ALL SOULS

On the 1^st November we celebrate All Saints Day. We honour and praised God for enabling so many people from every walk of life to share His eternal life and happiness. We honoured and drew inspiration from those men, women and children who had responded so generously to Christ’s call to follow Him. We realised that they included the countless number of good people, who have responded to God’s grace, but whom the Church has not officially recognised. All these holy people have completed their life-long journey to the kingdom of heaven.

On 2^nd November we commemorate All Souls Day. Our thoughts and prayers turn to all those good people who have already died but have not yet completed their journey to heaven. Although their eternal salvation is assured they still need God’s love to purify them of every remaining trace of sin. Only then will they be fit to enter God’s presence and see him face to face. Although this purifying is painful it is full of the hope of sharing God’s eternal life and happiness. So, although this feast is about the dead, it is not morbid.

All Soul’s Day is a family feast for the whole Church. We remember all who have gone before us, our brothers and sisters in Christ who have already died. Some of them we knew; most of them we didn’t. Today we don’t just reminisce about them, though it’s important for us to recall all they meant to us, and to thank God for all the grace he gave them throughout their lives. As we think about their deaths to day’s feast is a deep expression of our faith in the resurrection. We don’t just recall the past; we look to the future. We believe that death doesn’t write the final chapter of our life-stories. The best is yet to come after we die. Then we believe that our crucified and risen Lord will enable us to share in the glory of His resurrection. Then we will enjoy the fullness of life. We should look forward to that, long for that day.

When some one dear to us dies we usually have a sense of empty helplessness, a deep sense of loss. There are so many untidy loose ends, things we didn’t get round to saying or doing. Regrets about failing to express our love. We wish we’d healed the wounds of painful disagreements –that we’d apologised when we’d hurt someone; we wish we’d forgiven those who had harmed us. Today’s feast, as does every Requiem Mass, proclaims that’s it’s not too late to put things right. As we appeal to God’s mercy our prayers can help the dead on the final stage of their journey to the kingdom of heaven. This is a duty in love we owe, not only to those we knew and love, but also to all our deceased brothers and sisters throughout the world. We are united with the whole Church in supporting them in their need. It’s a great comfort to know that our prayers can be of practical assistance in helping the dead to reach eternal happiness with God in heaven.

Strange to say, I’ve found death enables my love for those who were close to me to develop and mature. While they were still alive, here on earth, my attention concentrated on their temporal well-being –their happiness, health, their families and employment. I delighted in their company, and enjoyed sharing a laugh and a drink with them. Their death brought an abrupt end to such interests and concerns. Now my love for them can no longer be focused on their temporal well-being. Now my love for them is concentrated on their eternal happiness with God in heaven. Instead of looking forward to occasionally spending time together I now long for the moment when we will be eternally united with God in the Communion of Saints. Then, together we will all enjoy the fullness of life as we share in the glory of the risen Lord. Then every tear will be wiped away. These reflections bring a peace and serenity as I grieve for those I still love and deeply miss.

And it’s very consoling to know that when we come to die the whole Church –millions of people –will be supporting us in our need. So, while All Souls Day may at first seem to be mournfully concerned with death, it is in fact full of hope in the fullness of life, in our sharing in the glory of Christ’s resurrection.

　

Isidore O.P.

ALL SAINTS

Some of the saints can be very intimidating! They are so heroic in their sanctity we fear we couldn’t possibly be like them. We fear we wouldn’t have the courage of the martyr, willing to sacrifice his or her life for their faith. We’re so conscious of our mediocrity as Christians, as well as our sinfulness, that we think all we can do is stand back and admire the saints.

And some of the accounts of their lives give the impression that they were not real men and women of flesh and blood, who share the same emotions and temptations as the rest of us, and who sometimes sin. Instead, we get the impression that they are plaster saints, with no hot blood coursing through their veins. Sadly, we think we couldn’t possibly be like them, that we could never be saints. Rightly, we wouldn’t want to be like such anaemic caricatures of holiness!

