Ecumenical Liturgy for the Victims of the Bushfires
Matthew 5: 4
Then Jesus began to speak, and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
Our prayers of sadness and grief are always tempered by the hope that we are given as a Christian people. Death is not the end, but a doorway to a new existence. The consolation and love promised us by Jesus is a beacon of hope to all those who suffer.
Invite all people of good will to join in an ecumenical liturgy to pray together to the Lord for comfort and consolation...more
Parishes in the process of Ecological Conversion
Our Lady of the Way Parish - Kirribilli
Reflection on the readings from the 1st Sunday of Advent
"Be on the lookout, be alert, for you do not know when
the time will come." Mark 13: 33-37
Relationships - how do we relate to one another, how do we relate to God’s unfolding Creation?
The actor Ed Asner once said...
We all moan and groan about the loss of the quality of life through the destruction of our Ecology, and yet each one of us, in our own little comfortable ways, contributes daily to that destruction. It’s time now to awaken in each one of us the respect and attention our beloved mother deserves.
As I read this Gospel (Mark 13: 33-37) I ask myself -
Am I on my guard, have I stayed awake (alert!) so that I notice what is going on around me? I, like all of us, have been left in charge as a steward of God’s creation.
We have each been left with his own task and I am sure none of us have been left with the task of aiding and abetting the gradual destruction of our wonderful environment.
I am reminded to be awake and alert like the doorkeeper so that I am ready to fulfill my responsibilities towards my fellow man - we all have tremendous responsibilities towards one another and if this is true then we most surely have a great responsibility to act, in all aspects of our lives, as good stewards of the environment our Creator has entrusted to us.
Pope John Paul II encouraged Australians to take on this role of stewardship on behalf of all humanity when, in “Ecclesia in Oceania” in 2001, he wrote...
Australians have special responsibility to assume, on behalf of all humanity, stewardship of the Pacific Ocean. The continued health of this and other oceans is crucial for the welfare of peoples, not only in Oceania but in every part of the world.
Like the servant left in charge and the doorkeeper, I have a responsibility to remain awake and alert so that I live a life that is sustainable, so that my stewardship contributes to the welfare of all peoples. I must be awake and alert that I do not see myself as separate from nature but an integral part of it.
This is not a new danger...
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889 Jesuit and Poet) wrote in the first stanza of his poem God’s Grandeur..
THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soilIs bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
The first four lines talk of the greatness of God displayed through his creation - we suddenly realize this greatness when we see something fantastic. The question at the end of the fourth line asks with all this obvious grandeur displayed, why do we not heed God’s divine authority.
And the next four lines talk about the, then contemporary life, but it could ring true for today - the spiritual alienation from nature as we emphasise the industrial and economic imperatives at the expense of nature - we no longer even feel the bare earth!
We share one planet, we are stewards of God’s earth and all of creation.
So... As we go through this season of Advent let us be awake and alert so that we will discern what each of us can do to prepare, in a sustainable way, for the coming of Christ at Christmas.
What a wonderful Christmas gift it would be for future generations if we could be awake and alert enough to take action now, and into the future, to live sustainably in God’s wonderful Creation.
PRAYER FOR ECOLOGICAL CONVERSION shown from the Reefs of Revelation CD-Rom
Quiet Time
Photos care of Freefoto.com
