23rd November, 2014 Christ the King

23rd November, 2014 Christ the King

 The gospel this weekend is very special.  I have always found that it goes to the heart of Jesus’ message and mission. How different the world would be if all people took this gospel on face value. Quite literally. “just as you did it to one of the least of these…  you did it to me”..

I think of a shocking example where this did not happen….     Such as the when an internationally acclaimed opera singer lay helpless at a bus stop for more than five hours after suffering a stroke . Delmae Barton, 66, was ignored by about 1000 people when she collapsed and became violently ill several times at a bus stop at a university campus in February 2006. Although a passer-by twice alerted security officers to her predicament, no one called an ambulance or checked on her well-being until a group of Japanese students found her and sought help.  Ms Barton was employed as an Aboriginal elder at the  same Brisbane university.  People thought that she was merely drunk…    (which even itself is odd, because people who are collapsed, are also at risk of dying). But the assumption was wrong, and she was not at all drunk, just very ill.   //  That was virtually Christ lying on the ground, stricken, ignored by 1000 people…..   For the words of Christ ring in our ears…  “just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me”

 

-      On a much milder example…  there is the possibly apocryphal story of Queen Victoria, who when on vacation once took a walk on one of her estates.  On the country walk, the Queen was dressed very discretely in walking clothes. A storm blew up and Queen Victoria retreated to a neighbours house and asked if they would kindly lend her an umbrella.  The neighbour begrudgingly lent the umbrella, but when the Queen walked off and opened it up it was full of holes and quite useless.   The next day, the Queen sent one of her attendants back to return the umbrella, with polite thanks.   When the neighbour saw the regal attendant and realised the truth, they were mortified and said. I am so sorry, if I had known it was Her Majesty, I wouldn’t have given her that umbrella.”   (well, whether that situation happened or not, the point is a good one.)  what did it matter WHO it was, why would you give someone a hole-ey umbrella that was useless irrespective of who they were or not.   “That person was virtually Christ … and this gospel calls upon us to treat everyone with the reverence and graciousness we would reserve to God…  // why are we at times tempted to make distinctions in the ordinary matters of human dignity and respect which is due to all people.

-      Closer to home, a trivial, almost funny situation.  I have been a student for priesthood in a parish south of Brisbane, and I have been trying to be more involved in the local parish school, but hadn’t much luck. I did one or two small projects there, but the year was coming to an end. I was invited to the school graduation dinner and I was looking forward to at least being part of that.    But as I walked into the place where the dinner was being held…. My glasses fell apart and the lenses rolled into a nearby garden. I was completely helpless.. I couldn’t see a darned thing!!    I was bent over with my hands over the ground feeling desperately for the lenses… and calling out politely for help from the guests who were attending the same dinner, asking or help….    And the blurry shapes just kept walking in…   no one came to my help…  eventually I went inside..  unable to see a thing.   I didn’t enjoy the night because (being unable to see made me effectively deaf as well, because I didn’t know who was speaking and if they were talking to me, and so…  I was very confused).   Being short-sighted, I couldn’t borrow anyone else’s lenses, they didn’t work.  Fortunately at the end of the night someone came out with me and helped find the lenses but I couldn’t get them back in, so they also had to drive me home in my car, as I couldn’t see to drive.  My mum had told me to keep a spare st of glasses in the car, which I do now always.   But the incident at the start of the night, was amusing but also sad…  ‘what you do to even the least of these.. you do it to me.”

If the world took this very seriously and literally, we could change the world… All humans would have the dignity and respect befitting our God. Which, I believe is the intention of Our Lord.

-      The reading from Ezekiel… is also very fitting. The Lord will be our shepherd, lead us, guide us, heal us, …seek the lost, feed us,  and he shall set up a servant (and his successors by implication) who will serve the people on  behalf of the shepherd….  (The fat sheep come in for some very negative comment here in this gospel, because in this narrative they have pushed around the others and not let them eat and have pasture. The Well-off ones have scattered the poor needy sheep and the master is very unhappy with this.).… 

In that first reading, God recognises that among the people (among every group or people)  there are some who are struggling and experiencing weakness, (all of us do in different ways)… and some who are feeling lost and disconnected and injured…    as well as strong and satisfied….   And the co-responsibility of people to support and encourage each-other is an expectation of the Kingdom.

