Friday, 25 September 2020

26th Sunday In Ordinary Time (Year A)

 Mersey Leven Catholic Parish

OUR VISION
To be a vibrant Catholic Community 
unified in its commitment 
to growing disciples for Christ
 

Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney 
Mob: 0417 279 437
Assistant Priest: Fr Steven Smith
Mob: 0411 522 630 
Priest in Residence:  Fr Phil McCormack  
Mob: 0437 521 257 
Seminarian in Residence: Kanishka Perera
Mob: 0499 035 199 
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310 
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783  Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au 
Secretary: Annie Davies Finance Officer: Anne Fisher


Mersey Leven Catholic Parish Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com 

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

         

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


Parish Prayer


Heavenly Father,
We thank you for gathering us together 
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
You have charged us through Your Son, Jesus, with the great mission
  of evangelising and witnessing your love to the world.
Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern your will
 for the spiritual renewal of our parish.
Give us strength, courage, and clear vision 
as we use our gifts to serve you.
We entrust our parish family to the care of Mary, our mother,
and ask for her intercession and guidance 
as we strive to bear witness
 to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session organised with a Priest.
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation:  Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am), Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm) 
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus 
Benediction with Adoration Devonport:  First Friday each month 
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 6pm Community Room Ulverstone 

SUNDAY MASS ONLINE: 
Please go to the following link on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLCP1
Mon 28th Sept     11:00am Ulverstone - St V de P Society Mass              
Tues 29th Sept     9:30am Devonport  ... Michael, Raphael & Gabriel - Archangels
Wed 30th Sept     9:30am Ulverstone  ... Jerome
Thurs 1st Oct      12 noon Devonport  ... Therese of Lisieux
Fri 2nd Oct         9:30am Ulverstone   ... Holy Guardian Angels
                            12 noon Devonport 
Sat 3rd Oct       9:30am Ulverstone  
                            6:00pm Devonport  
    6:00pm Ulverstone
Sun 4th Oct      10:00am Devonport ... ALSO LIVESTREAM
    10:00am Ulverstone 
 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
                            


Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Sydney Corbett, Merv Jaffray, Delma Pieri, Lauren Lloyd, Vinco Muriyadan, & …

Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Uleen Castles, Helmust Berger, Judy Freeman, Fr Neville Dunne MSC, Shane Kirkpatrick, Graeme Wilson, Piet Kappelhof 
                
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 23rd - 29th September, 2020
Mike Downie, Phyliss Arrowsmith, Kaye Jackson, Harold Davis, Betty Lewis, Glen Harris, Pauline Kennedy, John Mahoney, Harry Desmond, Kathleen Howard, Pauline Jackson, Agnes Bonis, Sheila Mathew, Joyce Landford, Joan Chettle, Lila Bramich, Adam Hugen. Also Joan & Ern Parker and their deceased relatives and friends.

May the souls of the faithful departed, 
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
                            

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL:
I take a few slow breaths, then breathe normally. 
When I am ready, I prayerfully read this week’s Gospel. 
I try to visualise the characters in this scene: the chief priests ... the elders ... Jesus himself. 
In my imagination, I see their clothes, I hear their voices. 
What is the atmosphere like? I focus on the story of the two siblings. 
Maybe I feel drawn to bring the story into this century, imagining modern parents and their children. 
What would be the setting? 
Does it throw a different light on the situation? 
Perhaps I see myself as one of the siblings. 
Which one am I drawn to be? 
It could be that at some time in my life I have been like one child ... then like the other. 
I ponder. 
Jesus contrasts two very different categories of people hoping to enter his Kingdom: the religious authorities and the tax collectors and prostitutes. 
I look at the people around me. 
How readily do I put them into categories, where I decide which ones are making their way into the Kingdom of God, and which are not? 
In the same way, have I ever felt that others have judged me wrongly? 
I speak to the Lord about what is in my heart. 
When I am ready, I slowly bring the strands of my prayer together and thank the Lord for being with me.
                            

Weekly Ramblings
This Friday Fr Steven, Kanishka and I were in Hobart for the Ordination to the Diaconate of Jesse Banez. This is another great milestone for the Archdiocese as Jesse takes this step towards his priestly ordination early next year.

Unfortunately, it also marks, what might be called, a low point in our journey. When the 2021 Seminary year commences Kanishka looks likely to be the only student for the Priesthood for Tasmania – and he will be entering his 5th year of studies – so please pray that there might be some men in Tasmania who might answer the call to serve as Priests in our Archdiocese.

In conversation with some of my priest friends last week I realised that 1 am now number 3 in the clergy who are under the age of 75 (one is the Archbishop) still active as Priests working in the Diocese – Fr Chris Hope, over 75, is due to retire soon. For me it was a wakeup call as I suddenly realised that I have really moved from being one of the ‘younger’ priests in the Diocese to a genuine older priest!

