following his weekly audience via social media.
"My friends," he said, "we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life."
That message should have stung all those Catholic bishops, priests and prominent lay people who worked actively, even if some denied having done so, to make sure Donald Trump became president in 2016.
Those who voted for Trump obviously cast their ballot for a variety of reasons, certainly not all of them noble. Most of the really unsavory motives were unspoken or never admitted. But the fig leaf they used to cover them all was Trump's decision just a couple of weeks before the election to declare his opposition to abortion.
The United States is an uglier place today.
But that was the case well before the current social unrest. The day it became uglier – and the entire world became much darker – was Nov. 8, 2016 when Mr Trump was elected the 45th president in US history.
That electoral victory nearly four years ago set in motion the dangerous erosion and outright destruction of civility and social cohesion in the country that we are now witnessing.
The events of the past several days, following Floyd's "murder", are a direct result of electing a man who has proven over and over again that he lacks even the most basic elements of human decency and compassion.
But we could have predicted this. In fact, many of us did.
"The United States is an uglier place today." That was the opening line of the "Letter from Rome" on Nov. 16, 2016 – a week after Trump won the White House.
This was the title of that piece: "Ugliness has trumped decency, kindness and goodwill".
Here's a bit more of what that article said:Already during the long electoral campaign Mr Trump had begun to unleash this darkness by ruthlessly obliterating all civil discourse and the most basic social conventions that have long distinguished the American people for their well-known (if, at times, superficial) politeness and courtesy towards others.
Crushing all that as mere "political correctness", the candidate Trump proceeded to denigrate every possible minority group – women, Mexicans, African Americans, Muslims, immigrants, the physically handicapped, professional politicians and government employees.
In his words, they were "losers".
Now President-elect Trump has surrounded himself with advisors, some who are known to be white supremacists, American nativists and even neo-fascists. And his choice of the ultra-conservative Mike Pence as Vice President is even more alarming…
Let us be clear. Many US natives, myself included, are deeply embarrassed that our next president is someone who has willingly unleashed the demons that simmer just below the surface of American society – racism, bigotry, misogyny, greed, exclusionism, narcissism and selfishness.
There were many reasons why Mr Trump got elected. Chief among them was the unpopularity of his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Even though the former First Lady and ex-Secretary of State garnered nearly three million more votes, she ran a disastrous campaign, committing strategic blunders that cost her key states and the all-decisive Electoral College tally.
But that's not the whole story.
Many people in the United States love to define their country as a Christian nation and, astonishingly, it was the vote of self-described God-fearing Christians that made the difference in the 2016 election.
Evangelical Christians and even most Catholics (according to the polls) overwhelmingly voted for the twice-divorced and thrice-married Trump.
Unbelievably, they justified their choice by claiming that the man who had displayed all the social and moral vices that stand in contradiction to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ was the one most likely to promote Christian values.
They were hoodwinked by a con man who claimed that he stood with them in the fight against the terrible evil of abortion. How willfully ignorant!
Mr Trump is, at best, a newcomer to the "pro life" cause, though it is not even clear if he's fully on board with this movement. He changed his position on abortion at least five times between the Republican primaries and the final weeks of the presidential election.
It is wrong for the clergy to tell their congregations how to vote. But a number of Catholic bishops and even more priests – if the many reports are accurate – made it crystal clear to their people that it would be immoral to vote for a "pro choice" candidate that supports the legalization of abortion. Many saw that as a not-so-veiled endorsement of Mr Trump. In any case, these Church leaders were irresponsible.
Their names are well known. There is no need to list them here. Shaming will serve no good end at this point.
But we all know who they are…Here is how that particular "Letter from Rome" in November 2106 ended:
And so now the country that loves to describe itself as the greatest democracy on earth awaits the inauguration of its new president and many of us fear the nightmare that may follow. Merely the sound of "President Trump" sends a chill down the spines of slightly more than half of all Americans who did not cast their ballot for him.
We are not only troubled. We are also ashamed.
