​My son and I have been meandering through the hugely enjoyable 'Knight of the Holy Ghost: A short history of G.K.Chesterton' by Dale Ahlquist. So much of what Chesterton wrote is still so fresh and so relevant to our world today. However it was a few lines from Ahlquist's introduction to Chesterton's 'What's Wrong With The World?' that stopped me in my tracks.

You can find them of pages 73-74 of the paper edition:

'What's wrong with the world?'
There are four main things wrong with the world: big government, big business, feminism and public education. Why? Because they all undermine the family, which is the basic unit of society, the thing that must be stable for society to be stable, the thing that must be strong for society to be strong, and the thing that is most under attack in our society today.

What's the solution?
It must be to restore the family to its proper place. We need a family-based economy and a family-based social system, where both state and commerce are subordinate to the family.

So what does this look like? What could it look like?

A starting point is Abraham. Even further back we recall that in Genesis, marriage and family is God's idea: God's plan. God took Abraham and tested him many times before beginning a family through him that would become a nation: a nation unique in the world, because it is a single family and structured on family.

When Israel left Egypt, the 12 tribes marched tribe by tribe in order. Each tribe had its designated position when they camped. Each tribe was subdivided into clans, and each tribe and clan had a leader who could speak for the whole tribe or for the whole clan. When they went into battle, they went into battle as family groups co-ordinated together these leaders.

It took WW1 for the British to re-discover that the battalions composed of 'pals' from the same region achieved more and had fewer casualties that battalions composed of people who were initially strangers to each other. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06d87pz

Even centuries later at the return from Exile, Nehemiah excluded anyone who could not prove membership of a clan. The vast majority could do this, which is impressive indeed, and shows that descent from a great-grandson of Abraham was a source of pride, value and identity. It also shows the lengths they went to keep meticulous records. All the so called 'boring bits' in scripture listing genealogies upon genealogies proclaims that God is faithful to the promise He made to Abraham, and these are the ongoing witnesses to God's faithfulness to that promise.

This gets even more interesting when it comes to the Levites, where even choirs and gate keepers are according to the membership of a particular family line. Traits and giftings of talent run through family lines like a pulse. Watch a few episodes of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' if you need to be convinced.

Even ancient cultures knew this:
https://www.enhancetv.com.au/video/who-do-you-think-you-are-charlie-teo/50588
In ancient China families had centres for ancestor worship that kept records of family membership. Families that consistently produced outstanding warriors, administrators etc were given plaques of official recognition by the emperor. Charlie Teo is a case study for saying that they still are.

If you are still not convinced that family matters to God, recall the immediate preparation God did in Israel before Jesus began His public ministry. The angel that visited Zechariah before John the Baptist was even conceived had this to prophesy about John's ministry: 'He will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for Him.' Luke 1:16:17

Which in turn is a reference to Malachi 3:23-24, the last verses of the Old Testament, 'Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before My day comes, that great and terrible day. He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.'

This then, is the kind of preparation for a major move of grace that matters. Restoring family relationships is the key, par excellence, to opening up hearts to receive the Gospel.

Should you need further convincing, recall that the 4th Commandment is to honour your father and your mother. In God's economy it is more important than the 5th Commandment, you shall not kill, and the rest of the 10.

Family matters. Family matters greatly to God.

When you look after what matters to God then blessings flow. Read about the positive impact that pro-family policies are having in Hungary: https://catholicherald.co.uk/dailyherald/2019/04/25/the-west-can-learn-a-lot-from-hungarys-pro-family-policies/
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2019/03/26/hungarian-minister-convinced-pro-family-outcomes-are-linked-to-policy/
https://www.christianpost.com/news/make-families-great-again-hungary-seeing-more-babies-less-abortions-through-pro-family-policies.html

If we are serious about being a Church 'Open to Conversion, Renewal and Reform', then explicitly pro-family initiatives have to be a part of that, especially initiatives that help estranged family members be reconciled with each other.

Yet, at the moment, when it comes to the majority of Plenary Council submissions that fall under the 'Open to Conversion, Renewal and Reform' theme (a.k.a. Theme 6), anything to do with family is barely on the radar.

This is the theme most likely to have to address the child abuse scandals. However the focus has been on its clerical manifestations, when it isn't a church issue as much as it is a family issue. If you go back and look at the origins of a perpetrator's abuse, in many cases the perpetrator was himself or herself abused by a relative, and some in a chain going back generations. Unless with God's grace we are able to out-root the evil at the family level, we cannot hope to remove it from the clergy level.

Family is far more important to God and His purposes than we can even begin to imagine. Chesterton saw that over 100 years ago. Maybe reading 'What's Wrong With The World' will help us begin to comprehend that.
​
#PlenaryCouncil #PlenaryCouncilTheme6

1st Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation
“Hail, [rejoice] full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). At first sight the term chaire “rejoice”, seems an ordinary greeting, typical in the Greek world, but if this word is interpreted against the background of the biblical tradition it acquires a far deeper meaning. The same term occurs four times in the Greek version of the Old Testament and always as a proclamation of joy in the coming of the Messiah (cf. Zeph 3:14, Joel 2:21; Zech 9:9; Lam 4:21).

The Angel’s greeting to Mary is therefore an invitation to joy, deep joy. It announces an end to the sadness that exists in the world because of life’s limitations, suffering, death, wickedness, to all that seems to block out the light of the divine goodness. It is a greeting that marks the beginning of the Gospel, the Good News.

