THE DIVINE PLAN

            From our reading of the gospels and the epistles, especially St Paul's, we learn that Jesus Christ, the God-man, was the being first thought of and first willed by God when God decided to make his goodness known by creating. We find a firm foundation for our conviction in Colossians 1:15-20. I ask you, please, to read the text before you proceed.

            Clearly, St Paul is talking here about God the Son made man, the historical person Jesus Christ. God the Father decided that Jesus would be the one through whom and for whom all creation should exist. But the historical person Jesus who was born in a certain year and died in a certain year, St Paul says, is the head of a vast body extending through all space and time until the last day, and that is the whole Christ, the Church. God planned all creation to contribute to the whole Christ. When the whole reaches his full stature, when the Church reaches the fullness of love that God planned for it in the first place, then Jesus will present himself, the whole of his Church, to God the Father, and all creation will have achieved the purpose that God made it for.

            The order of priorities in God's plan is one thing; the order in which he realized his plan in creation is another. In fact, it was realized in the reverse order of priorities. This isn't surprising; it is the way in which any intelligent person carries out a plan - the goal is always the last thing to be realized, after the preparations.

            We can fail to recognize God's plan in creation  if we notice only the order of events in time.  From man's limited viewpoint, there first appeared creatures, then a man and a woman, then they sinned, then Jesus Christ was promised and lived, and continues to live on in his Church. It would seem from the order in which things happened that his coming was conditioned by human sin, and that his becoming man at all was merely an emergency measure to repair something that went very wrong in God's plan for creation.

            But, in the light of St Paul's revelation to the Colossians, which gives us God's point of view, Jesus Christ must be seen as chosen by God the Father as the end-product of creation, before any creatures were actually made. The whole Christ will comprise all those who will eventually make up the Church.

            St Paul describes the place of Jesus Christ in God’s plan again in his epistle to the Ephesians 1:3-11, which I ask you to read and meditate on.

            From these most precious revelations in Ephesians and Colossians, we see that the central place Jesus Christ has in God' s plan for the universe involves the following:

 -          All creatures exist for the sake of Jesus Christ;

 -          All are made in the likeness of Jesus;

 -         He is the appointed mediator between God the Father and all creatures.

-         He is the head of a body, and he gathers all things into unity in that body, the church.       (The  Catholic Church as we know it must constantly strive to be identified with that ultimate Church).

-        He is the supreme king and Lord of all, appointed so by God the Father; and the eternal priest, offering the worship of all creation to the Father. He is the adequate adorer and glorifier of the Father;

-       Only through him can we human beings come to know the Father and reach him;

-         He is the perfect model of our loving response to the Father.

            We who are searching to understand the meaning of our human existence will find it, fully and adequately, when we grasp with our mind and our heart all that Jesus Christ means with regard to all creation. This is what Jesus meant to St Francis, so much so that this vision of reality has been called Franciscan. It would be equally correct to call it Pauline (as we have seen, it was St Paul's vision), or Johannine (we shall see  that it also sums up St John's insight), or simply, Christocentric (Christ-centred).

GOD CREATED OUT OF GOODNESS AND LOVE

            We may still be wondering why did God devise a plan for creating Jesus Christ, because we haven't touched on that question. So far, we have filled out the statement that God did devise such a plan, and that it was St Francis's deep awareness of this that made Jesus Christ mean so much, literally everything, to him. St Francis also had deep insights into why God devised such a plan, and the Franciscan theologians studied these insights systematically. God himself provides the answer to why he devised the plan, and St Francis found it again in God's revealing word, the scriptures, especially in John.

            Before creation, and also after it, God is, eternal, and perfectly happy in the community of three Persons. So it wasn't to complete himself that he decided to create; it wasn't to fill out his happiness. St John has the reason: God is love. God foresaw the infinite number of ways that he could be imitated by creatures, different ways in which he could share his goodness and make others happy.