 

-      In the epistle today….   From the Ephesians..    I had not noticed before, but the wording of it indicates that St Paul has probably not directly visited the people he is writing to..//  He has “heard good reports and is filled with thanksgiving to God for the good news that he has received about them.”  It is inspiring,  even to us these two thousand and more years later. God is truly great. The gift God has given us is beyond full comprehension. It makes us want to strive to be the best person one could be.. and the church is spurred on to put its best foot forward…    The church is called to be a beacon of goodwill, compassion and justice for the inspiration of the world.  This is no small responsibility, and we pray to God for forgiveness and strength for the times we have failed to be that shining beacon. With God’s help, we persevere and ask for renewal and guidance.

Do you want to know what the face of God looks like????…..

 

(artists, painters, sculptors, movie makers, writers….   throughout the generations have tried to capture what Jesus face is like……   what his physical form might have looked like…..   There have been some very inspiring movies which tried to portray Jesus…. and what he might have looked like…  and acted like….. //  some have been great….//  most fall a bit flat.,.. // because they often make Jesus look like an actor with a bad hair day…. or a really awful wig… that just doesn’t look real…..//  most fail to capture that Jesus would have had Palestinian looks and complexion…. and not light brown hair and blue eyes…… )…

 

but in any case….  this weekend’s gospel takes another angle on this question……  Do you want to know what Jesus’ face really looks like??…….  

 

Well, this weekend’s gospel gives us the answer…. but it is a surprising and unexpected answer……. ……    Jesus instructs us that……every time you look into the face of one who is hungry, the face of a person who thirsts….  The face of a stranger…..   the face of someone in need, or someone who is ill…..   or a prisoner….   any time you look at anyone, even those who might be regarded as ‘the least’ (by some)………There…  you are looking and seeing the face of the Lord... //And how we respond to these people is how we are taken to be responding to the Lord himself.

 

Jesus tells us this parable because he wants us to take this message quite literally….     and act upon it……   

 

In the parable…. everyone gets a surprise about this news…..  the ‘sheep’  and the ‘goats’ alike…..  neither realised that when they fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick, visited the prisoner…. welcomed the stranger… that they were helping Christ himself…..    the wicked certainly didn’t know this…..    but in this parable… even the righteous….  (they helped these people)…but even THEY didn’t realise that by acting in this way, they were serving Christ himself, in these needy people…..

 

As we come to the end of the church’s calendar year, and prepare to enter into the season of Advent, from next weekend, these readings this week speak of “judgement”…..    but interestingly….  “Scriptural ‘judgment’ seems to be really about …two types of judgments – about WHO  we are and how we have ACTED…how we have LIVED…. 

 

in this modern day and age, we can be tempted to separate our sense of self from our actions….  but Jesus reminds us….  our actions cannot be separated from who we are…. they are often the better sign of who we are and what our values really are….. because in the end, where our actions are… there our heart is too… 

 

The Gospel from Saint Matthew reminds us that we will be judged on how well we loved.It is the way that we love one another that reveals whether we love God or not.  It is this love for one another that will confirm whether we are truly close to God or far from God…

 

In that sense… God’s judgement is no more than confirming the truth of our who we are and who we have become…..   rather than creating a new reality or changing our status or standing with God….

 

This Gospel passage is reportedly the passage of Scripture that really captured Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. as pope John Paul wrote about Mother Teresa:  “ This Gospel passage, so crucial in understanding Mother Teresa’s service to the poor, was the basis of her faith-filled conviction that in touching the broken bodies of the poor, she was touching the body of Christ….. Mother Teresa highlights the deepest meaning of service – ‘an act of love done to the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, prisoners….. is done to Jesus himself.’” ….. 