And nearly four years later Americans, and the rest of the world, are watching a race-baiting, hate-mongering president pour fuel on the flames that are further incinerating a once great nation.
Those who voted for him or helped get him elected – Catholics included – have blood on their hands.
Tragically, the United States is an uglier place today.
Growing In The Wilnderness
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
If the desert is a place of renewal, transformation, and
freedom, and if the heat and isolation served as a nurturing incubator for
monastic movements, one wonders if a desert experience is necessary to reclaim
this legacy? —Barbara Holmes [1]
Life in the desert is not easy. It does not offer moderate
temperatures to please the human desire for comfort nor abundant water to
quench inevitable thirst. The caves that offer shelter likely don’t provide a
soft place to lay tired bodies. And yet, the desert abbas and ammas sought out
these conditions, believing they would find new and abundant life—even where
life seemed impossible. We invite you to take a few breaths and to slowly and
contemplatively read this passage from Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart,
in which he describes an encounter in another kind of mountain wilderness.
It was above the timber line. The steady march of the forest
had stopped as if some invisible barrier had been erected beyond which no trees
dared move in a single file. Beyond was barrenness, sheer rocks, snow patches
and strong untrammeled winds. Here and there were short tufts of evergreen
bushes that had somehow managed to survive despite the severe pressures under
which they had to live. They were not lush, they lacked the kind of grace of
the vegetation below the timber line, but they were alive and hardy. Upon close
investigation, however, it was found that these were not ordinary shrubs. The
formation of the needles, etc., was identical with that of the trees further down;
as a matter of fact, they looked like branches of the other trees. When one
actually examined them, the astounding revelation was that they were branches.
For, hugging the ground, following the shape of the terrain, were trees that
could not grow upright, following the pattern of their kind. Instead, they were
growing as vines grow along the ground, and what seemed to be patches of
stunted shrubs were rows of branches of growing, developing trees. What must
have been the torturous frustration and the stubborn battle that had finally
resulted in this strange phenomenon! It is as if the tree had said, “I am
destined to reach for the skies and embrace in my arms the wind, the rain, the
snow and the sun, singing my song of joy to all the heavens. But this I cannot
do.
I have taken root beyond the timber line, and yet I do not want to die; I
must not die. I shall make a careful survey of my situation and work out a
method, a way of life, that will yield growth and development for me despite
the contradictions under which I must eke out my days. In the end I may not
look like the other trees, I may not be what all that is within me cries out to
be. But I will not give up. I will use to the full every resource in me and
about me to answer life with life. In so doing I shall affirm that this is the
kind of universe that sustains, upon demand, the life that is in it.” I wonder
if I dare to act even as the tree acts. I wonder! I wonder! Do you? [2]
[1] Barbara A. Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative
Practices of the Black Church, 2nd ed. (Fortress Press: 2017), 10-12.
[2] Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart (Beacon Press:
1999), 123-124.
Some Advice On Prayer From An Old Master
This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here
At the risk of being simplistic, I want to say something about prayer in a very simple way.
While doing doctoral studies, I had a professor, an elderly Augustine priest, who in his demeanor, speech, and attitude, radiated wisdom and maturity. Everything about him bespoke integrity. You immediately trusted him, the wise old grandfather of storybooks.
One day in class he spoke of his own prayer life. As with everything else he shared, there were no filters, only honesty and humility. I don’t recall his exact words, but I remember well the essence of what he said and it has stayed with me for the nearly forty years since I had the privilege of being in his class.
Here’s what he shared: prayer isn’t easy because we’re always tired, distracted, busy, bored, and caught up in so many things that it’s hard to find the time and energy to center ourselves on God for some moments. So, this is what I do: no matter what my day is like, no matter what’s on my mind, no matter what my distractions and temptations are, I am faithful to this: Once a day I pray the Our Father as best I can from where I am at that moment. Inside of everything that’s going on inside me and around me that day, I pray the Our Father, asking God to hear me from inside of all the distractions and temptations that are besetting me. It’s the best I can do. Maybe it’s a bare minimum and I should do more and should try to concentrate harder, but at least I do that. And sometimes it’s all I can do, but I do it every day, as best I can. It’s the prayer Jesus told us to pray.
