LITURGY NOTES FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
 

Hunger is my Native Place

Hunger is my native place in the land of the passions. 

Hunger for fellowship, hunger for righteousness—

for a fellowship founded on righteousness, 

and a righteousness attained in fellowship.

Only life can satisfy the demands of life.  

And this hunger of mine can be satisfied 

for the simple reason that the nature of life is such 

that I can realize my individuality by becoming a bridge for others, 

a stone in the temple of righteousness. 

Don't be afraid of yourself, 

live your individuality to the full—

but for the good of others.  

Don't copy others in order to buy fellowship, 

or make convention your law 

instead of living the righteousness.

To become free and responsible.  

For this alone was man created, 

and the one who fails to take the Way 

which could have been his shall be lost eternally.   

Dag Hammarskjöld  Markings, translated from the Swedish (Vägmärken) by Leif Sjöbeg and W.H.Auden, New York: Alfred A Knopf. 1964.

CALL TO PEACE

When violence and hatred in speech and in attitude are proposed as normal, it is time for peace movements, in Australia, and elsewhere, to rise up and renew their commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking, writes CRA Justice Coordinator Father Claude Mostowik msc.

When violence and hatred in speech and in attitude are proposed as normal in our country, it is time for peace movements, in Australia, and elsewhere, to rise up and renew their commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking as a way of life.

We need to recognise that violence expresses itself in so many ways – in word and in silence, in neglect, organised forgetfulness and vilification.

Violence is expressed in the rhetoric that looks to revenge rather than reconciliation whether on the local level or on the international level. Violence is manifest when revenge is the response to conflict rather than diplomacy and deep listening to another. May we recommit to reconciliation and peace with justice as the way of life.

Violence is expressed in racism, misogyny, sexism, homophobia, bullying, vilification, the building of walls and barriers to people as the new normal, rather than building bridges. May we recommit to stand strong against these insults on humanity and recognise the sacred in each person and the dignity of all. ‘Our humanity is dependent on recognising the humanity in others.’ (Archbishop Desmond Tutu).

Violence is expressed in the disrespect for and destruction of creation through war, mining, deforestation, dumping of waste removal of people from tradition land.

May we hear the ‘cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’

LITURGY NOTES FOR THE FEAST OF THE REIGN OF CHRIST

Feast of the Reign of Christ – the Cosmic Christ

November 20^th 2016

Suggested formula for recognition of indigenous people and their land.

We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we stand.

We pay our respects to them and for their care of the land.

May we walk gently on this land.

or

We acknowledge the traditional custodians and occupiers of the land where we are now gathered, (N….) and recognise that it continues to be sacred to them.

We hail them: as guardians of the earth and of all things that grow and breed in the soil; as trustees of the waters – [the seas, the streams and rivers, the ponds and the lakes] - and the rich variety of life in those waters.

We thank them for passing this heritage to every people since the Dreamtime.

We acknowledge the wrongs done to them by newcomers to this land and we seek to be partners with them in righting these wrongs and in living together in peace and harmony.

Blessed are you peacemakers

Blessed are you peacemakers,

who say no to war as a means to peace.

Blessed are you peacemakers,

who are committed to disarm weapons of mass destruction.

Blessed are you peacemakers,

who wage peace at heroic personal cost.

Blessed are you peacemakers,

who challenge and confront judges, courts and prisons.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who help those who are hurting.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who befriend perfect strangers.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who open doors for acting justly,

loving tenderly and walking humbly with God
and all people of good will.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
who welcome, encourage and inspire.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who offer hope and healing.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who care and comfort.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who help find answers.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who provide stability not insanity.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who help restore faith and love.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who delight in creation, art and creativity.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who see the good in others.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who never give up.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

who give and give and give.

Fr. Paul Milanowski Grand Rapids, Michigan

Reading I 2 Sm 5:1-3

Responsorial Psalm Ps 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5

Reading II Col 1:12-20

Gospel Lk 23:35-43

Penitential Rite

·         Christ Jesus, you reveal the face of God who brings us forgiveness and peace. Jesus, have mercy.

·         Christ Jesus, you reveal the love and peace of God. Christ, have mercy.

·         Christ Jesus, you reveal your power in service to the sick, vulnerable and marginalised. Jesus, have mercy.

or

• Christ Jesus, you became the servant of all and washed the feet of your disciples. Jesus, have mercy.
• Christ Jesus, you became a victim who died for your people. Christ, have mercy.
• Christ Jesus, you are the model or service for us all. Jesus, have mercy.

Opening Prayer

God and Heart of the Universe,

Jesus, your Son, the beloved,

who though rejected and put to death,

illumines our lives.

Show us in his death the victory

and in his broken body the love

that unites all people and all of creation.

or

God of the poor,

Jesus, your Son, was born among us.

Open our eyes, our hearts and our hands

and may our love free, bold and inclusive

as we welcome him in those who are hungry and thirsty,

in those who are abandoned and lonely,

in refugees, the poor and the sick.

or

God and Heart of the Universe

the mystery of Jesus’ reign

over every age and nation illumines our lives.

Open our hearts, and remove from us,

every desire for privilege and power

and direct us in the love of Christ

to care for the least of our brothers and sisters.

Prayer over the Gifts

God and Heart of the Universe,

show us your living presence

in Christ Jesus, your Son.

As we offer these gifts,

may the Holy Spirit sustain our hope

and inspire us to generously build up

a world that is human, peace and just.

Prayer after Communion

God and Heart of the Universe,

in this Eucharist,

we recognise Jesus, the Centre of our lives,

May we respond by becoming, like him,

people who live for others, peacebuilders

and instruments of your healing

so that your peace reigns in the hearts of all people. 

General Intercessions

Introduction: Let us pray through Jesus Christ, that the reign of God may become real and concrete among us.  Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

or

Introduction: As we remember people who bear the burdens of everyday life, let us pray in the words of one who was crucified with Jesus: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

1.       Make your Reign visible in our political and religious institutions: may they speak words of peace and make concrete gestures of peace in our world, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

2.       Make your Reign visible in the churches: may we always follow in the path of Christ who did not come to be served but to serve, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

3.       Make your Reign visible in all who exercise power and authority in this world: may use power as a means to a service, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

4.       Make your Reign visible in our attitudes to: people: may we see in them your image of love and diversity, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

5.       Make your reign visible in all corners of the world in the Holy Land: may the Palestinian and Israeli people grow find ways of living together in unity and peace with justice, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

6.       Make us grateful and appreciative of the diversity that surrounds us: for the spectrum of skin colors, languages, and customs that make up the world and God’s reign, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

7.       Make your reign visible where people are in need, pain and sickness: may we be especially aware in December of people in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific region who live with HIV/AIDS and work to overcome fear, shame, ignorance and injustice, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

8.       Make your reign visible in our communities where men and women strive to eliminate all forms of violence especially violence against women and children, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

9.       Make your reign of peace visible in the lives of people without a homeland: may the people of Palestine and other people who seek a homeland of their own be given their rights, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

10.   Make your reign of equality and peace visible in the peoples of the Pacific who live in fear of rising waters through climate warming and for people who suffer persecution of any kind, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

11.   Make your reign of justice visible in the places where there is greed and corruption that causes people to suffer: may a world of peace and justice be realised in the ordinary efforts of people, let us pray: Jesus, remember us when you come into your reign.

Concluding Prayer: Heart of the Universe, may the Spirit of Jesus help us to witness to the values, the cultures and religions of all people by promoting a dialogue of love, justice, truth and life for all.

or

Concluding Prayer: Good and gracious God, we believe that the reign of Jesus your Son is among us. Hear the prayers of your people today that they hearts and minds be opened to recognise your presence among so that we may live as citizens of your reign on earth.

More Resources

Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. ... That’s our problem.

Howard Zinn

King?

King is your word not mine;

Friend I am, and not very choosey,

pagans and prostitutes,

publicans and sinners,

grace is my kingdom.

King is your word, not mine;

Servant I am, no one beneath me,

feet washer and waiter,

serving the least,

love is my kingdom

King is your word, not mine;

Physician I am, all free of charge,

touching the leper,

expelling the demons,

health is my kingdom.

King is your word, not mine;

A seer I am, seeing God’s word

in mustard seed and yeast,

wildflower and ravens,

truth is my kingdom.

King is your word, not mine;

Tradesman I am, honing my craft,

familiar with wood,

hammer and nails,

hope is my kingdom.

©  B.D. Prewer 2002

The Giving Tree

Once there was a giving tree who loved a little boy.

And everyday the boy would come to play

Swinging from the branches, sleeping in the shade

Laughing all the summer’s hours away.

And so they love,

Oh, the tree was happy.

Oh, the tree was glad.

But soon the boy grew older and one day he came and said,

‘Can you give me some money, tree, to buy something I’ve found?’

‘I have no money,’ said the tree, ‘Just apples, twigs and leaves.’

‘But you can take my apples, boy, and sell them in the town.’

And so he did and

Oh, the tree was happy.

Oh, the tree was glad.

But soon again the boy came back and he said to the tree,

‘I’m now a man and I must have a house that’s all my home.’

‘I can’t give you a house’ he said, ‘The forest is my house.’

‘But you may cut my branches off and build yourself a home’

And so he did.

Oh, the tree was happy.

Oh, the tree was glad.

And time went by and the boy came back with sadness in his eyes.

‘My life has turned so cold,’ he says, ‘and I need sunny days.’

‘I’ve nothing but my trunk,’ he says, ‘But you can cut it down

And build yourself a boat and sail away.’

And so he did and

Oh, the tree was happy.

Oh, the tree was glad.

And after years the boy came back, both of them were old.

‘I really cannot help you if you ask for another gift.’

‘I’m nothing but an old stump now. I’m sorry but I’ve nothing more to give’

‘I do not need very much now, just a quiet place to rest,’

The boy, he whispered, with a weary smile.

‘Well’, said the tree, ‘An old stump is still good for that.’

‘Come, boy’, he said, ‘Sit down, sit down and rest a while.’

And so he did and

Oh, the trees was happy.

Oh, the tree was glad.

Shel Silverstein from Bobby Bare's ‘Singing in the Kitchen’’,

Everybody wants a home. A home is a place different to work, which is frequently stressful. But the home is a place where we can relax, where we can rest, where we can be with friends, we're together. Home is essential to human beings, and, belonging is to know that I'm loved, that I'm appreciated. You see, the worst thing that can happen for anyone is the anguish of loneliness. Nobody loves me, nobody wants me. And this can come about for many people. They throw themselves into work, but they might be terribly lonely on the part of their hearts, that which is most human within them. So human beings, they need a place where they belong, but not belonging that closes them up and a belonging of fear, but a belonging of relationship. We're together, we love each other. When we're strong and fit and capable and have lots of diplomas, maybe we feel we don't need to belong. We're capable. But as soon as somebody is a little bit weaker, a bit more fragile, then we need to belong, we need this place where we're loved as we are. So home and belonging is something very fundamental to human beings.

Jean Vanier

The history of this human family has been a history of wars, of empires, or slavery, of hurting people. So something has to change in the hearts of humanity if we want to become a society or a family, a world human family, where we appreciate each other and we appreciate each other's cultures. But in order to appreciate people, particularly when they're different, it means learning their language, getting to know them, trying to understand them. So to be human, is to open up to the different, and then there's a little commandment if I may use that expression of Jesus' where he says 'When you give a meal, don't invite the members of your family, don't invite your rich neighbours, don't invite your friends, but when you give a really good meal, a banquet, invite the poor, the lame, the disabled and the blind. And you shall be happy, you shall find a beatitude.' You see the whole vision of God is to bring human beings together, to accept each other, and in the degree that we close up in our tribe or in our clan or in our little group of people where were just spend our time flattering each other and working for each other, then we just continue to create a world of division, and eventually worlds of division become worlds of conflict and worlds of war.

So to live with people with disabilities and to let my heart be opened up to discover their gifts and their beauty and to relationship, means that I have to discover all the fears that I have within me - that I'm frightened of the different. The big question is how to help people not to be frightened. So what I would say is L'Arche is a sort of training ground, or a school, where we learn to live with people who are very different, because their disabilities are different, and maybe their religion is different, their culture is different - it's a school where we learn to appreciate people different, to love that and then to grow together and to become a sign that our world is not just a world where we have to live in rivalry, competition, in a sort of tyranny of normality, but it is possible to create places where we can learn to celebrate our differences and then as I get to understand people better there's a sort of wisdom of growth.

Jean Vanier

God we need a little more healing:

Something in all of us likes a lot of power and control.

We have ended up spending billions on weapons,

We have weapons that can destroy the whole world.

Somehow we get ourselves into the business of selling weapons to others.

Too many young men and women are trained for war which nobody wants.

Too many people are hungry and afraid.

God we need a little more healing.

God we need a little more healing:

Something in all of us likes a lot of power and control.

We worry about money and food and clothes and things.

We end up buying things we don’t need.

We end up working too much.

We end up filled with things and worry.

Somehow we end up with a world where some are very rich.

We end up with a world where some are very poor.

We end up with a world where some have no work.

We end up with a world in which some are overworked.

God we need a little more healing.

God we need a little more healing:

Something in all of us likes a lot of power and control.

Some people end up with a lot of power.

