Studies in Rome

Hi everyone,

My Mum and Dad have headed back home after an enjoyable stay here in Rome. I am so grateful for the time to catch up and relax and look at some special places in Rome.

For me, its back to lectures, and we have had an excellent lecturer ever day this week, speaking about "Discipleship, following Jesus who walked on the earth"

Fr John Fuellenbach has given the talks and they are very inspiring. I hope to be able to give a more full summary soon. His talks are based loosely around his new book, "Throw Fire".

A little taste of his book can be found in the following link, although his lectures are more general to the topic of discipleship  and the nature of the God we are called to be follow.

http://www.tere.org/secondary/gcse/index.html


He has also written some classic books:  namely:
*The Kingdom of God: Message of Jesus Today by John Fuellenbach (Paperback - Mar 1996)

 

*Ecclesiastical Office and the Primacy of Rome: An Evaluation of Recent Theological Discussion of First Clement (Studies in Christian antiquity) by John Fuellenbach (Hardcover - 1980)

 

 *Church: Community for the Kingdom (American Society of Missiology) by John Fuellenbach (Paperback - 2 Jul 2002)

 

Having engaged with these excellent talks, it is clear how our discipleship must reveal itself in practical and concrete ways in our lives and actions. So, it is very relevant and timely that the Pope's latest general audience was on the topic of St Ambrose, and particularly how it is often not as much WHAT we say but how we live what we are saying that brings home the truth of Jesus' good news: (see Pope's message below)

cheers everyone,

paul

AMBROSE: CATECHESIS INSEPARABLE FROM LIFE WITNESS

 

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2007 (VIS) - During today's general audience, Benedict XVI continued his series of catecheses dedicated to Fathers of the Church, turning his attention to the figure of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan. The audience, held in St. Peter's Square, was attended by more than 30,000 people.

 

  It was from Origen that Ambrose (ca. 340-397), considered to be one of the four greatest Doctors of the Church, learnt to know and comment the Bible. It was Ambrose, the Pope explained, who "brought meditation upon the Scriptures into the Latin world, ... introducing the practice of 'lectio divina' to the West." This practice "guided all his own preaching and writing which flow, in fact, from his listening ... to the Word of God."

 

  With him catechumens "learnt first the art of correct living" in order "to be prepared for the great Mysteries of Christ." His preaching was founded on "the reading of Sacred Scripture" with the aim of "living in conformity with divine Revelation.

 

  "It is evident," the Pope added, "that the preacher's personal witness and the exemplary nature of the Christian community influence the effectiveness of preaching. ... From this point of view, one decisive factor is life context, the reality of how the Word is lived."

 

  Benedict XVI recalled the fact that St. Augustine in his Confessions recounts how his own conversion was not due "chiefly to the beautiful homilies" of Ambrose, whom he knew in Milan, but above all "to the witness of the bishop and of his Milanese Church, who sang and prayed together like one single body." Augustine also tells of his surprise at seeing how Ambrose, when he was alone, would read the Scriptures without moving his lips, because at that time reading was considered as something to be proclaimed out loud in order to facilitate its comprehension.

 

  It is "in such reading, ... when the heart seeks to achieve an understanding of the Word of God, that we catch a glimpse of Ambrosian catechesis," said the Holy Father. "Scripture intimately assimilated suggests what must be announced to convert people's hearts. ... Thus catechesis is inseparable from life witness."

 

  "Those who educate in the faith," he continued, "cannot run the risk of appearing like a clown who plays a role, ... rather he must be like the beloved disciple who rested his head on the Master's heart and there learnt how to think, speak and act."

 

  St. Ambrose died on Good Friday, his arms open in the form of the cross. "Thus," the Pope concluded, "he expressed his mystical participation in the death and resurrection of the Lord. This was his final catechesis. In the silence of words, he spoke still with the testimony of his life."

Roaming around town

Today, I enjoyed another excellent day of wandering Rome with Mum and Dad.

We visited the Church of Saint Clement. This is such a wonderful church because of the fact that the present church is build upon the ancient Church of St Clement, and this in turn is built upon a pagan temple. Three different levels and visitors can go down and look at them. Amazing, and very well preserved. it is also the tombs of Cyril and Methodius and of course St Clement.

We prayed especially for blessings for my uncle, Clem, whose patron saint is this saint. We also prayed for my parish priest i had as a child, Fr Cyril Shand, who died not long before I was ordained.

We then visited the amazing church of St Peter in Chains where the chains believed to have been used to hold St Peter are kept. Also, the famous tomb of Julius II including the statue of Moses by Michaelangelo is in this church.

After lunch we visited the ancient civic centre of Rome, the Roman Forum. Mum, Dad and I walked through the ruins and looked at the buildings and monuments that are all that remains of the centre of the ancient Roman empire. The one I like the best is the ancient Rostri, the stage where public citizens could come and speak to the people, and this is where Marc Anthony gave his famous speech after the assassination of Julius Ceasar.

We also went to see the church of Mary and the Martyrs and Angels. You may remember that we tried to go there the other day but were unable to because of an enormous state funeral there, which also blocked the streets.  

