Grey Cup Fever

Good Afternoon Church - no need to remind people of these parts that today (in addition to being the First Sunday of Advent) is game day. Grey Cup Sunday 2010.

Your author is bleeding green today even though the color of the Church Day is purple. It is time for the Saskatchewan Roughriders to take their place with a victory over the Montreal Alouette's. It is a rematch from last year and all of us westerner's know that this is our year to shine.

A prayer for the Riders is not out of order on such a day and your author is hoping to be able to catch part of the game tonight.

Until tomorrow...Go Riders!!! 

Number of Poor Countries on the Rise

Trouble on the developing front of world poverty this week as made evident earlier this week.

The number of very poor countries has doubled in the last 30 to 40 years, while the number of people living in extreme poverty has also grown two-fold, a UN think-tank warned Thursday that you can see here.

In its annual report on the 49 least developed countries (LDCs) in the world, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that the model of development that has prevailed to date for these countries has failed and should be re-assessed.

"The traditional models that have been applied to LDCs that tend to move the LDCs in the direction of trade-related growth seem not to have done very well," said Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary general of UNCTAD.

"What happened is that in the past 30-40 years, the number of LDCs have doubled so it has actually deteriorated, the number of people living under the poverty line has doubled from the 1980s."
The report indicated that the situation has sharply deteriorated in the past few years.

A Willingness to Suffer

Good Morning Church - another cold but beautiful Saturday morning of the last weekend of the Church year. Tomorrow we begin a new year with the First Sunday of Advent and thus will begin another journey through the life of the Master, Jesus Christ. 

This morning I am left pondering the life of Christ that is characterized by suffering. I recently ran across a quote from Lewis Presnall who said, "love requires a willingness to suffer and be inconvenienced." This led me to a deeper reflection on Christ's love for the Church which we are invited to embody.

If we are to truly live Christ-like then we are invited to see that in our love for others there will necessarily be moments in which we suffer and are ultimately inconvenienced. You will probably enjoy that reality as much as I do. It is far from easy to accept but it is the Christian response to suffering.

The act of loving another broadens our understanding of the human condition and often pinches our egos. Indeed, one of the greatest gifts, though not necessarily cherished, which is granted through loving another, is that we gain humility and thus healthier, smaller egos.

How often do we say the words, "I love you," and yet resent being detained by our loved ones? How frequently do we expect to get our own way when resolving a conflict? Is the silent treatment a manipulative ploy we commonly rely on when problem solving with a spouse or lover?

Love wears many faces and it means not always getting our own way, or never doubting the other's sincerity. We aren't guaranteed happiness forever after, even when we know we're loved. But what giving and receiving love does promise us is growth, periods of peacefulness, some poignantly painful times, and many chances to demonstrate that another's well being is a priority, which in turn assures us of our own well being.

Advice to New (and not so new) Priests

A Lay couple in New Mexico wrote a response to their pastor's rescent homily on the ordination of a new priest. In his homily, their pastor reflected that the new priest ought to remember that he "was to serve God...not the people."

The couple, Robert and Lynn Lawton Jones, took exception to this and decided to address it. They composed a list of the top 10 suggestions for newly ordained priests - I have taken the liberty of suggesting that they apply to all priests.

In short, here they are:

1. Reread annually a summary of the second Vatican Council reforms.
   What they need apparently is someone who will implement the Council, not resist it.
2. Commit yourself to interfaith bridge building.
   These Catholics who long ago struggled through the Catholic-Protestant divide have no desire to see us substitute another one for it in this new century. Living in a world that is more cosmopolitan than ethnic, they want the church to reach out to their neighbors who are now Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and Muslim.
3. Be open to a changing position of the church on gays and women.
   The kind of openness that Jesus showed to women and to those outside the social norms of Judaism is a hallmark of the Christian life and must be modeled by the church if the church itself is to be authentic.
4. Learn more in the first four years of your priesthood than you did in the recent [seminary trainings].
   The message is clear: the parish has as much to teach a new priest as the seminary ever did.
5. Prepare your homilies with one hand on the Bible and the other on (with) the daily newspaper.
   The church does not exist in a world of its own. The Gospel must be good news to the church in every age.
6. Work with people rather than imposing a top-down strategy.
   The church may not be a democracy, but it was never meant to be a monarchy either. Listening to the needs of the laity can only give new energy to the church.
7. Respect the role of the laity in an evolving Church.
   The church does not belong to the clergy. It belongs to all of us together. The priest is meant to be a shepherd, a brother, a leader -- not a potentate. The laity are meant to take their responsibility for the community, as well, and must be seen as equals in the ministry, not servants.
8. Build upon personal spirituality by a growing concern for social justice.
   To live the gospel we must do more than meditate on it; we must practice it.
9. Store your seminary notes in an inaccessible place.
   Remember that parish life is about more than theory, theology, and “the rules.” Like Jesus, be among us, listen to us, enable us all to go on together.
10. Remember that an unquestioning “company man” in all professions, even the priesthood, sacrifices creative energy.
    There are times when the needs of people transcend any particular rule. Let your Archbishop know what’s really going on in the church -- whether he wants to know about it or not -- so we can all grow together. And, whatever you do, think carefully about who you are so you can understand who the people are. (Matt 23: 4-12)

For the full article written by Sr. Joan Chittister see here.

