yachting, and school lunches

I have really enjoyed watching the America's Cup races. In fact I got a bit hooked over the last few days. The past week has not been easy as we watched a convincing Team NZ lead and inevitable victory become unlikely, and then impossible. In the end it came down to technology and money.

And that is the bit that has taken the edge off my enjoyment off this fest of racing. Yacht racing at this level is no longer simply about the skill of athletes. It is the team with the bottomless bucket of cash that is best able to adapt their boat day by day to the conditions. The team with the money can affort to make changes on the run to counter the skill and strength of the opposition.

The New Zealand tax payer contributed 36 million dollars to this cup campaign in the expectation of payback when we would again host the defense in Auckland. But we did not win, and the defense will not be on Gulf Harbour. These weeks of spectacular sailing entertainment and sportsmanship cost New Zealanders 36 million.

I don't think this would have hit home for me if I had not seen a completely unrelated news story during the week. The story was about hungry children in New Zealand schools. You might like to take five minutes to watch the Campbell Live clip at this link.

Tonight I feel a bit guilty that I allowed our government to gamble on a boat race. I have great admiration for our team who continued to battle throughout the regatta, and who showed gentlemanly sportsmanship in the face of impending defeat. But the fact is that we are a small country who can no longer afford to fund the sports of billionaires. We are certainly up to the task in terms of skill and sportsmanship. But while too many NZ'ers live in poverty, we must leave these wonderful sporting contests to private financiers.

And now I'm off to bed, sadly no race to watch in the morning. I feel privileged that I have a comfortable bed to go to, and I feel a bit guilty knowing that the money we spent on these wonderful few weeks of yachting, could have provided school lunches for children in decile 1-4 schools in NZ for ten years.

My last website surf for the night is to the KIDSCAN website. Perhaps I can follow the promptings of my healthy guilt by making a donation? You might like to do something similar.

still dews of quietness

It is just after 11 on Tuesday evening. I have just arrived home from a Parish Council meeting in Hawarden, an hour from my home. A closed road meant that two of our team had to make a long detour. A couple of others were unable to be present. We had a good meeting and in my journey home my monkey mind filled with hopes anxieties for parish life here in the Hurunui. 

This time last night I had just left a country pub where I regularly meet with a friend to share our experience of Christ over a beer. Christ and beer live well in the same sentence. I remember James K Baxter's "Ode to the Men of Holy Cross" (the NZ national seminary): "O some with think of Christ at Mass, and some will think of beer. The creek it must run muddy, before it can run clear..."  

I have spent today in meetings, with a couple of visits, and some spiritual direction, as well as my own supervision session. The parish council meeting was my last commitment of the day.

After a silent drive through the Scargill Valley I turned on the ipod to shuffle a selection of music. One of my favourite hymns was the first tune to play.

The text of "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" is taken from a Quaker epic poem and is usually sung to the tune Repton by Hubert Parry. This Anglican English Church music is magnificent. Happy and glorious even!

Tonight on the journey home I replayed the hymn several times, singing along, then listening in silence. The text was exactly the prayer I needed tonight, and now (when I finish this little glass of milk), I will head to bed confident anew that Jesus soothes my anxieties with his "still dews of quietness."

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways!

Reclothe us in our rightful mind,

In purer lives Thy service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard

Beside the Syrian sea

The gracious calling of the Lord,

Let us, like them, without a word

Rise up and follow Thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee!

O calm of hills above

Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee

The silence of eternity

Interpreted by love!

With that deep hush subduing all

Our words and works that drown

The tender whisper of Thy call,

As noiseless let Thy blessing fall

As fell Thy manna down.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire

Thy coolness and Thy balm;

Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;

Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,

O still, small voice of calm.

joys and desires (francis & benedict)

A number of newspaper headlines in recent days have featured encouraging quotations from an interview with Pope Francis.

Pope John Paul never gave interviews. His texts and speeches were rigorously crafted, and it seemed he feared that a departure from text might too easily be misinterpreted.

Pope Benedict initiated the new era of papal interviews with conversations with book authors (Light of the World interview with Peter Seewald), with journalists aboard planes, TV stations, small groups of priests, (diocese of Aosta, July 25, 2005), large groups of priests (close of Year of Priests June 11 2005), and children (Year of the Eucharist October 2005), among others.

I was privileged to be one of 15,000 priests at the Year of Priests Question and Answer session with Pope Benedict in 2005. The pope's responses were remarkable for their informality and depth. His style led one reporter to write: "Never has a Pope...dealt so directly with such wide-ranging and controversial issues as Pope Benedict XVI does." (George Weigel in his foreward to Light of the World).

I recall following a website that published the texts of Pope Benedict's speeches in the months after his election in 2005. The webmasters had been given embargoed copies of the formal speeches before the events. But after a day or two, they realised that Benedict often departed from his prepared text more than he stayed with it! The website began to publish the formal text in black font, and in red the pope's asides and spontaneous reflections. In some speeches there was more red than black! 