Today we tried again, but excitement seems to be following us, because AGAIN the streets around this church were entirely blocked to traffic. Thousands of people waving red flags were having a rally and march in the streets around there. It was a peaceful march from what we saw and in fact the march, although crowded, allowed us to moved more easily across the streets by foot. When we came to the church, there were protesters holding an enormous banner. We just walked past them and they let us in. When we came out, there was someone holding up a sign saying something in Italian like 'the church should give justice" or words to that effect. I just gave a friendly smile and moved on. The person holding the sign looked a bit surprised, perhaps they were expecting a less friendly reaction?

We went to mass at a local church which has English language mass for the weekend. St Susanna's. They had children's liturgy and excellent music. It reminded me of home.
I have uploaded some more photos of our days together at www.mysteriousthree.com

Also, the college whereI am staying has published a few photos of the recent diaconate they had at St Peter's. Somehow I ended up in a few photos, (just to prove that I was there and didn't sleep in and miss it!) so if you would like to visit the site of these photos, it is at :

http://www.pnac.org/resource/public/photoload.aspx?domain=PUC&id=2007.10.04%20-%20Diaconate%20Ordination

cheers and God bless

Paul

St Pauls outside the walls, Therese and Anselmo

The other day we paid a visit to the Basilica of St Paul "outside the walls" of the old Roman City. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint_Paul_Outside_the_Walls)

 

 Here is where St Paul was buried, his tomb is regarded to be directly under the main altar. St Paul is my patron saint and I have a special devotion to him. He was a lawyer who was zealous in the letter of the law and believed that by complete adherence to the religious law of his time as interpreted by the legalistic establishment of his time, one was righteous. In this overzealousness Paul set about persecuting this new group of disciples of a man called Jesus, whom he misguidedly believed to be corrupting the true worship of God. On his way to damascus to capture more of these people later to be known as Christians, he was struck to the ground by an unseen force and saw a vision of blinding light. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Caravaggio-The_Conversion_on_the_Way_to_Damascus.jpg )

He heard a voice which he later realised was Jesus saying 'saul, saul why do you persecute me?' . He realised with horror that his blind obedience to the rigid and inflexible letter of the law had actually led him to go against God's will revealed in and through Jesus God the son. From then on Paul became the most bold of all disciples fiercely proclaiming the love of Jesus and the life of discipleship in The Holy Spirit. Paul knowingly warned about reliance on the letter of the law- it cannot save, only Jesus and his grace does that. He spoke graciously about the freedom and responsibility that came from a new law - that written by the Spirit upon our hearts.

 

I have always been deeply impressed by Pauls writings and his constant message to us. I have in some small way known the meaning of putting God's spirit before legalism, having come myself from legal training at university. I have never seen visions but at times in my life I have been 'spiritually knocked off my horse' in realisation that Jesus does not desire rules and regulations but grace and Spirit, and above all love.  I love having Paul as my patron saint.

 

I have wanted to visit this basilica the last two times I was in Rome but circumstances prevented me. I was content though because I always believed that one day I would return and visit this place. That day finally came on October 1st and it lived up to expectations. It was not just the absolute beauty of the building, it was not only the fact that something really special and joyful seemed to bouy up our whole group as we took a tour through this church, celebrated Mass at the Martyrs chapel there and got to pray and the newlyexcavated front of the tomb of Paul in front of the main altar.

 

Ironically the celebrant of the mass, which we all concelebrated here did not mention St paul once! Ha ha. No matter- all around us and in fact all around Rome and the world we can see and experience reminders of this great Apostle to the Gentiles.

 

There was another unexpected surprise awaiting me here though.  I am speaking about  Saint Thérèse of Liseux, not only a very popular saint but since 1997 the church has declared her  a 'doctor of the church' given the significance of her writing and influence. It was her feast day on the day of our visit to St Pauls and the mass and homily made several significant and meaningful mentions of her and her spiritual writings. For some time I had been feeling drawn to read more on her life and writing and had not yet done so, and so here I was at St Pauls hearing more about her than my patron. It ended up being a perfect if unexpected combination. It was a bit like going to a dinner party to see a longtime friend  and finding not only them but also another unexpected extra guest who has also been invited, and then striking up a new level of friendship with the guest. That is what it felt like as I reflected not only on Paul but also Therese as I experienced this tour.

 

I had not realised until I went and found her works that Thérèse had an enormous respect for and quoted st pauls words often. Thérèse had a special sense of mission to pray for and spiritually sustain in prayer priests. She particularly wanted to pray for missionaries and since she was too ill to be  a missionary herself, she would be a spiritual missionary by offering her prayers and everyday actions to God as an act of love whichshe trusted would bear enormous fruit in the lives and ministry of others. It was later revealed that this turned out to be more effective in the lives of countless people than we could have imagined. St Thérèse also lived St Pauls words to the full- "if I had faith so as to move mountains but did not have love I am nothing whatsoever." Therese, wanting to be missionary, teacher, martyr, priest, warrior for Christ and so much more finally realised in prayer that she was called to be all of these (in a sense) by finidng her vocation to be 'love in the very heart of the church' thus being united in faith so closely to God who is love until she positively exuded love to anyone she met or wrote to or prayed for.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_de_Lisieux

 

Sorry to be so gushing about this but I cannot describe effectively what an impact this day and following days have had on me as i reflected on these things and went and read as much as I could on this saint . Even though some of her words and expressions are firmly couched in terms of piety of the 19th century, her thought is still relevant and is in fact essentially timeless. I had known previously and felt particularly attracted to her concept of  'the little way of holiness' which fits with one of my favourite themes of making the events, chores and challenges of our everyday life and action the very substance of our sanctification and holiness of daily life. I believe that even the most mundane of chores if done with love is connecting us to the love and transforming grace of God, which cannot fail to produce enormous fruitfulness even if we don't always see it.