But we would be mistaken if we thought we were not called to be saints; that we couldn’t possibly become one!   In many ways the saints were people just like us. They came from every walk of life, social class and race. Some were adults, others were children. Some of them were laymen or women, married of single. Others were priests or members of religious Orders. Each one of us is called to follow Christ in the way appropriate to our particular walk of life.

If we think we are not good enough to become saints we would be right. By ourselves we can’t bridge the gulf between the creature and the Almighty Creator God, the sinner and the all-holy One. But if we cease to rely on our very limited efforts God can raise us to share in His own divine life and happiness. If we place our trust in God, not ourselves, we, too, can become saints.

It may come as a surprise to know that the saints suffered the same kind of temptations as we do. Like the rest of us, they sometimes failed. But when they did sin they repented, sought God’s forgiveness and, with his help, made a fresh start. It’s worse to stay down than it is to fall. But saints don’t sink into despair and give up.

But what is a saint? A saint is someone who never gives up on the life-long journey of following Christ into the Kingdom of God. That’s a journey of loving service of God and man. A saint is someone who has learnt to love in the same way as Christ loved. On this journey Christ offers all of us the same assistance as He gave to the saints. This He gives through the sacraments and through prayer. Through prayer our relationship with God is deepened and we draw closer to Him, and He to us. Through prayer we seek His help in overcoming the difficulties of life. If we do not draw close to God it could be that’s not what we really want. And if we don’t receive the help we need in following Christ, that could be due to our not seeking His assistance.

Today we don’t celebrate the feast of any particular saint, but of all of them together. That gives us a sense of belonging to one big family –God’s family –which we call the Communion of Saints.

And we don’t just honour the hundreds officially recognised by the Church. There are many, many more good and holy people, who for the most part go unnoticed, except by God. You may well have met people who are generous in their love and compassion, people who are prepared to make great sacrifices for others. Some of them care for the sick, the homeless and hungry; others work for peace and justice. For others family life provides the context for them to grow in holiness. Others are heroic in the way they cope with suffering, and in a special way identify with the crucified Christ. But whatever our particular situation it is there that God will approach us and we will draw close to Him.

I am inspired by how many people are so prayerful. All around us there are saints in the making, if only we have the sensitivity to notice them. What is more, each of us is called to be a saint. That includes you and me.

Today’s feast of All Saints gives us the encouragement that we, too, can join their number.

Isidore O.P.

A HANDBAG!! -WHATEVER NEXT?

"A handbag!" Shrieked Lady Bracknell in the play, "The Importance of Being Ernest." Jack had just told her that, as a babe, he’d been adopted after being found in a handbag at Victoria Railway Station.

Her startled reaction only served to confirm my amazement at what women keep in their handbags. But then, I’m but a mere male; I can’t be expected to understand such feminine mysteries! Anyway, I shouldn’t feel superior. While my brethren would say my room looks like a junkyard, I would argue that to me it’s a treasure-trove. I prefer creative chaos to sterile rectitude!

So I should not have been surprised when a friend told me of her recent discovery. Avis –not her real name –had three budgerigars and a couple of cockatiels. Brilliant were the flashes of blue, green and yellow as her feathered friends flew around her room. Our phone chats were punctured by their squawks –especially loud when two or three of them perched on her head or shoulder. Clearly, Avis and her budgies were very close! They felt really at home with each other.

So much so that one day she noticed a bright yellow budgie flying into her fashionable and expensive handbag, lying open on a sideboard. What could be the attraction for her budgie? Curious Avis had to investigate. Who but she would have been so enchanted to discover her beautiful budgie had made a nest in her handbag? Yes, in her handbag! What is more, she –the budgie, not Avis -was incubating two eggs!!

What was Avis to do? The simple answer, "NOTHING!" Unthinkable for her to disturb the nesting bird. Impossible for her to use her stylish handbag until the eggs had hatched and the baby budgies had fledged.