I noticed this informality too in the Q & A at the close of the Year of Priests. Benedict was holding several pages of prepared responses. However as the first question was asked he rolled up the pages, then put them aside not referring to them once.

Another inspiring difference between Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict was the freedom with which Benedict (especially in his writing) quoted from anyone who was earnestly bringing intelligence to their engagement with life. In his teaching John Paul drew widely from the saints and the church fathers. Benedict was truly catholic in quoting from people of every religion, and from no religion, agnostic and athiest alike.

Listening to Pope Francis in the last six months I have recalled many passages from Pope Benedict's writings and speeches. On many occasions the emphasis, language and tone of the two popes is so similar that the texts can't be told apart.

BUT! 

I am not downplaying the differences between Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. A number of commentators (blogs etc) are suggesting that the content of the teachings and the emphasis of these two popes is the same. I sense fear in their concern that there may be growth and change in the church, and that a new style of papal leadership and emphasis may be emerging. It is true that doctrinally there is no difference. But Pope Francis is doing a superb job of reminding us that Catholic faith must never be reduced to doctrine. 

There are a number of reasons for this. Even though Francis is less than ten years younger than Benedict, he is from a new generation. While Benedict is (by a fluke of birth) European and from the 'old-world', Francis is (by the same fluke) post-war and 'new World'. Most noticeably (for the media especially) Pope Francis is an extrovert, and Pope Benedict, an introvert. 

I am often haunted by the words of the English poet William Blake who holds a perception of religion that is tragically common today: 

"And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, 

And binding with briars my joys and desires".

The Garden of Love

One of my greatest sadnesses is the chasm that exists between my own personal experience of the Church as positive and life-giving, and the negative perception of the Church held by most of the people I know. It is true that the church has significant and tragic imperfections and flaws. However I have not found any other group that more effectively holds me in relationship with Christ, enabling me to continue to strive for full, healthy and happy life. My sadness is that most people have little positive to say about the Church. They experience the Church as binding with briars [their] joys and desires.

In Pope Francis we have a leader who is building on the sound foundations of the Gospel and the Tradition beautifully clarified for us by Pope Benedict. This is evident especially in the two major interviews of the past couple of months, first on the plane journey home from Brazil in July, and the second published in four Jesuit journals last week.

There is no doubt that the past six months have seen an organic growth and development of the life of the Church in the leadership of Pope Francis. Anyone who tells you that nothing new is happening, has their head in the sand. Others who suggest that the Church is on the verge of changing teachings on matters of faith and morals are also naive.

But we are right to delight in and to savour the renewal of hope that Pope Francis has brought. It is especially encouraging to know that many Catholics who feel as though they have been driven to the periphery of the Church, are experiencing renewed hope.

After six months it is evident that we do not need to hopefully hold our breath in anticipation. Let's inhale and exhale breathing deeply and freely, confident that the Holy Spirit (who in the election of Pope Francis renewed this good work), will bring it to fulfillment. (Philippians 1:6)

the Francis interview

In recent days newspaper headlines have featured a substantial interview given by Pope Francis. You can read the complete text of the interview at:

http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview

friendship and inspiration

This week 180 of NZ's diocesan priests gather in Rotorua for our third National Assembly. Five and ten years ago we gathered. 

Last night's Powhiri, liturgy and dinner was a wonderful beginning to these days of friendship, rest and inspiration with good input (from Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP, John Allen Jnr, Cardinal Tom Williams and Msgr Peter Jeffrey).

It is good to be together.

Please keep us in your prayer.

space station spotting

A few weeks ago, at an al fresco dinner in Italy, a friend became preoccupied with his smartphone. When we asked what he was doing, he replied that he was waiting for a call from the International Space Station.  He certainly got our attention.

In fact he was watching an app he had downloaded - and the app would let him know when the station became visible at his present location. Soon he fixed his eyes on the horizon, and within seconds he pointed and we all looked up. It was not difficult to see the station. It appeared as a large, fast -moving star that within two minutes had passed overhead and moved out of sight.

Our friend told us that the station was travelling at more than 2500 km and, because it's orbit is a few hundred kilometres above earth, was over Spain when we first saw it. 

Last night I downloaded the app and noticed that the ISS was to pass a couple of hundred kilometres south of Invercargill at a height above the horizon of 23 degrees. It was a clear night in Cheviot so I went out for a look. Sure enough, at 8.05pm the station was visible for at least a minute before passing into cloud above the Eastern horizon.

There are a number of websites and apps with info about the station, and it is not difficult to track with the guides provided.

six months of pope francis

It is six months today since the Holy Spirit, working through the College of Cardinals, elected Pope Francis to be the Bishop of Rome.