 

Occasionally Thérèse and her writing has been accused of being overly sentimental or pietistic. However again I was amazed to read that in the last 18 months of her life (and her death from tuberculosis was reportedly dreadfully protracted and horrific right up to the end) she experienced no consolation and a kind of endless dark night of the soul. But this ongoing sense of desolation reminded her that even Jesus felt no consolation on the cross and even cried out "My God, My God, why have you abandoned me". For her critics, not that she was trying to justify herself, Thérèse did not equate discipleship of Jesus or closeness to God with feelings of warmth, consolation or comfort. A closer look reveals a person who held on in trust through times of doubt and emptiness, and used these times to show love, kindness and graciousness to others when she could have been forgiven for 'biting people's heads off' with irritation because of her illness and pain.

 

This is all a long way of saying that this visit to St Pauls opened my eyes even wider and was a deeply moving moment of renewal for me. We went out in the cloister garden after mass at St Paul's and there in the garden were a couple of the most beautiful roses in full bloom. What a wonderful day.

 

It appears that Paul has once again been knocked flat off his horse. It was certainly not a bad feeling!

 

In that chapel where we had mass was an ancient crucifix where it is believed a saint prayed and the head of Jesus on the crucifix turned toward her. Interestingly the head does seem at a very odd and unnatural angle to the body!

 

One last amausing thing. As we were going into the sacristy of the Basilica of st paul's, to vest for mass, I got an unexpected surprise.  A cute little puppy dog came bounding out of the sacristy ( I have never seen a dog in a basilica before - it apparently belonged to the sacristan). It bounded up and came over for a pat. It was very cute. I laughed and said  to it ' st Francis says to say hello!'  I joked with the other priests "maybe this is the hound of heaven?"

 

Another stunning feature of this church is its windows. They appear to be made of a kind of opaque golden glass but amazingly they are actually made of highly polished, very thin and translucent stone  - alabaster - giving a pleasing golden light to the inside.

 

It was an excellent day and I have a lot of photos of my visit on my website www.mysteriousthree.com

 

++++++

 

this week has been a free week for traveling. "Some of our group went on an optional tour to the Holy Land but I stayed home in Rome to wander about, rest, I have a small cold, and read up on Thérèse and other reflective books. One day I hope to go to the Holy Lands but I do not feel the time is right.

 

I did get to go to Saint Anselms University, San Anselmos, a benedictine college and monastery. It is beautiful. http://www.santanselmo.org/images/dott_hc_mons_valenziano/index.htm

 I got to have lunch with one of the staff and also met a young Jesuit from Sydney who was completing a thesis on images of Mary in the Chinese church. I mentioned that I had been to China many times and my brother Ben lived there.

 

I got invited to visit there after a lecturer from San Anselmo did a class for us at our college.  I got to talking with him in the break and mentioned that my uncle Clem studied at this college in the sixties. This college tends to specialise in aspects of Liturgy. Also Fr Clem took me to visit this place (Anselmos) and we got to concelebrate with the community of monks when I was  here with him in 1999. It was a wonderful day. I had lunch with the community, got a tour of the chapel and cloister and the excellent library. I also got to see and talk about the new Roman Missal (sacramentary) that was issued in 2002. I saw a latin version of it, it is still being carefully translated into English but we don't know how long this process of translating, review, episcopal and Vatican approval will take. Nothing secret and confidential here though, anyone can buy a latin version in Rome now, if they can read it, but my Latin is fairly basic. I was shown some of the changes that the New Missal for the mass will make. They are not huge, there are clarifications of ambiguities, changes of a few words, a simplification of the options in the penitential rite and things like this. YOu may have heard of various controversies arising about early confidential drafts of the translation to English of this latin text but really I suspect that speculation arising from leaked drafts is full of misunderstanding and is probably unhelpful. I just commented, well when it comes out I will take the view that 'just give it to us and I will implement it' I don't believe in causing a fuss and jumping up and down, the liturgy is bigger than one person, certainly bigger than me and my whims.

 

If you are wanting to read a bit more about the updated roman missal we have a foretaste of it because the introductory General instruction to the 2002 Edition has been translated into English but has not fully been implemented everywhere until different bishops conferences around the world adopt it. It is a complex and consultative process.

 

The new english version of the missal could possibly still be years off being fully issued. Basically they are aiming at a translation that is very faithful to the latin text version, simple, clear, unambiguous. It will also focus on preserving ancient versions of the oepning and closing prayers and deleting those wordy alternative opening prayers that were basically created anew for the previous edition. Some of the translations of the present opening and closing prayers of the mass (whilst not wrong) are very loose and general echoes of what the actual original text is saying so this new version aims to be more precise and literal to the text. Also the new translation is apparently open to the concept that as well as our 'everyday' english there is room for using words that are more 'formal' more liturgical and distinct from casual speech so as to highlight some aspects of the special and sacramental nature of liturgy. This is why we might not use words such as 'hallowed' in everyday speech -probaby we would use the word 'holy' in daily speech, but the church is suggesting that more this more formal and less everyday vocabulary could still be fitting in a liturgical setting to convey the mystery and majesty of what is happening. At least that is my take on some of the aspects under consideration, but it won't be wholly foreign to us, it seems to be structurally very recognisable as the forms we have become used to.