In spite of this inconvenience Avis was overjoyed at the prospect of having a young family of budgies in her home –no matter that they would have left her quality handbag in a real mess.

That outrageous-to-all-church-cleaners passage in one of the Psalms immediately sprang to my mind. It runs, "Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God," (Psalm 84.3).

What a lovely idea –wild creatures making their homes in the House of the Lord??? Not just swallows, but ants and spiders. We have a saying about being as poor as a church mouse. The Lord welcomes all of them as His creatures. As for us clergy, we call in pest- control officers to remove these messy beasts! Could it be these favoured creatures of the Lord might see us clergy as pests to be removed?

But what’s so amazing is that the Lord, the All-Holy Lord, welcomes us sinners into His home. Instead of clearing us out, He invites us in, especially if our lives are in a mess. His mercy transforms us from being pests into becoming God’s beloved children. As far as He’s concerned we’re neither rejects, nor outcasts, even though the self-righteous may consider us unfit for their company. But not so Jesus; He seeks us out and makes us welcome as people who recognize our need for Him.

We, and so many others, have good reason to rejoice that He wants our company. Not only does He welcome us into His Church buildings, made of bricks and mortar. He even welcomes us into the intimacy of His very life, And so St. John’s letter tells us, "And we have known and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him," (1 John 4. 16).

Wonder of wonders, not only does God want us to be at home with Him, but He wants to be at home with us. That’s why He sent His Son into the world to become one of us. Now, through the Holy Spirit we become the very temple of God –His sacred abode. Eagerly St. Paul reminds the Corinthians. "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" (1 Cor. 6. 19).

In us Almighty God has certainly chosen some unlikely places to make His abode –much weirder than a budgie making its nest in my friend’s handbag. As for us, the Psalmist sums up what should be our deepest longing, our most fervent prayer, "One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the day of my life," (Ps. 27. 4). He is our lasting abode; nowhere else will we find real happiness; nothing else matters!

A final question. Do we treat strangers –beggars, refugees, asylum seekers -as unwelcome pests? Or do we show them God’s hospitality–illustrated by Avis allowing her beloved, messy, budgie to make its home in her squeaky-clean handbag?

Isidore O.P.

　　

THE SYNOD AND THE SPIRIT

                         

For months now,  the Synod on the Family has occupied centre stage in private conversations and in every form of Social Communication. Rightly so, because how  family and human sexuality are to be understood touches the lives of everyone.

 The Catholic Church has seen the necessity to hold a most important forum, known as a Synod, to discern and declare how Almighty God, the Creator, intends family life to be lived and human sexuality to be exercised.

In the world of today these are highly contentious issues, even within the Church itself.  

At times there have been, and still are, fierce and furious clashes between exotic optimism over expectation of changes in the Church’s teaching and abysmal despair  that the Church was losing its integrity  in a soft-hearted desire to respond with compassion to every  human problem.

In the heat and cloudiness of argument I fear the well-being of the family, of flesh and blood human beings, has become obscured.

In all discussions about human behaviour the basic issue has to be, “Where do people get there certainties from?” Note that often with a sense of certainty goes a sense of security!

 Christians take as their point of reference Jesus Christ, the Son of God made Man…the one who claimed to be, “The Way, and the Truth, and the Life,” (Jn.14.6). He described the height of blessedness to be to  “HEAR THE WORD OF GOD AND KEEP IT!” (Lk. 1.28). For the very early Christian Communities the watchword had to be   “LET ANYONE WHO CAN HEAR, LISTEN TO WHAT THE SPIRIT IS SAYING TO THE CHURCHES,"(Rev. 2.29).

In His final discourse to His closest friends Jesus assured them, “I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now.  However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.(Jn. 16.12-14).

