a heart full of desire

A couple of weeks ago I referred to one of Pope Francis' Angelus addresses. It is the summer vacation in Rome and everything there operates a bit more slowly so this English translation has just come through.

Here it is - from Sunday 11 August - a particularly exceptional inspiration from the pope.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! 

This Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 12:32-48) speaks to us about the desire for the definitive encounter with Christ, a desire that keeps us ever ready, alert in spirit, for we anticipate this encounter with all our heart, with all our being. This is a fundamental aspect of life. It is a desire that we all share, whether explicit or secret, we have hidden in our heart; we all harbour this desire in our heart. 

It is also important to see Jesus’ teaching in the actual context in which he transmitted it. In this case, Luke the Evangelist shows us Jesus walking with his disciples to Jerusalem, walking to his death and resurrection at Easter, and on this journey he teaches them, confiding to them what he himself carries in his heart, the deep attitude of his heart: detachment from earthly possessions, his trust in the Father’s Providence and, indeed, his innermost watchfulness, all the while working for the Kingdom of God. For Jesus it is waiting for his return to the Father’s house. For us it is waiting for Christ himself who will come to take us to the everlasting celebration, as he did for his Mother, Mary Most Holy; he took her up to Heaven with him. 

The Gospel intends to tell us that the Christian is someone who has a great desire, a deep desire within him: to meet his Lord with his brothers and sisters, his travelling companions. And what Jesus tells us is summed up in his famous phrase: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Lk 12:34). 

A heart full of desire. We all have desires. The poor ones are those who have no desire, no desire to go forward, toward the horizon; and for us Christians this horizon is the encounter with Jesus, the very encounter with him, who is our life, our joy, our happiness. 

I would like to ask you two questions. First: do you all have a desiring heart? A heart that desires? Think about it and respond silently in your hearts. I ask you is your heart filled with desire, or is it a closed heart, a sleeping heart, a heart numb to the things of life? The desire to go forward to encounter Jesus. 

The second question: where is your treasure, what are you longing for? Jesus told us: where your treasure is, there will be your heart — and I ask you: where is your treasure? What is the most important reality for you, the most precious reality, the one that attracts your heart like a magnet? What attracts your heart? May I say that it is God’s love? Do you wish to do good to others, to live for the Lord and for your brothers and sisters? May I say this? Each one answer in his own heart. 

But someone could tell me: Father, I am someone who works, who has a family, for me the most important reality is to keep my family and work going.... Certainly, this is true, it is important. But what is the power that unites the family? It is indeed love, and the One who sows love in our hearts is God, God’s love, it is precisely God’s love that gives meaning to our small daily tasks and helps us face the great trials. 

This is the true treasure of humankind: going forward in life with love, with that love which the Lord has sown in our hearts, with God’s love. This is the true treasure. But what is God’s love? It is not something vague, some generic feeling. God’s love has a name and a face: Jesus Christ, Jesus. Love for God is made manifest in Jesus. For we cannot love air.... Do we love air? Do we love all things? No, no we cannot, we love people and the person we love is Jesus, the gift of the Father among us. 

It is a love that gives value and beauty to everything else; a love that gives strength to the family, to work, to study, to friendship, to art, to all human activity. It even gives meaning to negative experiences, because this love allows us to move beyond these experiences, to go beyond them, not to remain prisoners of evil, it moves us beyond, always opening us to hope, that’s it! 

Love of God in Jesus always opens us to hope, to that horizon of hope, to the final horizon of our pilgrimage. In this way our labours and failures find meaning. Even our sin finds meaning in the love of God because this love of God in Jesus Christ always forgives us. He loves us so much that he always forgives us. 

benevolent glancing

Take a moment to look at each of the two photos below. Which do you consider to be the more beautiful?

Both of the pictures were taken by me in the last few days. The first is a group of a few thousand people in a lecture hall at The Rimini Meeting waiting to hear John Waters present his lecture "The Human Person, A State of Emergency." The second picture image is high in the Italian Alps, on a day hike, looking out towards Monte Bianco (on the left).

