E p i s co p a l O r d i n a t i o n of M o n s i g n o r Ca r m e l o Za m m i t
Mgr. Carmel Zammit ordained as Bishop of Gibraltar in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina, Malta n A Powerful Prayer at the Heart of the Ordination n Being a Bishop is a Call to Serve– a ‘primacy of service’
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ardinal Vincent Nichols presided over the Ordination of Carmel Zammit, in a ceremony that took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina, Malta. Before the ceremony started Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, Bishop Ralph Heskett and Bishopelect Carmel Zammit left the Archbishop’s Palace on foot and walked to the Mdina Cathedral. There they were greeted by the Metropolitan Chapter and made their way to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament for a short moment of prayer before the Solemn Mass. Bishop Zammit’s installation will take place in Gibraltar on Saturday 24th of September.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ homily
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powerful prayer stands at the heart of this ceremony of the ordination of Mgr. Carmelo Zammit to the Order of Bishops. We pray to God as ‘Father of mercies and God of all consolations’ to ‘pour out upon this chosen one that power which is from You, the governing Spirit whom You gave to Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the Spirit given by Him to the holy apostles who founded your Church in every place to be your temple for the unceasing glory and praise of Your name.’ It is a prayer which expresses
Upon this Rock magazine is published monthly by EuropeAxess Media, Gibraltar. Editor: Fr. S. Chipolina: editor@uponthisrock.gi. Production Editor: A. Sargent: angela@europeaxess.com. Upon this Rock magazine is entirely supported by advertising and donations. It is run in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar by EuropeAxess Media Ltd. as a not-for-profit project. For Advertisers: This magazine is handdelivered to homes, churches, hospitals and many businesses around Gibraltar every month. To discuss your advertising requirements, or promote your church group or charity, call Tel: +350 200 79335 email: angela@europeaxess.com. Editorial is selected by EuropeAxess Media in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar. Neither of these parties is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein, nor do the views and opinions expressed herein necessarily reflect the views and opinions of either party. Advertisers are not endorsed by virtue of advertising in this magazine. EuropeAxess Media Ltd. reserves the right to refuse space to any submissions or advertisements. Efforts have been made to establish copyright owners of images, but if we have used your material, and have not credited you, please contact us to discuss restoration. The magazine is online at uponthisrock.gi. You’ll find exclusive Christian gifts in the WebShop. Cover: Tapestry of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Vatican 04.09.2016. Photo: Reuters
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Today we make this prayer, gathered from this community of Malta, from Gibraltar, from Great Britain, from different Churches, different faiths. We make this prayer in the company of Our Blessed Lady, Mother of the Church, whose birthday we celebrate today. In making this prayer we ask of God a great and wonderful gift: that Mgr. Carmelo leave this Cathedral a changed man, a man on whom has been bestowed the astonishing gift of becoming a bishop, a successor of the apostles, a man endowed with new power and authority, a man now bound to Christ more deeply than ever before. In my humble experience, ordination as a bishop brings with it a more radical change than even the change wrought by ordination as a priest.