In the midst of all the heated discourse all of us, as Church, must be attentive to what the Holy Spirit is now saying to us and then be willing to put this into action. We must not be full of our opinions, simply because they come from us. I presume to say this applies to each and every member of the Synod. “COME HOLY SPIRIT; SPEAK LORD, I’M LISTENING” should be the dominant refrain throughout the Church…prayer for the docility to listen to God, to promote and live the life God is calling us to.

Now is the time when we should ask ourselves how much does it mean to me, to any of us, to  profess, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church?

 Closing time will come when  the proceedings of the Synod.  Resolutions will have been formulated and handed to the Pope.  The participants will have departed for their homes. Pope Francis will prayerfully ‘LISTEN TO WHAT THE SPIRIT HAS BEEN SAYING TO THE CHURCH’ OF  TODAY  THROUGH THE SYNOD.

 After prayerful deliberation the Pope will follow the post-Synod custom of writing an authoritative letter, known as an Encyclical.

 The conclusion of such a momentous exercise within Church should resound with the confidence of the of the early Church when it pronounced its decision after serious deliberation, “IT HAS BEEN DECIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BY OURSELVES ….,” (Acts 25.28).

I believe that we should see the working of the Holy Spirit in the election as Pope someone of immense pastoral experience and sensitivity. He would surely be able to address those very issues – family and human sexuality - that are of major concern to those whose ministry in the Church is essentially pastoral rather than administrative.

It is bound to be that those who think the Pope has been too liberal will be shocked. Others will be dismayed that he has been too rigid. 

My final words, to you and to myself, are taken from the prophecy of Haggai, “"MY SPIRIT IS ABIDING IN YOUR MIDST; DO NOT FEAR!" ( Haggai. 2. 5). Be assured that neither the Pope nor the Synod will betray the teaching of the Church.

Peter Clarke, O.P

MARY WAS THERE! SOMETIMES SHE TREMBLED, TREMBLED!

Hardly a moment passed when my mother wasn’t taking care of me, with an anxious, unspoken, concern that I should come to no harm. She was past ninety years of age and I was in my sixties when she still fussed that I had got my shirt buttons out of alignment or that a strategic zip was not fulfilling its purpose.

For me she was never an interfering nuisance. I meant so much to her that she could never surrender that sensitive concern that came so naturally to her once she was aware that I had taken up residence in her womb!

 As for Mother Mary.... No-one will ever comprehend what   it meant for Mary to be mother of Jesus, her infant, her child, her adolescent  boy, and maturing adult.  Mary’s Son was God – Son of the Most High –truly, fully, human, truly, fully, divine.

With her own eyes, with her own ears, with the whole of her being Mary, was aware of the fragility of her Son  from the time He was crying to be nursed at her breast  to the time when He thirsted for a drink as He hung on a cross.

In the early days of His public ministry  Mary must have felt  nothing but pride at the crowds gathering  to hear the inspiring  preaching of her own boy;  satisfied at seeing  His love-filled kindness  towards everyone  He met; and amazed, even startled, at  His wondrous  power to heal those with incurable  ailments.

How great must have been her sadness as she came to hear of murmuring of dissatisfaction with  her Son. Some, including prominent religious leaders – Scribes, Pharisees, even High Priests, were jealous of the acclaim He was receiving and angry at His exposing  their shallow insincerity. 

It would seem that once Jesus embarked upon His public ministry  Mary  had  to steel herself, compose  herself,  to ‘journey with Him.’  She had to adapt her thinking, her feelings, to His. This, as we shall now see, must have required of her outstanding spiritual courage.

What a turnabout  for  her, a woman of  loyalty to her people, to have to  approve of the way  Jesus  deliberately  mixed  with those who were despised for their collaboration  with  the oppressive Roman forces who occupied their land – the  tax-collectors  who twisted money out of their impoverished pockets!

Yet more difficult must it have been  for her to have to accept the reputation  Jesus was earning for  Himself  by  allowing  loose-living  people to flock around  Him.

