weekly newsletter

The weekly newsletter for the Catholic parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui District, is now uploaded at:

http://www.catholichurunui.co.nz/newsletter_3_February_2013.html

new horizons & decisive directions

Often in the Sunday Mass readings, there is a single clear point that leaps out at me demanding a voice in my Sunday homily. This week there are many thoughts, so I will use this space as if in casual conversation, chatting about a few things that emerge from this Sunday’s scriptures.

Make sure that you don’t miss the first verse of the first reading from the opening verses of the book of the prophet Jeremiah: “The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you...”

Wow! Take a moment to consider this. Even before you were conceived, you were a thought of God. You are not just the result of an action of your parents - or even simply the fruit of their love. The fact that you exist is an explicit and expressed decision of God.

Now to the second reading. It is significant that many couples who say that they want nothing religious at their wedding ceremony, then go on to say that they want ‘that poem about love being always patient and kind...‘   Without being aware of it, they are asking for the heart of Jesus’ teaching on love as conveyed by Saint Paul:

Love is patient, love is kind.

It is not jealous, it is not pompous,

it is not inflated, it is not rude, 

it does not seek its own interests,

it is not quick-tempered, 

it does not brood over injury,

it does not rejoice over wrongdoing 

but rejoices with the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

1 Cor 12:31-13:13

Today’s Gospel reading is taken from the fourth chapter of Luke, and spans nine verses. A remarkable shift happens in the people in these few sentences. At first: “all spoke highly of him, and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth”. But just half a dozen verses later “they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong”.

During the week Bishop Barry sent all priests a copy of the pope’s Lenten Message for this year. I have read the message a couple of times and pondered it over the last few days.  I think that this message from the pope provides a unifying key to an understanding of today’s three scripture readings.

Every encounter with Jesus is a call to faith. This faith is not about an “ethical choice” or a lofty ideal, but faith (as the pope reminds us) is the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

And here lies the challenge. Perhaps it is easy to like a poem about love that seems simply to outline a ‘lofty ideal.’  Maybe I am willing to ponder the love of God ‘before I formed you in the womb’, as a general kind of comforting thought, that reveals a new dawn on an existing horizon. But a personal encounter with the person of Jesus Christ who is God, is quite a different story. A personal encounter requires engagement and response. A direct meeting with Jesus Christ is a call to focus on new horizon and move forward in a decisive direction.

My problem is that while I might be happy to make a slight adjustment or two to my life, I am usually pretty attached to my own directions and horizons. And so I find myself too often wandering aimlessly in a short-sighted (and often hopeless) amble.

This is precisely the situation that was faced by those who were encountered by Jesus. When he speaks in general terms about the fulfilment of scripture, all speak highly of him and praise him for his gracious words. But as soon as Jesus challenges their limited horizons and misguided directions, they respond angrily, even to being “filled with fury”.

Which is probably why we often reduce the life of faith to an existence of polite respectability. If the prophet Jeremiah were to preach at a Christchurch diocese Sunday Mass, parishioners might be initially curious, and delighted at hearing of God’s personal dedication to us. But as the prophet moved onto the next verses in today’s reading, we would begin to feel uncomfortable on hearing “for it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people”.

If Jesus were to begin to preach in our modern-day temples, the malls and sports stadia, and even our places of worship, we too would most likely respond with outrage and move him on.

Which brings us to Lent: a time of allowing ourselves to be encountered anew by Jesus. A season of listening to our internal desire for greater freedom from all that is binding us.  A journey of embracing the new horizons and decisive direction revealed to us in Jesus. 

This journey through forty desert days needs to involve all our faculties (heart, intellect etc), to the revelation of God’s gratuitous and personal love for us, fully revealed in Jesus Christ.    

The readings of this Sunday, 

the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 
are available at this link.                                 

the Holmes interview

If you didn't catch the interview with Paul Holmes last night, you can watch it online at this link.