During the month of October we are offering these opportunities for all Parishioners to explore different forms of prayer so that we can continue to grow in our relationship with God – see below for details.

Stay safe, stay sane and stay warm
                            


ANNUAL ROSARY PILGRIMAGE 2020 
The Mersey Leven Parish is holding its 18th Annual Rosary Pilgrimage around the 6 churches and mass centres of the parish on Sunday 4th of October. Starting at 9am Port Sorell; 10:30am Sheffield; 11:50am – Lunch 14 Laura Street, Latrobe BYO; 1:50pm Latrobe; 2:45pm Devonport (including DM Chaplet); 4:00pm – Penguin; 4:55pm Ulverstone (Including Adoration & Benediction); 6:00pm Supper & Fellowship. 

PRAYER OF SONG – CHANTING
On Sunday 11th there will be an introductory session for the Prayer of Song – Chanting. The session will be held in the Community Room at Sacred Heart Church following the 10am Mass and will explore how Chanting is part of all religious cultures – an immersion in the creative power of the universe. Music involves working in your mind, body, spirit in 4 holy elements – Breath (life of God …); Vibration (world was ‘spoken’ into existence …); Intentionality (feeling the text, listening with the heart …); and Community. Some examples – Simple tones; Antiphons; Repetitive – Taizé. The session will be about an hour.

MORNING PRAYER
As part of our Month of Prayer, Morning Prayer (Lauds), will be recited each Monday in October from 9am to 9.30am at St Joseph’s Mass Centre Port Sorell. Dates are Monday 5, 12, 19 & 26 October. We will use the Prayer of the Church (Divine Office) for the day. Participants will be introduced to the ‘Prayer of the Church’ and provided with the prayers for communal recitation.
If you have questions, require further information or hope to attend contact Giuseppe Gigliotti on 0419 684 134 or gigli@comcen.com.au Covid protocols will be observed.

COMING WEEKS
Other Prayer forms that will be explored during the Month of October are a Creation Walk – 17th October (details to come); Centering Prayer – 11 am on 18th October at Ulverstone; The Divine Office – 11am on 25th October at Ulverstone; and Ignatian Imagining – 11am on 1st November at Devonport.
                            


The Spiritual Rosary Pilgrimage is an online activity that runs between September 8th (Birthday of Our Lady), –October 7th (Feast of the Holy Rosary). Please go to the website https://www.parousiamedia.com/the-spiritual-rosary-pilgrimage/ and sign up.

                            

106th WORLD DAY OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
SUNDAY 27th SEPTEMBER
The theme for the Holy Father’s Message for 2020 World Day of Migrant and Refugee is: “Forced like Jesus Christ to flee”. Regarding the many statements of the Catholic Church on various aspects of migration, a recurring biblical image has often emerged: the Flight into Egypt of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Like an icon of so many of the displaced, the Holy Family represents people “on the move”. The Church stands alongside the fragilities and dangers of the millions attempting to find a dignified home in the world.
                            

GRAN’S VAN
Mersey Leven Parish has been assisting with Gran’s Van on Sunday evenings, generally during the month of April. The Gran’s Van Organisation is asking if there is enough interest in the Parish community to extend this service to every Sunday during the year.
If anyone thinks they may be able to help with co-ordinating, cooking, serving or driving the van please contact the Parish Office asap. 

SOLEMNITY OF ST TERESA OF AVILA 15th OCTOBER
A Novena of Masses and Prayers will be offered at the Carmelite Monastery, Launceston, in preparation for this feast from 6th – 14th October. Intentions may be sent to Mother Teresa Benedicta at the Monastery by post 7 Cambridge St., Launceston, phone 6331 3585 or tascarmelvoc@gmail.com

NOVEMBER REMEMBRANCE BOOKS
November is the month we remember in a special way all those who have died. Should you wish anyone to be remembered, write the names of those to be prayed for on the outside of an envelope and place the clearly marked envelope in the collection basket at Mass or deliver to the Parish Office by Thursday 22nd October.

CLEANERS ROSTER OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH
As we are now back to weekday and weekend Masses, we are calling out for volunteers to join a team with the cleaning of Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Please contact the Parish Office 6424:2783 if you would like to help.

VOCATION REFLECTION DAY
A Vocations Reflection day is to be held at St Michael’s, Campbell Town on Saturday 24 October 2020 from 10:00am - 3:00pm. The program will include prayer and reflection, discussion and several talks including a testimony and a video on seminary life.
Any young man who is interested in attending is invited to contact Fr Brian Nichols: briannichols@bigpond.com
                            

Letter From Rome 

Has The Pope Lost The Plot?


Pope Francis is stepping on his own message by refusing to explain recent, controversial actions 

-  Robert Mickens, Rome, September 25, 2020. 

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


Where does one begin?

The pope's unexpected firing of a top Vatican cardinal – and his decision to strip the man of the rights that come with the red hat, like voting in a conclave – was a shocker, to say the least.

