new website www.foodforfaith.org.nz

Food For Faith has shifted to www.foodforfaith.org.nz.

This blog is no longer updated and will vanish from cyberspace in the next few days.

foodforfaith - new beginning

Over the last few years this foodforfaith blog has grown far beyond my original intentions and expectations. Several thousand people visit the foodforfaith blogger site every week, and our statistics show that most people spend a good amount of time reading several posts on each visit. Foodforfaith seems to be meeting a need.

The statistics also show that while the initial readership was from New Zealand, now people from the United States and Europe make up the majority of visitors to the site. More recently numbers from Asia are growing too.

Earlier this year I offered a few brief video clips on a variety of faith themes. The response to these was also positive. Many people have suggested an expansion of the project, and I have been open to this, but I don't have the technological skills or ability to do this myself. Another suggestion is that we develop podcasts - five or ten minute encouragement and teaching that provides food for faith. This will come next month.

It was Jason McTague who suggested the way to meet these requests, and now with his practical IT skills and resources, and with the support of Bishop Barry Jones, the Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, this new site is launched at www.foodforfaith.org.nz

You may be reading this on the old blogger site. If so you might take a moment now to make the journey to the new site and continue to read this post there simply by tapping on www.foodforfaith.org.nz.

If you are reading this on the new site, welcome. We have tried to make the site as simple and predictable as possible. Our hope is that anyone with a screen (computer, ipad or smartphone) can easily navigate the three central sections of the site: 

READ. This section of the site will be updated most regularly and is made up of written entries. 

WATCH. Here you can view a selection of video clips providing food for your faith. 

LISTEN. Nothing here yet - but watch this space. This section will provide foodforfaith podcasts. 

The Home Button offers the map for the site with easy links to each of the three main sections, and to an attic where you can browse a variety of interesting stuff - like you might on a rainy day in the attic of an old house. 

As always, your comment and feedback is welcomed. We are still fine-tuning the site, and as you browse you might find broken links or others errors, and have suggestions. Please let us know!

NOTE: This will be the last posting on this old site. All previous postings (almost one thousand of them) can be found on the new site at www.foodforfaith.org.nz.

A new foodforfaith Facebook page has been created. Don't forget to "like" us, using the "Facebook" icon on the front page of the new site.

If you have found foodforfaith helpful, please spread the word. While we are not in the numbers game, it is encouraging for us to know that someone out there is appreciating what is offered. 

Thank you for your continued prayer interest and support.

"a new day":  sunrise from St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, Chatham Islands.

Inform & Faithfest

The December issues of the Christchurch Diocesan magazine "Inform" arrived this afternoon, so I made a coffee and sat in the garden to savour the Faithfest photos.

You can read Inform online by tapping on the image. You can pick up a hardcopy at any Christchurch diocese parish this weekend.

you did know this

After my post about the Advent "O Antiphons" a couple of days ago, some have comment that they had never heard about the "O Antiphons".

But most Christians know the Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", and anyone who has sung this hymn has sung the O Antiphons - each of the seven verses, one of the antiphons for the last week of Advent.

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, 

And ransom captive Israel, 

That mourns in lonely exile here 

Until the Son of God appear. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel! 

Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high, 

Who ordered all things mightily; 

To us the path of knowledge show, 

and teach us in her ways to go. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel! 

Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might, 

Who to your tribes on Sinai's height 

In ancient times gave holy law, 

In cloud and majesty and awe. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel! 

Oh, come O Rod of Jesse's stem, 

From ev'ry foe deliver them 

That trust your mighty pow'r to save; 

Bring them in vict'ry through the grave. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel! 

Oh, come, O Key of David, come, 

And open wide our heav'nly home; 

Make safe the way that leads on high, 

And close the path to misery. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel! 

Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high, 

And cheer us by your drawing nigh, 

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, 

And death's dark shadows put to flight. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel! 

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind 

In one the hearts of all mankind; 

Oh, bid our sad divisions cease, 

And be yourself our King of Peace. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel! 