So which is the more beautiful?

I suspect most of us are more likely to attach the word "beauty" to the second image. Certainly there is beauty in these mountains. But all of the created natural beauty that surrounds us is only God preparing for the master-work of creation that is the human person. The mountains are not created in the image of God. People are. 

Each of the people in the image is a greater masterpiece of creation than any mountain. Our problem is that while we still know how to read the natural beauty of our world as a language that tells us about God, we have lost the language with which to read the human person. It is possible to recall this language, but it takes practice. Here is a suggested method.

A few years ago I was fortunate to take a course in "Social Justice" taught by Sr. Mary Evelyn Jegen SND. During the course she mentioned her experiment in benevolent glancing, and later I found her reflection in this in her book at this link.

You might like to try her experiement.

the Rimini meeting

The Rimini Meeting 2013 has begun.

http://www.meetingrimini.org/eng/

the capacity to satisfy

Take a moment here to consider these key points from today's scripture readings (full text of the readings at this link):

Jeremiah 38
“In those days, the princes said to the king: “Jeremiah ought to be put to death; he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such things to them; he is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin.” … And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern … letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.”

Psalm 40
R. Lord, come to my aid!
The LORD heard my cry.
He drew me out of the pit of destruction,
out of the mud of the swamp;
he set my feet upon a crag;
he made firm my steps.

Hebrews 12:1-4
“…let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”

Luke 12:49-53
“Jesus said to his disciples…Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided,three against two and two against three.”

I remember one of my seminary teachers suggesting to us that all that the people of Catholic parishes in New Zealand wanted from a priest was that he would be nice to them. The discussions that followed this comment were lively, and helped us to appreciate a significant difference between what people might say they want, and what they in fact need or are entitled to.

It was evident to us very quickly that if Jesus was appointed as Parish Priest to most NZ parishes, he would get driven out pretty quickly!  What parish would tolerate a priest who calls the respectable locals “brood of vipers” (Mt 12:34) or  (as in today's gospel) announces that he has come to bring division, even in families. (Lk 12).  

Over the years I have read and heard a number of commentaries on these contentious scripture passages. At times some of these seek to dismiss (or at least to tame) the radical and challenging teachings of Christ. No doubt these commentators are well intentioned as they attempt to make the preaching of the prophets more easily digestible to parishioners of this twenty-first century.

Commenting on today’s gospel, they might write that this reading, (and other similarly strong passages) are not meant to be taken literally, but instead Jesus is perhaps being a bit over-dramatic in order to catch attention before he goes on to give a much “nicer” message.

But as much as we might like our preachers and prophets to be less challenging, that fact is that the life Christ offers us is radically different from the modern comforts and compromises that we accept as the norm for twenty-first century existence. The popular contemporary view is that discomfort and suffering are obstacles to full healthy and happy life. But the gospel presents a different reality. Therefore the one who preaches the full message of the gospels will often not be welcomed.

Let's return for a moment to the difference between what people want and what they need. It would be interesting to interview a cross-section of parishioners at the end of a working week. If the interviewer asked "what do you need," the chances are that most people would reply saying that they needed some some food and a chance to rest, perhaps with some good company. But from our own past experience we know that even when we do have the good food, company, and rest, there is still something lacking in us.  So perhaps what we are REALLY REALLY looking for, is something more than food and friendship?

Pope Francis spoke about this last Sunday at the Angelus gathering in St. Peter's Square:

The poor person is the one who has no desire, no desire to move forward towards the horizon. For us Christians, the horizon is the encounter with Jesus. This encounter is with the one who is our life, our joy, the one who makes us happy. 

So I ask you: do you have a willing heart, a heart that desires? (think and answer this in the silence of your own heart.)  OR do you have a closed heart, a heart that has fallen asleep and therefore a heart that is under anaesthetic for the things of life? 

The problem is that most of us don't do this kind of reflection very often. It is difficult (to say the least) to remain with the thought that we are powerless to satisfy our own needs. So to escape from this discomfort we often attach our desires to another possession, a project or a person in the hope of satisfying our yearnings.  As the pope puts it, we settle for living under an anaesthetic.