 

I got to pop into a church just near the Anselmo college. This church is a 4th century church called Santa Sabina.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Sabina  It is an excellent and untainted version of any early Christian Basilica, simple, uncluttered with beautiful vertical lines, classic columns and a simple timber ceiling with stars painted on it. The floors are of geometic patterns. A paneled door (5th century) in the side portico outside features on the top left of the door the earliest depictions of the crucifix . Prior to this depiction which became popular after this, the shame and horror of the crucifixion was too recent, to scandalous too real a possibility of being their fate too, so images of a fish or a jewelled victory cross etc were common. By the 5th century, Christianity was legal and the church was now more settled in its public position and appeared to need to remind itself of the reality of Christs cross and suffering F before this time suffering and martyrdom were so real they needed no reminding but rather needed strength to remember the glory they were called to and promised.

 

Cheers and I hope this reflection has been interesting. I enjoyed my visit.

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Principal - St Mary's College Maryborough, 2008

Hi everyone,

Below is an official announcement from Brisbane Catholic Education and on behalf of the Parish. I add my congratulations to Mrs Joy Massingham on her appointment as Principal of Saint Mary's College Maryborough, and extend a heartful welcome on behalf of the whole community. I would also like to thank the appointment panel for their work and role of discernment and also again give thanks for Mr John Mula's wonderful work and support as Principal. With every best wish to you all.

Sincerely, 
Fr Paul Kelly.

Appointment to Principalship

I am pleased to announce on behalf of Archbishop Bathersby and in conjunction with Father Paul Kelly, Parish Priest of St Mary's, Maryborough, the appointment of

Mrs Joy Massingham as principal of St Mary's College, Maryborough from the start of the 2008 school year.

Joy is an experienced teacher and leader in Catholic schools who is currently Deputy Principal at St John Fisher College, Bracken Ridge where she has held leadership positions since 2001. Joy holds a Master of Social Science (Pastoral Counselling) from the Australian Catholic University, a Bachelor of Education from the Brisbane College of Advanced Education and Certificate Two in Systematic Theology from the Institute of Faith Education.

This appointment follows a selection process involving national advertising, and a panel involving Sr Rose Cavallo, Pastoral Associate, St Mary's Parish, a parent representative, a representative of School Board and representatives of Brisbane Catholic Education on behalf of the Archdiocese.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge with gratitude the leadership of John Mula as principal of St Mary's College since Term 4 of 2002 and wish him all the very best as he takes up his role in the diocese of Cairns.

I trust you will make Joy welcome as she commences in her role in 2008.

Vicki Tanzer

(Acting) Executive Director of Catholic Education

Archdiocese of Brisbane

18 September 2007

Destination: Rome

Greetings from Rome,

I have safely arrived in Rome, after the trip to Florence. The train trip to and from Rome worked out as easily and as smoothly as I had hoped. As I came back I was delighted that it worked out so smoothly and it is so relatively easy to travel around Italy without any worries. I had hoped so and it turned out to be true.

I left my hotel in plenty of time and got down to the Florence train station, which was a bit of a mistake, because my train was an hour late. That will teach me, but I still prefer to be early than late. AT one point I was worried they would cancel my train altogether because others came and went and my scheduled train just stayed up the top with the words 'ritarde' (delayed) beside it. But it arrived and and bundled myself onboard, mysteriously with an extra packet stuffed full of things, and here I had promised myself I would try to lead a more uncluttered life and I have brought back with me more than i went to Florence with. Oops. people were friendly on the train, even when i pulled my bag from the overhead rack and my umbrella fell out and hit a man over the head. He was very understanding. One should never let these things go to ones head!

In Rome, and I am now at the College and they are very welcoming and friendly. I hear there are about 232 students for the priesthood studying here, including about four from Australian dioceses, namely Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, but I have yet to meet these students. I think they are rather intrigued with my accent, although would be familiar with it through people they have met.

Among the priests who are doing this sabbatical renewal course here are priests from all over the States and also two very nice priests from our neck of the woods: the Solomon Islands. We have already had very interesting conversations and I think this will be really excellent.

Thinking of you. The course starts formally on Wednesday and so tomorrow is a fairly quiet day for just settling in and getting orientated.

Last night I watched the news and the Pope was in loretto at an italian national youth conference. He looks extremely well and happy, which is excellent and the young people are responding to his words very well. I just saw a text of his address and it is very encouraging to everyone:

The Pope was asked various questions by the young ones in this meeting and replied to a number of questions that were put to him. One question addressed "the disquiet shared by many young people from all parts of the world and all religions" concerning their place in history and their fear of being left on the margins. The Pope replied by indicating how "according to the divine plan, the world has no margins. ... For God we are all at the center, ... equally loved and called to undertake great deeds, ... each using his or her own talents."

"Dear young people," said the Pope, "in Jesus' name I repeat to you tonight: Go! Live! Love! In God's eyes each of you is important, You are important to your family and friends, ... to your country, to the entire world, to the Church and to Jesus Christ." The Holy Father also exhorted the young people not to feel marginalized "because no life is unimportant. ... You must realize that you are important protagonists, because you are at the center of God's love."

Benedict XVI then delivered a talk to the participants, whom he described as "the hope of the Church in Italy," and he invited them "to open their hearts and offer everything to Jesus" with the "interior strength and trusting abandonment" that was Mary's.