The Holy See Press Office made the announcement on Thursday evening at the unusually late hour of 8 pm, a time when people in Rome are tuning into the nightly news and preparing to have their dinner.

In the Roman Curia's typical style of playing word games, the communiqué said Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu as prefect of the office that deals with saints and he had relinquished his rights related to the cardinalate.

You'd have to be really naïve to think someone in the College of Cardinals would tender his resignation and rights unless he was forced. And forced this cardinal certainly was.

None of your business
Naturally, as in other forced resignations, the Vatican never gives a reason why the prelate has been removed. This has been especially frustrating for – and unfair to – victims of sexual abuse and their advocates when a bishop who has covered up abuse is allowed to just resign and take up his retirement as an emeritus.

Neither the pope nor any of his aides has said why Cardinal Becciu got the axe. But the 72-year-old Sardinian told a journalist the day after his forced resignation that the pope had accused him of embezzlement.

There is no way to know right now if Becciu is guilty of the charges. He's not been tried. No documents have been officially made public.

But an Italian news and cultural affairs magazine, L'Espresso, has announced that it is printing a huge scandal piece on Becciu this week, that will provide such documents as proof that the powerful cardinal is a crook and has been for a very long time.

How will we really know?

Enter Cardinal Pell
A similar thing happened with another cardinal – George Pell from Australia. He was ferociously and – as the judges eventually and definitively ruled – falsely accused of historical sexual abuse of one or more minors.

He even went to prison before the original guilty sentence was overturned.

There's a lot of irony here. Pell and Becciu warred over the ways and means the Australian tried to reform the Vatican's financial institutions when he was head of the Secretariat for the Economy.

The Sardinian did battle and convinced the pope to rein Pell in, reversing or greatly modifying some of the decisions the Economy czar tried to implement.

Pell put out a message soon after Becciu got the boot, saying Francis "is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments". The Australian cardinal's friends say the message is authentic.

If a bishop or cardinal is guilty of very serious wrongdoing, it is good that he be removed. But it is troubling that Pope Francis and his closest aides are not even pretending to be transparent.

They are leaving it to outside journalists, some who are in league with Vatican officials who actually oppose this pope's vision for reform, to set the narrative.

The pope un-masked
Something very troubling is happening of late.

Francis has appeared at different times in the past several weeks as someone who doesn't seem the least bit concerned that he may be torpedoing whatever is left of his pontificate.

And that begins with his health and his unnecessary recklessness in selectively following measures to protect himself from being infected with the coronavirus.

The 83-year-old pope has begun gradually meeting with groups of people over the past month or so, but only once or twice has he been seen wearing a facemask – and then only briefly.

During his weekly general audiences, currently being held each Wednesday in an inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, he sometimes ignores the recommended physical distancing measures and draws near to pilgrims who imprudently bunch together along the corridor to greet him.

Francis always shakes hands with the Vatican monsignori who assist at these audiences and afterwards often embraces the bishops in attendance. Last week he actually kissed the palms of five newly ordained priests. A couple of them kissed his hands in return.

The optics are all wrong.

For a pope who loves to remind people that witness is more powerful than words, he is stepping on his own message. For these past several months he's urged people to comply with anti-pandemic measures, even when civil authorities forbade the church gathering.

But now he seems to have little regard even for the more relaxed protocols at a time when new infections are steadily rising in Rome, Italy and all of Europe.

And this should be particularly alarming to anyone who cares for the pope.

Perhaps his doctors and his closest aides do not have the temerity to tell him he needs to modify his behavior. Or maybe he is just being stubborn and ignoring them.

This is at the personal level.

Out of tune
Pope Francis has been stepping on his message at the institutional level, too. Or is it that he is just changing the tune he has been piping up till now?

For example, two recent Vatican documents – one that the Congregation for the Clergy issued on parishes and another that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith put out on euthanasia – contradict the tone, the spirit and the mandate to re-think our way of being a missionary Church that he has put forth in his own texts like Evangelii gaudium.

It is remarkable that the pope actually approved these Vatican guidelines -- so far are they, in certain sections, from the new, more evangelical ethos that he has been trying to instill in the entire Church, including the Roman Curia.

It is quite remarkable that just a little more than 24 hours before Francis told Cardinal Becciu he was firing him because he had lost all trust in him, L'Osservatore Romano published a small article at the bottom of its Sept. 24 edition with a photo of another cardinal – Angelo Sodano – before an altar marking the 70th anniversary of his priestly ordination.

There is a long paper trail that clearly shows that Sodano, the powerful former Secretary of State and retired dean of the College of Cardinals, colluded in the covered-ups of numerous cases of sexual abuse by other powerful prelates – especially in Chile.

Francis has never disciplined, rebuked or done anything to the now 93-year-old cardinal, except to stubbornly ignore – for whatever reason – all the charges against him.