In the greeting of the Angel Mary is called “full of grace”. In Greek, the term “grace”, charis, has the same linguistic root as the word “joy”. In this term too the source of Mary’s exultation is further clarified: her joy comes from grace, that is, from being in communion with God, from having such a vital connection with Him, from being the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, totally fashioned by God’s action. Mary is the creature who opened the door to her Creator in a special way, placing herself in His hands without reserve. She lived entirely from and in her relationship with the Lord; she was disposed to listen, alert to recognizing the signs of God in the journey of his people; she was integrated into a history of faith and hope in God’s promises with which the fabric of her life was woven. And she submitted freely to the Word received, to the divine will in the obedience of faith.

Audience 19 Dec 2012

2nd Joyful Mystery: The Visitation
Mary went to see her elderly cousin Elizabeth, whom everyone said was sterile but who instead had reached the sixth month of a pregnancy given to her by God (cf. Lk 1: 36), carrying in her womb the recently conceived Jesus. She was a young girl but she was not afraid, for God was with her, within her.

In a certain way we can say that her journey was - the first "Eucharistic procession" in history. Mary, living Tabernacle of God made flesh, is the Ark of the Covenant in whom the Lord visited and redeemed His people. Jesus' presence filled her with the Holy Spirit.

When she entered Elizabeth's house, her greeting was overflowing with grace: John leapt in his mother's womb, as if he were aware of the coming of the One whom he would one day proclaim to Israel. The children exulted, the mothers exulted. This meeting, imbued with the joy of the Holy Spirit, is expressed in the Canticle of the Magnificat.

Is this not also the joy of the Church, which ceaselessly welcomes Christ in the holy Eucharist and brings Him into the world with the testimony of active charity, steeped in faith and hope? Yes, welcoming Jesus and bringing Him to others is the true joy of Christians!

Address Vatican Gardens 31 May 2005
 
3rd Joyful Mystery: The Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem
God’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. Only in their hearts will the shepherds be able to see that this baby fulfils the promise of the prophet Isaiah: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder" (Is 9:5). Exactly the same sign has been given to us.

God’s sign is that He makes Himself small for us. This is how He reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendour. He comes as a baby – defenceless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with His strength. He takes away our fear of His greatness. He asks for our love: so He makes Himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into His feelings, His thoughts and His will – we learn to live with Him and to practise with Him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. God made Himself small so that we could understand Him, welcome Him, and love Him. He became a child, so that the Word could be grasped by us. In this way God teaches us to love the little ones. In this way He teaches us to love the weak. In this way He teaches us respect for children. The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze towards all children who suffer and are abused in the world, the born and the unborn. In all of these it is the Child of Bethlehem who is crying out to us; it is the God who has become small who appeals to us. Let us ask God to help us do our part so that the dignity of children may be respected. May they all experience the light of love, which mankind needs so much more than the material necessities of life.

Homily Midnight Mass Christmas Eve 2006

4th Joyful Mystery: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
It is important to note that these two acts — the purification of the mother and the redemption of the son — did not require a visit to the Temple. However, Mary and Joseph wished to fulfil all the prescriptions in Jerusalem. And it is precisely through the prescriptions of the Law, that the principal event is transformed, it becomes the “presentation” of Jesus in the Temple of God, which means the act of offering the Son of the Most High to the Father who sent Him (cf. Lk 1:32, 35).

The words of the Prophet Malachi: “Behold”, says the Lord, “I send My messenger to prepare the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming... he will purify the sons of Levi.... Then the offering... will be pleasing to the Lord” (3:1, 3, 4) are fulfilled in Jesus because, thanks to the faith of His parents, He was taken to the Temple “immediately”; and in the act of His “presentation”, that is, the “offering” of Him in person to God the Father, the themes of sacrifice and of the priesthood clearly transpire. The Child Jesus, who is presented in the Temple, is the same person who, as an adult, would purify the Temple (cf. Jn 2:13-22; Mk 11:15, 19ff) and above all make Himself the sacrifice and the High Priest of the new Covenant.

The “salvation” that Jesus brought to His people, and which He embodies in Himself, passed through the Cross, through the violent death that He was to vanquish and to transform with the sacrifice of His life through love. This sacrifice was already foretold in the act of the Presentation in the Temple, an act without any doubt motivated by the traditions of the old Covenant, but that was deeply enlivened by the fullness of faith and love.

Homily 2 Feb 2013

5th Joyful Mystery: The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
The first witnesses of Christ's birth, the shepherds, found themselves not only before the Infant Jesus but also a small family: mother, father and newborn son. God had chosen to reveal Himself by being born into a human family and the human family thus became an icon of God because of its interpersonal love and the fruitfulness of this love.

The 12-year-old Jesus stays behind in the Temple in Jerusalem unbeknown to His parents who, surprised and anxious, discover Him three days later conversing with the teachers. Jesus answers His Mother who asks for an explanation that He must "be in His Father's house" that is God's house (cf. Lk 2: 49). In this episode the boy Jesus appears to us full of zeal for God and for the Temple. Let us ask ourselves: from whom did Jesus learn love for His Father's affairs? As Son He certainly had an intimate knowledge of His Father, of God, and a profound and permanent relationship with Him but, in His own culture He had learned prayers and love for the Temple and for the Institutions of Israel from His parents. We may therefore say that Jesus' decision to stay on at the Temple was above all the result of His close relationship with the Father, but it was also a result of the education He had received from Mary and Joseph. Here we can glimpse the authentic meaning of Christian education: it is the fruit of a collaboration between educators and God that must always be sought. The Christian family is aware that children are a gift and a project of God. Therefore it cannot consider that it possesses them; rather, in serving God's plan through them, the family is called to educate them in the greatest freedom, which is precisely that of saying "yes" to God in order to do His will. The Virgin Mary is the perfect example of this "yes". Let us entrust all families to her, praying in particular for their precious educational mission.