            God is goodness. God is love. He wanted to create a receiver of his unselfish love and generosity who would also give love of the same quality. Divine love planned and created with divine wisdom. The enormous complexity of countless millions of creatures, each one imitating God in some way, would be built into a perfectly splendid unity, the whole Christ loving God adequately.

            The object of his love-inspired plan, then, would be a perfect creature, a man, and a vast unified body of men and women, who would be identified with God the Son. He would be the perfect receiver and giver of love in the plan, and he would be the model according to which all other creatures were made.

                                                                                                          Carl Schafer OFM

                                                                                          National Assistant SFO - Oceania

PRIVILEGED

Immaculate Conception - December 8

            Today, we celebrate Our Lady's Immaculate Conception. Mary was conceived free from original sin. She was never estranged from God, and was never under the influence of the sinful disorder that we all inherited.

            God made an exception of Mary in view of her part in God's plan, because she would be given the choice of being the mother of God's Son. From the first moment of her existence when her parents conceived her, she was free from the condition of alienation from God, and from that accumulation of sinfulness which we have inherited from our parents, since the beginning.

            This was a remarkable privilege that God bestowed on the future mother of his Son, which still left her free to accept that motherhood. There is a danger that we may overstress this exceptional aspect of Mary. We may excuse ourselves from imitating her, and we may fail to appreciate our own privileged place in God's plan.

            God invited a particular woman to be the model of a life of faith, and to be his Son's mother and Mother of the Church. A model is meant to be copied. A mother is supposed to be imitated by her children.

            We may object that if this extraordinary person had the unique privilege of being conceived immaculate, how can we wayward individuals copy her? Let's think for a moment how being conceived immaculate compares with our privileges as Christians.

            God chose Mary to share in his life and love in a special way from the first instant of her human life. God chose each of us to share in his life and love in a special way when we were baptized. Most of us were baptized very soon after we were born.

            Mary never suffered the condition of estrangement from God. We no longer suffer that condition, not since our baptism, unless we deliberately choose to reject God. Even then, God offers us reconciliation.

            Did Mary have other privileges resulting from her freedom from original sin? Was she spared from death? The strongest tradition says that she died a natural death before her assumption, just as Jesus died a natural death before his resurrection. Was she spared from suffering? Certainly not. The gospels are clear about that.

            Sin holds a powerful fascination for us, and we show pitiful moral weakness in our lack of self-control. But Mary was free from the strong tendency to sin that plagues us. She did not inherit the moral weakness of her forefathers.

            But so were our first parents free from any inherited moral weakness, but that didn't stop them from falling out with God through pride. Also, the angels had freedom of choice to follow God's plan or their own, and many chose to reject God.

            Mary still had to cope with her freewill. If we do not believe that, then we make Mary out to be a goddess, or a robot. Mary could have chosen not to serve God. She was more capable of that sin than we are with our weakened freewill.

            Mary was privileged, but so are we. Her privileges suited her for the part that she was invited to play in God's plan, and so do ours.

            At Baptism, we are invited to share God's life and love. We are incorporated into his plan for Jesus Christ and the Church, as Mary was at her Immaculate Conception.

            At Confirmation, the Holy Spirit gives us added strength for our tasks in the Church and in the world, as he did to Mary at the Annunciation and at Pentecost.

            We, too, conceive the Son of God in our persons when we receive Jesus in Holy   Communion and we foster his growth by our loving service of others.

            God knows how many other privileges he has granted to each of us, or wishes to bestow on us for carrying out his plan. We should recognize the great things God has done to us, and express our thanks to the Blessed Trinity.

            Mary shows us how to be in tune with God's plan as it works itself out in us. She says: “Let it be done to me, Lord, according to your word.”

            St Francis expressed Mary’s prayer in his own words: “Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out your holy and true command” (FA:ED I, p.40).

            This is the way to use our privileges: “Lord, you have your plan for me. Do what you like with me.”