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And so, Mgr. Carmelo, our prayers are both for you and with you, today and always. We have just heard words written by St. Paul to his beloved companion, Timothy. How astonishing to think that the feet of this great apostle graced this island, maybe coming as close as a cave in nearby Rabat. I am sure he looks on this moment with his powerful gaze and prayer. He speaks to us unambiguously. He speaks of this gift of God, given through the laying on of hands, as a summons to witness Christ and to bear hardship willingly. We are to rely solely on the power of God, knowing that His grace comes to us freely, never because of anything we have done. So let’s be clear: being a bishop is not a promotion, the consequence of success, but a gift, a calling, a new step on the pathway of holiness, given for God’s own purpose and His own grace. Being a bishop is not a new opportunity to put one’s own plans into action. It is a call to serve. Yes, this grace for which we pray is the gift of the ‘governing Spirit.’ But it is the Spirit of Jesus and therefore the governance to which it gives rise must be that of Jesus. And, in the Gospel today, Matthew tells us what that means. Governance in the name
of Jesus has no trace of the patterns of this world’s ways ‘lording it over them’, ‘making their authority felt.’ Rather it is a primacy of service: ‘anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave.’ This is the governing Spirit of episcopal office for which we pray today. Shortly, Mgr. Carmelo, you will make the promises of a bishop. They start with all the duties that you accept concerning faithful teaching and unity with our Holy Father Pope Francis. They are also equally emphatic in duties towards the poor and to strangers and to all who are in need. With these promises you undertake to ‘seek out the sheep who stray and to gather them
into the fold of the Lord.’ And these promises make clear that you will only be able to fulfil them ‘in cooperation with the priests and deacons who share your ministry.’ So at this point I offer a particular greeting to those priests, deacons and lay people who have made the journey from Gibraltar to be with you as their new bishop. These are the people whom you promise so solemnly to work with in close cooperation. Indeed, a favourite theme of Pope Francis is that of the ‘closeness’ which must exist between a bishop and his priests. In a bishop, he says, ‘the priest must feel he has a father’. He continues: ‘If we take paternity away from priests, we cannot
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our faith, not only in our loving Heavenly Father and in the power of His Spirit, but also in His creation, the Catholic Church which stands in the line of apostles from its beginning to this day. It reaffirms our sense of purpose in the Church in every place: that of giving glory and praise to God.
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E p i s co p a l O r d i n a t i o n of M o n s i g n o r Ca r m e l o Za m m i t
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in the hidden Jewish cemetery which is on the south side of the Rock, looking away from the hostility to which those people were subjected. To be bishop of such a place is, I believe, a privilege and a challenge. It is to be responsible for an outpost of Europe, a place where all that Europe strives to stand for, is first to be met. The great Spanish writer, Ortega y Gasset, wrote that civilisation is, above all, the will to live together. That is what I found in Gibraltar.
ask them to be fathers. And thus the sense of God’s paternity is removed. The Son’s work is to touch human miseries: spiritual and corporal. Closeness. The Father’s work: to be a father, a Bishop-father.’ In these words of Pope Francis is your calling. The Diocese of Gibraltar, which is now being placed into your care, is a remarkable
place, as you know so well. In its history, tradition and location it is, in many ways, a microcosm of Europe with all the dramas, dangers and opportunities of Europe today. The most ancient name of Gibraltar is ‘Calpe’, found now only in its Latin motto, yet coming from the Phoenicians, its first inhabitants. The name Gibraltar comes from Islamic
sources: ‘Gibel Tarik’ and its history bears all the marks of long conflicts and changes of rulers. My own visit to Gibraltar left powerful impressions on me: impressions of being at the gateway of Europe, of being in a place where people of different histories have found ways of living together, perhaps most powerfully demonstrated
It is more important than ever for the Church in Europe, and therefore in Gibraltar, to proclaim and practice those values and qualities that lie at the heart of European civilisation.
These are truly fundamental values, that underpin derived values such as democracy, individual freedom, the rule of law and tolerance, important as they are. We must live and
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proclaim deeper values: the inalienable dignity of the person, from conception to natural death; the equality in dignity of every person; the freedom to live in truth and love. Flowing from these come the duty of accountability, the importance of deferring pleasure, the readiness to serve and the sense of vocation in life beyond profit and earthly inheritance. These values are not freestanding. They are not self-evident or self-justifying. Among us in Europe, they derive from their Judeo-Christian roots and will be sustained only within the context of our beliefs about human nature, the purpose of life and society. It is our task to live and to proclaim them and to remember other words of Ortega y Gasset that hatred is the one feeling which leads to the extinction of these values. A highlight of my brief visit to Gibraltar was to go to the shrine of Our Lady of Europe, standing literally at the edge of Europe, and recently having celebrated its 700th anniversary. Today we pray for her maternal intercession, that this precious
continent and heritage, to which we are all committed, may not lose its way or cease to live by its finest values. We pray that our witness, and the witness of this new bishop, will draw many to Christ in Whom is the fullness of our humanity and Who alone can save us from our fears and contradictions.
