Author Archives: livedgospel2013

Educating for the Lived Gospel #117

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)

This Christmas story is very low key. The Saviour is born, but in very humble circumstances. The adult Jesus champions the poor and outcast and is himself born on the outer. For us, Christmas is about family. Yet, this Christmas, how will we follow Jesus’ example and go out to those in need around us? Jesus is born in a feeding trough. This Christmas, how will we follow Jesus’ example and feed others?
Young people can mistake Christmas as a time of ‘getting’ or ‘having’. We need to help them turn toward others, rather than focus on themselves. What can they give – especially to those in need? Who can they feed – physically or metaphorically?
Have a great week!
Patrick

Educating for the Lived Gospel #116

Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:23)

As Christians, what we now understand as the Trinity didn’t develop for about another century after the writing of the Gospel of John. But the seeds of an understanding of the Trinity are here. At this point of the Gospel, readers have heard more than once from Jesus that ‘the Father and I are one’. Such mutual in-dwelling is behind this passage. Simply, when we keep God’s word, God is with us. But it is much richer that that. Emphasising God’s relational nature, when we keep God’s word, we become part of the divine in-dwelling. If God is with us or we are with God, it gives us a stable centre for everything else in our lives.
 
The lives of young people can be turbulent – for a variety of reasons. By offering them opportunities for service, for the sacraments, for prayer, we increase the likelihood that they will develop a peaceful centre to which to return. This ground of wholeness, of peace, of goodness… that we call God.
 
Have a great week!
Patrick

Educating for the Lived Gospel #115

So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27)

 
Firstly, we say that, as humans, we are made in God’s image. Surely, amongst many other things, this verse attests to the basic goodness of each person. For each of us this attests, despite our feelings on any given day, that “I am created in God’s image’. The verse also speaks of how men and women are created in God’s image. Women and men have not, nor never will be, the same. But the power and import of this ancient passage seems to have ‘lost out’ for many centuries in any battle against cultural forces. As people of faith, we need to affirm the goodness and dignity of each person.
 
Our task is to ensure that young people hear the message that each of them are good and that we continue to affirm that message by our dealings with them.
 
Have a great week!
Patrick

Blindsided

I sit here

Blinking back tears

Flying home

Over the starkly beautiful

Ochre red country

Of Central Australia

Having experienced

A four day ‘intensive’

In Timor Leste.

While ostensibly

For professional, educational purposes

I have been blindsided

By the depth of

My emotions

Due to my connection

with the Henriques family

over nearly 30 years

I had spoken of this trip

As ‘closing a circle’

But I now realise

It has been much more

There is

an ember

of my reaction

to the atrocities committed

against the people of Timor Leste

my country

partly to blame.

This ember was fanned into flame

As I was given the ‘royal’ treatment

Through the Resistance Museum

The intensity of that flame

Startled me

What had I done?

I’d tried (and still do) to educate and

Raise awareness

But here I was

Finally

In Timor Leste

The tsunami of pain

Which began in 1975

Which touched my life in 1985

Continues to leave

A trail in its wake

The healing and development

Of Timor and its people

Has begun

But it is a slow task

I hope to continue to walk part of that journey

With them

Educating for the Lived Gospel #114

for the Spirit will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)

 
In the context of his imminent arrest, passion, death and seeming ‘departure’, Jesus is assuring his disciples that the Holy Spirit will always be with them. In this verse, Jesus is speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit, ‘who will speak whatever he hears’. In reference to this verse, Frank Moloney said that it was as though the Trinity were gathered around the divine kitchen table, thus the Holy Spirit can share the wisdom he has heard. It is a rich, warm, intimate image that has stayed with me. God’s word comes to us in different ways and through different people. Who has touched your heart with God’s word?
As our young people thirst for meaning, may each of us live out God’s calling to us. Living authentically, we can touch the hearts of the young people in our care with God’s word – by our deeds…or our words.
 
