Wednesday, December 22, 2021

SHARING IN THE LIFE OF THE LORD

Today I heard someone say of the Eucharist: ‘It will be wonderful to receive the wine again’. They were commenting on the way the chalice has been withheld since the pandemic began and is only being offered again in some churches.

Whilst I understand her desire for this intimate encounter, I am also sad that the comment suggests there is something ‘missing’ when we cannot receive from the chalice.  The words caused me to sense how easy it is to understand the sacrament we share in as a ritual, cultic meal or – at another extreme – what would amount to a cannibalistic feast.  Both mislead us as to what we share in when the Eucharist is celebrated.  As I wrote in The Mystery of Faith:

‘The Holy Spirit invoked on the gifts of bread and wine animates the ‘yeast’ of Christ in the unleavened bread and wine of the Kingdom. Christ will not depart from the Sacrament, coming to us in either the Host or Precious Blood. So if you can’t receive from the Chalice (receiving from the same cup as your sister or brother in the Body is an important sign of our common-unity) don’t dip the Host into the Chalice! The fullness of grace comes through both.’ 

Surely, what matters is not that we ‘drink the wine’, anymore than that we should ‘eat the bread’ but that we should partake of Him who said: ‘This is my body … my blood’.  St John recorded Jesus as saying: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.  Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6.53f).  Those words shocked some to the extent they stopped following Him (John 6.66f) – I doubt whether inviting people to ‘share a sip of wine in memory of me’ would have quite such an effect!

The reason why I’m sad is that some have, clearly, never had their eyes opened to the heart of this Mystery.  Christ is not divided between Chalice and Host; rather, we receive the fullness of grace through either the Bread of Life or the Chalice of Salvation, the precious Body and Blood of Christ.  We say ‘Amen’ to what we receive – that we may become more fully that on which we feed.  Isn’t that the reason we share in this Sacred Banquet?

Saturday, December 18, 2021

THREE MASSES AND A BABY ...

Those responsible for the Liturgies of Christmas Day will recall these two aspects of the celebration – the different Masses celebrated throughout Christmas Day and the place of the Crib.

Dating back to at least the 4th century, three Masses are offered:

              Midnight – the Mass of the Angels (or Angel’s Mass)

              Dawn – the Mass of the Shepherds

              Day – the Mass of the Word(or King’s Mass)

‘Common Worship’ provides three sets of Readings for the Day but gives no instruction as to how they are used.  However, the sequence of the Readings shows how they fit into the theme of the Masses:

Midnight:        Isaiah 9: 2-7

                             Ps. 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13

R. Today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord.

                             Titus 2: 11-14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I proclaim to you good news of great joy:
today a Saviour is born for us,
Christ the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

                             Luke 2: 1-14

Dawn:                Isaiah 62: 6-12

                            Ps.97: 1, 6, 11-12

R. A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.

                             Titus 3: 4-7

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to God in the highest heaven,
 and on earth peace among those whom he favours.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

                             Luke 2: 8-20

Day:                    Isaiah 52: 7-10

                             Ps. 98: 1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6

R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

                             Hebrews 1: 1-4

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A holy day has dawned upon us.
Come, you nations, and adore the Lord.
For today a great light has come upon the earth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

                             John 1: 1-14

Then there’s the matter of what to do with the Baby

It was St Francis of Assisi who ‘invented’ the first Christmas Crib at Greccio in c.1223.  Thinking people didn’t realise the enormity of God entering human flesh, he invited the villagers of Greccio to Mass in the middle of the night and, beneath the altar, placed a crib containing the image of a baby (the bambino).  As the priest uttered the words of Institution (‘This is my body … my blood … ‘) over the wafers and chalice on the altar, so the bambino was seen to cry and, from that time onwards, it became the custom to place a bambino on a small cushion on the altar, in place of the small crucifix lying before the gaze of the priest, at Midnight Mass.  After Mass, it is processed to the Crib where prayers are offered – and, for this one day, all genuflect to the image as they pass.

The Crib was never meant ‘for the children’ but adults, and whilst many will now have children’s Crib Services, the Blessing needs to take place at Mass.  Like others, the Crib Service at my church was immensely popular but I would always tell the children that because Christ was born during the night we would be blessing the Crib at midnight, and many came back with their parents on that one, most holy, night.

Finally, the Kings will have begun their journey and, wherever possible, it’s a good custom to show the three moving along window ledges (for example) on the days between Christmas and Epiphany.

Wednesday, October 06, 2021

WHY I AM A PROTESTANT

WHY I AM A PROTESTANT

I am a protestant because Jesus was.

