new year's resolutions

It's the eve of the new year. Many people make resolutions at this time. 

My resolutions are always well intentioned and sincere. Usually they don't last too long. But I have discovered that there is a secret to making resolutions that last.

If I choose my own resolution, and seek to keep this resolution by my own efforts, the resolution is hard work and I ultimately fail.

But when I know that the ultimate resolution has already been made by God in His resolve of love for me, my gaze is shifted from my own well-intentioned projects, to my desire to live simply and wholly in response to God's love.

In this desire I am focussed on the ultimate love, who is holding me in existence with every God-given breath.

And a fully lived human life is lived by the one who remains in His love.

It's not a bad thing to make a resolution or two. But it is much more important to remember that the motivation for any good resolution has it's source in God's resolve of love for each of us.

And it is this wondrous love that I now resolve to remember every moment of the year ahead.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down
Beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing;

To God and to the Lamb I will sing; 

To God and to the Lamb, 

Who is the great I AM, 

While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,

While millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.

And when from death I’m free 

I’ll sing His love for me,

And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,

And through eternity I’ll sing on.

newsletter

At the link below you will find this week's newsletter for the Catholic Parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui District.

http://www.catholichurunui.co.nz/newsletter_30_December_2012.html

mama, dada, bye bye, lully lullay

Surrounded by presents and tinsel, peaceful nativity scenes and Christmas goodwill, it is easy to forget the full reality of the Christmas event.

At the time of the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were travellers. Their homelessness may have lasted several years and involved a journey of several hundred kilometres from Bethlehem to Egypt, and back to Nazareth. 

The readings of today's feast of the Holy Innocents remind us of the most significant trial that this new family faced. As the madman Herod used some of his last breaths to overcome the rumoured 'new King of the Jews' at his birth, Joseph and Mary fled to the safety of Egypt.

That was a substantial trip. We know this from the Old Testament account of Moses leading the people of Israel (in the other direction) over the same ground. It took them forty years. But Joseph and Mary were prepared to make this journey, to ensure the safety of their newborn child.

Tragically children are no safer today than they were 2000 years ago. Of course we rightly rail in horror at Herod's mass killing of young children. We are horrified because these children had been born and had names. 

However, had their lives been taken before birth, twenty-first century New Zealand would have little concern. 

We know this since in 2011 there were almost 16.000 recorded abortions in New Zealand. This is around 800 times the number of children killed by Herod. (We know that the population of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth was around 600 people, 20-30 of whom would have been under two years of age). 

To give further perspective: more children died from abortion in New Zealand last year, than the total number of people killed on NZ roads since 1983.

Herod's evil action had tragic consequences; certainly for the children, their families and their little town. Perhaps Herod too could not cope with his action - within a year he was dead. 

These children did not speak, perhaps beyond a few syllables: (mama, dada, lully lullay...). Yet they proclaimed God "not by speaking but by dying". (Collect from the Mass for today's feast)

The taking of innocent life always has traumatic consequences. While we know that all children who are the victims of such decisions, then as now, are with God, we pray with them for those who are unable to see past their own fears and who take out their insecurities on the most innocent and vulnerable. 

The sixteenth century "Coventry Carol" is a hymn for today's feast.

Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Lullay, thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

O sisters too, how may we do,

For to preserve this day

This poor youngling for whom we do sing

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Herod, the king, in his raging,

Charged he hath this day

His men of might, in his own sight,

All young children to slay.

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!

And ever mourn and sigh,

For thy parting neither say nor sing,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay

the Queen - a woman of faith

in case you missed it, the Queen's Christmas Message 2012

"What can I give him, poor as I am? 
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; 
if I were a wise man, I would do my part. 
Yet what I can I give him--give my heart.

room at the inn

from Pope Benedict's Christmas Homily:

"I am also repeatedly struck by the Gospel writer’s almost casual remark that there was no room for them at the inn. Inevitably the question arises, what would happen if Mary and Joseph were to knock at my door. Would there be room for them? 

"And then it occurs to us that Saint John takes up this seemingly chance comment about the lack of room at the inn, which drove the Holy Family into the stable; he explores it more deeply and arrives at the heart of the matter when he writes: “he came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1:11). 

"The great moral question of our attitude towards the homeless, towards refugees and migrants, takes on a deeper dimension: do we really have room for God when he seeks to enter under our roof? Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? 

"We begin to do so when we have no time for God.

"The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full. But matters go deeper still. Does God actually have a place in our thinking? Our process of thinking is structured in such a way that he simply ought not to exist. Even if he seems to knock at the door of our thinking, he has to be explained away. If thinking is to be taken seriously, it must be structured in such a way that the “God hypothesis” becomes superfluous. 

"There is no room for him. 

"Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so “full” of ourselves that there is no room left for God. And that means there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger. 

"By reflecting on that one simple saying about the lack of room at the inn, we have come to see how much we need to listen to Saint Paul’s exhortation: “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom 12:2). Paul speaks of renewal, the opening up of our intellect (nous), of the whole way we view the world and ourselves. The conversion that we need must truly reach into the depths of our relationship with reality. 

"Let us ask the Lord that we may become vigilant for his presence, that we may hear how softly yet insistently he knocks at the door of our being and willing. 

"Let us ask that we may make room for him within ourselves, that we may recognize him also in those through whom he speaks to us: children, the suffering, the abandoned, those who are excluded and the poor of this world.

Pope Benedict, Midnight Mass 2012 
Read the complete homily at this link  

...as a child

"Again and again the beauty of this Gospel touches our hearts: a beauty that is the splendour of truth. Again and again it astonishes us that God makes himself a child so that we may love him, so that we may dare to love him, and as a child trustingly lets himself be taken into our arms. It is as if God were saying: I know that my glory frightens you, and that you are trying to assert yourself in the face of my grandeur. So now I am coming to you as a child, so that you can accept me and love me"

Pope Benedict, Midnight Mass 2012

Read the complete homily at this link 

when God was born

The children of St. Paul's Auckland do a great job of telling the story. Their earlier video (they won't be expecting that) is also available below.