It is a very good interview in which the realities of his passionate life and his imminent death are faced honestly.

http://tvnz.co.nz/sunday-news/paul-holmes-interview-video-5327654

Overseas blog readers might need a bit of an introduction: Paul Holmes is without doubt New Zealand's best known broadcaster. This Wikipedia page gives a summary.

beer

taken from the placemat in a cafe:

• Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy (Benjamin Franklin)
• You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. (Frank Zappa)
• Beer will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no beer. (Freddie Freak)
• Beer has food value, but food has no beer value. (JR Robertson)
• In Vino Veritas, In Cervesio Felicitas (In wine there is truth, in beer there is joy) (Anonymous)
• He was a wise man who invented beer. (Plato)
• 24 beers in a case. 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? (Steven Wright)
• I like beer. On occasion, I will even drink beer to celebrate a major event such as the fall or communism, or the fact that the refrigerator is still working. (Dave Barry)
• If God had intended us to drink beer, he would have given us stomachs. (David Daye)
• WIthout question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza. (Dave Barry)
• Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer. (Henry Lawson)
• In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer. (A.J.P. Taylor)
• Good ale will make a cat speak. (Old English Proverb)
• I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. (Tom Waits)

faith

I have been fortunate in recent months to spend time with people who are passionate about the life of faith in an especially focussed way in response to the Year of Faith.  

This weekend, sixteen people who spend their lives living and working in Australia, China, Japan, United States, Italy, Philippines India and New Zealand, are spending time together. It is a privilege to be a part of this little community of pilgrims.

I've been thinking about my experience of hearing people speak about faith over the years.  It seems that there are two (at least) easy pits to fall into.

The first is that instead of talking about my faith, I speak about the thoughts and theories, doctrines and disciplines that I know have something to do with the Church, God or Jesus.  I might quote the catechism to talk about the importance of personal prayer, but there might be little that is truly personal in my sharing. 

The second, and perhaps more subtle escape, is to simply share about what is happening in my life, and to call this "faith". I came upon a website last week where a community of Religious Sisters were sharing about their life. Some of them spoke about their work and their friendships, their strolls on the beach and their broad definitions of "spirituality" as a "life-giving" force that motivated their mission of justice. Most of them did not mention Jesus.

The reason I call this second escape "subtle", is that because it seems personal, it is considered politically incorrect to disagree or even to challenge the sharing.

It is too easy to forget that "faith" is what happens to us and in us, in response to a radical (at the roots) encounter with Jesus Christ. If we are unsure what this looks like in practice we need to go back to the Gospels.  

In the Gospels we see that no one who is encountered by Jesus is left unaffected. There are no half-hearted responses to his presence. 

John the Baptist pointed Andrew and John to Jesus. They spent time with him that day and their lives were changed forever. 

Other moments of encounter with Jesus resulted in sadness or anger. The rich young man went away from Jesus filled with sorrow. Clearly he wanted to follow Jesus, but 'there was much that he possessed'. He was not free to follow.

The authorities often reacted to Jesus with anger. They wanted to kill him and before too long they achieved their aim.

The first Christians could never have spoken about their faith simply by quoting theories or doctrines. The experience of Jesus was too real and too personal for them.   Nor did they did not simply speak about the importace of feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. They knew that such good works would be reduced to altruistic activism without explicit and expressed relationship with Jesus.

But the first followers of Jesus also could not have reduced their speaking of faith to the good feelings of a Sunday morning hike in the hills. The Eucharist was too central and transforming for them. These first Christians were unashamed in telling of their personal experience of Jesus whom they knew to be 'God-with-us'.

In our reflections together yesterday we spoke of the impact that Jesus is having on our lives.  Are we living our lives as an active following of Jesus?  Or have we reduced the experience of lived faith in Jesus Christ to being good people who do good things?

I'll come back to this over the next few days. Watch this space!

newsletter

The weekly newsletter (Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, 27 January 2013) for the Catholic Parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui District, is now uploaded at

 www.catholichurunui.co.nz

the Cathedral as it was (360 view)

In recent months, the news reports have suggested that it is unlikely that the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament can be rebuilt after the devastating earthquakes. At best there is the possibility of saving two walls (that are able to be saved) as a memorial.

This week I discovered again this wonderful 360 degree view. Use the cursor to navigate (up to see the wonderful ceiling and down for the floor).  Also note the menu in the top left corner that give a different view (from the choir (balcony), aisle or altar). The menu at the centre bottom of the image gives further control, especially the far right button for full screen.

