Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
Deacon in Residence: Rev Steven Smith
Mob: 0411 522 630
steven.smith@aohtas.org.au
Seminarian in Residence: Kanishka Perera
Mob: 0499 035 199
kanish_biyanwila@yahoo.com
Seminarian in Residence: Kanishka Perera
Mob: 0499 035 199
kanish_biyanwila@yahoo.com
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies
Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Felicity Sly
Mob: 0418 301 573
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,
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.
Sunday 26th July Ulverstone 10:00am
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: Sydney Corbett, Fr Frank Gibson, Brian Robertson, Vinco Muriyadan, Fr Michael Wheeler, John Reynolds, Suzanne Ockwell, Graeme Wilson, Kevin Hayes, Rex Evans, Athol Bryan, Jill Murphy, Roberto Escobar, Robert Luxton, Jane Fitzpatrick, Mark Aylett, arlene Heazlewood, & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Sr Lawrence (Mary Gibson), Lidia Escobar, Jim Bassett, Lita Guison, Sr Maura McAvoy O.P., Max Last, Charles Max Johnson
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 22nd – 28th July, 2020
Edward Mahony, Jean Braid, Robbie McIver, Marie Foster, Fay Capell, Richard Carter, Joan Davidson, Marie Kingshott, Lorraine Sheehan, Peter Kelly, Joyce Cornick, Enis Lord, Michael Campbell, Barry Stuart, Lola Rutherford, Joseph Hiscutt, Andrea Wright, Dorothy Hawkes, Mary Beaumont, Nita Anthony, Vicky Bennett, Maisie King, Shirley Mooney
May the souls of the faithful
departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
PREGO REFLECTION
ON TODAY’S GOSPEL:
As I come to pray, I take the time to slow down and to
relax my body and mind.
I breathe in God’s love and life. I enter God’s
presence in me and around me more deeply.
Mersey Leven Parish would like to
congratulate .......,
Fr Phil on his 49th Anniversary
of Ordination
to the Priesthood on Thursday 30th July.
but he was kept back a year!!)
The whole parish is deeply grateful
to him for his ministry,
wit, charm and friendship among us.
Weekly Ramblings
By the time the weekend comes we will have a new priest for
the people of God in our Archdiocese. For those who are reading this on
Thursday or Friday before 7pm then the great moment is yet to occur – but
whenever you read this I am pleased to be able to say that I rejoice with Fr
Steven Smith as he begins his ministry amongst us. By us – I mean the Church in
Tasmania – because until he receives his letter of appointment I can only hope
that he will be returning to Mersey Leven – more about that when I arrive home
for the Vigil Mass on Saturday evening.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the Ordination
Gift for Fr Steven – it was decided at the Parish Pastoral Meeting that a
presentation would be made when he comes back to celebrate a Mass of
Thanksgiving – not withstanding the above. Details will be made known as soon
as we know what is happening.
I have an all-day meeting next Wednesday so will not be
able to celebrate Mass at Sacred Heart on that day – apologies for that.
Next weekend (1st/2nd August) the leaders of Tasmania
Christian Churches have asked that all Christians offer prayers of thanksgiving
to God for:
Take care and stay safe and stay sane, 
I would
like to sincerely thank Mersey Leven Parish for all the prayers and support
offered to me during my recent cancer surgery. I am convinced all the prayers
helped smooth the road to my recovery. I am now awaiting a time to commence radiation,
so your continued prayers would be appreciated. Thanks everyone, Marlene Heazelwood.
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,
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.
Sunday 26th July Ulverstone 10:00am
Monday 27th July No Mass
Tuesday 28th July Devonport 9:30am – ALSO LIVESTEAM
Wednesday 29th July No Mass ... St Martha
Thursday 30th July Devonport 12noon
… St Peter Chrysologus – ALSO LIVESTEAM
Friday 31st July Ulverstone ... St Ignatius of Loyola
Saturday 1st August Devonport 6.00pm …St Alphonsus Liguori
Sunday 2nd August Devonport 10:00am – ALSO LIVESTEAM
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: Sydney Corbett, Fr Frank Gibson, Brian Robertson, Vinco Muriyadan, Fr Michael Wheeler, John Reynolds, Suzanne Ockwell, Graeme Wilson, Kevin Hayes, Rex Evans, Athol Bryan, Jill Murphy, Roberto Escobar, Robert Luxton, Jane Fitzpatrick, Mark Aylett, arlene Heazlewood, & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Sr Lawrence (Mary Gibson), Lidia Escobar, Jim Bassett, Lita Guison, Sr Maura McAvoy O.P., Max Last, Charles Max Johnson
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 22nd – 28th July, 2020
Edward Mahony, Jean Braid, Robbie McIver, Marie Foster, Fay Capell, Richard Carter, Joan Davidson, Marie Kingshott, Lorraine Sheehan, Peter Kelly, Joyce Cornick, Enis Lord, Michael Campbell, Barry Stuart, Lola Rutherford, Joseph Hiscutt, Andrea Wright, Dorothy Hawkes, Mary Beaumont, Nita Anthony, Vicky Bennett, Maisie King, Shirley Mooney
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Sr Lawrence (Mary Gibson), Lidia Escobar, Jim Bassett, Lita Guison, Sr Maura McAvoy O.P., Max Last, Charles Max Johnson
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 22nd – 28th July, 2020
Edward Mahony, Jean Braid, Robbie McIver, Marie Foster, Fay Capell, Richard Carter, Joan Davidson, Marie Kingshott, Lorraine Sheehan, Peter Kelly, Joyce Cornick, Enis Lord, Michael Campbell, Barry Stuart, Lola Rutherford, Joseph Hiscutt, Andrea Wright, Dorothy Hawkes, Mary Beaumont, Nita Anthony, Vicky Bennett, Maisie King, Shirley Mooney
May the souls of the faithful
departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
As I come to pray, I take the time to slow down and to
relax my body and mind.
I breathe in God’s love and life. I enter God’s presence in me and around me more deeply.
I breathe in God’s love and life. I enter God’s presence in me and around me more deeply.
When I am ready, I take up the Gospel passage and read it
slowly a couple of times.
Which of the four parables strikes me most?
I may wish to stay just with this one, asking myself ‘why?’
I may speak to the Lord, applying the parable to myself and allowing him to
show me its truth in my life.
Or I may wish to ponder on what the kingdom of heaven means
to me now, after all these parables.
God’s presence or closeness in my life … in my community …
in my world ...?
Does my understanding colour the values I hold, and the
actions I undertake?
Have I thrown all my rubbish into the sea?
As I end my prayer, I may choose to take away, in
gratitude, one pearl to carry me through the day or week.