I was going to upload a Youtube music clip, but there are many and you can choose for yourself at this link.

nativity difficulty

Earlier today I visited the home of parishioners who had just finished setting up a nativity scene in their living room. It was prepared with love, beautifully created, and was even illuminated with the manger awaiting the Christ child the most brightly lit part of the stable.

Even in this so-called secular age, there are images, models and other artistic representations of Mary and Joseph with their newborn in many town-centres, stores and homes. A peacefulness pervades these scenes, and a few moments savouring these provides a welcome focus in these days of pre-Christmas busy-ness and end-of-year (at least in the Southern Hemisphere) stresses.

In the presence of a peaceful nativity scene, it is easy to forget all that the reality of these weeks would have been for Mary and Joseph and their new baby. It is a helpful connection with the reality of the incarnation to remember some of the facts surrounding the months both before and after the nativity of Jesus.

• Soon after the conception of Jesus, Mary and Joseph would have faced considerable pressures and the threat of scandal. Imagine the moment when Mary breaks the news of her pregnancy to her parents Anna & Joachim: "Mum, dad, I'm pregnant, but don't worry, the father is the Holy Spirit." 
• How many young women and men fear breaking this news, or other difficult news to their parents and family? 

• In his "Jesus of Nazareth: the Infancy Narratives" Pope Benedict reminds us that after the conception of Jesus "Joseph has to assume that Mary has broken their engagement, and according to the law he must dismiss her."  
• How many people live today with uncertainty about the future of the relationships with those they love, especially when a tension threatens the security of the relationship?

• As the time for the birth of their child nears, Mary and Joseph have to embark on a journey of 180 km to Bethlehem. According to Pope Benedict the journey was necessary probably because Joseph "had property in Bethlehem, so that he had to go there for tax registration." 
• While it is perhaps rare today to have to undertake an arduous journey immediately before the birth of a child, uncertainty, poverty and threats are all too common in the lives of many expectant parents.

• When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem they could find no place to stay. 
• Too many parents, even in our own so-called "first-world" countries lack the basic securities of life and live with the threat or reality of homelessness.

• The first visitors to the newborn Jesus and his family were strangers who brought company and gifts. Pope Benedict writes of an "element that has been particularly emphasised by the monastic tradition: the shepherds' watchfulness. Monks set out to be watchful in this world - in the first place through their nocturnal prayer, but above all inwardly, open to receiving God's call through the signs of his presence." Chapter 3
• Today, in the absence of family and friends it is often watchful neighbours, workmates and friends who are sensitive to the needs of newborn children and their parents.

• The visit of the Magi "from the land of sunrise" (ie the East) Ch.4  coincides with the presence of a fatal threat. These visitors knew that King Herod was also aware of the birth of a new king and sought to kill him. Joseph too is asked by the angel of God to quickly head for Egypt with Mary and the newborn Jesus "for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." (Mt:2:13) So now Joseph, Mary and Jesus embark on a 300km journey to a foreign land.
• Today too a human life is at its most vulnerable in the couple of years after conception. Too easily the threat of disease, hunger, and the fears of parents take away the security that is essential for the healthy development of a child.

For the next thirty-three years, until his tragic death,  Jesus was the victim of persecutions, misunderstandings, betrayal, suffering, and death as a criminal. This is good news for us since our lives seem to follow a similar pattern. This is the stuff of earthly human existence. 

The powerful reminder of a household nativity scene, is that the reality of God is breaking into our human struggle in every difficult moment. We have nothing to fear since, in every struggle and anxiety, God is with us.

And we know from our past experience that the most wonderful experiences in life are not the moments when we are free of all problems, but when, even in the midst of great worries and burdens, we know that we are loved.

7 more sleeps - O wisdom

In the Prayer of the Church, prayed through the hours of each day by many Christians, and which priests and many Religious communities pray on behalf of all people, the journey of Advent moves up a gear on December 17 when the date appears alongside the day of the week in the Breviary. This marks the last week of preparation for Christmas, with each of these seven days marked with one of the "O antiphons"

Fr. Z's blog gives a helpful introduction and a links if you wish to pray with these antiphons over the next week.