Some people end up with making all the big decisions.

Some of our brothers and sisters never get listened to.

Somehow our politics becomes a politics of the rich or of the few.

Our democracy becomes less democratic.

Money and prestige and status are in charge.

Skin color or ethnic group or gender seem to matter too much.

God we need a little more healing.

God we need a little more healing:

Something in all of us likes a lot of power and control.

We don’t know how to let go.

We don’t know how to be free.

We don’t know how to be ourselves.

Sometimes we are bound by all our fears.

We don’t know how to be active and nonviolent.

We don’t know what to do at all.

God we need a little more healing.

Amen.

Sources Unknown

I believe in aristocracy….  not an aristocracy of power, based on rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate, and the plucky.  Its members are found in all nations and classes, and through all the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet.  They represent the true human tradition, the one queer victory over cruelty and chaos.

E.M. Forster

We have no reason to harbor any mistrust against our world, for it is not against us. If it has terrors, they are our terrors; if it has abysses, these abysses belong to us; if there are dangers, we must try to love them. . . .How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.

Rainer Maria Rilke

The individual today is often suffocated between two poles represented by the State and the marketplace. At times it seems as though the individual exists only as a producer and consumer of goods, or as an object of State administration. People lose sight of the fact that life in society has neither the market nor the State as its final purpose.

John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 49

We must repeat that the superfluous goods of wealthier nations ought to be placed at the disposal of poorer nations. The rule, by virtue of which in times past those nearest us were to be helped in time of need, applies today to all the needy throughout the world. And the prospering peoples will be the first to benefit from this. Continuing avarice on their part will arouse the judgment of God and the wrath of the poor, with consequences no one can foresee. If prosperous nations continue to be jealous of their own advantage alone, they will jeopardize their highest values, sacrificing the pursuit of excellence to the acquisition of possessions. We might well apply to them the parable of the rich man. His fields yielded an abundant harvest and he did not know where to store it: 'But God said to him, ‘Fool, this very night your soul will be demanded from you.

Paul VI, Populorum Progressio (On the progress of peoples), 49

May people learn to fight for justice without violence,

renouncing class struggle in their internal disputes,

and war in international ones.

John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 23

We have assumed the name of peacemakers, but we have been, by and large, unwilling to pay any significant price. And because we want the peace with half a heart and half a life and will, the war, of course, continues, because the waging of war, by its nature, is total—but the waging of peace, by our own cowardice, is partial… There is no peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war—at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake.

Daniel Berrigan sj

Nonviolence is really tough. You don't practice nonviolence at conferences; you practice it on picket-lines.

Cesar Chavez

An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them: ‘A fight is going on inside me...It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too.’

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf will win?’ The old Cherokee simply replied... ‘The one I feed.’

Peace is not merely the absence of war. Nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies. Nor is it brought about by dictatorship. Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called 'an enterprise of justice' (Is. 32:7). Peace results from that harmony built into human society by its divine founder, and actualized by men and women as they thirst after ever greater justice.

Second Vatican Council, The Church in the Modern World, #78

Christ crucified and risen, the Wisdom of God, manifests the truth that divine justice and renewing power leavens the world in a way different from the techniques of dominating violence. The victory of shalom is won not by the sword of the warrior god, but by the awesome power of compassionate love, in and through solidarity with those who suffer . . . Above all, the cross is raised as a challenge to the natural rightness of male dominating rule.

The crucified Jesus embodies the exact opposite of the patriarchal ideal of the powerful man, and shows the steep price to be paid in the struggle for liberation.

Elizabeth Johnson CSJ, She Who Is, 159-160

Today in our situation the authenticity of the people of God goes by way of poverty and justice: they are the touchstone of the truth of the faith that is professed and of the genuineness of life as it is lived out: poverty, which involves incarnating all our efforts and incarnating ourselves in the reality of the oppressed majorities, and that will necessarily entail a voluntary impoverishment and abnegation on the part of those who wield power; justice, which involves giving to the people what belongs to the people and struggling to uproot injustice and exploitation, and to establish a new earth, wherein the life of the new human may be possible.

Ignacio Ellacuría SJ, martyred in El Salvador  1989

[Praying] demands that you take to the road again and again, leaving your house and looking forward to a new land for yourself and your [fellow human]. This is why praying demands poverty, that is, the readiness to live a life in which you have nothing to lose so that you always begin afresh.

Henri J.M. Nouwen, With Open Hands

A life in prayer is a life in open hands where you are not ashamed of your weakness but realize that it is more perfect for a [human] to be led by the other than to seek to hold everything in [her] own hand.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

Henri Nouwen

Once upon a time, the story goes, a preacher ran through the streets of the city shouting, 'We must put God into our lives. We must put God into our lives.' And hearing him, the old monastic rose up in the city plaza to say, 'No, sir, you are wrong. You see, God is already in our lives. Our task is simply to recognize that.'

Joan Chittister, OSB, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today

We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice, or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.

Benjamin Jowett

Awareness requires a rupture with the world we take for granted; then old categories of experience are called into question and revised.

Shoshana Zuboff

... There is one thing you have got to learn about our movement. Three people are better than no people.

Fannie Lou Hamer

A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

Aldous Huxley –

People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust.

E.B. White

The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them.

Gene Roddenberry

There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience.

Hartley Shawcross

Then it must also be admitted, my friend, that men who are harmed become more unjust.

Plato

Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.

Thomas Mann

The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.

General Omar Bradley

Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.

Aung San Suu Kyi

You may think your actions are meaningless and that they won't help, but that is no excuse, you must still act.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.

Albert Einstein

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We do not know what awaits each of us after death, but we know that we will die. Clearly it must be possible to live ethically -with a genuine concern for the happiness of other sentient beings- without presuming to know things about which we are patently ignorant. Consider it: every person you have ever met, every person you will pass in the street today, is going to die. Living long enough, each will suffer the loss of his friends and family. All are going to lose everything they love in this world. Why would one want to be anything but kind to them in the meantime?

Sam Harris

We have adopted the incredible decision of preemption. With this system of preemption and the unilateral nature of it as practiced by the administration, we have established a foreign policy which is unsustainable in a world that we hope will be governed by peace rather than by war. As a consequence, we are on a very dangerous course not only for the US , but for civilization.

Walter Cronkite During an interview with Sam Donaldson at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's 21^st Evening for Peace. 23 Oct. 2004

Peace and international law are closely linked to each other: Law favors peace. Democratic governments know well that the use of force against terrorists cannot justify a renunciation of the principles of the rule of law.

Pope John Paul II  From a statement marking the 2004 International Day of Peace

It's easy to blame the poor for being poor. It's easy to believe that the world is being caught up in an escalating spiral of terrorism and war. That's what allows George Bush to say, ‘You're either with us or with the terrorists.' But that's a spurious choice. Terrorism is only the privatization of war. Terrorists are the free marketers of war. They believe that the legitimate use of violence is not the sole prerogative of the state.

Arundhati Roy From lecture upon receiving the 2004 Sydney Peace Prize 2 Nov 2004

The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Holy One ,

Thank you for trusting us with your work.

Help us to trust in your vision and mission even when we cannot see clearly.

Come, Holy One!

May your justice and peace reign over all your people.

Send us out to reconcile human beings to each other and to your good creation.

Scatter our fear so we can be gathered and do your work of gathering.

In the name of Christ, Amen

Out in Scripture

Reflections on the readings

E. M. Forster wrote, ‘I believe in aristocracy…. not an aristocracy of power, based on rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate, and the plucky. Its members are found in all nations and classes, and through all the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one queer victory over cruelty and chaos.’

If Jesus is the image (imprint) of God, what do we see in this image? He is physically located on a cross between two prisoners. There is nothing triumphal in this image. This feast is a judgement on all institutions and churches that more concerned with how it looks rather than what is right, more concerned with survival and maintenance than the care and protection of God’s people.

Jesus is portrayed surrounded in death, as he was in life, by the excluded and despised. His humility and suffering reveal not power, exclusion and vengeance but liberation, forgiveness and reconciliation. We see here the radical opposition between the power of domination and coercion and the power of service that brings God’s love into people’s lives through serving, healing, and doing justice. These are often alien concepts in many institutions and corporations.

People (refugees, Indigenous people, people out of prison, people with disabilities, and sexual minorities) have been scattered and separated from families, churches, communities, or their own country. In parishes, people have been hurt in different ways where they might feel that God [or the church] has no place and no need for them. We rub shoulders with every day with people who silently endure pain: pain that goes back in time caused by parishes, church leaders, teachers, friends, partners and lovers; pain caused by prejudice and judgementalism or by dominating, ignorant or arrogant people.

The figure on the cross is God’s answer to we are seen-a God cares who for us; embraces us; who keeps coming to gather us – even when others dismiss, forsake or distance themselves from us. Colossians 1:12 states that all can claim full rights as God’s sons and daughters and be confident that God is in our midst. The Song of Mary too is a song about a God who sides with the marginalised and in unexpected ways. It affirms that the marginal ones are at the centre. It affirms that social transformation is possible. God sees more in us than others or we ourselves. We are all sons and daughters of God and having full rights, we also have full rights to answer God’s call to play an important role in the work of gathering and reconciliation. As we heard Paul say today, ‘Through Christ God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross’ (1:20). It’s that ‘all’ that that can be disturbing. The convicted criminal is invited into peace…. as is any one we do not wish to associate with. As I write, the people of the USA are voting for a new president. That includes a Hillary Clinton or a Donal Trump. What a challenge! Jesus wants us to go against the tide by showing us that peace is possible. It takes work - it is something we receive through friendships with our enemies. The peace of Christ is about being drawn, more and more, into friendships, and finding companions, even among hated enemies.

Jesus died as he lived by using nonviolence to implement God’s reign. This is something alien to the powerful nations when we watch how Iran is still threatened, Syria, Libya ad Yemen are in tatters. It might cause us to reflect on the proliferation of arms; inequitable distribution of the world’s resources; depletion and destruction of God’s earth given to us to care for. It might cause us to reflect that when we ignore people we miss another opportunity to extend God’s reign of sympathy and compassion.

As disciples we are called to be in sympathy with God’s purposes and the way of Jesus. It is not possible for us to truly be a community that is extending God’s reign on earth if we do not extend God’s sympathy/compassion/nonviolent engagement with people. No amount of faith, orthodoxy, and prayer can replace the call to gather people into our circle and proclaim the reign of God amongst us. Christ makes friends with the wrong people, and that’s also our call if we want to proclaim the peace of Christ’s coming reign

The gospel opens up for us two responses. Prompted by the inscription above his head on the cross, Jesus was taunted by some: If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ In other words, ‘Real kings take care of themselves first.’ The response is that of one who responds to these taunts by taking care of someone else. It shows us leadership from a different perspective where the emphasis is on relationship characterised by service, not domination; where the focus is on those who have no power, those who are on the margins of society, those whom others prefer to ignore. That saving ourselves might be expressed in how we close the doors of our homes to the poor and hungry; close our borders to people seeking asylum; shut our eyes to the consequences of relying on the military-industrial complex and the fossil fuel industry which ravish poor nations… as long as we save ourselves financially, socially, materially. The other thief reflects the cry for ‘the other’, not for himself. He reflects the change of heart that focuses on the other; who sees the person always; and responds with humanity and care. This second man on the cross holds out hope to us. We see this in Malala Yousafza who was shot last year for raising the profile of Pakistani girls and their right to seek an education. We see that hope as she, along with many people in the world, speak out against domination, injustice, impunity, violence. Like the man on the cross with Jesus, and in Jesus himself, we see that the cross and the resurrection are one power. It names our capacity for transformation within ourselves and transformation of our world. What a judgment on the churches that so often they have more concerned with their own survival and maintenance than with the care and protection of God’s people; how often they  have been concerned with what looks good rather than what is the good and just.

Pope Francis has consistently shown us a leadership that calls us to hold out our hands to those who are ‘disenfranchised’; to relate to them in the same way that Jesus relates to them. His example, often still unfortunately not yet filtered through to other church leaders, has created an environment that synods, councils, rules and regulations cannot create. It’s now up to us to create the same environment he created.

For the early Christians, and for us today, following Jesus is a ‘game-changer’: it means turning our hearts and minds from the empires and kingdoms of this world (materialism, militarism, prestige and power) to the reign of God, which was the heart of Jesus' message. Perhaps a fear of unseen spirits that need to be appeased sounds strange to us, but don't we too live in fear of many ‘powers’? There is good reason to fear the power of greed, and war, and violence, and addiction, and commercialism, as well as the philosophies, values, and beliefs that shape our way of life today, like an exaggerated individualism, excessive materialism, and an unfounded trust in military might for our security. Pope Francis has highlighted this in his encyclical Laudato si’ that has resulted in the degradation of creation but also our relationships where we cannot hear the cry of the poor or the cry of the ‘poor’ earth. Think of the damage these powers have done, especially to so many people who have no voice in them. Sometimes, it's easy to feel that the powers that influence our lives more than the power, and the wisdom, and the plan, of God. The image of Jesus on the cross images for us the expansiveness of God’s love. The writer of Colossians provides us with a vision of the spaciousness of the God in whom we can place our trust. Though we may feel overwhelmed with the problems we face that seem insolvable: war, hunger, poverty, and damage to the environment, as well as the ‘small,’ personal disasters of our lives (never that small to us) we find here the roots of our hope: God in Christ is at work in the world, in the whole universe, and not just in our churches or our individual lives. Part of that hope is that people are participating in that work. We express it when we commit to the one who calls us to make choices from those that lead to injustice, alienation, loneliness and death to those that lead to the ‘fair go’, to deeper and respectful relationships, inclusiveness?