Jesus’ life was one of protest – he protested about abuse of power (Matthew 5.38f), the corruption of money (Luke 12.33f) and the danger of pride (Luke 18.9f). He protested at the way the poor were treated, about the arrogance of the rich, and the voices of deceivers. He protested about the way many judge others without admitting their own faults (Matthew 7.1f), about religious hypocrites (Matthew 23.1f) and the dangers of being duped by Satan – the liar and teller of falsehoods (Matthew 16.23f). He protested about greed, jealousy, and envy (Mark 7.20f).  He protested that we need to love all, especially our enemies, and that we need to forgive others if we want to be forgiven.

Jesus protested on behalf of the oppressed, hurt, abused, downtrodden, abandoned, alienated, and victimized (Luke 7).  He also protested about those who are narrow in their outlook; he went to places and stayed with people he wasn’t supposed to and talked with those no good Jew was allowed to (John 4). 

The bible is a protestant book.  It protests about those who are neither hot nor cold (Revelation 13.15f), about those who are callous or passive in the face of evil (James 4.17).  It protests about the grip of sin and the need for nations to act righteously (Jeremiah 3.17).  It protests at the ways many are blind to the good in others, blind to what people different to us have to offer and deaf to wisdom that comes from those unlike us.

I am protestant because I protest at the way people can ignore the plain word of scripture; at the way what is offered in the bible for our formation as God’s creation is ignored.  For example, incense, the Book of Proverbs tells us, makes the ‘heart glad’ (Prov. 62.5) and was offered to Jesus at his birth; yet there are those who reject its benefits, deny the insights which come from other Christian traditions, and refuse to learn from the wisdom of the ages.

Yes, I am a protestant  ... but that doesn't mean I'm not a Catholic as well :-)

THOUGHTS OF ONE GIVEN AWAY AT BIRTH

I was born to an unmarried mother in an emergency nursing home in 1946. She, like others in her situation, had served in the Second World War and, after what must have been a brief affair with a soldier (or, possibly, having been raped – no father's name appears on my Birth Certificate), gave me up for adoption shortly afterwards. 

It appears she came from an ordinary family but there was little, if any, support for unmarried mothers in 1946 and she was persuaded to have me adopted.  I know she wanted to keep me but social conditions and family morality, combined with the economics of the pre-Welfare State, meant there was insufficient money to raise a child.  There was also the social stigma attached to being an unmarried mother and, therefore, she was sent to a place away from her home in order to give birth. Whilst I have letters showing she had a struggle to give me up, she did not talk about my birth which remained hidden from common knowledge, and although she married soon afterwards my very existence was never spoken of.  

At a time when many are reporting historical abuse towards unmarried mothers I count myself fortunate.  Until the advent of orphanages, usually run by Religious Orders as local authorities didn’t have to pay salaries to Sisters, babies born ‘out of wedlock’ or born to women with a large number of children, might have been ‘disposed’ of because the mothers could not afford to keep them.  Some would have been given away (and Charles Dickens writes of the conditions many faced in David Copperfield) but others would be allowed to die or be killed.

It’s easy, simplistic, and dangerous to judge a previous era by the standards of our own. Two years after I was born the Children Act 1948 set out new support measures for children across the UK. Until then, local authorities had no duty to provide care for any child whose parents were unable to do so - that was the responsibility of others.  The notion that children had ‘rights’ is fairly recent; it was not until 1990 that the UK signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which sets out the rights of every child ‘to survive, grow, participate and fulfil their potential’.

Married women, of course, shared the lot of children in that it is only recently they were regarded as not being the property of their husbands.  Unmarried mothers fared even worse – ‘fallen’ women who had no place in decent society.  Much of the blame for this is traceable to the ancient notion that women needed controlling by men, an understanding that is still common in many places.  The fear behind this is that, without domination, women were a threat because they were the givers and takers of life; every religion has added a gloss to this by declaring, in one way or another, that woman can be either ‘saints or sinners.’

I am deeply and forever grateful to my adoptive parents for the wonderful upbringing I received, and I also recognise the pain that my birth mother must have experienced.  But we must not judge the mores of previous generations in the simplistic way that many in the media are now doing - and encouraging others to do the same.  It’s easy to point a finger, but we should be slow to judge, ready to listen and explore - and only then discern the right response.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

WHAT’S THE POINT?