One the contrary, the Vatican newspaper said Francis sent Sodano his apostolic blessing for the Italian cardinal's recent anniversary, thanking him for his "faithful and diligent service to the Church and the Holy See".

That's not stepping on your own message. That's stomping on it.
                                

To Know Thee More Clearly

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 

O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,

May I know Thee more clearly,

Love Thee more dearly,

And follow Thee more nearly. 

—St. Richard, Bishop of Chichester (1197–1253) [1]

Ways of knowing are inseparable from human existence. As Paula D’Arcy says, “God comes to us disguised as our lives.” While Christians emphasize Tradition and/or Scripture as sources of truth, I believe we balance them with our own experiences. We can only know God and reality within the context of our own personal experiences of time, place, culture, class, education, etc. There are as many ways of knowing as there are people who have lived! 

This week we pay attention to the wisdom of those “on the bottom.” Throughout history, some people have assumed unearned privilege, most often by denying the inherent God-given dignity of others. Christians and so-called Christian nations have been and continue to be responsible for this violence just as much as other religions and societies. Why do we continue to get it so wrong when Jesus told us that loving God and our neighbor are the first commandments (see Matthew 22:34-40)? His teachings turned power on its head: the last will be first and the first will be last, Jesus reminded us (see Matthew 20:16). 

How we know and what we know are shaped by our experience. Speaking for myself, it is clear that my privilege as a white, formally educated, financially secure man (even though I am a Franciscan) influences what I see and how I understand it. My privilege also limits my perspective in many ways. While I didn’t choose to “have” while others “have not,” if I’m not actively working toward equity, even my passive participation enables systems of inequality and injustice. Jesus continually invites me to see differently by encountering and engaging with those on the bottom. 

The system benefitting me was never intended to benefit all. And because the system benefits me, I don’t need to see it clearly. On the other hand, those who do not receive its benefits are required to see it for their very survival. Thus, God calls us to “not conform to the pattern of the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds” through relationship with those who see life from a different perspective than we do (see Romans 12:2). 

This week’s meditations will introduce some other ways of knowing the Gospel which are grounded in the experiences of people who have been marginalized in some way. As I share the work of these writers, keep in mind:

1. Injustice results from systems, structures, and institutions more than individual choices and actions. 

2. Each person has a unique story, so no single individual can represent an entire group. 

3. Be aware that oppression, like the ego, shape-shifts and is hard to pin down. It will always find a new manifestation.

4. Each created being is made in God’s image; and this God is love.

As we journey together, be patient with the messages and yourself. Simply notice and observe reactions rather than resist or judge them. Expanding our perspective moves us out of comfort zones, so this may be an important time to practice some form of contemplative prayer or meditation.  

                                

God Is Happy

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

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam ultimately all believe in the same God. Interestingly, too, in the popular mind they also all tend to conceive of God in the same way, namely, as male, celibate, and not being particularly happy.

Well, the gender of God is not something we can ever conceptualize. God is neither male or female, nor some androgynous mix of gender. So how can we conceptualize God’s gender? We can’t, pure and simple. Classically we’ve spoken of God as male, even as we know that this isn’t exactly true because we affirm, dogmatically, that God is ineffable, incapable of ever being captured in any concept. That also holds true for our notion of God as celibate, as not having a wife. How masculinity and femininity interrelate in God is also ineffable, incapable of being conceived of, but we know God is not simply a male celibate.

But what about that other popular notion, namely, that God is not particularly happy, especially with us?

Here we have a clear answer: God is happy. How can God not be? If God is perfect oneness, perfect goodness, perfect truth, perfect beauty, and perfect fullness in every way, how then can God not be perfect happiness? An unhappy God would not be God for such a God would be lacking the power to make Himself (pardon the pronoun) happy. Not a minor inadequacy for God. So a perfect God is also a perfectly happy God. But that’s a metaphysical statement. We can still ask, is God happy emotionally and is God happy with us? Mustn’t God frown at times and shake his head in disappointment at our behavior? Surely God can’t be happy with a lot that goes on in our world. God can’t be happy in the face of sin.

Well, just as in every other thing about God, there are things here we cannot comprehend. However, this much must be affirmed, both from what’s deepest in revelation in our scriptures and from the testimony of countless good people: God is happy! God is not habitually disappointed with us, frowning at our weaknesses, and sending the majority of us to hell. Rather, God is like the loving parent of a little child, forever luring us forwards, delighting in our energy, wanting us to flourish, saddened when we act in ways that bring unhappiness to others and to ourselves, but understanding of weakness rather than angry and unhappy.

Julian of Norwich, the famed mystic, describes God this way: God sits in heaven, smiling, completely relaxed, his face looking like a marvelous symphony. When I first read this passage some years ago, I was taken aback both by the concept of God as smiling and by the image of God as relaxed. I had never thought of God as “relaxed”. Surely with all that’s happening in our world and surely with all the betrayals, large and small, in our lives, God must be tense, frustrated and anxious. It’s difficult but easier to picture God as smiling (at least sometimes), but it’s exceedingly difficult to picture God as relaxed, as not being tense about all that’s wrong with us and our world.