LITURGY NOTES FOR 33rd SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Dear friends
This 4 minute YouTube was sent in yesterday afternoon. It may be of use to anyone concerned with prison ministry particularly that this Sunday is Jubilee for Prisoners.
Peace
Claude Mostowik msc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap9N8om9Z9U&feature=youtu.be

33^rd Sunday of the Year

November 13, 2016

Suggested formula for recognition of indigenous people and their land.

We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we stand. We pay our respects to them and for their care of the land.

May we walk gently on this land.

Or

We acknowledge the traditional owners and occupiers of the land where we are now gathered, (N….) and recognise that it continues to be sacred to them.

We hail them: as guardians of the earth and of all things that grow and breed in the soil; as trustees of the waters – [the seas, the streams and rivers, the ponds and the lakes] - and the rich variety of life in those waters.

We thank them for passing this heritage to every people since the Dreamtime.

We acknowledge the wrongs done to them by newcomers to this land and we seek to be partners with them in righting these wrongs and in living together in peace and harmony.

The war on children and civilians in Yemen and elsewhere

Readings

First Reading : Malachi 3:19-20a

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:5-6, 7-8, 9 R. The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

Second Reading : II Thessalonians 3:7-12

Gospel: Luke 21:5-19

Penitential Rite

• Christ Jesus, you call us to be holy: Jesus, have mercy.
• Christ Jesus, you call us to live in your kingdom: Christ, have mercy.
• Christ Jesus, you call us to create heaven on earth: Jesus, have mercy.

or

§  Christ Jesus, you brought us pardon and peace: Jesus, have mercy.

§  Christ Jesus, we seek your face: Christ, have mercy.

§  Christ Jesus, we trust in you, your strength and your love: Jesus, have mercy.

Opening Prayer

God of peace and justice,

we believe that your plans

are for peace and not disaster.

Keep us open to the signs

of the constant coming of Jesus your Son.

Help us to commit ourselves untiringly

to the growth of the kingdom among us

by carrying out your plans for peace and love.

General Intercessions

Introduction: Let us pray that all people may be set from fear and danger, and let us say: R/ Save us with your justice, O God.

§  From religious violence and intolerance, especially in Iraq, for our failure to see the other as a sister and brother, protect us: Save us with your justice, O God. .

§  From wars between nations and from civil strife, from conflicts near and far, and from nuclear arms, protect us: Save us with your justice, O God. .

§  From disasters and tragedies that destroyed people and their livelihood, from earthquakes, inundations, and epidemics, protect us: Save us with your justice, O God. .

§  From lack of education, disease, lack of sanitation, famine and malnutrition, from the indifference of those who have all they need and more, protect us: Save us with your justice, O God.

§  From our refusal to take the risks of faith and raise our voices in the face of injustice for fear of persecution, protect us: Save us with your justice, O God. .

§  From our failure to hear the gospel call to be outrageous in our peacemaking, sharing our possessions and loving our enemies, protect us: Save us with your justice, O God. .

§  From unemployment and misfortune, from injustice and guilty compromises, protect us: Save us with your justice, O God. .

Presider Faithful God, creator of all that is good, hear our prayers and keep us in the ways of faith and hope and love.

Prayer over the Gifts

God of peace and justice

accept this bread and wine

as signs of our commitment.

As we seek your love and service

By  constructively and creatively

giving shape to a new earth.

Prayer after Communion

God of peace and justice

Jesus your Son has destroyed death by dying

and by rising he restored our life.

By our celebration of this Eucharist,

may we, and the whole of humanity

grow in Christ each day

through the pains and tensions of growth

and keep alive in us the firm hope

that your dawn of justice is coming

to make all things new.

Further Resources

A Prayer for Social Justice

God, we pray that Your Spirit may rule over all things.

May Your Spirit rule over kings and presidents

over prime ministers and generals

over CEOs and party bosses

over the legislature and over the bureaucrats

over all citizens.

May Your Spirit guide us on the way of peace

on the way of honest dialogue

on the way of reconciliation between peoples

on the way of disarmament and justice

on the way of freedom and life for all.

May Your Spirit lead us on the journey of

blessings shared with all,

on the journey of educational opportunity for all our children

on the adventure of research and study that helps

all men and women

on the road to meaningful work for all people

on the path of solidarity and love between all our

brothers and sisters.

May Your Spirit help us

to speak up with courage

to share what we have and what we are

to challenge the powers that be

to offer a message of liberation and life.

We make this prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen

Pax Christi USA

Small Random Acts Of Peacemaking

John van de Laar   

In a world where violence seems to rule,

we commit, O God, to small random acts of peace making.

Where people are oppressed

because they look, act, speak, think or love differently

we will affirm their freedom.

Where people are exploited

because they lack the strength or resources to refuse,

we will seek to create alternatives.

Where people are controlled

through threat and fear,

we will offer safety and hope.

Where people believe their violence and power

give them the right and ability to act as they please

we will call them to account.

Wherever violence is done to another,

through physical force, manipulation of truth,

or the subtle workings of power,

we will opt out,

we will speak out,

and we will stand out in opposition,

through small, random acts of peace making.

Some

Father Daniel Berrigan, sj

(Dedicated to all to keep at it)

Some stood up once, and sat down.
Some walked a mile, and walked away.

Some stood up twice, then sat down.
‘I’ve had it,’ they said.
Some walked two miles, then walked away.
‘It’s too much,’ they cried.

Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools,
they were taken for being taken in.

Some walked and walked and walked —
they walked the earth,
they walked the waters,
they walked the air.

‘Why do you walk?’ they were asked, and
‘Why do you stand?’

‘Because of the children,’ they said, and
‘Because of the heart,’ and
‘Because of the bread,’

‘Because the cause is
the heart’s beat, and
the children born, and
the risen bread.’

Thank you.

When I was growing up, it was 'Communists'. Now it's 'Terrorists'. So you always have to have somebody to fight and be afraid of, so the war machine can build more bombs, guns, and bullets and everything.

Cindy Sheehan

I'm going to speak to you as organizers. Listen carefully. The object is not to win. That's not the objective. The object is to do the right and good thing. If you decide not to do anything, because it's too hard or too impossible, then nothing will be done, and when you're on your death bed, you're gonna say, ‘I wish I had done something. But if you go and do the right thing NOW , and you do it long enough ‘good things will happen-something's gonna happen.’

Bill Moyers, Shades of Howard Zinn: It's Okay If It's Impossible, CommonDreams.org November 2, 2010

[In fascist regimes] The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

Dr. Lawrence Britt

When we peel away all the layers of burning flesh, all the carefully constructed fiction of human progress and benefits of science and technology, we must face a reality perhaps even more grim. There simply is no 'us versus them'. The side claiming to represent progress has done more and done worse, using as low-tech and brutal methods as any on either side of the technological and cultural divide.

Daniel Patrick Welch

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it.

Noam Chomsky

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

Marie Curie

We do not know what awaits each of us after death, but we know that we will die. Clearly it must be possible to live ethically -with a genuine concern for the happiness of other sentient beings- without presuming to know things about which we are patently ignorant. Consider it: every person you have ever met, every person you will pass in the street today, is going to die. Living long enough, each will suffer the loss of his friends and family. All are going to lose everything they love in this world. Why would one want to be anything but kind to them in the meantime?

Sam Harris

A life in prayer is a life in open hands where you are not ashamed of your weakness but realize that it is more perfect for a [human] to be led by the other than to seek to hold everything in [her] own hand.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

Henri Nouwen

People are, if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about being thought unjust.

E.B. White

Awareness requires a rupture with the world we take for granted; then old categories of experience are called into question and revised.

Shoshana Zuboff

... There is one thing you have got to learn about our movement. Three people are better than no people.

Fannie Lou Hamer

By revolution we become more ourselves, not less.

George Orwell

Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.

Richard Armour

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. 

Oscar Ameringer

The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is... the ultimate indignity to the democratic process.

Adlai Stevenson, speech, Democratic National Convention, 18 August 1956

The major western democracies are moving towards corporatism. Democracy has become a business plan, with a bottom line for every human activity, every dream, every decency, every hope. The main parliamentary parties are now devoted to the same economic policies - socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor - and the same foreign policy of servility to endless war. This is not democracy. It is to politics what McDonalds is to food.

John Pilger (05/11/2009)

This is the fundamental debate in our society: Are we a nation of citizens or a nation of consumers? Are we a democracy run by citizens, or are we a corporatocracy that holds consumers locked in dependency by virtue of their consumption?

Thom Hartmann

The Lighthouse Story: ‘A Parable of the Parish’

On a dangerous seacoast, where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a little hut, and there was only one boat. But the completely devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many were saved by this station, so it became famous.

Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its life-saving work. New boats were bought and crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Now some of the members of the life-saving station became unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the cots with beds and put better furniture in and enlarged it to a more elaborate building.

Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, who were proud of it. And they redecorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as a kind of club. Few of the members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired life-boat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club’s decorations. And there was a liturgical life boat in the room where club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet half-drowned people. They were dirty and wounded and sick and some had black skin and some yellow. The beautiful new club was left untidy, muddy and generally messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where the victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s activities as being somewhat beneath them and an unpleasant hindrance to the normal social life of club. Some of the members insisted that life saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were known as a life-saving station, but they were finally voted down. They were told that if they wanted to save all those various kinds of people with different colours of skin, strange languages and odd religions who were shipwrecked on those waters, they could start their own life-saving station down the coast. 

And so they did. And as the years went by the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club. And yet another life-saving station was founded. And history repeated itself. And if you visit that seacoast today you find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent, but most of the people drown.

Bishop Kenneth Untener, Diocese of Saginaw Michigan

Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.

Samuel Butler, Note-Books, 1912

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.

Paul McCartney

The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined.  If beef is your idea of ‘real food for real people’ you'd better live real close to a real good hospital.

Neal Barnard

Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends.

George Bernard Shaw

If you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose your lunch.

k.d. lang

Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own.

Robert Louis Stevenson

My situation is a solemn one. Life is offered to me on condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarfs in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures.

George Bernard Shaw

The Good Life: An Alternative

Luke 21: 12-19

Stand firm, don’t fear the cost,

and not a hair on your head

shall be lost.

I have not shown how to attain

to wealth or power;

not the way to court success

or reap the praise of men;

not how to manage pain

or even master Zen;

But how to be true

as I am to you.

I have not shown how to be smart

or not to get arrested;

not the way to never faint

or never be molested;

not how to win the day

or even be a saint:

But how to be true

as I am to you.

Stand firm, don’t fear the cost,

and not a hair on your head

shall be lost.

© B.D. Prewer 1993

God of harmony and diversity,

God who created the wolf and the lamb, the lion and the ox,

help us to take a long view toward the change you have promised.

Let us not be so intent on seeing the transformation of the lions

that threaten our lives and haunt our experience

that we fail to notice those who might be pinned

under our claws, those who also cry out for delivery and safety.

Amen.

Out in Scripture

Reflections on the readings

Jean Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, once wrote, ‘Hell is other people’. Some people think that ‘Hell is for other people’. Dante Alighieri, the Italian poet, exercised that kind of prerogative by identifying people he believed should be relegated to hell. Certainly, a number of artists had put the faces of popes and bishops in hell in their artworks.  When we hear today’s readings we might believe that they apply to ‘other’ people too. Certainly it is tempting but the scriptures are directing our attention elsewhere. We are called personally and as a community to look at God and take our cue from those who went before us and had learned to discern God’s presence by remembering all that God had done for them. Malachi invites us to see God in our world and our experiences: ‘Look around you! God speaks to you in everything.’ The references to destruction and disaster in Luke such as revolts, war, religious persecution, disease, famines, earthquakes, floods and storms are not a long way off but enter our homes on a regular basis with the help of modern communications. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the evil and suffering in the world as well as the grand scope and challenge of the Gospel and its vision of a restored world. But, in the midst of these two overwhelming realities is a simple, but powerful response – the contribution that is made by a life of daily discipline and faithfulness to what is right. Such small contributions, when put together, make a significant difference in the big scheme of things.

Malachi and Luke’s Gospel speak directly about this, and of how God protects God’s faithful ones through such turbulent times; that of restoration and peace. God is active in human affairs: though evil and strife exist in the world, and people who live according God’s alternative values are misunderstood and persecuted, God’s reign continues to work, and to transform the world and its people into loving, peaceful and just men and women. It seems less like a war between good and evil but a movement from chaos and immaturity into beauty, creativity and maturity in God’s gracious, compassionate purposes – and thus Jesus calls us away from fear and to place our trust in the heart of a God of love. ‘Do not be afraid’ because it is the fear that paralyses that leads to failure in compassion, welcome and openness. Seeing our world and others through the prism or lens of God’s love enables us to look at others with compassion, appreciation and respect.