I recently heard someone say of a murdered friend: “I’ll always remember her for teaching me that the most important thing in life is to put yourself first”. That comment struck me as at odds with what many would say and what the gospel teaches: ‘… the last will be first, and the first will be last. … whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’ (Matthew 20.16, 26f)

The emphasis on ‘self’ – self-improvement, self-help, self-will – can easily lead to a focus preventing growth, for growth depends on being part of a community and interaction with others. ‘Self’ concern can also feed into the belief that we should try to get as much out of life as we can, a narrative embraced by many in society to the extent that the need to give more than we get is forgotten. This, in turn, informs the way we can understand our relationship with the planet: private companies and governments seem to view creation as offering a never-ending source of materials to be plundered, without considering that the planet needs compassionate care lest Mother Earth reacts to our selfish pursuit of gain.

Western, industrialised society has developed against the backdrop of a spirituality which stresses the ‘positive’ attributes of God.  Such a spirituality is known as ‘cataphatic’ because it affirms that the more we seek the more we can discover about God who is revealed through the created world which reveals images of the divine.  It is the way of light and enlightenment. This has meant we have tended to overlook or even reject the way of unknowing nor realised the importance of darkness – the ‘apophatic’ way.  That was stresses the unknowability of God; that we can never understand God whose brightness is shrouded in a cloud, who hides in darkness.  God is to be found along the way of unknowing and so our goal is not to gain increasing knowledge but to be stripped and made empty.  God is an eternal Mystery and to be fully human is to accept the mystery of our own identity; that we can only realise that identity as we open ourselves to the Mystery; to understand that Mystery requires us to stand beneath it, contemplate it and realise that being human involves the loving gaze upon a darkness that contains light.  As T. S. Eliot wrote in East Coker (The Four Quartets):

Descend lower, descend only
Into the world of perpetual solitude,
World not world, but that which is not world,
Internal darkness, deprivation
And destitution of all property, […]

 O dark, dark, dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant […]

And we all go with them, into the silent funeral,
Nobody’s funeral, for there is no one to bury.

I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. […]

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. […]

In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstacy.
In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not.

__________________

Our society teaches us the necessity of making a profit, yet rarely stops to count the cost of that to creation. Earlier societies realised they were part of the whole and understood life as a costly gift for which they needed to give thanks to the Giver, rather than viewing life as a right.  People like Francis of Assisi recognise themselves as part of a whole with which they need to be in communion – Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Fire and so on. The consequence of emphasising individuality is that we can ignore the fundamental importance of community.

To be human is to know oneself as part of that whole.  Mother Earth, like the universe, is in a constant process of development, it grows and wains, expands and retracts, and all of this involves what St Paul described as ‘birth pangs’ (Romans 8.18f).  For life to exist we have to accept it involves pain and suffering as well as joy and happiness, and to be fully alive is to be someone who experiences anguish and grief and doesn’t try to hide from those conditions. Pain killers have an important part to play, but suffering unites us and provides the means to offer compassion.

The glamour we can long for needs resisting lest we become misled and fail to realise the cost of living, which involves the pain of birthing. The more attention we give to externals offered for our enjoyment, or as the goal of our desires, the less we may give to the heart of life. External temptations, along with the drugs offered to numb us, need resisting lest we are misled and fail to realise the true wonder of life.

‘Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever’ (1 John 2.15f).

Saturday, September 25, 2021

HARMLESS FUN?

Last night I heard a priest on TV making light of consuming quatntities of "wine" and having to eat lots of "bread"at the end of the Eucharist and my heart was saddened. Surely priests, of all people, should revere the gifts entrusted to us lest we are unworthy of the Giver. She might think it was just a 'joke', but others will see we don't care if fun is made of the faith - and cold be forgiven for thinking they can do the same.

Perhaps I am overly sensitive, but I find the way people use that which is holy in a cavilier way, or who take the Holy Name of Jesus Christ in vain, to be - blasphemous. I realise there are many other - perhaps more important - matters of concern on the media, but I'm reminded that Jesus said: "Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you." (Matthew 7.6).

It's easy to consider such things 'a bit of harmless fun', or to say that worse things are said in theological college Common Rooms.  But what's said in the privacy of such a place is one thing; what is said via public broadcasting quite another.


Tuesday, September 21, 2021

HOLY WISDOM AND THE PANDEMIC

The following is the text of an email sent to Rachel Cooke at The Guardian in response to an article on 'understanding the pandemic through the arts'  
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/19/mary-beard-twelve-caesars-interview

Dear Ms Cooke,

I was interested to read your article concerning Mary Beard’s comments that the arts might help us understand what we went through in the pandemic.  Whilst realising how much Ms Beard has to offer and delighting in her presentations, I was reminded that, not long ago, society would have turned to religion to help that understanding. For religion was known to offer a fount of wisdom drawn from streams which have flowed for thousands of years from deep within the human and divine story.  Sadly, the actions of some may have convinced others that – far from being a place to turn to for enlightenment – religion is for bigots, fundamentalists, and the unenlightened.  But that storehouse, if neglected, is still there.