 

we have the most wonderful role model in Jesus….  God made flesh…….. He is a King…..yes…..  and the greatest leader ever…. true….. but (at the same time)…..such a wonderful, compassionate, loving, and totally involved person too……   / the first reading gives a superb image of the good shepherd…… This image of God as the shepherd is truly beautiful…….    God, the good shepherd,  is very much involved in the lives of his sheep……    God is “IN there” and “at work”,,,,   right in the middle of his sheep……    God is keeping everyone in his sights……    rescuingthem, allowing them rest….  feeding them……   searching for strays……   bandaging the injured…….   strengthening the weak……..    watching over the fat andf the healthy…….    NOW THAT is a TRUE shepherd……..  //  and finally….. one who is able to tell the difference between the sheep and the goats….

 

We are all brothers and sisters in Christ…..   and we ask for God’s guidance and grace as we look out for others..  especially the most vulnerable…….   We move forward, joyfully remembering always that the Lord is Good…  his mercy and faithfulness endures from age to age!!”

 

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REFERENCES:

·                     FR. PAUL W. KELLY

·                     New Jerome Bible Handbook. Geoffrey Chapman Publishers. 1992.

·         [Read more:  http://www.news.com.au/national/opera-singer-ignored-after-collapse/story-e6frfkvr-1225942042995#ixzz1dp32vlLF]

 (Sources:  Paul Kelly;/  also “2008 – a Book of Grace-filled Days,” by Lavonne Neff;  “Monastery of Christ in the Desert,” Abbott’s Homily, http://christdesert.org ; “Vision – Praying Scripture in a Contemporary Way. Year A” )

 

 

 

 

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Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Year A 9th November, 2014

Homily Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.  Year A  9th November, 2014     




 

 

I remember one of the unexpected highlights to a pilgrimage to Rome that I did in 2007  was a guided tour to the “first of all churches in Catholic Church: John Lateran Cathedral.”

 

On the front of the door was inscribed the Latin: Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput ("Most Holy Lateran Church, of all the churches in the city and the world, the mother and head."

 

WOW.  A very profound claim…    (Many may be forgiven for thinking that Saint Peter’s Basilica was the mother church..  but it is definitely not….  It’s the Church we celebrate in a special feast..  a feast so important that when it lands on a Sunday it overrides the usual Sunday readings..  which does not happen for most feast days… only really important ones such as last weeks feast of All Souls and this weeks feast.

 

This Church, now known as John Lateran (actually it has two co-patrons because it has been dedicated to John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at different times in its history) actually has as its official name and head patron, Christ himself. The official title of this church is the “Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour.”
So, we start to see why this feast is so important.. it is regarded as a Feastday of Christ our Saviour…

Emperor Constantine gave this land to the church as residence of the Pope and for a church in around 312 AD and it was officially dedicated in 324. It has undergone many changes but is regarded as the seat of the Bishop of Rome, thus symbolising the seat of the Bishop and the mother church of the universal church. It ranks in importance over all other churches, even St Peter's Basilica. 

This was the very first Christian church built in the West and the first church built when Christianity was not outlawed and underground. So, this first church presented a new challenge to the newly legalised early Christian church. What kind of building should a public church be?  They did not want to build something that was like the Roman temples, which were beautiful outside and designed to be looked at by people from outside, and fairly empty on the inside (with usually a statue to some Roman or Greek god or goddess). The early Christian church wanted to distance itself from comparisons with temples of the pagans. Also, Christianity needed large public space for people to gather and also room for different spaces where people at different stages of initiation could come, somewhat apart from others. Thus, the early Christians looked around for similar buildings and decided that the closest in practical style to what they were looking for were the Roman public buildings of the time, the Basilicas, which were enormous spaces for public civic gatherings which could allow for different sub-spaces within for people to gather as well. The church deliberately went the opposite way to the pagan temples: the Christian churches were plain and ordinary looking on the outside and beautiful and inspiring within.  This church of John lateran was orginally built as a temple to the God who enabled victory for the Roman Emperor Constantine, and there has always been a sense of victory about this church. This is why it was dedicated to Christ the Saviour. This church symbolises Christianity coming out of the shadows and now standing openly as a publicly accepted and victorious presence in the community. 