May Our Lady of Europe bless this son of Malta as he makes his journey to his new home. He has been called to the mouth of this Mediterranean Sea, whose waters carry, day by day, both such tragic loss of life and heroic generosity of service. May Our Blessed Lady bless your episcopal ministry
and strengthen us all to fashion anew our witness to the Gospel and to the peace which is its gift, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. H.E. Cardinal Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster
Saint Teresa of Calcutta
There is no alternative to Charity H
omily of His Holiness Pope Francis from the Holy Mass and Rite of Canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. Peter’s Square, 4 September 2016. “Who can learn the counsel of God?” (Ws 9:13).
This question, from the Book of Wisdom, heard in the first reading, suggests that our life is a mystery and that we do not possess the key to understanding it. There are always two protagonists in history: God and man. Our task is to perceive the call of God and then to do his will. But in order to do his will, we must ask ourselves, “What is God’s
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will in my life?” We find the answer in the same passage of the Book of Wisdom: “People were taught what pleases you” (Ws 9:18). In order to ascertain the call of God, we must ask ourselves and understand what pleases God. On many occasions the prophets proclaimed what was pleasing to God. Their message found a wonderful synthesis in the words “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Ho 6:6; Mt 9:13). God is pleased by every act of mercy, because in the brother or sister that we assist, we recognize the face of God which no one can see (cf. Jn 1:18). Each time we bend down to
the needs of our brothers and sisters, we give Jesus something to eat and drink; we clothe, we help, and we visit the Son of God (cf. Mt 25:40). We are thus called to translate into concrete acts, that which we invoke in prayer and profess in faith. There is no alternative to charity: those who put themselves at the service of others, even when they don’t know it, are those who love God (cf. 1 Jn 3:16-18; Jm 2:14-18). The Christian life, however, is not merely extending a hand in times of need. If it is just this, it can be, certainly, a lovely expression of human solidarity which offers immediate benefits, but it is sterile because it lacks roots. The task which the Lord gives us, on the contrary, is the vocation to charity in which each of Christ’s disciples puts his or her entire life at his service, so to grow each day in love. We heard in the Gospel, “Large crowds were travelling with Jesus” (Lk 14:25). Today, this “large crowd” is seen in the great number of volunteers who have come together for the
Jubilee of Mercy. You are that crowd who follows the Master and who makes visible his concrete love for each person. I repeat to you the words of the Apostle Paul: “I have indeed received much joy and comfort from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you” (Phm 1:7).
How many hearts have been comforted by volunteers! How many hands they have held; how many tears they have wiped away; how much love has been poured out in hidden, humble and selfless service!
This praiseworthy service gives voice to the faith and expresses the mercy of the Father, who draws near to those in need. Following Jesus is a serious
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task, and, at the same time, one filled with joy; it takes a certain daring and courage to recognize the divine Master in the poorest of the poor and to give oneself in their service. In order to do so, volunteers, who out of love of Jesus, serve the poor and the needy, do not expect any thanks or recompense; rather they renounce all this because they have discovered true love. Just as the Lord has come to meet me and has stooped down to my level in my hour of need, so too do I go to meet him, bending low before those who have lost faith or who live as though God did not exist, before young people without values or ideals, before families in crisis, before the ill and the imprisoned, before refugees and immigrants, before the weak and defenceless in body and spirit, before abandoned children, before the elderly who are on their own. Wherever someone is reaching out, asking for a helping hand in order to get up, this is where our presence – and the presence of the Church which sustains and
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offers hope – must be. Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defence of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded. She was committed to defending life, ceaselessly proclaiming that “the unborn are the weakest, the smallest, the most vulnerable”. She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on
the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity; she made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created. For Mother Teresa, mercy was the “salt” which gave flavour to her work, it was the “light” which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering. Her mission to the urban and existential peripheries remains for us today an eloquent witness
to God’s closeness to the poorest of the poor. Today, I pass on this emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life, to the whole world of volunteers: may she be your model of holiness! May this tireless worker of mercy help us to increasingly understand that our only criterion for action is gratuitous love, free from every ideology and all obligations, offered freely to everyone without distinction of language, culture, race or religion. Mother Teresa loved to say,
“Perhaps I don’t speak their language, but I can smile”.
