Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
wants or needs? 18th Sunday
"The hand of the Lord feeds us;
he answers all our needs"
The psalm that follows the first reading at every Mass is often overlooked. We might make an effort to listen to the message of the three other readings. But the psalm is often seen as little more than an interval before we concentrate on the second reading and the Gospel.
Take a moment to consider the verse above. It succinctly communicates the heart of today’s scriptures. God is providing for all our needs.
Perhaps you are not noticing this in your life right now? Let’s check out a few reasons why you might feel that God is not ‘answering all your needs’ at the moment.
In that last sentence there are a couple of key words.
The first is ‘feelings’. Any healthy, happy person has feelings. Too often we give our feelings a status that they do not warrant. We might feel pleasure and assume that all is well and right. We might feel anxiety or sorrow and jump to the conclusion that something is wrong. At times, any of us can fall into the trap of doing more of what ‘feels’ good, and running from what ‘feels’ bad.
Such simplistic assumptions can never lead us to deep satisfaction.
Our feelings are the starting point for sound reflection. At times I do feel sad. Why do I think my sadness is because something is wrong?
Perhaps I am sad because my teenager is leaving home? This is a sad moment. But it is right that the young adult makes a move from home to establish her own life. So this is a situation that is both sad AND right.
Perhaps I feel happy? But the reason might be that the fourth glass of chardonnay is beginning to take effect and I am actually under anesthetic!
The healthy person will always be aware of their feelings. But they will also know that feelings are often superficial, revealing little more than the colour of a veneer.
A healthy person will feel sadness the moment they realise that their ‘happy’ feeling is due only to the alcohol.
The healthy person who feels sadness at the loss of home and business in the earthquake, will taste a deeper joy in remembering that “the hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.”
This word “needs” is the second key word. Do I know what I really need? Or is my life motivated by the urge to satisfy the ‘wants’ that numb my deeper needs?
All too often my prayer is a time of presenting my apparent ‘wants’ to God. Then, I might mistakenly judge the activity or absence of God by noting if I ‘got’ what I ‘wanted.
How helpful it is to look back and rejoice that God did not simply respond to my rash and undiscerned wants. Instead God was (often at a level deeper than my awareness) constantly ‘answering all my needs’. Such remembering enables me to relax into the embrace of the one who “feeds us, and answers all our needs.”
We hear this powerfully in today’s readings: the eager invitation of God, the assurance of His protection and love, the abundance of divine provision for all that we need.
All of our needs are met when we remember that “nothing can separate us from the love of God, made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
the extreme menu
I was with a group of young Catholics tonight for a session and a meal. As the packaging suggests, the menu was extreme.
Cathedral: Peter Fleming photos
Parishioner Peter Fleming sent these Cathedral photos through to me this afternoon.
Monday, July 25, 2011
snow
A snow day in Christchurch is usually welcomed. Snow in the city usually gives a rest and play day. This morning it is different.
I think of the people who do not have sufficient heating. A large number of businesses are in desperate need of the business they will lose today.
But still, there is the beauty...
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Cathedral update
This Morning Mike Stopforth of the Catholic Diocese emailed these links to parishes.
Keep up to date with news of the Catholic Diocese at www.chch.catholic.org.nz
The link below will take you to a short video of the Cathedral dome from an aerial view at close view
Also at the bottom of this webpage you can view the latest photos of the dome close up.
I have put together a page of how the Church is responding to the earthquake at a pastoral level.
Friday, July 22, 2011
what I really really want
What a wonderful encounter between Solomon and God in today’s first reading. Solomon was the King of Israel 1000 years before the birth of Jesus. God invites Solomon: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you”. Solomon responds seeking “an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong”.
God is very pleased with Solomon’s request.
Three thousand years after this encounter, and in New Zealand (the geographical antipodes of Israel), the name and gift of Solomon is a part of every-day English conversation. We speak of the “wisdom of Solomon”.
The ancient high-achievers who were Solomon’s contemporaries in commerce and culture have been long forgotten.
But we still know about Solomon’s wisdom.
It is clear that Solomon was already wise before his request. He was reflective enough to know his real need. He could have asked God for worldly wealth and earthly success. But instead he seeks wisdom. He expresses to God the real desire of his heart. Solomon knows what he wants, ‘what he really really wants’.