December 17: "O Wisdom"

"O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come, and teach us the way of prudence."

priests are sinners

In 1984 as a seminarian I spent three months on pastoral placement in the parish of Pukekohe, South Auckland. It was a very good experience for me. I recall attending a day clergy seminar at St. Ben's in Auckland on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The day concluded with the opportunity for each of us, priests and seminarians, to receive the sacrament. At this service Fr. Eugene O'Sullivan OP (d.1988) gave an inspiring reflection on the need for the minister of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to himself be a regular receiver of the sacrament.

The following year I was ordained a priest of the diocese of Christchurch and I now know, from my own personal experience, that Eugene was right: a priest, the minister of this sacrament, is a sinner, and needs to regularly receive this sacrament himself.

In the seasons of Lent and Advent each year, the priests of the Christchurch diocese gather to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance. After a communal preparation led by one of our number, we each have the opportunity to come forward to one of half a dozen of our brothers appointed as ministers of the sacrament for the gathering. 

It is a powerful witness to see the priests of our diocese coming forward, humbly confessing their sin, and receiving God's forgiveness.  There are few things as powerful as kneeling in front of your brothers, knowing that as they watch you confess your sin, they are praying for you.

After a communal thanksgiving, the time together concludes with a meal together. The food and drink is good, and the company superb since we are sinners, who together have confessed our sin, and once again have experienced the beauty of God's mercy and love.

Cohen & Francis in conversation?

I have several friends for whom Christmas has come early with the Leonard Cohen concert in Christchurch on Saturday night. I too am a bit of a Cohen fan, and yesterday as I drove between the Hurunui Masses I savoured again his Live in London album.

Cohen is well known for surviving the 1960's and '70's, and now lives well into his 70's (he's 79) encouraging others to gracefully do the same. His gentle warm manner, and easy conversation with diverse audiences at sell-out concerts. are trademark Cohen characteristics. At the Live in London concert he introduced "Ain't No Cure For Love" reflectively recalling his previous London appearance:

“It was about 14 or 15 years ago. I was 60 years old, just a kid with a crazy dream. Since then I’ve taken a lot of Prozac, Paxil, Welbutrin, Effexor, Ritalin, Focalin. I’ve also studied deeply in the philosophies and religions, but cheerfulness kept breaking through.”

The "cheerfulness keeps breaking through" is a Ben Jonson quotation and every time I hear it I'm reminded of how most people see religion as a killjoy occupation. It is a tragic commentary on the efforts of Christians that our religion is so often perceived as unattractive and unnecessary for the one who seeks to live fully.

Earlier this year Pope Francis spoke to catechists saying" 

“The Church does not grow by proselytizing; she grows by attracting others.” And what attracts is our witness. Being a catechist means witnessing to the faith, being consistent in our personal life. This is not easy! We help, we lead others to Jesus with our words and our lives, with our witness. I like to recall what Saint Francis of Assisi used to say to his friars: “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.” Words come . . . but witness comes first: people should see the Gospel, read the Gospel, in our lives." Address to Catechists, April 27, 2013

I think Pope Francis and Leonard Cohen in conversation would be a not-to-miss concert. What do you think?

 

save us from the optimists

This third Sunday of Advent is known as “Gaudete” Sunday, or "Rejoicing" Sunday. The rose coloured candle on the Advent wreath is lit today. We remember that our reason for rejoicing is not that we think we are doing well, or that our Church is full of people every Sunday, but that God has entered human existence in Jesus who lived, suffered, died has overcome death, and remains God-with-us two thousand years later.

Fr. Robert Barron got me thinking about this during the week when I listened to his podcast reflection on today's scriptures. He makes the point that the Christians are NOT optimists who always looking on the bright side of difficult situations. 

You might recall the Pollyanna "glad game" where a virtue is made of compulsive optimism. God save us from such people since they are unable to see that you have entered every human struggle, and in Jesus you have made human pain and suffering an environment for divine activity.

Christians are NOT people who promote the power of positive thinking, or glad-game optimism. 

Instead we are people of well-founded hope. Faith is not an avoidance of reality, but a founded knowledge that no struggle, grief or anxiety can separate us from the love of God. We have nothing to fear.