Carl Schafer OFM

National Assistant SFO - Oceania

Monthly Spiritual Message                                 

                                        “Where there is Despair, let me sow Hope

            What is hope? It is a theological virtue that makes us desire God as our highest Good, so that we expect, with a firm confidence, eternal happiness and the means to attain it. We have this conviction because of God’s goodness and power. Hope is infused into our soul with faith and charity when we are baptized. It is a firm and confident expectation because of God’s faithfulness to his promises.

            Jesus told us when he was here in earth: “He who perseveres to the end shall be saved” (Matt 24:13). “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find…. Knock and the door will be opened to you…. If a son asks for bread, will he give him a stone?” (Lk 11:9-11). Jesus in heaven is constantly interceding for us with the Father, and this assurance should give us great confidence and hope!

            Divine hope excludes anxiety and worry, though it is tempered with a salutary fear, because we realize our human weakness. We are not presumptuous because we also realize God’s goodness and power and love. St. John Chrysostom suggests that all our most grievous sins, set side by side with God’s mercy, are but a cobweb which is blown away by a single puff of wind. This thought is not an incentive to commit sin, which is always evil in the sight of God, but it is a strong statement of the infinite mercy of God, which is above all his works!

            It would be presumption on our part if we hope for heaven without divine help, or without good works, or if we sin because of God’s mercy.

            Our aim should be the growth of divine hope within us by using all the helps available to us. Let us begin with the psalms. In Psalm 55(56), we read: “Have mercy on me God, men crush me, they fight me all day long and oppress me. My foes crush me all day long, for many fight proudly against me. When I fear, I will trust in you, in God whose word I praise. In God I trust, I shall not fear: what can mortal man do to me? All day long they distort my words, all their thought is to harm me….You have kept a record of my tears, are they not written in your book? Then my foes will be put to flight, on the day that I call to you. This I know, that God is on my side. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not fear, what can mortal man do to me.?” How beautifully the psalmist expresses hope and confidence in God in this and in so many of the psalms!

            If we look at the many stories and parables in the New Testament, we see clearly how God wants us to trust and hope in his help. Before Jesus calmed the storm (Mk 4:35-4l), while he was in the boat with the apostles they underestimated his awareness of the situation and thought he was asleep. But he said to them: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” If their faith was weak, their hope of safety in the treacherous storm would also have faded away! But in Psalm 145 we pray: “The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds. The Lord supports all who fall and raises all who are bowed down. The eyes of all creatures look to you and you give them their food in due time. You open wide your hand and grant the desires of all who live.”

            Among the stories of St. Francis, we read that he had terrible pain in his eyes for some fifty days and could not sleep. In his prayer, he heard the words: “Francis, if all the earth were gold, and the rocks precious stones, and the rivers ran with choicest balsam, and then if you were to find so precious a treasure that in comparison with it the gold were as vile as dust, the jewels of less price than common pebbles, and the balsam less valuable than water…and if all this were given to you as a reward for your present illness, would you not regard these sufferings precious and rejoice at them?” Francis replied: “I do not deserve such a treasure.” The Lord continued: “This priceless treasure is life everlasting which I have prepared for you, the pledge of which I give you in this infirmity.” The Saint rejoiced, he was encouraged and said: “Such is the happiness I seek, that every pain is delightful to me!”

            St. Vincent de Paul once said: “Even if the entire world were to rise up to destroy us, it could do nothing but what is pleasing to God, in whom we have placed our hope …You point out to me your miseries. And who is there that is not full of them? The only thing is to know them and to love the humiliation arising from them, as you do, without stopping except to lay the strong foundation of confidence in God. Then the house is built upon rock, and when the storm comes, it remains firm!”

                                                                                                Carmel Flora OFMCap

                                                                                       National Assistant SFO - Oceania

     Spiritiual Message For October 2008

Monthly Spiritual Message

                                                              September 2008

            "Where there is injury, let me sow pardon..."