Given this perspective, we cannot ignore how again in recent times, ‘marginal’ people, poor people, vulnerable people have endured another disastrous hurricane called Matthew. Like famine, poverty, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and fires are labeled as ‘acts of God’. Who could not have been affected by the recent disaster again in Haiti and its aftermath? Who cannot be indifferent to the gut wrenching personal tragedy of Typhon Matthew in the Philippines and other Pacific nations with the loss of life and devastation? Who cannot be indifference to and sympathise with parents frantically seeking their children or children seeking their parents? Haiti is still reeling from a disastrous earthquake about three years ago, followed by cholera and other diseases brought in by UN troops who were meant to render assistance. When evangelical pastors in the US blamed the Haitian people for the earthquake at the time for having made a ‘pact with the devil’, one might ask who is really doing the cursing. The curse came when foreign powers such as France and the USA never allowed the people to be free and independent. It was their punishment for having ousted their French masters. The control by France and later the USA contributed to the poverty and lack of infrastructure making disproportion destruction inevitable in time of disaster.

Insurance companies and media use the term ‘acts of God’ when referring to natural disasters. The ‘acts of God’ are made visible, not in the disaster, but how God intervenes in human affairs in the way that shelter is given to homeless or orphaned children; food and drink is shared; aid donated and distributed; when neighbors and rescuers use their bare hands to dig through rubble hoping to find people alive or find the dead; when people, e.g., climate change scientists, eco-justice activists, and concerned people stand in solidarity with such people and raise their voices against those who are blind to the causes of such catastrophes.  God is certainly present in the disasters we experience or hear about, not in punishment but in the good done, the compassion shown, the lives risked, the assistance offered, the care taken; the voices raised and strong calls to be just and respect human dignity.

In the gospel, Jesus appears to be talking about a future event (the Temple had already been destroyed decades earlier), he is actually talking about the hope necessary to work towards building a new world based on justice and peace. This future does not come easily because God calls for solidarity and identification with people who might suffer from the very structures that often give us comfort and apparent safety.

Whenever people turn to futuristic predictions for the world, it is often at the expense of justice making and peacemaking. Use of such texts as we today can be used to bludgeon or frighten people into submission or instill fear that might bring about conversion and repentance; to take care of oneself and one’s own without looking beyond and stretching our relationships. Politicians can be very clever at getting people to be so concerned about themselves to the detriment of others and the future of others.

Today’s readings testify to God’s investment in creating a new world – not destroying it. We also see people who keep on struggling and enduring with God’s persistent promise and relentless presence. These passages should cause us to long for — and call us to work for — a future that is almost beyond our imagination. We must look up and keep on working. It is not over until it is over; the end is not yet here. Certainly, destruction of some kind is in the offing. Whatever our views about global warming, we have to acknowledge that the human footprint has had a massively destructive effect on ecosystems especially in the last two centuries. Will we even have to pay for the collective ‘sinfulness’ of those in the past as the peoples of the Pacific, as well as Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam, and other low-lying nations in Asia and parts of Australia are already suffering. Maybe we will have to pay some of the price! Maybe it will be our children or grandchildren! Now more and more countries are scrambling to acquire nuclear weapons again. Some countries call for the abolition of nuclear weapons whilst others keep their own with the threat always to use them. We see that the violence and counter violence in the so-called ‘war on terror’ does not bring about peace but more enemies and more destruction to the lives of people and to the planet. ‘War cannot end war’ (Cardinal Peter Turkson)

Luke indicates how an edifice or an institution will be toppled, thrown down or thrown away. Nothing lasts forever, whether it was the Temple referred to in the gospel, or the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, or idyllic holiday resorts in southeast Asia. Luke, however, is pointing to the possibility for change in traditions, edifices, institutions or empires. The good news is that even religious institutions and traditions are subject to critique and transformation, and we can participate in — and be witnesses to — positive as well as negative changes. Father Carroll Stuhlmueller remarked, ‘When prophecy dies out, apocalyptic comes in,’ that is, when the emphasis was placed on the apocalyptic books such as Daniel rather than on the prophets, people were more comfortable about focusing on future divine reward and punishment rather than confronting present day-by-day problems in the community.

The promises of positive change, as people in the peace and justice movements know, are to be trusted in and worked for, but their realisation may take a long time or occur only across generations. Again, faith involves not only a vision, but patience and endurance.

Justice will come only in partnership with justice for others. Any groups that suffers any kind of injustice must also be challenged to be in solidarity with other groups that are marginalised: the poor, women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights, people who are unemployed, gay and lesbian people, people in prison, refugees around the world, people living with mental illness and the homeless.

Paul (2Thess. 3:13) calls us ‘not be weary in doing what is right’. Whenever Christ’s Second Coming is to eventuate, we have a lot of work to do in the meantime. And the work of peace with justice always involves ‘toiling and laboring’ with others rather than living apart from or dominating them. A fascination with the end time is paralyzing and at the expense of active involvement in the present. It is difficult for many people to live lives of faith in the present. It can seem easier or more comfortable to live in the past or in the future. The ‘good old days’ are over and the way people responded in faith is history. The other alternative is to push everything into a future in which all the ‘ifs’ of this world will be turned into certainties. A just and peaceful future requires us to see both our pains and our privileges, and to become fully identified with those whom we may see as a lesser ‘other’. We must be willing to give up our privileges for the privilege of relationship.

If we are to take the Gospel call to justice seriously, the big global injustices that continue to harm people and our environment across the globe cannot be ignored. There are people and organisations that tackle these issues broadly and with great influence and reach. As followers of Christ we do well to support them but it is important that we recognise the power of our daily decisions and actions to bring about significant change. When we commit to the discipline of conscious consumerism we contribute significantly to justice in the world. When we eat mindfully and buy food that is farmed and transported ethically and with care for the environment, we make a significant contribution to justice in the world. When we treat our neighbours respectfully, regardless of religion, ethnicity or immigration status, we contribute to justice in the world. When we joyfully, honestly and generously contribute our share to society through charitable giving and paying taxes, we contribute to justice in the world. When we love even those who might persecute or attack us, and when we work towards understanding and peace with our enemies, we contribute to justice in the world. These ordinary actions are what Paul calls ‘doing what is right’, and are manifestations of God’s peaceful reign.

As important as attending to the ‘big issues’ of justice in our world are, justice also needs to be worked out right on our own doorstep. We cannot do everything but everyone can do something. I have sat on committees dedicated to fighting injustice ‘out there’ that members of the committee are not always treated with respect or even greeting not to mention ignoring battered women, neglected children, the abusive leaders and the exploitative practices and abuse of power in our own churches. So in working for justice in the world and contributing to the big issues, we must not forget the small, daily disciplines of care and nurture that ensure that together we become more whole, peaceful and compassionate human beings.

Central to the Book of Malachi is the question: ‘Where is the God of justice?’ On this second last Sunday of the liturgical year, we are reminded that for every ending there is another beginning. It will be symbolised with the lighting of the first Advent candle. We know from the mouth of Jesus is that the essence of what is most human, most just, will endure in fresh manifestations of God’s presence. We are being challenged to reflect and tend to the life of God within us. Is it vibrant and growing? Or, is it dormant and not guiding our daily lives?

DOCTOR4S4REFUGEES: RALLIES

Sydney Saturday November 5^th (MAIN RALLY) 1pm-3pm. Hyde park. Multiple D4R speakers + other high profile doctors. Meet at D4R banner at 12:45pm at Archibald fountain. Contact : David 0476164969  FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1010055435759097/).

Melbourne Saturday November 5^th RAC Solidarity Rally. 1-4pm. Dr Umber Rind speaking. Meet 12.30 State Library corner Swanson and Latrobe at D4R banner. Contact: Umber 0402237860. (FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1125145264219257/).

Newcastle Saturday November 5th 2pm.Meet outside Newcastle town hall at 1:45pm. Contact: Kate 0431839319. (FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1122200587873992/).

Cairns Saturday Nov 5 10AM. Dept of Immigration and Border Protection office at 85 Spence St meet at 10am. March at 10.30am via Shields St to the Esplanade where there will be speakers. Contact: Carla 0488760854. (FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1822364398043462/).

Hobart Saturday Nov 5. 0900-1000. Meet at Parliament Lawns at 0900. Contact: Madelaine 0488123775. (FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1134129846670683/).

Claude Mostowik MSC
 

Thirty Second Sunday of the Year

November 6^th 2016

Day of Jubilee for Prisoners

designated by Pope Francis to conclude the Year of Mercy

Suggested formula for recognition of indigenous people and their land.

We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we stand. We pay our respects to them and for their care of the land.

May we walk gently on this land.

Or

We acknowledge the traditional custodians and occupiers of the land where we are now gathered, (N…. ) and recognise that it continues to be sacred to them.

We hail them: as guardians of the earth and of all things that grow and breed in the soil; as trustees of the waters – [the seas, the streams and rivers, the ponds and the lakes] - and the rich variety of life in those waters.

We thank them for passing this heritage to every people since the Dreamtime.

We acknowledge the wrongs done to them by newcomers to this land and we seek to be partners with them in righting these wrongs and in living together in peace and harmony.

Readings

First Reading  2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14

Responsorial Psalm Ps 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15

R. (15b) Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Second Reading  2 Thessalonians 2: 16- 3:5

Gospel Luke 20:27-38 or Lk 20:27, 34-38

Penitential Rite

• Christ Jesus, you have loved us and given us everlasting hope. Jesus, have mercy.
• Christ Jesus, you have encouraged and strengthened us in every good deed and word. Christ, have mercy.
• Christ Jesus, you have called us to people of the resurrection, who raise up the downcast and downtrodden. Jesus, have mercy.

Opening Prayer

God of all the living,

in the resurrection of Jesus

you have given us the life

which even death cannot destroy.

Remember your unshakeable promise

and strengthen us to live in this world

as your new creation.

Prayer over the Gifts

God of all the living,

we come before you with the gifts of

bread and wine which become for us food and drink,

the symbols of life and joy.

May we live that life and joy for you and one another.

Prayer after Communion

God of all the living,

through this celebration of the body and blood of Jesus

we are renewed by your love.

Confirm in us that life is meaningful and worthwhile

through the hope we give to others.

General Intercessions

Introduction: As people of hope we pray to God, who is God of the living – not of the dead. We pray in response: God of life, hear our prayer.

1.       As people of the resurrection, we pray that God will bless all relationships in the church and in our communities that are faithful, loving and life-giving. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

2.      As people of the resurrection, we pray that we may continue to struggle against all forms of dehumanisation – in the workplace, in the suppression of freedom and in whatever creates fear in others. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

3.      As people of the resurrection, may we work with others to put an end to war and violence, seek a world where everyone has sufficient food to eat and access to education, where asylum seekers and people who are homeless are cared for and Christians speak up for justice for everyone. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

4.      As people of the resurrection, our minds and hearts turn again to the many people who walk this earth seeking a safe, secure and humane way of life, especially those whose hopes for a better future cause them to take extreme risks to achieve their hopes and dreams. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer

5. As people of the resurrection, we remember our earth, and pray for the wisdom and creativity to address the damage we do each day as well as the assaults on the environment by armed conflict. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

6.      As people of the resurrection, we pray that we may recognise that every person is created in God’s image and likeness with dignity, value and worth regardless of race, gender and class. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

7.      As people of the resurrection, we pray that we may recognise that salvation is found in Jesus through being part of a new humanity, a new community.  We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

8.      As people of the resurrection, we remember the 60 ethnic Rohingya fleeing persecution and violence in western Myanmar feared dead recently after their boat capsized in the Bay of Bengal. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

9.      As people of the resurrection, we remember the people in the Philippines whose lives have been affected by various disasters this year, especially the people of  Bohol in the central Philippines after enduring a massive earthquake recently.  We pray: God of life, hear our prayer

10.   As people of the resurrection, we pray that we may remember all the dead, known and unknown to us, and that the good that they have done may inspire us in our lives and in our hope. We pray: God of life, hear our prayer.

Concluding Prayer: Loving and faithful God, hear the prayers of your people. May we be confident in your care for us and each moment as people who believe in your promises.

Prayer of the Faithful                    (adapted for gender sensitivity)

Dedicated to Prisoners in the Year of Mercy - Holy Father’s Jubilee for Prisoners, 6 November 2016

Introduction: As we call to mind the need for compassion and care for those in prison in Australia, we offer our prayer to God.

• We pray for our Church leaders who in following Christ's example, may be compassionate, welcoming, and hospitable to prisoners, bringing them comfort and assurance. (Pause) Hear us, O God.
• We pray for all our political leaders, especially those responsible for prisoners and detainees; May they clearly see their needs and provide for those needs with justice and compassion. (Pause) Hear us, O God.
• We pray for all who are in prison or detention: that even though surrounded by bars and many restrictions, they receive your grace to know and understand true freedom of spirit. (Pause) Hear us, O God..
• We pray for all who are in prison or detention: May they understand that they are loved, and on release, find a fulfilling and rewarding life, helped by family, friends and the community. (Pause) Hear us, O God.
• We pray for the families of prisoners: that they have the strength, patience and care to support their loved ones while in prison, and one day to receive them back into their lives and their homes with love and forgiveness. (Pause) Hear us, O God.
• We pray for those who work in the prison system, particularly chaplains and pastoral visitors. May they have the clarity of vision and purpose to always put the needs of prisoners first. (Pause) Hear us, O God.
• We especially pray for those held in juvenile detention: May they experience guidance and loving correction through the care and support of those who are responsible for their well-being. (Pause) Hear us, O God.
• We pray for ourselves that we don't forget those who are shut away from us and that we always remain aware of our own weakness and be thankful for the guidance and protection we have received. (Pause) Hear us, O God.
• We pray for the victims of crime that through a spirit of forgiveness, they will find healing and comfort in their distress. (Pause) Hear us, O God.

