From Richard Rohr:WITH A HEALTHY GOD
A Meditation

There is only one God, but an endless variety of human misunderstanding of God. Our Ideas of God will always be inadequate, but can at least be healthy, that is, enable us to grow. To achieve this health, we must move:

• From a God we can understand, posses and dispense to a God of infinite surprise
• From an elderly male God to a God who is above all our limitations
• From a religion in which beliefs, duties and worship hold first place to a religion in which a love relationship with God holds first place
• From a religion in which we constantly abase ourselves before God to a religion in which self-denial and self-love work together to help us become “fully alive”
• From a commercial relationship with a God whose rewards can be earned by doing right things to a love relationship with a God who is pure gift
• From a relationship in which we determine exactly what part God shall be allowed in our lives to a love relationship of total giving
• From a God who demands that we bridge the gap between us to a God who always takes the first step and comes to us
• From a world in which meaning comes from fulfilling duties to a world in which meaning comes from the sum total of all the loves of our lives
• From a God greatly concerned with glory and majesty to a God not threatened by anything human beings can do, but caring passionately what they do to each other, to themselves and to their community
• From a God whose glory is to be found in our obedience to a God whose glory is found in our growth
• From an angry God, not to a God of soft love, but to a God who, out of love, is never afraid to challenge us to grow.
• From prayer which consists solely in words to a prayer in which our whole lives seek to express our desire for God
• From a God about whom we use many words to a God whose greatness and mystery reduce us to silence.

-Bishop Geoffrey Robinson.
 

A WORK IN PROGRESS

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are, quite naturally,
impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something
unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by
passing through some stages of instability …
and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually;
let them grow, let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today
what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own goodwill)
will make you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming
within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of your believing that His hand is
leading you, and of your accepting the anxiety of feeling
yourself in suspense and incomplete.”
(Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.)

Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge in the light.

 Helen Keller

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay and invincible summer.

- Albert Camus


EXPANDED EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
 “We thank you that you have counted us worthy (to stand in your presence and serve you)) to serve you on behalf of those who do not know you; to pray on behalf of those who do not know how to pray; to intercede for those who cannot plead for themselves; to hear the word for those whose ears are attuned elsewhere; to cry for mercy for those for those who do not know they need it; to offer sacrifice on behalf of those who do not know that death and suffering have been redeemed; to celebrate communion for the lost and the lonely; to serve you for those who do not know how to serve; to thank you on behalf of those who do not know the name of our saviour and everlasting life giver, JESUS CHRIST”

RECALL NOTICE FROM THE MAKER OF ALL HUMANS
The Maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to the serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units, called Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units.

This defect has been technically termed, Sub-sequential Internal Non-morality, or more commonly known as SIN, as it is primarily expressed.

Some of the noticeable symptoms are:
[a] Loss of direction and trust in the Manufacturer and His programs
[b] Foul vocal emissions
[c] Amnesia of origin
[d] Lack of peace and joy
[e] Selfish, self-indulgent or even violent behaviour
[f] Depression, confusion and a feeling of helplessness in the mental component
[g] Fear and anxiety
[h] Idolatry
[i] Rebellion

The Manufacturer, Who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this SIN defect.

The Repair Technician, Jesus, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required as the repairs are done through the Manufacturer’s fully sponsored recapitalisation program, commonly known as GRACE . The toll free number to call for repair in all areas is: F A I T H.

Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component. No matter what the impact of the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:

[a] Love
[b] Joy
[c] Peace
[d] Patience
[e] Kindness
[f] Goodness
[g] Faithfulness
[h] Gentleness
[i] Self-control

Please see the operating manual, HOLY BIBLE, for further details on the use of these fixes. As an added upgrade, the manufacturer will install in all repaired units a Facility, enabling direct monitoring and full support, the Holy Spirit. Repaired units need to reboot their lives and enable the Facility to make Him a permanent feature that will provide Anti-SIN-Ware, as well as an upgraded Help/Support function. The Holy Spirit can in the future override malfunctioning of communication systems and provide direct repair form Jesus.

WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids the Manufacturer's further warranty, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list, and will result in the human unit’s initial purpose to be permanently deleted and as a result being impounded.

For free emergency services in the future, through the Holy Spirit, always call on JESUS for intervention by the Manufacturer.

Thank you for your attention. Please assist where ever possible by notifying others of this important recall notice.
- Robert Llewelyn, Julian of Norwich Shrine, Norwich. 1995.

PRAYER is waiting, intending, desiring God. Prayer, we might say, is a holding on to God, until waiting, waiting, waiting, we move into the knowledge that we are being held.

Lies warp the soul like a board in the rain; A friend of mine; an alcoholic in recovery; is fond of saying: "Alcoholism is only 10% about a chemical; and 90% about dishonesty. You can drink; as long as you do so honestly." He draws a wider moral axiom from this; adding:
"In fact; you can do anything; as long as you don't have to lie about it!
It's dishonesty; living a double life; that kills the soul
- Fr Jan Hulshof SM Superior General Society of Mary (Marists)

Touch of the Divine

I have often marvelled at the power of touch. How much emotion it releases, how much healing it brings. Any parent who has finally picked up heir tired, tense and fractious children will know the soothing power of holding them closely to their breasts. Skin has to be touched, arms are for holding.

There is the story about the fearful child who during the night, called out for his mother. She came into his room and searched the dark wardrobe to put his mind at rest. He would not be consoled.

