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POST ADDRESS PO Bo 50, Pert r LOCAT O 26 Jo St, Perth, (off F
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A fina religious p ofession ceremony at Collie last month al o incl ed as cial co lee ion hich rais $6CX) for ocal chariti s. Broth r Peter Gre nu ed as ial xt he had itten o ma e his final prof ssion a a Christia Broth rduri g Masscel at by Bis op Qui n. Brother Gerald Faulkn r, sup rior of th If o province r cei Christian Broth rs' su I.
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Bro her Gre n m wh re h
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Collie
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ELI E.
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•• "Dear patients: I hope that medica care wi I be ab e to estore you to physica hea t . But hope and pray too that your time of sick ess, in spite of its b rde s, and with he ne p yo receive, w·11 bring you 3 profou eace of soul. "Fo the person of faith, t e oa h of sufferinq eads straiq t :o C rist's ede pti Passion. ea and Hes rrec ion: .o he Pase al ystery. "Pain ls o on ya enigma md a rial, For some eople it sa :hey :hes
ha
e pre are o e dure nuch or s eople, n in h. , cause gs in the ,,..A,,.,"r:llT is II
lacki g for his body, which is the Church' (Col 1 :24). "As Pastor of the Church I am c ose to you in your sufferings. "Especial y if you ill ess is chronic, or even incurable, I urge you to think about he deep and hidden va ue of your pain and help essness. "You must freely unite your sufferings to the Cross of
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Jesus Christ, and be one with him in his redemptive mission. "Out of that union will come a new understanding, a new hope and peace. Dear sick people: you are my special friends. iii entrust you to Jesus and o Mary. And 11 ask you o pray for me, and to offer your sufferings for t e saivatio of souls and t e peace oft e world." ii
ii
mo t important peop e m Australia, a d ope Jo n Paul hen he addres ed the ck
kno from exp rie ce that ·1 ne i one of the ba • problems of human exi t nee. ' Sometime "t st kes u when e lea t expect It and when in uman term we lea t de rve it. Wh n Je u tra-
What do modern people long for? Happiness? Freedom from stress or anxiety? Fulfillment? For the church, the days before Christmas always have been a time of longing - or expectancy The mood al the Advent season echoes one of the Bible's great themes the hope for a messiah and the awa,t,ng of a time when God's promises will be fulfilled. uke all seasons of the church's year, Advent rs rooted ,n the Bible. Advent's theme rs an ancient one. reaching deep into the history of b1bhcal people. The lsraehtes longed for freedom from oppression and suffering But there was another side to this longing uke parents awa1t1ng a child's birth, the longing was expectant It fired them with enthusiasm. their hopes were raised
To speak of the mood of longing and expectancy as a theme al the Bible is to say that as Scripture· s fabric- now a linle more dominant, now a little less so Other themes. too, colour the pages of Scripture God's love for the poor; the exodus theme that hnks liberatlon from death with a Journey into new hie; faith and faithfulness, illustrated especially by God's own commitment to people; love. Of course. the Bible can be approached as a series of isolated passages - verses and chapters worth pondering m themselves But the discovery of btbl1cal themes opens another route into the Bible. It rs the discovery of an unfolding history of salvation. It provides a new perspective on the Bible, allowing a
glimpse of the unity found among its many books. What is interesting rs that the threads colouring Scripture's fabric are so universally appealing The human spirit finds them enticing, which may help to e>plain why the seasons of the church's year are so firmly rooted ,n the Bible. In Advent, the universally recognisable theme of human longing rs hnked with a recollecnon of God's promise to his people From this grows a refreshing mood of expectancy Just ask any child ,n the days before Christmas what 11 means to be an expectant person! Which takes us back to point at which we began· What are you longing for? Undoubtedly your longing and your expectancy find a clear echo ,n the pages of Scripture
Father Patrick Collins says praying with Scripture calls for an identmcation between the person who prays and the people in the scriptural narratives and stories
Sunday morn,lli)d with bad feelings toward \ott,er-in-law. Saturday night had publicly humiliated him� �me. He had tossed \mad all night with images of 181 and t,os11lity
He is director of the office of Christian worship and music in the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois.
He went to ch�ed with these feelings This c,,0 dunng the first part of the Maiil the Gospel But then he bega"ually hear the gospel parable of ly, the story of the Prodigal Son.
Father Colhns thinks the Bible stories give us room to walk around and find our own stories in them. With a little imagination, we can become the characters who heard Jesus so long ago; our hves can be comforted or challengecl°by his \/1/0fd, as was the case for people when he walked the earth.
Somehow the llaw was able to find h1msett parable. He identified With thetebaeame the son who needed la t,ome again Father Collins n that the man told him "I knewl not leave that Mass without malfresh commitment to try ilgareconcile with her."
To explain how this approach to Scripture worl<s, Father Collins gives an example A son-,n-law attended Mass one
ITHWAYS OF THE S I L,. e en es Is s 1
KNOW YOUR FAITH
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with their ov.m hves7 Th,s v-« the NC Rehg,ous Education Package a six-week begins
Advent end Chnstmas sanes on how to read the B,ble Father John Castelot wr,tes of the role of the prophets. beg,nning w,th Moses It was the .. tasl< to see the meaning 1n events and to tall the people of that meaning What the prophets saw was that God wa act•w 1n t
r hves. and v.,ould not act as he did ,f there were not good thu-.gs ,n
stOfe fOf them S<:r,pture .s an eccount,ng of the acts of God ,n his people s midst Father Cas · talot teaches S<:r,pture David Gibson discUSNS some ways of mok,ng the epproach to S<:r,p ture a linle smoottlef Fear that they won ·1 understand Scripture steers some people away from u altogether. others approach Scripture almost hke a r9Clp8 book w,th precese d1rec· t1ves to cover every con· temporary s,tuatJon But there 1s another course. one that avoids each of those extremes, says G,boon. editor of the NC Education Religious
-ks
Dolores l.ecl<ey about ways to reed the Bible dunng Advent and to incorporate that reading into prayer She descnbes an BPPfo&eh to Scripture that brings the
1mag1nat1on into play, also descnbed rs the approach known as "leet10 d,vina .. Katharine Bird inter· views Jesuit Father James Malley, secretary for 1nternat�l m1n1Stnes at the Jesuit Con· farance He tells Ms B,rd
that Advent IS 8 time fOf siow,ng down and relaxing the pace of daily schedules to reflect on the larger mean,ng of hfe
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Scripture becomes the living word of God when we use ,t that way, Father Collins says The conversion which began with our mmanon into the Christian community rs meant to continue throughout our lives Scripture helps us keep conversion on
track
Father Colhns believes Scripture can vitalise us and that rt offers a power to transform our lives. as happened in the case of the man who reflected on the parable of the Prodigal Son.
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How can people r-i the B,ble and get the most out of rtl Can peopl top ,nto S<:r,pture's pages and find oome· th,ng there to help them
Pad<age
Because the son-,n-law was open to 11, the word of God merged and meshed with a particular snuanon in his own hie Yet the link was made in the man's 1mag,nat1on by the Spirit of God merged and meshing with a human spmt,
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Right after humanity has alienated 1tsett from us Creator ,n the b1bhcal story of the fall, he roundly denounces all the actors ,n the tragic drama However. the curse leveled aga,nst the tempter contains an assurance that all ,snot lost (Genesis 3.15) And before eJect1ng the man and the woman from his garden. God provides them with clothing so that they will not perish ,n the harsh, cokl world to which they are being sent (Genests 3 21) In the story of Cam and Abel, after exconat,ng the murderous Cam, God rs portrayed as g1V1ng h,m a protective marl< to forestall any anempt al people to wreak vengeance on him ''If anyone ktlls Cam, Cam shall be avenged sevenfold" (Genesis 4 15) The great flood rs interpreted as God's punishment on a humanity which has so exasperated h,m as to merit ext,nct,on. However, God selects a 1,nle group. Noah and famlly. to survive and get people off to a fresh start (Genes, 6 5-B). It rs not hard to recognize a recurrent panern here, a pers,stent theme. That theme ts the invincible mercy of God God rs not a vind1Ct1ve lawgiver but a loving Father While he cannot condone his chldren's disooedrence. he cannot utterly destroy them or leaw them without hope either. This rs, above all else, a saving God. In fact, this basic theme rs so strong that the v.tiole account of God's deahngs with humanity rs called salvanon history - not damnation history. It rs a history rooted ,n the experience of his people at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. For first ,mpress,ons are the strongest and the most lasting
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to hve according to the terms of the agreement But with the passage of urne and the ,nfluence of alien value systems. they fell - so far down that they could look ,n only one d,rect,on up looking up to God and crying for help. they found him always faithful. always ready to forgive, to recall them And so the cycle began aga,n always. tragically. to repeat itself Those are only some examples of the many themes runn,ng through the B,ble that g,ve 11 a coherent unity Recognising such patterns helps us to avoid m,ss,ng the forest for the trees It ,s so ea y to get lost. bewildered by all the details But a recogn1t1on of the patterns, the unifying themes. makes 11 clear that the details themselves are far from irrelevant They fall into a framewor1< and take on meaning from that framewor1< One reauses too that these themes are by no means foreign to one's own expenence. The pattern of "call. fall, recall" marks the lives of all who try to hve ,n a s,ncere relat,onsh,p with God He calls each person to intimacy with himself But other vo,ces call us too and so often vve hst n to them and fall flat on our faces Still, when vve call to God for help. and as often as vve do. he rs wa,t,ng to recall us and start the cycle anew Each time vve begin again we are stronger, having learned from experience and having gained fresh courage from the expenence of the never-failing. IOV1ng kindness of an essentially saving God
Old Testament's nrd of Je�� oppression.
W1y illck 11 IN lli. c11t1ry BC .. illtl,eNtl nldl .tftcteil the whole cnrH el l•1111u llistory, clrillc it dl.-.ctiOtl 1Dd """""· A I re• •I "*-n. colld mNtl to I nu,1 sl1Ye 11M41r 11 Eo,t ,ow rlus, .. is,1rittd - , 11 , •• tlteir oppressors. ne, "'" cood llMir .... ,. into Ille SiNl ,0 ·-11, wltere tltey ... ,.i,td 1 ... bout 40 yun.
of whit tlley desired.
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Actully they crow stro•c lo tlt1t illlostliuhle, dHulcht ostile ru. A11insl 111 odds
tltey dev lope,l 1 .. _ ef
Identity 111d " m1lly
emercod u • hll�fledcod Ntiofl.
But tltose ire ...iy IN N,e focts. TI,ey cry out
By
Father John Castelot
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fO< ......... ti .. , so , •• tastic .,.INy. T od1y IN re re U.0.saods of J ws illld Yin. 1117 co,tive lo IN Soviet Uoioa.5-elNyw.,.. to rise p 1od flH ta lsr1el. Ao la, ·1,1 sc. urio e,n to i1UJiN? ,.,..,.. ht if INy . it wMld lie sometllinc like IN H*ews hfyi I IN ,owv of Eo,t 1DII 1ett111 1w17 sat ly. How coold -h a tlaitlc possibly
ii,.1?