The church has been rebuilt and extended many times, the most significant change was the interior in which large columns were built and in-between the columns were placed huge statues of the twelve Apostles, as if to say that just as these statues form part of the support beams of this church, so too the Apostles are the support pillars on which Jesus has built his church. The main altar is built above relics of the original wooden altar which Saint Peter and Paul are believed to have celebrated Mass, and above the altar is an ornate covered canopy…   called a “baldachino” with golden statues of Peter and Paul which are actually reliquaries containing fragments of the skulls of Sts Peter and Paul, so Mass on this altar occurs in the midst of the these symbols of the church's history. 

The Bishop's chair, The seat of the Bishop of Rome….    Which is the chair of the Pope, is in the Apse directly behind the altar.  This chair is a symbol of the Bishop’s pastoral care and oversight of the diocese of Rome and his role as universal pastor to the churches throughout the world. 

When I visited, we got to celebrate Mass in the chapel of the Baptistry at St John Lateran. This was a special blessing for us and was very meaningful. WE started mass with a renewal of our Baptismal vows, in this Baptistry (at the Catholic Church's mother church) representing Baptisms all over the world. 

I prayed then as we continue to pray now, for  parishioners, family and friends and for the universal church,   Christ’s church, to which we all belong….

 

It is wonderful to belong to something much bigger than what we can see….    Its excellent that all the local Catholic church communities spread throughout the world are also at the same time “in communion’  with the universal church, represented by the unity we share with the Bishop of Rome, the pope. It reminds us that we are truly part of a bigger picture and we act in union with the church.  Because we belong to a wider communion, we act in the knowledge that we are both local and universal in our membership….   And this is why we are careful to ensure that the necessary local flavour of our community here also synchronises with what we share in common with the wider universal church and its actions…   It is so moving to be part of a communion that grounds us in the here and now, and at the same time calls us to look outward and upward into the worldwide mission of Christ’s church…..  

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This feast we share, of course is not really about a building..  bricks and stones… although that is a focal point for prayer and presence…  but we know from the Gospel that Jesus is the true temple and we are all bricks in the fabric of Christ… we are part of the body of christ, the church.  Saint Paul tells us too that the "temple" is the church, the gathered body of Christians, the body of Christ. Each of us is a living stone building up the church on the foundation of Jesus. Today's feast is as much a celebration of a magnificent physical structure as it is our unity as Christians in the church. We also celebrate our vocation to stay focused on the church's mission, which is the building up of the kingdom of God.

 

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REFERENCES:

 

·          FR. PAUL W. KELLY

·          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St._John_Lateran

·          Prepare the Word (internet service)

 

 

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Homily Thirtieth Sunday of the Year A . 26th October , 2014

Homily Thirtieth Sunday of the Year A .   26th October , 2014     
 

“There are many examples of how, even after the busiest of days, Jesus would go up into the hills, to a lonely place, and spend the night in prayer to His heavenly Father.  So, it is fair to say, Jesus whole life was to worship and praise the Father. 

There are also many examples of how Jesus spent himself in complete service of others.

His whole life was an act of service and love to his neighbour… all in need around him…..  

 These two complete realities must be two sides of the same coin…. And are not in any way in contradiction.

 in fact the great saint John Chrysostom once said:  “I cannot believe in the salvation of those people who do not work for the salvation of their neighbours.” 

 Another great monk was once heard to say to his brothers….  (when they focused too much on rules and not the heart of the gospel message….) he says to them in exasperation….   “My friends, you have torn the gospel of Christ in two….//.

There are two great commandments, not one. Love God, by how you love the neighbour as you would love and care for yourself.  (or perhaps it is more accurate to say there really is only one commandment to love.. which has two facets to it….)

In any case……Splitting up these two commands seriously distorts the gospel……  there are those who would emphasise worship of God to the point where doing anything practical for those in practical need seems to become an optional extra……. this is not the gospel of Jesus Christ……/// 

the other extreme is not right either…. there are people who are so caught up in social justice and practical action that they lose sight of the fact that Christian justice, (Christian charity) always flows out of our relationship with God and that we are all God’s children… and that it is not only our human actions… but God’s will that is important….  so if someone emphasises social response and neglects prayer, worship and a sense of faith in God who is the author and sustainer of us all……..   as essential as practical care for those in need is, it would lose its focus if we were to ever disconnect it to worship and prayer….. (it would become something merely humanistic….  And it could reflect a faulty sense that humans are their own saviours and can do all things themselves without reference to God…..)