Mersey Leven Parish would like to
congratulate .......,
Fr Steven Smith on his Ordination to the
Priesthood on Friday 24th July.
We wish him God’s Blessing in his
Priestly Ministry.
AND
Fr Phil on his 49th Anniversary
of Ordination to the Priesthood on Thursday 30th July.
(According to Fr Phil it really
should be 50 Years
but he was kept back a year!!)
but he was kept back a year!!)
The whole parish is deeply grateful
to him for his ministry,
wit, charm and friendship among us.
wit, charm and friendship among us.
Weekly Ramblings
By the time the weekend comes we will have a new priest for
the people of God in our Archdiocese. For those who are reading this on
Thursday or Friday before 7pm then the great moment is yet to occur – but
whenever you read this I am pleased to be able to say that I rejoice with Fr
Steven Smith as he begins his ministry amongst us. By us – I mean the Church in
Tasmania – because until he receives his letter of appointment I can only hope
that he will be returning to Mersey Leven – more about that when I arrive home
for the Vigil Mass on Saturday evening.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the Ordination
Gift for Fr Steven – it was decided at the Parish Pastoral Meeting that a
presentation would be made when he comes back to celebrate a Mass of
Thanksgiving – not withstanding the above. Details will be made known as soon
as we know what is happening.
I have an all-day meeting next Wednesday so will not be
able to celebrate Mass at Sacred Heart on that day – apologies for that.
Next weekend (1st/2nd August) the leaders of Tasmania
Christian Churches have asked that all Christians offer prayers of thanksgiving
to God for:
• protecting our state from on-going
outbreaks of Coronavirus;
• our leaders and their advisors who have
served us well in protecting the lives of Tasmanians; and
• for limiting the loss of life.
They also urge us
continue to pray for:
• our leaders to persist in their wise
leadership;
• the ongoing protection of Tasmania; and
• for other states of Australia who
continue to battle this pandemic.
A head’s up – my next Message Series is titled ‘What’s
Next?’ and will be looking at the question of pastoral care in the new
‘normal’. Hopefully I will be able to address some of the issues in a way that
invites a response from all of us as to how we care for people in our community
who, for whatever reason, are not able join us for Mass each weekend.
Take care and stay safe and stay sane,
I would like to sincerely thank Mersey Leven Parish for all the prayers and support offered to me during my recent cancer surgery. I am convinced all the prayers helped smooth the road to my recovery. I am now awaiting a time to commence radiation, so your continued prayers would be appreciated. Thanks everyone, Marlene Heazelwood.
Letter From Rome
Not Worth The Paper It's Written On
Letter From Rome
Not Worth The Paper It's Written On
New instruction on Catholic parishes is latest proof that it will be hard to
wrest control from the clericalists - Robert Mickens, Rome, July 24, 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
The Congregation for the Clergy caused a bit a surprise and a whole lot of consternation earlier this week when it issued a new document on "the pastoral conversion of the parish community at the service of the Church's evangelizing mission".
There had been no inkling that any such thing was even in the works, let alone that an important Vatican text would be released in the middle of summer while Pope Francis was still on his stay-at-home, month-long holidays.
"The document deals with the theme of the pastoral care of parish communities, the various clerical and lay ministries, with a view to greater co-responsibility of all the baptized," the congregation said in a press communiqué on July 20, the day the text was released.
It is in the form of an "instruction", which is something Roman congregations issue to explain or clarify ecumenical (and general) council documents or papal decrees. The pope must approve the publication of instructions, which Francis did in this case.
Move along, nothing new here…
And that's what must be so bewildering for many people. While this new document begins promisingly with the fresh and creative language the Jesuit pope employs with such courage and foresight in his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, the text quickly hits the proverbial canonical speed bump.
Instead of proposing creative changes for re-envisioning the diocese-territorial parish structure that is no longer sustainable, it actually goes on to reaffirm this Tridentine model.
"This instruction does not contain 'new legislation'," admitted Monsignor Andrea Ripa, the congregation's under-secretary (No. 3 official), in a commentary released to the press.
"This is outside the remit and possibilities of an instruction, the aim of which is to 'set out the provisions of a law and develop the manner in which it is to be put into effect'," he said, citing article 34 §1 in the code of canon law.
The title of the document is itself a tip-off. It uses an ambiguous phrase that Pope Francis repeats a lot – "pastoral conversion". What in God's name does that really mean if it is not coupled with juridical or structural reform?
In its press release, the Congregation for the Clergy seemed to say it was something like this:
"The role of the parish priest as the 'proper pastor' of the community is emphasized, but the pastoral service connected with the presence in communities of deacons, consecrated and lay people, called to participate actively in the Church's unique evangelizing mission according to their vocation and ministry, is also emphasized and highlighted."
Except for one, not so minor point: canon law says the parish priest, not the faithful, makes the final decision.
Father knows best
For example, canon 536 says "a pastoral council is to be established in each parish", but only if the diocesan bishop "judges it opportune". And such a council "possesses a consultative vote only".
The bishops. The priests. All men. They make the final decision.
I've known of parish priests who have refused to even meet with the parish or pastoral council. And they have also made decisions contrary to the advice of the financial board or council. They boast proudly of their right to do so.
The new instruction does nothing to change that. The Congregation for the Clergy says it does not have the authority to do so. In the end, and despite long and cheerful quotes from Pope Francis's writings and speeches, it doubles down: the parish priest is the one in charge.
The text's exhortations in favor of synodality, shared mission, proximity, listening… are empty words its authors try to carefully apply to a no longer useful or attractive model as if they were smearing lipstick on a pig. Everyone can see what they are up to.
This instruction is not worth the paper on which it's written. And, yet, what a waste of good paper it is.
Reaffirming existing canon law
The text itself is more than 13,000 words and fills 25 pages of a single-spaced A4 sized sheets. Then there are the footnotes. They take up another 10 pages.
There are 182 footnotes in all – 85 of them are direct references to canon law, around 40 refer to the words and documents of the current pope, while there are about a dozen citations of documents issued by the Second Vatican Council.
Previous popes are also quoted several times – John Paul II is cited six times, Paul VI four and the still-living Benedict XVI gets two honorable mentions.
One may be tempted to just dismiss this latest Vatican instruction as a low-level document that doesn't carry any weight or binding force. Theologians – and a long, long time ago even some bishops – tried to do that in the past, much to the Roman Curia's chagrin.
These types of texts have no real teeth to change existing structures or legislation. But none are necessary when dealing with craven and compliant bishops and episcopal conferences.
There are instructions, and there are instructions…
The painful example and proof of that is the instruction that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued in 2001 regarding the translation of liturgical books.