The "Peace Prayer" of St. Francis reflects the sentiments of the Psalms which have a lasting value. Psalm 102 (103), for example, tells us to praise the God of merciful love..."My soul, give thanks to the Lord; all my being, bless his holy name. My soul, give thanks to the Lord, and never forget all his blessings. It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills...who fills your life with good things, renewing your youth like an eagle's. The Lord does deeds of justice, gives judgment for all who are oppressed....The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy. His wrath will come to an end; he will not be angry for ever...

            "He does not treat us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our faults. For, as the heavens are high above the earth, so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins....for he knows of what we are made, he remembers that we are dust.....But the love of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear...The Lord has set his sway in heaven, and his kingdom is ruling over all....

            "Give thanks to the Lord, all his hosts, his servants who do his will. Give thanks to the Lord all his works, in every place where he rules. My soul, give thanks to the Lord."

            God's loves for us is expressed most wonderfully in his mercy. This truth is expressed very clearly in a book written by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen O.C.D. titled, Divine Intimacy, published in the 1960's. He writes: "God's love for us assumes a very special character, one that is adapted to our nature as frail, weak creatures, the character of mercy. Mercy is love bending over misery to relieve it, to redeem it, to raise it up to itself. It almost seems that God, in loving us, is attracted by our weakness, not because it is lovable, but because being infinite goodness, his compassion stoops to compensate for it by his mercy. He wants to heal our imperfection by his infinite perfection, our impurity by his purity, our ignorance by his strength. God, the supreme, eternal good, wants to be the remedy for all our ills, "for he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust."

            "Since our greatest evil - rather, the only real evil - is sin, infinite mercy would be the remedy. Assuredly, God hates sin, but, although he is forced to withdraw his friendship - that is, his grace - from the soul of a sinner, because of the offense, his mercy still finds a way of continuing to love him. If he can no longer love him as a friend, he loves him as a creature, as the work of his hands; God loves him for the good that is still in him and which gives hope of his conversion. God's mercy is so immense that no misery, however great, can exhaust it: not even the most infamous sin can halt it, provided the sin is repented of.

            "There is no limit to God's mercy. He never rejects us because of our sins. He never grows weary of our infidelities. He never refuses to forgive us. He is always ready to forget all our offenses and to repay our ingratitude with graces. He never reproaches us for our offenses, even when we fall again immediately after being forgiven. He is never angered by our repeated failures or weakness in the practice of virtue, but always stretches out his hand to us, wanting to help us. Even when others condemn us, God shows mercy to us, he absolves us and sends us away justified, as Jesus did with the woman taken in adultery: "Go, and now sin no more." He also said to us: "Be merciful therefore, as your heavenly Father is also merciful."

            "How far does our mercy go? How much compassion do we have for the faults of others? The measure of God's mercy toward us will be our mercy toward our neighbour, for Jesus has said: 'With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again.' Jesus revealed to us the mystery of his heavenly Father's merciful love, not only for our own consolation and personal benefit, not only to give us absolute confidence in God, but also to teach us to be merciful to our neighbour. Good attracts good, goodness engenders goodness, and kindness inspires kindness. Therefore, the more we penetrate the mystery of infinite mercy, the more we will be incited to emulate it.

            "When we feel irritated with someone and little disposed to indulgence and pardon, we ought to plunge with all our strength into the consideration of the infinite mercy of God, in order to smother all harshness, resentment and anger in ourselves. It would not be difficult for us to realize that there is no moment of our lives in which we do not need the mercy of God."

            A beautiful prayer of St. Bernard may help us in our efforts to forgive, to show mercy and love to those who hurt us in some way…."O Lord, I run to you because you are so good and merciful, and because I know that you did not despise the poor nor hate the sinner. You did not reject the thief who confessed his sins, nor the weeping Magdalen, nor the suppliant Canaanite woman, nor the woman taken in adultery, nor the tax collector sitting at his counter, nor the publican who implored your mercy, nor the Apostle who denied you, nor even those who crucified you ….