Here’s my journey in grappling with that. I was wonderfully blessed in my religious background. From my parents and family, through the parish community I grew up in, through the Ursuline nuns who taught me in school, you couldn’t have ordered a more-ideal faith milieu. I experienced faith and religion being lived out in real life in a way that gave it credibility and made it attractive. My seminary training and theological studies strongly reinforced that. But, all that time, underneath, there was a picture of a God who wasn’t very happy and who smiled only when the occasion merited it, which wasn’t very often. The consequence of that in my life was an anxious attempt always to measure up, to be good enough, to not make God unhappy, and to earn God’s approval and affection.  But of course, we can never be good enough, never measure up, and so it’s natural to believe that God is never really happy with us and never really happy at all.

In theory, of course, we know better. We tend to have a healthier concept of God theoretically; but the heart is not so easy to bring onside. It’s hard to feel inside myself that God is happy, happy with us, happy with me. It has taken me seventy years to realize, accept, take consolation in, and finally bathe in the fact that God is happy. I’m not sure what pulled all the triggers inside me that helped me make that shift, but the fact that God is happy comes to me now whenever I’m praying whole-heartedly, nakedly, and sincerely. It’s also what comes to me when I look at the saints in my life, those men and women whom I most look up to in faith, who reflect the face of God for me. They’re happy, relaxed, and not perpetually frowning in displeasure.

                                

5 Ways To Bring People Back To Church 


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

If there is a single, principal fear that pastors and church workers share in this season of COVID-19, it is the fear that people simply won’t come back to church. Declining attendance was already an established pattern pre-COVID, which has now simply accelerated. Church leaders know that with disaffiliated parishioners comes the loss of funding and all the consequences that introduces.

Fear causes us to respond in unhealthy ways. Chief among them is the temptation to focus on who to blame rather than how to address the problems at hand. One could blame leaders in the Church, bishops and pastors who, in the view of some, weakly caved to the whims of the state. Or, we lash out at the faithful for not responding dutifully to demands of obligation. Both approaches are born of fear and division and ignore the real problems the church faces.

There is a way forward. In what seems like an existential crisis, there is a huge opportunity to reinvigorate the mission of the Church. This time is unique not just because of its challenges but because of its opportunities. We have only just begun to see the fruits of creative uses of new technology in service of evangelization.

Presented here are five strategies for bringing people back to church this fall – but first, a small caveat. What I mean by ‘bringing people back to church’ is not necessarily bringing people back into the church building. A return to physical practice of the Sacraments is an important goal but it is by no means the only way of engaging with the fallen-away, unchurched, elderly, or those with pre-existing conditions. Those groups will need to be reached in creative ways that are outside of the four walls of the church.

1) Supercharge Your Online Campus
Right now, engagement is a better metric than attendance – even online. Instead of focusing on how many people are tuning in online (which is difficult, if not impossible to calculate), focus on how you are engaging with those who do tune in and how you are creating a prayerful experience online. Find an online streaming platform that allows someone (a designated minister) to chat in real-time with online viewers. Our Sunday morning stream is filled with greeters, prayer ministers, and hosts. Active participation is encouraged.

2) Bring Church to Where People Are
In all forms of discipleship, you need to put rungs on the ladder. In other words, you need to establish clear, incremental steps that make holiness attainable for those who are at the ground level. That’s why we have been experimenting with something we are calling ‘Watch Parties.’ They are small gatherings of friends and family who watch Mass together in someone’s home and spend time following Mass discussing the message. In some ways, our temporary name for these gatherings doesn’t quite do them justice. After all you don’t really watch Mass (you participate) and it’s not really a party either. But it does represent a small step forward for many who are tentative about returning to church at this time.

3) Make Them Feel Safe
As people decide whether to return to in-person liturgies, their safety and the safety of their families will remain the number one factor. For us that has meant starting slow: we started with just 2 Masses with 25% capacity, then raised the capacity to 35% and opened a third Mass for staff and ministry leaders. It has meant taking every possible safety precaution like blocking off water fountains and creating bottled water stations instead. And we try to be completely transparent about our efforts, so that people are not only safe, they feel safe.

4) Refine Your Message
If you are a pastor or lay associate who does a lot of speaking and teaching, this fall can be a good time to refine your messaging and presentation style. The homily in particular has taken on new importance as the main way of connecting with people during online services. But it is not without its challenges, either. It can be hard to convey humor and energy over an online live stream just as it is difficult to read an audience that is wearing masks. Make time to practice your message before the weekend so that you can focus on those tones and important points. Consider preaching in a “series” with consistent themes explored over the course of several weeks.