His words might sound simplistic and minimalistic. Indeed the church challenges us to make the Eucharist the center of our prayer lives and to make a daily habit of meditation and private prayer. As well, many classical spiritual writers tell us that we should set aside an hour every day for private prayer, and many contemporary spiritual writers challenge us to daily practice centering prayer or some other form of contemplative prayer. Where does that leave our old Augustinian theologian and his counsel that we pray one sincere Our Father each day – as best we can?
Well, none of this goes against what he so humbly shared. He would be the first to agree that the Eucharist should be the center of our prayer lives, and he would agree as well with both the classical spiritual writers who advise an hour of private prayer a day, and the contemporary authors who challenge us to do some form of contemplative prayer daily, or at least habitually. But he would say this: at one of those times in the day (ideally at the Eucharist or while praying the Office of the Church but at least sometime during your day) when you’re saying the Our Father, pray it with as much sincerity and focus as you can muster at the moment (“as best you can”) and know that, no matter your distractions at the moment, it’s what God is asking from you. And it’s enough.
His advice has stayed with me through the years and though I say a number of Our Fathers every day, I try, at least in one of them, to pray the Our Father as best I can, fully conscious of how badly I am doing it. What a challenge and what a consolation!
The challenge is to pray an Our Father each day, as best we can. As we know, that prayer is deeply communitarian. Every petition in it is plural – “our”, “we”, “us” – there’s no “I” in the Our Father. Moreover, all of us are priests from our baptism and inherent in the covenant we made then, we are asked daily to pray for others, for the world. For those who cannot participate in the Eucharist daily and for those who do not pray the Office of the Church, praying the Our Father is your Eucharistic prayer, your priestly prayer for others.
And this is the consolation: none of us is divine. We’re all incurably human which means that many times, perhaps most times, when we’re trying to pray we’ll find ourselves beset with everything from tiredness, to boredom, to impatience, to planning tomorrow’s agenda, to sorting through the hurts of the day, to stewing about who we’re angry at, to dealing with erotic fantasies. Our prayer seldom issues forth from a pure heart but normally from a very earthy one. But, and this is the point, its very earthiness is also its real honesty. Our restless, distracted heart is also our existential heart and is the existential heart of the world. When we pray from there, we are (as the classical definition of prayer would have it) lifting mind and heart to God.
Try, each day, to pray one sincere Our Father! As best you can!
Love In Action Through Difficult Days
This article is taken an email posted by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
This weekend is marked, ecclesially, by the celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity, which is revealed throughout Scripture, tells us that God is a community of persons, a community of love.
God’s love is so great it is expansive. It doesn’t remain closed in on itself. God’s love is so great it includes the whole world. God the Father so loved the world that he gave his Son and sent their Spirit.
Also, not far from our thoughts this weekend is the tragic situation unfolding across our nation over the past week: the twin scourges of racism, which is very real, and violence, which is always to be regretted. Each has come, in a truly surrealistic way, in the midst of a global pandemic. It has created a scenario that was literally unimaginable.
It is said we only really believe the parts of the Bible that we put into action. One of the most illuminating passages of Scripture on the Trinity is John 3:16, which teaches us that God’s love has no borders or boundaries. If we really believe that, then love is only really love when it’s doing something. We begin with those around us but we reach beyond them too. Application makes all the difference.
Passively avoiding racism and violence is a good start. But Trinitarian love calls us deeper, towards an active work of justice and reconciliation.
How do we make application of God’s word in such a time as this? What can we do? What can we, as individuals and together, as local church communities, do in the face of deeply entrenched, systemic racism and incoherent violence? These problems seem insurmountable in good times; during these difficult days they can become overwhelming.
First thing, we can turn to Scripture and prayer. The feeling of helplessness that has become apparent in the last week is paralyzing and will keep us from the work that we can do. It’s vital that we turn to the Lord and allow Father, Son, and Spirit to move our hearts.