"What a stupendous exhibition of youthful and inspiring faith we are experiencing this evening!" he cried. "This evening, thanks to you, Loreto has become the spiritual capital of youth, the center towards which multitudes of young people on the five continents turn. ... The Pope is close to you, and for each of you he asks from the Lord the gift of a full and happy life, a life rich in meaning."

"Today, unfortunately, a full and happy life is not infrequently seen by many young people as a distant dream. ... Do not be afraid, Christ can fulfil the most intimate aspirations of your heart! ... Each one of you, if you remain united to Christ, can achieve great things. ... You should not be afraid to dream of great plans for goodness, and you should not let yourselves be discouraged by difficulties. Christ has trust in you and wants you to realize all your most noble and exalted dreams of true happiness."

The Holy Father then recalled the Annunciation, when the angel told Mary "of her participation, in the most intimate possible way, in the greatest of God's plans: the salvation of humanity." The Pope emphasized how "her 'yes' changed her life and the history of humanity entire. ... And from Mary we learn to pronounce our own 'yes,' because she really knows what it means to respond generously to the requests of the Lord."

Mary, Benedict XVI continued, "knows of your great desire for love, your need to love and to be loved. Looking at her, ... you will discover the beauty of love. ... true and profound love." All young people starting out in life "cultivate the dream of a love that will give full meaning to their future. For many of them this is achieved in marriage and the creation of a family."

"I well know that today such a dream is becoming ever less easy to accomplish. How many failures of love do we see around us! ... The Mother of God, the community of believers and the Pope are near you and pray that the crisis affecting families in our time does not become irreversible," said the Holy Father, and he renewed his invitation to participants "not to be afraid," because "for those who trust in God nothing is impossible.

"This is true for people destined for married life," he added, "and even more so for those whom God has called to a life of complete detachment from the goods of the earth and of complete dedication to His Kingdom. Among you are those directed towards the priesthood, consecrated life, and others who aspire to be missionaries."

"Be certain that a life dedicated to God is never spent in vain," said the Holy Father. He then concluded his talk by reminding the young people of the celebrations for World Youth Day 2008, due to take place in Sydney, Australia. "Let us pray," he said, "that the Lord Who accomplishes all prodigies may enable many of you to be there."


I like how the Pope has affirmed and encouraged people of every vocation. It is very nice.


Cheers everyone and be assured of my continued thoughts and prayers for you all back home


cheerio

Paul

Florence II

Hello again everyone,

Have a look when you get the chance of my latest piccies hot off the press from Florence.

its on my webshots site which can be accessed as before, or try this shortcut link

www.mysteriousthree.com


I have fixed the problem with the system that publishes whatever people reply to my travelogue. SOrry for the confusion. When I was in France, when i had to edit the publishing list, it all showed up in French and I had to guess what it was asking me. Anway, now its all in English so I can read it again and click the right buttons to ensure thi8ngs go the right direction.

Cheers
Paul

Westminister 2007

Yesterday, Sunday 15th July 2007. Attended the 10.30am mass at Westminister Catholic Cathedral. The primary Catholic Church in United Kingdom. It is the church where Cardinal Cormack O'Connor has his bishops chair.

Lit a special candle at a side chapel dedicated to the Holy Souls of the faithful departed, and offered prayers before mass  and during the mass for the repose of the soul of Bobbie Rollings, and for the comfort and consolation of Noel and famuily and friends at this time of sadness.

The Mass was so peaceful and so beautiful. The mass had a choir singing. It was like angels singing. It filled me with such serenity and peace and hope.

Thinking and praying for you during this mass.

The homily ironically touched upon a topic I mentioned in an earlier log, about what to do when we come across someone in need, like those who ask for money in the street. Although the homily did not contradict my point it was still challenging. It reiterated that Jesus really meant to see each other as brothers and sisters - we are all linked. I totally agree with that too. He also mentioned that this did not mean we should let other walk all over us, but he added that past rip-offs and past hurts can sometimes be an excuse for peope stopping from moving out of their comfort  zone. he didn't put it liek this but the meaning was the same:  " should most hurts have an expiry date?"


After Mass, I walked back home to the tube train station via 10 Downing street (well past it, you can't get through that area but near it). I have put the latest photos on my webshots site and you can find the link below at the footer to this message.

god bless everyone, continuing to keep you all my thoughts and prayers

Paul

London

Hi everyone.

I have just arrived in London. And ready to greet me when I arrived was the most beutiful draft versions of two more songs I have done a very rough draft of. I know someone who does them up nicely with proper arrangement, and I have been blown away by my own song in the hands of a nice arranger (sorry if that sounds like boasting but it has come up nicely)

when i get a chance I will find a way of posting the songs so you can all hear them and see what you think

cheerio

by the way there are a couple more logs from Shanghai but technical problems have prevented me from publishing them. I can't get the info off my little palm diary onto the internet. All efforts have failed but I am working on it.

cheerio for now

Paul

John the Baptist

BIRTH OF THE BAPTIST: 24TH JUNE 2007

Something becoming known that has been planned since the foundation of time…… a secret…. taking shape ….. a mystery, coming to resolution……….

This is what this weekend’s special feast is about this weekend…………

This is a concrete expression of the later words of Jesus….. what you hear in whispers… will be shouted from the rooftops……..