Too often we think that the joy we seek is the fruit of earthly success and worldly achievements. It is true that we like to do well, and we prefer harmony to anxiety, but the deep joy we are made for continues to call out from within, even when everything is going well for us.

Remember that the transformation of the world came through the birth of one child. Thirty years later he gathered a few hopeless followers who seemed to work against him at every opportunity. But the Spirit of God worked through them, using their human weakness as a capacity for his divine strength.

So whatever the difficulties we face in these busy pre-Christmas days, we have reason to rejoice. We are never alone. God is with us.

Time, Francis & Barron

TIME magazine's decision to name Pope Francis as the 2013 person of the year has met with widespread positive response. In this clip Fr Robert Barron offers a helpful reminder: there is no need to build up Pope Francis by turning against previous popes. Yes there is something welcome and timely in the approach of Pope Francis, and there were many of the same positive inspirations and encouragements in other recent popes...

person of the year

This morning TIME magazine named Pope Francis as Person of the Year for 2013. There is no great surprise in this since several pope's have been so named (Pope John Paul II in 1994 and Pope John XXIII in 1962).

One of the advantages for us when a pope receives this TIME title, is that the media is filled with commentaries on the pope, with some pretty useful reflections on his style and emphases.  You can find these comments online with a Google search.  While some of these articles miss the point by remaining with outward appearances, a number of others get the point and so present thorough and insightful reflections on Francis the person and Francis the pope.

celebrating life?

Today a friend posted this blog posting on funerals on his Facebook page. Thanks Pete for sharing this - a very helpful reflection.

http://thefederalist.com/2013/12/06/funeral-funeral-celebration-life-one-last-hurrah/

Thomas Merton

born: 31 January 1915
died: 10 December 1968

One of the great spiritual classics of the twentieth century is Thomas Merton's Seven Story Mountain. Within minutes of its publication in 1948 it became a best-seller, and one of the books most read by people who were seeking God both within and without the Church through the 1950's and '60's.

Following this early spiritual autobiography, Merton went on to share a string of inspirational writings, and a Merton website provides a list of these with an introduction to his works. You can savour some Merton quotations at this link. A number of youtube clips are also available including these clips from the Merton youtube channel, and this last clip just an hour before his untimely death.

Merton died on 10 December 1968. His legacy is particularly difficult for people who prefer their saints to be sugar-coated, without any hint of earthly imperfection. But the rest of us find great consolation in Merton: one whose human weakness is overshadowed and repeatedly transformed by the workings of grace.

The people of Christchurch feel an especially close connection with Merton and the liturgy.co.nz website of Bosco Peters gives a detailed summary of Merton's Christchurch connections.

Handel's Messiah

One of the disadvantages of living in Cheviot (population 400) is that the inspiring and perennial Handel oratorio Messiah is not performed locally. As a result I find myself singing some of the pieces as I drive. You should have heard me driving down the Domett straight yesterday morning singing the beautiful opening verse: "comfort ye, comfort ye my people." In the absence of live performances I am also enjoying recordings, and this morning discovered some great youtube performances including this one from King's College Cambridge.

It is easy to reduce the Christmas event to a cute historical moment: a child born to poor parents in a stable surrounded by animals. It makes for great children's school and parish plays, and the livestock are a great touch in our "animals-are-people-too" politically-correct climate.

Handel was a man of strong Christian faith, and he knew the danger of treating the Christian faith as a smorgasbord of possible belief, picking and choosing the "user-friendly" moments of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, and ignoring His experience of pain, loss, betrayal, suffering and death. So Handel, writing this two and a half-hour inspired work in just 24 days, confronts us with the full reality of Jesus Christ, from the prophet anticipating his birth, to the nativity, baptism, preaching & miracles, life, suffering & death, and resurrection.

This morning I was moved several times listening to some of my favourite parts of the oratorio. Yes there is suffering and death. But the most moving piece for me is the soprano air:

I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. 

And though worms destroy this body, 
yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19:25-26)

For now is Christ risen from the dead, 
the first fruits of them that

sleep. (I Corinthians 15:20)

7 December 1985

I'm not going to miss the opportunity to remind blog readers to pray for me. Twenty-Eight years ago today I was ordained a priest, by Bishop Denis Hanrahan, in the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, Timaru.