5) Focus on Healing Not Politics
This fall could be an especially divisive time in many communities, at least here in the US as the election draws nearer. Regardless of who wins or loses, there will be much healing to be done between friends, family, and parish communities. The Church does have a role to play in forming consciences to be exercised in the political sphere. But in this time the Church also has an opportunity to be a force of unity rather than division. Preaching or teaching that even alludes to politics or suggests partisanship could be divisive to your parish and drive some away. If, on the other hand, our parishes become refuges in the storm they could be quite attractive.

This season we are in is a unique one for sure, challenging in many ways. But it is also a missional moment. Don’t miss the moment. 
                                

Psychological Foundations Of Interior Movements

When it comes to the Spiritual Exercises and spiritual direction, ‘we need to accept the sort of brain that we have got, and we need to work with it’, writes Roger Dawson SJ in the July 2020 issue of The Way. So what are the characteristics of the human brain that come into play when we talk about ‘movements’ in Ignatian spirituality?  Roger Dawson SJ is director of St Beuno’s Jesuit Spirituality Centre in north Wales.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here  

In the Ignatian tradition, movements (motions or mociones) relate to the interior experiences of the soul. According to Michael Ivens, they ‘refer to interactions of feelings, thoughts and impulses of attraction and recoil which occur spontaneously in consciousness’.[1] These movements are involuntary and can come from the self, a ‘good spirit’ or a ‘bad spirit’ and freedom consists in the choice we have to accept or reject the direction in which they propel us. These movements or interior experiences can relate to the intellect (thoughts, reasoning, imaginings), the will (urges, impulses, desires) or affect (mood and emotions). Consolation and desolation as understood in the Spiritual Exercises are spiritual because they have God as their object and are felt reactions to God and God’s truth. Consolation is a positive reaction to God, while desolation is a negative reaction to God – pulling away or closing in on the self.

While movements do not solely refer to feelings and emotions, I would like to approach them here through two theories of emotion that come from recent psychological research. The first is Paul Gilbert’s evolutionary theory of three systems or ‘modes’ of affect regulation, and the second is Barbara Fredrickson’s ‘broaden and build’ theory of positive emotions. I believe that both these theories can help us to understand the foundations of the movements or motions that interest us in Ignatian spirituality generally and in discernment specifically. I am taking a strictly incarnational approach: in line with the tradition of Catholic anthropology I am treating the human person as a biological, psychological and spiritual unity, and am assuming that very little can be experienced or done without a body and a brain. As far as we can tell, it is only with this body and brain that we can experience interior movements.

Three Systems of Affect Regulation
The first theoretical approach I want to look at comes from research into the development of compassion-focused approaches in cognitive therapy. This takes an evolutionary perspective on the long development of the human brain.

The cognitively modern human brain emerged only about 200,000 years ago but is built on the much older parts that we share with our ancestors. The oldest and most primitive part of the brain is known as the ‘reptile brain’. This part is strictly territorial and is concerned with danger and the ‘fight or flight’ response; its main emotions are anxiety, anger and disgust. Once humans started to live in groups the limbic system developed, a more sophisticated part of the brain concerned with social functioning and belonging, and the emotions associated with kinship. Finally, the outer part of the brain, the cortex, developed and is associated with the higher functions of reasoning, planning and verbal skills.

There is a hierarchy here: it is hard for the cortical brain to override the powerful, primitive response of the reptile brain, largely associated with negative emotions, which may be unpleasant but are powerful signals that all is not well and have helped us to stay alive. Paul Gilbert has identified three ‘systems’ of affect regulation associated with this brain architecture.[2] The first is the ‘threat and self-protection’ system (threat mode) and this is related to the reptile brain. This system keeps us safe by scanning for danger and detecting threats quickly, and it triggers the main emotions (anxiety, anger, disgust). It is associated with physiological reactions (the ‘fight or flight’ response and, in extreme situations, inhibiting or freezing) and the urge to take self-protective action.

The second system is the ‘incentive- and resource-seeking’ system (drive mode). This functions to give us positive feelings that guide and motivate us to seek out resources that we, and those we love and care about, need to survive and prosper. At the basic level this includes food, water and sex, but it also includes needs for friendship, status, recognition and comfort. This ‘drive’ mode leads to high levels of arousal, and the experiences of excitement and pleasure. Desire and motivation are part of this system, but it can become overstimulated, leaving the person feeling frantic or over-excited. When a person is depressed, this system is underfunctioning and the person lacks drive and motivation.

The third system is the ‘soothing-contentment’ system (safe mode). This is related to safety and the emotions of calm, peacefulness and contentment. Because we are safe, there is no defending or attacking, and because we have got what we need, there is no striving. We are content because we are happy with the way things are. It is the experience of being on holiday—and often of those on retreat. This is usually associated with being connected with others and feeling secure, and is linked with affection and kindness. All these experiences are influenced by imagination.

