Halloween

People have a need for moments and days in a year that are highly ritualised around social gatherings with food and drink. Halloween has relatively recently become one such significant day on every town calendar.

The marking of Halloween (literally "All Saints Eve"), became significant for Christians who were preparing to celebrate the feast of All Saints the following day. (more on the feast tomorrow)

Few of those for whom Halloween is significant will give the Communion of Saints a thought. In the same way the Christian celebrations of Easter and Ash Wednesday, Christmas and Advent, have been shadowed by secular rituals of bunnies and eggs, Mardi Gras, and presents and shopping.  Those who do not give Jesus a thought still have a deep need for rituals of social gathering and our Christian feasts have provided a good opportunity.

There is little to be gained by Christians who set out to oppose the secularization of our major Christian feasts. Such zealous efforts will simply reinforce the "Christians are killjoys" stereotype.

And let's be honest too: Christians have worked hard for the "killjoy" reputation. Too often our proclamation of the good news has had little to do with faith in Jesus Christ, and everything to do with rules and regulations. Sure, our intentions may have been good, but we often emphasised the points and missed the person, Jesus, who is the one who gives life.

I am often haunted by William Blake's poem, "The Garden of Love":

...And the gates of this Chapel were shut,

And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door;

So I turned to the Garden of Love

That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,

And tombstones where flowers should be;

And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,

And binding with briars my joys & desires.

Perhaps I need to clarify that I am not dismissing the importance of sound doctrine. It is our robust Catholic doctrine that reminds us that a life of masking our true identity and scaring strangers can never bring us the happiness we seek.

Christians achieve little by setting themselves up in violent opposition to those who see things differently. It is true that Christians DO see EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in a different way. But our defensiveness does us no favours. The example of Jesus has been taken seriously by Pope Francis (as by Pope Benedict before him) as he seeks to dialogue with anyone who is open to honest, respectful and searching conversations.

The essential starting point for effective evangelization is loving and respectful dialogue in every encounter, even when it happens in an inconvenient evening moment on the doorstep with half a dozen strangely dressed young neighbours.

So I'm off to buy a supply of sweets, and I already have a good supply of small icon images of Christ. Anyone knocking on my door tonight will receive some of each.

who's got talent

It's only in the last few months that I have started to follow the local and international 'who's got talent' TV contests. Now I am hooked. There is something wonderfully wholesome about a show that seeks to enable and encourage potential entertainers from all cultures and of all ages. It's a bit reminiscent of years' past when the parish St. Pat's night concert discovered talent in some pretty unlikely places and people.

One of the things that makes these shows even more realistic is that some of those who we expect to be great, are just terrible, and others from whom we expect nothing, deliver the "Susan Boyle" effect.

There is something else that I have noticed too. Some of the contestants who have had years of professional training, give performances while quite satisfactory, and technically adequate lack the "x factor". Yet others seem to have a natural talent. 

At the weekend one such performer on "Holland's Got Talent" proved that a God-given ability, with some self-tutoring from YouTube clips, is enough to produce a performance to remember even in a 9 year old child. Thank you Cushla for passing this on via Facebook.

The fact that you may not understand either of the languages in this clip won't matter - the talent, and the reactions of the judges, speak a language that transcend the need for translation.

Traces in October

There are a few daily and weekly inspirations that I rely on for my good health. There are also some monthly moments that I eagerly anticipate. These provide for (the best way to put it might be) "realignment of my soul and spirit". One of these monthly moments is the arrival of the "Traces" magazine.

"Traces" is the monthly publication of the Communion and Liberation movement. It is refreshing for both its breadth and depth. It is robustly Catholic, and energetic in its passion for life and freedom. 

This month's edition begins with Fr. Julian Carron's letter after his meeting with Pope Francis earlier this month. He reflects that "the only condition for being able to live, in daily reality, is the newness of life that fascinates us."  This is the "Original Presence" of Christ with us.  I call this the adventure or the excitement of faith.

The letters are a highlight of every "Traces" issue. Here we are privileged with an insight into the interior lives of faithful friends who, like us, live the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of life. These reflections never stop at a simple re-telling of events, as do conversations with acquaintances that circulate in inevitable and interminable spirals. Instead their outlining of circumstances is simply the preparation for the real story which is of the present and active presence of Christ, an new and an original presence, calling the pilgrim to travel new and hope-filled paths.