Throughout these years I have kept on my desk the image of my ordination card. As these cards go, this one is pretty simple in keeping with the style of the time. But there are five very significant things on the card. Two of these were happily decided for me, but three others were the fruit of many months of reflection.

The date is significant. Bishop Denis Hanrahan wrote to me in mid-September 1985 informing me that he would ordain me to the priesthood on Saturday 7 December 1985.

• In that year, the feast of the Immaculate Conception had been shifted from December 8 where it would be overtaken by the Second Sunday of Advent, to Saturday 7th. So instead of being ordained on a significant feast of the Church, St. Ambrose, I was ordained one of the greatest feasts of the Church, the Immaculate Conception.

• 7 December 1985 was also the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (7 December 1965). The opening sentence of this document is perhaps one of the most well-known statements of the Second Vatican Council. aI knew that life as a priest would plunge me into "the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted," and my experience too in twenty-eight years as a priest is that "these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts". Gaudium et Spes par.1, Preface

It seems superfluous to say that my name on the card is significant. But my Christian names, John Cornelius, were given to me and became my names not on the day of my birth, but at my baptism ten days later. Until my baptism I was simply "Baby O'Connor" and people would ask my parents 'how's "the baby" doing?'  After my baptism I had a name and in this baptismal naming my personal identity was both recognised and sealed.

Most ordination cards have a quotation from scripture. I have several favourite verses that encourage and inspire me. But this verse from the Old Testament prophet Micah would not let me go. It is a challenge to seek only to walk only with God. There are so many other things that seem important, but this is paramount - there is only one thing that matters, and everything else falls into place for the one who walks with God. My progress in living this exhortation is slow, so the card will need to stay on my desk reminding me to "act justly, love tenderly, and to walk humbly with God."

The image on the card is simple but very significant for me. The eighties were a time of focussing on the resurrection of Jesus since the feeling was that we had had enough of death.  But one is meaningless without the other. Death is an inescapable part of daily earthly life, and it is the resurrection of Jesus that provides an answer to every deathly reality. I remember well the afternoon when I went to my seminary room with this clarity, took out a pen and a ruler, and made this simple sketch which was then copied onto the card. 

The fifth significant point is the three-word request at the bottom of the card: "pray for me".  Many other ordinands cards of the time use the wording "pray with me" or "please pray for me".  I liked those invitations too, but I felt that this was no time for an appearance of inclusiveness or polite and gentle request. I knew then that I needed prayer, and I know now even more than then that I need the prayer of anyone and everyone who will pray for me. 

Just after the ordination Mass a couple of women from a Southland Catholic Women's League came up to me and said, "we were given your name when you entered the seminary. We have prayed for you since then, and now we will keep on praying for you". Thank you Tui and your friends.  

So blog readers, pray for me.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

1918 - 2013

May he, 

and all who sleep in Christ

find in his presence

light,

happiness

and peace.

Eucharistic Prayer I, Funeral Mass

At the world mourns the death of Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis has sent the following message to the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, and the people of South Africa:

"It was with sadness that I learned of the death of former President Nelson Mandela, and I send prayerful condolences to all the Mandela family, to the members of the Government and to all the people of South Africa. In commending the soul of the deceased to the infinite mercy of Almighty God, I ask the Lord to console and strengthen all who mourn his loss. Paying tribute to the steadfast commitment shown by Nelson Mandela in promoting the human dignity of all the nation’s citizens and in forging a new South Africa built on the firm foundations of non-violence, reconciliation and truth, I pray that the late President’s example will inspire generations of South Africans to put justice and the common good at the forefront of their political aspirations. With these sentiments, I invoke upon all the people of South Africa divine gifts of peace and prosperity."

 Pope Francis 6 December 2013 

advent encouragement

This is Pope Francis' first Advent so we have not yet heard much from him about the mission of these pre-Christmas days. This gives us the opportunity to savour some of the Advent reflections of Pope Benedict. This, from the First Vespers of Advent, 2009.