Liturgiam authenticam – the fifth instruction on the right implementation of the Vatican II constitution on the liturgy– successfully stripped the local bishops of their right to oversee the translation process in their native languages.
But it wasn't all that difficult. The English-speaking bishops – especially in the United States – gave up their authority to foreign-speaking bureaucrats in Rome with hardly a fight.
The result is the awkward translation of the current "missal" in which we are forced to endure a convoluted, grammatically incorrect and "sacral" form of what the hierarchs dared to call English, without even blushing.
The problem with this new instruction on the "pastoral conversion of the parish" – that odd phrase again – is that all there is no way to enforce any implementation of all the soaring words and ideas found in its first eight pages.
All that can be demanded is what comes afterwards – as it was in the beginning (of the implementation of the 16th century Council of Trent), is now and (if many of the clericalists in the Church have it their way) always shall be.
Pope Francis has repeated many times that any reform of structures will be useless and ineffectual unless there is first a change of mentality.
And in the more than seven years of his pontificate he has carried out a rather successful "attitude adjustment program".
Need for a change of laws and structures
There are priests and even a growing number of bishops who appear to have been "converted" to his vision of a synodal Church where all the People of God – both those who are called clerics and those who are called the laity – would share responsibilities, even in making decisions for the life of the community.
But there are still too many Catholics who are stiff necked and hard of heart. They certainly will not change their mentality unless they are provoked to do so by the force of law, which includes new structures and models.
And this is where Francis' call for "pastoral conversion" comes up short.
It is not enough to simply urge drivers to slow down when going through narrow streets in residential areas. It is necessary to establish and enforce a speed limit.
The law must be changed. More adequate structures and avenues must be created to favor, encourage and reflect the new mentality.
Evangelii gaudium offers a valid and inspiring vision for a renewed and reformed Church.
Documents like this latest instruction from the Congregation for the Clergy are not doing anything to help bring that to fruition.
Simply That You Are
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
We must find a prayer form that actually invades our
unconscious, or nothing changes at any depth. Usually this will be some form of
Centering Prayer, walking meditation, inner practice of letting go, shadow
work, or deliberately undergoing a long period of silence. Whatever you choose,
it will feel more like unknowing than knowing, more like surrendering than
accomplishing, more like nothing than anything at all. This is probably why so
many resist contemplation at the start. Because it feels more like the shedding
of thoughts in general than attaining new or good ones. It feels more like just
letting go than accomplishing anything, which is counterintuitive for our
naturally “capitalistic” minds!
So, let’s try a practice leading to embodied knowing. I
discovered an especially good one in The Book of Privy Counsel, a lesser-known
classic written by the same author of The Cloud of Unknowing. I like this
practice because it is so simple, and for me so effective, even in the middle
of the night when I awake and cannot get back to sleep during what some call
the “hour of the wolf,” between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. when the psyche is most
undefended. (Others simply call it “insomnia”!) I warn you: This pattern only
gets worse as you grow older, so you will do yourself a favor to learn the
following practice early! I have summarized and paraphrased the author’s exact
words for our very practical purpose here:
Second, know how your mind and ego play their games: “Stop
analyzing yourself or God. You can do without wasting so much of your energy
deciding if something is good or bad, grace given or temperament driven, divine
or human.”
Third, be encouraged and “Offer up your simple naked being
to the joyful being of God, for you two are one in grace, although separate by
nature.”
And finally: “Don’t focus on what you are, but simply that
you are! How hopelessly stupid would a person have to be if they could not
realize that they simply are.”
“Simply that you are!”
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a
Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe
(Convergent Books, 2019), 222-225.
Sacred Permission To Feel Human
This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here
It is normal to feel restless as a child, lonely as a teenager, and frustrated by lack of intimacy as an adult; after all we live with insatiable desires of every kind, none of which will ever find full fulfillment this side of eternity.
Where do these desires come from? Why are they so insatiable? What is their meaning?
As a young boy, the Catholic catechisms I was instructed from and sermons I heard from the pulpit in fact answered those questions, but in a vocabulary far too abstract, theological, and churchy to do much for me existentially. They left me sensing there was an answer, but not one that was of help to me. So I quietly suffered the loneliness and the restlessness. Moreover, I agonized because I felt that it was unholy to feel the way I did. My religious instruction, rich as it was, did not offer any benevolent smile from God on my restlessness and dissatisfaction. Puberty and the conscious stirring of sexuality made things worse. Now not only was I restless and dissatisfied, but the raw feelings and fantasies that were besetting me were considered positively sinful.
That was my state of mind when I entered religious life and the seminary immediately after high school. Of course, the restlessness continued, but my philosophical and theological studies gave me an understanding of what was so relentlessly stirring inside me and gave me sacred permission to be okay with that.
It started in my novitiate year with a talk one day from a visiting priest. We were novices, most of us in our late teens, and despite our commitment to religious life we were understandably restless, lonely, and fraught with sexual tension. Our visitor began his conference with a question: “Are you guys a little restless? Feeling a bit cooped up here?” We nodded. He went on: “Well you should be! You must be jumping out of your skins! All that young energy, boiling inside you! You must be going crazy! But it’s okay, that’s what you should be feeling if you’re healthy! It’s normal, it’s good. You’re young; this gets better!”
Hearing this, freed up something inside me. For the first time, in a language that genuinely spoke to me, someone had given me sacred permission to be at home inside my own skin.
My studies in literature, theology, and spirituality, continued to give me that permission, even as they helped me form a vision as to why these feelings were inside me, how they took their origins and meaning in God, and how they were far from impure and unholy.
Looking back on my studies, a number of salient persons stand out in helping me understand the wildness, insatiability, meaning, and ultimate goodness of human desire. The first was St. Augustine. The now famous quote with which he begins his Confessions: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you, has forever served me as the key to tie everything else together.With that as my secret for synthesis, I met this axiom in Thomas Aquinas: The adequate object of the intellect and will is all being as such. That might sound abstract but even as a twenty-year-old, I grasped its meaning: In brief, what would you need to experience to finally say ‘enough’, I am satisfied? Aquinas’ answer: Everything! Later in my studies I read Karl Rahner. Like Aquinas, he too can seem hopelessly abstract when, for instance, he defines the human person as Obediential potency living inside a supernatural existential. Really? Well, essentially what he means by that can be translated into a single counsel he once offered a friend: In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we ultimately learn that here, in this life, there is no finished symphony.
Finally, in my studies, I met the person and thought of Henri Nouwen. He continued to teach me what it means to live without ever getting to enjoy the finished symphony, and he articulated this with a unique genius and in a fresh vocabulary. Reading Nouwen is like being introduced to yourself, while still standing inside all your shadows. He also helps give you the sense that it is normal, healthy, and not impure or unholy to feel all those wild stirrings with their concomitant temptations inside yourself.