No doubt, in these 'anniversary' hours and days, news channels and columns will offer their half-year opinions on how he is doing. It is remarkable that the media honeymoon continues to focus only on the "welcome" aspects of the new pope's style and teaching. The media consensus at this point is overwhelmingly positive. People like an extrovert who smiles. They are prepared to overlook the fact that his teaching is consistently Catholic, and that he is simply repeating many of the things that Pope Benedict (and earlier pope's) have emphasised.

I remember in 2005 being impressed by the new style that Pope Benedict brought to papal teaching. Whereas Pope John Paul referred to saints constantly, Pope Benedict was happy to quote athiests and agnostics, the living and the departed, believers and just about anyone who was serious about the human hunger for truth, beauty and life. 

Pope Francis brings an informal extroversion to the papacy. Whereas Pope John Paul never gave interviews. Pope Benedict broke new ground on several occasions offering question and answer sessions with media interviewers, book authors, children and priests. Pope Francis has taken this to a new level of informality on several occasions. His most remarkable interview to date is the in-flight chat with journalists on the trip back to Rome after World Youth Day. 

His daily reflections at the early morning Masses give us the opportunity to hear a gentle pastor, who is uncompromising with the gospel.

Even though Pope Francis is less than a decade younger than Pope Benedict, he is of a different generation and background. His earliest years were spent in the post-war New World instead of Benedict's pre-war Europe. His easy and extroverted style is a timely gift for the church. 

I remember being inspired by Pope Benedict's robust engagement with the German parliament in his "Bundestag" address two years ago. His willingness to engage with those of little or no Christian belief on this occasion continued the pattern began soon after his election when he spoke on Faith and Reason at his old Regensburg university.

This week Pope Francis continued in similarly open and fraternal dialogue with the founder of the widely ready Italian daily newspaper, La Repubblica.

Every morning of my high-school years at St. Patrick's in Timaru, the entire school would begin every school day at assembly praying the morning offering, and the prayer for the pope. I still remember it almost 40 years later:

Let us pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis

May the Lord preserve him,

and give him life,

and make him blessed upon the earth,

and deliver him not 

up to the will of his enemies.

Amen

pope's letter to the paper

La Repubblica is one of the best known and most widely read Italian daily newspapers. The paper regularly contains "reflections" on the life of the Church, and commentaries (often vivid) on the words and actions of the pope.  Last month the founder commented on Pope Francis' July encyclical, Lumen Fidei. They did not expect to receive a letter from the pope himself in response to the founder's column.

Below (in red) is the pope's letter, and (in blue further below) the response of the founder to the pope.

Together these reflections mark a remarkable dialogue - exactly the kind of robust and respectful exchange hoped for in the Benedict / Francis encyclical.

Dear Doctor Scalfari,

It is with great cordiality, although only in broad lines, that with this letter I would like to respond to your letter, addressed to me on July 7 in the pages of La Reppublica, with a series of your personal reflections , which you then enriched on the pages of the same daily on August 7.

I thank you, first of all, for the attention with which you read the encyclical Lumen fidei. The intention of my beloved Predecessor, Benedict XVI, who conceived it and to a great extent wrote it, and which I inherited with gratitude, is directed not only to confirm in the faith in Jesus Christ those who recognize themselves in it, but also to arouse a sincere and rigorous dialogue with those whom, like you, describe themselves “a non-believer for many years interested and fascinated by the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth.”

Therefore, it seems to me that it is nothing other than positive, not only for us individually but also for the society in which we live, to pause to dialogue on a reality as important as the faith is, which calls to preaching and to the figure of Jesus. I think there are, in particular, two circumstances that today render this dialogue right and proper and precious. Moreover, as noted, it constitutes one of the principal objectives of Vatican Council II, desired by John XXIII and the ministry of Popes that, each one with his sensibility and contribution, from then to today has followed in the track traced by the Council.

The first circumstance – as recalled in the initial pages of the encyclical – stems from the fact that, in the course of the centuries of modernity, we have witnessed a paradox: the Christian faith, whose novelty and incidence on the life of man since the beginning were expressed in fact through the symbol of light, was often referred to as the darkness of superstition that is opposed to the light of reason. Thus between the Church and the culture of Christian inspiration, on one hand, and the modern culture of Enlightenment stamp, on the other, there has been incommunicability. Moreover the time has come, and the Vatican in fact inaugurated the season, of an open dialogue without preconceptions, which opens the doors for a serious and fecund meeting.

The second circumstance, for one who seeks to be faithful to the gift of following Jesus in the light of faith, stems from the fact that this dialogue is not a secondary accessory of the existence of the believer: it is, instead, a profound and indispensable expression. In this connection, allow me to quote an affirmation of the encyclical, which in my opinion is very important: because the truth witnessed by faith is that of love – it is underlined -- “it is clear that the faith is not intransigent, but grows in coexistence that respects the other. The believer isn’t arrogant; on the contrary, truth makes him humble, knowing that, more than our possessing it, it is truth that embraces and possesses us. Far from stiffening us, the certainty of the faith puts us on the way, and makes possible witness and dialogue with everyone” (n. 34). This is the spirit that animates the words that I write to you.