            "O Lord, pour into my soul the dew of your mercy, fill my heart with charity, that I may know how to be all things to all people....Teach me to distil the sweet perfume of your mercy, which is composed of the needs of the poor, the anguish of the oppressed, the anxieties of the afflicted, the failures of sinners, and finally, all the pains of those who suffer, even if they be my enemies....All these things are repugnant to my nature, but you have said: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.’

            "O Lord, grant that I may pour out the perfume of mercy, not only on your head and your feet, but on your whole body, which is the church, so that it will lessen the sorrows of all your suffering members."

Carmel Flora OFM Cap.

National Assistant SFO – Oceania.

Year 8, No.8             

 Inner Healing as a Key

to Overcoming Personal Dysfunction.

Many of us can remember the fire burning within us as we sought to draw closer to God.  Part of this was to deepen our religious commitment.  For those of us truly afire with the Spirit, nothing seemed impossible, indeed all things were possible in Christ.  Unfortunately, after a period of time this zeal and energy diminished.  We don’t exactly know why or how it diminished within us, but we now often find ourselves in a dry difficult place.  Does any of this resonate with you?  Perhaps, one of the reasons isn’t the people around us as much as the way our past, if left unhealed, can imprison us.

As you may be aware, there is a very close relationship between memories of past hurts and the way we look upon our lives in the present.  For example, even our image of God can be coloured by the negative experiences we may have had in dealing with human authority.  A person who grew up with a father who seemed distant is likely to view God as being distant and inaccessible as well.

Behind every wounded memory is a fear.  That could be the fear of rejection, the fear of being unloved or uncared for. In any case, whatever the fear is, it is buried deep inside and operates automatically. Such fears become strongholds in us that drive aspects of our personality.  These strongholds are designed to protect and shield us from further pain or damage, which they do.  Unfortunately, they also keep us trapped in past hurts and prevent us from developing.  They impede our conversion, and therefore also impede our freedom.

It is only when we give God access to the recesses of our hearts that we will begin to experience divine healing. Divine healing?  Yes, divine healing because, as Sacred Scripture shows, at its root, every wound and every sin flows from a wounded relationship with God.  Therefore, when we seek to repair these wounds God can restore us.  So what are some of the features that we need to be aware of if we are to be restored to that relationship with God, through the Holy Spirit, where our hearts will once again be burning within us?

• We need to admit that we have a problem.  This is often apparent when people have problems with us (arguments or gossiping).

• We need to pray and ponder the Sacred Scriptures every day, especially the gospel accounts of our Lord’s passion and suffering.  As he forgave those who crucified him, we are touched by the Holy Spirit to forgive those who have done us harm.

• Be aware of, and alert to, the thoughts that go through your mind every day.  Compare the thoughts going through your mind with the gospel accounts.  For example when you encounter a certain person that irritates you, be aware of your thoughts towards them.  Are they gospel centered or not?

• Open your heart to true repentance.  Just because you go to confession or say that you forgive someone doesn’t mean that metanoia has taken place in you.  Metanoia involves a change in the way we think.  ‘I believe in Jesus now, I want to be with him and like him, I’ll not think about so and so like that again!’

• Practise forgiveness through faith in Jesus.  After all, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 6) says: ‘Unless you forgive others their sins against you, your Father in heaven will not forgive you!!!!!’  If you have great difficulty in forgiving people from your heart (not just with your lips), then pray to Jesus for the gift of true forgiveness.  As you do this, look at a crucifix.

• Pray to God to set you free from the deformity of the past.  Healing can be immediate, or it might unfold over time (I’ve experienced both).  In any case, God’s healing, if sincerely and persistently sought, will always come.  After all, becoming holy is nothing more than becoming whole – the way God meant us to be.

• Seek help if necessary.  Get a spiritual director or spiritual friend,  one who is gospel orientated and interested in helping you.  That means one who listens to you, not one who does a lot of talking when you are with them.