More than a prop or fable, God has been realised as the seat of wisdom.  People have been reminded of the need to treasure up God’s ‘words’, to ‘incline’ their hearts to understanding the depths of divine revelation and find the ‘knowledge’ that comes from God.  Drawing on these ancient ways the Church (and other faith groups) still has access to that wisdom of the ages to enlighten questions arising from the pandemic, and some of her members would be able to unfold this.

The outburst of that dark, hidden force was a shocking reminder that we are not in charge of our destiny but subject to powers beyond our control. Our forebears would know that we need to turn to God and say, ‘insh’allah’ – thy will be done - not in blind resignation, but with faith that God will bring life out of death and light out of darkness for God desires the good of creation.  They would (as many still do) pray: ‘Deliver us, Lord … from every evil … ; that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, … ‘ for the pandemic carries another, darker, virus – the virus of fear.  Faith teaches us to face life with caution and beware the danger of being trapped by anxiety and worry.  Faith teaches us to look to God as that creative source of life which lies beyond the darkness.

Ms Beard has the knowledge to open the wisdom of the Arts, but religion has the ability to offer a deeper wisdom, the divine wisdom of the ages contained in the pages of so many sacred books and in the experience of saints and mystics.  Perhaps you could find some room to share this, too?

With best wishes,

yours faithfully,

(Fr.) John-Francis Friendship TSSF

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

BR RAMON SSF: CONTEMPLATIVE AND MYSTIC

It was a sunny spring day in 1978 when, gardening in the vegetable patch at Glasshampton monastery, I first met Raymond Lloyd. He joined me in digging out weeds and we talked about the Religious Life and his own sense of vocation.  Converted as a child to a radical, joyful Christianity (and pacifism), this former Baptist minister had already lived with a small community of hermits in Roslin, Scotland.  The (ecumenical) Community of the Transfiguration had never numbered more than five living in the manner of the Desert Elders and influenced by the spirituality of Bl. Charles of Jesus (Charles de Foucauld: 1858-1916), Taize, and the worker-priest movement.

Raymond was on a journey of discovery as he sought to respond to the call of the Spirit. Having been impressed by the Cowley Fathers and feeling a strong pull to their life he was due to stay with the Society of St John the Evangelist and thought God might be calling him to them, but the rest is the history of how he came to become Ramon SSF, a great mission preacher, Franciscan hermit, and writer of many popular books on prayer and spirituality.

Solitude’s stillness is the place of vision,
            Gazing on Beauty, wrapped in silence still,
            Sharing the glory of the triune splendour
            Learning the meaning of the Father’s will.
           (A Hidden Fire, p.211)

Apart from having his heart set on God, what’s noticeable about Ramon (like so many others called to the different forms of solitary life) was his poverty/radical simplicity, hospitality, and the way he, like others at that time, was aided by that remarkable Anglican contemplative, Mother Mary Clare SLG (1906-1988), who profoundly influenced the development of the solitary life in the Church of England:

‘We must learn to wait upon the Spirit of God. As he moves us, we are led into deeper purgation, drawn to greater self-sacrifice, and we come to know in the end the stillness, the awful stillness, in which we see the world from the height of Calvary.’ (Mthr. Mary Clare SLG – source unknown)

For me, Ramon’s spirituality mirrors Jacopone da Todi whom he wrote about so eloquently, not least in his book Jacopone, and to understand what motivated Ramon one has only to read that book:  

                  For since God’s wisdom, though so great
                       Is all intoxicate with love.
                  Shall mine not be inebriate,
                       And so be like my Lord above?
                  No greater glory can I give
                      Than sharing His insanity.

Ramon included that stanza in his gift to the Third Order, Franciscan Spirituality (p.43), and if I were to recall anything about him which might animate the calling of any of us it is that profound and simple matter of being ‘intoxicated’ with love – an intoxication which draws on a profound relationship with Christ.  His was a deeply catholic faith which valued the Sacraments and if ever the Society has nurtured a saint, we need to look no further than this joyful, Christ-centred friar.