Let us carry her smile in our hearts and give it to those whom we meet along our journey, especially those who suffer. In this way, we will open up opportunities of joy and hope for our many brothers and sisters who are discouraged and who stand in need of understanding and tenderness.
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Lifeguard Column by Nocolo F. Bernardo
editorial selected by Dr. Monique
The Patroness of Natural Family Planning Natural family planning, more often known in clinical circles as the “fertility awareness” method, was surprisingly the subject of a lecture given by a Nobel Peace Prize recipient 30 years ago.
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n December 11, 1979, the lecturer, notwithstanding her other remarkable contributions, focused on a rather controversial topic that must have raised the eyebrows of her elite European audience in liberal Oslo. At that moment, this “peace worker” was telling the world that her social work for natural family planning was among the things she would like to be remembered most. She was no other than the “living
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saint,” Blessed Mother Teresa. In her lecture, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity started with the story of the unborn babe in Elizabeth’s womb, St. John the Baptist, who “leaps with joy in her womb” as the Virgin Mary approaches with her unborn child. This unborn child was Jesus, who would later welcome all the unwanted: the poor, the sick, the homeless, the naked, and of course, the “most little one of these”—the unborn. Mother Teresa cared for this most neglected and defenceless
member of the human family, saying, “Let us make…every single child born and unborn, wanted.” Abortion, said Mother Teresa, was a “direct war” committed by the mother herself.
“If a mother can kill her own child in the cradle of her womb, who will be able to stop me and you killing one another?”
How is this war to be stopped? As her Missionaries did in India, Mother Teresa advocated adoption centres for unwanted babies and the prevention of unintended pregnancies through natural family planning. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity began teaching the method in 1967 after a postulate who trained in the Sympto-Thermal method joined them. Since then, the trained Sisters would visit families to teach about fertile
and infertile periods via charting or thermometer. Once a couple mastered the method, they are asked to instruct others in return.
Birth Control Through Self Control
It was in 1970 when a Natural Family Planning centre was opened in Calcutta, with 150 registered families. Its success drew the attention of the government of India which funded more studies on the method and excused practicing couples from the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s mandatory sterilization. (Indira was not related to the other Gandhi, Mahatma, who like Mother Teresa advocated “birth control through self-control” or brahmacharya. But despite their opposed views, Indira was a close friend to Mother Teresa, as they frequently visited and wrote letters to each other). By 1989, India’s Annual Report lists 69 Natural Family Planning Centres care of Mother Teresa’s nuns.
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Illiteracy had not been a barrier in teaching natural family planning. Take it from Mother Teresa, who taught no-read-andwrite poor couples how to chart their cycles using sticks! We can credit her for her creativity and resolute effort, which should be emulated by people of good faith who can make natural family planning part of any comprehensive social program for the poor, like our local Gawad Kalinga. “Another thing which is very beautiful,” she said in her speech, “we are teaching our
beggars, our leprosy patients, our slum dwellers, our people of the street, natural family planning.” Mother Teresa’s message is very timely for our country where families are supposedly struggling with extreme poverty and, either by ignorance or imprudence, not observing responsible parenthood. Due to the long standing association of “family planning” with “contraception,” promoting natural family planning can itself be daunting, as some would even believe that any
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Lifeguard Column by Nocolo F. Bernardo
form of responsible parenthood should not be taught at all. But Mother Teresa did not share this confusion. In fact she understood well that part of her mission is to introduce to people natural family planning— the Creator’s design in our reproductive system.