For me, faith is born from the encounter with Jesus. A personal encounter, which has touched my heart and given direction and new meaning to my existence. But at the same time an encounter that was made possible by the community of faith in which I have lived and thanks to which I found access to the intelligence of Sacred Scripture, to new life that, as gushing water, flows from Jesus through the Sacraments, to fraternity with everyone and at the service of the poor, true image of the Lord. Believe me, without the Church I would not have been able to encounter Christ, also in the awareness that the immense gift that faith is is kept in the fragile earthen vessels of our humanity.

Now, it is precisely beginning from here, from this personal experience of faith lived in the Church, that I feel at ease in listening to your questions and in seeking, together with you, the ways through which we might, perhaps, begin a segment of the way together.

Forgive me if I do not follow step by step the arguments you propose in the editorial of July 7. It seems to me more fruitful, if not more congenial, to go in a certain sense to the heart of your considerations. I won’t even enter into the explanatory way followed by the encyclical, in which you perceive the lack of a section dedicated specifically to the historical experience of Jesus of Nazareth.

To begin, I observe only that an analysis of this kind isn’t secondary. It is, in fact, by following the logic that guides the unfolding of the encyclical, pausing our attention on the meaning of what Jesus said and did and thus, in a word, on what Jesus was and is for us. The Letters of Paul and the Gospel of John, of which particular reference is made in the encyclical, are constructed, in fact, on the solid foundation of the messianic ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, which reached its decisive culmination in the Pasch of Death and Resurrection.

Therefore, one must be confronted with Jesus, I would say, in the concreteness and roughness of his event, as is narrated especially by the oldest of the Gospels, that of Mark. One sees then that the “scandal” that the word and practice of Jesus caused around him stem from his extraordinary “authority”: a word, this is, that attests from the Gospel of Mark, but which isn’t easy to render in Italian. The Greek word is “exousia,” which literally refers to that which“comes from being,” which is. It’s not about something exterior or forced, therefore, but of something that emanates from within and that imposes itself. Jesus, in fact, strikes, breaks, innovates beginning with – He himself says so – from his relationship with God, called familiarly Abba, who gives Him this “authority” so that he will exercise it in favor of men.

So Jesus preaches “as one who has authority,” heals, calls the disciples to follow him, forgives … all things that, in the Old Testament, are of God and only of God. The question that return most in Mark’s Gospel is: “Who is he who …?” and which refers to Jesus’ identity, is born from witnessing an authority that is different from that of the world, an authority that is not aimed at exercising power over others, but of serving them, of giving them liberty and the fullness of life. And this to the point of putting at stake one’s own life, to the point of experiencing incomprehension, betrayal, rejection, to the point of being condemned to death, of sealing the state of abandonment on the cross. But Jesus remains faithful to God, to the end.

And it is precisely then – as the Roman centurion exclaimed at the foot of the cross in Mark’s Gospel – that Jesus shows himself paradoxically as the Son of God! Son of a God that is love and that wishes with all His being that man, every man, discover himself and also live as His true son. This is, for the Christian faith, the certificate of the fact that Jesus is risen: not to triumph over those who rejected him, but to attest that the love of God is stronger than death, the forgiveness of God is stronger than any sin, and that it is worthwhile to spend one’s life, to the end, witnessing this immense gift.

The Christian faith believes this: that Jesus is the Son of God who came to give his life to open to all the way of love. Because of this you are right, egregious Doctor Scalfari, when you see in the Incarnation of the Son of God the foundation of the Christian faith. Tertullian already wrote “caro cardo salutis,” the flesh (of Christ) is the foundation of salvation. Because the Incarnation, namely, the fact that the Son of God came in our flesh and shared our joys and sorrows, the victories and defeats of our existence, to the cry of the cross, living everything in love and fidelity to Abba, attests to the incredible love that God has for every man, the inestimable value that he gives him. Because of this, each one of us is called to make his own the look and the choice of love of Jesus, to enter into his way of being, of thinking and acting. This is the faith, with all the expressions that are described unfailingly in the encyclical.

Always in the editorial of July 7, you ask me in addition how to understand the originality of the Christian faith in as much as it is founded on the Incarnation of the Son of God, in regard to other faiths that gravitate instead around the absolute transcendence of God.

The originality, I would say, lies precisely in the fact that the faith makes us participate , in Jesus, in the relationship that He has with God who is Abba and, in this light, the relationship that He has with all other men, including enemies, in the sign of love. In other words, Jesus’ offspring, as presented by the Christian faith, is not revealed to mark an insurmountable separation between Jesus and all others: but to tell us that, in Him, we are all called to be children of the one Father and brothers among ourselves. The singularity of Jesus is for communication, not for exclusion.