The prophet is the one who will continually, and in the face of opposition, reminds us of this reality. The good preacher will proclaim that we are created by God and for God, and that, to paraphrase Augustine, our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

While we might not like what Jesus tells us in today's gospel, our own experience verifies that what he says, is in fact the reality of our own Christian lives. The one who seeks to live in full intimacy with Christ will encounter divisions and tensions that appear to be caused by her/his Christ-centred life. It is so easy at a comfortable dinner of family or friends to remain silent when contentious issues surface. Too often the Christian becomes timid in the presence of views that are contrary to the gospel. Perhaps we are most vulnerable to this timidity when these views are expressed by friends and family?

This does not mean that we should take the stance of the hostile warrior up against an enemy. The more effective approach is most often a word or two that offers the way of Christ as another way, a way that brings more hope, a way that has the capacity to satisfy the longings of all human hearts.

Let's especially encourage our preachers to have the courage to present the uncompromised beauty of the Christian life.

Assumption

Each day I receive by email a couple of commentaries on the scriptures of the day. 

Sometimes these inspirations and encouragements come from the saint of the day as in the earlier days of this month when the Church celebrated St. Dominic, St Clare, St. Maximillian Kolbe & St John Vianney. On on other feasts the reflections come from great teachers of the faith to help us to appreciate feasts such as the Transfiguration (last week) and today's feast of the Assumption.

One of the daily reflections that I received by email this morning really caught my eye. It was headed up: "Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, 15 August". However in the couple of hundred words of reflection there was no mention of Mary, God, Heaven, body or soul. The content was encouraging, but it had nothing in particular to do with today's feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven.

For a while this puzzled me. How could someone known for good, sound reflections, 'miss the point' of the feast.

I wonder if it is because the Feast of the Assumption (like the Feast of the Transfiguration last week) is beyond our normal routine experience of human existence. These feasts tell us about the complete reality of human life both here on earth and eternally in heaven. These events are accessible to human senses, and experienced by human hearts, in the heart of human reality.

So how can we put these realities into our limited human language.

At this point I have every sympathy with the writer of today's 'missing the point' reflection. If I am going to write about the significance of the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, into heaven, what do I write?

The key point is that since the Church presents us this doctrine as a central reality of our faith, we cannot ignore it. We need to engage with the reality. We accept that there are many many things that are beyond our limited human grasp. And instead of being frustrated by this, we delight that there are some realities that, while unable to be comprehended by humans, are the fulfilment of our human desires.

On this feast we are focussed on the beauty of the life and ministry of the Virgin Mary. We are also drawn to the beauty and eternal life of heaven.

The years we spend on earth ("seventy or eighty for those who are strong" Psalm 90) are most often a time of anxiety and stress to say nothing of struggle and suffering. But we are created for much more than this. We are made for God, who has not only created us for eternal life and happiness, but who seeks to carry us through valleys and tears to divine life.

In the feast of the Assumption we celebrate the reality of Mary, body and soul, being carried by God into the fulness of the life she was created for.

This point is too essential to miss. Knowing that we too are invited to this divine life is the whole point of human existence. To miss this point, is to miss the whole point of life.

your heart's desire

On Sunday Pope Francis invited us to consider our "heart's desire."

architecture lecture

If you missed Denis McNamara's Christchurch lecture on Church architecture, you can get a taste of what he shared thanks to "Sounds Catholic" at:

www.chch.catholic.org.nz

big words and windows

It's Sunday morning, and I am thinking again. This Year of Faith (with only 100 days remaining) will (please God) challenge and inspire us to rethink our motives and methods for evangelization. 

If our prime goal is to fill our Churches, then our motive is a tragic reduction of the heart of the evangelisation mission. The reason that we evangelize, is that people will be able to live more deeply in personal friendship with Jesus Christ. This life must be our prime motivation. Every other aspect of human existence (including full churches) is a fruit of this encounter.