Mary  had to go along with  the explanation Jesus Himself  gave, “ It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I came to call not the upright, but sinners,'( Mk.2.17). If He was to affirm their human dignity and  convince them  they were meant for a better way of life, He had to meet them where they were.

Time  came when religious and civil authorities were scheming against  Jesus, even to kill Him. To them He was  a political rabble-rouser  who  had to be stifled. Restless  crowds were too eager  to hear His teaching, as He claimed for Himself the authority to tell them how they ought to live, how they ought to be treated with respect.

In the Gospels Jesus warned His disciples three times that He would be arrested, ill-treated and put to death.   He must have talked this over with His mother. How should she have reacted?  Not as did Peter who vehemently  exploded, ‘'Heaven preserve you, Lord, , 'this must not happen to you,' (Mtt.16.22)!

At this point I am reminded of the admonition St. Paul gave to the Philippians, “Make your own the mind of Christ Jesus,:” (2.6)  In her own  way Mary had to share in the Gethsemane anguish of her Son who prayed , “'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it,' (Mtt.26.39).

This October, the Month of the Rosary, I invite you to take to heart  the words of  Pope Saint  John Paul II.

" To recite the Rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ….With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love.”

Peter Clarke, O.P.

65 YEARS A DOMINICAN

It was 24^th Sept. 1950. My twin brother, Peter, and I, together with 18 others had just been clothed in the Dominican habit. Each of us took his turn to lie prostrate between the choir stalls of those who would soon welcome us as their Dominican brothers. To each of us our Superior solemnly announced, "In the world you were known as "X;" now you will be known as "Y." This re-naming indicated that we been called to a new dimension of that Christian vocation, which we share with all the baptised.
                              

We’d been called to follow Jesus in a Dominican way, as members of the religious family of the ‘Order of Friars Preachers.’ Our special vocation is to follow Christ, the wandering preacher of the Good News of Salvation. We would share with others the fruits of our prayerful and studious contemplation. In union with Jesus, the Teacher, we, as preachers, are moved by a profound love for our Heavenly Father which overflows into a love for all people – made in the ‘image and likeness of God,’ cherished as children of God.

For St. Dominic it was vital that the Order of Preachers should be community based -a brotherhood living together, praying together, supporting each other’s ministry, drawing upon one another’s wisdom and experience…having our meals together, relaxing together. We preachers can be sent to wherever the Church needs us.

Ever since Peter was ordained in 1958 he has spread the Gospel in the West Indies. For me, ordained on the same day, my Dominican life has taken a very different course. I’ve spent a short time working in Grenada, many years in a conference centre in England, then in parishes in Hinckley and Leicester.

We Dominicans understand ‘handing on the fruits of our contemplation’ in a very wide sense. One of the glories of our Order is that it has gives us the opportunity to use our personal talents in sharing the Word of God. For generations members have preached sermons, given lectures and conferences, written books and articles. We now welcome modern communication technology as providing new ways of sharing the Good News.

This includes using blogs and Facebook. Peter has edited a Catholic newspaper and we both broadcast. Fra. Angelico used his artistic skill to proclaim the Good News. Bl. James of Ulm preached through the medium of stained glass windows.

To an outsider religious life can appear very negative, especially in giving up our right to marry and have children. Some resent us for that, while others feel sorry for us. These sentiments contain more than a grain of truth, but far from the whole truth. Those of us with Dominican vocations feel called to express our love for God by offering Him something we personally value very highly, not something we despise.

That’s how much we love Him! We’re called to restrict our options, so that we can focus our attention on our preaching vocation. That shouldn’t surprise you. Everyone who marries chooses one special person and ‘forsakes all others.’ For them that decision is a profound expression of focussed love and commitment. The same is true for us when we become Dominicans.

As Peter and I celebrate the 65^th anniversary of our receiving the Dominican habit we insist this is not an occasion for self-glorification, but for thanking God, who has chosen and called us to serve Him in the Dominican Order. Having called us He has supported us in the rough and smooth times. After 65 years we can both honestly say that in our old age we continue to find a Dominican life fulfilling and still relish the excitement of sharing the Good News. We would want no other life.