(including extracts from What Do You Seek?
Wisdom of the Religious Life
, Canterbury Press, 2021
More information about Ramon SSF can be found in:
 A Franciscan Way of Life, Arthur Howells, BRF, 2018)

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI: CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER AND CONTEMPLATIVE LIVING

I suppose we are all familiar with Francis view of Creation by which he contemplated Christ in all things – as St. Bonaventure wrote in his Major Life of St Francis (IX:1):

‘In everything beautiful, (Francis) saw him who is beauty itself, and he followed his Beloved everywhere by his likeness imprinted on creation; of all creation he made a ladder by which he might mount up and embrace Him who is all-desirable.’

He was no ‘nature mystic’ but celebrated the presence of God beneath the outer forms of creation.  But did Francis practice what we would call ‘contemplative prayer’, or did he live contemplatively?  What is contemplative prayer?  Is it desiring and gazing and allowing ourselves to be held in the compassionate gaze of God whilst treating all those logismoi – distracting thoughts – that come to us as so many children wanting to distract or gaze?  Or is it certain practices – Centring Prayer, for example, or spending time before the Blessed Sacrament or an icon or candle and seeking to be still?  Do our contemplative prayer-practices ‘stand-alone’ or do we find that they begin to affect the rest of life?  Do we want to ‘perfect’ our prayer, or are we content to let our desire for God be all we cling on to? Are we beginning to live contemplatively’?  What do we mean by ‘contemplation’?


Contemplation
The root of the word concerns a space reserved for sacred purposes from the Latin word templum, a piece of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, or a building for worship.  At one time it was associated with a long thoughtful look at something but has come to be concerned with simply taking a ‘long, loving look at the real’ (Walter Burghardt SJ).  It could be described as a way of offering a balance to activism for it invites us to stop and focus our distracted attention.  It is a way to realise a sense of being at one with an-other and can be practiced by anyone.  The Swiss-born German artist Paul Klee observed: ‘In a forest I have felt, many times over, that it was not I who looked 
at the forest.  Some days I have felt that the trees were looking at me … were speaking to me … I was there listening … I think that the painter must be penetrated by the universe and not want to penetrate it.’ 

Be still and know that I am God. (Ps.46.10)

Contemplative prayer
Contemplative prayer is one of the classic forms of Christian prayer.  Whilst Discursive prayer is a prayer using words where we talk to God and meditation a type of prayer where we think about God, contemplation is a type that does not use words or thoughts but a prayer-practice where we are simply with God or, rather, that we are fully open to God: ‘Deep contemplative prayer is not so much learning how to contemplate God by some method or practice as it is becoming aware that it is God who contemplates us’ (Bp. Rowan Williams).

For some it is exemplified in the English tradition by the medieval work of an unknown author, The Cloud of Unknowing: ‘Lift up your heart to God with humble love: and mean God himself, and not what you get out of him… Try to forget all created things that he ever made, and the purpose behind them, so that your thought and longing do not turn or reach out to them either in general or in particular’ (Ch.3).  The writer then points out what had become clear to all contemplatives: ‘When you first begin, you find only darkness, and as it were a cloud of unknowing. You don’t know what this means except that in your will you feel a simple steadfast intention reaching out towards God. Do what you will, and this darkness and this cloud remain between you and God… Reconcile yourself to wait in this darkness as long as is necessary, but still go on longing after him whom you love’ (Ch.3).

‘For He can well be loved, but he cannot be thought.
By love he can be grasped and held, but by thought, neither grasped nor held.’
(The Cloud of Unknowing, Ch.6)

Meditation
Contemplation is sometimes confused with meditation.  Meditation is a practice which uses a particular technique, such as a mantra, to focus the mind in order to train attention and awareness.  One mantric prayer used by St. Francis was the simple: “Deus meus et Omnia – my God and my All”.

“Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering,
that becomes the inclination of his awareness.” (Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya 19,)

Centring Prayer is a name given to various forms of meditation designed to aid the development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties to cooperate with this gift. ‘It is an attempt to present the teaching of earlier time (e.g. The Cloud of Unknowing) in an updated form and to put a certain order and regularity into it.  It is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer; it simply puts other kinds of prayer into a new and fuller perspective.  During the time of prayer we consent to God's presence and action within’ (Contemplative Outreach).

Mindfulness
Rooted in ancient practices of Eastern and Western meditation this concerns focussing on opening the soul to God.  In secular terms certain practices are recommended in order to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.  Mindfulness has been described as ‘the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us” (What Is Mindfulness?, Mindful.org, 2014).  Is Meditation, which usually concerns openness to God through a loving inclination of the heart, the same as Mindfulness or is Mindfulness, primarily, a discipline focusing on developing inner freedom through practising certain techniques?  Are mindfulness practices closer to the ancient practice of ‘recollection’ which is the first step on the contemplative path?  Or are they simply two sides of the same coin?

