Sustaining Ritual

I have just come back from the races, the first of the 2013 round. It was a fun afternoon seeing a lot of people out enjoying themselves. Looking around I couldn’t help notice the symbolism and ritual involved with the races. Men and women doll themselves up for the races, suits, hats, fascinators and other more unusual garb appear. People drink champagne and become instant experts at horse anatomy and breeding influences. We all survey the odds closely, even though most of us have absolutely no idea what we are doing. It is all ritual:  we are put into a different space, out of our normal zone so that we can experience something new and interesting within clearly defined boundaries. So it happened, and the results are predictable: I came home having placed a bet and lost: all is as it should be!

The Eucharist is our pre-eminent ritual, and as such it shares some basic elements with the races. It is predictable, since we know what we are coming to experience and therefore can prepare ourselves adequately. It is symbolic, and we know that each gesture, each word is loaded and brings with it salvation history and sacramental reality. It has a purpose which is to hold us together and to give us life.

At the outset, the miracle of the loaves and fishes may not seem to be the most natural expression of the Eucharist, but when we consider that we are talking about ritual, and that Jesus was talking about rituals that would sustain his people after he had left, the link becomes apparent.

The twelve gathered with Jesus are symbolic of the whole of Israel; they gathered in a deserted place, symbolic of the Exodus experience; they sit in groups of fifty, the jubilee number, a cause of rest, refreshment and celebration; Jesus gives the little he has to heaven, and trusts in God’s bounty; and finally, after everyone has eaten, there are twelve baskets leftover, enough for the whole world to eat. Jesus sustains and feed his people within the context of salvation history.

But that is not all the symbolism. Look at St Paul, who is reflecting on the experience of the early church. The church had been able to make the huge leap to realise the link between the Last Supper and the Cross that is ritually celebrated in the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is our ritual. On this Feast of Corpus Christi we reflect on it to help us to realise our roots, where we came from, so that we may see more clearly where we are called to and what we are called to become.

As we take the bread and wine remember that we are gathered by Christ as his people on earth. We are part of a long and venerable tradition of God calling and guiding his chosen people. We are formed and fed by his Word, as were the Israelites in the wilderness and the five thousand men.

As we bless the gifts, we recall the offering of the meagre yet staple gifts and bread and wine by Christ. We bring ourselves in all our poverty.

As we bread the body of Christ at the Lamb of God, we recall the broken body of Christ on the Cross. We recall the broken body of the Church: weak, vulnerable and sinful when left to our own devices, but in our weakness conscious of our dependence on the Father, as Christ was when he stated: into your hands I commend my spirit.

As we share the Eucharistic elements and receive the most holy Body and Blood of Christ we relive the distribution of the loaves and fishes from God’s endless bounty to all who allow themselves to be included in his family, we are included in the resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit

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There is an ancient principle, Lex orandi, lex credendi, ‘the law of prayer is the law of belief’, or ‘you pray what you believe’. We pray the Eucharist. We are the Body of Christ, we become what we receive until we are completely at one with our Lord and God.

Homiloy for the Solemnity of CorpusChristi Year C, 13th June 2013

A lesson in subsidiarity from the Trinity

One of the buzzwords of the Church since the Second Vatican Council has been subsidiarity. 

The principal of subsidiarity is simple: you make decisions at a level as close as you can to those who will be affected by them. In local terms, you don’t make a decision in Rome that could be made in Broome, or in Broome that could be made at Balgo. The decision making, therefore, is more inclusive and empowering, and any decisions that result are far more likely to be owned by all parties. Subsidiarity builds people up and contributes to community. However, there is a catch: subsidiarity stands or falls on communication. Just as people at the grass roots bemoan that decisions about their future are made a long way from them, people in authority are often concerned that they are ultimately responsible for actions they may know nothing about.  

When the Church is working well, decisions are made at the lowest possible level, there is a mutual trust that the interests of all are being safeguarded, and there is good communication. In other words, we are functional. This situation, codified in the Church, is valid for human organisations. Where there is trust, care, and good communication, functionality will follow.

We see this modelled for us in faith in the Trinity, which is God in relationship with God self and then us, the created world. God’s communication is perfect, and the roles of each member of the Trinity are unambiguous. The Trinity reaches into our world through the person of Jesus and the mission of the Holy Spirit.

St Augustine, writing about the year 400, described the relationship of the Trinity within itself as the ‘mutual love theory’. God relates inside the Trinity through love; the love of the Trinity breathes forth the Son into the world; the Son dwells among us and is raised to new life by the love of the Father; the Son returns back to the Father and then the Spirit is sent (spirated) to the world. In short, the Trinity is love, its relationship is love and its language is love.

God reaches into our world and allows us to make decisions which impact the future of not only our own lives, but the lives of many around us and indeed, the future of our planet. It is a great act of subsidiarity. God trusts us and gives us free will, even though he knows that in our humanness we will make mistakes and frustrate his perfect plan. God allows and invites us opt be part of his wonderful plan for creation. God believes in us and encourages us, through the Church, to be in perfect relationship with the Blessed Trinity in their work of creation and sanctification.

The mission of the Trinity is to empower us, God’s people, to live in the grace of God, to allow ourselves to be drawn into God’s life and love, and to share that with the world around us.  May God find in us willing and worthy co operators. 

Homily Trinity Sunday Year C 26th May 2013 

Parish Bulletin, The Most Holy Trinity, 26th of May 2013

 

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Parish Bulletin for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

The Advocate

When missionaries came to the Kimberley, they were faced with local aboriginal beliefs and culture that had endured for many thousands of years. They were faced with the challenge of how these traditional beliefs would relate to Christianity. The anthropologist Kenelm Burridge wrote:

        the missionaries brought to the aborigines not just a foreign faith which might have been as    
        acceptable to them as anyone else, but a faith in foreign cultural wrappings.

The task for the missionaries was to communicate the Christian faith in a way that suited the cultural norms of the people of the Kimberley without diluting or compromising that faith. It is a big ask, and it continues today. Our reading from Acts tells us of the first time this was encountered, and how the apostles faced the issue. The procedure followed by the apostles also informs us how to make decisions as Christians.

The key person to this process of discernment is the Holy Spirit.

Among the disciples were those who demanded that new Christians follow the Jewish dietary law and then put the Christian observance over the top.  Others disagreed, so they met and talked together in prayer. There is no doubt the debate would have been heated, but it was conducted in the context of prayer and mutual support. This was the first council of the church, the Council of Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit was called upon for the first time to bring the gifts that we received at confirmation: Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. This is the only way that they were able to come to agreement, and then able to say: it has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves. Recently, with the election of Pope Francis, we had a similar public acknowledgement of the action of the Holy Spirit when it was requested.

It is clear that when we face major issues in the life of our church or world, we need the gifts and action of the Holy Spirit to ensure the correct decision is made and course of action followed. Beyond that, however, we need the Spirit to be with us as our helper, our advocate, the one who provides the strength promised by Christ. Each day we need the advocate who will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.

Each of us encounters challenges in our daily lives that need the discernment of the Holy Spirit. We have opportunities to contribute positively to discussion and debate in our homes workplaces and community, or just to stay silent. We do this by studying and discussing what we believe and why, by struggling with the teachings of the church which we find difficult, not just giving up on them. Simply put, we have the chance to lead, or be led. If we choose to lead, we do so with the wisdom of the church and the guidance of the Spirit, not just the opinion of one person.

All of us need that spirit, whether we consider ourselves close to God or not, we all need to be held by this Spirit. Today let us ask for these wonderful gifts.