...the Apostle Paul invites us to prepare for "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ", with God's grace keeping ourselves blameless. The exact word Paul uses is "coming", in Latin adventus, from which the term "Advent" derives. 

Let us reflect briefly on the meaning of this word, which can be rendered with "presence", "arrival" or "coming". In the language of the ancient world it was a technical term used to indicate the arrival of an official or the visit of the king or emperor to a province. However, it could also mean the coming of the divinity that emerges from concealment to manifest himself forcefully or that was celebrated as being present in worship. 

Christians used the word "advent" to express their relationship with Jesus Christ: Jesus is the King who entered this poor "province" called "earth" to pay everyone a visit; he makes all those who believe in him participate in his Coming, all who believe in his presence in the liturgical assembly. The essential meaning of the word adventus was: God is here, he has not withdrawn from the world, he has not deserted us. Even if we cannot see and touch him as we can tangible realities, he is here and comes to visit us in many ways. 

The meaning of the expression "advent" therefore includes that of visitatio, which simply and specifically means "visit"; in this case it is a question of a visit from God: he enters my life and wishes to speak to me. In our daily lives we all experience having little time for the Lord and also little time for ourselves. We end by being absorbed in "doing". Is it not true that activities often absorb us and that society with its multiple interests monopolizes our attention? 

Is it not true that we devote a lot of time to entertainment and to various kinds of amusement? At times we get carried away. Advent, this powerful liturgical season that we are beginning, invites us to pause in silence to understand a presence. It is an invitation to understand that the individual events of the day are hints that God is giving us, signs of the attention he has for each one of us. How often does God give us a glimpse of his love! To keep, as it were, an "interior journal" of this love would be a beautiful and salutary task for our life! Advent invites and stimulates us to contemplate the Lord present. Should not the certainty of his presence help us see the world with different eyes? Should it not help us to consider the whole of our life as a "visit", as a way in which he can come to us and become close to us in every situation? 

Another fundamental element of Advent is expectation, an expectation which is at the same time hope. Advent impels us to understand the meaning of time and of history as a kairós, as a favourable opportunity for our salvation. Jesus illustrated this mysterious reality in many parables: in the story of the servants sent to await the return of their master; in the parable of the virgins who await the bridegroom; and in those of the sower and of the harvest. In their lives human beings are constantly waiting: when they are children they want to grow up, as adults they are striving for fulfilment and success and, as they advance in age, they look forward to the rest they deserve. However, the time comes when they find they have hoped too little if, over and above their profession or social position, there is nothing left to hope for. Hope marks humanity's journey but for Christians it is enlivened by a certainty: the Lord is present in the passage of our lives, he accompanies us and will one day also dry our tears. One day, not far off, everything will find its fulfilment in the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of justice and peace. 

However there are many different ways of waiting. If time is not filled by a present endowed with meaning expectation risks becoming unbearable; if one expects something but at a given moment there is nothing, in other words if the present remains empty, every instant that passes appears extremely long and waiting becomes too heavy a burden because the future remains completely uncertain. On the other hand, when time is endowed with meaning and at every instant we perceive something specific and worthwhile, it is then that the joy of expectation makes the present more precious. 

Dear brothers and sisters, let us experience intensely the present in which we already receive the gifts of the Lord, let us live it focused on the future, a future charged with hope. In this manner Christian Advent becomes an opportunity to reawaken within ourselves the true meaning of waiting, returning to the heart of our faith which is the mystery of Christ, the Messiah who was expected for long centuries and was born in poverty, in Bethlehem. In coming among us, he brought us and continues to offer us the gift of his love and his salvation. Present among us, he speaks to us in many ways: in Sacred Scripture, in the liturgical year, in the saints, in the events of daily life, in the whole of the creation whose aspect changes according to whether Christ is behind it or whether he is obscured by the fog of an uncertain origin and an uncertain future. 

We in turn may speak to him, presenting to him the suffering that afflicts us, our impatience, the questions that well up in our hearts. We may be sure that he always listens to us! And if Jesus is present, there is no longer any time that lacks meaning or is empty. If he is present, we may continue to hope, even when others can no longer assure us of any support, even when the present becomes trying. 