All have their pitfalls, especially when we become focussed on perfecting techniques. It’s easy to forget that meditation needs to be understood in the context of the commandment to love God and neighbour – in fact, it’s all about putting self aside to centre on God rather than attaining a particular experience – and repenting of the sins which separate us from them?  Living in a society where the self often seems all important Jesus teaching to put self aside, and that those who seek to save their life will lose it – and those who lose their life for his sake will find it – are challenging.  As is his observation that whoever wants to follow his way must deny themselves and take up their cross.  This seems to make clear that we ought not to be too concerned with the perfecting of techniques but by the loving gift of self through our practice (Matt. 16:25f).

The orans mentale (mental prayer) of which St Teresa of Avila wrote in her Book of the Life (Chs.8-10) seems similar to aspects of Mindfulness.  But her practices were motivated by a desire for intimacy and “unknowing” (‘the soul’s profit consists not in thinking much but in loving much’ – Foundation 5.2), not for the benefit of the individual but for the purpose of the exercise of ‘good works’ brought about by loving desire.

Orthodoxy uses the word theoria to indicate beholding God leading to theosis, which is union with God through the ascetic practise of hesychasm, that process of letting the mind be enfolded in the heart to enable the sinful person to be changed, by grace, into a child of God.  It is connected with the desire to create a pure heart which enables the vision of God (Matt. 5.8) and, in the Christian tradition, is rooted in the cosmic Christ. 

Contemplative living
For some the practice of contemplation/meditation is an important part of their prayer life.  It is quite possible to develop such a practice separate from the rest of life – having a ‘quiet time’ can be important in a hectic life, but I wonder if it’s really possible to have such a distinction between contemplative prayer and contemplative living?   In New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton wrote: ‘Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, and fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent, and infinitely abundant Source’ (New York: New Directions Press, 1962: 1-3). So Merton begins to invite us to consider practice contemplation in action which will affect the way we look at the homeless as much as the trees.

Later, in a survey (Robert Toth, The Merton Institute) most of those contacted defined contemplative living as ‘leading a less busy, more quiet life or engaging in certain practices such as meditation, centring prayer or yoga.  In the popular imagination contemplative living is still influenced by the close connection between contemplation and monks and nuns who leave "the world" and live in monasteries.’ 

‘There are some profoundly important characteristics in Merton's interpretation of contemplative living that distinguish it from popular notions of spirituality.  First, it is specific in its focus on our four essential relationships.  Secondly, it asserts that our contemplative/spiritual practices lead us to a clearer understanding of our responsibility in these relationships.  Thirdly, it emphasizes that our everyday, active life is our spiritual life and that our contemplation should guide our actions; and fourthly, it provides direction to our actions that deepens and transforms our relationships in ways that are visible and measurable.  These distinctive characteristics of contemplative living make it tangible and easy to adopt as a way of life.’  (Contemplative Living, The Abbey of the Arts, https:///abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2007/07/29/contemplative-living/)

That was clearly an impetus to the development of monastic life and would seem the cause for St. Francis’ Rule for Hermitages.  Richard Rohr OFM has said that ‘Creation itself was Francis’ primary cathedral, which then drove him back into the needs of the city, a pattern very similar to Jesus’ own movement between desert solitude (contemplation) and small-town healing ministry (action)’ (A Cosmic Mutuality, CAC, October 6th, 2020).

Like others who heard the call to live with a deepening awareness of the presence of God in all things Francis found an example of the contemplative life in Mary the Mother of God.  She had listened to the Word, given birth to it in the silence of her womb and contemplated Him with a growing awareness of His identity as she became what she was called to be:

Hail, holy Lady, most holy Queen,
Mary, Mother of God, ever Virgin.
You were chosen by the Most High Father in heaven,
consecrated by Him, with His most Holy Beloved Son 
and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

On you descended and still remains all the fullness of grace
and every good.
Hail, His Palace.
Hail His Tabernacle.
Hail His Robe.
Hail His Handmaid.
Hail, His Mother.
and Hail, all holy Virtues,
who, by grace and inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
are poured into the hearts of the faithful so that from their faithless state,

they may be made faithful servants of God through you. 

Both Francis and Merton show that contemplation affects the one who contemplates and concerns living in true relationship with oneself, God, others – and nature.  As Fr. Richard Rohr OFM has written: ‘For Francis, nature itself was a mirror for the soul, for self, and for God.  Clare used the word mirror more than any other metaphor for what is happening between God and soul.  The job of religion and theology is to help us look in the mirror that is already present.  All this “mirroring” eventually effects a complete change in consciousness’ (Contemplating the Goodness of God with St Francis). 