Allowing God to break down the strongholds of negative and dysfunctional memories within us leads to healing and, via this, to freedom and renewed life.  It defuses and washes out of our system the self centered and destructive attitudes that have developed due to past hurts.  Like Francis, it is only when we embrace the liberating message of the Cross that we, like him, will know true healing and true joy.  Amen.

May the Lord grant you peace.

Friar David M. Huebner OFM Conv,

 National Assistant SFO – Oceania.

Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,...
may we be able to follow in the footsteps of your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
 and, by your grace alone, may we make our way to you,
Most High, who live and rule
in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified God all-powerful, for ever and ever.
Amen.

St Francis, Letter to the Entire Order

AUSTRALIA'S VOCATION

April 25: Anzac Day

A nation, like a man or woman, comes to maturity through pain. On April 25, 1915, units of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps went ashore at a little cove on the Dardanelles. Australia came of age in Anzac Cove.

A nation's vitality is measured in struggles, sacrifices, and even tragedy. On this day, we remember, not only those who lost their lives at Gallipoli, but also those who died in France and Flanders, Palestine and Mesopotamia, the Western Desert, Syria, Greece, and Crete, in the skies above England and Europe, in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic; and those who died closer to home, off the coasts of Java, Timor, and in the Coral Sea, in New Britain and Bouganville, in Korea and Vietnam, recently in Afghanistan; in all theatres of war, in Europe, in the Middle East and in Asia, especially in Papua New Guinea.

In moments of tragedy, a nation has no time to reflect. Those who fell - our own fathers and brothers, your husbands and sons - some complainingly, some indifferently, some resignedly, and some heroically, all lost their lives for us. Whether they knew it or not, their vocation was self-sacrifice. They were called to save the land that they knew and loved.

They saved Australia for us, and for our future. That future is now.

Now, years later, when we remember those days, and the men and women who were sacrificed for us, we have time to think. Those who died bought us more time to reflect, to see ourselves clearly and the world around us, time to realise our calling.

There are Australians who see no special purpose for Australia. They don’t accept that God has any plan for us. Even if God exists, He has no interest in world affairs, they say. People are born, eke out an existence, and die, and all to no purpose. Self-sacrifice is insane; heroism is futile. Their grandfathers, fathers and brothers went looking for adventure. They found pain, and died.

People of faith see it differently. God loves us, and has plans for us. God loves those who threaten us. He has plans for them. God has brought us to maturity through tragedy and sacrifice, at a cost that was almost extreme. We count our northern neighbours in hundreds of millions, not Christian and even anti-Christian. But we, by the will of God, are a tiny, mainly Christian nation. Our service men and women fought to defend our freedom to be that way. We still survive as Christians.

I do not speak of destiny or fate. These are pagan ideas. I speak of God’s will and his calling us and keeping us. I believe that Australia has a vocation from God. We are Christ's door to Asia. He stands at the door even now and knocks. Furthermore, Asia has come to us. Our door has been opened wide. We have a vocation from God also with regard to them.

North Africa was once intensely Christian. Sainted bishops graced those lands, St Augustine and St Cyprian among many others. Christian mothers bore children in prison. Fine soldiers laid down their lives for their country and their Christian faith. However, Christian North Africa died with them, many centuries ago. We do not want this to happen to Australia.

Rome was no sooner Christian than she was crushed by pagan hordes. But Rome brought her conquerors to the feet of Christ. Only the Christian faith survived those invasions, but Rome fulfilled her calling, and continues to do so by God’s grace. Surely, this is Australia's vocation, to preserve the Christian faith for Asia and for Australia itself.

We pray for the survival of the land that we know and love, that Australians died for; not in vain, we trust. We pray for the survival of our Christian and Catholic faith and way of life.

In today’s Eucharist and in the two minutes' silence observed this day, we pray for our fallen who could show no greater love than the sacrifice of their lives. And in the face of new threats, we pray for strength to fulfil our own calling. Let our response be humble and grateful, and courageous.