Link to: They won't be expecting that!

nothing more beautiful

We can no longer assume that New Zealanders know the meaning of Christmas.  A child recently asked about Christmas replied: “it is when Santa Claus was born.”

The child is right about the birth part, and birth is always a moment of rejoicing and wonder.  

Shepherds and kings were captivated by the helpless child is a Bethlehem stable.  In this child they recognized not only a new human life, but a turning point in the relationship between God and people. 

Until this moment, generations had sought to please and appease a God they perceived to be distant. Now, in this Bethlehem event, God had bridged the distance by journeying into human existence. Now God had taken on flesh, to walk earthly roads and to speak human language to those in need.

Christmas is not primarily about remembering an historical event layered with the nostalgia of cultural and family traditions. In Christmas we celebrate that God is today transforming everyday earthly existence into robust and lively life. 

As Pope Benedict reminds us:

“where God is seen, does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him”.

a Bethlehem cave

a sign marking a spot - in Bethlehem

what time is midnight Mass?

Every year people call the priest to ask "what time is midnight Mass?"   The answer is easy. In Amberley it is at 5pm. At Culverden it is at 7. And in Hanmer Springs Mass is at 9pm.

It is now just after 10.30pm, and I have just come in after the three Masses. The three beautiful celebrations of the Mass this evening have left me in no doubt about two realities:

1. Christ is born, and
2. Christ is risen and alive in the Hurunui today, 2012.

It was a privilege to celebrate with so many people. Each of the three churches was filled to overflowing.  It was clear to me that every person I saw tonight was following an attraction to attend Christmas Mass. 

And it was also clear to me that God was not missing the opportunity to let each person know of his presence with them and his love for them.

There is nothing more satisfying for a priest that to see this in the people he serves.

As I shared tonight, nothing brings life more ease, nothing makes life more bearable, than knowing that Jesus is very close to us.  While powerful rulers might intimidate us, no one is frighted by a newborn child.

Tonight let us all draw close to Him. We have no need to be afraid.

As I drove away from Culverden soon after 8pm I left the congregation on the lawn around the Church eating Christmas cake washed down by beer and wine!

I wanted to upload this Christmas encouragment before I headed to bed tonight (I have two more Masses - Hawarden and Cheviot in the morning), and I was distracted by the apparent new craze, that is to sing of Christmas in the Shopping Mall.  

Here is the first clip I watched.  Amazing sign of hope: these young people are singing "O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord" in the cathedral of capitalism and commercialism, that is, the shopping Mall!  This is grounds for real hope and celebration!

and it happens in Christchurch too - Northlands Mall last week:

Sleep well, as I will!

an App for the Angelus

Listen carefully to the Collect at Mass this weekend. You may recognise this prayer, prayed by the priest as the opening prayer of the Mass for this Fourth Sunday of Advent, as the end section of the prayer of the Angelus.

Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, 

Thy grace into our hearts, 

that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son 

was made known by the message of an angel, 

may we by His Passion and Cross 

be brought to the glory of His resurrection; 

through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Take a moment now to appreciate this Millet masterpiece below. Even if you have never seen the image before, you will guess that these peasants are praying. 

When the one who commissioned this painting in the mid- 1800’s failed to buy the finished painting, Millet added a church bell tower and renamed his work “Angelus”.

Many of us remember the convent or church bell tolling at midday and early evening at 6. (the 6am bell was often not rung at the request of neighbours). Whatever the Catholic locals were doing when the the bell tolled, at the distinctive 3,3,3,9 ring, all would stop, mid sentence, mid activity. Catholics would stand or kneel to pray. 

The bell was the the call to prayer that began without preamble:  “The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.”

This prayer of incarnation interrupts our routines and busyness. While it may be difficult to find others to pray the Angelus with, there is nothing to stop us praying alone. 

Perhaps the near-midday ring of a nearby phone, or the moment of inserting the key in the car ignition could be for you an  'Angelus Bell'.

The message of the angel interrupted Mary’s daily routine and life’s dreams to such an extent that ‘she was greatly troubled’.  “But how can this be...”.  

From the moment of Mary’s response “be it done unto me, according to thy Word”, Mary life was fulfilled. This does not mean that Mary lived in blissful earthly happiness every subsequent moment. Jump ahead 12 years to her search for a missing son, or 33 years later to the moment when she held her dead son.  But always, in the depth of her heart, she was at peace in God.

This depth of peace, at a deeper level than all daily demands and regular routines, is also the deepest desire of every human person.  This peace is our "default setting".

There is a challenge in allowing God to enter our lives. It is not a simple or easy birth. In the moment of deepest desire for the fulness of God’s life, we also feel the pain of having to let go of our old attachments. While we know that our personal dreams, projects and likes can never deliver the depth of joy and peace we desire, their is a deceptive and superficial comfort in these familiar traps.

It is rare to hear the Angelus rung these days, but some creative geek has designed an Angelus App for a cell phone or ipad.  I have downloaded it and use it. I am looking forward to being with a crowd of people and hearing other people's phones joining with mine to ring this ancient call to prayer.  This is a great way to learn the prayer since the words pop up on the phone as the ring sounds.

+++

Tap here to hear (as above) the Angelus ring clip from Irish TV

Tap here to hear another Angelus rung - not exactly the ring that I remember from Rosary Convent in Oamaru, but an interesting clip. 

How to pray the Angelus

An "Angelus App" for your phone

Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent