All Saints

 

‘How happy are the poor in spirit:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Happy the gentle:

they shall have the earth for their heritage.

Happy those who mourn:

they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:3 - 4

Paul often referred to his addressees as saints, or the holy ones. He wasn’t writing about those 'holier-than-thou', canonised variety of saints, but the regular every day faithful who chose to live out Christian lives with conviction. And, they weren’t perfect by any means.

I have known some great saints; people of patience, honesty, trustworthy and trusting, compassionate, kind, gentle and loving. Oh yes, some even liked to party. And yes, they were not or are not perfect.

The people who impact on our lives for the better, are those who challenge us by the way they live their own lives. They may be great teachers, great academics, sports people, financiers, military, clergy, religious, artists, musicians, builders, librarians, or office workers – they are good at what they do, but they have an enormous capacity to care about others, they want others to dream dreams, reach for the stars, be healthy and know love.

But most saints are not the 'out there' kind of person. The everyday saint is humble, if not almost invisible. They visit the sick and lonely, feed the hungry, give their time and money to charity, work for Vinnies, Lifeline or Red Cross, visit prisoners, those in detention centres or refuges and welcome strangers to our community. These saints are our neighbours, relatives, friends and colleagues. Most are` not motivated by the Great Commandment, but by genuine love and respect of their fellow human beings. Some might even be church-going Christians. Or Muslims. Or Buddhists. Or gay. Or Trump-voters.

Matthew (5:1 – 12) sets out his criteria for ‘sainthood’ – the Beatitudes. To whom does the kingdom belong? It belongs to the poor in spirit, the gentle, mourners, those who hunger and thirst for what is right, the merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers, those persecuted in the cause of right, those who are abused and persecuted on account of their faith. They are indeed saints.

Such saints are within our grasp. We know them, they are not superhuman beings, but they are superb human beings. Such a human being was young Carlo Acutis, beatified in Assisi on 10 October 2020 (see article below).

This coming Sunday, is of course, All Saints Day, in recognition of God’s grace so generously bestowed on us through the exemplary lives of our forebears in faith. This is followed by All Souls Day during which we recollect our many loved ones who have gone before us. I remember my grandparents, my parents, my brothers Brett, Richards and Shaun, holy ones indeed, each chosen by God, and loved by him – and they will be made perfect by him.

 

Peter Douglas

 

London-born teen on path to sainthood

 

Junno Arocho Esteves, CNS

A London-born teenager beatified in Italy yesterday showed that heaven is an “attainable goal”, according to the cardinal who read the papal letter proclaiming him “blessed”.

Carlo Acutis was born on 3 May 1991 to Italian parents and was baptised at Our Lady of Dolours in Fulham on 18 May 1991 by Fr Nicholas Martin OSM. Soon afterwards, the family moved to Milan, Italy. He died of leukaemia in 2006. Skilled on computers, among other achievements during his short life, he created a website listing eucharistic miracles.

During the beatification Mass, Italian Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the papal legate for the Basilicas of St Francis and St Mary of the Angels in Assisi, read Pope Francis' apostolic letter proclaiming Acutis “blessed” the step before canonisation.

“With our apostolic authority, we grant that the venerable servant of God, Carlo Acutis, layman, who, with the enthusiasm of youth, cultivated a friendship with our Lord Jesus, placing the Eucharist and the witness of charity at the centre of his life, henceforth shall be called blessed,” the pope decreed.

Thousands sang and applauded as he was beatified. Assisi was a town particularly dear to him during his life.

After the reading of the apostolic letter, the newly beatified teen's parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, processed toward the altar carrying a reliquary containing their son's heart.

The reliquary was engraved with one of the teen's well-known quotes: “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”

Pilgrims flocked both to the Basilica of St Francis for the beatification Mass as well as to the Shrine of the Renunciation at the Church of St Mary Major, where the newly beatified teen's remains were on display for veneration.

Men and women, boys and girls passed by the tomb quietly, some stopping to pray the Our Father. A young toddler blew a kiss goodbye to the young blessed as she passed by.

Known as the site where a young St. Francis renounced his father's inheritance and embraced poverty, the shrine, like the city of Assisi and St Francis himself, held a special place in Acutis’ heart.

The teen loved St Francis very much, said his mother, Antonia Salzano. St Francis “was a very Eucharistic soul who used to attend Mass twice a day” and her son sought to imitate that same Eucharistic devotion throughout his brief life.

Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi reflected on the link between the two saintly figures, and proclaimed that by “providential design, Francis and Carlo are now inseparable.”

He said: “Carlo's life – always united to Jesus – his love for the Eucharist, his devotion to the Holy Virgin, his making friends with the poor, brought him closer to the spirituality of the Poor One,” St Francis, Archbishop Sorrentino said at the end of Mass. “Both invite us to live according to the Gospel.”

The liturgy was held inside the Basilica of St Francis, but measures to prevent the spread of Covis-19 meant that most of those attending sat outside on seats set three-feet apart, watching on big screens.

Many young men and women came to Assisi for the beatification. For many of them, the fact that a normal teen could be beatified was a source of hope and inspiration.

“With his life, Carlo made me see that despite the small or even great difficulties, like his illness, that we could live a full and happy life if we keep our eyes looking up toward heaven,” said 19-year-old Rosanna, who was among those attending the beatification.

In his homily, Cardinal Vallini said that Acutis’ beatification “in the land of Francis of Assisi is good news, a strong proclamation that a young man of our time, one like many, was conquered by Christ and became a beacon of light for those who want to know him and follow his example.”

Reflecting on the teen’s life, Cardinal Vallini said that like most young people his age, Carlo was a “normal, simple, spontaneous, friendly” teenager who used modern forms of communication to transmit the “values and beauty of the Gospel”.

For him, “the internet was not just a means of escape, but a space for dialogue, knowledge, sharing and mutual respect that was to be used responsibly, without becoming slaves to it and rejecting digital bullying,” the cardinal said.

Cardinal Vallini said that Blessed Acutis was a model of virtue for young men and women today, reminding them not to seek gratification only in ephemeral successes but in the perennial values that Jesus proposes in the Gospel.

“He gave witness that faith does not distance us from life but immerses us more deeply in it and showed us the concrete way to live the joy of the Gospel,” the cardinal said. “It is up to us to follow it, attracted by the fascinating experience of Blessed Carlo, so that our lives may also shine with light and hope.”

You just have to love them

 

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Matthew 22:34 - 40

I recall my grandmother Elsie once saying of her relatives, 'You don't have to like them, you just have to love them.' That pretty well summed up her view on the great commandment. This also carries a certain weight when you have adolescents or long-needed-to-be-gone adult children still at home.

Palestine had a long history of being occupied by foreign powers: Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians and Romans. Each of these powers brought change both subtle and radical, but nevertheless enriching (or debasing) the culture and religious life of its inhabitants. By Jesus' time the Sadducees - who represented a privileged, priestly, aristocratic-like group. They were more Hellenised, open to share (political) power with their overlords. They interpreted Mosaic law (and in particular the requirements of Levitical purity) with a rigid literalism. Indeed, the Sadducees' scriptural canon comprised only the five books of Moses.

Also sharing power on the Sanhedrin but fiercely rejecting secular - and in particular Roman - influence, the Pharisees desired freedom and independence from Rome. They raised tradition and oral law as equal to scripture, though they included in their canon the prophets and the Ketuvim (comprising the psalms and wisdom literature). Their worship was centred on the synagogue where study and prayer took place, in contrast to the Sadducees who still practised ritual sacrifices in the Temple.

The conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans began with the fall of the northern kingdom (of Israel) that had been established by the descendants of Joseph to the Assyrians in 722 BCE and of the southern kingdom (of Judah) to the Babylonians in 600 BCE. As both kingdoms were reinhabited, the Jews detested the mixed marriages and pagan influence on the worship of their northern cousins and neighbours.

All this goes to contribute to this now extraordinary encounter between Jesus and the Pharisee, a lawyer, following hot on the heels of Jesus' response to the Sadducees about life after death. The question put to Jesus is a test at multiple levels: there is the provocation about Jesus' orthodoxy, whether or not he is a literalist; there is the challenge about whether Jesus was aligned with the current practice of applying this command to love one's neighbour (from Leviticus 19) only to fellow Jews. Samaritans were evidently unfaithful, gentiles worshipped pagan gods. By extension, if Jesus were to support their view, would he support the Pharisees against their religious and political enemies?

Jesus' answer is of course unequivocal. Loving God and loving one's neighbour are both sides of the same coin. And Jesus really does mean - love your enemies (Matthew 5:43 - 44).