Conclusion: Loving God, your own Son was a prisoner even in his innocence. Grant these prayers through your divine mercy and compassion as we present them in faith to you in the power of the Spirit and the name of Jesus.

Prayer for Prisoners:

God, Our Creator,

We acknowledge our ancestors

and original owners of this land.

Maker and Spirit of earth and all creation

let your love possess our land

and may we share in faith and friendship

and all your gifts.

We pray for all those in our prisons

and those, who through sickness, addictions and other reasons

live in their personal prisons.

We remember and pray for those

who seek to change difficult life stories.

We remember and pray

for the victims of crime on the outside.

We remember and pray

for the countless victims of crime on the inside.

We remember and pray for

the whole criminal justice system

and its processes.

Keep all of us ever mindful of your great love,

so that we may always remember you

as a God of Mercy and forgiveness.

Amen.

Remembering Victims of Natural Disaster

Download a PDF of the prayer

Good and Gracious God, we come to you to pray for the victims of Hurricane Matthew. Our hearts are heavy with sorrow for their losses of life, shelter, employment and hope. Quiet our minds and voices so that we may be able to hear, speak and do your will, but only after we have lifted these victims up in prayer.

Reading 1:
‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.’ 2 Chronicles 20:9

Reading 2:
‘Almighty God, we recognize how small we are, and how powerless in the face of nature when its full power is unleashed. Therefore, open our hearts in prayer and our hands in generosity, so that our words may bring comfort and our gifts bring aid. Be with us now and with all humanity as we strive to mend what has been injured and rebuild what has been destroyed.’

- Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi, British Commonwealth

‘Surely one does not turn against the needy, when in disaster they cry for help.’
- Job 30:24

Prayer:

For those who must be evacuated and relocated. Let us cry for help.

For those who are already vulnerable, who are usually the most affected by any disaster. Let us cry for help.

For those thirsting for drink, hungering for food, seeking shelter and in need of medical care. Let us cry for help.

For those relying on governments and relief agencies to provide assistance and ensure their basic rights. Let us cry for help.

We turn to You, O God, and cry for those in the midst of this disaster. We ask all this in Your Name. Amen.

From Darkness to Light - A Prayer In a Time of Disaster

» Download the Word version

Loving God,

At the beginning of Creation, You calmed the chaos of the world. Be present now to those whose lives are suddenly filled with chaos. Grant them the grace of calm in the midst of confusion. We pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear our prayer.

You have always shown us the way from darkness into the light. For those struggling now to see the light, we ask that You shine it a bit brighter in our world. Grant us all the grace to see a way forward through the present darkness. We pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Throughout history You have raised up leaders to care for your people. May those who are called upon to lead now in this time of despair be given the grace to do so with conviction and compassion. We pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear our prayer.

You are truly a God of abundance. Open our eyes so that we may see how our ministries can use the abundance with which we have been blessed to help those in need. Grant us the grace to move with humility and prudence in all that we do. We pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear our prayer.

You are also a God of wonders. We have often struggled to imagine the breadth and depth of what is possible with You at our side. Grant us all – those directly affected and those holding them in prayer – the grace of creativity in our response to this event. We pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear our prayer.

The Psalmist sings, ‘Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.’ Let it also be our song this day. May we, and those we pray for, truly hope in the Lord. And may that hope give us all the strength and heart we need to move from darkness into light.

Amen.

Further Resources

When people decry civilian deaths caused by the U.S government, they're aiding propaganda efforts. In sharp contrast, when civilian deaths are caused by bombers who hate America, the perpetrators are evil and those deaths are tragedies. When they put bombs in cars and kill people, they're uncivilized killers. When we put bombs on missiles and kill people, we're upholding civilized values. When they kill, they're terrorists. When we kill, we're striking against terror.

Norman Solomon

The more there are suffering, then, the more natural their sufferings appear. Who wants to prevent the fishes in the sea from getting wet? And the suffering themselves share this callousness towards themselves and are lacking in kindness toward themselves. It is terrible that human beings so easily put up with existing conditions, not only with the sufferings of strangers but also with their own. All those who have thought about the bad state of things refuse to appeal to the compassion of one group of people for another. But the compassion of the oppressed for the oppressed is indispensable. It is the world's one hope.

Bertolt Brecht

We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply our cares. We increase our possessions only to the enlargement of our anxieties.

Anna C. Brackett, The Technique of Rest

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.

Elie Wiesel

Humor and laughter are not necessarily the same thing. Humor permits us to see into life from a fresh and gracious perspective. We learn to take ourselves more lightly in the presence of good humor. Humor gives us the strength to bear what cannot be changed, and the sight to see the human under the pompous.

Joan Chittister

Live like Jesus did, and the world will listen.’

Mahatma Gandhi

Activism is my rent for living on this planet.

Alice Walker

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrations and revolutionists

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Movements are like this. They are grassroots, often underground, and they start with crazy people who are willing to believe in the impossible. Movements never start in corporate offices with executives drawing up a master plan...if we truly want to see the world changed, we must begin as a band of madmen, welcoming other crazy people who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

Neil Cole

When lies abound, telling the truth is an act of revolution

Jonathan Van Voorhees (01/09/2009)

A man with a briefcase can steal more money than any man with a gun.

Don Henley (1989)

He who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a criminal

Bertolt Brecht

When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.

Thomas Paine

We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it

Noam Chomsky

When people decry civilian deaths caused by the U.S government, they're aiding propaganda efforts. In sharp contrast, when civilian deaths are caused by bombers who hate America, the perpetrators are evil and those deaths are tragedies. When they put bombs in cars and kill people, they're uncivilized killers. When we put bombs on missiles and kill people, we're upholding civilized values. When they kill, they're terrorists. When we kill, we're striking against terror

Norman Solomon

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead, American Anthropologist

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it.

Noam Chomsky

[In] Democratic societies ... the state can't control behavior by force. It can to some extent, but it's much more limited in its capacity to control by force. Therefore, it has to control what you think. ... One of the ways you control what people think is by creating the illusion that there's a debate going on, but making sure that that debate stays within very narrow margins. Namely, you have to make sure that both sides in the debate accept certain assumptions, and those assumptions turn out to be the propaganda system. As long as everyone accepts the propaganda system, then you can have a debate.

Noam Chomsky (24/10/1986)

The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover. –

Al Franken

There is a growing awareness of the sublime dignity of human persons, who stand above all things and whose rights and duties are universal and inviolable. They ought, therefore, to have ready access to all that is necessary for living a genuinely human life: for example, food, clothing, housing, ... the right to education, and work.

Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World, #26

The glory of God is a human person fully alive. A human person fully alive is the glory of God.

Saint Irenaeus

Because God is the creator, redeemer, lover of the world, God’s own honor is at stake in human happiness. Wherever human beings are violated, diminished, or have their life drained away, God’s glory is dimmed and dishonored. Wherever human beings are quickened to fuller and richer life, God’s glory is enhanced. A community of justice and peace (thriving among human beings) and God’s glory increase in direct and not inverse proportion.

Elizabeth Johnson CSJ, She Who Is,

…..  we offer once again a simple image - a table. Who has a place at the table of life? ….  How can we secure a place at the table for the hungry and those who lack health care in our own land and around the world? Where is the place at the table for those in our world who lack the freedom to practice their faith or stand up for what they believe? How do we ensure that families in our inner cities and rural communities, in barrios in Latin America and villages in Africa and Asia have a place at the table-enough to eat, decent work and wages, education for their children, adequate health care and housing, and most of all, hope for the future? We remember especially the people who are now missing at the table of life - those lost in the terror of September 11, in the service of our nation, and in the bloody conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. A table is also a place where important decisions are made in our communities, nation, and world. How can the poorest people on Earth and those who are vulnerable in our land, including immigrants and those who suffer discrimination, have a real place at the tables where policies and priorities are set?

US Bishops, Faithful Citizenship

Catholic Social Teaching affirms the dignity of every human person:

‘Every human person is created in the image and likeness of God and has an inviolable dignity, value, and worth, regardless of race, gender, class, or other human characteristics.’

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

Haile Selassie

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again.  And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?

We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?

You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.

Pablo Casals (1876-1973), Spanish Cellist

Litany of Thanksgiving to those who affirm our universal human dignity

Response to each part of the litany can be a simple ‘pray for us’’ or ‘Grant us peace and justice’ One can also add local people in this litany.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta, who worked with the poorest of the poor,

Father Flanagan, who founded Boy’s Town,

Francis of Assisi, who respected all creation and even kissed the leper,

Dorothy Day, who spent her life in Housing of Hospitality,

Francis Xavier, who journeyed all over Asia to share the vision,

Peter Claver, who met the slaves who came to America,

Martin Luther King, who marched for the rights of all,

Rosa Parks, who refused to sit in the back of the bus,

Jean Vanier, who calls people into community,

Those who feed the hungry

Those who shelter the homeless

Those who do the works of mercy

Those who speak out for justice

Those who take time with the elderly

Those who work with children

Those who journey with the disabled

Those who share the vulnerability

Those who listen to others in their need

Those who proclaim equality for all

Center of Concern

I suffer I more from the humiliations inflicted by my country than from those inflicted on her.

Simone Weil, Searching for God

O God, I thank You for this day of life

for eyes to see the sky

for ears to hear the birds

for feet to walk amidst the trees

for hands to pick the flowers from the earth

for a sense of smell to breathe in the sweet

perfumes of nature

for a mind to think about and appreciate

the magic of everyday miracles

for a spirit to swell in joy at Your mighty presence

everywhere.

Marian Wright Edelman, Founder of the Children's Defense Fund

The Dead Don’t Cling

‘Those who attain the resurrection do not marry or are given in marriage’.

The dead don’t cling

                to less than perfect joys,

or bind themselves

                to vows that might disable.

They don’t seek love

                that’s limited by years

and meet no more

                at just one kitchen table.

The dead don’t cling

                to loving that excludes,

or seek one soul

                to be the only friend.

They now belong

                to a much larger whole,

and love the One

                who links the one to all.

 ©  B.D. Prewer 1993

All labor that uplifts humanity

has  dignity and importance

and should be undertaken

with painstaking excellence.

Dr. Martin Luther King,

Mirror, mirror on the wall, may I look with love on all.

Edward M. Hays, Holy Fools and Mad Hatters

In Germany they came first for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), German Protestant Clergyman 

For if every [man] were to regard the persons of others as [his] own person, who would inflict pain and injury on others? If they regarded the homes of others as their own homes, would they rob the homes of others? Thus in that case there would be no brigands and robbers. If the princes regarded other countries as their own, who would wage war on other countries? This in that case there would be no more war.

Hillel, first century A.D. rabbi

A Prayer for the World

Let the rain come and wash away

the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds

held and nurtured over generations.

Let the rain wash away the memory

of the hurt, the neglect.

Then let the sun come out and

fill the sky with rainbows.

Let the warmth of the Sun heal us

wherever we are broken.

Let it burn away the fog so that

we can see beyond labels,

beyond accents, gender, or skin color.

Let the warmth and brightness

of the Sun melt our selfishness.

So that we can share the joys and

feel the sorrows of our neighbors.

And let the light of the Sun

be so strong that we will see all

people as our neighbors.

Let the Earth, nourished by rain,

bring forth flowers

to surround us with beauty.

And let the mountains teach our hearts

to reach upward to heaven.

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner

Protest that endures...is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one's own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.

Wendell Berry

War is like a big machine that no one really knows how to run and when it gets out of control it ends up destroying the things you thought you were fighting for, and a lot of other things you kinda forgot you had.

Anonymous

I shall pass through this world but once.

Any good, therefore, that I can show to any human being,

let me do it now.

Let me not defer nor neglect it,

for I shall not pass this way again.

Stephen Grellet, 1773-1855,French-born Quaker Minister

We will meet again my friend,

A hundred years from today

Far away from where we lived

And where we used to play.

We will know each others' eyes

And wonder where we met

Your laugh will sound familiar

Your heart, I won't forget.

We will meet, I'm sure of this,

But let's not wait till then...

Let's take a walk beneath the stars

And share 'this' world again.

‘Let's Not Wait’

Simone Weil, Searching for God

Genuine forgiveness is not an easily cultivated art. Especially when we have been gravely wounded by another person, our basic human dignity affronted, it is no simple task to forgive. Nor should it be done lightly. For we need also to recognize and affirm the anger, the pain, the betrayal, or the sense of injustice that we feel when genuinely hurt.

Wendy M. Wright, The Rising

Unfortunately, though we often talk about forgiveness within the church, very often by the way we deal with things—attempting to suppress conflict, not making judgments, keeping things secret, not enforcing the ethical conditions we talk about, not holding the powerful accountable—we actually create a situation that stops people from being able to forgive.

