First Reading We must all learn to live together as brothers (and sisters) or we will all perish together as fools.
We are tied together in a single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.
And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
The Light of the World -William Holman Hunt 1854
We have arrived at Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, which ends with Easter. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, into the life of a community that is seeking salvation, seeking the light of illumination.
Last night, March 31, people across the world turned off their lights for one hour from 8.30 – 9.30pm. United they supported the largest environmental event in history, Earth Hour. In that short space of darkness they sought some illumination! The theme for this year’s Lent is, ‘Towards the Light’, the light of illumination.
Recently I watched a deeply moving South African film called “Life Above All”. It had won Best International Film at the Sydney and Canberra Film Festivals in2010 and 2011. Its focus is a 12 year old girl Chandra, a hardworking, promising young student with a bright future, but her life changes dramatically when her baby sister unexpectedly dies. Heartbroken Chandra’s mother, Lillian, in turn becomes severely ill, leaving the young girl to take care of her two smaller siblings. When the small community of which they are a part irrationally turns on her and her family, Chandra sets out to face the deeply ingrained misunderstanding and prejudices surrounding AIDS.
This gospel with its emphasis on the Forgiveness of Sins reminds me of the guy who goes into the confessional after years of being away from the Church. He pulls aside the curtain, enters and sits himself down. There’s a fully equipped bar with crystal glasses, the best vestry wine, Guinness on tap, cigars and liqueur chocolates nearby.
He hears a priest come in:
“Father, forgive me for it’s been a very long time since I’ve been to confession and I must admit that the confessional box is much more inviting than it used to be”.
Three Yogis are meditating in a remote cave. One day a sound is heard from outside the cave.
One day a sound is heard from outside the cave.
After about six months, one of the Yogis says, “Did you hear that goat?”
Once again there was silence. About a year later, one of the other Yogis says “That wasn’t a goat, it was a mule.”
Again there was silence.
About two years later the third Yogi says “If you two don’t stop arguing, I’m leaving.”
On Tuesday night I had the good fortune (or bad fortune) of not being able to sleep, so I got out of bed and went outside to be greeted with a magnificent display of stars. I was in the country away from the city lights so the clarity of the display was all the more spectacular. I had recently paid a visit to the Brisbane Planetarium, where as part of the show they spend 20 minutes explaining the present position of the stars in the summer sky. If you have never gone to the Planetarium, it is well worth a visit. Apart from giving you reclining comfortable chairs, the night sky is placed before you on the domed roof in a way that makes for fascinating viewing.
Emma-Kate Rose
Sharing on the third Sunday of Advent 2011.
I want to share with you, more about the experience I wrote about and which now can be read in St Mary’s Matters. Firstly, I will do this by commenting on John’s Gospel 1:6-8, 19-28. These comments will not be from an academic learning or from biblical studies. They will be coming from my own way of seeing.
The essence and central message of the voice that cries in the wilderness is found in this story.
One night Rabbi Isaac was told in his dream to go to faraway Prague and there to dig for a hidden treasure under a bridge that led to the palace of the king. He did not take the dream seriously but when it recurred four or five times he made up his mind to go in search of the treasure.
2011 Melbourne series Melbourne Town Hall - November 15, 2011
For more than two millennia, the Catholic Church has been the author and repository of some of the highest ideals of humanity. Yet, as humanity is flawed, so is the Church. Few would deny that the Catholic Church has dark chapters in its history. However, do these darker moments unfairly obscure the light – perhaps because so much is expected of an institution that claims to bridge the sacred and secular? Or is the Catholic Church simply the most ancient of wolves in sheep’s clothing?
Father Peter Kennedy
In 2009 the ABC Australian Story produced a feature film entitled “Holier Than Thou” which documented our forced removal from St Mary’s Church in South Brisbane into Exile.