Jesus shows us that both prayer and action are possible and that both are necessary…..   Again… I must say, that is why I always feel that the catholic groups of lay people such as St Vincent de Paul society, or Care and Concern or Knights of the Southern Cross,  …..   To name but a few and not to exclude the countless other groups that do the great work…  but these are wonderful examples and expressions of both these aspects: Prayer/worship and Practical action.

They focus on practical action….   helping those in need, thos who are hungry, seeking shelter, needing clothing, and also they visit those in need….  and also, integral to this, they meet regularly to pray and reflect on Christ’s gospel…  This is absolutely vital – connection to the person of Christ makes sense of and empowers their care for their neighbour…. 

there are many other groups and individuals who model this,..// and we give thanks for them all.  

 In Jesus’ great commandment – which is truly a “masterpiece of summing up thousands of biblical rules and regulations and observances into a few amazing words………to enshrine the very heart of its meaning: …”Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength… and love your neighbour as yourself……..It becomes clear that every other person is truly our neighbour and especially when the person is in need.  We must be loving neighbours to all people who come into our lives.  No one can be excluded from being our neighbour.

 Love of neighbour is at the heart of serving God /and being faithful to what God is asking of us.//  Love of neighbour is not simply an optional part of our Christianity.

Saint Paul, in the first reading says it very well…..   We must take Christ as our model……… We must imitate Christ.  In that imitation of Christ, we can find a whole way of living:  gentleness yet strength in our dealings with others, understanding and acceptance of others with a clear vision of what is right and what is wrong.

Jesus did not just accept everything as good.  He clearly pointed out what was not good. However, Jesus managed to do this without ever putting down the person who had done wrong. Whilst still loving the other. That is a difficult model to imitate.  This is another example of the cross of Jesus, the suffering that comes from living and speaking what is right and true whilst always striving to treat all others with love, reverence and compassion. “

(References:

·          Abbot’s Homily, The Monastery of Christ in the Desert Homily for October 22 2008.

·          Flor McCarthy. Sundays and Holy Day Liturgies. Year A.

·          Gutierrez, Sharing the Word through the Liturgical Year.

 

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Homily Twenty - seventh Sunday of the Year A 5th October, 2014

Homily Twenty - seventh Sunday of the Year A   5th October, 2014     

This weekend we welcome our Catholic Mission appeal speakers.   We welcome Sister Anne Quinn and Mission director David McGovern.

 

Meanwhile, here is a reflection upon this weekend’s scriptures..  

The readings this weekend carry a very consistent image in each of them:  the ancient and powerful image of the Vineyard planted and left to people to look after and the landowner returning to claim his rights, only to be rebuffed and all his messengers mistreated and killed, and even his beloved son is rejected and killed. It is very chilling!

It is clearly speaking of the people of Israel as the tenants of God's vineyard, and the messengers are the prophets of God, and the son is clearly Jesus.

 Jesus is warning the listeners, particularly the chief priests and scribes, that they think they are holy and righteous, but they are in a long line of people who killed God's prophets and have set themselves against God's will.   IT would be shocking to them to hear that. They certainly saw themselves as righteous and doing God's will. It must be everyone else who is doing wrong, not me. Isn't that a familiar cry from so many people…

“I am right, it's all these other people who are in the wrong!”  

 When I think of the image of the vineyard, I also can't help but think that God has given us this beautiful world to live in and care for its natural resources. In return, in many ways, we wreck the things given into our care. God would not be impressed by a lack of care for our environment and for the people and creatures that live in it.   We are called to responsible care and management and respect of the resources that God has entrusted to us;  to avoid waste or destruction and pollution and excess and exploitation.

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This gospel also calls upon each of us to consider the gifts God has entrusted to us to nurture and to bear fruit…

The Gospel parable reminds us that God is very patient with us and very generous…  But God is also just and won't give us endless time to produce the fruits God wants….   So..  are there areas in our lives where God has been exceedingly patient?   Are we perhaps taking that patience for granted in any way?.....