Each of us is a bundle of much untamed eros, of wild desire, longing, restlessness, loneliness, dissatisfaction, sexuality, and insatiability. We need to be given sacred permission to know this is normal and good because it is what we all feel, unless we are in a clinical depression or have for so long repressed these feelings that now they are expressed only negatively in destructive ways.
We all need to have someone to come visit us inside our particular “novitiate”, ask us if we are painfully restless, and when we nod our heads, say: “Good! You’re supposed to feel like that way! It means you’re healthy! Know too that God is smiling on this!”
The Indispensability Of In-Person Worship
This article is taken from the weekly Blog of Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore. You can read his blog here
This week, a couple of large and successful churches across the country took a step which I found unexpected. They announced that, in view of the pandemic, they would stay closed to in-person worship services through the end of the year. Some of this decision is explained by their large size (making it harder to practice distancing) and their locations (areas of the country where cases are rising rather than falling). Some of it is driven by their conviction that current safety measures would compromise their worship experience.
Instead of any kind of gathering at church, they will rely on online broadcasts some also encouraging small groups gatherings in homes.
Online church is an approach I have been championing on this blog recently, despite some vocal critics. I believe being and growing as an online church brings blessings and benefits which we have only just begun to understand. Online church is here to stay and there is no going back.
But online only church?
Even if these churches were to open up in 2021 (and will they, if the situation has not improved or we’re hit with a second wave?) they are looking at a long closure. Does it not risk fraying or even severing the bonds parishioners have with their church? Does it not aggravate the possibility that online replaces our brick-and- mortar gatherings? And does it not transgress some fundamental element of what it means to be church?
It’s certainly a balancing act. My parish has been closed since the beginning of the quarantine, far longer than any of our neighboring parishes. We remained closed out of an abundance of caution but always with the commitment to reopen as soon as we felt the time was right.
Here are three keys to understanding the importance of in-person worship in the new normal:
1. The Celebration of the Sacrament Requires It
The Eucharist is the Real Presence of Christ. He really comes to us, and he comes to us to feed us. It is obvious that to be fed we must be present. While “hearing” Mass or watching it brings benefits that are substantial and beneficial, presenting oneself before the Consecration, in which Jesus becomes present, and then receiving Holy Communion is a renewing experience that can be life-changing.
Precisely this celebration is the source and summit of the Church.
2. Human Nature Requires It
We are made to worship and we are made to worship together. To sit and stand and kneel, to sing, and even to be quietly reflective together. To be present to one another as we are present to the Lord. This coming together is the outward manifestation of what it means to be the Church.
3. Online Church Requires It
After 19 weeks of preaching to an empty church, I can tell you it is not an easy exercise. Together with the musicians and the other ministers, and even the tech crew, I have to manufacture energy that can be quite tiring. Without it, the online experience becomes dull and joyless. A live congregation, even a small one, brings energy and vibrancy that supports all our efforts and can help us excel. Excellence in our in-person worship in turn actually enhances the online experience; there is a “there” there, a “presence” there that makes it a more genuine experience of church.
With all that said, we have a very special announcement to make. After weeks of planning, vetting, and testing of safety procedures, our parish is ready to reopen to the public. We will begin by hosting public Masses on Sunday August 2nd at 9 and 10:45am. Details and reservation instructions will be available at churchnativity.com beginning on Monday, July 27th.
Given the experience of other churches, we are expecting a modest start. Even so, we can’t wait. See you in church.
Mystagogy And The Synoptic Gospels
The fourth phase of the RCIA goes by the name of Mystagogy. This is a rather obscure term used in early Christianity, best known in the ‘Mystagogical Catecheses’ of Cyril of Jerusalem, where they are in effect baptismal or sacramental homilies. In this article James Crampsey explores some passages in the Synoptic Gospels against the horizon of Mystagogy.
James Crampsey SJ is Director of the Lauriston Jesuit Centre in Edinburgh.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here
I think it was Xavier Léon-Dufour back in 1971[1] who first pointed out the importance of the Emmaus story for the shaping of our life, prayer and worship. This longest of the narratives of a resurrection appearance appears in Luke 24 and occurs on Easter Sunday, as do all the resurrection appearances in Luke, including the Ascension.
You can see the structure of the Emmaus story as a skeleton for the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. You can see it as an example of the Pastoral Cycle. However, what is most obvious is how the narrative has the shape of the Eucharistic liturgy. The two disciples with sore hearts are the nucleus of the gathering of the community, and provide a narrative version of Jesus’s saying in Matthew 18:20: ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ And Jesus is among them, even if they do not recognise him. Their sore hearts are what they bring, looking for the steadfast love of God to heal them.
Jesus begins a conversation with them (the Greek word for having a conversation is homileo the word from which we derive ‘homily’) and we have the interesting dimension of the disciples telling Jesus about Jesus because, in common with most of these narratives, Jesus is not recognised at first. Jesus’s response is to take their story and align it with his own statement about himself: ‘Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ (Luke 24:26) This proclamation is underpinned by scripture (Moses and all the prophets) to give a concrete, contextual authority to his own account of himself.
The invitation to stay – the offer of hospitality – parallels the offering of the gifts, while the breaking of the bread clearly invokes the Eucharist: blessed, broke and gave, those three indispensible words. The return of the disciples to Jerusalem is their understanding of the mission, the sending out at the end of the liturgy which compels them to proclamation.
The climax is the moment of recognition in the breaking of the bread. But it is important to recognise that there are a variety of presences in the narrative: at the beginning Jesus is present in their shared grief; he is present in the unveiling of the scriptures; he is present in the breaking of the bread; and he is present in their proclamation that Christ who died has risen, even as he is absent.
It is this last point that takes us into the mystagogy of the title. Mystagogy is the fourth phase of the RCIA which itself is a journey into faith. The Catechism describes mystagogy as ‘proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the sacraments to the mysteries’.[2]
One thing is clear from the Emmaus account: as the visible Christ becomes the invisible Christ, he is no less present in a relationship with the disciples that moves them to mission and proclamation. The breaking of the bread is the visible, prophetic, life-giving gesture of Jesus which actually takes shape in the lives of these disciples. Something like this is at the heart of what is called mystagogy. The invisible takes shape in the disciple. By this shall everyone know that you are my disciples. One could speak about the death and resurrection of Christ as the DNA of the Christian. It is what is also called grace, that God-shaping of us by the divine goodness.
