The Lord does deeds of
justice,
gives
judgement for all who are oppressed.
He made known
his ways to Moses
and his deeds to Israel's sons.
Psalm 102:11
Many of the world’s native peoples were
converted to Christianity during a period of European expansion into the new
world, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Many adopted a Christian veneer for their
former religions, some maintained the religion of their conquerors/immigrants
but kept certain aspects of their own as local feasts and celebrations. In the
19th century many of these native Christian peoples, while
experiencing the struggle with their overlords, turned to the stories of the
Exodus: for in this book was to be found the struggle between Egypt/conquerors
and the enslaved Hebrews/native people. The story of Moses’ liberation of the
Hebrews registered strongly and deeply with native peoples everywhere, often
begetting a new millennialism. In the new understanding, the Christian event is
the liberating moment. Jesus is the liberator.
In
the mid-20th century, Latin American theologians again reflected on
the poverty and dispossession of their people. Political systems throughout
Latin America were in turmoil, there was insurgency, revolution, civil war.
These theologians turned once again to the Exodus stories to make sense of
their experience, and to a Gospel that promised freedom from poverty and
injustice. Many westerners believed that this new theology was too closely
aligned to Marxism. By the 1980s Rome began distancing itself from liberation
theology, replacing its proponents in seminaries and universities and silencing
those who persisted. Pope
Francis has followed his predecessor’s line, disagreeing with the movement’s
politicisation while sympathising with its concern for the poor.
Critical to all these movements is the
passage from Exodus (3:1-8; 13 -15) in which the Lord appears to Moses in the
burning bush and during which Moses is commissioned and the Lord reveals his
name (YHWH). The verses reverberate and ring out the pain of the Hebrews.
And the Lord
said, ‘I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard
their appeal to be free of their slave drivers. Yes, I am well aware of their
sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring
them out of that land to a land rich and broad, and land where milk and honey
flow.’
What reader can fail to be moved? Who
cannot be swayed by the trials of those less fortunate than we, those who are
bereft of justice and freedom? God himself has promised deliverance by the work
of Moses. Would he not continue listening and responding to the end of time? It
is not unsurprisingly, though, that these words are also personal and are about
the God who hears you and hears your
pain. The words are powerful. But the love this God has for you is immeasurable
and unfathomable. However we respond,
it must be in fidelity, true fidelity to God’s word.
Peter Douglas
A reflection: by Adrian Drane
from The Marist Star 14 March 2019
Once every few months I am
rostered to give the reflection at Mass in Somerset when our Parish Priest Fr.
John Girdauskas is away. Last Sunday was one of these occasions. It was the
first Sunday of Lent and the Gospel was one that many would be familiar with
regardless of your own personal faith, (Luke 4:1-13). It spoke of Jesus going
into the dessert for forty days and forty nights. It speaks about temptation
and the way, the truth and the light. I share the following with you as a way
of expressing how I feel as a Catholic at this time and in this context
reflecting on the scripture.
I do not believe in the literal
devil as expressed in the Gospel. I do believe though in the absence of love and/or
the absence of God in people lives, this in essence creates evil. This Gospel
is talking about temptation, and today I am going to share with you a
temptation I have, at this moment, in this time.
You would have to have been hiding
under a rock not to hear of the conviction of Cardinal George Pell, quoted as
being the highest-ranking Catholic from Australia and amongst the
highest-ranking Catholics in the world. I am not going to speak of the Pell
case or the debate around the judicial system and whether it got it right or
wrong, the fact as Fr Frank Brennan (a Jesuit Priest) said, is that twelve good
Australia citizens were convinced beyond reasonable doubt that George Pell was
guilty. Unless proven otherwise through appeal, I acknowledge, respect and
support the decision of the courts and the endeavours to bring all perpetrators
of abuse to justice.
An individual from our parish
community recently said something recently that really took hold in my head and
my heart; she said “the Royal Commission into Institutional Abuse is an example
of the secular world at its best”. What struck me about what was said was,
firstly the ‘secular society’ we live in today is often demonised and ridiculed
for the lack of morale standing, yet here this same society is doing what
should have happened already when the abuse in institutions was first known, in
a way that respected the marginalised and brought about change. Perhaps one of
the things we as a Christian community should be so proud of and thankful for
is the sense of morals and justice being displayed through both the Commission
and the judicial system. The second thing that struck me was how sad it was
that ‘we the Church’ and I do mean ‘we the Church’ required the intervention of
a secular judicial system to do what was morally right. You and I own this, we
each of us “good people” stood by, and while we were not aware of the abuse, we
were certainly aware of a leadership structure that did not match with what
would commonly be understood to be healthy and well balanced. I am sure, some
of that idle standing has been because it has been indoctrinated into us from
birth, respect the church, respect the clergy, papal infallibility and all of
that, some because we doubted our capacity, some because we did not even
realise the issue of an flawed organisational structure, some because we had
mislaid trust, we trusted completely.