Have a great week!
Patrick

Timor Leste

Four intense days

How can I make sense of all

That I experienced?

In essence, as always, it is

About people.

 

Bureaucracy changes face

But its bizarre logic is familiar.

Young babies still reach out

And grab whatever they can

With all their might.

 

People aspire

People experience disappointment

People are frustrated

People hope

 

Language

Skin colour

‘Level of development’

are unimportant.

 

Friendship

Community

Service

Ministry

Faith

These are central, as always

 

“You do justice where your feet are”

A wise man said

 

Where are your feet?

How are you acting for justice?

 

Educating for the Lived Gospel #113

He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (1 Kings 19:11-13)

As humans, we can be impressed by the grand, the huge – by ‘bells and whistles’. One of the reasons that I am moved by this passage is that it reminds me that I need to be alert to God at unexpected times and places. It also encourages me to make the time to hear the silence or what is also translated as a ‘still, small voice’. This could be easily drowned out by the busyness of life!
While we tell the young people in our care that community service is an opportunity to live their faith, it would not seem very ‘impressive’ to them. One of the beauties of the service opportunities we offer to young people is that it can allow them to see the ‘face of Jesus’ in those they serve and those with whom they serve. We need to give them a framework within which they can reflect upon their experience. The rest is up to God!
Have a great week!
Patrick

Educating for the Lived Gospel #112

Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains. (John 9:39-41)

John 9 is the masterfully-told story of the man born blind. There is so much to ponder over in this story. It is well worth one or more prayerful readings. The reader follows the story of the man born blind coming to sight then slowly coming to faith. This is juxtaposed with the physical sight of the Pharisees who cannot see the truth of Jesus. To paraphrase noted Johannine scholar Frank Moloney, the certainty of their sight does not allow them to comprehend God’s vertical in-break in the person of Jesus. It is easy to get ‘wrapped up’ in ourselves, so that we become spiritually blind. Blind to our failings, blind to the reality of others. It is interesting that the sin of the Pharisees is their blindness to Jesus and their driving the blind man out of the synagogue – the centre of the Jewish community. How inclusive are we? Do we remain open to God’s surprises?
 
Young people can be very inclusive of others. They can also be very certain in their knowledge – very ‘black and white’. Another of our tasks is to help young people to see the ‘greys’ in life – to help them to be open to God’s surprises. Especially when what can seem like a ‘death’ is, in fact, a birth!
 
Have a great week!
Patrick

 

Educating for the Lived Gospel #111

I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed. (Luke 1:3-4)

This passage, taken from the prologue of Luke’s Gospel, tells us that this Gospel builds upon the work of another Gospel, is based on eyewitness accounts and is designed for those people who have already been taught about Jesus. When we look more closely at the Greek text, an alternate translation is ‘so that you may be assured of the well-foundedness of the teaching that you have received’. If they needed to be assured, they may have had doubts. If they had doubts about 50 years after the death of Jesus, it is OK for us to have doubts, too.
 
Assuring young people that their doubts can be part of a faith journey is an important message. Many of us want certainty – but it is not called ‘a leap of faith’ for nothing!
 
Have a great week!
Patrick 

 

Educating for the Lived Gospel #110

Then they told Peter what had happened on the road, and how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24:35)

Clearly, one meaning of this passage is that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. But a fuller meaning also focusses on the everyday nature of breaking bread together in the first century. This is where the word ‘companion’ comes from – someone with whom I share bread’. So they recognised that Jesus is with them when they gather to share food and fellowship. Pope Francis speaks beautifully of a ‘journey faith’ in a recent interview  We need to have the eyes of faith to see Jesus in the reality of our lives. We may also recognise him in hindsight.
Sharing our faith of recognising Jesus in the Eucharist AND community can be a powerful learning for the young people in our care. May we help them to develop the eyes of faith to recognise Jesus in their companions on the journey.
 
Have a great week!
Patrick