There is another place in the gospels where we can see the mystagogy happening. Discussing the Markan Passion Narrative before preaching on it, someone in my community pointed out that the only unique feature in it was the story of the naked young man. In terms of incident, that is true up to a point. In terms of the drama, Mark especially focuses on the isolation of Jesus as he assumes his kingly power on the cross, culminating in the cry of dereliction, ‘My God, My God why have you forsaken me?’ (15:34). The two thieves are in the places on the right and left of Jesus’s kingly power for which the sons of Zebedee had asked (Mark 10:37).
But as was pointed out many years ago[3], the mysterious naked young man who runs away is balanced by the interpreting figure at the empty tomb, who is described in almost the same words. Not described as an angel, but as a young man (neaniskos) clothed (peribeblemenos) in a white flowing garment (stole leuke), the garment worn by glorified believers in Revelation 6:11; 7:9,13. The garment left behind by the young man as he flees is a linen robe (sindon). Mark tells us that after the soldiers have mocked Jesus, they dress him again in his own clothes. But as Jesus is naked and dying on the cross, his clothes are gambled for and pass to others. Joseph of Arimathea buys a sindon as clothing and shroud. In Mark there is no mention of the grave cloths in the grave.
The mystagogical question that Jesus asks the sons of Zebedee is important, ‘Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?’ (Mark 10:38) The interchange of the language of baptism and death is already looking to the cross.
To a community used to the catechumens going down naked into the death-waters of baptism and coming out clothed in a white robe symbolising and proclaiming the life of the resurrection, there may well have been some resonance here. But while it may not be likely that this was in the mind of the evangelist, we can certainly see the possibility of the connection as the robe is discarded. The picture of the fully clothed proclaimer of Easter suggests that the naked young man has entered into the mystery of Christ’s passion, gone down into death with him, and been re-clothed to proclaim the resurrection.[4]
The Transfiguration in Mark is another place where the change in clothes is marked. Not easy to categorise, many scholars think there is something of a resurrection appearance about it: the clothes are white, there is a change in his appearance, Moses and Elijah function in a way similar to the interpreting angel(s). But the major reason that it does not add up that way for me is that in the Transfiguration scene, the Father speaks for Jesus; in the resurrection appearances, Jesus speaks for himself in a remarkable way.
But there is an interplay between the dynamic of death and resurrection, and that of passion prediction and transfiguration. The complex material from Caesarea Philippi (8:27) to the end of the Transfiguration in 9:10 is a major narrative unit and a clustering of the key titles for Mark: ‘Christ’, ‘Son of Man’ and ‘Son of God’. With the confession of Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the disciples are invited to see Jesus’s messiahship in terms of the suffering Son of Man. But it is to be noted that the resurrection is also looked forward to in the ‘passion prediction’. Between the mention of the passion and the acknowledgement of Jesus’s sonship, there is a collection of discipleship sayings which explore the subject of the disciple’s life and proclamation. It ends with a correlative statement:
Those who are ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed
when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:38)
The account of the Transfiguration follows immediately. In the western Church, the predominant line of interpretation is to emphasise the scene as revelatory of Jesus’s identity as Son of God. But in the eastern Church where the Transfiguration has always been regarded as part of soteriology, something is also being said about the potentiality of human beings. The Transfiguration reveals that God has shaped and continues to shape Jesus in an extraordinary way. The Transfiguration also reveals that for those who are in Christ there is the potential to set free the divine inside of us, to allow that which shapes us like our DNA to become more and more visible. The proclamation sets out that the human being Jesus, who human beings tried to annihilate, bring to nothingness and oblivion, has been made alive, present and active, and remembered by God. Human beings’ attempt to bind the goodness of God made visible in Jesus has failed. God has succeeded in his attempt to free Jesus from those bonds. The negativity of the Son of Man’s being ashamed is countered by the Transfiguration. Those who proclaim Jesus and his words after the Resurrection are those who are included in Christ and who are dwelt in by Christ. (‘As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.’ [Mark 9:9])
The catechism talks about the shift from the visible to the invisible, but the mission surely is also to allow the invisible to become visible. After all, the invisible becomes visible in the Incarnation.
[1] Xavier Léon-Dufour, Résurrection de Jésus et message pascal. Seuil, 1971
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1075
[3] Robin Scroggs and Kent I. Groff ‘Baptism in Mark: Dying and Rising with Christ’, Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 92, No. 4 (Dec., 1973), pp. 531-548
[4] There are other accounts of the naked young man’s narrative role in the gospel, particularly the comparison to ‘the man in the mackintosh’ in Joyce’s Ulysses adumbrated by Frank Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy, (Harvard, 1979)
The Congregation for the Clergy caused a bit a surprise and a whole lot of consternation earlier this week when it issued a new document on "the pastoral conversion of the parish community at the service of the Church's evangelizing mission".
There had been no inkling that any such thing was even in the works, let alone that an important Vatican text would be released in the middle of summer while Pope Francis was still on his stay-at-home, month-long holidays.
"The document deals with the theme of the pastoral care of parish communities, the various clerical and lay ministries, with a view to greater co-responsibility of all the baptized," the congregation said in a press communiqué on July 20, the day the text was released.
It is in the form of an "instruction", which is something Roman congregations issue to explain or clarify ecumenical (and general) council documents or papal decrees. The pope must approve the publication of instructions, which Francis did in this case.
Move along, nothing new here…
And that's what must be so bewildering for many people. While this new document begins promisingly with the fresh and creative language the Jesuit pope employs with such courage and foresight in his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, the text quickly hits the proverbial canonical speed bump.
Instead of proposing creative changes for re-envisioning the diocese-territorial parish structure that is no longer sustainable, it actually goes on to reaffirm this Tridentine model.
"This instruction does not contain 'new legislation'," admitted Monsignor Andrea Ripa, the congregation's under-secretary (No. 3 official), in a commentary released to the press.
"This is outside the remit and possibilities of an instruction, the aim of which is to 'set out the provisions of a law and develop the manner in which it is to be put into effect'," he said, citing article 34 §1 in the code of canon law.
The title of the document is itself a tip-off. It uses an ambiguous phrase that Pope Francis repeats a lot – "pastoral conversion". What in God's name does that really mean if it is not coupled with juridical or structural reform?
In its press release, the Congregation for the Clergy seemed to say it was something like this:
"The role of the parish priest as the 'proper pastor' of the community is emphasized, but the pastoral service connected with the presence in communities of deacons, consecrated and lay people, called to participate actively in the Church's unique evangelizing mission according to their vocation and ministry, is also emphasized and highlighted."
Except for one, not so minor point: canon law says the parish priest, not the faithful, makes the final decision.
Father knows best
For example, canon 536 says "a pastoral council is to be established in each parish", but only if the diocesan bishop "judges it opportune". And such a council "possesses a consultative vote only".