Even the Poorest of the Poor can understand NFP Mother Theresa went on to explain that in Calcutta alone over six years 61,273 fewer babies had been born because the couples they worked with were practicing this natural family planning. “And you know what they have told me?” Mother Teresa asked, “Our family is healthy, our family is united, and we can have a baby whenever we want.” Unlike other contraceptive methods, natural family planning works both ways of valuing sexuality and periods of abstinence, so it is in itself promoting moderation. Mother Teresa reiterated her point in another most publicized speech, before the National Prayer Breakfast at Washington,
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editorial selected by Dr. Monique Risso DC on February 3rd, 1994, before the pro-abortion and contraception Clintons. In her words: “I know that couples have to plan their family and for that there is natural family planning. The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, though contraception, a husband or a wife is doing something to self.” As to whether nuns and priests should involve themselves in teaching natural family planning, Mother Teresa recalled a poor parent who once told her, “You people who have practiced chastity, you are the best people to teach us natural family planning because it is nothing more than self-control out of love for each other.” In her other speeches, such as before the Nagasaki National University School of Medicine in April 1982, and in her other interviews, Mother Teresa would invite couples to practice natural family planning and for social workers to do the same since the method is effective and healthy— without any side effect.
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A feisty woman, Mother Teresa— unlike many pastors today who cannot even raise the issue before the pulpit— would not compromise her principles on the matter. She was staunch and pro-active on the subject. She took the same stand again during the 40th anniversary of the United Nations, when there was a premiere screening of a film on her life during the gala event. Her views certainly made her audience, not the least the UNFPA which supports abortion under special circumstances, uncomfortable. Navin Chawla, a Hindu civil service worker, writes thus in his book Mother Teresa: The Authorized Biography: “Both (Mahatma) Gandhi and Mother Teresa share a curious combination of religious conservatism and radical empiricism. At heart, Gandhi always remained deeply conservative. Mother Teresa,
too, has remained faithful to the official interpretation of Catholic doctrine, particularly on abortion and family planning….She is a true Vaishnavajana—a minstrel of God.” If Mother Teresa’s example would be actively emulated in all religious orders, societies, parishes, Catholic communities and schools, we would go far in averting incidents of “unwanted”
pregnancies and abortions especially among the poor.
Perhaps our times call for more Mother Teresas, fertile with vision and courageous, to spread responsible parenthood as a noble cause, a saintly mission.
To find out more about Natural Family Planning contact Dr. Monique Risso MB ChB MRCGP General Practitioner and NaPro Technology Physician at the Specialist Medical Clinic, Unit 7, First Floor, ICC Building, Casemates Square, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 49999 www.ladyofeuropefertilitycare.com
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Spiritual Formation
The strength of n So how much a relationship do we trust God? between two How much do we really trust him? When we ask God for persons can be something, do we genuinely that he is listening and measured by how believe will answer our prayers or do we have a niggling doubt in much you trust our minds and have a plan B the other party to waiting to be initiated in case does not deliver. Perhaps the relationship, he the greatest example of total in God is that of Mother whether you truly trust Teresa of Calcutta. The phrase “God will provide” became her believe that the guiding dogma, this was not other person will just something she said, but something she genuinely and be there for you wholeheartedly believed, and this is the basis of her impressive when you need ministry on earth, total faith in God. them.
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How Strong Relationship When the brilliant ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work with Mother Teresa for three months at “the house of the dying” in Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best to spend the rest of his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa. She asked, “And what can I do for you?” Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him. “What do you want me to pray for?” she asked. He voiced the request “Pray that I have clarity.” She said firmly, “No, I will not do that.” When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So
I will pray that you trust God.”