Angelus 27 Dec 2009
 
These texts from the speeches of Pope Benedict XVI have been edited from the originals to get them to a size suitable for meditation with the Rosary on First Saturdays.

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Below is a printer friendly PDF version, 3 x A4 pages in length. 

The next stage of the Australian Plenary Council 2020 https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/ has begun with the release of the 6 themes aggregated from responses across the country. Here they are:

Missionary and evangelising
Inclusive, participatory and synodal
Prayerful and Eucharistic
Humble, healing and merciful
A joyful, hope-filled and servant community
Open to conversion, renewal and reform

It is a significant feat to have found 6 themes, especially since the earlier iterations of the website expected 20 themes.

Of themselves the themes seem innocuous enough. The trouble starts when you look at the quotations grouped on the sub-pages of the website. Many, many of those quotations show how poorly the ancient deposit of faith has been presented to our current generations.

While I can understand the argument that what people actually said has to be acknowledged, it does give the false impression that these things will be discussed. I doubt that those preparing the Plenary Council want it reduced to a lengthy session of catechesis.

I am just as sure that many of these quotations answered the questions, 'What do you think? 'Where do you think the church in Australia needs to change?' and 'What do you want to tell your bishops and those in leadership?' and not the actual question: viz, 'What is the Holy Spirit calling the church in Australia to do?'.

I know that the preparation session I attended was a travesty of what it was designed to be. We were supposed to independently write down our answers to that fundamental question, and then share them. Similar answers were then supposed to be grouped together, and the biggest group (consensus) was to be discussed in depth. The leader of my session didn't do that at all; the leader rattled off a long list of controversial themes and encouraged people to make personal submissions on those themes. Several attendees didn't get a chance to say anything. We were supposed to be listening to the Holy Spirit and to each other, but we really only got to listen to the leader of the session.

I have heard that some places did it properly, and for that I am very grateful.

But I have also read the results from one parish's feedback, around 200 individual responses, and none of them began 'I think the Holy Spirit is calling us to……'; they were all comments on what mattered to them. Of those responses, the biggest consensus was a profound concern for effectively handing on the faith to the young.

That this overriding concern was not a theme of its own is a worry.

It is the very first thing Jesus asked Peter to do if he loved Him, 'Feed my lambs'.

I find that correlation of the sensum fidei rather consoling.

Before I go any further, let us put some matters to rest
•Women priests. If Jesus did not ordain His mother and Mary Magdalene, then He didn't want women ordained as priests. If Jesus didn't do it, then we have no mandate to do it.
•Married priests. This is not a solution to the vocations crisis, nor a solution to the child abuse crisis. It might make the married priest less lonely than the celibate priest, but it places enormous burdens on the wife and children. What happens if he dies? What happens to them, then? What happens if they divorce or one of them is accused of adultery? Your wife is ill and you get a call to visit a dying parishioner – who do you put first? – and how to do live with the consequences?
•Support same sex marriage. It isn't going to happen! God made them male and female and said be fruitful and multiply, He designed our bodies, He created family and marriage.
•Restore the 3rd Rite of Reconciliation. After all the abuses that happened while it was permitted…it isn't going to happen. The 3rd Rite was designed for emergency life and death situations faced by a group of people eg. going into battle, going into a rescue situation where your own life is at risk, sudden situations where there just isn't time to hear the confessions of everyone, with the expectation that if they survived they would make a proper personal confession afterwards. Did you see any of the multitudes coming together prior to Christmas and Easter for the 3rd Rite going to a personal confession in the weeks afterwards? Me neither.

Another worry is this refrain, 'We want more …..', 'We want better……', 'We need to do better at ……..'. It is a worry because at no point did I ever see a 'and I am willing to do the hard work to make it happen'. There's this strange expectation that all I have to do is ask, and someone else will dedicate themselves to making it happen. Call it a consumerist mentality if you will. Perhaps we may have received more quality responses if the question was, 'What is God calling me to do?' rather than 'What is God calling us to do?'

But then what God is calling us to do is already clear: to be missionary disciples of the Gospel. The real question is: how is He calling us to do this effectively in our lives as Australians and as His church in Australia? What we need is to seek His strategies that will engage our Australian culture and bring Australians into a life giving encounter with Jesus. That is the true work of the Plenary Council.

Yet it isn't enough to seek God's will and His strategies, because if we don't also ardently seek His power to accomplish it we are doomed to failure.

To see a theme about growing in responsiveness to the Holy Spirit and about ways of accessing and releasing His charisms for ministry, and learning how to use those precious and powerful charisms in teamwork would have excited me. It is the only thing that really matters. If a gift of preaching gets released multitudes get saved, not just a few hundred. If a gift of discernment of spirits gets released, spiritual battles get won and the rubble is cleared away for many conversions to take place. Without His charisms, without His power, we can achieve nothing. With His charisms, with His power, the whole nation can be converted.

May the Holy Spirit mercifully take control of this whole Plenary Council process. Amen.
​
Only with Him in charge do we have any hope of avoiding the numerous pitfalls along the way. 

Bear with me while I twist a few strands of thought from wildly different places into hopefully a coherent whole.

The first strand of thought comes from artist Nicholas Wilton (@art2life_world) and the series of three videos on design, value and colour. In them he demonstrated quite effectively that it is the differences, and relative differences of shape, contrast and saturation that make an artwork interesting enough to obtain that elusive 'Sold' sticker.

The second strand of thought comes from the natural world, designed by God. In His universe there is infinite variety, even in the world of flowers. Even when we think of gardens, the image that comes to mind isn't of neat rows of the same flower, but the riotous mix of flowers in an English country garden.

The third strand of thought comes from Pope Francis, and his latest apostolic exhortation, 'Chrisus vivit', written to all the Church but especially to young people.