While the architecture is unique and beautiful, the real beauty of the building was always seen during the celebration of the Mass when the Cathedral was filled with parishioners of the diocese at prayer.

theology on tap

As I was browsing through the Sounds Catholic shows after uploading my blog on the programme, I discovered some of the "Theology on Tap" sessions from last year.

The Diocesan Youth Team invited me to lead one of these "Theology on Tap" sessions. There had been some news reports at the time about 2012 being the end of the world. So the team asked me to speak on the topic "2012, is this the end?"

It was a great night with an enthusiastic and responsive group of more than fifty young adults.  One of the team brought me a Monteith's Black and we were off!

Ken Joblin of the Sounds Catholic team recorded the session and has used some of it in the programme you can here at this link

http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/media/soundscatholic/2012/Sounds%20Catholic%20May%206%202012.mp3

sounds catholic

One of the great initiatives in our Christchurch diocese is the weekly Sounds Catholic radio half hour. Last year this programme won the 2012 NZ Radio Industry Award for best spoken programme in the Community and Access category.

The episodes air on Sundays on Plains FM.  Radio reception is almost non-existent in the North Canterbury, Hurunui, Chathams Island parishes, so I listen online. You can read a brief summary of each episode, and listen online at

 http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/?sid=2185

lighten up!

In an interview with the German Press a few years ago Pope Benedict commented:

“I'm not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it's very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I'd also say it's necessary for my ministry. 

A writer once said that angels can fly because they don't take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn't think we were so important.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Interview with German Press

Castel Gandolfo

5 August 2006

complete interview available at this link

take the short cut

In October 2002, to mark the beginning of the Year of the Rosary, Pope John Paul II issued a letter in which he announced five new mysteries of the Rosary. 

Many of us were raised knowing the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries, each with their five reflections on central moments of faith through the eyes of Mary the Mother of God.

The five new mysteries of the Rosary focus directly on the life of Jesus, through the eyes of faith. These Mysteries of Light, or Luminous mysteries, begin with the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. The feast of the Baptism of the Lord was our celebration of last Sunday. Today’s gospel reading brings us to the Galilean village of Cana, where Jesus begins his ministry of miracles.

Thirty years before this moment, it was the “yes” of the young woman Mary that opened the way for the birth of the Messiah. In the Cana event, it is once again Mary who prepares the way for her son’s ministry by instructing the stewards to: “do whatever he tells you.”

On of the flaws of our New Zealand, ‘DIY’ (do it yourself) cultural climate, is a compulsive resistance to authority. We don’t like doing what others tell us to do. In some ways this is a reaction against a time when we were encouraged to abdicate our own personal responsibility to those we feared in authority. The son took over the farm simply because the father expected it. The young woman married because the parents pushed for the wedding. You will all know of other examples.

One of earliest signs of emotional growth in a child is their resistance to simply doing as they are told because (and when) they are told to do it. While parents might dream and even pray that their child will blindly obey without question, it is necessary for maturity that a child begins to question and to think for themselves. When this happens, the child is beginning to take their own place in the world, and to establish a healthy degree of autonomy.

The teenage and early adulthood years are a time of tasting independence, and even pushing boundaries. At times this behaviour can appear as angry and rebellious. But the one who resolves this stage of life in a healthy way, soon moves (as the psychologists tell us) to a stage of generative creativity.

The healthy adult is one who appreciates the wisdom in the well-known Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity 

to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

I often think that young couples know this well. Not too long ago they were independent. They could do all they liked and nothing they disliked on a Friday night. They could vacation where they wanted, and come home when (and if) they felt like it. Now they have a baby or two, and the needs and demands of this little child take priority.

A parent who continues to assert their own teenage independence, especially those who do so to the extent of ignoring the needs of their child, is generally considered to be immature and irresponsible. We have little respect for this behaviour in an adult. We might rather bluntly think that this parent just needs to grow up and to realise that responsibility and love are greater values than independence and selfishness.