Even before making his request of God, Solomon has oriented his life to God. He knows that humans can find their happiness in God alone. Solomon knows too that giving his subjects only what they ask for is not enough. Seeking to be liked by the people by responding to the wants they articulate may bring momentary relief and affirmation. But such motivation and reaction is incapable of satisfying the real needs of the people or of their monarch.
It is significant too that the satisfaction we seek cannot be found in human achievements or accomplishment. When we receive what we desire, there is a brief moment of pleasure. But very quickly we are seeking the next project and goal.
We have all experienced this.
Remember when you saved for that Abba LP, knowing that once you owned it you would be happy for the rest of your life? Now you have no idea when the record got thrown out. Now you are saving for a new plasma screen TV with ‘my-sky’.
This is very revealing. We can learn from this experience.
Humans on earth cannot exist happily without longing, yearning, hunger, desire, seeking, searching...
Our happiness is found not in possessing, achieving or owning the object of our desire. Instead, when we live with the desire, in humble orientation to THE “pearl of great price” (that is God), then we find the purpose of both earthly human existence AND of eternal life.
This knowledge is the true “wisdom of Solomon”.
sabbatical
Last year I began a time of sabbatical leave with just over three months of study and rest. I complete this time beginning on August 1 when I travel to Europe then the United States for the remaining ten weeks of the sabbatical.
In my absence there will be several priests providing sacramental and pastoral care for the parishes of Our Lady of Victories, St. Joseph’s Darfield and St. Therese of Lisieux, Chatham Islands. These details will be published in next week’s newsletter, and on the website at www.olv.co.nz
In my absence it is my intention to give regular blog updates as I did last year.
Please keep me in your prayer over these weeks. I am grateful for your support. It remains a privilege to serve as your Parish Priest and I look forward to returning here in October.
Mary Magdalen
The Liturgy of the Hours is the heart of the life of the Church. This Prayer of the Church enables the grace of the Mass to sanctify every hour of the day. While the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church is the 'hinge' for the Hours, the Hours are prayed at many other hours of the day and night.
The Office of Readings contains substantial spiritual reading from our ancestors in faith.
This morning this Office reflection for the feast of St. Mary Magdalen is taken from St. Gregory the Great.
He reminds us that Mary was 'the one' who "remained" at the tomb after the other disciples had moved on. Her devotion to the Lord readied and enabled her to be the first one to encounter the risen Lord.
Such "remaining" is the heart of contemplative prayer.
You might like to savour the complete Office reflection at this link.
Monday, July 11, 2011
the sufferings of this time...
“I consider
that the sufferings of this present time
are as nothing
compared with the glory
compared with the glory
to be revealed for us”
Romans 8:18
One of my seminary theology teachers would try to encourage us in the ‘stressful’ days before exams. He would say: “the sufferings of this time are not worth comparing to the glory yet to be revealed”.
Gerry was not predicting great student grades when he said this. Instead he was (with humour) nudging us to keep the glorious, God-centred, big picture in focus. Whenever Gerry offered his encouragement we would respond with laughter. We knew what he was saying to be true. It was a tragedy that we would forget this life-giving perspective right when we most needed to remember.
Last week, on this page, I reflected on the problem of stress. Stress is the consequence of a loss of healthy (therefore God-centred) perspective. When we know God’s love for us, even the most challenging trials are bearable. When we lose this life-giving perspective, even the joys of life fail to encourage us.
Imagine God saying to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: ‘see this little, dead-looking, chip of wood. It is a seed. If you plant it in the soil, and give it some water, it will grow into a great tree like that one over there...’
Well to Adam and Eve, what God was saying would have been quite unbelievable. “Yeah, right” they might have laughed. Surely God was pulling their legs? How could such a dead looking little bit of wood could ever be a mighty green and flowering tree. That would take a great feat of magic!
No, this is not magic. The magician only makes things seem to happen. We all know that the assistant is not really sawn in two. The watch is not really hammered. Magic is a clever feat of deception.
Instead what God does is truly miraculous. A miracle not only appears to happen. A miracle really does happen. Jesus really does bring sight to the blind. God really does raise Jesus from the dead.
So too, as the seed germinates and the tree flourishes, we see the miracle of life emerging from what seems lifeless. The life God offers us does not just seem to happen. This life is a reality. Our lives are full of moments that look deathly. We wonder 'how can anything that delights me come from the impossible situation I find myself in today?'