God knows each one of us….. calls us by name…… forms us in secret….. and intends and plans to bring one or more different facets of God’s own plan to fruition in each one of us…… for us… it may not be the profound and unrepeatable role of John the Baptist……. (God’s warm up man, if you like)….. the herald…… whose role was TO PREPARE the way for the Messiah…. call us all to open our hearts, repent of our sins, turn back to God and clear any obstacles to the coming of Christ and his good news….

John the Baptist,…. who mixed with Kings and everyday citizens….but was uncompromising and equal in relating to all…. he was not overawed or blinded by the respect of famous and rich, but called them too, to the repentace of sin that he noted…

If a painting were to be done representing John the Baptist… it would capture his simplicity, his asceticism, and also, I reckon, it should show him pointing….. for he (in a gracious way) pointed to what was wrong and pointed to how to set it right…. and even more importantly…whenever anyone looked at him, so to speak, he pointed them back to Jesus…. saying… “I am not the one you seek….. he is the one who is to come….’

The gospel passage is an extraordinary moment…. when John’s name is revealed….. the parents of John needed to trust in what God was doing in their lives…. and they also had to be prepared to break with tradition when it was God’s will to do otherwise…… tradition is good…. but the principles on which tradition is based, are even more important ….. so… the tradition of the time said that a son should be named after either his father or a relative in the family….. but God asked this child to be named John and breaking with tradition… to achieve God’s will….. Zaccheriah spoke his first words in months and said….. his name is JOHN.

We too, have a part to play in God’s plan for the world…… each one of us is called to be a herald of Christ in our lives and act in a way that keeps pointing back to jesus and his life-giving message……..

we too, when necessary, need to put aside the letter of tradition and go with what is needed in the circumstances of a specific issue…. especially if to do so is in furtherance of Jesus mission in the world…..

Eleventh Week in ordinary Time year C

ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B

(17^TH JUNE 2007)

This is a very special gospel….. this incident, of the woman washing Jesus' feet and drying them with her hair…. is featured in every one of the four gospels….albeit in slightly different forms…….. whilst the gospels are strikingly similar in many places…… there are not that many incidents that are featured in each of the four gospels incuding Johns gospel, which is distinctly different from the gospels of Mark, luke and Matthew…….    what is also interesting is this…… it has been noted by one commentator…. that although this incident is featured in every one of the gospels, the writer of each gospel uses and adapts the incident differently to make different points………

in Luke’s gospel…..( Lk 7:36ff)   woman who has sinned greatly, and knows just how important it is to be forgiven ….shows enormous gratitude and devotion to jesus……

In Matthew….(Mt 26:6 ff)  the woman is not a sinner at all…. rather she is doing a deeply symbolic and prophetic action…. anointing him…  in preparation of his burial…. for this woman recognizes the significance of jesus and what he has come here to do…

In Mark (14: 1 ff) similarly, the woman’s actions are like that of a prophetess ! 

finally, John’s gospel (John 12:1 ff) names the woman…. it is Mary of Bethany…. along with  Martha and the raised-from-the dead Lazarus…….  in this version Mary appears to be unaware of the full significance of what she is doing… as an act of service, devotion and foreshadowing of what must come to Jesus: his suffering and death on the cross….

It has also been noted, that the only version of these incidents that is ever featured on the weekend cycle of readings… is today’s version… lukes… which portrays the woman as a sinner……..  // 

it is a shame that these other versions of the gospel incident are not also given voice regularly in the Sunday cycle of readings…….  , to remind us of the different roles that women played in Jesus group of followers….. and that many of the women who followed jesus were more attuned to his message than some of his apostles…….. disciples and followers of Jesus too…. and not all of them were notorious public sinners….any more than the men….

In any case…..This particular gospel of Luke (today/tonight) does reflect on sinfulness and forgiveness… and the sense of enormous gratitude it brings……. 

the reaction of the Pharisee who was hosting the dinner is interesting….. ‘if he knew what kind of a woman was touching him he should know that she is a sinner.’

It raises a really challenging thought in my mind……….how easy it is to be distracted……..   to look in the wrong direction…….   Jesus didn’t want the Pharisee to be spending his time trying to work out just how much of a sinner this person was who was anointing him….. rather…… this beautiful scene….    hopefully was an opportunity for those present… and ourselves here today….  to look inside ourselves and become aware of our sinfulness….. and… in a spiritual sense… fall at the feel of jesus…..    wash him with our tears of repentance……   anointing him the oil of gladness that he himself provides………… 

there are so many opportunities in this life for us to look inside ourselves….. but at times it can feel as if we would all be better off if we spent less time defending our righteousness and justification for who we are and what we do or don’t do…. or worse…..    pointing out the weaknesses and faults of others…. whilst of course failing to see the culpability in myself……… //  to “more profitably” spend the time looking at our own weaknesses and flaws……(not with the eyes of condemnation or rejection…..…but with the eyes of love that Jesus sees us with… so that we might be healed and strengthened and given the grace to grow in love and compassion….. and go beyond our faults and weaknesses….. growing more and more into the image of Christ that Jesus invites us to become….

Body and Blood of Christ - year c

THE BODY AND BLOOD OF THE LORD – YEAR C. JUNE 10^TH 2007

 

There is a saying:  “You are what you eat.” 