It took utr10rdi11ry ,oo,le cllted with utr-,flury lalpt t ,011etute tlleso •• - ill IN H ..... ws' livu 1od II int.,,,..t IJMir "'" · Tliis WU IN tasll of IN
prophets, llecl I Tiie 1-tiN If Ille� WU Ntta
The first 1mpress1on the people had was that al a saving God, one who on his own 1n1t1a11ve. intervened to rescue them from insufferable bondage and lead them eventually to become a nation ,n their own right. So deep was this first 1mpress1on that 11 was to colour the Israelites' whole understanding of their relat1onsh1p with God
Gifted � Co4 witll IN laslcht of hlth, tlle
The theme of the loving kindness of a saving God
- ts
is the fundamental theme of the whole Bible After the disaster of the Israelites' Babylonian extle, the h,stonans of Israel looked back over the 700 years that had intervened between their entrance into the Promised land and their present sorry plight What had gone wrong? The beginnings had inspired so much hope. As they reflected on the events which made up their past they discerned a pattern. a theme. It has been called the theme al "call. fall. recall." This was the cycle that they saw repeating itself God, as always. had taken the 1nrt1a1,ve ,n freely calhng them ,nto a relatlOOSh,p with h,m H,s people responded gratefully, eagerly. determined
8 The Record. January 15. 1987
h• ,rodlctors of Ille fwture kt i ..,.-.ten el IN ,ut DII ,,_lit.
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.... ,..,,... •f •• Ills. Tiiey ....... AM4
IN wllole nNt If ulllia tr.. Eo,1 u I
�·· hyCodN ioten els ,..,, • T1Nre ...id N N IIIMr u,I lot IN I ct, I ·111•-._ ef evellb ii IN Ii- If ir ,..,, •. Tlle-.tlie� rellKted •• t is, th ....... y ..............
staod tlHI Ced ....,...;., lotlL ..
tlHI '"""" ...... of the fetue, it wu aully 11 nry ,......, - Tiiey ..,., rutltod tlHI"""" h,t .... aliltaN Cl biledN • tlHI ,..,.. flitllfll ta ir .. , will, God. tt was God'a '"f"lip", INs sari I ..... ioiN, ta.I IM ,...,., ts eofisl ..... , his I 'JUU Ylcury OHUYil. Howvwtoe,, ·s-ld - UNt tlHly -' IOI bow; ta.I it -Id aNlt, If tut tlHly .....
......
All tllrwp tills ilistoric1I ,roc,11 Ged ••• re'thli c lri-'f 11 • l1itlif91 Niii sari Ced. Tliis, 11 itself, is Inly iunelios. relatiemlli... we
r1we1I 01r11l,1s i1ti· .. 1111y Nly ta tllose we loH ud trut. Tiils solfrenlatiN is, io !Kt, -
of IN clurut slps ef
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Tiie HrJ fact ta.I Cod rflulod hi-«,.,..... ·s ileut •s WI.J, is ON of IN - ,.......,., Hide .... ef his Ion for
....
Bible a veritable gold mine
"There i an appointed time for everything" ( Ecclesiastes) - even for certain booklo In springtime there i� Henry David Thoreau's "Walden", v..tuch in,,. riably opem my eyi:s to the fine,,t expressiom of life. utumn � the tune for Washing· ton Ir.ing's •·1.egend of leepy Hollow", with as descripti n\ of goblins and gho�ts. And every Advent I read the first chapters m Luke's Gospel. The infancy narratives found there are full of strong imag , presented like a string of colourful Oui\tmas cards The familiar drama of the Go pel and the te,,tmg of the principal actors stjll capture Ill} attenuon hen I read the operung hnes '"Seemg that man others have unJ rt en to
details of a particular
By Dolores Leckey draw up accounts of the events that ha,-e taken place among u .• " - I know �mething new awai�
me.