On Anzac Day, we are not out to glorify war. Our heroes are not the war-mongers. War spells the victory of hatred and inflicts maximum injury, mainly on innocent people. We pray today for all those, combatants and also non-combatants, who have lost their lives through the ravages of war, that our merciful Saviour will claim them as his own.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred let us sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

And where there is sadness, joy.

Carl Schafer OFM

National Spiritual Assistant SFO – Oceania

  We're reminded today of a saint very dear to Irish-born Catholics among us and to many Australians (and New Zealanders) whose parents at some stage came from Ireland.

 Surely, this is the most colourful saint's day of the year, celebrated with sports carnivals, concerts and balls, patronised by countless O'Apostrophes festooned with green ribbons and clover leaves in lieu of shamrocks.

 Of course, there are many other Australian Catholics whose parents come from almost any country that you care to name, and from every continent, but the apostles of other nations aren't given anything like the recognition that the Australian Church accords to St Patrick.

 The Dutch in Australia celebrate their St Willibrord, the Germans their St Boniface, the Slavs their two Saints Cyril and Methodius. The Italians celebrate St Francis and the Maltese St Paul. But the Australian Catholic Church doesn't mark any of these days with the same degree of celebration, much less drink green beer for the occasion.

 I would be the last person to deprive our St Patrick's Day of its Irish colour. But why does the Australian Church celebrate the feast of St Patrick with special solemnity? Why is he the Patron Saint of the archdioceses of Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Auckland, and of hundreds of parish churches and schools?

 The prayer of St Patrick's Mass gives us the clue. It refers to St Patrick not as the apostle of Ireland (which he certainly was) but as the man who "preached God's glory to the nations”.

 This is precisely why he is so much venerated in Australia. It was in the person of Irish immigrants, whether in priest's biretta or nun's veil, in top hat or soft cap, or in convict chains, that St Patrick preached God's glory to our nation. St Patrick's day is essentially a festival of Australia's Catholic faith.

 The truth of it is obvious. Predominantly Irish people brought the Catholic faith to this apparently God-forsaken land. In spite of successive waves of immigration of Catholic people from many other countries, the Australian Church has always been deeply influenced by Irish Catholicism. Our faith was stamped with Irish qualities, and still is, although the influence has waned considerably.

 Outstanding among the fine qualities of the Faith in this country in earlier days was the people's tenacious hold of the Catholic faith as best they knew and loved it, in the face of extreme hardships:

 - their loyalty to the pope as head of the universal Church, to their local bishop and to their priests, when many of their fellow immigrants esteemed Roman clerics as a very low form of life;                            
                                      (compare SFO Rule Art. 6, Gen.Const. Art. 99)

 - their fidelity to the Mass - they had an unerring Christian sense that it was the Mass that mattered;                 (compare Rule8. Gen Const Art 99)

 - their courageous and often heroic support of Christian education for their Australian children, as opposed to the government's free, compulsory and secular education;                                    (G.C. 25)

 - their personal piety which is essentially belief put into practice. Practices of piety can become obsolete, but piety itself is never out of date.                                       (Compare Rule 7, Gen.Const. 17)

 These are some of the qualities of Irish faith that flourished on Australian soil, and that laid the foundations of the Australian Church. This is why we celebrate the Feast of St Patrick.

 But do we merely celebrate glories of the past, the accomplishments of the faith of our Australian pioneers? If that's all we're doing, we have put away our Catholic faith like a museum piece - to be admired but not to be touched, let alone put into effect in grappling with modern life.

 Consider just one of the fine qualities of Australian faith derived from the Irish - their fidelity to the Mass. It was the Mass in Latin, of course, and most of the people said their rosary while Father performed the Holy Sacrifice with his back to them, in mysterious isolation.

 It was a big shock to the system when a pope introduced the people's hand missals in 1900, and encouraged priests to spread this way of taking part in the Mass. What was Father doing, encouraging people to read a book at Mass? How can we say the rosary and juggle a book at the same time?