Of course from this also follows – and it isn’t something small – the distinction between the religious sphere and the political sphere which is sanctioned in “giving to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” affirmed clearly by Jesus and on which, laboriously, the history of the West was built. In fact, the Church is called to sow the leaven and the salt of the Gospel, and this is the love and mercy of God that reaches all men, pointing out the celestial and definitive goal of our destiny, whereas civil and political society has the arduous task of articulating and embodying in justice and solidarity, in law and in peace, an ever more human life. For one who lives the Christian faith, this does not mean fleeing the world or seeking hegemony, but service to man, to the whole of man and to all men, beginning from the fringes of history and keeping awake the sense of hope that drives one to do good despite everything and always looking to the beyond.

You also ask me, in conclusion of your first article, what we should say to our Jewish brothers about the promise made to them by God: has it all come to nothing? Believe me, this is a question that challenges us radically as Christians, because, with the help of God, especially since Vatican Council II, we have rediscovered that the Jewish people are still for us the holy root from which Jesus germinated. In the friendship I cultivated in the course of all these years with Jewish brothers in Argentina, often in prayer I also questioned God, especially when my mind went to the memory of the terrible experience of the Shoa. What I can say to you, with the Apostle Paul, is that God’s fidelity to the close covenant with Israel never failed and that, through the terrible trials of these centuries, the Jews have kept their faith in God. And for this, we shall never be sufficiently grateful to them as Church, but also as humanity. They, then, precisely by persevering in the faith of the God of the Covenant, called all, also us Christians, to the fact that we are always waiting, as pilgrims, for the Lord’s return and, therefore, that we must always be open to Him and never take refuge in what we have already attained.

So I come to the three questions you put to me in the article of August 7. It seems to me that, in the first two, what is in your heart is to understand the attitude of the Church to those who don’t share faith in Jesus. First of all, you ask me if the God of Christians forgives one who doesn’t believe and doesn’t seek the faith. Premise that – and it’s the fundamental thing – the mercy of God has no limits if one turns to him with a sincere and contrite heart; the question for one who doesn’t believe in God lies in obeying one’s conscience. Sin, also for those who don’t have faith, exists when one goes against one’s conscience. To listen to and to obey it means, in fact, to decide in face of what is perceived as good or evil. And on this decision pivots the goodness or malice of our action.

In the second place, you ask me if the thought, according to which no absolute exists and therefore not even an absolute truth but only a series of relative or subjective truths, is an error or a sin. To begin with, I will not speak, not even to one who believes, of “absolute” truth, in the sense that absolute is what is inconsistent, what is deprived of any relationship. Now truth, according to the Christian faith, is the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. Therefore, truth is a relationship! So true is it that each one of us also takes up the truth and expresses it from him/herself: from his/her history and culture, from the situation in which he/she lives, etc. This doesn’t mean that truth is variable or subjective, quite the opposite. But is means that it is given to us always and only as a way and a life. Did not Jesus himself say: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”? In other words, truth being altogether one with love, requires humility and openness to be sought, received and expressed. Therefore, it’s necessary to understand one another well on the terms and, perhaps, to come out of the tight spots of opposition … absolute, to pose the question again in depth. I think that this is today absolutely necessary to initiate that serene and constructive dialogue that I hoped for at the beginning of this my response. In the last question you ask me if, with the disappearance of man on earth, the thought will also disappear that is able to think of God. Certainly, man’s greatness lies in his being able to think of God. And that is in being able to live a conscious and responsible relationship with Him. However, the relationship is between two realities. God – this is my thought and this is my experience, but how many, yesterday and today, share it! – is not an idea, even though very lofty, fruit of man’s thought. God is reality with a capital “R.” Jesus reveals it – and lives the relationship with him – as a Father of goodness and infinite mercy. Hence, God doesn’t depend on our thought. Moreover, even when the life of man on earth should finish – and for the Christian faith, in any case, this world as we know it is destined to fail --, man won’t stop existing and, in a way that we don’t know, also the universe created with him. Scripture speaks of “new heavens and a new earth” and affirms that, in the end, in the where and when that is beyond us, but towards which, in faith, we tend with desire and expectation, God will be “all in all.” Egregious Doctor Scalfari, I thus conclude my reflections, aroused by what you wished to communicate to me and ask me. Receive it as the tentative and provisional but sincere and confident answer to the invitation to escort you in a segment of the road together. Believe me, the Church despite all the slowness, the infidelities, the errors and sins she could have committed and can still commit in those that accompany her, has no other sense or end but that of living and witnessing Jesus: He who was sent by Abba “to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).

With fraternal closeness,

Francis

+++

The lost sheep

Eugenio Scalfari

Papa Francesco decided to respond to the questions that I addressed in two articles published in our newspaper respectively 7 July and 7 August this year . Frankly I did not expect him to do so widely and so affectionately fraternal spirit . Perhaps because the lost sheep deserves more attention and care ? I say that because I have stated in the articles mentioned above to the Pope that I am a " non-believer and I do not seek God," even though " they are interested and fascinated for many years by the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth , son of Mary and Joseph, the lineage of jew David " . And further write that "God , in my opinion , is an invention consoling the mind of men." Let me remind you that my position as a party because it makes our eyes even more " outrageously glamorous " the letter that Pope Francis sent me , further proof of his ability and desire to overcome the barriers in dialogue with all the search for peace , love and testimony.