The language we use in church is often an obstacle for good people. A sermon flowing with words like adoration, beatific vision, catechesis paschal mystery and dogma may be thoroughly orthodox and inspiring to the theologian, but it will probably not touch the hearts of the worshippers at a parish Sunday Mass.

These big words are important since they are the windows to essential knowledge of our faith. The big words are our linguistic short-cut, our method for conveying all that scripture and tradition teaches us about each aspect of our faith. 

Therefore it is important that when we use these words, we also provide the meaning in an understandable, accurate and attractive form. At times, for a particular audience, we might speak about (for example) the "incarnation," without using the word itself. Our hope is that with good catechesis there will come a time when the simple use of this big word will remind the hearers of the full meaning of the incarnation of Jesus. The word will be the window leading us to recall the full significance of the event of the incarnation. 

Our hope too is that when people hear a word that they do not understand (perhaps in a sermon), that they have enough intellectual curiosity to  search out the meaning. This is pretty easy today since every online home has direct access to good catechesis. In this way we take responsibility for our own growth in faith.

And now to the word that got me started on this thinking this Sunday morning. I was reading a well-intentioned piece about the Catholic's "Sunday obligation." The writer was enthusiastic, and had clearly grown to experience Sunday Mass as the heart of his life every week. But his little reflection with repeated use of the "obligation" word, left me with a heavy feeling. I am of the generation that finds the language of "obligation" (at least initially) pretty unattractive.

So did some more thinking. 

When we use the word “obligation” in Catholic life we refer primarily to the personal desire within every human person to do whatever leads us to encounter the divine. So an "obligation" may initially seem to be an external imposition of a rule. But pretty soon we grow to appreciate that the greater "obligation" comes from deep within our healthiest self. While the Church uses the word “obligation” about the baptised person’s participation in Sunday Mass and regular confession, the heart of the "obligation" is the voice of the deep-felt need of every baptised person. Put simply, when we live in harmony with this deepest desire, we feel better about ourselves and about life. That is a pretty good reward. If you don't believe me, try it!

The words we use might carry heavy and uninspiring baggage for many people. This is not a problem of the word itself, nor with the truth that the big word conveys. Sometimes a little self-therapy, seeking to discover the heart of the meaning, leads us to a more lively and robust adherence (there's another of those words!)

A word itself is but a window. We can hide the window by drawing the curtains. We can even keep away from the window and pretend it is not there. 

But the best thing about a well designed and carefully positioned window is that it draws us to the light. Only when we follow this attraction and move towards the window, can we appreciate the view.

tap on image for further information about Edward Hopper's painting

it's the week-end again

Do you ever find that you long for a break from study or work, or from the busyness of life, then the weekend or vacation comes, then goes, and you are left feeling as though you need another weekend right now?

I suspect we all know the feeling. Last century the well-respected German philosopher Josef Pieper wrote about this in his book Leisure: the basis of Culture.

Pieper suggests that our misguided belief that everything of value can be achieved through work has eliminated our culture's ability to truly relax and to play. Pieper reminds us that leisure is the basis of healthy human existence, and therefore of a healthy culture.

You might like to take a few moments to relax with this video clip. I guarantee it will lead you to change the way you want to use your leisure time.

http://vimeo.com/16982563

an open-door policy

a reflection for Sunday 11 August

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

read the readings at this link

It’s pretty clear that today’s second reading is about FAITH. Take a moment to recall the eleventh chapter of Hebrews:

• Only FAITH can guarantee the blessings that we hope for...
• It was for FAITH that our ancestors were commended.
• It was by FAITH that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a foreign land,..and by FAITH he arrived...
• It was equally by FAITH that Sarah conceived...
• All these died in FAITH...
• It was by FAITH that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac...

I think it’s reasonable to assume that today’s second reading is about...FAITH!

I have been thinking a bit about faith this week in the light of the Year of Faith. In a couple of days it will be 100 days before this year of faith draws to a conclusion. This will be marked in our own diocese with the FAITHFEST celebrations on the Feast of Christ the King.