181. Think about it: if someone tells young people to ignore their history, to reject the experiences of their elders, to look down on the past and to look forward to a future that he holds out, doesn’t it then become easy to draw them along so that they only do what he tells them? He needs the young to be shallow, uprooted and distrustful, so that they can trust only in his promises and act according to his plans. That is how various ideologies operate: they destroy (or deconstruct) all differences so that they can reign unopposed. To do so, however, they need young people who have no use for history, who spurn the spiritual and human riches inherited from past generations, and are ignorant of everything that came before them.

185. In this regard, I would note that “many Synod Fathers coming from non-Western contexts pointed out that in their countries globalization is bringing with it forms of cultural colonization that sever young people from their cultural and religious roots. The Church needs to make a commitment to accompanying these young people, so that in the process they do not lose sight of the most precious features of their identity”.

186. Today, in fact, we see a tendency to “homogenize” young people, blurring what is distinctive about their origins and backgrounds, and turning them into a new line of malleable goods. This produces a cultural devastation that is just as serious as the disappearance of species of animals and plants. For this reason, in addressing young indigenous people gathered in Panama, I encouraged them to “care for your roots, because from the roots comes the strength that is going to make you grow, flourish and bear fruit”.

Our differences matter, in fact they seem to be clearly willed by God.

Our differences do not prevent unity.
Our differences help us come up with better answers to life's problems, answers that last the test of time and transcend regional cultures.

This is why bubbles are a problem.

The national plebiscite in late 2017 brought home to me how easy it is for us to get into bubbles of social media where the only views that come across our screens are those that we agree with. Partly this is due to the social media algorithms, yet my own choices of what to like, who to follow and who (and why) to unfollow are very significant. When you are in a bubble you get a very big shock to discover that the majority of the world disagrees with you.

In the wake of the recent federal election I read of a young woman who was shocked to discover that the climate change eco-friendly militantly feminist world view she shared with many others from inner city suburbs as a 'no-brainer' package of values was definitely not shared by the rest of the country. Sadly she now seems to be on a quest to put the rest of the country in touch with these values that she assumes will be embraced by everyone who comes across them. I fear she is in for more unwelcome shocks.

It is so easy to get into a bubble without noticing it happening.
It is far easier to see where other people are in bubbles that to see where we ourselves are in them.

We live in tension between the God who infinitely values differences (no two snowflakes, finger prints and animal pelts are the same) and humanity who wants things safe, predictable and the same.

Differences make us richer, uniformity makes us poorer.

The challenge is to fight against the forces that want uniformity, and to keep our hearts and social media accounts open to those who think in ways alien to our world views.

Definitely this is not an easy task,
but it is crucial to determining the kind of future we are building for generations to come.

May the Holy Spirit help and guide us. Amen.

St Joseph – Glorious Mysteries
In honour of St Joseph the Worker and the beginning of the month of May in Mary's honour - for the glory of God.

The first Glorious Mystery – The Resurrection
Can you imagine what it was like in the great place of waiting for the doors of Heaven to be opened? When Simeon came he encouraged everyone that the Messiah had begun His saving work. When I arrived I was able to tell everyone about the infancy, childhood and adolescence of my Jesus. Anyone who arrived with news of Jesus had our undivided attention. Then that amazing moment happened when Jesus Himself arrived, having conquered sin and death. In Him all our longings turned into joy and sweetness. With Jesus leading us we stood before the doors of Heaven and heard His precious Blood cry out, 'Here I am, with the children the Lord has given Me' (Is 8:18) and watched those doors be flung open by the angels. We went through with far more rejoicing than when Israel passed through the Red Sea dry shod. At last, to be with God forever and ever! To see our Jesus smile as Redeemer, Victor and King was worth every previous sorrow.

The second Glorious Mystery – The Ascension
The victory of Jesus was complete, but His work wasn't quite over. In His glorious risen body Jesus went and visited so many people in so many places bringing hope, comfort and joy. There were many teachings and instructions that His apostles and disciples could only be given after His resurrection. So many of His resurrection visits were visits of thanks to those who had helped Him on earth, but they were also 'farewell until Heaven' visits. When all was done to perfection, Jesus gathered them all together to bless them and commission them, and return to the Father in His gloriously risen body. What a wondrous homecoming for Jesus that was! So solemn, so majestic, so breathtakingly beautiful! All Heaven fell silent and prostrate at the sight of His royal wounds in adoration, and saw the Father confer sovereignty, kingship and authority upon Him. He in turn conveyed gifts, rewards and kingdom responsibilities upon the citizens of Heaven and then the place erupted in a rejoicing that has never ceased.

The third Glorious Mystery – The Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost
You don't think that only Mary, the Apostles and the disciples gathered in the upper room, were praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit do you? As soon as the Father outlined His great plan for the spread of the Kingdom of God, our prayers joined with theirs. In particular all of those holy ones who had been moved by the Holy Spirit were praying with particular gusto, myself, Moses, Elijah, David, Samuel, Esther, Gideon, Isaiah, Joshua, Daniel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Samson, Zechariah and Elizabeth, began praying not only for those in the upper room but also for everyone who would receive the Gospel message through them. How all of us had longed for the whole people of God to be moved by the Holy Spirit! And now God was graciously about to make that wonder happen! We can never praise Him enough! Be open to all that the Holy Spirit wants to do in you, and through you.