When we look back over our lives we see the repeated pattern of life emerging from death. It the heart of a Christchurch winter it is easy to forget that spring will come. In the midst of earthquake devastation it is hard to imagine a successful rebuild. In the midst of grief over the loss of family and friends at Pike River, it is near impossible to imagine future moments of happiness.
But, from our past experience of deathly suffering and tragedy, new life has emerged. If not yet, this will come.
God’s hope-filled invitation is to notice the seeds of hope in our daily situation. Even the fact that you are reading this is proof that you are already seeking God. God has motivated your search, and God is with you.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Cathedral update
Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch
Update on main dome – July 7, 2011
Report from Lance Ryan, chairman of the Cathedral Management Board
Work on removing the top of the main dome of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is progressing well. The cross that sat atop the dome and the copper cladding have all been removed and now work is continuing on removing the wooden shell of the dome.
The dome has been divided into four sections and it is hoped that all four sections will be removed by the end of next week.
Once the top of the dome has been removed the concrete ring beam immediately below the dome will be removed in sections and the columns between the windows also removed as complete units.
Ideally, we would like to have the entire unstable rear section of the Cathedral deconstructed by September 16, as this will allow the neighbouring Catholic Cathedral College to regain full functionality in all its buildings. (The College is having to return to its restricted site on August 1). Three of the College's key buildings, J Block, K Block plus H/I Block,(comprising 12 classrooms plus Library) sit within the probable fall zone of the rear of the basilica and therefore cannot be utilised.
Deconstruction would then allow time for the school to have the two key blocks ready for the start of the fourth term.
We are working with CERA, the City Council and Heritage Protection on this proposed work.
We have also been given permission to use an Army robot to look inside the Cathedral to provide us with better resolution video of the earthquake damage. Hopefully this will happen in the next 10 days. Several weeks ago we had footage from a drone that was very helpful, but a subsequent mission was not as successful and the drone is now somewhere on the floor of the basilica.
Media contacts
Lance Ryan, chairman of the Cathedral Management Board, ph 021-246-0354
John Craig, Senior Project Manager, Opus International Consultants Ltd, ph 027-211-5958
Prepared by:
John Durning 0274 373 286 (Catholic Diocese)
Sunday, July 3, 2011
ultimate remedy for stress
Come to me,
all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give “ you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Take a moment to be still. Sit in silence. Relax.
Be aware of your breathing. Chances are you don’t get the chance to be silent and still very often.
Take another moment to breathe some more. Let your breathing deepen. Yawn a couple of times. (This bonus of oxygen is good for the whole body). Relax.
Life is busy. There are many demands made on us. People speak of ‘stress’ as a ‘normal’ and unavoidable part of modern life.
But stress is never the result of being too busy. Stress is not caused by overwork or by saying yes to too much. Instead overwork and busyness are motivated by something else. There is something deeper going on.
Stress is always the consequence of loss of perspective.
I invited you to sit in stillness, breathe and relax, not simply to give you a break. I was really inviting you to prayer. And prayer is not simply about sitting still and relaxing.
In the stillness of prayer it is impossible to avoid our anxiety and worry. Our struggles and difficulties flood into our minds. This is not a problem. Instead this is the path of entry into prayer.
The burdens we carry are a part of the reality of earthly human life. But they are only a part. There is a greater reality.
Take a moment to call to mind something you were worried about twelve months ago or twelve years ago. Do you still carry this burden of anxiety today? Did your worry back then help to resolve the concern?
In prayer we are not seeking just a few moments reprieve from the burdens of life. Instead, we are bringing our labour and burden to God. In this place of prayer we give God our concerns, and God lifts this yoke from our shoulders.
We become aware again that human happiness is not a human achievement reached by resolving our problems and overcoming our enemies. This is hard work and rarely successful.
The rest we seek is a gift of God. We receive this gift whenever we realise the depth and power of God’s love for us. We have nothing to fear. In life’s greatest struggles and burdens, God is carrying us.
Our human happiness is found when we relax in this living embrace.
As Jesus invites us in today's Gospel: "come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
+++
Cathedral (Peter Fleming Photos)
Tonight after Mass Peter Fleming gave me a selection of Cathedral photos. Some of these were taken since the quakes began. Others Peter took at Bishop Barry Jones' ordination October 4 2006.
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