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Is your religion just a set of rules? When you think of your religion, what comes to your mind—a set of rules, regulations and obligations or a deep, intimate relationship with God? Yes, there are certain guidelines God wants us to follow, but His purpose in giving them to us is to protect us from the consequences of sin. When we have a real relationship with God through Christ, life gets exciting, because He stirs up a passion inside us to love people—and we don’t have to struggle to do the things He calls us to do. It just happens naturally. If there’s one thing people need to hear
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Cursillo Team Leaders
is YO U R with G O D? over and over again, it’s this: God loves you. That’s all there is to it. He may not like everything you do, but He’s never going to stop loving you. The greatest thing God wants to hear from us is, “I love You, Lord. Thank You for everything You have done in my life. I want to do what’s right. Keep teaching me.” Many of us don’t pray and ask God for what we need because we don’t think we have a right to ask. But the Bible says God wants us to learn how to receive His mercy, He wants us to come fearlessly and confidently before Him in prayer to receive His mercy and be forgiven. We become true Christians when we make the decision to receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour. And after we receive Him, God begins to change us into a brand-
new creation. We shouldn’t be making up religious rules to live by, like having to read our Bible every single day...
Christianity is
about living a vibrant, exciting life in Christ, and it goes hand in hand with developing a personal relationship with Him. Jesus wants us to be in love with Him. Life with Christ does not offer us immunity from difficulties but peace in difficulties. Joy is the result of faithful trusting acceptance of God’s will, even when it does not seem to be joyous.
God wants to be involved in everything we do. He wants us to talk with Him throughout our day just like we do with someone who is our close friend or family member. Knowing God loves us, loving Him, spending time with Him, and being grateful for what He’s done and is doing in our lives, can help us build a real relationship with Him. If you would like to get closer to God and enjoy all the peace and happiness that this will bring you, the Cursillo Movement offers you an excellent opportunity to
do this through our three day Cursillo Weekends. The next Cursillo weekends are being held at the Retreat Centre from the 13th till the 16th October for women and from the 10th till the 13th November for men. If you are interested in attending please contact us on 58008885 or send us an email on cursillogibraltar@gmail. com and we shall send you an enrolment form, we look forward to seeing you there. God Bless Cursillo Team Leaders
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he Little Angels Play Group are now meeting again after the summer break. We know that the family that prays together stays together, and how powerful children’s prayers are, sometimes even
deepening the Faith of their parents or grandparents. Give your little angels the best start in life as they learn about praying together and having fun under the watchful care of Davina Porro Gafan.
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Fr. Chris Thomas of the UK Catholic Charismatic Renewal writes...
Reading Scriptures Fr. Chris Thomas challenges us to encounter the Risen Jesus in the Scriptures and be transformed in the process.
M
any years ago I was in the throes of a deep depression when I met a woman who was put into my life to help me through the darkness.
She was a therapist. Her sharing with me helped me to see things differently and make the changes that I had to make in my life. I was challenged to let go and move on and see things differently. Often she would ask the question “where is your God in this?” I was moved to a deeper level of faith and personal awareness because of her.
Most of us will have had encounters with people that have changed our perceptions, enabled us to move on to a new stage in life and encouraged us always to trust in the presence of God. For me they are encounters with the risen Jesus, the one who became and becomes flesh who lived and lives among us. Encounters with the Lord will always involve change and conversion. The Scriptures are full of such meetings with the risen Jesus. Remember John’s account of breakfast on the shore and the way in which Peter had to change; or Thomas’ meeting with the risen Lord. Change, conversion, letting
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go, all happened as a result of those meetings.
If you don’t want to be changed, don’t read the Bible
Reading the Scriptures as the Word of God is about encountering God and allowing the stories that we read to propel us into the process of transformation, personally, socially, politically economically. In fact it is about being transformed in every way possible. If you don’t want to change then don’t read the Bible. If you‘re happy with your own way of doing things and your own views and understandings, don’t read the Scriptures. If you’re comfortable with doing Religious things and building up your own ego by doing them then don’t read the Scriptures. Transformation is not an easy road to travel and in fact it is one that most of us avoid at all costs. We do not want to have to face how we spend our money or how we vote. Nor about areas of acceptance, forgiveness, love and compassion, because they make us feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. We seldom want to mix with people who do not fit in with our narrow understandings of how people should be. If we are reading them as the Word of God, the Scriptures will force us to look at our inner lives, face our bitterness, our anger, our ultimate selfishness and allow those realities to be transformed. They will encourage us not to run away from pain and sorrow but to find life in them.