The same is true in our personal relationship with God.  The one who is a child in the life of faith will blindly and naively obey a religious leader. As a life of faith develops, the young person begins to question. At times it can be characteristic of this stage for people to reject some of the teachings of the Gospels and the Church. Even some of the teachings directly from the mouth of Jesus (love of neighbour, forgiveness of enemy, keeping of the commandments) might be rejected in this stage of growth.

It is important to note too that it is not only in the field of faith that the teenager might push the boundaries and reject the wisdom of history. I can only live without sleep on a diet of beer and pizza for so long!  Gradually the young adult grows to see the wisdom in a healthy diet, a moderate intake of alcohol, and a regular pattern of enough sleep.

This discipline of sleep and diet as a key factor in good health, is the same health theory that has been promoted for centuries, and is taught in all those musty books in medical libraries.

The wise person grows to realise, that had they simply lived by the basic rules of medical guidance, they would have saved themselves a lot of unnecessary sickness and suffering. But there is no teacher as wise as personal experience. And there are no commitments as deep as those that are emerge from personal trials, failures and successes.

You will guess where I am going with this!

In the life of faith, there is a lot of wisdom in the Church. “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) This wisdom for healthy and happy living might be recorded in musty old tomes, but it is also reflected in the lived experience and personal witness of people of faith.

It is a fact that humans are not created to live independently with total autonomy. “It is not good that man should be alone.” (Genesis 2:18). Our human family comprises not only our contemporaries (family and friends). As members of the Catholic Church across two thousand years of lived experience of Christian life, we receive and learn from the wisdom of our Christian ancestors. These people are our family of faith.

We call this Tradition (the teaching of Jesus communicated to us by the Church), the Will of God. This divine will is revealed both as a general will for all people, (ie the commandments and the teaching of Jesus), and as a personal will uniquely tailored to every human person (as revealed by God in personal prayer and discernment). Our human health and happiness is found when we discover this divine will, and live in harmony with all we were created for.  In fact, the Will of God leads us to ourselves.

The instruction of Mary to the stewards at Cana, is Mary, in her loving motherly wisdom, trying to make life easier for everyone by giving the short-cut - the easy way forward: “Do whatever he tells you.”

I don’t expect you to believe this because I have written it here! Try this out for yourselves. Choose some aspect of Church teaching that you know (or sense) you are not living as the ideal the Church presents. This might concern forgiveness of enemy, love of neighbour, or some aspect of sexual morality. Then set a period of time, perhaps a day or a week, in which you seek to live what the Church teaches, one hundred percent. In other words, do whatever HE tells you.

At the end of your trial, ask yourself this simple question: “am I happier?” No doubt you will struggle with your renewed commitment. I do too. But if you find greater happiness and health in living in harmony with Jesus, and with the Church why would you let it go? 

After all, what Mary at Cana is seeking to do in this advice, is to give us the short-cut to the fulness of life.    

+++

newsletter

Newsletter for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time now on the website at 

http://www.catholichurunui.co.nz/newsletter_20_January_2013.html

11.000 earthquakes

Yesterday earthquake number 11,000 (since 4 September  2010) was recorded in Christchurch.  Now, over two years since this first quake, and just a month away from the second anniversary of the loss of 185 lives in the February 22 quake, our city is still struggling.

There are few people I know who are not deeply affected by the loss of life and livelihood, and homes. The insurance difficulties continue for most people.

Bishop Barry Jones has appointed Matt O'Connell as the diocesan Earthquake Relief Co-ordinator. Matt updated me this morning on the situation in the diocese:

Current Status of Church Buildings:

Demolished - Sumner, Lyttleton, New Brighton, Dallington, Monastery at Bower Ave, Nazereth House (underway)

Closed (and under threat of necessary demolition) due to earthquake damage - Cathedral, Woolston, Burwood, Mairehau, Papanui, St. Albans, St Matthew's Bryndwr, Beckenham, Hoon Hay, Rangiora, Leeston, Lincoln, Templeton, Little River

Closed Earthquake Prone - Temuka, Pleasant Point, Hokitika, Holy Cross Chapel

Donations to the diocesan earthquake appeal are both needed and gratefully received. Further information, and the necessary details for those wishing to make an online or postal donation (both local or from overseas) are available on the website 

http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/?sid=2762 

Matt also sent me this "spiritual sustenance" from Pope Benedict's first encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est (25 December 2005).