The systems can operate on their own or in tandem with the others. The safe mode may operate alone when we are on holiday, but someone who is happy at work in a busy job will experience this and ‘drive’ mode operating healthily together. If a person feels unsafe at work and his or her job is at risk, or if that person is blocked or frustrated in achieving goals, then the threat system is activated with the drive system and the two operate together in an unpleasant and distressing way.

Threat mode belongs to the old brain, much of which is shared with other primates, and indeed other mammals and reptiles. But we have the more recently evolved ‘new brain’ as well, which is unique to humans. Our brain is about three times larger than a chimpanzee’s brain and this gives us the advantages of sophisticated higher cortical functions, such as thinking, imagining, planning, learning, reflecting and the ability to use symbols and language. This allows us to be creative – to imagine and bring into existence something that is not there in the present – and is the basis for agriculture, culture, arts and science. The capacity for imagination is also the basis for empathy (we can imagine what it might be like to be another person), and for hope and dreams – to envisage and plan for a better future. However, it also means that we can imagine feared or dreaded future situations, or go over difficult past situations and missed opportunities. So this capacity for imagination can lead to hope and creativity, but it also gives us the capacity to worry about what others might think of us, and can be the source of fear about the future and disappointment about the past.

These are some of the neuropsychological characteristics of the human brain. According to Gilbert, these systems are hard-wired into us, and we need all of them. All of these modes – threat mode, drive mode and safe mode – are available to us, and our responses take place within them. This is part of what it is to be human and has to be part of a Christian anthropology too. It is within these affect regulation systems that spiritual movements occur.

The Three Systems and Spiritual Direction
In relation to the Exercises and spiritual direction, we need to accept the sort of brain that we have got, and we need to work with it. It is an extraordinary part of God’s creation but it is, as Paul Gilbert says, a tricky brain, or even a crazy brain, which can present us with challenges and cause problems or difficulties.[3] This needs to be understood and accepted, and not spiritualised. In terms of the spiritual life, threat mode seems to cause most difficulties, whether this system is operating alone or in combination with drive mode. There may be good reasons why we are trying to protect ourselves (the threats and risks may be real), but it is hard to remain in consolation when this system is firing, and desolation is very likely. There is no peace in threat mode, and discernment is certainly very difficult. Perhaps it is for this reason that Jesus repeatedly says, ‘do not be afraid’ and ‘have no anxiety’.

Safe mode seems to be optimal, or even essential, for the spiritual life. In some instances, we can exist in this mode alone (such as when we are on retreat), but most of us have to do things, achieve things and get things in our daily lives, so living in consolation may well involve safe mode plus drive mode working happily together. For safe mode to operate, people need to feel safe – in spiritual direction, in the Church and with God. Maybe we need to know not that we are saved but, more, that we are safe.

The ‘Broaden and Build’ Theory of Emotions
Most psychological research has focused primarily on negative emotions but, according to Barbara Fredrickson, positive and negative emotions work in different ways.[4] The effect of negative emotions, such as anger and anxiety, is to narrow and constrict our attention and thoughts, and they prime us for specific behavioural responses so we can act quickly in a self-protective way. ‘Anger, for instance, creates the urge to attack, fear the urge to escape, disgust the urge to expel ….’[5] These responses have survival value as they get us out of life-or-death situations.

Fredrickson’s research suggests that positive emotions are different. Positive emotions broaden our attention and thinking in the moment, and open up the repertoire of behavioural responses. They lead to a wider range of thoughts and actions coming to mind. Possibilities and ideas emerge; we become more creative, make links and associations, and gain greater perspective. For example, the emotion of joy leads to play, exploration and the pushing of limits. Contentment and the feeling of safety it engenders lead to a desire to stop and savour and appreciate, and to integrate this experience into new understandings of ourselves and the world.

Positive emotions build enduring personal resources, which in turn offer the potential for personal growth and transformation by creating positive spirals of emotions, thoughts and actions. For example, joy can lead to social play, in turn leading to the formation of social bonds and attachments which become a source of social support. These gains are durable, in that they last longer than the emotional states that led to them. Positive emotions also facilitate ‘approach’ behaviour (attraction towards rewarding stimuli) and encourage us to continue the activity that produces the positive emotions, and they are therefore associated with engagement and persistence.[6]

So the experience of positive emotions, in stark contrast to that of negative emotions, broadens our repertoire of thoughts and actions, and builds enduring personal resources. Because this leads to increasing our social and intellectual capacities, it also leads to coping better and increases resilience. Positive emotions do not just signal well-being, but also produce optimal functioning. So, rather than being just pleasant states to enjoy, they promote transformation and growth, in that we become more creative and knowledgeable, and more socially integrated. There is evidence that positive emotions are associated with improved psychological and physical health. Fredrickson has amassed considerable experimental evidence to support this theory, and has found that the experience of positive emotions can even ‘undo’ or repair the after-effects of negative emotions.

