Saturday 22 October 2011

International Grief Conference -Melbourne Victoria 2011

Hello friends,
Had a really heavy but very interesting and exciting week this week.  I had the opportunity to attend an international grief conference here in Melbourne (2 full days-phew exhausting) listening to speakers on the topic of grief. 
Dr Colin Murray Parkes (UK).,Dr Irwin Sandler,Dr Carol Wogrin, Dr Cecilia L W Chan,
Dr Simon Shimshon Rubin, Dr Ruth Malkinson, Dr Kenneth Doka, Dr. Therese Rando.What an array of speakers and ways of speaking the message.  It was held in beautiful surroundings and the topics and themes were marvellous. 
These international researchers and speakers on the issue of grief and management, of mourning, meaning of bereavement help us to understand better the grief  in our society, that is all manner of grief, and help us with ideas on how to bring some help to sufferers.
It was marvellously attended, I would have said over 300 attendees.
All the speakers were excellent each brought to listeners their style and knowledge and words, but not one word about abortion and yet there was not one speaker's lecture that could not be fitted to the abortion grief, or what I already do with my "girls"
However I think that for me the most moving moment came at the end of Dr Ruth Malkinson's presentation when she finished with the words and recording Jewish prayer sung at the time of death of a loved one. And slide showed words.  This was also prayed at my Father in Laws death years ago.
"Merciful God in Heaven, grant perfect repose to the soul of.......who has passed to his eternal habitation; and in whose memory, the members of his family pledge charity. May he be under thy divine wings among the holy and pure who shine bright as the sky; may his place of rest be in paradise. Merciful one, O keep his soul forever alive under thy protective wings.  The Lord being his heritage may he rest in peace; and let us say, Amen.
 At the conclusion of the word Amen...there was a palpable silence, and a tear, and then applause.
Each  of the speakers brought an element of religion and an appreciation of the importance of the spiritual in each human being and this really made me happy because if this starts at the "top" of the hierarchy of "grief experts" then perhaps those who study "grief"might also begin to see that grief without God is so much harder to bear.
Thank you to Fr Ray for making it possible for me to attend this conference.

Monday 17 October 2011

Salt of the Earth Mtt. 5:13

This week this term “salt of the earth” seemed to have floated past my ears and past my vision so often that I had to stop and listen or see if it was trying to say something to me.  I looked it up.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It   is good for nothing and can only be thrown out to be trampled under people’s feet.”

It seems that salt is so important that it holds the earth or makes the earth better, but if it loses its flavour then it’s useless and suitable for throwing out.

What does this mean?

 Well to start with, salt is a white sandy type of substance which is found both in sea water and on land and is a substance which is required by both human species and the animal species as part of their life and diet.   For us human people who cook and preserve we need salt to flavour and to preserve at least olives, and peperoni and aubergines and sardines etc. Salt is a preservative which prevents undesirable things happening to what we are trying to preserve.  flavour our food.  Imagine trying to eat pasta and meatballs without putting salt in the boiling water which cooks the pasta. Not an option!  And I am sure it has many other uses. So Salt is naturally available and a very much needed substance.

So it must be important and Jesus must have known this because he used a known and valuable substance in order to make a point.   That was his style. His parables clearly show this.  He used what his listeners understood, wheat, flour, vineyard, wine, water, labour, so it should not come as a surprise that he used salt to explain a very important point and it must have been a very important point because salt was once considered more precious than gold. A golden lesson!!!

So what was Jesus saying and why was it speaking to me “salt of the earth” this week?

The only thing that I can think of is that as a believer in Him and a lover of Him I have to endure. I have to help make the way of the other better.  . I have to be stable and not run after other voices. I have to “flavour” those who come into or are in my life.  I have to be that “thing” which makes my life and the life of others in my care have “Taste”  and those who come into that life know, experience, feel that taste. Otherwise if this is not I what I do then all the words and works are tasteless and useless.



It’s a hard saying

Jerusalem Bible.  