On the 49th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council (11 October 2011). Pope Benedict called for a Year of Faith to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Council. The letter he wrote on this occasion was entitled, “Porta Fidei”, that is, “The Door of Faith.”  

The pope begins the letter by assuring us that “The door of FAITH is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church.” He continues reminding us that we live FAITHfully when we allow our hearts to be shaped by “transforming grace,” and that this is a journey that begins in baptism.

And then there were a couple more things that deepened my reflection on faith this week. Let me take a moment to share these.

This week I have been reading a collection of homilies, letters and addresses of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis). One of these was a reflection he wrote to encourage the people of his diocese of Buenos Aires almost twelve months ago at the start of the Year of Faith. He begins:

“Among the most striking experiences of the past few decades is the experience of encountering locked doors. Little by little, increasing insecurity has driven us to bolt our doors, hire protection services, install security cameras, and glance with mistrust at strangers who come to our doors. 

Nonetheless, there are still some villages where people leave their doors open. The closed door is really a symbol of our day. It is something more than a simple sociological fact; it is an existential reality that has imposed itself as a way of life. It has become away of confronting reality, other people, and the future. 

The bolted door of my house, the setting of my intimate life, my dreams, hopes, sufferings, and moments of happiness, is locked against others... 

...The image of an open door has always been a symbol of life, friendship, happiness, freedom and trust, How we need to recover these things! 

...As the Year of Faith begins, paradoxically, the image that Pope Benedict XVI proposes is that of a door, one through which we must pass to be able to find what we need so badly...     

“Encountering Christ”  Card. Jorge Borgoglio

And as if that was not enough to get me thinking about FAITH and doors, I then read a piece blogged by a priest of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch. Bosco Peters this week blogged:

“As I travel I stop and visit church buildings...Recently, on my holiday, I stopped at four…church buildings in different townships…  

First stop…a big notice board facing the street. No service times. Next to the word “contact”, a small white board had been added (covering, I presume, a previous contact option) so that it was blank. The church building was locked.  

Second stop...The garden was beautifully kept; someone had been tending it in recent days. A glass notice board with nothing in it was attached to the locked door of the building.  

Third and fourth stops…The church buildings (I know you are surprised!): locked.“  www.liturgy.co.nz

One of the key points of Denis McNamara’s church architecture presentation in Christchurch last week was that a church building is not just a “skin” for liturgical action. Denis writes in the Press interview:

“To build a church properly, one needs to understand what a church is as a sacrament of the world glorified and reunited with God. And this requires knowledge of salvation history, sacramental theology, the theology of the sacred image, the Temple of Solomon, the heritage of the synagogue, the theology of Mystical Body of Christ, how to anticipate our own heavenly future and why all of this matters to the person in the pew. 

And then the architect must have a deep grounding in traditional architecture and respect for precedent. Only in this way can we make something new which is as good or better than what the past has given us. 

There is no need to copy exactly from the past, but there is no need to substitute the word “modern” for ignorance of theological principles. This expectation should fill architects and clients with awe and maybe a little bit of fear at what they are being asked to do. But it has been done before and it is possible to do it again.

Christchurch Press 30 July 2013

So if the church building itself is a “sacrament” that therefore tells us something about God and God’s method of relating with the world, a church building with closed and locked doors is something of a counter-sign. Wouldn’t it be better if we allowed our churches to be clear signs of the open invitation that God extends to all people? We could do this simply by, wherever and whenever possible, having the doors visibly open, at least during daylight hours. Perhaps a notice outside proclaiming “open all day” would advertise the invitation even more clearly.

Each community of parishioners will know if or how it would be possible to keep the doors of the church open as a sign invitation to faith. It might take a bit of organising to arrange who is to unlock and lock each day. But churches that are always open attract more casual visitors looking for a place to pray. And these churches are a much more clear sign that...