You can read more about the movement at the link: Communion & Liberation. And you can visit the website for the "Traces" magazine at www.tracce.it. (click on translation to read in English)

If you live in New Zealand you can now subscribe locally from Matt Young: matt@paintcraft.co.nz The subscription is $66.00 (including postage within New Zealand) per year (11 issues).$33.00 half year.

Ipad users can sign up for the app version. Search the "Apple App" store "Traces".

This months issue: http://www.traces-cl.com

perceptions

I found myself pondering "perceptions" this morning. It helps to consider the concerns that an annoying person might be carrying. WIth such consideration my reaction or response can be a bit more generous, and I am able to be more loving to them, and kind to myself.

This morning as I was driving through a perfect Hurunui Spring morning I recalled a piece I blogged about perception when I was on sabbatical in 2010.  Perhaps my pondering was prompted as I listened to Joshua Bell play on the car stereo. 

I thought you might find this piece helpful, so here it is again.

The metro (underground train) is often the quickest way to get from A to B on the B or A lines in the city of Rome. There is little to be enjoyed about this subway experience apart from the speed of the journey under the busy bus routes above.

Often a busker brightens the journey. I'm not sure if there is some certificate of competence that these musicians need before entertaining the underground travellers. I suspect not. But the commuters are generous to the accordianists and violinists whose music fills the carriages. Every now and then there is some outstanding music and I decide to stay aboard a stop or two longer to savour the sounds.

As I listened to a particularly good violinist on the metro yesterday, I was reminded of the Washington Post experiment a couple of years ago. Joshua Bell is one of the world's outstanding violinists. People pay hundreds of dollars and travel thousands of miles to hear him play.

You might like to take a moment to hear him play before reading on. Just tap this link to hear Bell play a part of the Samuel Barber violin concerto. A tip for listening: just relax, don't think about the music, just let the sound flow over and through you. And if you need some more here is Joshua Bell playing Max Bruch's first Violin Concerto (mid 19c)

Well, now that you have heard him play you can see that he is good! The experiment was for him to dress down (t shirt and jeans) and to play anonymously for rush-hour commuters at a New York metro station.

Watch what happens at this link.

Hardly anyone notices. Many of these same people would have paid over one hundred dollars and given an evening to hear Joshua Bell make music. Here he was, looking pretty ordinary, but still playing with extra-ordinary giftedness, and almost everyone walks past without noticing. In busking mode he makes just $32 dollars in 45 minutes.

There is much material for mulling over here. The Washington Post examines possible reasons for the reaction in a reflective article. You can read this here.

Since re-reading the article I have done my own pondering. My limited perception of reality blinds me to much that is gifted to me in every moment. You can make the applications to your own life.

The fruits of the sense-adjustments are immediate. You might like to try.

Labour Day

Today in New Zealand we mark "Labour Day." In 1900 this day became a workers holiday in NZ, and in 1910 the holiday was "Mondayised" as the fourth Monday in October.

For many this is simply a welcome day off work. We gardeners know Labour weekend as the time when it is safe to plant out seedlings - the danger of frosts is past. 

You might find it helpful to read something of the history of Labour day at this link.

For too many people there is little reason for celebration. How many employees are forced to work on this day, with no chance to relax with friends and family who do have a free day?  Too many have employment that on paper is for the forty hours in the office, field or factory, but then they are kept awake at night by the stress of their 8 hour work day.

Offer a prayer too for those around the world who, despite being highly skilled with good qualifications, are unable to find work. The unemployment rates in many countries appears to be relatively low. In NZ last year, less than 7 percent of the workforce were unable to find work. But too often it is younger people who suffer. This month, (October 2013) the youth unemployment rate in Italy reached 40%.

Pope Francis is well aware of this reality both in Italy at present, and in Argentina a few years ago. Last month he spoke about this saying: "The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old."

Brother John

Last week I received a great honour from the Brother Superior General of the De La Salle Brothers. I have been granted the honour of Affiliation, and I am moved and grateful for the privilege of being more fully a part of the De La Salle family. (link to photos here)

John Baptiste De La Salle was a French priest of the late 17th early 18th century with a passion for education. His work is continued by the LaSallian family around the world who give their lives in response to his question:

"Do you have faith that is such that it is able to touch the hearts of your students and inspire them with the Christian spirit? This is the greatest miracle you could perform and the one that God asks of you, for this is the purpose of your work."

I have been privileged many times over the past twenty years to work for and alongside the brothers in New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Rome. 

I invite all readers of this blog to keep the La Sallian family in your prayer as we continue the mission of education of the young, especially in areas of great need and poverty.