Are we producing the fruit?…   what kind of fruit is it?   And is it for the purposes of the Kingdom;   and are the fruits we are producing intended for the King from whom we received these gifts and resources? 

 What kind of fruit are we producing.. And if it's not up to the mark, what can we do about it?

Is it overripe?...  are we not producing at the pace we could…

Are we producing sour grapes... too often criticising? , finding fault??  Complaining?  Gossiping instead of assisting to build up and encourage and foster the values that God so wants for his people.  Or are we Afraid at times to show love, kindness and joy…

Are we producing colourless grapes..hesitant or sparing in showing and sharing our talents

Are we producing wild grapes.. going it alone, not working with the faith community…    not supporting or being challenged by the wider community…. A law unto myself..

Are we producing tasteless grapes….absorbed by our own needs and wants….   ?

May the Son inspire and strengthen us to produce the fruits of the Kingdom…  justice, mercy, peace, and righteousness

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REFERENCES:

 ·          FR. PAUL W. KELLY

·          Revd James M McPherson, Maryborough, 2011

·          MISSION 2000  – PRAYING SCRIPTURE IN A CONTEMPORARY WAY. YEAR A. BY MARK LINK S.J.

·          Celebrating the Gospels, 1981-2003.

 

Our special speaker at Masses this weekend.   For Catholic Missions:
As far as experience is concerned, Australian Marist Missionary Sister Anne Quinn’s is hard to beat.

Born, raised and educated in Melbourne, Anne Christine Quinn was brought up in a Catholic family. Shortly before her twentieth birthday, Anne became a registered primary teacher and soon joined the Council of Public Education Victoria.

In 1961, Anne Quinn became Sister Anne when she was professed a Missionary Sister of the Society of Mary. It was an achievement that opened the door to a lifetime of further education, mission and devotion to the Lord which would take her to countries around the world including Italy, Israel, Jamaica, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands.

The newly-professed Sr Anne started her career at the Deer Park Primary School in Melbourne’s outer western suburbs, where she taught for five years. Despite her youth, Sr Anne’s experience and talent for teaching was noticed and she was offered a role as a teaching principal in Buma on the Solomon Island of Malaita. Later, after a short spell in the nation’s capital of Honiara, Sr Anne returned to Deer Park as a teaching principal at the young age of thirty-one. She would spend three years in the role, but the lure of overseas mission was too enticing and she left once again for the Solomon Islands.

Sr Anne has always desired to continually improve her education. In 1982, she added to her teaching qualifications a Bachelor of Arts, with a double major in Psychology and Religious Studies, from the University of Queensland. Her religious education is also exceptional; having attended the Queensland Institute of Clinical Pastoral Education in 1979, Sr Anne left for the Holy Land and the Tantur Ecumenical Institute of Jerusalem, Israel. It is this unquenchable thirst for knowledge that has led to her appointment to more senior job postings around the world.

From 1994 to 2000, Sr Anne was the Congregational Treasurer for the Missionary Sisters in Rome. The financial nous she gained there, coupled with her experience in establishing community programs from time spent in the Philippines, made her an ideal candidate to head to Jamaica to take on one of her toughest assignments yet: reaching out to a community living in constant fear of gang violence, shootings and murder.

Sr Anne has worked in Jamaica for thirteen years, the first eleven of those as an administrator at the Holy Family Self Help Centre in Mount Salem, Montego Bay. Although she thoroughly enjoyed teaching the life-changing vocational training courses the Centre offers, it wasn’t long before primary education—her great love—called her once again. The irrepressible Sr Anne has assumed a number of important school board positions in recent years.

Since 2012 she has been working at St Anne’s Primary School in Hannah Town, a suburb of the capital Kingston. Her goal in educating very young Jamaican children is to provide them with the means to create a brighter future for themselves, away from the violence and crime that is ever-present in current day Jamaica.