Peter Horsfield, Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Situations of Sexual Assault

The Life That Ignores Limits 

John van de Laar 

It hides in every corner,

it crosses every boundary;

Your life, O God, ignores limits.

We know it in the safe ones we love and enjoy;

but, if we look, it appears in those who are different,

challenging,

frightening,

unknown,

strange;

Your life, O God, ignores limits.

It's easy to see in those who are healthy and comfortable;

vibrant, joyful and privileged to have access

to the wonder-inspiring experiences that life offers;

but, if we look, it appears in those who seem lost to life,

poor and weak,

sick and broken and unable to move

beyond their limited horizons;

Your life, O God, ignores limits.

And so we celebrate your life, wherever it may be found,

and we commit ourselves to be life-seekers,

discerning and acknowledging life

in every person, every moment and every space.

God of steadfast compassion and liberating transformation,

With wisdom to accept

the past and the courage to work for the future,

grant us today compassion for those who reject transformation,

and patience for those who are not ready to face and embrace change.

Challenge us to develop integrity in all of our relations

until your presence and love may be manifested

across barriers of time and difference.

Amen

OutinScripture

Some reflections on the readings………

Luke’s gospel contains a series of encounter between Jesus and those who oppose him. In today’s gospel, the encounter begins with a question is about ‘resurrection.’ For the ‘Sadducees’ there can be no resurrection, but Jesus response is not about resurrection so much as to who we as ‘children of the resurrection’ – that we are participating here and now in an alternative way of living this life, and that God is a God of the living. Jesus turns the tables on his questions by implicating asking if they are ‘dead’ or ‘alive’. To God, ‘all are alive.’

Jesus confrontation with the Sadducees about life after death, gives him the opening to deal with the implicit violence perpetrated against the woman in the story. She is nothing but a servant and not having any children is not even that to her dead husbands.

We know various examples of stories depicting violence against women in the Bible from the rapes of Tamar and Dinah to the abandonment of Hagar with her child in the desert. In today’s gospel there is the violence of anonymity, as the woman is brought forward as a trump card against eternal life in an attempt to entrap Jesus in a debate about the preposterous notion of resurrection. As a barren woman, she is held up as a conundrum in an argument having been married to seven brothers and then widowed without children. There is the shame and embarrassment at being exposed as barren, and worthless, seven times over.

Is this not the ‘game’ played by the church when it held up women solely as child bearers and unable to imagine any other roles for them. Unlike some of the prophets, Jesus is not seen making a barren woman fertile and never praised childbearing or motherhood. He imagined other roles for women: ‘Mary has chosen the good portion and it will not be taken away from her’ when she chose to sit among the disciples and learn, rather than work in the kitchen.  And in the discussion with the Sadducees over the barren woman, Jesus reveals that in the resurrection, life is not about servitude (for women), or being owned or possessed by another, but being a child of God. Jesus repeatedly made clear that he embraces barren women, promiscuous women, fallen women, prostitutes – women who suffer social stigma still, and women who are not defined by belonging to a husband.. ‘All who hear my words and do them are my family.’ There is no family when only the males are the subjects of history, and the woman an object - ‘the wife.’ There is no family when the agenda is offspring for a male husband and father with a concern to maintain a patriarchal design. There is no family when dominant males have their names passed on to children, and who only have significance when the father’s name and memory is bestowed upon them. Jesus shifted the discussion by countering the view that a woman can be shunted around carrying the burden of patriarchal luggage. We are children of the Resurrection, not heirs of a defunct patriarchy. The resurrected life is not giving and taking in marriage, but about ‘being alive’ and doing life differently. What we do does matter. Every act of mercy, compassion and solidarity with the most vulnerable manifest God’s life. What we do is seen through the lens of God’s reign. It is about a long haul rather than immediate outcomes. It takes courage and faith to live an alternative set of values and practices from the people around us as we strive for a better world even though we may never see the final outcome of justice and peace. Former playwright and Czech president, the late Vaclav Havel said that ‘Hope …….is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.’ Thomas Merton, writing to a friend said ‘Do not depend on the hope of results . . .you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. . . .you gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people . . . .In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.’ Whilst we are together and feel some others supporting, perseverance is possible. Irrespective of violence and hard times, joy is still available, not from the circumstances, but from our relationships. We don't need specific outcomes. We need each other.

The Sadducees, wanted to keep their privileges by collaborating with the Romans and Jesus’ teaching threatened that. They needed to demonise him: show him to be crazy, irrelevant, a threat to authority and disrespectful of Moses’ teachings and traditions.  If the ordinary people had their eyes opened and could be excited by the possibility of social change and a new quality of life then their powerful influence would be threatened.

A selective reading of the scriptures always provide excuses from living the ‘resurrection’ now by heeding the prophetic call to justice, to hospitality, to engaging effectively with people living at the margins. We do not have to wait for death to experience heaven and hell. They begin each day by our choices either to love others or to isolate ourselves. Material comfort can numb our consciences and blind us to ‘Lazarus at the gate’ or those at the walls created by our Border Force. They also cut us off from the real sources of life: telling the truth, giving and receiving mercy and sharing our joys and needs with others. Jesus’ confrontation with the Sadducees as with other power groups is really an attempt to liberate them from assumptions that imprisoned them. They were becoming dead men instead of being open to the living God as revealed by Jesus.

‘They sense, as Jesus surely knows that resurrection is a dangerous business. It is less about a dead person coming to life but the belief in God’s power for life that moves into all our arrangements, shatters all our categories by which we manage, control and administer. It speaks about God’s will for new life working where we thought our tired deathliness would prevail.  And the Sadducees please; Please tell us that such life will not come among us.’ (Walter Brueggemann, The Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power and Weakness Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1996, pp. 146-147)

Resurrection is about doing life differently for ourselves and for others. Its power is utterly new and overwhelmingly transforming. It is a about committing ourselves to God and living in such a way that this relationship surpasses any other relationship and infuses every relationship that we have. ‘God is not God of the dead but of the living’. This is the central focus and challenge of the Gospel – the call to peace, to justice. Resurrection is more than a feel-good belief about seeing loved ones again.  A biblical sense of the resurrection of the dead should focus on the indomitable power and faithfulness of God in the face of every negation, including death. Resurrection is to be lived now. It involves justice. It involves action to overcome the oppressive forces and structures in society. It means that that our eyes are opened, to have our hearts broken open to allow in our sisters and brothers, particularly the poor and neglected, the anonymous and voiceless ones.

Engagement in our world in the areas of human rights, peace with justice, ending hunger, freedom for refugees, equality for minorities, respect for people who are from different ethnic or religious backgrounds flows from the belief that God is God of the living and not of the dead. This God is manifested in people who have engaged in faithful actions for a just, loving, compassionate and sustainable world. And we recall, that ‘our faith must make it harder, not easier, to ignore the plight of our sisters and brothers’ (Robin Meyers, Underground Church)

Jesus’ vision is of a new community, a new humanity and a new way of relating.  We see this confirmed in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians where God intends the liberation of the whole human community, all of Creation in a new Peace, SHALOM. The woman in the story is not going to be anybody’s wife where she will be owned or possessed. God is doing things differently. In whatever change or loss we experience we must believe, as did Job, that ‘my Redeemer lives’. We must not let our pain blind us to the pain of others. We need to overcome the tendency to see ourselves as exception and seeing ourselves as the only victim. It is easy to do. We might see it quicker in others than in ourselves.

As we ponder Jesus’ confrontation with the Sadducees regarding life, we must ask ourselves, ‘Do I believe in resurrection?’ ‘Do I really believe in resurrection?’ Our response points to how we live today. It is not so much answered intellectually as in the ordering of our loves. Who or what is our true love? Do we find our loves fulfilled in the living God or in the promises of this world?  Does this include those that others shun? Vilify? Demonise? Neglect? So, as we have focused this year on effectively engaging in our world, we show by our relationships, our solidarity, our respect that God is God of the living and not of the dead; the God of living people who continually engage in faithful actions for a just, loving, compassion and sustainable world.

Thirty First Sunday of the Year 

October 30, 2016

Suggested formula for recognition of indigenous people and their land.

We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we stand. We pay our respects to them and for their care of the land.

May we walk gently on this land.

or

We acknowledge the traditional custodians and occupiers of the land where we are now gathered, (N…. ) and recognise that it continues to be sacred to them.

We hail them: as guardians of the earth and of all things that grow and breed in the soil; as trustees of the waters – [the seas, the streams and rivers, the ponds and the lakes] - and the rich variety of life in those waters.

We thank them for passing this heritage to every people since the Dreamtime.

We acknowledge the wrongs done to them by newcomers to this land and we seek to be partners with them in righting these wrongs and in living together in peace and harmony.

The reading from Wisdom adds much to our notion of God, offering us additional ways of thinking about God that are related to God's creative power,

Readings

First Reading: Wisdom 11:22-12:2

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13, 14 Response: I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.

Second Reading:2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2

Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

Penitential Rite

• God of Jesus, you have mercy and compassion on all. Jesus, have mercy.
• God of Jesus, you love all things that exist and loathe nothing that you have made. Christ, have mercy.
• God of Jesus, your imperishable spirit is in all things. Jesus, have mercy.

Opening Prayer

Just and merciful God,

you reside in every house

and you are the delight of every heart.

Come into our midst today,

change our lives and minds

as you speak your word

and address our hunger.

May we see you clearly

as we encounter our sisters and brothers

and give justice and mercy a place in our lives.

Prayer over the Gifts

Just and merciful God,

Jesus your Son did not shun or condemn

outcasts and sinners.

As Jesus comes into our presence

through this bread and wine

may we be strengthened

to courageously walk in his footsteps

by standing with the poor, the unwanted, the dismissed.

Prayer after Communion

Just and merciful God,

Jesus has given himself to us

in his body and blood.

May we hear the call

to come down from our trees

to the dusty streets so that

we hear and understand

the silent cry of people in our world.

General Intercessions

Introduction: Let us pray with trust to God who is kind and full of compassion. We pray in response: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God of peace: we remember the people of Aleppo, Mosul, Kirkuk, Sana all who are suffering destruction and death and may we hear their cries for peace and security: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God of all creation: may we recognise your presence in all of creation but also our part in destroying it and the cause of pain and suffering to people of the Philippines who suffer the effects of hurricanes, cyclones and the peoples of the Pacific Island nations threatended by rising waters: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God is merciful to all: may we recognise God’s imperishable Spirit in all whom we encounter. We pray: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God hears the cry of the poor and the stranger: may we open our eyes and our hearts to all who call us for asylum, justice and a human standard of living, We pray: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God is powerful in showing mercy and compassion: may we accept this power as grace to touch and heal rather than being a source of fear and domination. We pray: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God of the outcasts of the world: may we follow Jesus who crossed social divides in order to heal, restore and reconcile, cast aside our fears of those who are different from us them. We pray: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God loves every living being: may we see and acknowledge each person and all of creation as God’s work of art. Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God loves life: may we take time to rest in God and for our own nourishment by enjoying and appreciating our relationships. We pray: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God raises all who are bowed down: may we act with courage and overcome the urge to be spectators in the face of injustice and exploitation. We pray: Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• God is life for all those who have died and those who have been tortured for their commitment to peace and democracy in their own lands: may their efforts be the building-bricks for a new people born of respect and dignity. Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• We pray for the peoples of West Papua that they may find respect for their humanity and that they will be finally be governed for their own good rather than being dominated by violent and oppressive forces. Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

• We pray with all people who strive to build a better and more humane society that they will have the strength to continue to live by their hope for freedom. Give us a new heart, Merciful God.

Concluding Prayer: Merciful God, you call us to engage in the realities of other peoples’ lives. Help us to be faithful to your call.

Prayer for the People of West Papua

We see them walking, walking.

Sorrow in one hand, hope in the other.

May we walk with them in spirit,

May we also be a visible hint of God’s promises

So each step we take together

Moves us all closer to the Incarnated Body,

The Kingdom of God that we create

For all members of the human family,

Walking, walking, walking

On the journey to justice.

Jane Deren, adapted from another prayer in Education for Justice

Parish Notices

Further Resources

If we simply repeat the formulas of the past, our words may have the character of doctrine and dogma but they will not have the character of good news. We may be preaching perfectly orthodox doctrine but it is not the gospel for us today. We must take the idea of good news seriously. If our message does not take the form of good news, it is simply not the Christian gospel.

Albert Nolan, O.P.

When you pray, move your feet.

African Proverb

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

Abraham Lincoln

Today it is fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.

Mother Teresa

To work in the world lovingly means that we are defining what we will be for, rather than reacting to what we are against.

Christina Baldwin

All men (and women) desire peace, but very few desire those things that make for peace.

Thomas A. Kempis

It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation whenever a cat kills a sparrow can hear that story of the killing of God told Sunday after Sunday and not experience any shock at all.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Reconciliation

Reconciliation means understanding

Reconciliation means awareness

Reconciliation means compassion you say you want reconciliation

But do you understand what it will take?

You must stop giving your own interpretations of –

                who I am

                how I live

                what I feel

                and what I SHOULD DO

You must stop assessing me by your own

double standards

moral judgements

western values

arrogant views

You must start to

listen

understand

and

cooperate

Don’t forget –

It is you that is making peace with me.