The bishops. The priests. All men. They make the final decision.
I've known of parish priests who have refused to even meet with the parish or pastoral council. And they have also made decisions contrary to the advice of the financial board or council. They boast proudly of their right to do so.
The new instruction does nothing to change that. The Congregation for the Clergy says it does not have the authority to do so. In the end, and despite long and cheerful quotes from Pope Francis's writings and speeches, it doubles down: the parish priest is the one in charge.
The text's exhortations in favor of synodality, shared mission, proximity, listening… are empty words its authors try to carefully apply to a no longer useful or attractive model as if they were smearing lipstick on a pig. Everyone can see what they are up to.
This instruction is not worth the paper on which it's written. And, yet, what a waste of good paper it is.
Reaffirming existing canon law
The text itself is more than 13,000 words and fills 25 pages of a single-spaced A4 sized sheets. Then there are the footnotes. They take up another 10 pages.
There are 182 footnotes in all – 85 of them are direct references to canon law, around 40 refer to the words and documents of the current pope, while there are about a dozen citations of documents issued by the Second Vatican Council.
Previous popes are also quoted several times – John Paul II is cited six times, Paul VI four and the still-living Benedict XVI gets two honorable mentions.
One may be tempted to just dismiss this latest Vatican instruction as a low-level document that doesn't carry any weight or binding force. Theologians – and a long, long time ago even some bishops – tried to do that in the past, much to the Roman Curia's chagrin.
These types of texts have no real teeth to change existing structures or legislation. But none are necessary when dealing with craven and compliant bishops and episcopal conferences.
There are instructions, and there are instructions…
The painful example and proof of that is the instruction that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued in 2001 regarding the translation of liturgical books.
Liturgiam authenticam – the fifth instruction on the right implementation of the Vatican II constitution on the liturgy– successfully stripped the local bishops of their right to oversee the translation process in their native languages.
But it wasn't all that difficult. The English-speaking bishops – especially in the United States – gave up their authority to foreign-speaking bureaucrats in Rome with hardly a fight.
The result is the awkward translation of the current "missal" in which we are forced to endure a convoluted, grammatically incorrect and "sacral" form of what the hierarchs dared to call English, without even blushing.
The problem with this new instruction on the "pastoral conversion of the parish" – that odd phrase again – is that all there is no way to enforce any implementation of all the soaring words and ideas found in its first eight pages.
All that can be demanded is what comes afterwards – as it was in the beginning (of the implementation of the 16th century Council of Trent), is now and (if many of the clericalists in the Church have it their way) always shall be.
Pope Francis has repeated many times that any reform of structures will be useless and ineffectual unless there is first a change of mentality.
And in the more than seven years of his pontificate he has carried out a rather successful "attitude adjustment program".
Need for a change of laws and structures
There are priests and even a growing number of bishops who appear to have been "converted" to his vision of a synodal Church where all the People of God – both those who are called clerics and those who are called the laity – would share responsibilities, even in making decisions for the life of the community.
But there are still too many Catholics who are stiff necked and hard of heart. They certainly will not change their mentality unless they are provoked to do so by the force of law, which includes new structures and models.
And this is where Francis' call for "pastoral conversion" comes up short.
It is not enough to simply urge drivers to slow down when going through narrow streets in residential areas. It is necessary to establish and enforce a speed limit.
The law must be changed. More adequate structures and avenues must be created to favor, encourage and reflect the new mentality.
Evangelii gaudium offers a valid and inspiring vision for a renewed and reformed Church.
Documents like this latest instruction from the Congregation for the Clergy are not doing anything to help bring that to fruition.
Simply That You Are
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
We must find a prayer form that actually invades our
unconscious, or nothing changes at any depth. Usually this will be some form of
Centering Prayer, walking meditation, inner practice of letting go, shadow
work, or deliberately undergoing a long period of silence. Whatever you choose,
it will feel more like unknowing than knowing, more like surrendering than
accomplishing, more like nothing than anything at all. This is probably why so
many resist contemplation at the start. Because it feels more like the shedding
of thoughts in general than attaining new or good ones. It feels more like just
letting go than accomplishing anything, which is counterintuitive for our
naturally “capitalistic” minds!
So, let’s try a practice leading to embodied knowing. I
discovered an especially good one in The Book of Privy Counsel, a lesser-known
classic written by the same author of The Cloud of Unknowing. I like this
practice because it is so simple, and for me so effective, even in the middle
of the night when I awake and cannot get back to sleep during what some call
the “hour of the wolf,” between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. when the psyche is most
undefended. (Others simply call it “insomnia”!) I warn you: This pattern only
gets worse as you grow older, so you will do yourself a favor to learn the
following practice early! I have summarized and paraphrased the author’s exact
words for our very practical purpose here:
First, “take God at face value, as God is. Accept God’s good
graciousness, as you would a plain, simple soft compress when sick. Take hold
of God and press God against your unhealthy self, just as you are.”
Second, know how your mind and ego play their games: “Stop
analyzing yourself or God. You can do without wasting so much of your energy
deciding if something is good or bad, grace given or temperament driven, divine
or human.”
Third, be encouraged and “Offer up your simple naked being
to the joyful being of God, for you two are one in grace, although separate by
nature.”
And finally: “Don’t focus on what you are, but simply that
you are! How hopelessly stupid would a person have to be if they could not
realize that they simply are.”
Hold the soft warm compress of these loving words against
your bodily self, bypass the mind and even the affections of the heart and
forgo any analysis of what you are, or are not.
“Simply that you are!”
I like this practice because over time it can become an
embodied experience of what we’ve been talking about this whole week: knowing
and unknowing. By repeatedly placing whatever it is you think you “know” at
that hour of the night under “the soft warm compress” of God’s loving presence,
your own body becomes a place of relaxation and inner rest. You know that you
don’t know, and you trust that you don’t need to know. You are simply in God’s
loving care.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a
Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe
(Convergent Books, 2019), 222-225.
Sacred Permission To Feel Human
This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here
Where do these desires come from? Why are they so insatiable? What is their meaning?
As a young boy, the Catholic catechisms I was instructed from and sermons I heard from the pulpit in fact answered those questions, but in a vocabulary far too abstract, theological, and churchy to do much for me existentially. They left me sensing there was an answer, but not one that was of help to me. So I quietly suffered the loneliness and the restlessness. Moreover, I agonized because I felt that it was unholy to feel the way I did. My religious instruction, rich as it was, did not offer any benevolent smile from God on my restlessness and dissatisfaction. Puberty and the conscious stirring of sexuality made things worse. Now not only was I restless and dissatisfied, but the raw feelings and fantasies that were besetting me were considered positively sinful.