 

In the Eucharist, we believe that “we become what we receive…”    In Eucharist…we receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ….. and in so doing….we trust in // and engage directly // with the grace of God that it contains ……   that it might transform us to become more and more like Jesus with every passing day………..in our values, in our union with Jesus …..  in our being……….     this is what we are celebrating today, and each time we receive holy communion…….

 

It was wonderful last weekend to celebrate with our young ones who received their confirmation and first holy communion ….  and to have bishop Finnigan with us…….    it is a strong sign of our communion with eachother and with the nwider universal church which derives its source from our communion in jesus…..  

 

I truly believe.. that as exciting as first holy communion is… there is only one thing better than one’s first holy communion… and that is one’s second holy communion….. and there is only one thing better than second holy communion and that is third…. and so on……   it sets up a pattern of communion with the body and blood of Christ in our daily life……

 

I also think it is particularly beautiful…..  we believe in the God of the incarnation…. God made flesh…….  and so, God, who was made flesh and dwelt among us, understands intimately that we human beings are both spirit AND flesh… and as such…. we need tangible….touchable…..   sacraments so that we may engage with the realities of God’s love and Jesus’ presence …not only intellectually….but also physically……    and materially…….    God gives us sacraments so that we can not only think about God’s care for us, God’s healing, forgiving and uniting plan for us… but we can actually engage with it… and feel it and touch it…. and taste it…..

 

this is a gift of inexplicable value…… 

 

and we celebrate today… Jesus Christ, who comes to us and makes his home in us, through the sacrament of his body and blood….

 

 

 

 

 

Pentecost 2007

PENTECOST 2007

The presence and action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the lives of the church are absolutely vital….. The Spirit makes effective all that the church and every one of its disciples do….

Every single one of the seven sacraments…  has a major point in  the rite, where the church ‘calls down the action of the Holy spirit upon what we are doing, to make it effective……..   this will be particularly noticeable next week…. when Bishop Finnigan, representing the wider universal church that we all belong to …….will pray a special pray with his hands outstretched… calling down the Holy Spirit upon the young people who are to receive Confirmation……..    (confirming their baptism and strengthening and affirming the many gifts of the the spirit within them)……..    and then at Eucharist… the bishop will place his handsover the gifts of bread and wine and do what we do at each and every mass….   ask God to send the holy spirit upon these gifts of bread and wine so that they may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ……

 

Without the action of the Holy spirit, our rituals would be mere commemorations… without the holy spirit alive and active within us, we would not be united with Jesus and participating in God’s diving life………

 

Because the spirit is present and active amongst us, it is sometimes hard to notice….  just as we take for granted the air around us..,… we would only notice it if it was not there………    sometimes we see it more  obviously in our lives…..  just as we notice the air around us when it gets stirred up into a powerful windstorm… however… the spirit is as muc present in the stillness as in the storm……

 

The famous german scholar, Karl Rahner…  speaks about the everyday action of the Holy Spirit

 

he talks about how the action of the spirit can become obvious in those occasions when we do an action that is not explainable from our own self-interest….   ijn occasions where we do an act of kindness and we don’t get anything out of it ourselves..not even a sense of satisfaction… he seems to be suggesting that in cases like this, it is clearly the spirit at work…  something bigger than ourselves…absolute, un-interested graciousness….. because there is nothing in it for ourselves….. 

(my apologies if I have quotes this before, but it goes to the heart of things.. and remains abidingly relevant)….

he writes:

 

Did you ever do a kindness to a person from whom you could not expect even so much as a shadow of gratitude of appreciation….(while, at the same time, we had not even the compensation of feeling that we had acted unselfishly or decently in doing so? )…  Let us look into our lives, then, and see if we can discover whether any such experience ever came our way. If we can find that it did, we may be sure that the spirit was at work within us then, and …eternity and ourselves had a brief encounter-  that the spirit means more than an ingredient in the make-up of a passing world……   That explains the lives of the saints…. they know well that God’s grace can also grace the dull round of daily tasks (done well)……and bring the ‘doers’ a step nearer to God…..   When  we Christians experience the action of the spirit, it means that we are (in point of fact) having contact with the supernatural, although the contact may be scarcely noticeable…… (Karl Rahner (1904-1984): “Belief Today” (Sheed and Ward. New York, 1967. pp 40-41).

 

 

what the church needs today more than ever, are mystics of the everyday…. whose charism is the darn ordinary………   whose field of mission is reflecting on, speaking about and praying about rh everyday and the ordinary….   for the Spirit, and therefore Jesus, is at work in this field………   and it goes unnoticed, yet it makes up a significant part of our everyday lives…

 

The Holy Spirit effects to major things in our lives:   The Spirit makes Jesus and his message present in a new and real way in our lives, here and now. and present in our hearts.

 

The Spirit unites us, conforms us, incorporates us INTO Christ… and once we are part of Christ, we are part of God’s inner life, through Jesus, to the Father, by the bond of the Holy Spirit…. we sit, as it were, at the table of God’s inner life…  

 

Thirdly.. the reception of the spirit is a commissioning …  a sending……   a sending out on mission into the world……  not only to spread the message of the good news… but also to live it and BE it…. to each other and to all…. and to recognize the presence and the action of the Spirit in the people and events around us…

 

Fifth Sunday in Easter – 5/5/07

 

Easter 5

 

Fifth Sunday in Easter – 5/5/07
 
If loving people was easy, Jesus would not have had to go around reminding everyone to do it. It is a radical love – a challenging love…..   not a wishy-washy love…..
We all know that this is not an easy task. It is fairly easy to love those who are loving to us at the moment. Loving those who are cranky to us, those who reject us, those who think we are fools, those who resent us, etc.—that is the real task. Jesus tells us that "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

We can find so many ways to resist loving one another and we find ways to justify that resistance. Some times we must be pushed to become more open to others. This was also the experience of the early Church. At first, as we read in parts of the Acts of the Apostles, the followers of Christ would only preach to the Jewish people. They really had to be pushed by the Spirit in order to open up and accept non-Jewish people as followers of Jesus.

