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 

Educating for the Lived Gospel #109

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
I love John’s Gospel! There is something about its poetry, its majesty that speaks to me on a very deep level. I was fortunate to have Frank Moloney as my lecturer and guide who helped awaken the passion in me. This poetic passage affirms our belief that Jesus (the Word) was fully human (flesh), something that comes from the Greek that can also be translated as ‘blood and guts’. Glory is a theme in John’s Gospel, mostly in reference to God’s glory. The passage also emphasises that the Gospel is based in eyewitness testimony, ‘we have seen his glory’. Do we have the eyes to see the glory of those who are fully alive around us? It might be a colleague or a young person. Our vocation puts us in a very privileged position.
 
The Incarnation is at the heart of our faith. We are each imbued with God’s glory. We need to encourage our young people to remember that they are constantly in God’s presence – in the form of the people in their lives. This faith leads us to respect ourselves and all around us. That will help to turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh – and witness God’s glory, daily.
 
Have a great week…and term!
Patrick

Educating for the Lived Gospel #108

Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:10)

Thus, whenever we rely on God in our time of weakness, we are granted the strength we need. Another aspect of this quote is that we build the body of Christ together, not alone. We each have our skills, abilities and gifts. It can be easy to get ‘carried away’ and get an inflated sense of ourselves. What difficulties can teach us, if we enough faith to be open to the lesson, is that when the going gets tough, we need to rely on God more. Our society values self-reliance – yet when we rely on God, extraordinary things can happen. The gifts and talents of others, which may not have been glimpsed, can come to the fore. By not focussing solely on our own abilities, we become more open to the Spirit’s promptings about others and ourselves.
In their journey towards maturity, self-reliance can seem attractive to young people. And it is not evil, but like many things in life, we need a balance. Young people experience their share of ‘weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities’. By encouraging them towards prayer and sharing our stories of reliance on God, young people may find solace in their difficulties, as well as grow in faith.
Have a great week…and holiday (if you get one)!
Patrick

Educating for the Lived Gospel #107

Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? (Matt 7:3)

It’s terribly easy to find fault with others. After all, we have an ‘objective’ view. The twin imperatives of justice and compassion should direct our gaze elsewhere. In justice, I acknowledge my own failings. By doing so, I am able to be more compassionate toward others and their failings. In that way, I build community through right relationships.
Developmentally, young people are ‘caught up in their own stuff’. Given that they are in the midst of the delicate task of ego-building and meaning-making, we need to tread carefully. We need to help them glimpse their limitations, without crushing them, to build compassion in them. We also have a responsibility to hold them accountable for their failings. It is also our task to show the young people in our care that the doing of justice lies inward as well as outward. As it has been said, ‘the world will only change if we do’.
Have a great week!
Patrick

The bullet that stopped an illicit Irish Mass

The story that follows is from my friend and writer extraordinaire, Brian Doyle. It was published in Eureka Street 4 Sept 2013

One night I was sitting with a friend whose people had fled County Donegal many years ago. More properly we were asked to leave, said my friend; or, more properly still, we were made to leave, by the bailiffs; most properly, if we are using exact words, we were evicted, and had to live in the wet lanes and fields, and the few of my people who did not starve to death, or die of the fever, made their way onto boats, hiding in the stench of scuppers and holds, and those who did not die at sea survived in the new lands, and eventually produced me.

But we remember, we remember. For example, he said, here is a story you should know.

One morning in Donegal, during the time when the penal laws forbade Catholics to assemble for Mass, a farmer herds his four black cows into a corral, along with one white one. This is a sign to his fellow Catholics as to where Mass will be held at noon; this sign of four and one means in a particular hedge under a hill. The people casually drift away from their work before noon and assemble silently around a rock where the Mass will be celebrated.

The priest is a fellow age 40. He gets halfway through the Mass, but just as he elevates the host, just as he lifts it to accept and accomplish the miracle, he is drilled between the eyes with a bullet from a British soldier on the hill. The priest falls down dead and the host flutters into the mud. The usual uproar then ensues and several men are arrested and the priest is buried in a pauper’s grave.

The soldier was a man age 40 also, with a son about age ten. He finishes his year of duty in Ireland and goes home to Bristol. His son is a scholarly lad and goes to university and then into the ministry. At age 30 the boy is a curate, with all his future smiling before him, and there were many who thought he would be bishop before long.

But something happens and the boy grows more and more interested in how Anglicanism grew from Catholicism. This is a dangerous road and his superiors frown upon his inquiries, but he persists. When he is 35 he makes the break, and converts to Catholicism. Five years later he is a Catholic priest, to the immense dismay of his father.