The fourth Glorious Mystery – The Assumption
What a big responsibility my Mary accepted at the foot of the Cross of Jesus! For the sake of Jesus she accepted each and every one of His disciples as her sons and daughters. During those post-Pentecost years so many disciples made their way to her, so many needy children seeing wisdom, guidance, comfort, strength, peace, prayers and knowing that the Mother of Jesus was the way to find it. But there came the long awaited day when the needs of Heaven outweighed the needs of earth. Slowly and gently her earthly strength faded until imperceptibly her beautiful soul moved from this life into the eternal life. O what a homecoming that was! Every soul that enters Heaven increases the joy of everyone within. But at Mary's arrival the joy of heaven completely doubled. Then the Father decreed something extraordinary, that Mary should enjoy Heaven in body and soul. Heaven's joy doubled again, and we formed a special procession to formally present her glorified body to the Father. At the front were the angels, then all the holy women whose lives recorded in scripture prefigured and inspired and encouraged her; then all those who had been a special part of her life on earth, including myself, Anne and Joachim, Stephen, James, were privileged to walk with her, and behind us followed the women who had dedicated themselves 100% to Jesus due to her example, and all of the people she had personally served and helped on earth.

The fifth Glorious Mystery – The Coronation of Mary as Queen
When this amazing procession ended, Jesus embraced her as His mother, the Father embraced her as His daughter and the Holy Spirit embraced her as His spouse. 'The throng wild with joy' is a very mild description of what happened. As the high spirits calmed down, expectancy grew. What gifts, rewards and kingdom responsibilities would Mary be given? All Heaven waited for the Father's decree. 'Mary, I have already declared that all generations will call you blessed. That is not enough! You are from this day forth the Queen of Heaven, the Queen of earth, and the Queen of My Heart. Come and share in My happiness. All I have is yours.' Each and every citizen of Heaven immediately knelt and with one heart-felt voice echoed, 'All we have is yours, too!' In profound silence they waited for Mary's response. She slowly began to sing her Magnificat, and then all of Heaven took up her song in melodies and harmonies in praise and thanksgiving to God.

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And a printer friendly version below:

From the Acts of the Apostles and other writings in the New Testament we learn that the charisms of the Holy Spirit were in widespread daily use by the early Christians for evangelisation and building up the body of Christ and extending the kingdom of God.

In our own era we have seen the beginnings of a return to that 'normalcy', and as we expect grace to superabound where sin abounds, Romans 5:20, it means that as our world slips deeper into moral darkness, manifestation of the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit will increase.

It is therefore prudent for information about how the charismatic gifts operate to become more widespread in the church, so that if God starts working in your life that way then you can embrace it and co-operate with Him more fully, and if He starts working in someone else's life and they come to you bewildered you will have the knowledge to bring them peace, encourage them and give them effective guidance.

That's why the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service (ICCRS) ran a Charism School in Melbourne in March 2019. Presented was a compendium of what has been learned about the revelation and power gifts of the Holy Spirit over the past 52 years.

A 32 page transcript of that Charism School is provided below. For those who prefer video or audio, contact the Melbourne CCR office for details https://www.ccr.org.au/ or centre@ccr.org.au

The titles of the talks given are:

Charisms, Gifts and Fruit
Co-operating with the Charisms
Workers in the Harvest

Gift of Tongues
Gift of Wisdom
Mass Homily: Spiritual Warfare
Spiritual Maturity and Inner Freedom
The Gift of Leadership

Gifts of Revelation and Inspiration
Prophecy and the Word of Knowledge
Mass Homily: Mercy and False Guilt
Hearing the Voice of God
Discernment

The Charism of Faith
Healing
Mass Homily: Surrender to God's Will
How to Pray for Healing
Deliverance

Mass Homily: Interior Life
​
Please read the document and share it widely, especially with former and current members of prayer groups and people in Christian leadership. Fluent readers will take around an hour to read it, unless they digress down one of the hyper-links or wish to compare bible translations.

Upon this document, dear Holy Spirit, we seek your unction.
May the prayers of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who prayed so ardently with the Apostles and Disciples as they waited for the promised gift of the Father, accompany it.
May Blessed Elena Guerra, Pope Leo XIII, St Philip Neri, and all the Saints who had special devotion to the Holy Spirit, intercede for each person who reads it.
May the holy angels guide the distribution of this document far and wide, especially to those who most need it.
​Amen.

A very long time ago, in a university chaplain's office far, far away, I was told this story for the first time. I can no longer remember the fine details, but the gist of the story has never dimmed in my memory. Sadly I cannot remember why it was told in the first place. Having done a few internet searches with nil results, I will attempt to retell this story to you.

Our story starts with a youngish monk, relatively new to the rigours of living out poverty, chastity and obedience within the bounds of community religious life.

He was a rather clever chap, quite charming and friendly, and he soon worked out that the juniors received the lion's share of the less appealing chores that had to be done. Some of them he liked doing, but most of them he disliked.

So he came up with what he thought was a brilliant plan to get more time doing the good stuff and less time doing the bad stuff.

If he was sent to the kitchen, he would wash up so slowly, or peel the vegetables so inefficiently, that the monk in charge of the kitchen would get so frustrated that he'd say, 'Here, I'll take over here, you head off to the chapel and pray for me'.

If he was sent to help muck out the cattle stables, he did such a half-hearted job at such a slow pace that the monk in charge of the farm soon begged the prior that someone else be sent to help instead.

If the monk in charge of keeping the accounts was a very punctual person, our young monk would aim to always arrive a little late and every so often put a 6 instead of a 9, or an 8 instead of a 3 in the ledgers.

At those chores he liked to do, he would coast along, and give them the bare minimum of effort. There would be just enough unconscious flashes of brilliance to irritate those who suspected he could do much better if he wanted to.

Everything was going wonderfully, our young monk had extra free time and less of the chores he disliked.

But something happened over time.

When opportunities for greater responsibility came up, they started to be given to other monks who hadn't been a religious as long as he had.

When the abbot went on official visits and would take a junior monk as an aide with him, our monk didn't get selected.