“...The door of FAITH is always open for us, 

ushering us into the life of communion with God

and offering entry into his Church.”

weekly newsletter

Weekly newsletter (19th Sunday in Ordinary Time) for the Catholic Parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui district, is now uploaded to the parish website:

www.catholichurunui.co.nz

Benedict & Transfiguration

At his final Sunday Angelus reflection in February, Pope Benedict reflected on the gospel passage for that Sunday: the Transfiguration of Jesus.  As we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration you might be inspired as I was, to hear Pope Benedict's words once again:

"Luke the Evangelist highlights in particular the fact that Jesus was transfigured while he was praying. Jesus experienced a profound relationship with the Father during a sort of spiritual retreat which he made on a high mountain in the company of Peter, James and John, the three disciples ever present at the moments of the Teacher's divine manifestation (Lk 5:10; 8:51; 9:28). 

The Lord, who had just foretold his death and Resurrection (9:22), granted the disciples a foretaste of his glory. And the heavenly Father’s voice rang out in the Transfiguration, as in the baptism: “this is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (9:35). Moreover the presence of Moses and Elijah, who represent the Law and the Prophets of the Old Covenant, is particularly significant: the whole history of the Covenant is oriented to him, Christ, who makes a new “exodus” (9:31), not toward the promised land, as in the time of Moses, but toward Heaven. 

Peter’s words “Master, it is well that we are here” represent the impossible attempt to put this mystical experience on hold. St Augustine commented: “[Peter]... on the mountain... had Christ as the food of his soul. Why should he have to go down to return to his hard work and sorrows while up there he was filled with sentiments of holy love for God and which thus inspired in him a holy conduct? (Sermon 78,3: pl 38, 491). 

In meditating on this passage of the Gospel, we can learn a very important lesson from it: first of all, the primacy of prayer, without which the entire commitment to the apostolate and to charity is reduced to activism. In Lent we learn to give the right time to prayer, both personal and of the community, which gives rest to our spiritual life. Moreover, prayer does not mean isolating oneself from the world and from its contradictions, as Peter wanted to do on Mount Tabor; rather, prayer leads back to the journey and to action. “The Christian life”, I wrote in my Message for this Lent, “consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love” (n. 3). 

Dear brothers and sisters, I hear this word of God as addressed to me in particular at this moment of my life. Thank you! The Lord is calling me “to scale the mountain”, to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation. But this does not mean abandoning the Church; indeed, if God asks me this it is precisely so that I may continue to serve her with the same dedication and the same love with which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suited to my age and strength.

Transfiguration: heavenly realities

.

The Mount of the Transfiguration of Jesus is not too far from the Sea of Galilee. From every direction it rises distinctively from the plain landscape as a solitary hill.

In a similar way, the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus rises up as if from nowhere in the Gospels. We have Jesus preaching, teaching and performing miracles that have an effect on some but not on others, then, all of a sudden Jesus is speaking with the Old Testament prophets Moses and Elijah and his clothes become 'dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them'.

Our contemporary and pragmatic minds might prefer to dismiss the Transfiguration of Jesus as a bit of unnecessary magic. We need to dismiss such a pragmatic response.

The Transfiguration of Jesus is the event that begins to open the door between earthly ordinariness, (days and weeks of routine and mundane and struggling existence), and the divine eternity. In this moment Peter, James and John got a taste of something more; so much so that they could not even put it into words and did not speak of the event when they went down the mountain.

This is what happens every time we celebrate the Mass and the sacraments of the Church. The door between heaven and earth is thrown open by God. We express our struggle and our sin and God pours grace onto and into us. We become again a part of the divine life of God.

When we leave the church after Mass we are not the same people. Like Peter James and John we struggle to put this into words. We are not even really sure what has happened.

The fact is, we have tasted heaven and in the most tangible form of communion, heaven has come INTO us. We are different, and because of this, even though we go home into the same reality and relationships, every moment of the week ahead is different.  The taste of heaven enables us to live fully in every earthly situation.