And I am happy to do so,

But not at the cost of losing my dignity.

Anita Heiss, I’m not racist, but….. A collection of social observations

Enlarge within us the sense of

fellowship with all living things,

our brothers (and sisters) the animals to whom you

gave the earth as their home

in common with us.

We remember with shame that in the past

we have exercised the high dominion

of humans with ruthless cruelty

so that the voice of the earth

which should have gone up to you

in song, has been a groan of travail.

May we realise that they live not for

us alone but for themselves and for

you, and that they love the sweetness of life.

St Basil

Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things.

Every single creature is full of God and is a book

about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I

spend enough time with the tiniest creature, even a

caterpillar, I would never have to a prepare a sermon.

So full of God is every creature.

Meister Eckhart.

Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.

Paolo Freire

The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.

Rumi

It is absolutely essential that the oppressed participate in the revolutionary process with an increasingly critical awareness of their role as subjects of the transformation.

Paulo Freire

The trust of the people in the leaders reflects the confidence of the leaders in the people.

Paulo Freire

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.

Paulo Freire

Teaching is love made visible

Louise Walkup

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.

Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom.

There are lots of different people saying lots of different things, and some of them put us off with their craziness and there are lots of points to argue with them about, but at their best they seem to be acting out of a single profound impulse, which is best described with words like tolerance, compassion, sanity, hope, justice. It is an impulse that has always been part of the human heart, but it seems to be welling up into the world with new power in our age now even as the forces of darkness are welling up with the new power in our age too. That is the bright side, I think, the glad and hopeful side, of what Jesus means by ‘The time is fulfilled.’ He means the time is ripe.

Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons

Teaching scripture as a story allows God's story to become a guiding light for the learner. Resources for faith are provided that can support a person's character development. Images are presented that can nurture a construction of Christian identity that is faithful to the church.... Hearers become inspired and encouraged to identify their story with the scripture. Readers are equipped to relate and broaden their personal experiences in light of their social existence. Learners are empowered to judge and redefine what is meaningful in their lives.

Joseph V. Crockett, Teaching Scripture from an African-American Perspective

By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy - indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction

William Osler (Canadian Physician, 1849-1919)

Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.

Bodie Thoene

My generation's apathy. I'm disgusted with it. I'm disgusted with my own apathy too, for being spineless and not always standing up against racism, sexism and all those other -isms the counterculture has been whinning about for years.

Kurt Cobain (American Musician and Singer of the grunge rock band Nirvana. 1967-1994)

There is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for

Paulo Coelho:

..when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all being.

Sogyal Rinpoche

Our job this day is to become part of the answer to the world's immense and protracted suffering rather than continuing our ancient task of being part of the difficulty.

Hugh Prather - Author, minister

When the President starts lying he begins to need evidence to back up his lies because in this democracy he is questioned on his statements. It then percolates down through the bureaucracy that you are helping the Boss if you come up with evidence that is supportive of our public position and you are distinctly unhelpful if you commit to paper statements that might leak to the wrong people.

The effect of that is to poison the flow of information to the President himself and to create a situation where a President can be almost, to use a metaphor, psychotically divorced from the realities in which he is acting.

Daniel Ellsburg to the US Senate on Foreign Relations, May 13, 1970

The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition and incompetence.

Elbert Hubbard (American editor, publisher and writer, 1856-1915)

Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.

Dwight David Eisenhower (American 34th President (1953-61). 1890-1969)

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way around. Human rights invented America.

Jimmy Carter (American 39th US President (1977-81). Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002. b.1924)

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

Albert Camus

It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.

Eric Hoffer

You see what power is -- holding someone else's fear in your hand and showing it to them!

Amy Tan

Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.

John Adams

Sophia pitches her tent in the midst of the world . . . This is profoundly good news for persons who are poor, denigrated, oppressed, struggling, victimized, and questing for life and the fullness of life, the majority of whom are women and their dependent children

Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, She Who Is, 150

The God of life summons us to life; more, to be life givers, especially toward those who lie under the heel of the powers.

Daniel Berrigan

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.

George Bernard Shaw

The solidarity which binds all people together as members of a common family makes it impossible for wealthy nations to look with indifference upon the hunger, misery and poverty of other nations whose citizens are unable to enjoy even elementary human rights. The nations of the world are becoming more and more dependent on one another and it will not be possible to preserve a lasting peace so long as glaring economic and social imbalances persist.

John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, #157

Back in 1986, when the Catholic bishops of the United States published a pastoral on the U.S. economy and how it was working or failing to work in our country, we suggested that every time we make decisions, either as individuals but especially in groups, we must always ask three questions: What does it do to the poor? What does it do for the poor? And how do the poor participate? What if we asked those questions when we began to work for public policies in our country?

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton,

And then all that has divided us will merge

And then compassion will be wedded to power

And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind

And then both men and women will be gentle

And then both women and men will be strong

And then no person will be subject to another’s will

And then all will be rich and free and varied

And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many

And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance

And then all will nourish the young

And then all will cherish life’s creatures

And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth

And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party,

Only connect…..

E. M. Forster, epigraph to Howard’s End.

The God we worship is a God of history, a God of events in time. Events are made by people and experienced by people. We do not worship a God of scholarship or philosophy, who exists as a set of propositions to be accepted or rejected. What sets the circle in motion is question that arises from our history, from the suffering and pain that make us suspicious of what we have been taught, because what we have been taught has not helped us make sense of our pain.

Richard Cleaver, Know My Name

What if Christians believe that the desire of God is that all human beings – not just one – be Christ-bearers? What if we believe that the Love that (as Dante said) ‘moves the sun and the earth and the stars’ deeply yearns for intimate union with every person, desiring that each one participate in the redemption of the world.

James Nelson, Between Two Gardens

Easter Liberation

John 20:129-23

Liberating Christ

come into our locked rooms

and speak your word of peace.

Set us free to rejoice in our bodies,

the reality of our loving

the integrity of our passion

Forgiving Christ

speak you word of peace

that sees and forgives

our silent and lies and unspoken denials

of all that you have made us

and all that we have chosen to be.

Healing Christ

speak your word of judgement

that gives us voices to name the sins of others

holding them accountable

for the rejection sparked by fear

and the distancing disguise as tolerance.

Breath into us

your spirit of forgiveness

so that

loved and loving

forgiven and forgiving

we may be free to speak peace in your name.

Jan Berry

After so much hatred, we yearn to love each other, and for this reason we are the enemies of private property and the despisers of law.

Elisee Reclus

The Creator’s Prayer

Our Biami

Who is everywhere?

Honoured is your name

We are borne of your will

Beauty created by your hand

With all beings in this land

Thank you for blessing us

With food for the soul

And forgive us if we do not always appreciate

Or do not forgive those who wrong us

Guide us on the road to inner peace

And protect us from ill-will

Amen

Anita Heiss, I’m not racist, but….. A collection of social observations

Faithful and Just God,

We thank you for the opportunity to live

as a vision of justice and hope.

Allow our commitment to what is right encourage others to do the same.

Give us the strength to step away from norms

that hurt, degrade and oppress

and guide us in discovering fresh and faithful ways of being in the world.

Help us to be life givers and not life takers.

Help us to build hope and purpose where there is none

and to stay mindful that regardless of our status and circumstance

we can be the catalyst for change in this world.

Amen.

Out in Scripture

Some reflections

The moving reading from Wisdom easily debunks the harsh image many people have of the ‘Old Testament’ God. But, this God loves all that exists, and ‘holds nothing …..in abhorrence.’ God loves each person even those others consider loathsome. Imagine the difference it would make if we looked at each person and living things through the lens of God’s love towards us? What difference would it make to our criminal justice system and rehabilitation programs if we took this vision seriously? Would we tolerate the warehousing of people in crowded prisons with minimal rehabilitation programs? or men, women and children be held without having committed any crime in detention centres? or the underfunding of services to people with mental illness or disabilities? or cuts to social security services whilst the military continues to be funded? or allowing the big polluters of our environment to continue whilst our Pacific neighbours suffer the consequences of climate change?

The consequences of this vision are seen in Jesus’ inclusiveness. He went out on a limb for people who were poor, sick, possessed by demons or marginalised. Jesus always sought out the person avoided by others…and those we push to the peripheries. Like Abba, Jesus looked for ‘those of low degree’ (Luke 1:52) to raise up so that they could burst with ‘God-news’. We do not know if Zacchaeus was a ‘sinner’. It is an assumption. He did not admit to dishonesty and Jesus did not accuse him. Again, the gospel subverts conventional wisdom: the sinner—disreputable, inadequate, and incompetent, low life’ – goes home right with God; and the respectable and reputable who have done everything right are challenged at new levels.

This story is intended to convince us not to underestimate the breadth of God’s love or to put limits on God’s power to save. We have the face of an approachable, inviting God who desires the well-being of people. This is the face of God that Pope Francis has been calling us to – the mercy of God; the loving-kindness of God. It is for us and for us to pass on. This story also challenges us to go ‘out on a limb’ in order to meet Jesus and minister to him in those with whom Jesus chooses to identify: the hungry, the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned, victims of injustice and the poor.

Zacchaeus may well be one among many throughout history who have been misjudged, misrepresented and condemned by others. Whilst the crowd misjudged, Jesus looked into a person’s heart. Maybe the crowd was in greater need of forgiveness………like the crowd that almost stoned the woman caught in the act of committing adultery. Could we not add to this list the people in our community who are misjudged, lied about and labeled leading us to justify them being marginalised? Asylum seekers. Unemployed. Gypsies. Dispossess of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The bullying and vilification of young gay (LGBTIQ) people that has led to suicide. Who will speak?? Challenging these attitudes and pursuing justice are not always convenient or conducive to the status quo. Jesus continues to show us that he, and not those who would oppress and exclude, is the final Word on who belongs in Christian community. We have the opportunity to be that vision of justice by extending our care, help and support to those outside of our own communities and comfort.

Zacchaeus’ is called to climb down and join the rest of humanity. In a sense the bystanders were metaphorically also up ‘up the tree’. We are called to come down and be in solidarity with our vulnerable brothers and sisters – all in need of God’s love. Being up a tree can be preferable, safer and more comfortable as we watch the world go by: the world of refugees, people living in poverty; gay people whose rights are still denied; the threats to Indigenous land by nuclear waste dumping; the neglect of people living with mental illness; workers laid off as executives accrue higher salaries; and the earth suffers the effects our heavy footprint. Jesus is calling us to come down to the dusty street; to come down and get involved where we can. Some people think it is possible to remain and keep looking down in safety upon the world passing by. We can compromise or accommodate ourselves to and individualism in society and also in the churches. How often is our church-focus on those who come to church but we do not find out why some (many) no longer come? Some have valued their membership for many years and yet how many church leaders would go and find out what has alienated them? Too much information!! This causes much suffering for people who are neglected and left on the peripheries. Many have suffered because of this. Like the woman before the unjust judge two weeks ago, God does not rest well with injustice.

Jesus bids us, ‘Come out of your tree, for I'm moving in with you today.’ This is liberation today. It is about restoration. When Jesus moves in with us change happens. His sharing of a meal with those considered sinners is not about being soft of sin but being strong on healing and reconciliation. It is not about appearances but about a new consciousness, a new focus. God’s reign is evident in the revolution that happened in Zacchaeus.

God’s power is manifested as mercy and compassion. As we face this week will we be more fully accepting of others? Will we search out and find the ones our world, church, family does not extend a welcome to? Will we seek new and imaginative ways of welcome and hospitality? As we reflect on this, may understand that God's love is present in our world right now, that Jesus is in our midst, and Jesus always welcomes us.

Jesus offers everyone an open door to a new world. The Gospel unveils our situation in order to liberate, heal and reconcile, not condemn. We are offered more than a life of forgiveness; we are offered a life of effective love. We are offered the chance to become ‘Church’ – in our politics, in our religion, in our hearts. People who are often cast as outsiders from whatever marginal group have what they have to offer overlooked or rejected because of their status. The gospel shows us how they can and must not be afraid to seek Jesus outside of the traditional social structures and assemblies. Despite hatred, rejection and degradation they can decide that they no longer care about what people think and follow the just God and seek a vision of justice and equality. They may not be successful but they can shine a light on the world’s evils. They can survive with their humanity intact no matter how they are treated. What Jesus treasures in the despised is their ability to hang on, to survive with a part of their own humanity intact despite the way they have been treated by the world. They show us how to keep going in deep darkness, to be resilient by engagement not by avoidance or disengagement, and how to have hope in mean times. They can be a beacon of hope towards a more just future.

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN

AND

VULNERABLE ADULTS

(Policy of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

Australian Province)

February, 2016 (version 1.0)

With appreciation and gratitude to the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus

INDEX

CONTACT

The Australian Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC)

1A Waltham St

COOGEE NSW 2034

PO Box 252, COOGEE NSW 2034

Web: www.misacor.org.au

Phone: (02)9665 8999

TERMINOLOGY

The following terms are used throughout this Policy:

“Province members” means:

• All members of the Australian MSC Province, whether in Australia or overseas; and
• All members of other MSC Provinces who are working, studying, or living in Australia, or are visiting Australia.

