Kia tau te Rangimarie ki a koutou
In recent homilies I have been using words Pope Francis has used as he encourages all of us to make a NEW START after the COVID-19 Lockdowns. He stresses that this is an opportunity not for a RE-START, but a NEW START.
Pope Francis said that this crisis period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is “a propitious time to find the courage for a new imagination of the possible, with the realism that only the Gospel can offer us.” As we look at parish properties all over the diocese this is the opportune time for us to make a new start, and to reflect deeply and prayerfully on what our parishes are called to be. If our parishes are to be places where we are formed for mission, where we pray together, reach out to those in need -to anyone in need, then the new start begins in our hearts.
Francis has repeated over and over that thecontinuing reform of the Church requires a willingness to change and a commitment to personal conversion. In his Christmas message to the Roman Curia last year he said:
The history of God’s people, the history of the Church “has always been marked by departures, shifts, changes. The path, of course, is not purely geographical, but above all symbolic: it is an invitation to discover the movement of the heart which, paradoxically, needs to depart in order to remain, to change in order to be faithful”.
In prayer each one of us is invited to discover the movement of the heart. There is no better way to do that than to use some form of the Ignation examen at the end of each day, which is a great and very helpful way to ask ourselves if we have been open to growing in holiness, open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
These questions may help:
How have I truly died to self in order to live for God in the service of others?
Have I tried to do everything “in Him, with Him and for Him”?
How have I relied on my own resources rather than putting my trust in God’s care?
How has God acted in my life? How have I accepted or resisted God’s help?
There are endless questions like these, think up your own, use them every day. God will change our hearts when we prayerfully reflect on where we have been with God during our day.
Naku noa
+ John
NOTICES
- Chrism Mass, this Saturday
- Prayers for Fathers Maurice Carmody, Don Morrison
QUOTE
“Sometimes a light goes out, but is blown again into an instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner service.”
Albert Schweitzer
“Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”
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