“There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations might tempt us to become discouraged. But precisely then we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord. It is God who governs the world, not we. We offer him our service only to the extent that we can, and for as long as he grants us the strength. To do all we can with what strength we have, however, is the task which keeps the good servant of Jesus Christ always at work: “The love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14)”. 

"We must continually draw strength from Jesus Christ. “People who pray are not wasting their time, even though the situation appears desperate and seems to call for action alone. Piety does not undermine the struggle against the poverty of our neighbours, however extreme. In the example of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta we have a clear illustration of the fact that time devoted to God in prayer not only does not detract from effective and loving service to our neighbour but is in fact the inexhaustible source of that service. 

“The Christian who prays does not claim to be able to change God's plans or correct what he has foreseen. Rather, he seeks an encounter with the Father of Jesus Christ, asking God to be present with the consolation of the Spirit to him and his work. “Often we cannot understand why God refrains from intervening. Yet he does not prevent us from crying out, like Jesus on the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). We should continue asking this question in prayerful dialogue before his face: “Lord, holy and true, how long will it be?” (Rev 6:10). It is Saint Augustine who gives us faith's answer to our sufferings: —”if you understand him, he is not God.” Our protest is not meant to challenge God, or to suggest that error, weakness or indifference can be found in him. For the believer, it is impossible to imagine that God is powerless or that “perhaps he is asleep” (cf. 1 Kg 18:27). Instead, our crying out is, as it was for Jesus on the Cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power. Even in their bewilderment and failure to understand the world around them, Christians continue to believe in the “goodness and loving kindness of God” (Tit 3:4). Immersed like everyone else in the dramatic complexity of historical events, they remain unshakably certain that God is our Father and loves us, even when his silence remains incomprehensible.

donkey in the well

I am a regular reader of the Liturgy Blog of Rev. Bosco Peters. This blog is the 7th most visited New Zealand blog site (almost 50 places ahead of Food For Faith).

I thought readers might appreciate this little parable uploaded by Bosco this morning.

http://liturgy.co.nz/the-parable-of-the-donkey-in-the-well/13123

call a priest

Yesterday I was called to a home where a parishioner had just died. It is a privilege for a priest to be summoned at this moment - even before doctor, or funeral director are called. Within minutes I was at the home and able to pray the Prayers for the Dead from the Rites of the Church.

It is not common for a priest to be called at this moment. In the hours or days of a person's illness, the family may have called a priest to administer the Sacrament of Anointing, but then, more often than not, it is thought that the priest is not needed until the funeral.

Never hesitate to call a priest.  You are giving us an opportunity to what we were ordained to do. 

So yesterday, in these sacred moments as our friend and parishioner was meeting God, I was able to pray:

Loving and merciful God

we entrust our brother to your mercy.

You loved him greatly in this life

now that he is freed from all its cares

give him happiness and peace forever.

The old order has passed away:

welcome him now into paradise

where there will be no more sorrow,

no more weeping or pain,

but only peace and joy

with Jesus, your Son,

and the Holy Spirit

for ever and ever.

Amen

May he rest in peace.

Les Miserables

One of the video clips I used last week at Heart's Aflame was the bishop's forgiveness scene taken from an old movie version of Victor Hugo's great book "Les Miserables."  The book is considered to be perhaps the greatest writing of the nineteenth century.

A number of my friends have seen the new movie (released just a couple of week's ago).  It may be a while before it makes it to Cheviot!

Fr. Robert Barron has uploaded this reflection on the book to help those who see the new movie to appreciate the work.

our constant care

Most of us have no memory of our own baptism. I was just ten days old when my parents took me to be baptised in the little Catholic Church in Otematata. It was a priority for them that I be baptised. 

As soon as my mother and I were discharged from the hospital, my father drove us home via the church where Fr. Reg O’Brien had agreed to meet us. There, in a ritual as old as Christianity, I was baptised with water “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” 

The ceremony was dignified, and every word was taken from the ancient rite. The only people present were my parents, my godparents, one of my grandmothers, Fr. O’Brien, and me. 