Rohr points out that contemplative practices will affect the psyche to the extent that they can lead to a movement of the soul to want to live in such a way.  Finally, our own Fr. Gilbert Shaw said in a talk to the Sisters of the Love of God: ‘(God) has brought in the Kingdom.  There is nothing static about it: it is not an escape of the soul from the encumbrance of the body; nor is it a mystic consciousness of entities and experiences beyond the temporal.  It is the experience of the whole of life lived for the will of God’ (Paper on Contemplative Prayer).

 John-Francis Friendship TSSF
9th October, 2020

Saturday, August 14, 2021

THE CHURCH POST-PANDEMIC

In my ministry of supervising such people I listen to the concerns brought by a varied group of men and women, from mostly Anglican and Roman Catholic backgrounds, accompanying clergy and lay-people in their journey with Christ. Without breaking the confidentiality of such groups, one of the pressing and fundamental matters emerging from some directees at present is the way their churches are not engaged in any process of reflection on what the pandemic has revealed – how it affected people's relationship with God and the positives and negatives involved – there are even, it appears, a few churches against such an activity.

It’s clear that some lay people have been exposed to a variety of forms of online Christian gatherings for almost 18 months (often not with their own parishes) and have profound questions as churches re-open. This is especially true for those who have discovered new ways of being fed and nurtured by what they’ve experienced online which can have given them fresh insights into their relationship with God through prayer groups encountered, sermons heard, or different forms of worship in which they've shared.

As a consequence, it appears that a number don't want to go back to church; that in light of their experience during lockdown, what 'going to church' offered pre-pandemic no longer satisfies. Whilst, clearly, this doesn’t apply to all I wonder how many churches are engaging in any organised reflection on the experience of the pandemic? A reflection that would enable people to talk about how it affected their faith-journey and asking what God might be telling us through the pandemic; what there is to learn and how we might now grow.

I wonder how many are engaged in this process or might consider such a possibility?

Friday, August 06, 2021

TRACTS FOR OUR TIMES - Exploring Christian Faith


Simply written modern Tracts for our Times (some having informed the writing of The Mystery of Faith) which seek to do what it says on the label.  Links to YouTube versions, where available, are provided)

TITLES IN THE SERIES

1.       I Believe in God  (You Tube: https://youtu.be/F-DG9Z_MnDQ)

2.       I Believe in Jesus  (You Tube: https://youtu.be/1QRmD-IdO78)

3.       I Believe in the Holy Spirit (You Tube: https://youtu.be/T8OVQobYyqc)

4.       Deepening Prayer (YouTube: https://youtu.be/RS06Sro6bK8)

5.       The Ministry of Healing  (You Tube https://youtu.be/C3pPPsA7r2Q)

6.       The Sacrament of Confession  (You Tube: https://youtu.be/Je3BvuUr6qs)

7.       Praying for the Departed (You Tube: https://youtu.be/qM-gyh5ruR8)

8.       The Longest Journey – Preparing for Death

9.       Dealing with the death of one we love

10.     Is this a Catholic Church?

11.     Holy Baptism

12.     The Eucharist

13.     First Holy Communion

14.     Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament

15.     Let there be light

16.     A Selection of Prayers and Devotions

17.     The Use of the Body in Prayer

18.     The Use of Incense

19.     Mary and the Saints (You Tube: https://youtu.be/FR1v5oEjVbo)

20.     The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary

21.     Lent, Holy Week and Easter

22.     Traditional Customs and Devotions

_______________________________________

For a fuller exploration:

The Mystery of Faith, Exploring Christian Belief

(This book is intended for individual and group use. It is divided into 8 sections with discussion questions at the end of each.  For those wishing to use it over 6 sessions, a suggested means to do this is available from jff2209@yahoo.com  Please also email for a copy of any of the leaflets shown above)

Monday, August 02, 2021

THE TRIUMPH OF FORM OVER SUBSTANCE

As (one of) the oldest members of the (new) Sodality of Mary, Mother of Priests I’m conscious of the paradox that at the same time as one’s memory begins to fade it also reaches back further.  I also realise that the number who can recall events from 60+ years ago lessens as people of my age begin to die off: but it also means one can have a certain clarity concerning events which those who are younger may not have experienced.  We carry history.