That was my state of mind when I entered religious life and the seminary immediately after high school. Of course, the restlessness continued, but my philosophical and theological studies gave me an understanding of what was so relentlessly stirring inside me and gave me sacred permission to be okay with that.
It started in my novitiate year with a talk one day from a visiting priest. We were novices, most of us in our late teens, and despite our commitment to religious life we were understandably restless, lonely, and fraught with sexual tension. Our visitor began his conference with a question: “Are you guys a little restless? Feeling a bit cooped up here?” We nodded. He went on: “Well you should be! You must be jumping out of your skins! All that young energy, boiling inside you! You must be going crazy! But it’s okay, that’s what you should be feeling if you’re healthy! It’s normal, it’s good. You’re young; this gets better!”
Hearing this, freed up something inside me. For the first time, in a language that genuinely spoke to me, someone had given me sacred permission to be at home inside my own skin.
My studies in literature, theology, and spirituality, continued to give me that permission, even as they helped me form a vision as to why these feelings were inside me, how they took their origins and meaning in God, and how they were far from impure and unholy.
Looking back on my studies, a number of salient persons stand out in helping me understand the wildness, insatiability, meaning, and ultimate goodness of human desire. The first was St. Augustine. The now famous quote with which he begins his Confessions: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you, has forever served me as the key to tie everything else together.With that as my secret for synthesis, I met this axiom in Thomas Aquinas: The adequate object of the intellect and will is all being as such. That might sound abstract but even as a twenty-year-old, I grasped its meaning: In brief, what would you need to experience to finally say ‘enough’, I am satisfied? Aquinas’ answer: Everything! Later in my studies I read Karl Rahner. Like Aquinas, he too can seem hopelessly abstract when, for instance, he defines the human person as Obediential potency living inside a supernatural existential. Really? Well, essentially what he means by that can be translated into a single counsel he once offered a friend: In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable we ultimately learn that here, in this life, there is no finished symphony.
Finally, in my studies, I met the person and thought of Henri Nouwen. He continued to teach me what it means to live without ever getting to enjoy the finished symphony, and he articulated this with a unique genius and in a fresh vocabulary. Reading Nouwen is like being introduced to yourself, while still standing inside all your shadows. He also helps give you the sense that it is normal, healthy, and not impure or unholy to feel all those wild stirrings with their concomitant temptations inside yourself.
Each of us is a bundle of much untamed eros, of wild desire, longing, restlessness, loneliness, dissatisfaction, sexuality, and insatiability. We need to be given sacred permission to know this is normal and good because it is what we all feel, unless we are in a clinical depression or have for so long repressed these feelings that now they are expressed only negatively in destructive ways.
We all need to have someone to come visit us inside our particular “novitiate”, ask us if we are painfully restless, and when we nod our heads, say: “Good! You’re supposed to feel like that way! It means you’re healthy! Know too that God is smiling on this!”
The Indispensability Of In-Person Worship
This article is taken from the weekly Blog of Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore. You can read his blog here
This week, a couple of large and successful churches across the country took a step which I found unexpected. They announced that, in view of the pandemic, they would stay closed to in-person worship services through the end of the year. Some of this decision is explained by their large size (making it harder to practice distancing) and their locations (areas of the country where cases are rising rather than falling). Some of it is driven by their conviction that current safety measures would compromise their worship experience.
Instead of any kind of gathering at church, they will rely on online broadcasts some also encouraging small groups gatherings in homes.
Online church is an approach I have been championing on this blog recently, despite some vocal critics. I believe being and growing as an online church brings blessings and benefits which we have only just begun to understand. Online church is here to stay and there is no going back.
But online only church?
Even if these churches were to open up in 2021 (and will they, if the situation has not improved or we’re hit with a second wave?) they are looking at a long closure. Does it not risk fraying or even severing the bonds parishioners have with their church? Does it not aggravate the possibility that online replaces our brick-and- mortar gatherings? And does it not transgress some fundamental element of what it means to be church?
It’s certainly a balancing act. My parish has been closed since the beginning of the quarantine, far longer than any of our neighboring parishes. We remained closed out of an abundance of caution but always with the commitment to reopen as soon as we felt the time was right.
Here are three keys to understanding the importance of in-person worship in the new normal:
1. The Celebration of the Sacrament Requires It
The Eucharist is the Real Presence of Christ. He really comes to us, and he comes to us to feed us. It is obvious that to be fed we must be present. While “hearing” Mass or watching it brings benefits that are substantial and beneficial, presenting oneself before the Consecration, in which Jesus becomes present, and then receiving Holy Communion is a renewing experience that can be life-changing.
Precisely this celebration is the source and summit of the Church.
2. Human Nature Requires It
We are made to worship and we are made to worship together. To sit and stand and kneel, to sing, and even to be quietly reflective together. To be present to one another as we are present to the Lord. This coming together is the outward manifestation of what it means to be the Church.
3. Online Church Requires It
After 19 weeks of preaching to an empty church, I can tell you it is not an easy exercise. Together with the musicians and the other ministers, and even the tech crew, I have to manufacture energy that can be quite tiring. Without it, the online experience becomes dull and joyless. A live congregation, even a small one, brings energy and vibrancy that supports all our efforts and can help us excel. Excellence in our in-person worship in turn actually enhances the online experience; there is a “there” there, a “presence” there that makes it a more genuine experience of church.
With all that said, we have a very special announcement to make. After weeks of planning, vetting, and testing of safety procedures, our parish is ready to reopen to the public. We will begin by hosting public Masses on Sunday August 2nd at 9 and 10:45am. Details and reservation instructions will be available at churchnativity.com beginning on Monday, July 27th.
Given the experience of other churches, we are expecting a modest start. Even so, we can’t wait. See you in church.
Mystagogy And The Synoptic Gospels
The fourth phase of the RCIA goes by the name of Mystagogy. This is a rather obscure term used in early Christianity, best known in the ‘Mystagogical Catecheses’ of Cyril of Jerusalem, where they are in effect baptismal or sacramental homilies. In this article James Crampsey explores some passages in the Synoptic Gospels against the horizon of Mystagogy.
James Crampsey SJ is Director of the Lauriston Jesuit Centre in Edinburgh.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here
I think it was Xavier Léon-Dufour back in 1971[1] who first pointed out the importance of the Emmaus story for the shaping of our life, prayer and worship. This longest of the narratives of a resurrection appearance appears in Luke 24 and occurs on Easter Sunday, as do all the resurrection appearances in Luke, including the Ascension.