That said , I summarize the questions and thoughts that I have done and to which the Pope replied , so that readers have a clear framework within which this dialogue takes place .

1 - The Enlightenment modernity has questioned the theme of ' "absolute" , starting from the truth. There is only one truth, or as many as you configure each individual ?

2 - The Gospel and the doctrine of the Church affirm that the Only Begotten Son of God became flesh certainly not wearing a suit and imitating the movements of men and prejudice God , but also assuming the pains , joys and desires . This means that Jesus had all the temptations of the flesh and won them not as God but as a man who had placed the order to bring the love for others at the same level of intensity of love itself . Hence the incitement : love your neighbor as yourself . The extent to which the preaching of Jesus and the Church founded by his disciples achieved this goal?

3 - The other monotheistic religions , Judaism and Islam , involving only one God , the mystery of the Trinity is completely unrelated . Christianity is therefore a rather special monotheism . How do you explain to a religion that has as its root the biblical God , who has no only-begotten Son and can neither be named nor shown , as is Allah ?

4 - The God incarnate has always said that his kingdom was not and would never be in this world. Hence the "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's ." This "edge" has had as a logical consequence that Christianity would never have had the temptation of theocracy , which instead dominates in the Islamic lands . However, even Christianity especially in its Catholic , she felt strongly the temptation of worldly power , temporality has often exceeded the pastoral of the Church. Papa Francesco is finally the prevalence of poor Church and pastoral of the institutional and temporalistic ?

5 - God promised to Abraham and to the chosen people of Israel prosperity and happiness, but this promise was never realized , and culminated , after many centuries of persecution and discrimination , in the horror of the Holocaust. The God of Abraham , which is also that of the Christians , therefore did not keep his promise ?

6 - If a person does not have faith nor look but makes for what the Church is a sin will be forgiven by the Christian God ?

7 - The believer believes in the truth revealed, the non-believer believes that there is no "absolute" but a series of truths relative and subjective. This way of thinking for the Church is a mistake or a sin ?

8 - The Pope said during his trip to Brazil that our species will end up like all the things that have a beginning and an end. But when our species will have disappeared even the thought is gone and no longer think God So at that point, God is dead along with all the men?

Readers will find in these pages the answers of the Pope in his letter , which still with great affection and respect I thank him . In our paper tomorrow I shall make some reflections to explore the themes and pursue a dialogue I think, too , like the Pope, it is useful and even valuable for readers, believers in Jesus Christ or in other religions or none at all, but animated the desire for knowledge and the willingness to work together for the common good .

"war never again, never again war!"

A few hours ago (Saturday evening Rome time) almost 100.000 people gathered with Pope Francis in St. Peter's square to pray for peace, especially with the prospect of intervention causing escalating violence in Syria.

You can see a brief video report of the gathering at this link:

http://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-francis-rebuild-peace-and-harmony-with-encounter-not-conflict-english-10955.html#.UivpJGQpbfg

Also the pope's homily is reprinted below:

"And God saw that it was good" (Gen 1:12, 18, 21, 25). The biblical account of the beginning of the history of the world and of humanity speaks to us of a God who looks at creation, in a sense contemplating it, and declares: "It is good". This, dear brothers and sisters, allows us to enter into God’s heart and, precisely from within him, to receive his message.

We can ask ourselves: what does this message mean? What does it say to me, to you, to all of us?

1. It says to us simply that this, our world, in the heart and mind of God, is the "house of harmony and peace", and that it is the space in which everyone is able to find their proper place and feel "at home", because it is "good". All of creation forms a harmonious and good unity, but above all humanity, made in the image and likeness of God, is one family, in which relationships are marked by a true fraternity not only in words: the other person is a brother or sister to love, and our relationship with God, who is love, fidelity and goodness, mirrors every human relationship and brings harmony to the whole of creation. 

God’s world is a world where everyone feels responsible for the other, for the good of the other. This evening, in reflection, fasting and prayer, each of us deep down should ask ourselves: Is this really the world that I desire? Is this really the world that we all carry in our hearts? Is the world that we want really a world of harmony and peace, in ourselves, in our relations with others, in families, in cities, in and between nations? And does not true freedom mean choosing ways in this world that lead to the good of all and are guided by love?

2. But then we wonder: Is this the world in which we are living? Creation retains its beauty which fills us with awe and it remains a good work. But there is also "violence, division, disagreement, war". This occurs when man, the summit of creation, stops contemplating beauty and goodness, and withdraws into his own selfishness.