Today, above all others, we echo the Psalmist,

"Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness," (Ps. 115. 1-2).

And to you who have been reading this piece we would again echo the Psalmist, ‘Oh that today if you hear the voice of the Lord’ - calling you to the religious life or priesthood –‘harden not your heart…’ (Ps. 95. 7).    The Church needs you; people need you; God needs you! You will find true fulfilment if you say, "Yes" to God’s call.

Peter and Isidore Clarke O.P.

OFFENSIVE FENCES

These days  there seems to be a feverish compulsion to build walls, fences, and barricades. ..For   what purpose? To prevent any kind of involvement with people in dire distress, any kind of responsibility   for them! This was the mentality of the Priest and the Levite who walked on the other side of the road to distance themselves from the wretched man who’d  been badly   mugged and robbed and left half dead.

For some people raising barriers and putting up fences with razor sharp cutting edges is the politically correct, socially correct, thing to do. To advocate such policies is the sure way to earn popularity and to secure votes. There’s a huge fear of refugees and migrants crossing national borders – not as invaders but as terrified people looking for safety.

They are destitute; they are hungry. They have no means of sheltering 

themselves from the burning rays of the sun, the misery of rain-soaked clothes.  They carry with them no food or medical supplies. They have been squeezed into boats that are not sea-worthy.  

If they are fortunate to reach dry land they find they are resented, unwelcome. In some places they are treated like criminals to be impounded behind barbed-wire fences.

 On the scales of justice there’s an obscene imbalance between those secure and comfortable peoples and nations and those who are on the threshold of desperation; an imbalance between those who are determined not to offer even a glimmer of hope and those howling infants in their mothers’ arms, the sickly, the frail, the   elderly, the young fathers and mothers who would lay down their very lives for the sake of the children.

They are utterly, totally dependent upon the good-will of others...others who are strangers. The only language that can speak is that of a shared humanity of caring and helping that responds to the voice of anguish, helplessness, and of hopelessness 

In this bleak world of so much indifference to human suffering there are the bright lights of  human decency and compassion. Immediately come to mind those heroic people who volunteered to go to the rescue of those who were afflicted with the highly infectious Ebola disease. 

And then there is the wonderful  

                                                        

  MEDECINES SANS FRONTIERES - DOCTORS AND NURSES WITHOUT BORDERS.

Regardless of nationality, race colour, religion, gender or age medically qualified people offer their   professional skills to the sick and  the wounded in areas and situations where medical care is  not  available. Frequently they are exposed to considerable risk because they are attending to people with highly infectious diseases or to the wounded on the battle field. 

Their concern is solely for  human beings in pain…no matter who the person is, no matter what the person’s allegiances – national, political, racial or religious... A total openness to suffering humanity 

                    In the same vein Pope Francis is now calling for a                                          CHURCH WITHOUT FRONTIERS – MOTHER TO ALL.                                          

                      This is the title of the Message he has written for                                                      World Day of Migrants and Refugees.                                        I quote the Pope,

“Jesus is “the evangelizer par excellence and the Gospel in person” (Evangelii Gaudium, 209). His solicitude, particularly for the most vulnerable  and marginalized, invites all of us to care for the frailest and to recognize the suffering countenance of Jesus, especially in the victims of new forms of poverty and slavery.

The Church without frontiers, Mother to all, spreads throughout the world a culture of acceptance and solidarity, in which no one is seen as useless, out of place or disposable…, 

Jesus Christ is always waiting to be recognized in migrants and refugees, in displaced persons and in exiles, and through them he calls us to share our resources, and occasionally to give up something of our acquired riches.”

The following words of St. Paul should convince us that man-made barriers between people are offensive to Jesus, the Saviour of Mankind.

“In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility,  by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end,” (Eph.2)

PETER CLARKE, O.P.