In the prayer that our founder prescribed for use in schools:

Live Jesus in our Hearts, forever!

Sr. M. Clement RSM

Sr. Mary Clement Hurley RSM
on her 100th birthday, May 2013

In May 1913, a year before the start of the First World War, a child was born to Evelyn and John Hurley in Limerick, Ireland. A few days later the door of faith was opened to her when she was baptised. Passing through this baptismal doorway Mary Hurley became a new creation, and for the century following she strived to live this new existence.

In 1930, as a 17 year old, Mary Hurley responded to God's call to leave her family and the land of her birth, (never imagining that she would ever return home or see her family again) and travel to the ends of the earth to join the Christchurch (New Zealand) Sisters of Mercy. With three companions, (one of whom, Sr. M. Dymphna, taught me at St. Joseph's school in Timaru when I was 9), she made the seven week voyage to New Zealand, landing at the port of Lyttelton, travelling by rail through the tunnel to a stopover at St. Mary's convent. The final stage of this journey was a few miles into the country to Villa Maria convent where she knocked on the large solid door to enter the Sisters of Mercy. Just a few years ago Mary Clement told me that this same door that she knocked on, remains today.

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of commending Sr. Mary Clement RSM to God with the Funeral Mass of the Order of Christian Funerals.

In the gospel reading of the Mass Jesus reminded us that unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains but a single grain. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. When a person is baptised, a death happens.  Some of the earliest baptismal fonts that have been excavated a built into the ground resembling cross-shaped graves.

Emmaus, near Jerusalem

But a Christian knows that death is not an ending, but a beginning, a transition into life as a "new creation".  In the death of baptism, doors open.

There was a powerful image that stayed with me as I prepared for Mary Clement's funeral.  You may have seen the poster featuring the doors of Irish pubs. The image is a delightful one, and especially appropriate. But while the doors of a good Irish pub open the way to few hours of fine company and craic, the doorway of baptism provides entrance to the fulness of life, now and for eternity.

At her first profession as a Sister of Mercy in May 1932, Sr. Mary Clement deepened her commitment to her baptismal promises by becoming a spouse of Christ in Religious Life. 

At the time of her 100th birthday earlier this year, many moments of her long life were highlighted as examples of her deep faith and gentle dignity in living as a Sister of Mercy. The Christchurch Diocesan magazine "Inform" carried a brief article (pg.13)

Now Sr. Mary Clement has completed her earthly journey, and has been called home by God. Our prayer is that she is ready and able in these hours to accept fully the mercy and eternal love of God, and live forever in this divine gaze and embrace.

And it is our sure and certain hope, as we prayed yesterday, that Mary Clement will hear the voice of her Lord welcome her: well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the fulness of life.  I suspect the Lord might not stop there but will add:  Caed Mile Failte, One hundred thousand welcomes...

communicating in 2013

If you are reading this, you are a user of modern digital social networks. Some of us operate websites and blogs. We all surf the net and all of us send emails. The Church has always been at the leading edge of communication advances. It was the Church who first embraced the printed word at the invention of the printing press.

A number of times in the last few years popes have encouraged Christians to use modern communication technologies in ways that enhance the faith of all people. Pope Benedict's message for this year's World Communications Day wrote:

"Believers are increasingly aware that, unless the Good News is made known also in the digital world, it may be absent in the experience of many people for whom this existential space is important. The digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young.

Pope Benedict's World Communications Day messages are now collected and published free for Kindle, and as PDF.  You can get more information at this link:

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/2655/a_christian_way_of_being_present_in_the_digital_world.aspx#.UmbqHu32_IU

theology in the pub

life beyond the Year of Faith, in the pub...

https://www.facebook.com/events/548664588545849/?notif_t=plan_user_invited

today's Cathedral update

Today an update on the situation and future of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament has been released. You can read this, and follow other connected sites, at this link:

http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/ourcathedral

and the full October 2013 Cathedral Newlsetter at this link:

http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/dox/earthquake/Cathedral%20Update%20Oct%202013.pdf

Kim and the Cardinal

If you missed this morning's interview with Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, you can catch it at this link:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2572529/cardinal-oscar-rodriguez-maradiaga-vatican-reform

papal advisor, and Kim Hill...