Dear friends, Advent is the season of the presence and expectation of the eternal. For this very reason, it is in a particular way a period of joy, an interiorized joy that no suffering can diminish. It is joy in the fact that God made himself a Child. This joy, invisibly present within us, encourages us to journey on with confidence. A model and support of this deep joy is the Virgin Mary, through whom we were given the Infant Jesus. May she, a faithful disciple of her Son, obtain for us the grace of living this liturgical season alert and hardworking, while we wait. Amen!

Pope Benedict, Advent I, 2009 

happy birthday S.C.

A friend has just posted a "Happy Birthday Sacrosanctum Concilium" message on Facebook. Fifty years ago this week the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, (the first conciliar constitution and one of the first two documents along with the Decree on Social Communication) was promulgated. 

Over the past twelve months of the Year of Faith, I have presented sessions on the Liturgy Constitution throughout the diocese of Christchurch. At each session parishioners of pastoral areas, school teachers, sisters and priests have gathered to discover more about the liturgical gifts and guidance of the Second Vatican Council.

I began each of these dozen sessions by asking some general questions. First question: list some of the teachings or changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council. At no session have more than three or four answers been offered.

I then asked how many documents were promulgated at the Council. Every group looked a bit vague and guesses four, six, eight. There were sixteen. 

Then I ask people to name some of the titles or themes of these sixteen documents. Apart from the four Constitutions, (Liturgy, Church, Revelation & Church in the Modern World), none of the groups have come up with more than one or two of the other Conciliar documents.

The vast majority of Catholics today view the Second Vatican Council and it's teachings with pride and affection, and in most parishes and dioceses there is a deep fear of anything that might as much as hint at turning back on the teachings of Vatican II.

Which takes me back to one of the questions I asked the groups: "list some of the teachings or changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council".  Every group began their responses with the same two points: Mass in English, and priest facing the people during Mass. 

use of the vernacular in liturgy

You might be surprised to learn, as the people at each session were, that the while the Council did debate and discuss at length the language of the liturgy, this did not result in the requirement that the local (vernacular) language would be used in every place throughout every celebration of every Mass. Each paragraph of the Liturgy Constitution is driven by a desire to reawaken all people to a "full, conscious and active participation" in the Liturgy of the Church, and the bishops clearly accepted that this would be helped considerably by  a greater use of the local language:

"In Masses which are celebrated with the people, a suitable place may be allotted to their mother tongue. This is to apply in the first place to the readings and "the common prayer," but also, as local conditions may warrant, to those parts which pertain to the people, according to the norm laid down in Art. 36 of this Constitution.

Nevertheless steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.  SC par.54

The bishops who voted with an overwhelming majority (2147 to 4) were not voting to reject and replace the Latin language in liturgy. Nor were they advocating a form of liturgy that focussed more on the people gathered than on the One who had gathered them. In their positive vote, the bishops were desiring a liturgy that was less preoccupied with minute details of arcane rites and rubrics, and more driven by the human desire for unity with the One who gathers us, and with whom our hearts seek intimate and active participation. 

It is a mature Catholic parish today that uses a variety of local languages and music alongside Latin in each Sunday celebration of the Mass. I know of one parish in New Zealand which every Sunday prays in Latin (Sanctus, Agnus Dei), Greek (the most ancient language of the liturgy for the Kyrie), contemporary composer for one hymn (often a Gathering hymn), one hymn that would have been familiar to our grandparents (usually Thanksgiving after Communion), and chanted psalms (the Propers) following the first reading, and at the Offertory and Communion processions. Such a parish has truly understood something of the mind and intention of the Council.

If your seven year old nephew were to stand at a family party and sing in the Gaelic language because he had learned that this was the tongue of his great-great grandmother, would you encourage him to stop because Gaelic is an old and now "dead" language, and we live in progressive twenty-first century New Zealand? You would more likely be moved to tears at the beauty of the memory, and ask him to sing at every family gathering. 

The Church is a family united by bonds of blood and love rather than a company created to meet a particular need and then dissolved when that need passes. A boy singing in a foreign language at a social club might be entertaining, but in a family such a powerful link with the lives and faith of ancestors touches us deeply, and strengthens us to move forward.