Worst of all, when tasks came up that were ideally suited to his talents, he wasn't even considered for them.

He was becoming an increasingly embittered monk who was perplexed that his superiors didn't seem to know how talented he was, and what a great leader he would make, and didn't seem to take him seriously.

Tragically he was unable to see that he had built up a bad reputation for himself that would be quite difficult to rectify.

And the moral/s to the story?

Always do your best, no matter how menial or distasteful the task is.
​
If you catch someone being a 'bad monk', strive to hold your frustrations in check, and for their own good and for the good of the community don't let them get away with it. Deal with any underlying causes, and call them to excellence. 

​Notes from Day 1 of The Ark and Dove Week Online Conference 11 Feb – 15 Feb 2019

These are rough notes only; very rough in places; that convey the gist of what was said.

Day 1, Monday 11 Feb 2019

Talk 1: Memory, Hope, Vision and Mission by Johnny Bertucci (video 12:51 mins)

Greetings and welcome. I am the chairman of the Ark and Dove Worldwide.

In 2015 the CCR (Catholic Charismatic Renewal) in the U.S.A. was notified that the Ark and Dove site was up for sale. Trusting in Providence, we figured out a way to procure the property. We simply could not not buy it. On 18 Dec 2015 we signed the act of sale.

The Ark and Dove was built in 1924, as two buildings, for the Bell Telephone Company, as a place of rest for female employee, and the smaller building was for the caretakers. Later on it became a boarding school. In 1964 the diocese of Pittsburgh purchased it, and invited nuns from Holland, the Ladies of Bethany, to run it. They were the ones who renamed the property, 'The Ark and Dove', and they operated it as a retreat centre.

As you know the 1967 Duchesne weekend took place here.

In 1979 the Sisters of Divine Providence purchased the property and named it 'Providence Villa'.

We have reclaimed the name, 'Ark and Dove'.

The CCR now having ownership of the property, we looked at each other and said, 'OK, now what?' It's ours. How could we use this place for unity and for passing on the grace of the Baptism in the Spirit?

No one would be excluded, it is considered as belonging to all in the CCR.

We were excited that we had the property in time for the 50th anniversary of the CCR (Feb 2017), and to be able to celebrate the Jubilee here, including that sense of people being restored to their land that the biblical concept of Jubilee has. We had a big celebration and fitted some 120 people into this place.

On that Jubilee weekend there was a prophetic word from Genesis 7:11, 'In the 2nd month, on the 17th day of the month, the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens opened'.

It meant a lot to us that it was part of the story of Noah, the Ark and the Dove, and that both the original Duchesne weekend and this 50th anniversary were held 17 Feb 1967 and 17 Feb 2017. We felt like it was a note from God underlining just how special this day was.

Unity is to be our calling card. Unity is to be our mantle and our cry.

On that Jubilee night in 2017 Patti retold the story of the Duchesne weekend, and we crammed 45 people into the chapel with her, in that upper room, and we recorded it. On Friday 15 Feb during this Ark and Dove Week you will get to see that recording. It is a great love story. It was also a great night of praise and worship.

The mission we have been given is far from over.

The Ark and Dove is poised to be a beacon and clarion call for unity.

It is your place, your home. When you come to visit, you come as a member of the family coming home. Come and be refreshed.

We need to foster this unity.
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Talk 2: The Holy Spirit outpoured at the Ark and Dove by Patti Mansfield Gallagher (video 6:51 mins)

When I was a little girl I would ask my mother to tell me the story about how you and Daddy met. I never got tired of hearing it.
In a similar way how God started the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a love story, and I get to retell the story.

That retreat weekend somehow I left my makeup at home. That helped remind me that I wasn't here for a new boyfriend, but for a spiritual purpose. This was by first ever retreat, and I went with a bit of fear and trepidation. I had a plan for my life.

Since I was from a poor immigrant family, all I had was a public school education. So this retreat for me was scary, but I was excited too. I was scared God might call me to be a nun.

I discovered I need to both ask of God and to surrender to Him. My prayer was 'teach me to follow Your Son Jesus'. Somehow my unconditional surrender was needed.

There were no chairs or pews in the chapel that weekend, just cushions.

When I went into the chapel that night I knelt and trembled at the awesomeness of God. I felt it.

I asked myself, what is happening? This is something we didn't plan.

Then I was flat on my face in the chapel, and somehow my shoes were off my feet. I experienced immersion in the love of God. My prayer was, 'Stay, don't leave me'. I was basking in the love and mercy of God.

Somehow I knew that if I could experience this, others could too. Jesus is alive. Jesus is real.

After visiting the chaplain and telling him my story I saw two girls on the retreat. They said my face was glowing. I took them up to the chapel with me. I had never prayed out loud in my life before, but I asked God to do for them what He had done for me.

There were about 12 of us that night, sovereignly drawn into the chapel.

I felt a tingling all over, like I was on fire.

I was there as a witness, but it's not my story, it is God's story.
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Talk 3: The Holy Spirit outpoured at the Ark and Dove by David Mangan (video 11:13 mins)

I am delighted to be here. God has used what happened here at the Ark and Dove with me and others to advance His purpose in the Church and the world.

When I arrived at the Ark and Dove for that retreat weekend I was lacking in motivation. Having had a long day at work, all I wanted to do was sleep. I heard there was a lovely meditation on Our Lady that Friday night, but I missed it.

I knew I wanted to experience the Lord. We had been asked to read Acts Chapters 1 to 4 and 'The Cross and the Switchblade', but most of it went over my head.

I had been asked to do the talk on Acts Chapter 1, but I asked someone else to give that talk because I didn't know enough about the Holy Spirit. In that Acts Chapter 1 talk, the person who gave it said some things that changed my life. He said that the word in Greek translated as power came from the same root word as dynamite.