 

 

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Exaltation of the Cross 14th September, 2014

Homily Exaltation of the Cross   14th September, 2014   

 

The annual Catholic Campaign is here…. 

http://catholicfoundation.org.au/

 

Check out “Archbishop Mark Coleridge's Homily and ACC Request Commitment Weekend 2014” by Archdiocese of Brisbane on Vimeo.

The video is available for your viewing pleasure at http://vimeo.com/105816961

If you like this video, make sure you share it, too!

A warm welcome and thank you to His Grace Archbishop Mark Coleridge DD, who presided at the Saturday night 6pm Mass at St Rita's Catholic Parish, Victoria Point, for the installation of Fr. Paul Kelly as Parish Priest. 
This is the blessing prayer for the installation:

Rite of Installation and Prayers of Intercession
	(The parish priest comes forward and stands near the Archbishop. The reader who will lead the general intercessions goes to ambo.)
Archbishop:	Brothers and sisters, with the Installation of its pastor this community of faith enters upon a new phase of its journey.  This is therefore a time of fresh hope.   Father Paul, you have been called to serve as pastor of St Rita’s Parish.  I ask you therefore:  Are you willing, through the grace of your ordination as a presbyter, to accept the call to be pastor in this community of faith?
FR PAUL:	I am.
Archbishop:	Are you willing to commit yourself wholeheartedly to the mission of Christ within this community, allowing its baptismal gifts to flourish for the building up of Christ’s Body, the Church?
FR PAUL:	I am.
Reader:	Let us pray for Father Paul, that as he begins to serve as pastor in this parish, he will grow in love of Christ and his people. (pause) We pray to the Lord.
All:	Lord hear our prayer.
Archbishop:	Fr Paul, are you willing to serve this community of faith through the ordained ministries of Word and Sacrament?
Parish Priest:	Yes, I am.  I will also work with those who serve the parish through its many ministries and works of service.  I will strive to support them in all that they do and to encourage everyone to share fully in the life of the community.
Reader:	Let us pray for all ordained ministers, especially Fr Paul and for all who serve this community in its many ministries and works of service, that they will lead the parish to grow in faith, hope and love. (pause)  We pray to the lord.
All:	Lord hear our prayer.
Archbishop:	My brothers and sisters: Are you willing to receive Fr Paul as the Parish Priest of St Rita’s and to support him in his ministry by your faith, your love and your prayer?
All:	We are.
Reader:	Let us pray for all the members of the parish community as we look forward to the ministry of Fr Paul.  May all of us be open to the working of the Holy Spirit, be ready to carry out God’s will joyfully, and to bear witness to Christ unfailingly in our daily life.    (pause) We pray to the lord.
All:	Lord hear our prayer.
Reader:	Let us pray for the Archdiocese of Brisbane under the leadership of our Archbishop, and for all who have been charged with the ministry of servant leadership.  May they be conformed more deeply each day to the likeness of Christ who came not to be served but to serve. (pause) We pray to the lord.
All:	Lord hear our prayer.
Reader:	Let us pray that the love of God will accompany us always on our pilgrimage of faith, giving us courage when we are afraid, patience when we are afflicted, happiness when we are blessed and joy in his service. (pause) We pray to the lord.
All:	Lord hear our prayer.
Prayer of Blessing	(Parish priest stands in front of Archbishop.  With hands outstretched the Archbishop sings or says:)
Archbishop:	Lord our God, in your loving kindness you sent your Son Jesus to be our shepherd, leading us into eternal life. Bless + Paul your servant, our brother, as he begins to serve here as pastor in this community of faith. Let your Holy Spirit fill his life that he may never fail to be an instrument of your peace for all who worship here. By his faith and hope and love may he show forth your word of truth. By his prayer and self-sacrifice may he grow in knowledge and love of you. By his acceptance of your call, first given in baptism and sealed in ordination, may he be strengthened in his mission of service to the Church and to the world. Through Christ our Lord.
All:	Amen.

(the homily below is From Fr. Paul for Sunday Masses of 14th September.....   