Feeling Good without the Cost

When I hear somebody sigh "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, compared to what?

--Sydney J. Harris

 

We've probably heard all the negative quotations about life. There was also probably a time when we believed them all. Based on the state of our lives at the time, it was probably no surprise that life was difficult and brutal.

Certainly there are many things in life that are harsh and cruel; we see such things in the paper every day. But there are some very wonderful things, too. It's just that we've been conditioned to believe the horrors instead of the wonders.

Today may have been a long, tiring, boring day. But that doesn't mean all days are long, tiring, and boring. There's much good in life that we can see if we let ourselves. We can get off our life-is-difficult soapbox and hear the humor, see the smiles, and feel the caring. Life may be difficult at times, but it is also quite fulfilling.

I need to feel that life is good. Tonight I will consider what event happened today that I can feel good about.

Pope Addresses New Cardinals: Be Attentive!

In continuing with a week long agenda that has the Pope meeting with the new cardinals, The Holy Father received the twenty-four new cardinals created in the consistory of Saturday 20 November. With the prelates were members of their families and other faithful who have accompanied them to Rome.

The Pope greeted the cardinals in Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish, and expressed the hope that their followers may "support you with their prayers, that you many continue to persevere faithfully in your various tasks, for the good of the Gospel and of all Christian people".

"Your ministry", he told the cardinals, "is now enriched by the further duty of supporting Peter's Successor in his universal service to the Church. I place a lot of trust in you, in your prayer and in your vital assistance. With fraternal esteem I encourage you to continue your spiritual and apostolic mission which has just gone through a very important stage. Maintain your gaze fixed on Christ, drawing all grace and spiritual comfort from Him and following the shining example of cardinal saints, intrepid servants of the Church who, over the course of the centuries, have rendered glory to God with their heroic exercise of the virtues and their tenacious faithfulness to the Gospel".

Invoking on the cardinals "the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary Mother of the Church, and of the martyr St. Cecilia whose liturgical memory falls today", the Pope said "may she, the patroness of music and 'bel canto', accompany and support your efforts to listen attentively to various voices within the Church, in order to make the unity of hearts more profound".

"Light of the World" Released Today: Pope

Pope's Latest Book

This morning in the Holy See Press Office, a press conference was held to present a new book published by the Vatican Publishing House. The volume is entitled: "Light of the World. The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times. A conversation of Benedict XVI with Peter Seewald".

The conference was presented by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, and the journalist Luigi Accattoli.

Also present were Peter Seewald, who conducted the interviews with the Pope, and Fr. Giuseppe Costa S.D.B., director of the Vatican Publishing House.

Archbishop Fisichella

Archbishop Fisichella explained how Seewald had asked the Pope "about the great questions facing modern theology, the various political events that have always marked relations between States and, finally, the themes that often occupy a large part of public debate. We have a Pope who does not evade any question, who wishes to clarify everything using a language that is simple but not for that reason less profound, and who benevolently accepts the provocations inherent in so many questions.

"Nonetheless", the archbishop added, "reducing the entire interview to one phrase removed from its context and from the entirety of Benedict XVI's thought would be an offence to the Pope's intelligence and a gratuitous manipulation of his words. What emerges from these pages overall is, in fact, the vision of a Church called to be 'Light of the world', a sign of unity for the whole human race".

The president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation went on to explain that "this book was not written by Benedict XVI, yet it brings together his ideas, concerns and sufferings over these years, his pastoral projects and his hopes for the future. The impression that emerges is that of a Pope optimistic about the life of the Church, despite the difficulties which have always existed".

This book published today "is an interview which, in many ways, provokes us to undertake a serious examination of conscience, both inside and outside the Church, in order to achieve true conversion of heart and mind. The conditions of life in society, sexuality, economy and finance, the Church herself; all these questions require special dedication in order to verify the cultural drift of today's world and the possibilities for the future. Benedict XVI does not allow himself to be alarmed by the figures emerging from opinion polls because the truth has completely different criteria: 'statistics are not the measure of morality'".

"In these pages Benedict XVI often returns to the relationship between modernity and Christianity, which cannot and must not be seen as parallels. Rather, the relationship must be lived by correctly uniting faith and reason, individual rights and social responsibility; in a word, by 'putting God first'. ... This is the conversion that Benedict XVI asks of Christians and of anyone who wishes to listen to him. ... This is the task the Pope sets for his own pontificate and we cannot, in all honesty, deny how difficult it seems to be".