“Province personnel” or “Province worker” means:

• Employees in Province ministries;
• Volunteers in Province ministries;
• Employees of MSC communities; and
• Volunteers in MSC communities

“Province ministries” or “Province works” means: works for which the Province, as distinct from individual MSC members, has primary responsibility. Some of these ministries are directly governed by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, while others may be governed or ‘owned’ by other bodies (e.g. some parishes by the dioceses they serve). The current list of Province ministries is available in Appendix 7.

Child: is any person under the age of 16 years;

Young Person: means a person who is aged 16 years or above but is under the age of 18.

Vulnerable Adult: Is a person aged 18 or over.

‘Constitutions’ means the document containing the rules which define the MSC way of life according to its charism, mission and spirituality.

To whom does this Policy apply?

This policy covers all Province ministries and applies to:

• Province members, including in relation to any ministries or works they may conduct which are not Province ministries; and
• Province personnel.

Province members who serve in ministries other than Province ministries may also be subject to other policies applying to those ministries.

This policy will be reviewed on a regular basis, taking into account increased knowledge and learnings as they become available. Importantly, it will be reviewed Feb 2018 in the light of the recommendations and learnings from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse when they become available.

Table of Contents

Preamble

Commitment 1: The primacy of the welfare of the vulnerable, especially children

                Acting in the best interests of the vulnerable

                Duty of Care

                In the event of suspicion of harm or grooming

Commitment 2: The creation of a safe and nurturing culture in Province communities and ministries

                General principles

                The Two Adult Rule

                Professional conduct and a culture of awareness

Commitment 3: Thorough and rigorous appointment, employment and formation practices

                Selection of MSC candidates and formation of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

                Recruitment and selection practices

                Formation of Laity

                Spiritual Direction and Formators

Commitment 4: Proper and prompt disclosure to the relevant authorities and timely disclosure to the Province and wider community

                Reporting

                Forming a belief on reasonable grounds

Disclosures and transparency

Flow chart of the main processes

Commitment 5: Compassionate and just response to victims of abuse

Commitment 6: Engagement with the Towards Healing and Melbourne Response Processes

                Towards healing

                The Melbourne Response

Commitment 7: Best practice training for all Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and Province personnel in relation to safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults

Induction

Training

Appendix 1: Glossary

Appendix 2: Further guidance on managing disclosure

                Documenting disclosure

                Notification to civil authorities

                Confidentiality

Appendix 3: Checklist for responding to and managing a suspicion of harm

Appendix 4: Further guidance on appropriate boundaries

                Appropriate boundaries

Appendix 5: Child protection agencies across Australia

                Government Authorities and Agencies

                Websites

                Support Organisations

Appendix 6: Mandatory Reporting

Appendix 7: Ministries of the Australian Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

Appendix 8: Flowchart of Response

Appendix 9: Acknowledgements

We too are inspired by the same gift

our Founder received.

In our Communion as brothers,

we live our faith

in the compassionate love of the Lord.

At the same time

we are sent into the world

to proclaim the Good news

of the kindness of God, our Saviour,

and to bear witness to it

for the whole of our lives {Constitution 4}

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light. [Matthew 11:28-30]

Preamble

This policy sets out practice and procedure to safeguard from abuse children and vulnerable adults who are in the care of or in contact with the Australian Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Children, young people and vulnerable adults have a fundamental right to be respected, nurtured and safeguarded by all. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Congregation in Australia is resolutely committed to ensuring that all Province members and personnel value, nurture and safeguard children and vulnerable adults. To achieve this commitment it is paramount that anyone and everyone in the care of or involved with the Province be provided a safe and supporting environment. It is particularly critical to provide such an environment for children and young people and protect them from all forms of abuse and neglect notable sexual and/or physical abuse.

It has been observed that child abuse casts a long shadow, it causes long lasting, sometimes lifelong, psychological trauma for the individual abused, and can severely diminish their life chances. It has costs for the community in the form of the diminished and social and economic contribution an individual may be capable of and in the cost of therapy and ongoing care. Where the perpetrator of abuse is a member of or associated with an institution, it diminishes that institution in practical and moral ways, which hamper the conduct of its ministry.

The shadow of abuse can only be lifted through transparency, genuine contrition, meaningful reconciliation and redress.

It is essential to have in place best practice in terms of policy and procedures so as to minimise the possibility of abuse occurring in the first place. It is also incumbent upon the Province to assist in all

ways possible those people who have been the victims of sexual abuse and who have suffered through the grievous wrongdoing of Province members and personnel.

This policy aims to optimise a safe and nurturing culture for all children and vulnerable adults and rests on the Province’s commitment to:

1. 1.The primacy of the welfare of the vulnerable, especially children;

1. 2.The creation of a safe and nurturing culture in Province communities and ministries;

1. 3.Thorough and rigorous appointment, employment and formation practices;

1. 4.Proper and prompt disclosure to the relevant authorities, and timely disclosure to the Provinces and wider community;

1. 5.Compassionate and just responses to victims of abuse;

1. 6.Engagement with the Towards Healing and Melbourne Response processes;

1. 7.Best practice training for all Province members and personnel in relation to safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.

Each of these commitments, with its associated protocols, is detailed within this policy.

Fundamental to healthy and life-giving pastoral ministry with young people and vulnerable adults is that each member of the Province is responsible for being in regular spiritual direction / supervision.

The Province is particularly grateful to Fr Brian McCoy, SJ Provincial, and the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus for generously making available to it its Policy for “Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults”, and to Dr Kathleen McChesney, of Kinsale Management Consulting, who assisted the Society of Jesus in formulating this Policy.

Other resources drawn upon are noted in Appendix 9.

Commitment 1

The primacy of the welfare of the vulnerable, especially children

In Jesus we see the Good Shepherd

Who goes in search of those who are lost,

who knows his own

and gives his life to save them.

He shows us the Father’s deep concern

For those who are considered unimportant

And whose rights are disregarded. [Constitution 7]

See that you never despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my father in heaven. [Matthew 18.10]

At all times, the ongoing safety and wellbeing of the child or vulnerable adult must be a primary focus of care and decision-making.

______________________________________________________________________________

Protocol

Acting in the best interests of the vulnerable

Acting in the best interest of children and vulnerable adults requires all Province members and personnel to act to protect them from harm, protect their rights and, in the case of children, promote their development in ways appropriate to their gender, age and culture. For the purpose of this Policy, acting in the best interest of the child includes:

• Reporting all allegations or disclosures of sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect – as set out in Commitment 4;
• Reporting to the appropriate authority when a belief is formed that a child has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed;
• Making the child’s ongoing safety and wellbeing the primary focus of decision-making;
• Sharing appropriate information, expertise and resources with other service providers supporting the child;
• Protecting and promoting the cultural and spiritual identity of a child and maintaining their connection to their family or community of origin; and
• Enabling the child and the child’s family to access appropriate services in order to reduce the long-term effects of abuse or neglect.

Duty of care

Province members and personnel have a moral duty of care to support and protect the vulnerable persons, including children and young people, with whom they are professionally involved or are in contact. In most circumstances they will also owe those children and young persons a legal duty of care.

If a Province member or worker believes that a child or vulnerable adult has been harmed or is at risk of harm, that person is morally bound, and, generally has a legal duty to take action to protect the safety and wellbeing of that child or vulnerable adult. In some cases, Province members and personnel (“Mandated Reporters”) have an obligation to report such a belief to the relevant authorities and criminal penalties apply for breaching that obligation (see Commitment 4).

Duty of care is breached if a Province member or worker:

• Fails to do something that a reasonable person in their position would do in the circumstances; or

• Acts or fails to act in a way that causes harm to someone to whom the person owes a duty of care. The Provincial administration is contactable for advice on (02) 9665 8999.

In the event of suspicion of harm or grooming

Where a Province member or Province worker suspects that a child or young person is being or likely to be harmed physically, sexually or emotionally, that person must raise the matter with the Superior of the local MSC community or the Provincial Superior or the Safeguarding Officer without delay, (02) 665 8999.

A Superior or Safeguarding Officer who is notified of such a suspicion must, in consultation with the Provincial Superior, the person notifying and other appropriate Province members and personnel in the relevant community or ministry:

• Determine what, if any, direct protective action needs to be taken;

• Determine whether there is an applicable mandatory reporting obligation;

• Determine whether, independent of a mandatory reporting obligation; it is appropriate to

report the suspicion to authorities; and

• Document the decision and decision-making process.

A detailed checklist is provided in Appendix 3 to guide responding to and managing disclosures.

Note: a Province member or worker who has a mandatory reporting obligation must perform that obligation as well as raising the matter with the appropriate Superior, the Provincial Superior or Safeguarding Officer.

Commitment 2

The creation of a safe and nurturing culture in Province

communities and ministries

With our Founder,

We contemplate Jesus Christ,

united to his Father

with bonds of love and trust.

Filled with the, Holy Spirit,

Jesus gave thanks to his Father

for having revealed himself to little ones;

for he was his Servant,

deeply involved with the poor and with sinners.

In the words of Father Chevalier,

“He was happy to pour out the tenderness of his Heart

on little ones and on the poor,

on those who suffer and on sinners,

on all the miseries of humanity.

The sight of any misfortune moved His Heart

with compassion”. [Constitution 6]

You know among the pagans the rulers lorded over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. [Matthew 20”24-28]

Protocol

General Principles

Province members and personnel should treat all people in a manner that fully respects their dignity and rights. They must avoid actions or behaviours that are, or could be construed as, potentially abusive or poor practice. This applies particularly to children and vulnerable adults. Province members and personnel should:

• Provide, by their own behaviour, an example of good conduct at all times;
• Operate within Province principles, and any specific procedures and practices their ministry may have in place:
• Respect each person’s personal boundaries;
• Help children and young people develop an awareness and understanding of their own rights and a respect for the rights of others;
• Provide children and young people with information as to how, where and from whom they can seek help if they are experiencing serious problems;
• Be visible to other adults when working with children and young people;
• Challenge and report behaviour that is abusive or potentially abusive; and
• Develop a culture where children and young people can talk openly about their interactions with adults and others.

In general, Province members or personnel should not:

• Spend excessive time alone with children, particularly a single child, away from others.
• Take a child or children to their own home or residences.

Province members and personnel must never:

• Hit or otherwise physically assault or verbally abuse a child;
• Engage in grooming and/or sexual contact with a child;
• Engage in inappropriate remarks or conversations with children;
• Develop relationships with children which could be deemed to be in any way exploitative or abusive;
• Act in ways that may be abusive or may place a child at risk of abuse;
• Provide alcohol, tobacco or non-prescriptive drugs to those under 18 years; and
• Touch a child in a sexually suggestive manner or in a way that could be interpreted as such.

The two adult rule

General safe practice in all activities recommends the application of the Two Adult Rule, which serves to keep children and vulnerable adults safe, as well as the adults serving them. Wherever practical no fewer than two adults should be present at all times during any program, event or ministry involving children and vulnerable adults. It is best that these two adults not be related. Adherence to this rule:

• Drastically reduces the risk of an incident of abuse, as any potential abuser will lose interest if constantly in sight of another adult;
• Protects the adults against false allegations;
• Reduces the possibility of a claim of negligence;
• Encourages volunteer participation since potential volunteers will be less fearful of false accusations;
• Sends a clear message that children are important and valued.

Exceptions to the Two Adult Rule:

Because the nature of their work calls for one-on-one sessions, the following are not bound by this rule:

• Professional Counsellors
• Counsellors in schools
• Pastoral Supervisors and Spiritual Directors

A second adult is also not required where a class with five (5) or more students is being taught. Others, of course, may need at times to deal one on one with a child or young person. In such cases,

the interaction should be conducted in as open and observable a way as possible. This can be contributed to by one or both of the following:

• Leaving doors to offices and interview rooms open; and/or
• Ensuring that there are glass panels in the doors.

Professional conduct and a culture of awareness

All Province members and personnel are responsible for their professional conduct with children and vulnerable adults. This means establishing and maintaining clear professional boundaries that serve to protect everyone from misunderstandings or a violation of the professional relationship.

Abuse and/or grooming of a child or vulnerable adult is harmful and often results in long lasting consequences, primarily for the child or vulnerable person affected. They also affect the wider community of people who are aware of the violation, and diminish the integrity of the Province’s contribution to the Church’s mission.

Province members and personnel may also fail to maintain professional conduct by operating beyond the responsibilities of their role and their expertise. Children and vulnerable adults who raise significant problems must be referred, preferably with their knowledge, to a person with specialised skills, for example, a school counsellor or pastoral care coordinator.

Province members and personnel must not, under any circumstances, engage in an intimate, overly familiar or sexual relationship with a child. Improper conduct of a sexual nature includes all forms of sexual activity, including kissing. Appendix 4 offers fuller guidance on appropriate boundaries.

Good practice in managing professional conduct

The following self-assessment questions may assist members, employees and volunteers in assessing their application of professional boundaries.

Am I dealing in a different manner with a particular child or vulnerable adult other than with others under the same circumstances?

• Is my dress/availability/language different from normal with a particular child or vulnerable adult?
• Would I do or say this to a child or vulnerable adult if a colleague were present?
• Would I condone my conduct if I observed it in another adult?
• Are the consequences of my actions likely to have negative outcomes for the child or vulnerable adult?