 Then it was an almighty shock when another pope in 1969 introduced the Mass in English. English! It's a profane language. How can we use that in the Holy Sacrifice? And why couldn't they have left us in peace with our lovely Key of Heaven manual?

 But the principle behind these changes is always the unerring Catholic and Irish one: "It's the Mass that matters." The SFO Rule, Article 8, and the General Constitutions, Article 14, say the same: “the Eucharist is the centre of the life of the Church... Therefore, the Eucharist should be the centre of the life of the fraternity.”

Carl Schafer OFM
National Spiritual Assistant SFO – Oceania

“Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace…..”

These first words of the “Peace Prayer of St. Francis” give us a good subject for meditation as we begin the New Year 2008 .If there is anything we really need in the world, it is peace within our own hearts and peace among one another. St. Francis was such a person who attained the reputation of being a peacemaker, as we see in the following story.

In the year 1220, Francis was preaching in the public square at Bologna, to a large gathering of people who listened intently to what he had to say. His style was not like the manner of other preachers of the day, but was very plain and unpretentious. The City had experienced much violence and bloodshed, but Francis’ manner and words touched their hearts. Their thoughts of violence were changed into thoughts of peace and reconciliation. That day, the little man of peace brought unity to a turbulent population, a conversion of hearts towards a union of mind and spirit.

Francis took the words of the Gospel seriously. “When you come into a house, salute it saying: ‘Peace be to this house’.” And even when he came to die these same thoughts were on his lips: “The Lord revealed to me this salutation that we should say: ‘May the Lord give you His Peace’.” St. Thomas says that peace is the “tranquility of order, within oneself and with others…Within ourselves in so far as we love God with our whole heart, by referring all things to Him, so that all our desires tend to one Object, God…With others, in so far as we love our neighbor as ourselves, so that we wish to fulfil our neighbor’s will as though it were our own.”

If charity is the cause or basis of peace, then failures in charity will certainly lead to a loss of peace; for example, a stubborn clinging to our own opinions, our own ideas. Someone expressed this attitude very well by saying: “There are two sides to every question – my side and the wrong side!” To have peace there must be consideration of the thoughts and feelings of others, a true listening to what may be different from our own opinions.

St. James says: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” A little condescension, mild speech, can go a long way towards a peaceful home. “A mild answer breaks wrath, but a harsh word stirs up fury.”(Prov.15:1). A friend once told me –“The stubborn, angry person forgets that we are all human, we all make mistakes. That’s why there are erasers on pencils!”

A beautiful example of a peacemaker is our own St. Elizabeth of Portugal, a Secular Franciscan. Her very birth in 127l brought about reconciliation in her own family, between her father and grandfather. When she grew up and married King Denis of Portugal and bore him two children, her husband became a dissolute man who was a scandal to the court and whole country! Elizabeth was hurt not so much for herself, but that her husband was offending the Lord. So she persevered in prayer and penance until he finally received the grace of conversion.

That was not the end of her suffering. Her husband had a very serious quarrel with his brother over property rights and possessions. Elizabeth again became the peacemaker by giving to her brother-in-law an estate of her own. Harmony was once again restored, but her role as peacemaker continued.

Her own son, Alfonse, became ambitious and rose up against his father.  He gathered a considerable army to overcome his kingship. Not only did Elizabeth pray fervently for peace, but when the two armies faced each other, she mounted her horse and rode out into the middle of the two opposing groups, and her stirring words and courage prevented a terrible calamity. Her son was so moved by her courage and presence and pleas, that he dismounted from his horse and cast himself at the feet of his father, and asked his forgiveness….And her final effort as a peacemaker, was a similar feud between her son and son-in-law in which war was once again averted by her peacemaking efforts. All this took a terrible toll on her health and she died in 1336…..”How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, for they shall be called children of God” (Rom.10-15).

Carmel Flora OFMCap

National Spiritual Assistant SFO – Oceania.

   God made himself man, and became like us, even one of us. To those who lived near Jesus, he looked like a deeply spiritual religious man.“He worked with human hands, he thought with a human mi