Since my grandmother uttered those words to me some 50 years ago, I have applied her advice time and again to my relatives and colleagues. I'm rather short on enemies, so I am yet to commit myself to loving them. Give me time.

 

Peter Douglas

SIN IS IN THE AIR!

 

Fr Kevin Bates SM

In this age of euphemisms, you don’t hear sin being spoken about very much anymore. It’s been replaced by softer terms, sometimes by psychological jargon which seem to excuse rather than name. It’s similar to the use of the word “passed” when referring to death. We seem squeamish about embracing the truth of things.

 It’s clear that sin has always and always will be part of the human experience. What sin is however is sometimes less than clear. The Catechism definition that I grew up with goes: “Sin is any wilful thought, word, deed or omission against the law of God.”

This is true to a point but falls short in one important respect. Sin is much more than the breaking of a law. It is fundamentally the fracturing of a relationship, with ourselves, each other and with God. Any law is meant to safeguard these relationships, and while sin may well involve the breaking of a law, it involves first of all the damaging of some of our primary relationships. 

It is connections that are damaged rather than rules that are broken. When we equate sin with the breaking of rules, we run the risk of unfairly judging people who appear to be “living in sin” for whatever reason, when in fact no relationship has been tarnished.

Where might we look in order to see sin in action? Well, one starting place could be for us to look in the mirror! An honest look at our own heart will reveal our judgemental self, our unresolved angers, fears, prejudices and blind spots. Here we may encounter our unwillingness to make a difference to the world around us because we are so caught up in our own small life.

More broadly, we can see the result of human sinfulness in the increasing gap between the wealthy and the poor. Here we encounter the lack of freedom, adequate healthcare and education in so many societies. We see the impact of climate change, much of it caused by our own behaviours, personally and as communities.

The greed of large companies surfaces from time to time. Rio Tinto’s reckless destruction of historic aboriginal sites earlier this year brought a strong rebuke from shareholders and a change of policy, albeit too late for the places destroyed. We could hope that BHP’s shareholders respond the same way as their company seems intent on further exploitation without regard to cultural sensitivities.

The sin of corporate greed is often on display and too often goes unchallenged as our desire for dividends clouds our view of massive injustice.

The increasingly fragile nature of the environment is in large measure the result of our own carefree use of resources and garbage disposal practices. For such sins our children will pay a heavy price along with our neighbours in many developing countries 

The school-yard spat that passed for a Presidential debate in the US last week is further evidence of our divided world, our fear of each other which turns to anger and rejection and our inability to negotiate our differences reasonably and justly.

For all these sins we share responsibility.

We can so easily be seduced into thinking that our sin is private and individual. St Paul points out more than once that even the most secret of our actions and attitudes, has its effect on others. Likewise we can focus on one form of sinfulness, such as sexual and other individual sins and think no further.

Jesus gave attention not so much to such matters but more to self-righteousness, hypocrisy, abuse, deception, injustice and exploitation. It was those who made burdens for others who were the target of his moral teachings and parables.

The “plank in our own eye” could be worth visiting so that we deepen our understanding of human sinfulness and play our part then in the releasing of God’s grace.

Sin is in the air, but thankfully, so is grace. It’s up to us to set it free.

Fr Kevin is parish priest of Holy Name of Mary Parish, Hunters Hill, NSW.

Freedom in peace

Pope Francis is encouraging parishes and schools to participate in a Season of Creation, commencing 1 September and ending on 4 October, the feast of St Francis of Assisi. We are called to prayer, reflection and action towards care of our common home, the planet earth.

 

'I tell you solemnly once again, if to or you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.

Matthew 18:19 - 20

Among the thousands of young men who gave up their lives at Gallipoli was a young 19 year old Catholic lad, Hohepa Marino. He was born in Rotorua to Ihaka and Wirihe Marino and lived just outside Rotorua in Mamaku. Hohepa was a timber worker before he enlisted on 8 October 1914. With the first Maori Contingent of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Hohepa sailed from Wellington aboard the SS Warrimoo on 14 February 1915, then disembarking in the seaport of Suez (Egypt) on 26 March.  