I wanted to follow God, but on my own steam. However I realised I was not tapped into God. I asked, 'Where's the dynamite? Surely the sacraments give us His Holy Spirit, so where's the dynamite?'

The second talk was on Acts Chapter 2, and the speaker said, 'This still happens today'. After that talk I wrote in my notebook, 'I want to hear someone speak in tongues – me.'

In the discussion after that talk, I was back to the dynamite question. Baptism is something we affirm later in life if we were baptised as infants. Confirmation, too, was similar. What about providing an opportunity to renew our Baptism and Confirmation commitments on this retreat? I was disappointed that when this idea was presented to the whole group there wasn't enthusiasm for it.

Then it was lunch time. After lunch I walked around the grounds of the retreat centre with Patti, continuing this discussion. I decided that even if no one else is interested in this, I'm going to do this. And Patti said, 'Me, too'.

Going back into the retreat centre, a leader said that the water pump had broken.

I knew I was on the trail of something, and I didn't want the retreat to end so soon. What about praying for water? OK, let's go to the chapel to pray, and a handful of us went off to do that.

I asked the Lord for water, and I was given a great burst of faith that God had given it – so I prayed in thanksgiving. I went down and turned the tap in the kitchen, and the water came out strongly. We discovered later that the repairman had a change of heart, and worked on it. God answered, it didn't matter how.

I went back to the chapel to give thanks, and the presence of God was so thick and tangible. I was on my face before the tabernacle, explosions in my body. I sat Indian-style on the floor, about to say thank you, and I started speaking a language I did not know.

I went down and talked to the leaders and asked them if this was a valid experience, and they said 'Yes'. As I left, one of the leaders asked if I had spoken in a non-English prayer, and suggested if I experienced it again, to let it flow.

God will do this for you, if you let Him.
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Talk 4: And the Fire came to our Nations by Andres Arango (video 25 mins)

Special greetings to all of you.
(then invocation prayer to the Holy Spirit for grace for the talk)

My book, 'Catholic Charismatic Renewal: A Current of Grace' has recently been published in Spanish.

As part of the research for the book I went to Lucca in Italy where Blessed Elena Guerra lived and died. I was able to pray in her room.

The work of God in her was a precursor of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, helping the world be aware of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Primarily this was done through her correspondence with and encouragement of Pope Leo XIII.

Because of this, Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical on the Holy Spirit, dedicated the 20th century to the Holy Spirit, and initiated the worldwide novena to the Holy Spirit leading up to Pentecost each year.

Pope St John XXIII, convened the Second Vatican Council and asked God for a new Pentecost. Elena was the first person he beatified during his pontificate. He called her the Apostle of the Holy Spirit. She wrote about the importance of crying out for a new Pentecost.

In 2015 Pope Francis quoted Cardinal Suenens about the river must be emptied into the sea, and the charismatic renewal as a current of grace.

In 2014 Pope Francis addressed the Renewal in these words: 'You, the charismatic renewal, have received a great gift from the Lord. Your movement’s birth was willed by the Holy Spirit to be "a current of grace in the Church and for the Church". This is your identity: to be a current of grace.'

When I was a child we went to a farm near a river, with lots of wildlife and fishing. We would spend time going to explore, and seeking the stream head for the river. It took some finding, because it was small and unassuming, and yet that is where the river began.

The Ark and Dove is like that stream head for the river, small and not well known, and yet the place from which this current of grace sprang for us.

May this retreat centre be a faithful instrument of God, helping us to fulfill the commission Pope Francis gave us to bring the baptism in the Holy Spirit to the whole Church.

How do we do this?

• By every day claiming a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
• As Pope Benedict XVI encouraged, make parishioners aware of the Holy Spirit. Ask them, 'Do you have the Holy Spirit?'
•Remembering that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for all Christians, it is an instrument for ecumenism and unity and for collaborative evangelisation.
• By installing the culture of Pentecost as described in Acts 1:8 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be My witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.'

It is our task to carry the presence of Jesus, to enable people to encounter Jesus, to fall in love with Him and to be transformed by Him.

To grow in holiness is a life style, to be lived each minute, to be filled and moved by the Holy Spirit so as to live like Jesus.

(at the end of the talk there was a prayer)
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Talk 5: Interview re CHARIS by Jim Murphy (video 5:53 mins)

CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) is the name of the new international body representing both the Communities (previously Catholic Fraternity) and the Prayer Groups (previously ICCRS) of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Background information:
http://www.iccrs.org/en/charis-moderator-and-isc-announced/
https://www.nsc-chariscenter.org/charis-new-international-service-for-catholic-charismatic-renewal/
http://www.iccrs.org/en/new-charis-statutes-now-available/

Jim Murphy:

Pope Francis has a vision of a much broader community/family to live in the Spirit.

The current of grace of the Renewal is not something that can be controlled, managed or put in a box.

We have to get into the river of that current of grace and let it take us where it wants.

Let's go together, not in conformity, but unity in diversity, which requires an open heart.

All of us are invited into the current of grace, but don't tell anyone how they should swim. Let them swim their own way.

Start now and move slowly.

For example, 'Can we have lunch and talk about where God could be leading us?' We don't have to wait for the perfect plan. 'Could we just meet for an afternoon of prayer and discussion?' Let's start with that.

Then God can show us the next step.

Move slow, then it will be authentic. 'Let's get back together in 4 weeks'. Begin dialogue, call and invite, but do not push.

God is looking for the intention of the heart rather than the perfect plan.

God has to show up; because if He doesn't, then it is all over.
 