DOD
When I first began the
practice: of readtng I.ul..e m Advent I concentrated on the ston John the Baptist's unhappy end. Gabriers me sagc: for �tary's ltfe; Mary' n.Slt to Eli.zabeth, the birth of Je us, Jesu ' de en encounters Wonderful <tone-, full of counge and tru>t m God. Later I reali<ed hov.. rutural it v.. to enter into the go,,pel narrath.:,
lingering mer a
p
ingk
e, sa.vounng thc:
epLSOde. This i one kind of med-
iUtion. It often releases the inner senses so that
one "'sees" and "fttls"
the Vis,ution, tary hurl)mg to pack her donkey, saying goodby" to neighbours and fnends. setting olffor the long ,isit ..,.,th Elizabeth All the Sights and sounds and smells of earl)· Palotine arc part of this irlugel). And then the •·feel" of Jesus movmg ,n the womb creates a bond of empathy and ,;olidarity "ith M:ll) and Elizabeth a bond that pregnancy and childbirth create among women thc: world
°' r.
�uch 1magma11vc: engagement v..1th Luke's <tones mait.1bly leads to pra) er. a chalogue ..,.,th the Lord "ilo<,e mystenous W:>.} coottnue to d.ra people worlds and centunes rc:mm-ed from th narrat1 in Luke. Often, after my uutw readtng of the first four
ch.piers, I go back to the beginning and proceed m another �er - m the manner of "lectio divina," an ancient method of b1b1Jc:ll pf.I}· mg. ,-ery sunplc and ,� mmmg
You lxgin tht b1 makmg an act of flith to bc: open to the " rd of God e. pres.sed in th day'
readtng
• ·ext. you sun to read a
panicul>.r p sag and conttnuc: unttl a word or a phrase captures your anention. 'hen 11 does, set the Bible aside and mc:dtme <jllletl} on the word or phrase .
rtj01ces m God. m · ·iour·· stopped me. What followed was a frc:c:Hov..,ng collSlderat1on of the many bl mgs m my ltfe and gnt1tude for all that was. But �omet1me one's energy IS low and the fatigue, of dail · hvtng inhibits both tmagtn.ltl ,: medtution and thc: lec110 dmna. ·· Then twO of Lul..e' pray.:rs CU1 <UStam us There IS the �lagni.ficat. "'1uch CU1 help turn our attention outward and to
greet a new da · v.1th compassion and balancr.
Th second. th unc Dunt!IS - "Lord. nov. let your sen.int depart m
peace.. - is thc: pra -er v..·1th which 1meon greeted lat} and Joseph when the}· brought J for the Trniplc present.I· t,on and ble,,,u,g.
part of Comp line, the church's official pr:l}-er rectted at the end of the day. the ·unc Dirruti also IS there for us when
weary.
DOD Often this word or
phra.o,c:. <poken � to th reader, becomo a pas.,,agcway to dt.tfercnt kind of pra. er, pl.I} rs of
mtcrc ·on repentance, thanl.sRt,mg and pra.ise. On time "1ule reading \lat) s great h)mn oflm and pr.u • the Magrufi cat. the ·. f SJ>tnl
The Record. January 15, 1987
9
in cou cil
er a statue
ho d or
An un retentious Austra ha n refugee c mp the venue for .Jiri Lechman and his girlfriend Maria's marri cer mony.
a
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But having survived the o deal of scaping from th ir nati Czec os ova ia, relief and happin s were sufficient trappings for th lr sim Jin, born in 1950 and having studied nonindi nous animals in Prague and working r for oped a heh
e
��TILl�[lli
�=============== h rd=:kmg
Fector influence ocial decision from Nola VINEY, Inglewood Sir, Hurrah! for th m int n nc d ault
ton I m Th Record January 8 on o by d is.on or ult int rpretauons o t
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th
2
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from FJ LA E, Mor. wa
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hildren s Story Hour·-----
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Above: Angie Vocisano of Perth and Ang lo Miola of Osborne Par, who will m rry in St Mary's Cath drat on March 28.
Pictur d t
recent m rri g prep r. tion cours
re:
Ab v : lidi Tomialojc of Baig and Mariusz Kw. czyn i of Tu n Hltl wh Polish ch pe! on J nu ry 20.
Greyhounds - with The Record Tipster
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