Major-General Sir Alexander Godley, commander of the NZEF was unwilling to send the Maori Contingent into Gallipoli and instead sent them to Malta for further training. Rapidly increasing casualties and the need for reinforcements forced a change in imperial policy on native peoples fighting. The Contingent landed at Anzac Cove on 3 July 1915 where they joined the NZ Mounted Rifles. Hohepa fought at Chunuk Bair in early August and on Hill 60 later that month. He died of wounds on 2 September 1915 and is buried at Embarkation Pier, Gallipoli. He was mourned by his family and is named on war memorials in Tikitiki, Rotorua, Gisborne and Auckland.

Hohepa was my great-grandmother's brother.

102 years have passed since the end of the First World War and 75 years since the end of the Second World War. 9.7 million military deaths and 10 million deaths of civilians were recorded in the First War. The Second War cost upwards of 25 million military deaths and somewhere between 40 – 52 million civilian deaths.

No single country on this earth escaped unaffected from these most tragic and destructive wars. Some Eastern European countries lost up to 14% of their entire populations.  The magnitude of the losses in these two great wars can be expressed in a myriad of statistics, but is most aptly portrayed in the stone memorials that reach across the globe and upon which are etched the names of those whose lives were lost.

They had names. Hohepa, Edward, Wallace,  Adrian, Tom Awatere, Marino, Joseph: they were loved, they had promise, they had futures, they had dreams. Yet they were buried in foreign lands, far from home, far from the hearths of their childhoods.

And this is how we must measure war. Its victims are not fragile, faded memories: they lived and breathed, were present, were flesh and blood, they sang and cried. They are real.

And that is why the Christian has an unshakeable belief in the resurrection. There are songs that are yet to be sung, stories yet to be told, love still to be shared. It is not just a promise; it is because our God is a God of justice and mercy. Such a God could not desert those whom he loved to be mere scratches on stone; he will make amends. This prayer has been raised by the millions of mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, brothers and sisters and children of those who lost loved ones in the evil of war.

In the liturgy this Sunday we pray:

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,

look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters.

that those who believe in Christ

may receive true freedom

and an everlasting inheritance.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

(Opening prayer from the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A)

We too are named, loved and known and our place in the heart of God is assured for true freedom will be ours to enjoy in our everlasting inheritance.

To all our fathers, may your Sunday be blessed, and may you come to know and celebrate God’s love for you. For us all, let us make true peace the foundation stone of our nations so that we will no longer know war.

Peter Douglas

  

These are the service men and women in my family and Toni's. This is not dissimilar to millions of families throughout Australia and NZ whose parents, children, siblings, and cousins went to war for their country.

Killed and MIA

Private Hohepa Marino, NZEF Maori Contingent, died of wounds, Gallipoli, 2 September 1915, aged 19 (great-grandmother Rangikahiwa Roto Macpherson’s brother)

Private Marino Macpherson, NZ 28^th Battalion KIA Western Desert 16 December 1941, aged 33 (paternal grandmother’s brother)

Flight Sergeant Wallace John Douglas RNZAF 489 Squadron MIA off coast of Norway 9 April 1943, aged 21 (Father’s brother)

Warrant Officer II Adrian Vincent Douglas RNZAF 149 Squadron, KIA 6 September 1943 aged 23 (Father’s brother)

Private Edward Douglas, NZ 28^th Battalion, KIA Tunisia 20 April 1943, aged 25 (Father’s 1^st cousin)

Private Joseph Douglas, NZ 28^th Battalion, KIA Tunisia 20 April 1943, aged 23 (Father’s 1^st cousin)

Private Tamati (Tom) Awatere, NZ 28^th Battalion, KIA Western Desert, 23 November 1941, aged 30 (Maternal grandfather’s brother)

Returned servicemen and women

Temporary Corporal Geoffrey Kereti Rogers NZ 28^th Battalion (Maternal grandmother’s brother)

Lt Colonel Peter Awatere DSO MC, Commander NZ 28^th Battalion (grandfather)

Corporal Herbert Douglas, RNZAF RAF (father’s brother)

Private Turi Macpherson, NZ 28^th Battalion (Maternal grandmother’s brother)

Sergeant Basil Macpherson, NZ 28^th Battalion (Maternal grandmother’s brother)

Frank Macpherson, RNZAF (Maternal grandmother’s brother)

Lieutenant Basil Thomas O’Halloran, Australian Army 53 Anti Tank Regiment (Toni’s uncle)

Sub Lt Geoffrey Allen O’Halloran, RAN HMAS Huon (Toni’s uncle)