You might have heard of Pope Francis' "C-8" team of cardinals. Just a few weeks after he was elected, Pope Francis announced that the would work closely with a hand-picked group of eight cardinals who would advise him, initially in reform of the curia, and then to reform other areas of church life. More formally this group, which met for the first three days of this month, is known as the Council of Cardinals.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga has been appointed by the pope to head the new papal advisory team. He has spent the past couple of days in New Zealand and tomorrow (Saturday) morning he will be interviewed by Kim Hill on the National Programme.  

This will be a very interesting half hour of conversation...

Pope visits Assisi - webcam

Today, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis is spending the day in Assisi.

At 9.20pm tonight NZ time (10.05 Chatham Islands), Pope Francis will visit the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi.  You can witness this live on the permanent webcam at this link:

http://www.sanfrancescopatronoditalia.it/webcam_tomba_san_francesco.php

and Vatican Radio's summaries of Pope Francis' Assisi addresses at this link:

http://en.radiovaticana.va/index.asp

the human person: a state of emergency

One of the many highlights of this year's Rimini meeting was the encounter with John Waters reflecting on the theme of the 2013 meeting "The Human Person: a State of Emergency."

Just a word about the Rimini gathering. The youtube clip at this link gives a great introduction and a taste of the experience. This year over 800.000 people were a part of the event. It is difficult to say much more...the experience cannot be communicated in words.

I have heard John Waters speak a few times in recent years. His keynote address to the meeting is worth the hour and a bit of listening time. While the written text is available, in this video clip John sets the pace, the emphases and the progression of his reflection - and therefore (for those not able to hear him in person), it is worth setting the time to savour this encounter with reality.

a feast of feasts

This week is filled with significant feasts: Jerome 340-420AD (Monday Sept. 30), Therese of the Child Jesus 1873-1897 (Tuesday 1 Oct), the Guardian Angels (Wednesday 2nd) and Francis of Assisi 1181-1226 (Friday 4th).

Francis is perhaps the best known of the bunch. The Franciscan era and influence has been given a boost with the election of Pope Francis in March.

As a young man, Francis of Assisi realised that a human life could only reach its potential when lived in intimacy with God. 

A few hundred years later a young French woman, Therese Martin, knew the same reality. 

Fifteen hundred years earlier Jerome also had this knowledge. Jerome translated the scriptures into Latin (the language of the people), so that all could be fed by the Word of God.

Each of these heroes of faith, in their own unique way, with their own gifts and within their limitations, sought to live life fully. The power of God then carried their witness over the oceans and across the centuries.

These saints knew that human life was precious. They accepted the fact that human life always belongs to God. They knew this in their interaction with others. But most of all they each knew that they themselves were precious to God.

Their success in communicating God’s love to others could never have been accomplished using human ideas and methods. It was the fact that their own “souls were at rights” with God, that spilled over into words and actions to communicate divine life to those they met each day.

This week’s reminder of the all-too-often-forgotten Guardian Angels, presents something of the reality that sustained the saints. God does not call us to simply follow a code of conduct (Commandments and Beatitudes, with Catechism and Precepts). The primary call of God is to live in intimate personal relationship with Jesus. In our faltering attempts to hear His voice and follow His lead, we taste the relationship for which we were created.

Children who were taught that God has appointed an angel as their personal companion and guide, may have had a more lively sense of a personal God who accompanied and carried them in every moment?

The saints understood that life with Christ was not an optional add-on to human life. Instead, human life becomes possible only when lived in intimate communion with God. WIthout Christ we may be able to cope or exist, to survive or endure, but this is not really ‘life’.

To live without Christ is a constant effort of escapism. We are running from the relationship that is our default setting. As Augustine reminded us, we are created by God and for God. We can therefore find the peace we seek only in God. We flag when our souls are not at peace with God.

While we find this reality presented in the scriptures and the teachings of the Church, there is another way to hear the voice of God. If we acknowledge that our hearts are hardened by fear and compulsion, by suffering and sin, then we have reached a moment of great potential. Since we are only the servants of God our creator, we are powerless to provide for ourselves the hope our hearts seek. In the midst of the noises that surround us we struggle to hear His voice.

And so we wait.

We do not wait as travellers for the bus that may never arrive, but as the baby for the birth that is unavoidable and immanent. Much more than we desire to be found and rescued, God in Christ is actively seeking to satisfy all our longings.

We return to the great saints and the example they provide. It was not their own vision and energy that resulted in such remarkable lives. At the heart of each of their lives was stillness and silence, at times sitting in prayer, and in every moment a disposition of heart that consciously hungered for the divine.

In the week ahead you might like to set some moments each day to listen for His voice.

God will not miss any opportunity you offer.