So what are the positive emotions that matter? Based on her research Fredrickson has identified a ‘top ten’: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, accomplishment/satisfaction, amusement, inspiration, awe and love. Interestingly, love is unique in encompassing all the other nine emotions, and can be elicited by each of them. Love is therefore probably the most important and the most experienced positive emotion.

’Broaden and Build’ and Spiritual Direction
It will be clear that, because we hope that retreatants will grow and change during the Exercises and that there will be some personal transformation, if this theory is correct then positive emotions are important in the Exercises. Conversely, negative emotions risk defeating their purpose. Whereas the Exercises are a school of prayer, people do not learn well in the absence of positive emotions. Whereas the Exercises are a means of election and decision-making, negative emotions constrict and limit our options and even ideas, rather than opening up new horizons of hope.

This gives us a way of understanding how imagination functions. Positive emotion leads to the broadening and opening up of ideas, to making connections and seeing possibilities. It leads to a cognitive expansiveness – a greater perspective and wider array of thoughts and ideas for action come to mind. Joy and hope, for example, allow for this opening up in a way that is not possible when negative emotions prevail.

Implications
In conclusion I want to make some general comments on what I see as the implications of theories of the emotions for the giving of the Spiritual Exercises. I am conscious that in focusing particularly on affect and the emotions I have neglected the other two elements in interior movements, namely the intellect and the will. Of course, not all consolation is associated with positive emotions, as in ‘painful consolation’, for example. The role of thoughts and the appraisal of events or situations are crucial to the experience of emotion and, according to cognitive theory, actually give rise to emotions.

I do not want to depreciate negative emotions. As Gilbert reminds us, our brains did not evolve for happiness but for survival and reproduction. The brain gives priority, and more resources, to dealing with threats and danger than to pleasurable things. Negative emotions are a part of the normal range of human emotions and they will often override positive emotions. Positive emotions arise when we are safe and seldom occur in life-threatening situations. We do not experience positive emotions and get their benefits when we are overcome with negative emotions. This means that desolation may come more easily than consolation – and we need to feel safe. In the Exercises this means that the director has to provide safety, in other words to model the safe relationship with God.

Imagination is crucial in Ignatian spirituality and in the Exercises. Our capacity for imagination means that we can recreate our pasts and imagine situations that have not yet happened. This is the basis of both hope and empathy, but also of remembering our troubles and traumas as well as generating anxieties about the future. Our imagination can put us into threat mode, as well as putting us in touch with our dreams and hopes, or what God wants for us. It is worth remembering that imagination can be used by both the good spirit and the bad spirit.

Finally, ‘broaden and build’ theory underscores how positive emotions are essential for optimal functioning in terms of psychological health; it may well be that they are also essential elements of our spiritual health. Most of the ‘top ten’ emotions will be familiar to any Ignatian director as signs of consolation – joy, gratitude, hope, inspiration, awe and love. It should be no surprise that two of the classic signs of consolation – hope and love – are here. Faith, with the trust that comes from feeling safe, seems to complete the triad of theological graces that constitute the hallmarks of consolation.

Positive emotions are worth cultivating in our own lives and in the lives of others, not just for the momentary positive, pleasant experience or for psychological benefits but because they seem to be spiritually important too. We expect someone to grow and change in the Exercises, and positive emotions seem to be important for that growth and change, for being transformed to become better people living better lives and to become the people God created us to be.

This article is based on a lecture offered at the International Symposium on Psychology and Spiritual Exercises (Loyola, 20–24 June 2019), and a Spanish translation will appear in the Acta of the Symposium in 2021. It was published in The Way, 59/3 (July 2020). 

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[1] Michael Ivens, Understanding the Spiritual Exercises (Leominster: Gracewing, 2004), p.210.
[2] Paul Gilbert, The Compassionate Mind (London: Constable, 2009); and see Paul Gilbert, Compassion-Focused Therapy (Hove: Routledge, 2010).
[3] See for example Gilbert, Compassionate Mind, p.35; Paul Gilbert, Living Like Crazy (York: Annwyn House, 2019).
[4] See Barbara Fredrickson, ‘What Good Are Positive Emotions?’ Review of General Psychology, 2 (1998), 300–319; Barbara Fredrickson, ‘The Role of Positive Emotions in Positive Psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions’, American Psychologist, 56/3 (2001), 218–226; Michael A. Cohn and Barbara Fredrickson, ‘Positive Emotions’, in The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology, edited by Shane J. Lopez and C. R. Snyder (Oxford: OUP, 2009), chapter 3.
[5] Fredrickson, ‘What Good Are Positive Emotions?’, 302.
[6] On ‘approach’ behaviour, see Rachel M. Korn and Andrew J. Elliot, ‘Avoidance and Approach Motivation: A Brief History’, in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edn (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2015), 326–331.


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