I am sure we went back home afterwards for a cup of tea and scones. I probably just slept after such a big day. It is significant that even before I entered the home of my parents, I had entered the home of God. 

From all outward appearances, my Baptism would have been a simple occasion since the emphasis was not on the human celebration of friends and family. The emphasis was on what God was doing for me. God was initiating me into His divine life. 

In the 50+ years since this moment, I have enjoyed many wonderful experiences. I’ve been a part of some great celebrations. There are many times when I have been aware of the presence of God with me in joy and in pain and grief. But still, the greatest moment of my life to this point, without a doubt, took place on 10 September 1961 in a small town on the banks of the Waitaki river. It was on that day, in a simple and brief ritual, that God marked me as His child. On this day, my eternal life began. 

It is always a privilege for me to celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism as a priest. While the norm for Christian Initiation is for the baptism of adults, most often it is parents who bring their young child to be baptised. Some of these parents I know well since they are an active part of the life of the parish. Others, while not at Mass regularly, know that Baptism is essential if their child is to live a fully human life. 

I use the word “essential” here intentionally. Even if parents never bring their child to Mass after the Baptism, the sacrament has still effected a life-giving change in the child, and the child will benefit. 

However if the grace of the sacrament is not cultivated by the action of the parents, (especially in weekly attendance at Sunday Mass), the grace is at risk of becoming the seed planted in stony and dry ground. 

A number of parents comment that they do not bring their babies or small children to Mass each week because it is difficult to keep them still or quiet. Then when they do bring their child to Mass once a year at Christmas, the child may find it difficult to be still or silent. This is simply because the child has not been taught stillness and silence.

Good parents give a priority to teaching their children to eat their greens, stay in bed at bedtime, and to be respectful of others. It is good parenting to stay with these tasks even when there is opposition from the child. 

How much more important then for parents to ‘make it their constant care to bring their children up in the practice of the faith’ as they promise at their child’s Baptism.

+++

If you are a parent or godparent of a baptised child, at the baptism you answered each of these questions on behalf of the child.

First the celebrant questions the parents:

Celebrant:

What name do you give your child? (or: have you given?)

Parents: N.

Celebrant: What do you ask of God's Church for N.?

Parents: Baptism.

The celebrant speaks to the parents in these or similar words:

You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?

Parents: We do.

Then the celebrant turns to the godparents and addresses them in these or similar words:

Are you ready to help the parents of this child in their duty as Christian parents?

Godparents: We do.

Dear parents and godparents: You have come here to present this child for baptism. By water and the Holy Spirit he (she) is to receive the gift of new life from God, who is love.

On your part, you must make it your constant care to bring him (her) up in the practice of the faith. See that the divine life which God gives him (her) is kept safe from the poison of sin, to grow always stronger in his (her) heart.

If your faith makes you ready to accept this responsibility, renew now the vows of your own baptism. Reject sin; profess your faith in Christ Jesus. This is the faith of the Church. This is the faith in which this child is about to be baptized.

The celebrant questions the parents and godparents:

A. Celebrant: Do you reject Satan?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

Celebrant: And all his works?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

B. Celebrant: Do you reject sin, so as to live in the freedom of God's children?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

Celebrant: Do you reject the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

Celebrant:Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

Next the celebrant asks for the threefold profession of faith from the parents and godparents:

Celebrant: Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

Celebrant: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?

Parents and Godparents: I do.

The celebrant and the congregation give their assent to this profession of faith:

Celebrant: This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All: Amen.

The celebrant invites the family to the font and questions the parents and godparents:

Celebrant: Is it your will that N. should be baptized in the faith of the Church, which we have all professed with you?

Parents and Godparents: It is.

Hearts Aflame - Amen!

Dear Hearts Aflame participants,

A week ago today, we completed the 'beginning retreat' at the Hearts Aflame gathering, and I headed back home to the parish.

Today, Hearts Aflame 2013 concluded and all participants began their journey home.

I want to take this moment to offer an encouragement to all who were a part of the Hearts Aflame 2013 journey. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be with you for the time of retreat last weekend. Thank you! I have remembered you all in my prayer in the week since.