One of those events concerns the debates in the 1960’s about the Book of Common Prayer when many were increasingly dissatisfied with the 1662 Rite of Holy Communion. So I’ve been surprised and concerned in noticing people expressing the view that it is a beautiful liturgy from the dawn of the Church of England (a dangerous notion) which helps define its identity (equally debateable).  This is the liturgy we struggled to be freed from so that developments in Eucharistic theology – not least the re-claiming of its sacrificial nature and the action of the Spirit – could be expressed in language not from the 17th century which was often misunderstood, a language which might express the wonders of Elizabethan English but which also spoke to many outside the church of its antiquated nature.

Over the years I’ve noticed that, in religion, there’s always a danger of form taking precedence over substance, feelings over facts.  That what and how we do something becomes more important than what lies behind why we do it – what the form seeks to express about the substance of faith and issues of worship is ignored: this is what I like.  This seems true for Catholics (and Anglo-Catholics) in particular because Christianity is an incarnational religion – matter matters – and so the senses have an important part to play. But I wonder whether, to a greater or lesser extent, it’s true of all denominations – and religions? Is it something of greater concern to the aesthete than the ascetic?

For example, Mass in Latin can appeal to those who love the language and its universality as opposed to vernacular translations only understandable by people who speak that language (of course, those who don’t understand Latin might have a similar problem … ).  Exactly the same would be true of the use of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) or the Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible (AV) which can appeal to those who love the cadences of Shakespearian English but can leave most people wondering what it’s saying.

To maintain the use of the 1662 Communion Service ignores advances in liturgical understanding and developments in the way texts created at a particular time reflect the social and theological understanding of those times. It also ignores the compilers statement that: IT is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people. (Article XXIV) 

Finally, it ignores the way Anglo-Catholics, in particular, struggled to persuade the Church (of England) to develop a more theologically ‘catholic’ eucharist, a struggle seemingly forgotten by those who still support use of the BCP Communion Service (although few, I imagine, would use the Rite as instructed by the rubrics).  The way our forebears created the English Missal (and influenced the Rite of 1928) seems forgotten or overlooked even though these were enormous improvements on 1662 whilst keeping the cadences of BCP English.

Whilst this is true for the Communion Service it is equally true for the two Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer and liturgical developments in the RC Church and Church of England. As a former Religious I was involved in this and noticed that all Orders set about revising their Offices – to the extent that the Society of St Francis spearheaded those revisions resulting in Common Worship.  Those for whom the Office - especially the psalms - is the centre of their life and who pray it four - or seven - times a day it was clear that the form and language of the old Prayer Book did little to enable a living relationship with God - the language might be of interest to classists but simply didn't carry the prayer of those for whom the Office was central. It felt like two lovers, one of whom was talking to the other in an outdated language. Eventually every community has revised their Office and enriched their common prayer so that no Anglican Order now wojld consider using the 1662 version.  

In a similar way it was Anglican Religious who were at the forefront of developing the use of Plainsong (e.g. CSMV Wantage and the Manual of Plainsong).  They were also involved with creating more recent chants both of which have been realised as important aids to prayer in a way Anglican Chant can never be – so no Anglican Order has ever used that chant in its common Office.  Plainsong has a meditative quality lacking in Anglican Chant, possibly one of the main reasons why (unlike Plainsong) Chant rarely features on the radio in people’s choice of ‘meditative music’.

I’ve noticed a tendency to see both Anglican Chant and the BCP as defining the essence of Anglicanism.  Yet, surely, for Catholics these can only be a historical expressions lest a particular theology and liturgical usage emerging out of a specific geographical reformation, becomes an idol.  The importance of Catholic Societies such as the Sodality of Mary which ‘seek(s) to renew our Anglo-Catholic heritage and look(s) to the heroic priests of the past to inspire us and strengthen us’ (http://sodalityofmary.co.uk/about-us/) is to maintain and promote catholic form and practice.  Catholics need to be concerned with the substance of that faith, worship and sacramental teaching, and recognise the dangers of being attached to the forms that faith has taken, especially when these were developed as a re-action against Catholic practice.

After publication of the revised Eucharistic Rites by the Roman Catholic church (the Missale Romanum revised by Decree of the Second Vatican Council and published in 1969) use of the previous ‘Tridentine Mass’ was forbidden (an instruction recently re-iterated).  Given the changes to the Church of England Eucharistic Rite finalised in 2000 consequent to the recovery of the fundamental, creative place of the Holy Spirit and the sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist, perhaps our Church should have done the same (although I hate to think of the outcry there would have been)? 

For both Roman Catholics and Anglicans the issue is the same – is the Liturgy to be a living celebration or petrified (if beautiful) totem?