Some of the Christchurch readers heard Denis McNamara speak about this last week in the city.  In a part of our interview that did not make it into the Press, Denis comments:

"A church building has a theological purpose: to reveal in art and architecture the future of a new heaven and new earth, when God is reunited perfectly to humanity through Christ. And so, like a bride’s dress and wedding banquet that follows, church architecture is festive, perfected, glorified, and includes a gem-like radiance. Moreover, it includes the Host (God) and full array of guests (angels and saints). 

A bride could certainly roll out of bed, walk into church in her exercise clothes and get married by using technical jargon instead of the rites of the Church. But the event would not appear to be as important as it is and its theological importance would be obscured. And so it goes with church architecture, which proclaims to the world that the Wedding Feast of the Lamb—that is, the reuniting of God and humanity desired since the Fall of Adam and Eve—has begun. 

This is described in words in the Book of Revelation, and we see it with our eyes by making the church building embody those heavenly realities.

Top, the Mount of the Transfiguration rises from the plain
and below a quiet spot over the fence from the Monastery on the hilltop

just 100 days remaining...

Next week it will be just 100 days until the end of the Year of faith. There have been some great events in many dioceses. In Christchurch Diocese the FaithFest diocesan festival is being organised to mark the end of the Year of Faith.

It was Pope Benedict who called for the Year of Faith as a way to reawaken and inspire those in the church who had become complacent or tired. It is important that our parishes face the fact that many who are baptised as Catholic, now have little real contact with the Church. At times this might be a choice that they have made. But more often a drift away begins, and it can be difficult to reconnect with the Church even when people would like to. 

The real problem is that many of those who have drifted from the Church, also feel (perhaps as a result of their move) at a distance from God. This is never true, since wherever we go, God is present. Pope Benedict was aware of this when he called for this Year of Faith writing in his Year of Faith (Porta Fidei) letter: 

The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4)... 

...Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ. During the homily at the Mass marking the inauguration of my pontificate I said: “The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.”

Porta Fidei par 1 & 2 

It is too easy to think that new pastoral programmes and parish initiatives are an adequate response to the invitation of faith. These are important, and at times are essential. However too often these well-intentioned endeavours become the sole focus of Parish Council meetings. We need to remember that the Church is not the community of people who, by their own efforts, make something happen, or who are simply waiting for something to happen.

A priest friend in the U.S. put this well when he wrote recently of his own successful parish renewal:

"We began from the fact that we are already united, putting our faith in Christ who has brought us together. Then we desired, in this Year of Faith, to tell the world that the object of our striving is neither an object nor a theory, but a Person. He's alive here and how, and his name is Jesus"

architecture expressing theology

It was encouraging to receive a number of emails, all of them very positive, about Thursday night's Denis McNamara lecture. The session was well attended, and some of the comments I have received include:

• "Inspiring talk - I hope we take notice of him in the rebuild!.."
• "It has been an exceptional visit, great turnout last night 200..."
• "Just home from Denis McNamara.  Excellent.  Much the same content as the you tube bits, but with more warmth and enthusiasm.  I was moved by where it took me..   So powerful to have a strong frameworks to check out ideas by."
• "The session last night was amazing (to say the least) - he is extremely articulate and full on—he didn’t pause for a breath for one hour and a half. It was well attended (various religions) with good dialogue at the end."

Also Rev. Bosco Peters (who is the author of www.liturgy.co.nz - one of the half dozen most popular blogs in NZ!) has already blogged about the session. He finished his post saying: 

"Last night there was a public lecture, excellently attended. I was delighted to be able to attend this lecture where he stressed the above points in a theological framework of anticipated eschatology: don’t rush; architects of church buildings need to be experts not just in architecture but in church architecture expressing theology; don’t let fear motivate.

"I will rework the points of his lecture into a blog post in the near future.

So watch Bosco's blog for his updates, and I will add bits and pieces over the next few weeks here at foodforfaith. 

Just before Thursday night's lecture Denis heard that his father was unwell. When he returned to his hotel after the session, he received the news that his father had died. Denis' commitment to his work saw him continuing with Friday's session for architects and engineers before leaving NZ a few days earlier than planned for home and his father's funeral.