She checked for lurking (small) monsters under the bed. All to no avail. She spoke to him about the protection of the angels and of the presence of God all around him. He still refused to be satisfied. Unknowingly echoing the deepest desire within all creation, he blurted out, “I want something with skin on.”

We celebrate Sacraments to body forth the presence of God. There is more to God than monologue. All sacraments are touching places. There is depth and richness to ritual. Ritual is to our love of God what an embrace is to lovers. It can say and do what words cannot express. Bodies and sacraments go together. “Without body – without sacrament. Angels only – no sacrament. Beasts only – no sacraments.” Without human flesh God would have remained for ever out of touch and out of reach. It would all be an angelic existence without substance. There would be no real heart in it.
Daniel O’Leary. 17 June 2006. The Tablet.)

PRESENT -- YES OR NO!

It is a Catholic way of talking. Christ is really and truly present under the appearances of bread and wine after the priest has pronounced the words of Jesus at the Last Supper: “This is my Body” over the bread and “This is the cup of my Blood shed for you” over the wine. This is the Christ we receive in Holy Communion. This is the Christ present under the appearances of bread reserved in the Tabernacle.

Recent Church documents have expanded the words “Presence of Christ”.

Here are two examples. The Document of the Liturgy issued by the Second Vatican Council (4 December 1963) says:

“Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his minister…but especially in the Eucharistic species. By his power he is present in the sacraments…present in his word…present in the Sacraments…present when the Church prays and sings.” (Par. 7).

Pope Paul VI wrote: Christ is present in his church “when it prays…present in his Church as it performs works of mercy…present in his pilgrim Church longing to reach the harbour of eternal life. Christ is present in the Church as it shepherds and guides the people of God…present in the shepherds that share that power. Christ is present in his church when it offers the sacrifice of the Mass in his name and administers the Sacraments and there is finally that presence called the real presence not to exclude the other kinds as if they were not real, but because it is real par excellence”.
(‘The Mystery of the Eucharist.’ 25 May 1967.)


“Many older Catholics have grown up in a closed Catholic culture (1950s-1960s). To put it crudely that was a world in which little was permitted and much was obligatory. They experienced the Sixties as liberation. Young people today have grown up in another world, a permissive society, in which much was allowed and little is obligatory. It is not surprising that they look for greater structure, clarity and visibility. For them the main thing is not liberation, but identity.”
- Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor Westminster. “At the Heart of the World”.

Pilgrims
The sense of community as a sustaining reality has grown and deepened within me over the years. We are pilgrims, always searching for the way forward, sometimes able to see only a few steps ahead – but our perception tends to broaden and deepen as we journey together towards our true home and ultimate destination.

Christ the Reason/Person
When Malcolm Muggeridge asked Mother Teresa in 1968 in a TV interview for the reason for all her work in Calcutta, she answered, “I am not doing it for a reason, I am doing it for a person.”


“Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties come prepared to forgive, neither party comes prepared to be forgiven."
- Charles Williams, Author and scholar 1886-1945


Sunday is the supreme day of faith, an indispensable day, the day of Christian hope. Any weakening in the Sunday observance of Holy Mass weakens Christian discipleship. When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of a “weekend” dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they no longer see the heavens.
- Pope John Paul II


TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE, DIVINE

Just as those who have been capable
of the most horrendous atrocities turn out
to be ordinary human beings like you and me,
so too those who have demonstrated noteworthy
instances of the capacity to forgive could easily
be the man or woman living down the street.
Wonderfully, forgiveness and reconciliation are
possible anywhere and everywhere and have
indeed been taking place, often unsung, unremarked.”

That there is serious disorder in world affairs is obvious. Thus the question to be faced remains: What kind of order can replace this disorder, so that men and women can live in freedom, justice and security? And since the world in its disorder continues nevertheless to be "ordered" and organised in various ways - economic, cultural, even political - there arises another equally urgent question: on what principles are these new forms of world order unfolding?
- Pope John Paul II

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
Your playing small does not help the world
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear, our presence liberates others.
- Nelson Mandela

From -  "The New Being" Paul Tillick
Gestures of peace spring from the lives of people who foster peace first of all in their own hearts. They are the work of the heart and reason in those who are peacemakers. Gestures of peace are possible when people appreciate fully the community dimension in their lives, so that they grasp the meaning and consequences of events in their own communities and in the world. Gestures of peace create a culture and climate of peace.

"We want only to show you something we have seen and to tell you something we have heard. That here and there in the world and now and then in ourselves is a new creation, usually hidden but sometimes manifest
and certainly manifest in Jesus who is called The Christ."

From "A View from the Ridge" - Morris West
"Strange as it may seem, I am not afraid. I have accepted long since that a confession of faith is a confession of not knowing. I have accepted to trust that the city exists, that the lights are real and that what awaits the pilgrim is a homecoming.

Prove it, I cannot. Deserve it, I do not. If my trust is proved a folly, then so be it. Life has served me as it serves everyone, sometimes well, sometimes ill, but I have learned to be grateful for the gifts of it and for the other loves with which I have been so richly endowed. This - let me say it plain - is no more than a simple acknowledgement of the sum of my good fortunes."

From ‘In Fitful Light – Conversations on Christian Living’ Donagh O’Shea
“You will never be able to love anything until you have learned to respect your own limitations."