One night the father, terribly frustrated and angry, loses his temper, and tells his son something he has never confessed to a soul, not even to his late wife, the boy’s mother: that he shot and killed a priest just as the priest was about to celebrate the instant when Catholics believe the very essence of the Creator incomprehensibly enters a scrap of bread held high in the air.

The son covers his face with his hands as the father, shouting, says he never regretted that shot for an instant, and that he never made such a fine shot before or since, and that the priest and his fellow conspirators got what they deserved, just that, only that, exactly that.

A month later the son, having researched the annals of the constabulary for the incident, and visited the village, and asked its oldsters where hedge Masses were held in the dark days, finds the rock under the hill, and gathers the villagers one morning, and finishes the Mass that was interrupted 30 years before by a bullet. When Mass is over he and the villagers bury an unconsecrated host and a bullet in the earth by the rock, and then they all trail along back to the village.

Now that is a story you should know, said my friend, and you tell it yourself, when you can, and the more people who know it the fewer bullets there will be, perhaps.

Educating for the Lived Gospel #106

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13)

How easily we can be caught up in our tasks, our responsibilities, our worries! At those times we forget about the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit who can guide us, encourage us, strengthen us – guiding us into the truth about ourselves, our world and God’s plan. We can fall into the trap of waiting for the ‘moment of revelation’. The truth has more frequently come to me on a ‘drip feed’. I think that is why the metaphor of journey to describe faith resonates so strongly with so many people. We have some direction, but we can take wrong turns. We have travelling companions – some for longer than others. Sometimes we glimpse the road ahead – but rarely our destination. I look back on my life’s journey – and thank God – and not just for the ‘highs’. ‘Our cups must be hollowed by sorrow so that they can be filled to the brim with joy’ (Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet).
 
Young people can want it all – right now! We can share some of our story, our journey with young people. This might reassure them that it is enough to have a direction and some companions for the journey, as it can all change without notice!
 
Have a great week!
Patrick

 

Educating for the Lived Gospel #105

Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 18:3)

 
This quote flies in the face of our society which urges us to grow up and be responsible and productive members. How can we ‘become like children’? Children exude joy, love and acceptance. Children can be excited by seemingly small things – frequently by the wonders of nature. As Teilhard de Chardin said, ‘Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God’. You know when you are loved by a child – there is no doubt, no holding back, as they wrap their arms around you. ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). Young people do not see the divisions created by adults – divisions of race or colour – ‘the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ (1 Sam 16:7)
It is our role to slow some young people down from their headlong rush to ‘grow up’. We need to remind them of the importance of joy, love and acceptance – encouraging them to hold on to those qualities – as well as doing our best to model them.
Have a great week!
Patrick

Educating for the Lived Gospel #104

The Lord says, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (Is 49:16)

Mistakenly, people categorise the Old Testament as portraying a God of vengeance. Clearly, this passage portrays a God who cares about each person intimately. This is not a distant God, nor a judging God, but a God of love – who loves each of us in a deeply personal way. A God who is fittingly called abba – not ‘father’, so much as ‘daddy’. Our own self-doubts prevent us from fully perceiving this about God. ‘God is love’ – but not for me. We cannot earn God’s love – it is gift, freely and lavishly given! Operating out of our limitations, we can create a God made in our image, a God of fear and judgment; then do greater damage by foisting that on others.
Young people are finding their way – thirsting for meaning. They can search for it in unhelpful places – some are hedonistic places, others can be places that numb their existential ache. It seems to me that if they could more fully grasp the intimate love that their creator has for them, as the quote suggests, this would be a great benefit to them. Our task is to be God’s heart and hands, showing God’s love for them as best we can.
Have a great week!
Patrick

 

Educating for the Lived Gospel #103

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

Thus, the Gospel message of justice was continuing a theme that had been part of Judaism for centuries. As humans, we can complicate matters. We can also be paralysed because we’re not sure how to move forward. This passage states clearly and simply what is required of us as people of faith – do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. It is interesting to note that we are required to build relationships and community – through justice and kindness. What might walking humbly with God look like? Someone who is open to God’s presence around them – in people and in what Franciscans refer to as the ‘Book of Nature’. Someone who fosters their relationship with God through prayer. Someone who knows their gifts and talents – and knows they are all God’s grace.
Young people love the doing of justice – but may need our help to see it ‘close to home’. We can guide them by our words and actions towards kindness – for others and themselves. Our greatest task – and challenge – is to help them foster their faith and their relationship with God – through prayer and wonder at creation, including the wonder of their own gifted creation.
Have a great week!
Patrick