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as the
Word of God
Those areas are precisely where the Scriptures are pointing us and we avoid going there because it is costly.
The Scriptures will always challenge us to trust in God more than ourselves
They will confront us with our own smallness and our own greatness. They will defy us to be comfortable and inspire us to be open to change. They will invite us to live in the tension of the finite and the infinite.
You will become a new creation if you allow the Scriptures to become alive to you. This encounter with God can take us to places that we never dreamed possible. We can experience an inner freedom and an inner security beyond our wildest dreams. We can find love that will take our breath away and make life vibrant and thrilling. The Church teaches us that the Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Generations of believers have discovered that these books are alive and that somehow when we reflect on them and pray through them, they have a power to lead us into the whole process of transformation. Apparently the word ‘Gospel’ that we translate as Good News, was a word taken from a culture where war and battles were accepted as the norm and a Gospel was a message of victory that announced a new beginning. These Scriptures are to enable us to have a radical new beginning every time we read them and pray through them. Are you so familiar with these ancient books that you have lost your capacity to allow them to transform you? I’m sure you’ve heard it said
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that only those on the journey can really share the journey with others. What is the journey about? I think it’s about amazement. Are you amazed by the God you meet in the Scriptures or are you so familiar with these ancient books that you’ve lost your capacity to allow them to transform you? Do you know so much about the Scriptures, so much information that you can’t let them transform you because you think information is all it’s about? Or are you so amazed by the God you encounter that you begin to see with a new set of eyes. The relationship that the ancient peoples experienced is timeless. So their journey becomes our journey. It’s about encountering God and about transformation. If you’re not on a journey with God, you won’t understand the call the Scriptures are giving, to enter into the process of transformation. The bible is supposed to amaze us To read the Scriptures as the word of God is to enter into the process of transformation. In order to allow that to happen we have to let go of popular misconceptions about the bible. The bible’s not primarily a history book, a moral handbook or a manuscript to prove that God exists. It’s the faith story of a people called to grow in trusting and listening to the God who walks with us. Sadly many people are afraid of God and often try to control God or manipulate God into being what we want God to be. The bible is supposed to so amaze us that we fall in love with God and then everything’s up for grabs. We’ll go where God leads and be open to doing what God wants us to do. The living word of God draws us into an experience of God, an encounter with God where we know that God is alive and with us.
Rosemary Haughton, a feminist theologian, says this encounter is “a knife edge of experience”. Richard Rohr says “outside an experience of this kind of God, most religion will remain merely ritualistic, moralistic doctrinaire and largely unhappy”. The bible wants to draw us into an experience of God that is beyond our finite minds, and yet frees us to see and believe and hope and love. How are you going to respond? Are you going to trust, are you going to risk, are you willing to look stupid and foolish in order to journey and discover? What is this telling me about myself or about God? If you read the Scriptures, asking the right questions, like what is this telling me about myself or about God, what is this saying about my life? If you are asking questions like “Is God real?” “Can life be different
than it is?” “Can the Kingdom happen now?” “Can I encounter God now?” “Am I being transformed?” then maybe you’ll begin to get a foothold into what it’s about. If you’re on a journey of trying to listen and trust you’ll begin to understand. When I read the Scriptures I always pray for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit before I read. I always have a good commentary with me to enable me to understand the culture in which particular books were written and I pray that whatever is revealed to me, I will be willing to respond, whatever the cost Editorial from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Website http://www.ccr.org.uk/aboutccr/goodnews-articles/readingthe-scriptures-as-the-word-ofgod/#sthash.uNWeSLKw.dpuf
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