Sunday 16 October 2011

Diakonia-Service-Charisms

Diakonia a Greek word for “service” especially to one’s community of brothers and sisters.  Within a community God will manifest His many gifts, giving or even enhancing to some or to each their own special talent.  Within a community the donation of gifts by the Holy Spirit is done so that all may benefit from the special charism, (1Cor. 14:4-6) but more especially so that pride may not be found in its members.
The Holy Spirit distributes His gifts where He will so that the whole body may be served for the good of all (1Cor. 12:7). Therefore the gifts distributed to an individual is not particular to that individual or for that individual’s benefit or profit but to be at the service of the brothers and sisters.  The people do not choose gifts but it is the Spirit who chooses the recipient of the gift.
Because the Church is the “body of Christ” and its individual members are part of this whole “body” so too the gifts are for the “whole body” and all the “parts” (or members) are to be concerned for each other (1Cor.12: 25).
The guiding principle of the charisms is the action that the gifts will accomplish for and on behalf of the body, that is, that all may be done for the upbuilding, maintenance and edification of all within the living organism the “body of Christ.”

Whilst St. Paul does name and number  some gifts and names some as more  superior, e.g. (apostles, prophets, teachers) and those for the spiritual development of humankind (proclamation of the word gifts), he continues by suggesting that even though some charisms may appear superior to others indeed there is one gift which is far more superior than all of them.  LOVE. Which is “a still more excellent way.” (1Cor.12:31)

All charisms are directed towards the service of all others however, LOVE, is directed towards God and neighbour.  LOVE always acts vertically rather than horizontally, that means heavenward, because all ministries are designed to be beacons  directing   those on the journey and the journey must end.  However, when that journey ends all that remains is the love shown, experienced, and shared, along the way. All manner of service ends but Love cannot because Love returns to Love.
Diakonia for me seems to speak of service to the other but Diakonia like Koinonia and Sacrament have a deeper meaning.  The reality of Diakonia (service) is that it is a service carried out in the dimension of the Cross, and for members of the household of God.  There is a dimension to Diakonia, which is not found in any other service industry.
This kind of “service” has the imagery of Jesus with the towel wrapped around his waist washing feet. It is the “master” serving the “slave” This dimension of service can only be found where the “body” has taken the Lord’s word seriously.  It is love in the dimension of or service to the cross.

Whilst the diaconate (deacons) were established for a service to the body, they understood the service to be a command from their Lord.  This service was not a service based on mundane outcomes (even though it could involve mundane outcomes) but a service, which elevated mundane actions to supernatural outcomes.  This service was done because of the “better way” Love.  This service was to be done because “love” was and is the propelling motive, and the fuel propelling love, is Jesus Christ.  To be able to serve “the enemy” is to be of service in the dimension of love.

 Bibliography:
New Revised Standard Version.



Thursday 6 October 2011

Agitation of the Spirit

Where there is an agitation, a ceaselessness of the spirit, then it is a soul restless, looking and not finding its entry point into its own being.  It is lost.

As it begins its own journey back home, it begins to seek the entry, the door.  Its yearning is to encounter its own essence “its own God imprint.”  Unable to find this it continues in its hyperactivity and agitation. 

In the aging we are called to slow down in order to find the doorway back into “Eden” which has been barred by the angels with the flaming swords (Gen3:24) ”life” has forbidden our vision of paradise, just tentatively teased, this so that all that was needed for the journey could be accomplished without the anguish of what was lost “in the beginning.”  But aging calls to slowly disengage from the outer world works  so that the inner tunes may be more easily heard. So that the centre of the soul may be more easily found and recognised.  In this place of divine abode, the moment of this soul’s birth is seen.  The glory which it possessed from all eternity is now truly seen and accepted “The Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk1:15) this is now finally understood. In silence steeped in love this becomes possible. Love has carried the vision along.

Life is lived so that the development of divine manners, lost in those dim eons may be relearned. So perhaps it could be said that at the end of life we may not find ourselves strangers and homeless in what should be our natural homeland, because the necessary manners meant for heaven have not been learnt and are missing.

Nothing of the old order or journey’s effects are lost but retained and re organised in a different manner. Indeed preserved are the important things which grace purifies. Re-established grace, together with all its valuable gifts lead to ascension; Life with its purification is raised higher into Grace of God and ultimate union with Him.