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The full videos for this online conference are available from the premium section (currently payment $56 US and login required for 12 month access) at www.arkanddoveweek.com

​'Where is the Holy Spirit blowing in your local area?'

I put this question, or at least a version of it, to a well-travelled clerical friend of mine recently, and his answers were perplexing.

He mentioned a recent ordination to the priesthood. While that is truly wonderful, and an extraordinary grace for any parish; it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work over a ten year or longer period.

He mentioned the good work the nuns were doing in the parish. Again, that is awesome. But it too is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work in the hearts of women born some 10 years ago or more.

Then he mentioned a rather exciting regional meeting of bishops from several countries happening within the next 12 months. Absolutely wonderful, and it will hopefully be very fruitful for the whole region, but that's the Holy Spirit's work at a hierarchical level and not a local level.

Next year his parish celebrates 50 years of existence. This is a wonderful opportunity to give thanks and praise to God for the blessings and achievements of the past 50 years. Many special graces can come from an event like this, especially if time is taken to think through how the Holy Spirit has worked historically in this local area with a view to discerning His longer term plans. But again, it's not really about what the Holy Spirit is blowing on at the moment.

Why was I perplexed? Because his answers focussed on the activity of priests, religious and bishops who are a tiny proportion of a parish containing thousands of lay people in it. Because there is a big difference between serving a parish and empowering and encouraging a parish to respond to what the Holy Spirit is calling them to do.

It is really difficult to co-operate with the Holy Spirit's plans if you are having trouble noticing where He has been active. A pastor is best placed to notice these things, because he usually gets the best information.

For example if there has been a noticeable uplift in the numbers of couples coming to talk to him about how to grow in their marriages – that's a clue that the Holy Spirit is working locally in the area of marriage. If you notice that, you can put more emphasis on marriage enrichment courses and programmes and can preach more on communication, listening, forgiveness and showing love in daily acts of kindness.

For example in confession there has been an increase in people returning to the sacrament of penance and confessing struggles with addictions of various kinds – that's a clue that the Holy Spirit is wanting to do a major work to set people free in this area. If you notice that, you can invite people into the parish who are gifted by God in setting people free from addictions. Also you can put on an afternoon of prayer inviting the whole parish to come and pray that their loved ones be set free from addictions, and see what happens. If it goes well, and people testify to God setting them free, do it again in a month's time.

But if you are not noticing and paying attention, how can you even begin to co-operate with what the Holy Spirit is blowing on?

Some things might take a bit more digging and research to uncover.

For example, do you know what spurred your recent batch of RCIA candidates to begin the final leg of their journey home to the Catholic Church? Maybe over half of them had an encounter with the Mother of Jesus. If so, put extra effort into the next major Marian feast day, do a parish novena leading up to it, put on a free movie about an approved Marian apparition on the feast day, and a talk about how to pray the rosary.

For example, do you know what spurred your newest arrivals at daily Mass to attend? Go talk to them and find out. Maybe they were all positively influenced by another parishioner. If so, go and talk to this parishioner about how God has been leading him/her and see if there is any way you can support them in their efforts (eg books, pamphlets, rosary beads to give away, or direction to good resources for the most common questions people ask him/her).

Other clues to the Holy Spirit's action in your parish could just come up in conversation, or could be relayed to you by staff members. For example two women having opportunities to meet with long estranged family members could be a clue that the Holy Spirit is currently working on the restoration of family relationships. Finding a third person in this situation would be a call to action. One way to partner with this movement of grace would be to let parishioners know that the next Saturday morning Mass would be offered for the restoration of family relationships, and use one of the Eucharistic Prayers of Reconciliation, the Proper set out 'for family' or 'for relatives and friends', and specially written prayers of the faithful.

Another way to get an idea of what the Holy Spirit is blowing on; is to have a listening session. What you want to do is to identify people in the parish who have solid prayer lives and sacramental lives and are in various service roles in the parish. Invite them in groups of ten for morning or afternoon tea. Then when you are together, ask them what God has been doing in their lives recently, and pay close attention to any patterns that emerge or murmurs of agreement when something is shared that the rest can relate to. If you hear common threads of God asking them to slow down and spend more time with Him, organise a one day retreat. If you hear common threads of God asking them to trust Him more, find some stories from the internet or elsewhere about how God worked wonders when people trusted in Him, print them off, and share them around as encouragement.
​
Obviously if you can pick up on the Holy Spirit's clues, what you do to partner with His action in your people's lives is going to be many times more effective than a 'let's try this new programme and hope it works' approach.

Here are just a few of the photographs from the #CCRNSW Retreat weekend at St Agatha's Parish, Pennant Hills on 19-20 Jan 2019.

​The first one is of Jim Murphy, president of ICCRS, as those gathered for the retreat prayed for him, invoking the Holy Spirit to help him teach what we needed to hear.

In the background you can see the big poster with the theme for the retreat weekend on it, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord' Zech 4:6

The next one is Jim Murphy teaching on the first day of the retreat. 

And Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR preaching the homily for Mass on the Sunday of the retreat.

After lunch each day, and before the final afternoon session of the day, there was opportunity for Eucharistic Adoration in the parish church. The monstrance on the altar isn't easy to see, but it is there.

While Eucharistic Adoration was going on, several priests were hearing confessions. Many, many people took advantage of both opportunities.

And our last photo is from the final session of the weekend.

Jim Murphy is straight in front of you with his guitar, playing hymns of praise and worship. It isn't easy to see, but above his head you can see the top of the monstrance. The people standing up are the prayer teams praying over the seated people, specifically over the areas where our backs (areas of weakness) had been targeted by the enemy. 
​
It was a taste of a deo-centric culture, albeit in microcosm, but still united to the worship of God going on in the throne room of heaven.