Wasting Time Productively

Last week, I read an article by the New York Times journalist in Sydney In which he was reflecting upon an afternoon walk along the beaches of Sydney.  His point was that we live in a world centred on busyness and achievement.  Whatever happened to just living life for the sake of life itself?  Why do we need a reason to live the day?  This theme arose for him during a pandemic when he was forced to stop and wait awhile.   

Here he was in a Sydney lockdown, an enforced time which may make anyone stop and think upon the deeper questions of life.  The 19th century American writer, Thoreau, reflected how so many just waste life.  His great line was something like - we need to suck out the marrow of life.  Powerful!

Here we are in lockdown in Bangkok.  After three months, masses continue online from a rarified atmosphere.  If we are still watching Sunday mass on YouTube, that says something about who we are and what we believe.  Is it not time to start asking some of the deeper questions about who we are as church?  

So as we gather as church online every Sunday: 

Does it matter to you that you cannot receive the eucharist sacramentally at this time?  

Does the experience of doing without the normal routine of life make you appreciate more fully who we are?  

What keeps you going as who you are?  

What nourishes your spirit? 

As we social distance, what do you miss and not miss, and what does that say?  

What is this experience of online mass like?  

God is real.  This is more than words.  What does it mean?  

Eucharist is about much more than receiving communion.  It has to be or else why keep watching mass online?  Mass focuses upon sharing our story and remembering Jesus, the Lord.  Without story and memory, we are empty vessels.  So questions are worth asking and pondering.  Taking time to reflect upon the mystery of life is essential.  

Let us happily waste time productively.  Let us be church to the full.   

It's for Everyone

Karl Rahner sj (1904-1984)

Most would associate being a mystic with Teresa of Avila or John of the Cross, or one of the other great saints of the church but not with ordinary citizens; not with the likes of you or me.  Karl Rahner, one of the great theologians of the last century disagreed.  He was not confined by such normal human constructs, plainly prophesying about us - "the Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not be a Christian anymore."  

As far as I can estimate, Rahner made this statement in the 1960s.  It is such an apt challenge for the time of a pandemic that I ask myself what made him say this?  It now reads as a perfect prophecy for Christians today, caught in unending lockdowns.   

Rahner could identify the infinite possibilities of humanity for God is part of who we are.  God is not far away.  The two, the human and divine, are one joined together in life by a God who chooses to be intimately united with his creation.  

We don't have to try and dissect this as God is mystery, being neither defined nor limited by the human.  God is part of the fabric of who we are.  That is the way it is.  So we are called to intimate union with God.  This union is open to everyone of us, deepening our humanity, sustaining it and giving it ever greater purpose.

But do we even know this precious opportunity exists for each and every one of us?  How sad, if as Christians regularly practising Church ritual, we never experience God as our intimate lover.  Christianity is not defined by institutions.  It is here to enable us to live our faith, to know and love God as one so intimately part of who we are.  We are limited by our human condition but our human potential is limitless due to the divine with us.  

The great insight of Rahner for us is that God calls us to join the essential human quest for an experience of the sacred here and now.  This fulfils our human longing.      .      

It's the Little Things that Matter

I tend to go on and on.  That is how I feel this week as I face an upsetting moment or two in life.  I remember once meeting Margaret Whitlam at an evening where her husband, Goiugh, had spoken.  By then, he was ex-PM of Australia.  Of course, both now are well and truly with God.  I congratulated her on what a great speaker Gough was, to which, she replied:  "He does go on a bit, don't you think?"

In the midst of a pandemic, that seems to be going on a bit too long, what is needed is more simplicity.  Enough of long tirades or exposes.  Enough of trying to pull everything apart.  Deal with the little things of life so that the bigger things may seem less daunting.  

I must follow my own philosophy in life - find your little corner in the world and give it all you've got from there.  What more can one do?    

What a priest should truly do

Crossword

This week, a family asked me to bless their house and rental property.  So off I went on a guided tour of Bangkok.  My guides for the trip were the mum and their 11 year old son, home on holidays.  The morning finished with lunch at the family home.  
 

After lunch, I judged my duty was done until the son asked me to play Crossword.  How could I say No?  Even if somewhat reluctant, I joined him for a game.  On getting into the game, I discovered that it was fun.  At the end of the game, I judged that this was good work of a priest.  To spend time with a 11 year old lad playing Crossword, while his mother was keeping score, was a special way to encounter a family.  I would hope that this simple encounter would leave a good memory and build better relationships.   

Is this not at the core of being church?  We are about simple, human experience leading to deeper realities.  Our ministry does not always have to be theological and heavy and complicated.  Just having good fun with people is every bit as important.  There is not enough of that simple fun.    

By the way, I did not win but I would say that it was time well spent as a priest and I so enjoyed the game.   As they say, the best things in life are free.  I would also say the best fun is simple fun.