“In Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross, Our Lord underwent the very worst of human torture and had accepted it all ‘for our sake.’…….  Always we hear this phrase:  for our sake.  Jesus became human for our sake.  Jesus lived for our sake.  Jesus suffered for our sake.  Jesus died for our sake.  Jesus rose for our sake.”[i]   Not for himself…  but totally for the sake of others…  for all….   It’s a wonderful example of self sacrifice, self-forgetting, self giving…  

 

The cross of Jesus Christ is not a sign that a ‘bloodthirsty God’  has no other way of forgiving sins than by demanding that humans pay for their sins with physical punishment, by forfeiting their lives…..  by dying……   The Cross, is not really about humans paying for their collective sin by satisfying a hard-to-please God by offering up an innocent representative ….  Although that certainly is the human way of thinking…..   /  Jesus certainly was seen and described as the Passover lamb, innocent and spotless….   sacrificed to atone for the sins of others….  That is clearly so……    but what I am meaning here is….     I don’t believe GOD demanded this be so, but that humans demanded that this be so……. Humans have always demanded that be so………   and God knew that was the way we humans think and met us where we were…..   out of love… out of a desire to save us…..   // God did everything that it took to release us from the sin that we find it hard to release others from without dire sacrifice..  and which we often find to release ourselves from….  

 

The Cross, then, is really a sign of God’s faithfulness and closeness to us through the most difficult times of life….   through the best and worst of what the world offers…..  //   If I take your sins upon my own shoulders…  if my son gives his very life with you..  will you quit with killing, with hatred, with selfishess…  and return to me with all your heart????/…    if I do this…  will it be enough to end the cycle of hatred and sin….??? (and indeed – yes it is!!).

 

We are told by the Gospel….   Jesus came into the world and died on the cross not to condemn….  but that we might all be saved…….  

 

God looked deep into the human heart….  and sees in us humans a seemingly constant need that we pay for our mistakes with retribution……  (often violent retribution)……   that one person wins….  by others losing……   

 

God, in Jesus, became the scapegoat for the worst of what humanity can throw at each other……     Jesus became a thing of horror on the cross….  so that everyone and anyone can throw… can project all that is wrong and bad about the world…  or about the complexities of their lives and circumstances….  and project it all at this figure on the cross…..  who will disempower it….   defeat it….. nuetralise it……    thus putting an end to violence as a solution to everything….

 

The triumph of the Cross of Christ is God’s ultimate word to humans -   NOW, and end to harm towards each-other…..      as the price for wrongs suffered…. //    let me bear this in myself….    let me bear the world’s insane need for retribution for everything wrong done…..   so that you won’t keep doing this to yourselves…  to each other…..       so you won’t keep thinking that God is demanding blood for sins committed……  

 

 

We should never underestimate the human ability to withhold forgiveness…..  to demand incredible price for wrongdoing……  and even then leave people no hope for moving beyond the hurt… the wrong……    the cross can be a powerful sign that there is an infinitely stronger solution to the wrongs in the world than mere eye-for-an-eye….. which leads to an endless cycle of retribution and counter-retribution…..    

 

This weekend’s feast of the Triumph of the cross…  is also a wonderful statement that unmasks many false concepts of what true POWER is really like….. 

 

the cross says that power is NOT really any of the following things..

 

• true power is not about domination…  but about love… about freedom and persuasion…
•  
• true power is being able to forgive… rather than becoming a slave to the necessity of striking back…..   
•  
• true power is not about controlling… or standing over others…….  but about walking together as one… 
•  
• true power, in the cross, is revealed in love willing to suffer to others…  to serve to put others first….

  

Jesus believed so completely in the needs and protection of everyone… even those most on the margins…. and put his whole life on the line to ensure it…..      this power is stronger than all others….   and we celebrate the love and care of God revealed in this most contradictory sign …   

of victory and love….    Through the Cross..!

 

 

 

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REFERENCES:

 

·                      FR. PAUL W. KELLY

·                      MONASTERY OF CHRIST IN THE DESERT. ABBOT’S HOMILY.

P Save a tree. Don't print this e-mail unless it's really necessary

 

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[i] Abbots Homily, Christ in the Desert - The Monastery of Christ in the Desert Homily posted on September 10 2014.  The Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2014.  Cycle A. 2014

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