Second, we can use this time to learn what the Church teaches about racism and is doing to combat injustices in our country. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has plenty of resources on their website.
Third, if you’re a member of our parish or would like to get involved at our parish, check out http://www.churchnativity.com/missions. We work directly with partner organizations who live and work in the communities we serve. Locally, we have safe and rewarding opportunities to serve right here in our city of Baltimore. And meanwhile, why not join us this weekend in our “Virtual Café” for a frank discussion of the lessons of the weekend’s Scripture after Mass.
None of these steps are going to change the world. But prayer, learning more, and getting involved through simple, specific acts of service are love in action. And love in action can change the world.
God Is Three And God Is One
On Sunday 7th June we observe the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity can be a ‘dauntingly abstract concept ‘, says John Moffatt SJ, but it is important for us to use words and images, as far as we can, to explore the truth that it represents: ‘the single origin of all things is in essence relationship’.
John Moffatt SJ teaches Scripture at the Jesuit Institute, South Africa and is the author of the blog, Letting the Porcupine out of the Bottle.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here
If your eyes wander upwards from the front row of the Jesuit church in Innsbruck, you will notice on the inner dome above the altar not elaborate pictures, but a simple triangle. This rather plain and slightly cryptic ornamentation draws the eyes and the mind to the ancient Christian teaching that God is three and God is one. It also reinforces the impression we can often have, that after the powerful narratives of Lent and Easter, which take us from creation to Pentecost, the Trinity remains a dauntingly abstract concept. Nevertheless, this is a teaching that has been celebrated in the Western Church since the Middle Ages and one that has, perhaps surprisingly, been a frequent subject of Christian mystical experience, from Julian of Norwich to Teresa of Avila. It is the distinctively Christian understanding of God, the origin of all things.
For those who enjoy philosophical philology, the three-hundred-year journey from the instruction to baptise in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to the creed that we recite each Sunday is fascinating. We see how the early Christians’ intuitive experience of Father, Son and Spirit was first justified simply with reference to scripture. Then the inconsistencies began to be noticed, tough questions got asked and intellectuals began to make their own options. Christianity had to adapt its language and adjust its claims in a world that prized logic, coherence and philosophical thought.
Over the years Christian leaders, arguing amongst themselves, were forced to make decisions, to try and clarify what it was that they believed. A technical language, remote and abstract to us today, emerged. The narratives of the New Testament were augmented with words like ‘being’, ‘hypostasis’, ‘person’, ‘relation’, alongside everyone’s favourite, ‘consubstantial’. The fourth-century struggle to find a coherent way of talking about God underpins our creed. It allows us to say of the Lord Jesus Christ that he is true God from true God and that the Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son.
Why is it so important for us to find some way of talking that does not reduce three persons to three aspects of a single entity and yet does not leave us with the confusion of three separate Gods either?
One set of reasons is abstract, but important for those to whom ideas matter in their life of faith. We find in Aristotle the philosophical insight that all things arise from a single origin. Yet Aristotle’s changeless, solitary prime mover and sustainer of being seems to have little directly to do with our human experience. However, if the single origin of all things is in essence relationship, we can begin to see why the deepest truth in the universe around us is not the laws of physics, but the law of love. Human beings are not atoms in the void, but beings made for love and community. If the God and origin of all things is in essence unity and self-gift, then this affects how we think about the meaning of our own struggle to survive together on this planet.
The writers of the fourth century constantly draw on images from the New Testament to paint a picture of a God whose dynamic creativity is still at work. The Spirit transforms the hearts of believers, enabling them to follow the pathway of the Word and find their way home to the presence of the Father. The divine three, who share all they have in common, call, guide and raise up humankind to participate in the oneness of their glory and delight.
But they are also careful to point out the limits of what they say and indeed of what can be said. In the end our words and concepts crumble when we speak of God. We are left with images to guide our understanding in the direction it needs to go. Three suns, one light. One ray of light refracted into three colours. Three notes forming a single harmony. These give us hints and glimpses of how it can be that the reality behind all things begins and ends in love.
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