I invite all those who read this post to take a moment to pray for Denis, and for his family, and especially that Denis' father will know God's eternal peace and joy.

Eternal Rest, grant to him O Lord

and let perpetual light shine upon him.

May he rest in peace.

Amen.

into the future

Every now and then I check the stats for this blog. These tell me a number of things, including how many people have visited the blog, and where they live.  Over the last year the readership has increased significantly, and 2000 more people visited foodforfaith in July than in June.  I can also see that until last year the majority of readers were from New Zealand, but now most live in the USA with a growing number in Europe.

I'm not much interested in the numbers. If one person each week finds something in what I share that encourages them in a difficult moment, then I am satisfied.

There are many ways to waste time on the internet. My hope is that foodforfaith will be like the internet attic that stores things both old and new, challenging and encouraging, humourous, serious, demanding and stimulating. 

There are now almost 1000 entries on this blog including the links to the Holy Land pilgrimage and sabbatical blogs. Some of the most popular postings have been uploaded within hours of the event they referred to. Most significant among these were the entries on the election of Pope Francis.

In recent months I (with the support of Jason and Tim from the Catholic Youth Team) tried a few "in a minute" Youtube clips on the site. The response to these has been very positive. There has also been the suggestion that I prepare 10 minute podcasts on a regular basis on a variety of topics. 

I am happy to do this. The problem is that the site is outgrowing this basic "blogger" hosting platform. For the past three months I have been in discussions with a possible support network (both in terms of people and finance) that would enable the formation of a "foodforfaith" website to host the blog, the video clips and the podcasts. Please keep this project in your prayers, and watch this space!

Most of all i am aware that the significant growth in readership is due to you who are readers spreading word to others.  While (as I mentioned) I'm not too interested in the numbers, for the potential sponsor uses numbers as the only reliable criteria!

So first of all, pray that if the Lord wants the blog to develop and grow, then His will be done.  

Secondly, as so many of you have already, don't hesitate to invite others to google search "foodforfaith," or email a link to them.

Thank you for your support!

AMDG

Fr. John O'Connor

white rabbits

It is the first day of a new month, and I thought that yesterday's feast of St Ignatius of Loyola might provide a helpful "white rabbits" reflection.

Many of us remember beginning every new page of school work with the heading A.M.D.G. A good number of us also recall that the letters stood for Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, (For the Greater Glory of God).

I imagine that many Catholics stopped the practice of marking every page with this prayer when they left school. I'm not sure why the practice has faded out of Catholic school. I was at a Catholic school when the encouragement to continue the practice waned. I remember one teacher commenting that if a non-catholic exam marker saw this s/he could be annoyed and grade me harder. I needed every mark I could get and so was not prepared to take the risk!

It was Ignatius of Loyola who coined the prayer 'for the greater glory of God'. This became the 'motto' for the Jesuit Religious Order he founded, the Society of Jesus.

An interesting aside, The Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton (d.1981) used to begin the cricket books he wrote with the letters AMDG. (ref wikipedia)

If Catholics do not continue to use the treasures we have received, then others will take them over and turn them to secular uses. This has happened with architecture. Consider the Christchurch visit this week of Denis McNamara who is reminding us that a Catholic church is built and used primarily "for the greater glory of God."

It is a significant that a Google search of "AMDG NZ" today brings up as the first result, the Auckland Manakau Dressage Group.

Today's feast gives us a useful reminder that our health and happiness is not our own achievement or creation. Instead these gifts are the fruit of acknowledging that every good thing is a gift of God, and that we find the happiness and health we seek when we live in right relationship with God, that is, when everything we do is done not to satisfy our own needs, but instead, "for the greater glory of God."

This month I might not begin every page I write or letter I send with the title AMDG, but I do intend to begin every little project (letter, task etc) with the two second prayer: "for the greater glory of God."  You might like to join me in this. I wonder if you, like me, will immediately notice a positive difference in the way you live...

Video news clip:  Pope Francis earlier today at the Jesuit "Gesu" church in Rome.