It is worth noting that when Gregorian Chant disappeared from our local Catholic liturgies, the sales of recordings of this ancient form of worship skyrocketed. Perhaps there is something about Gregorian chant that feeds a hunger of the soul?

facing East

The second response in the Year of Faith groups was that the Council instructed the priest to turn to face the people for the Mass. In fact the direction the priest was to face during Mass is not mentioned in any Council Document. Pope Benedict helped us to understand this: the direction of the priest during Mass had come to be understood as "back to people" rather than towards Christ in the cosmic reminder of the rising of the sun in the east (ad orientem) and present in the tabernacle.

In one of his earlier books (I think it was "The Feast of Faith") Benedict comments that with the priest facing the people, there is the risk that the priest becomes unintentionally and unhelpfully central in the Mass. Prior to the change, an onlooker would notice priest and people facing the same direction during the Mass, now the circle can appear too closed as priest and people seem to be more focussed on each other.

Pope Benedict went on to comment that this certainly does not mean we should change back, but rather that we must heed the call of the Council to make Christ the centre of every Liturgy, and that our vocal prayer and ritual movement in the Mass must serve to lead all parishioners to a more full, conscious and active participation not primarily with the priest or with the community, but with Christ.

Pope Benedict used a crucifix with candles to help him and the large crowds focus during Mass on Christ. Pope Francis uses his shift in manner: outside of Mass he is jovial and engaging, during Mass he is solemn and visibly focussed on a greater reality.

beyond the Year of Faith

A few weeks ago as we neared the end of the Year of Faith, I asked a group of people at a day-retreat the same questions that I had asked of other groups. Pope Benedict had initiated the focus-on-faith year suggesting that:

"This will be a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith. (par 4)

5. I believe that timing the launch of the Year of Faith to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council will provide a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, “have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition. I feel in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.”           Porta Fidei

However the responses of the retreat group were as uninformed as those of the earlier groups. Even after the faith-focus of the past year, we are no better able to use the Council as a "sure compass" in our lives of faith.

another chance

But perhaps we still have a chance?  This week I spent a couple of hours with parishioners of a city parish who wanted to use these Advent days as an opportunity to prepare for Christmas. On Thursday night I led a session for them entitled "Living Faith with Pope Francis." The response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic with people who were drawn because of their attraction to what they see and hear in our new pope over the past nine months, and now have collated, published and therefore verified in his Apostolic Exhortation, "The Joy of the Gospel".

Pope Francis gives us a key to effective evangelization. Our goal is not to twist the arms of believers to engage their intellects with their lives of faith. Our missionary task is likewise not to manipulate minds so that people come to Church, or keep the commandments. As the pope proclaims "it is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but "by attraction,"(par.14) and every aspect of our reformed lives flows from this encounter, "for if we have received the love which restores meaning to our lives, how can we fail to share that love with others". (par.8) 

This leads us to the point that is both the "summit" to which all authentic human life and all worship of God (liturgy) is oriented, and the "source" from which all authentic life and liturgy flows. (SC 10)  Pope Francis in his exhortation delights in quoting Pope Benedict when he writes:

"I never tire of repeating those words of Benedict XVI which take us to the very heart of the Gospel: "Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction". (Pope Francis in "The Joy of the Gospel par.7, quoting Pope Benedict in "God is Love", Dec. 2005).

Pope Benedict reminded us powerfully that because the Liturgy of the Church, especially the Celebration of the Eucharist, is both the source and summit of the life of the Christian, if we get the focus and celebration of the Mass right in our parishes and dioceses, then many other things will simply fall into place.

Pope Francis is reminding us that the Mass cannot be separated from the "joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties" of the people who come to Mass, and also those who, for whatever reason, do not see the Mass as relevant or necessary.

The Season of Advent gives us an opportunity for a new beginning, at the start of a new Church year, and an invitation to live beyond the Year of Faith as faith-full people. Let's celebrate this fiftieth anniversary of the Church's Constitution on the Liturgy as a golden opportunity to receive anew the gift that is the Liturgy of the Church.