When man thinks only of himself, of his own interests and places himself in the centre, when he permits himself to be captivated by the idols of dominion and power, when he puts himself in God’s place, then all relationships are broken and everything is ruined; then the door opens to violence, indifference, and conflict. This is precisely what the passage in the Book of Genesis seeks to teach us in the story of the Fall: man enters into conflict with himself, he realizes that he is naked and he hides himself because he is afraid (cf. Gen 3: 10), he is afraid of God’s glance; he accuses the woman, she who is flesh of his flesh (cf. v. 12); he breaks harmony with creation, he begins to raise his hand against his brother to kill him. Can we say that from harmony he passes to "disharmony"? No, there is no such thing as "disharmony"; there is either harmony or we fall into chaos, where there is violence, argument, conflict, fear ...

It is exactly in this chaos that God asks man’s conscience: "Where is Abel your brother?" and Cain responds: "I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?" (Gen 4:9). We too are asked this question, it would be good for us to ask ourselves as well: Am I really my brother’s keeper? Yes, you are your brother’s keeper! To be human means to care for one another! But when harmony is broken, a metamorphosis occurs: the brother who is to be cared for and loved becomes an adversary to fight, to kill. 

What violence occurs at that moment, how many conflicts, how many wars have marked our history! We need only look at the suffering of so many brothers and sisters. This is not a question of coincidence, but the truth: we bring about the rebirth of Cain in every act of violence and in every war. All of us! And even today we continue this history of conflict between brothers, even today we raise our hands against our brother. Even today, we let ourselves be guided by idols, by selfishness, by our own interests, and this attitude persists. 

We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal, we continue to sow destruction, pain, death! Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of death! Violence and war are the language of death!

After the chaos of the flood, when it stopped raining, a rainbow appeared and the dove returned with an olive branch. Today, I think also of that olive tree which representatives of various religions planted in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires in 2000, asking that there be no more chaos, asking that there be no more war, asking for peace.

3. And at this point I ask myself: Is it possible to walk the path of peace? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace? Invoking the help of God, under the maternal gaze of the Salus Populi Romani, Queen of Peace, I say: Yes, it is possible for everyone! From every corner of the world tonight, I would like to hear us cry out: Yes, it is possible for everyone! Or even better, I would like for each one of us, from the least to the greatest, including those called to govern nations, to respond: Yes, we want it! My Christian faith urges me to look to the Cross. How I wish that all men and women of good will would look to the Cross if only for a moment! There, we can see God’s reply: violence is not answered with violence, death is not answered with the language of death. In the silence of the Cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is spoken. This evening, I ask the Lord that we Christians, and our brothers and sisters of other religions, and every man and woman of good will, cry out forcefully: violence and war are never the way to peace! 

Let everyone be moved to look into the depths of his or her conscience and listen to that word which says: Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to dialogue and reconciliation. Look upon your brother’s sorrow – I think of the children: look upon these… look at the sorrow of your brother, stay your hand and do not add to it, rebuild the harmony that has been shattered; and all this achieved not by conflict but by encounter! May the noise of weapons cease! War always marks the failure of peace, it is always a defeat for humanity. Let the words of Pope Paul VI resound again: "No more one against the other, no more, never! ... war never again, never again war!" (Address to the United Nations, 1965). 

"Peace expresses itself only in peace, a peace which is not separate from the demands of justice but which is fostered by personal sacrifice, clemency, mercy and love" (World Day of Peace Message, 1975). Brothers and Sisters, forgiveness, dialogue, reconciliation – these are the words of peace, in beloved Syria, in the Middle East, in all the world! Let us pray this evening for reconciliation and peace, let us work for reconciliation and peace, and let us all become, in every place, men and women of reconciliation and peace! So may it be.

the successful disciple

three years on

During this past week we marked the third anniversary of the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Since that date we have experienced well over 13.000 quakes. It has been a long three years for all of us. So many of us, with family and friends, continue to struggle with the loss of homes, businesses and livelihoods. Too many of Cantabrians remain without secure homes awaiting insurance settlements while considering limited options.

New Zealand had always been the place where land ownership was viewed as the most secure investment. Our families worked hard for their quarter-acre sections near shops and schools. In rural areas we have worked more intimately with the land cultivating, sowing and harvesting. 

But the farming people of our country know too that simply owning land is no guarantee of prosperity. While a good year can bring a rich harvest, Very often rain, storms and droughts can just as often threaten to bankrupt the farmer.

The earthquakes have reminded city landowners that the simple ownership of land cannot guarantee security. Think of the effects of liquefaction rendering entire suburbs now permanently uninhabitable.

The initial response to the earthquakes, and particularly to the deadly February 22 quake, was remarkable in our city. WIthin hours communities had rallied to provide food and shelter to those in need. Money was freely given. Neighbours opened their homes, and their bathrooms. to those in need. The real response of Cantabrians was not so much from the traditional helping institutions (who certainly did their share), but from those who crossed the fences between properties to help neighbours who until that moment may have been strangers. “He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata!” He tangata! (What is the most important thing in the world?  It is people! It is people! It is people!)

it is not just us...

