An era of change or change of an era?

Pope Francis speaks of our living in a time of era change, not our simply living with the constant of change.  I am with himon this.  What is telling is that Francis was presenting this challenge to us before the onslaught of the pandemic.  A pandemic served to hasten the supposed inevitable.     

We live in tumultuous, crazy times, but, as my neighbour often reminds me - when aren't times crazy?  There is the tragedy of continuing wars, highlighted by the present one in Ukraine.  There is the ongoing health crisis hanging over our global head, and there is so much more.  There are foreboding signs of a world that will suffer food and energy crises due to war and other major contributing factors.  Climate change remains Number 1 global crisis as it is about the future of our planet.  Poverty and inequality remain  as destructive forces hitting humanity.  

It is like our world could fall apart, but it won't.  Rather are these not poignant times heralding great change, creating not the perfect world, but the world of the next era in history?   As we face the unknown and the fear that comes with it, let us take to heart the lessons of the pandemic.  

For me, the pandemic taught us about the mysteyr of life, the place of spirituality to nourish life and the value of communion to sustain life.  

So let us move on in life.  As always, we are in transition, but seemingly specially at this time.  The prersent Synod of the universal Church will help us reach the new era. Let us embrace the synodal path, praying its prayer to invite the Spirit to operate within us, forming us into a community and people of grace.  

            We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in Your name.

With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts;

Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it.

We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder.

Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions.

Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.

All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time, in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever.  Amen. 

Do we get it?

 

St Charles de Foucauld - I want to cry the Gospel with my life.  

To act little is okay.  To act little achieves big.  By doing what we can, we are doing our bit.  I may wish to stop the war in Ukraine, but can I?  No, we say that is impossible, but this is not the end of the story.  If we all do our little bit, it is like building blocks coming together.  We are creating something big and strong, a world where our Ukraines and Syrias meet their match.  

Charles de Foucauld lived the life of a hermit in a remote part of North Africa. He was a man of faith, prayer and vision, but ever alone, being murdered as an unknown to the outside world.  Still that was not the end of his story for he became the inspiration for many following his path beyond his death.  Such is the mystery of life.  

Our faith is defined by mystery.  De Foucauld would say - "The good you do depends not on what you say or do but on what you are".  We are primarily who we are.  We are spiritual by nature.  There is more to us than what we see, know and touch.  We go so much deeper.  What we do gives expression to who we are.  It is to be remembered that, while spiritual, our faith is very physical.  

I saw this at a recent funeral where people from very diverse backgrounds and cultures came together to bury their dear friend and loved one.  Given the way they do funerals here, the celebration was very physical, as family and friends worked together to lift and carry the body at various times.  They actively showed how they were united to care for their dead companion.  It was amazing to watch.  

It is Laudato Si Week.   In his encyclical to the world, Laudato Si, Pope Francis challenges us to care for and love our common home.  The message is clear - by doing our little bit, we can make our world a better place and help save the planet. 

The challenge of the Church Synod to us is uncompromising - get involved.  Pope Francis offers the three-fold challenge: communion, participation, mission.  We are all to do our little bit and it matters that we do so to make it a better church.  

Little is important.  Don't just be overcome by the big.  Do we get it?  

     

RRS-101A

Respect, Responsibility, Solidarity!  These are the key words that remain with me arising out of the pandemic.  Hopefully, humanity has learnt much from Covid.  Otherwise, it has all been somewhat in vain, just another world crisis, waiting for the next one.  Well, the next one did not take long to come with the onset of a war in Ukraine. 

I easily feed into the big issue.  No matter how righteous the issue may be, it remains out there without my making any dent on it, except letting out a lot of hot air.  Better I step back? 

Yves Congar, a great theologian of last century, reflected there was no need to create another church, just to create a different one.  In line with this, there is a line attributed to St Augustine - "Ecclesia semper reformanda est".  This is the living principle that the church is ever reforming itself.  Maybe I better focus my energy on reform, instead of ever falling into the trap of being the campaigner getting nowhere.  

Our world so badly needs a new paradigm.  In line with Pope Francis' insight that the earth and its peoples are crying, let's listen to what they are saying.  It is obscene to see how we are fighting each other and the earth, and the extent to which we are doing so.  Our present paradigm isn't working.  Our world so badly needs a new paradigm. 

The RRS Paradigm for our new era?   

Respect - We are all created and loved by God.  Everyone has their God given worth, dignity.  

Responsibility - We all have our role, our place in the world.  Live it out! 

Solidarity - Through the one creator, we share a deep and unending bond.     

  

Life can be a bind

Over 450 years ago, Christianity first arrived in then Siam, with the coming of missionary priests to serve the Portuguese community then resident in Ayutthaya.  It was 100 years later, with the coming of French missionaries, that the Catholic Church began a significant, missionary presence in the Kingdom of Siam.  

In 2022, the church in Thailand remains insignificant numerically, but not so in presence, for it is known as a body that offers care and compassion to people in their need.  Herein lies its bind.  It has a presence within Thai society and culture, that is appreciated and stands the test of time, while it remains misunderstood and unknown within the same parameters.  Locally, it is regarded with a certain level of suspicion, being seen as a tool for exerting foreign influence.  Does this particular bind not reflect our experience of life? 

Life appears on the surface in one way but underneath lies another interpretation.  It is the underneath interpretation, the hidden agenda, that matters the most.   The military in Myanmar offer their people democracy, but illiberal democracy that allows oppression.  

On the surface, it is seen that humanity is hurting, that the world is a violent place, but there is a hidden agenda, often forgotten or unrecognized.  As Pope Francis writes in his Message for Vocations Sunday 2022: "Each man and woman receives with the gift of life a fundamental calling: each of us is a creature willed and loved by God".  It is the hidden agenda that matters.   

A new world is ever possible

"Come, Holy Spirit!  You inspire new tongues and place words of life on our lips: keep us from becoming a “museum Church”, beautiful but mute, with much past and little future.  Come among us, so that in this synodal experience we will not lose our enthusiasm, dilute the power of prophecy, or descend into useless and unproductive discussions.  Come, Spirit of love, open our hearts to hear your voice!  Come, Holy Spirit of holiness, renew the holy and faithful People of God!  Come, Creator Spirit, renew the face of the earth!  Amen." 

This is Pope Francis' prayer on introducing the Synod on Synodality in October 2021.  This synod is about founding a new way of our being church.  As Francis says, in quoting Yves Congar, a Dominican theologian, we do not need another church, just a different church.   

The same can be said of our world.  We do not look for another world, we just build a different one.  After my ANZAC Day experience at Hellfire Pass, I so concur with this summation.  Our world no longer needs brute force to rule the day, nor more absurd wars.  Enough of humanity heaping more cruelty ono its own kind and Mother Earth.  Rather let the human sprit for good run free and raise up new and fruitful ways of our dealing with each other and our earth.   

Let us find new ways for us to recreate world and church together, exerting power with and for, not over and against.  As evil exists in the world through us, so good also exists through us.  Let us never forget that good, not evil, has ultimately won the day.  In meeting Jesus, the Risen Lord, life is truly changed forever. So we take up the challenge to build a new world, a new church.  All is possible.   

Maybe St Catherine of Siena (14th Century) had another way of expressing this.  Simply put, she wrote -  "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."