So how does all of this relate to
the Gospel? Over the past few weeks and indeed months I have often felt the
temptation to abandon the Church, a church I have known and loved throughout my
life and further more my temptation was to indeed deeply question my faith. To
take the Gospel literally, I have the Devil in front of me saying, what is left
for you here?
I am angry, I am lost, I am uncertain.
My faith is being challenged, my church has very little or no credibility in
our community at this time in history. I feel great guilt that through my own
obedience and sedentary participation I have misled and not supported our
church leaders through challenging and questioning our church and its
structure, because in being so idol in my participation of the leadership of
the Church I have contributed to its current state. I have not served the
church, as I should.
My easy way out is to walk away,
to criticise and judge the leaders and in doing so further destabilise the
church that has sustained me and millions of others for so long. The hard path
is to stay and to be a voice, to challenge, to take on the roles and the
leadership to reshape and rebirth our church. God knows, it needs it at this
time.
Perhaps the figurative devil knows
that in me walking away I lose my sustenance and potentially my light of faith
and I endeavour to transverse life without an institutional church. My life in
eternity was never reached through a church anyway, it is between God and I.
What the Church does do though is nourish and feed my faith and spirituality,
without it and the community we share as Catholic Schools and Parishes our
faith may dwindle, flicker and burn out.
We need to support our leaders by
being brave, courageous and honest. They too want a church that is reformed. I
am sure they too no doubt are tempted to walk away and question their faith and
role in the Church. Perhaps, no indeed, we need to walk together to the core of
what we are called to do, live like Jesus. He was never afraid to confront the
Church and the leaders at the time with what he saw and how it related to the
core message of God. He challenged hypocrisy and piety. He gave his life he was
so committed to the mission. I am certain that it will not come to that for us.
We risk very little, in truth we only risk our institutional church, something
that can be torn down and built up again in days.
So, this Lent instead of giving up
the obligatory chocolate, wine or sweet snack, I am giving up something more
with the view of helping to rebuild our church.
I am going to give up apathy
I am
going to give up being a bystander
I am going to give up not supporting our
leaders by not giving them honest feedback
I am going to give up being an
unquestioning Catholic
I am going to speak where I have been silent
I am going
to own my past contribution to the current state of our Church
I am giving up
defending what is indefensible, being the current structure of our church
I am
giving up blaming others, instead taking responsibility
I am giving up allowing
the marginalised to be mistreated by our Church
I am giving up being naive
about the divine presence that is in all priests, ordained or clergy
I, no we, need to stop being
passengers of our Church, we are all major stakeholders, and we have an
obligation not to be sheep, but take charge of our future.
So while I sit here tempted by the
figurative devil to abandon my Church, my faith and my following of Jesus, I
know that this is the time as referenced in the last line of today’s Gospel,
“having exhausted all ways to tempt him, the devil left until an opportune
time”, surely, this is that opportune time.
I stand firm in the knowledge that
the Church is a vehicle that helps me in my relationship with God. At this
point in time, the vehicle needs to be stripped down and rebuilt. While I may
not have the mechanicals skills, I am capable of learning, with time, effort,
courage and no doubt sweat and tears it can be done. Once rebuilt back to its
pristine core beginnings, it too can drive along for another 2000 years. Our Church
needs us now.
One lone voice has little
influence, but a collective voice and actions as one, has immense impact. We,
“the Church” are in this together. We need to re-shape our church. We do this
first with ourselves and then with the institution. For when we line up at
heaven, clergy and lay all in the same line, God will be asking, “How did you
do my work?” and if we have contributed to a Church that has injured, abused
and hidden, I suggest he will not look kindly on our excuse that we were just
the laity, we are his people. Stand up, speak your heart and do not be afraid.
God and Jesus did not get the Church
to where it is today, humans did, and with God’s Grace we can bring it back
again.
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