Captain Gwendoline Healey, Australian Army, Australian General Hospital (Toni’s paternal grandmother’s sister)

AB Harata Douglas, RNZN (niece)

Staff Sergeant Wayne Wanakore (Renee’s husband)

Bradley Rossi RNZAF (1st cousin)

Mark Johnson RNZAF (1st cousin)

Serving

Piripi Douglas NZ Army (nephew)

Chanan Douglas RNZAF (nephew)

Maria Hodge NZ Army (niece)

Reserves (Territorials)

Renee Douglas (niece)

Brett Giles Douglas (brother, deceased)

 

Nice to have, but we don’t need churches

Fr Bill Grimm MM

Just as Christians in the 21st century are heirs of the apostles and martyrs of the early Church, Christians in Japan are heirs of the martyrs and hidden Christians of that country from the early 17th century to the late 19th century.

That is true whether we modern believers are Japanese or not, Catholic Christians or not. The Church within which we live and worship endured persecution so recent that I know a woman whose grandfather died a martyr.

The rest of her family — parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews — was wiped out on Aug. 9, 1945, when the atomic bomb exploded over the Catholic neighbourhood of Nagasaki. She was the only member of the family out of town that day.

During the centuries of persecution, Christians in Japan had no church buildings, no clergy, no religious, no Masses, no religious institutions, no diocesan structures, and no contact with the rest of the Church in the country or outside.

What they did have was each other and a commitment to maintain as well as they could the faith that was passed on to them and to pass it on to the next generations even at the risk of their lives.

They were poor, oppressed and lived in perpetual danger, but they prayed and shared their ability to help one another in need. In many ways, it was the Golden Age of Christianity in Japan.

Those Japanese Christians knew that church is not someplace to go, but something to be, something to do.

The coronavirus pandemic is an opportunity to learn or relearn that today.

We have had to be faithful without much of what we thought essential, symbolized by a building and what goes on inside it.

But God is still with us whether we are in a cross-decorated building or not. The real issue is, are we with God?

Around the world, there are Christians who clamour to have their buildings reopen so that they might exercise their Christianity.

They ignore the fact that confronted with a highly contagious disease; the most Christian thing to do is to protect others by following the advice of disease experts.

Jesus never told his followers to gather in a particular place each week. He did say that our lives would be judged on whether or not we respond to him in our needy sisters and brothers. He did say that when we pray, we should go apart to a private place and pray in secret to the Father who sees what happens in secret.

When he spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said that places are not important, that what matters is worship “in spirit and truth.”

The woman had asked him where proper worship should be done, at the temple on Mt. Gerizim or at the temple in Jerusalem.

His answer was basically, “Neither.”

In that case, do we need buildings at all if we can and should pray anywhere and everywhere?

We do not and we do.

Originally, Christians gathered in homes. Besides being persecuted, Christian communities were small enough to not need special buildings and were too poor to erect them.

Eventually, as numbers increased, homes were modified to allow larger gatherings.

The remains of the oldest known one are in Dura-Europos in Syria.

Its frescos, the earliest surviving Christian art, are in a museum at Yale University in the United States.

Over time as Christian communities grew, buildings were adapted or erected for liturgical use.

The three-aisle layout that is so common in churches comes from basilicas (public halls) that were repurposed into churches or were the architectural model for them.

So, we have buildings in which we gather in the name of Jesus so that our discipleship can be confirmed, nurtured, confronted, affirmed and comforted.

But the discipleship is the important thing.

Without that, the gatherings are nearly worthless. And that is the reason this pandemic is an opportunity for each of us. Discipleship does not require a particular kind of building or a particular kind of gathering.

Buildings, Sunday gatherings, public prayers and hymns are the accompaniments of religion, but not the essence of Christianity.

Christianity is not a religion.

It has religious trimmings, but its most basic reality is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The “religious” trappings aid our commitment to and celebration of that relationship but are not the relationship.

Now that the danger of contagion makes the buildings and large gatherings unavailable, we are invited to concentrate on what our faith really is.

It is prayer, service and trust that we celebrate with others when we can, but which we must live regardless of circumstances.

We can gather few by few to break open the Word, break the Bread, and share our faith. We can be church, as were the persecuted Christians of Japan.

Fr Bill Grimm is a Maryknoll missioner who lives in Japan.