You can see the structure of the Emmaus story as a skeleton for the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. You can see it as an example of the Pastoral Cycle. However, what is most obvious is how the narrative has the shape of the Eucharistic liturgy. The two disciples with sore hearts are the nucleus of the gathering of the community, and provide a narrative version of Jesus’s saying in Matthew 18:20: ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ And Jesus is among them, even if they do not recognise him. Their sore hearts are what they bring, looking for the steadfast love of God to heal them.
Jesus begins a conversation with them (the Greek word for having a conversation is homileo the word from which we derive ‘homily’) and we have the interesting dimension of the disciples telling Jesus about Jesus because, in common with most of these narratives, Jesus is not recognised at first. Jesus’s response is to take their story and align it with his own statement about himself: ‘Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ (Luke 24:26) This proclamation is underpinned by scripture (Moses and all the prophets) to give a concrete, contextual authority to his own account of himself.
The invitation to stay – the offer of hospitality – parallels the offering of the gifts, while the breaking of the bread clearly invokes the Eucharist: blessed, broke and gave, those three indispensible words. The return of the disciples to Jerusalem is their understanding of the mission, the sending out at the end of the liturgy which compels them to proclamation.
The climax is the moment of recognition in the breaking of the bread. But it is important to recognise that there are a variety of presences in the narrative: at the beginning Jesus is present in their shared grief; he is present in the unveiling of the scriptures; he is present in the breaking of the bread; and he is present in their proclamation that Christ who died has risen, even as he is absent.
It is this last point that takes us into the mystagogy of the title. Mystagogy is the fourth phase of the RCIA which itself is a journey into faith. The Catechism describes mystagogy as ‘proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the sacraments to the mysteries’.[2]
One thing is clear from the Emmaus account: as the visible Christ becomes the invisible Christ, he is no less present in a relationship with the disciples that moves them to mission and proclamation. The breaking of the bread is the visible, prophetic, life-giving gesture of Jesus which actually takes shape in the lives of these disciples. Something like this is at the heart of what is called mystagogy. The invisible takes shape in the disciple. By this shall everyone know that you are my disciples. One could speak about the death and resurrection of Christ as the DNA of the Christian. It is what is also called grace, that God-shaping of us by the divine goodness.
There is another place in the gospels where we can see the mystagogy happening. Discussing the Markan Passion Narrative before preaching on it, someone in my community pointed out that the only unique feature in it was the story of the naked young man. In terms of incident, that is true up to a point. In terms of the drama, Mark especially focuses on the isolation of Jesus as he assumes his kingly power on the cross, culminating in the cry of dereliction, ‘My God, My God why have you forsaken me?’ (15:34). The two thieves are in the places on the right and left of Jesus’s kingly power for which the sons of Zebedee had asked (Mark 10:37).
But as was pointed out many years ago[3], the mysterious naked young man who runs away is balanced by the interpreting figure at the empty tomb, who is described in almost the same words. Not described as an angel, but as a young man (neaniskos) clothed (peribeblemenos) in a white flowing garment (stole leuke), the garment worn by glorified believers in Revelation 6:11; 7:9,13. The garment left behind by the young man as he flees is a linen robe (sindon). Mark tells us that after the soldiers have mocked Jesus, they dress him again in his own clothes. But as Jesus is naked and dying on the cross, his clothes are gambled for and pass to others. Joseph of Arimathea buys a sindon as clothing and shroud. In Mark there is no mention of the grave cloths in the grave.
The mystagogical question that Jesus asks the sons of Zebedee is important, ‘Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?’ (Mark 10:38) The interchange of the language of baptism and death is already looking to the cross.
To a community used to the catechumens going down naked into the death-waters of baptism and coming out clothed in a white robe symbolising and proclaiming the life of the resurrection, there may well have been some resonance here. But while it may not be likely that this was in the mind of the evangelist, we can certainly see the possibility of the connection as the robe is discarded. The picture of the fully clothed proclaimer of Easter suggests that the naked young man has entered into the mystery of Christ’s passion, gone down into death with him, and been re-clothed to proclaim the resurrection.[4]
The Transfiguration in Mark is another place where the change in clothes is marked. Not easy to categorise, many scholars think there is something of a resurrection appearance about it: the clothes are white, there is a change in his appearance, Moses and Elijah function in a way similar to the interpreting angel(s). But the major reason that it does not add up that way for me is that in the Transfiguration scene, the Father speaks for Jesus; in the resurrection appearances, Jesus speaks for himself in a remarkable way.
But there is an interplay between the dynamic of death and resurrection, and that of passion prediction and transfiguration. The complex material from Caesarea Philippi (8:27) to the end of the Transfiguration in 9:10 is a major narrative unit and a clustering of the key titles for Mark: ‘Christ’, ‘Son of Man’ and ‘Son of God’. With the confession of Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the disciples are invited to see Jesus’s messiahship in terms of the suffering Son of Man. But it is to be noted that the resurrection is also looked forward to in the ‘passion prediction’. Between the mention of the passion and the acknowledgement of Jesus’s sonship, there is a collection of discipleship sayings which explore the subject of the disciple’s life and proclamation. It ends with a correlative statement:
Those who are ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed
when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:38)
The account of the Transfiguration follows immediately. In the western Church, the predominant line of interpretation is to emphasise the scene as revelatory of Jesus’s identity as Son of God. But in the eastern Church where the Transfiguration has always been regarded as part of soteriology, something is also being said about the potentiality of human beings. The Transfiguration reveals that God has shaped and continues to shape Jesus in an extraordinary way. The Transfiguration also reveals that for those who are in Christ there is the potential to set free the divine inside of us, to allow that which shapes us like our DNA to become more and more visible. The proclamation sets out that the human being Jesus, who human beings tried to annihilate, bring to nothingness and oblivion, has been made alive, present and active, and remembered by God. Human beings’ attempt to bind the goodness of God made visible in Jesus has failed. God has succeeded in his attempt to free Jesus from those bonds. The negativity of the Son of Man’s being ashamed is countered by the Transfiguration. Those who proclaim Jesus and his words after the Resurrection are those who are included in Christ and who are dwelt in by Christ. (‘As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.’ [Mark 9:9])
The catechism talks about the shift from the visible to the invisible, but the mission surely is also to allow the invisible to become visible. After all, the invisible becomes visible in the Incarnation.
[1] Xavier Léon-Dufour, Résurrection de Jésus et message pascal. Seuil, 1971
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1075
[3] Robin Scroggs and Kent I. Groff ‘Baptism in Mark: Dying and Rising with Christ’, Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 92, No. 4 (Dec., 1973), pp. 531-548
[4] There are other accounts of the naked young man’s narrative role in the gospel, particularly the comparison to ‘the man in the mackintosh’ in Joyce’s Ulysses adumbrated by Frank Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy, (Harvard, 1979)
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