In the midst of personal suffering, healthy people also become more aware of the sufferings of others. How often the family gathered at the hospital bedside of the sick child, develop significant friendship with other parents in the ward. Suffering also shifts our gaze beyond our neighbourhood and city to those who are the victims of natural disasters and war in other parts of the world.

In these days our thoughts and prayers are especially with the people of Syria, where violence and bloodshed has been their pattern of life and death for more than two years. The United Nations reports that over 100.000 civilians have lost their lives in that time.

In recent days this tragedy has threatened to become a global war. We are slow learners when it comes to war and peace. We know from the history of last 100 years that true peace can never be achieved be achieved by violence, or even by the threat of violence. Yes Syria has chemical weapons, but only because Israel has nuclear arms. And Israel has stockpiled nuclear weapons because the United States...

...and so the pattern of violence continues. 

wisdom from the scriptures

It is in the context of these local and world events that we turn to today’s scripture readings. There are many verses in these readings worthy of their own homily. In the gospel we hear Jesus reminding us that:

“anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

and at the end of the same readings:

“So, in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.”

We will pray the psalm together

"O Lord, you have been our refuge, from one generation to the next".

The first reading directs us to wisdom:

Who indeed can know the intentions of God! Who can divine the will of the Lord? The reasonings of mortals are unsure and our intentions unstable.

Perhaps it is not difficult to relate to each of these verses. How often our intentions and motivations feel even more unstable than the ground we walk on. How often our intentions and motivations feel even more unstable than the earthquaked-ground we walk and build on. Too often we find that our behavour and our responses are little more than the impulsive and compulsive reactions to the unhealthy behaviour of others. Maybe we don’t even take a moment to discern the will of the Lord? Our words and actions are driven by so many attachments, and we defend our personal possessions with military-like methods.

there is another way

Thanks be to God, Christians have been given another way of living through life’s instability and conflict. The one who turns to Christ, with total abandonment, will find refuge. We see this in our ancestors in faith who “from one generation to the next” knew that the most important thing was to live in relationship with Jesus. It is only in this divine embrace that we avoid being trampled under by daily demands. Even when under attack from our enemies, the Lord is our only refuge.

And this confidence brings us to the heart of our faith. The true follower of Christ is the one who in every moment takes up the cross and follows. The life of the successful disciple is not measured by an absence of suffering and conflict. These realities are as inevitable for us as they were real for Jesus.

The disciple of Jesus finds joy not in simple avoidance of pain and tension, but in remaining in intimate relationship with Jesus in the midst of every challenge and demand of daily life.

newsletter

The weekly newsletter for the Catholic parish of the Good Shepherd, Hurunui District, is now uploaded to the parish website www.catholichurunui.co.nz.

meet the Christchurch seminarians

Let's offer a prayer today, and every day, for the seminarians of the Christchurch diocese.

You can meet them at this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAu2pR8UCB4&feature=share

Let's also remember those of our diocese who are in formation for priesthood in religious communities around the world.

three years later

On this day, three years ago, Cantabrians were shaken awake at 4.35am by a 7.1 earthquake. We have had well over 13.000 quakes since then, including the deadly February 22 2011 quake which took the lives of 185 of our Christchurch family and friends.

Here in Christchurch, it is difficult to remember pre-earthquakes days. 

For three years, the instability of the ground we have built our houses, businesses and our lives on has been unreliable. The three years have been interminable for many as the uncertainties of delays, insurance, repair and rebuilding continue to deprive good people of sleep and security.

But when I think of earthquakes I also remember the extraordinary generosity that revealed the true heart of our city. Food was freely and generously given. Money was shared. Homes were opened to strangers and the tragedy and trauma we were all living with gave us the opportunity to live more fully as the kind of community we know we all need.

So as we remember those who still suffer today, let's offer a prayer for them. And let's pray another prayer too, that we will never lose the heart-felt generosity and love that we saw in the worst of those earthquake moments. Such love, is the only stable foundation for any city.

killing, with the tongue...

Pope Francis certainly doesn't mince his words when preaching the gospel. Yesterday, after his vacation, he returned to his early morning celebration of the Mass at Casa Santa Marta where he lives.  In his homily he drew a parallel between the one who gossips and the murderer.

You can read a summary of his text at this link:

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-never-kill-your-neighbor-with-words

and watch a romereports summary at this link

http://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-resumes-morning-mass-at-santa-marta-dont-kill-others-with-your-tongue-english-10908.html#.UiYCSGQpbfg

working for survival, or for fun

"swimming is a strange sport 

because sometimes you do it for fun, 

and sometimes you do it to not die.

Work is somewhat similar"

At the beginning of a new work week, and a new month, I was encouraged by this reflection on "work".

Take a look at the zenit.org  website to read.

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/work-of-human-hands-a-labor-day-reflection