Today's first reading tells us that we must undergo hardships to enter the Kingdom of God. Yet almost everything about western culture speaks of trying to avoid any hardships. Our cultural values are about having more than enough of everything, about having everything that we want or desire, about having control over our own lives and the lives of others, etc. The follower of Jesus Christ must begin to work against these values, striving to have only that which really helps the inner life of prayer and the inner life of loving others. That will surely be hardship for most of us since our lives are fairly comfortable.

Is Jesus against having a comfortable life? Not at all! But Jesus wants us free to do the will of the Father and to have deep interior freedom means that we must always be able to give up comfort when it stands in the way of loving others—and that interior freedom can only grow if we practice an honest asceticism. That means that we must at times embrace an uncomfortable life so that our freedom can grow stronger.
But also, the word 'love' is highly misused…. Love does not mean saying 'yes' to everything and everyone….   'love' is not necessarily a synonym for 'niceness' .   Christian love does not mean being some kind of 'dormats for Christ' where everyone feels they can demand and act badly and because we are expected to 'love' we must put up with it….   Love can be tough-love….    Love can mean saying "no"   and refusing to cooperate with destructive things.

In the end, though, actions do speak louder than words……Those who do not believe can only begin to come to faith if they see that our lives have been changed by following the Lord. May the Holy Spirit come upon on in these Easter days and may we be strengthened in our capacity to love one another. If that happens, then surely we can know the new heaven and the new earth that the Second Reading today speaks about so clearly.

We want to see our earth with all tears wiped away. We want to see our earth renewed in the image of God. How we long to live without war and with the peace and joy of God in our hearts! Politics cannot ever bring this about, but faith can. May our faith be strengthened! God is making all things new.

(adapted from homily of the abbot, "Monastery of Christ in the Desert")

SUNDAY WEEK FOUR OF EASTER C - 2007

Often, when I am reading this gospel to young school students…..  the part where Jesus says… “I am the shepherd….. …. / and other places where Jesus says…. “I am the good shepherd…. I know my sheep and they know me… they know my voice and they follow me.,…” 

 

I often ask the students after this reading…..  “Is jesus talking about real sheep in this story?”….

 

No matter how young they are…. the answer has invariably been….”NO..”

 

then I ask….  “who is Jesus talking about then?”..

 

 

and they always say….”Us……..” they know that we all belong to God and God knows us each by name and loves us and cares for us and watches out for us………

 

I can’t help but think of that rather unfortunate but hilarious news story I read yesterday….about masters who not only did not recognize their own sheep…but did not even realize they WERE sheep……. apparently some unscrupulous businesses in Japan have been ripping off Thousands of Japanese  customers…..  in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles, ………Flocks of sheep were imported to Japan and then sold by a company called Poodles as Pets, marketed as fashionable accessories, available at $1,600 each.

That is a very cheap compared to a real poodle which retails for twice that much in Japan.

The scam was uncovered when Japanese movie-star went on a talk-show and wondered why her new pet would not bark or eat dog food.. She was crestfallen when told it was a sheep.

Then hundreds of other viewers got in touch with police to say they feared their new "poodle" was also a sheep.

One couple said they became suspicious when they took their "dog" to have its claws trimmed and were told it had hooves.

Japanese police believe there could be 2,000 people affected by the scam, which capitalised on the fact that sheep are rare in Japan, so according to reports many do not know what they look like.

"We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles," Japanese authorities said. Many of the sheep have now been donated to zoos and farms.

The owners of these sheep did not really know what they had……..     it makes jesus parable and example of the good shepherd… and his words of the gospel even more striking…..  even though sheep can look the same…. even if they can be mistaken for something else (apparently)….. this good shepherd knows each one of sheep by name and calls them…..

 

But unlike sheep… we are not called to follow like unquestioning sheep….but rather… we are called to be followers of Jesus like discerning disciples…. Jesus cares for and watches over us as a shepherd looks over sheep…. but Jesus relates to us and invites us into discipleship as he would welcome a friend and an equal……..  so we have the best of both worlds…

 

We do not follow blindly but listen to Jesus’ voice through prayer, both private prayer and public prayer. We need both sorts of prayer to hear us properly: one in silence on our own and the other in community worshipping the Good shepherd…and listening to his good news with our fellow disciples and companions on the journey.

 

One last thought… about the scriptures……    Jesus again calls anyone who dares follow him in discipleship to be very much in touch with the cares and worries, the fears and suffering of others….. Jesus, the good shepherd, remained close to and very much in touch with those who suffered, who were on the edges of society….. who were oppressed……. 

 

The readings today remind us that we will be sorry at the the final reckoning if the Lord finds us dry-eyed….  because it may very well mean that we have not been able to weep with those who weep……… and stand in support with those who suffer……