Chances are that these ten days of intensive retreat, reflection, Catholic friendship and learning, have been both demanding and inspiring for you all. Now you return home to people and to environments that may not be as Christ-centred as the Hearts community. 

This is a challenging transition.

But it is an essential transition. We can't all live in Marton forever! And who of us wants to camp in a boarding school for the rest of our lives! It is important that we return home to our homes, families and study and work. This transition home is a key part of the Hearts Aflame process.

Last Sunday, when I was with you, we celebrated the Epiphany. Every year on this feast one of my favourite poems comes to mind. T.S. Eliot's Journey of the Magi. This poem concludes "We returned to our places...But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods..." (You can hear Eliot read the poem at this link)

Eliot wrote this poem soon after his conversion to Christianity. He was deeply aware that renewed encounter with Jesus had changed him. He was now different. Yet he still had to live in a world that was the same as before. 

This is the challenge for all of us who have been encountered by Christ.

This challenge is the heart of the Christian faith: to know that in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, grief or hope, loss or abundance, friendship or loneliness, life or death, whatever circumstances, God is with us. We are never alone.

Whatever your circumstances as you return home, in your homes and families, workplaces or study, these circumstances are simply the pathway that God allows you to walk, that you might journey more intimately with Him now and into eternity.

So my prayers continue with you all as you journey back home. You are not alone. 

Please keep me in your prayer too.

Jesus, who walked with you through the Hearts Aflame experience, is now journeying with you as you return home with hearts renewed. 

Amen!

In Christ
Fr. John O'Connor

Baptism: what date?

I'm back at Cheviot now after the circuit of Sunday Masses. Last night at Hanmer there was a larger-than-usual number of worshippers. For blog readers from other countries, Hanmer Springs is one of New Zealand's lesser-known tourist spots. Most weeks there are half a dozen locals at Mass, and 40-50 visitors most weeks.

The significant thing about the visitors is that they are away from their homes and parishes for a weekend (or longer) of rest. Yet, they arrange their vacation so that they can participate in the Mass at 5pm on the Saturday.  

In my homily at the Mass, (for the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord), I reflected on the Sacrament of Baptism as the moment when life truly begins. At conception, human life begins. This life will last for "seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong."

At Baptism our eternal life begins. This life will last an eternity.

Therefore, since our Baptism is such a significant event, it is worthy of ongoing celebration. We do this in a real sense every time we take part in the Eucharist, and also any moment when we turn to God in prayer.

We usually make an occasion of an annual celebration of life's great moments: birthday, wedding anniversary etc).

So I asked if anyone knew the date on which they were Baptised. Only one of the Hanmer group did. I asked the same question this morning at Amberley, at Hawarden and at Waiau. Only one or two people at each place knew their Baptism date.

I understand this since it is only ten years since I made the effort to discover the date of my baptism. Now, every year, I celebrate.

So I offered a challenge to today's worshippers. Now I share the challenge with you all.

It is easy enough these days to find out when you were Baptised. After one of this weekend's Masses a parishioner told me of sending a recent email to the parish where she was baptised on the other side of the world. She had a response within a few hours!

So on this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, you might decide to find out the date (and place) of your Baptism. Some will be able to ask parents, and for others the information is just a Google-search (for the Church or parish) and an email request away.

Otematata Parish Church
I was baptised here 10 September 1961

(this Church is no longer where it was when I was baptised
or when I took the photo (in the early 1980's).
I think it might have been shifted. Does anyone know?

parish newsletter

The weekly newsletter for the Catholic Parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui District, (Sunday 13 January, Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord) is now available on the parish website at  http://www.catholichurunui.co.nz/newsletter_13_January_2013.html.

first NZ Mass

This weekend, pilgrims from all over New Zealand will gather in the Hokianga, Northland, to mark 175 years since the first Mass celebrated in Aotearoa New Zealand.

In 1838 there were about 2000 European Settlers in New Zealand. In the fifty years from the visit of Captain Cook until then, there had been a small number of Europeans settling here. In 1828 there were estimated to be around 200 including the Catholic couple Thomas and Mary Poynton. The Poynton's opened a store and sawmill at Hokianga. Before their arrival most of the European settlers were whalers and sealers, a number of whom would have been Catholic.