Archbishop Fisichella concluded his remarks by highlighting how "simplicity and truth are the characteristics of this interview, which was chosen by Benedict XVI as a way of making the public at large more familiar with his ideas, his way of being and his way of understanding the mission with which he has been entrusted. This is no easy task at a time when communication often tends to underline specific fragments and overlooks the global picture. A book to be read and mediated upon, in order to understand once again how the Church in the world can announce the good news which brings joy and serenity".

For his part, Luigi Accattoli suggested his journalist colleagues should "read this book as a guided visit to the papal workshop of Benedict XVI and to the world of Joseph Ratzinger. ... Above all we will see this man who was called to become Pope in the same perspective as when he published the two volumes on Jesus of Nazareth, which he presents not as documents of the Magisterium, but as testimony of his own search for the face of the Lord".

"From the beginning of the book he warns us that 'the Pope can have erroneous personal opinions'; he certainly does have 'the power of final decision' in matters of faith but this 'does not mean that he can continuously produce infallibility'. It is perhaps in this statement that we must seek the original roots of this book of interviews", said the journalist.

In various places the Holy Father reviews his eighty-three years of life, "and reflects on the suitability of resigning should he find himself in a position where he cannot carry out his mission. On the same page he denies he ever thought of resigning over the paedophile scandal: 'We cannot run away in the moment of greatest danger', he says. We all know that modern Popes - from Pius XII on - have considered the problem of resigning, but prior to this interview none of them had done so in public".

In this book, Accattoli continued his explanations, the Holy Father "dedicates ample space to the conflict between the Christian faith and modernity. However, in at least two passages he recognises 'the morality of modernity' and the evidence of 'a good and just modernity'. These positive affirmations should be read alongside passages in which he recognises the religious crimes of the past: from the 'atrocities' committed 'in the name of truth' to 'the wars of religion', and that 'rigorism' towards corporeity which was used to 'frighten man'. In the conflict with the modern world, then, it is necessary to ask 'in what is secularism right' and where 'should it be resisted'".

The Pope "is not afraid to use such expressions as 'the sinfulness of the Church'; ... while the term 'dirt' to indicate the sin that exists in the Church ... is used at least three times to refer to paedophilia among the clergy and to the 'enormous shock' it aroused". In this context the Pontiff also "repeatedly recognises the positive role played by the communications media, something he has expressed on various occasions in the past but never so explicitly: 'As long as they seek to bring the truth to light, we must be grateful', he says. On this subject he also gives us one of the book's most effective aphorisms: 'Only because evil was within the Church were others able to use it against her'".

The Holy Father, Accattoli continued, "assures us that he would not have removed the excommunication from Bishop Williamson without undertaking further investigation, had he known the prelate's views on Holocaust denial".

"Cautiously and courageously Benedict XVI seeks a pragmatic way in which missionaries and other ecclesial workers can help to defeat the AIDS pandemic, without approving - but also without excluding, in particular cases - the use of the condom. He likewise reaffirms the 'prophetic' nature of Paul VI's 'Humanae vitae', though without concealing the existence of real difficulties in 'finding paths that can be followed in a human way', ... and recognising that 'in this field many things must be rethought and expressed in new terms'".

The Pope "declares himself to be optimistic concerning the fact that Christianity is facing new dynamics' which will perhaps bring it 'to assume a different cultural appearance'; yet also 'disillusioned' because 'the general tendency of our time is one of hostility to the Church'".

Finally, Accattoli concluded, the Pope "dreams that people will rediscover the 'simplicity' and 'radicalism' of the Gospel and Christianity". This involves "understanding the drama of our times, remaining firmly rooted in the Word of God as the decisive word, and at the same time giving Christianity that simplicity and profundity without which it cannot function".

Thought for the Day: Go Easy

Go easy. You may have to push forward, but you don't have to push so hard. Go in gentleness, go in peace.

Do not be in so much of a hurry. At no day, no hour, no time are you required to do more than you can do in peace. Frantic behaviors and urgency are not the foundation for our new way of life.

Do not be in too much of a hurry to begin. Begin, but do not force the beginning if it is not time. Beginnings will arrive soon enough.

Enjoy and relish middles, the heart of the matter.

Do not be in too much of a hurry to finish. You may be almost done, but enjoy the final moments. Give yourself fully to those moments so that you may give and get all there is.

Let the pace flow naturally. Move forward. Start. Keep moving forward. Do it gently, though. Do it in peace. Cherish each moment.

Today, God, help me focus on a peaceful pace rather than a harried one. I will keep moving forward gently, not frantically. Help me let go of my need to be anxious, upset, and harried. Help me replace it with a need to be at peace and in harmony.