Until the arrival of Bishop Pompallier and his team, the Catholic settlers had no access to Mass or the Sacraments. It is recorded that these settlers would periodically travel to Sydney for Marriages and Baptisms.

It was Bishop Pompallier who celebrated the first New Zealand Mass on 13 January 1838. 

Click this link for the outline of this weekend's Hokianga celebration.

the restless quest

Last Sunday, the Feast of the Epiphany the pope ordained some new bishops. His homily for that occasion provides a powerful reflection on the kind of people we must be to be followers of Jesus in this era of New Evangelization. The pope considers this by reflecting on the example of the Magi, the wise men who sought out the new-born child Jesus.

Those of you who heard me speak at Hearts Aflame at the weekend might suspect that the pope has been copying my ideas!  Note especially the emphasis on "restlessness" as the healthy state which can serve to turn us to God.

Here are a few of the key points from the pope's homily. The link to the full text is below.

“These men who set out towards the unknown were, in any event, men with a restless heart. Men driven by a restless quest for God and the salvation of the world. They were filled with expectation, not satisfied with their secure income and their respectable place in society. They were looking for something greater. They were no doubt learned men, quite knowledgeable about the heavens and probably possessed of a fine philosophical formation. But they desired more than simply knowledge about things. They wanted above all else to know what is essential. They wanted to know how we succeed in being human. And therefore they wanted to know if God exists, and where and how he exists. Whether he is concerned about us and how we can encounter him. Nor did they want just to know. They wanted to understand the truth about ourselves and about God and the world. Their outward pilgrimage was an expression of their inward journey, the inner pilgrimage of their hearts. They were men who sought God and were ultimately on the way towards him. They were seekers after God…

"… Human beings have an innate restlessness for God, but this restlessness is a participation in God’s own restlessness for us. Since God is concerned about us, he follows us even to the crib, even to the Cross... 

… faith is nothing less than being interiorly seized by God, something which guides us along the pathways of life. Faith draws us into a state of being seized by the restlessness of God and it makes us pilgrims who are on an inner journey towards the true King of the world and his promise of justice, truth and love... 

…Faith’s inner pilgrimage towards God occurs above all in prayer. Saint Augustine once said that prayer is ultimately nothing more than the realization and radicalization of our yearning for God. Instead of “yearning”, we could also translate the word as “restlessness” and say that prayer would detach us from our false security, from our being enclosed within material and visible realities, and would give us a restlessness for God and thus an openness to and concern for one another… 

…Let us return to the Wise Men from the East. These were also, and above all, men of courage, the courage and humility born of faith. Courage was needed to grasp the meaning of the star as a sign to set out, to go forth – towards the unknown, the uncertain, on paths filled with hidden dangers. We can imagine that their decision was met with derision: the scorn of those realists who could only mock the reveries of such men. Anyone who took off on the basis of such uncertain promises, risking everything, could only appear ridiculous. But for these men, inwardly seized by God, the way which he pointed out was more important than what other people thought. For them, seeking the truth meant more than the taunts of the world, so apparently clever... 

… The humility of faith, of sharing the faith of the Church of every age, will constantly be in conflict with the prevailing wisdom of those who cling to what seems certain. Anyone who lives and proclaims the faith of the Church is on many points out of step with the prevalent way of thinking, even in our own day. Today’s regnant agnosticism has its own dogmas and is extremely intolerant regarding anything that would question it and the criteria it employs… 

…The Wise Men followed the star, and thus came to Jesus, to the great Light which enlightens everyone coming into this world (cf. Jn 1:9). As pilgrims of faith, the Wise Men themselves became stars shining in the firmament of history and they show us the way. The saints are God’s true constellations, which light up the nights of this world, serving as our guides. Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians, told his faithful that they must shine like stars in the world (cf. 2:15)...

 ...Dear friends, this holds true for us too... If you live with Christ, bound to him anew in this sacrament, then you too will become wise. Then you will become stars which go before men and women, pointing out to them the right path in life. All of us here are now praying for you, that the Lord may fill you with the light of faith and love. That the restlessness of God for people may seize you, so that all may experience his closeness and receive the gift of his joy". 

Click here for the full text of the pope's Epiphany homily