I am so excited I don’t even
know how to begin writing this post. An alternative opening line was, Roman
Catholics are not a homogenous bunch. They both speak to recent experiences
involving the church that have been on my mind.
Yesterday a story broke after
Pope Francis in “open” discussions with a group of Latin American clerics told
of a “gay lobby” within the Vatican. Now I’m not sure what the group is
advocating for but there is something wildly interesting about the disclosure
given that it is the first that I have heard of the Vatican having support for
gay issues. Honestly the news was immediately comforting.
Mass on Sunday was very good.
The Entrance hymn was Wake up My People.
The lines go “wake up my people, wake up
give a shout, wake up my people, Know what life’s about, And wake up to the
needs of all the one’s who suffer sorrow, Wake up promise now to do your best
to change tomorrow…” Most of the hymns sung during mass were among my
favorites and I enjoyed the service.
Then came the Readings and Fr.
Brereton’s homily. Both readings spoke of miracles performed by Jesus. The
First was from 1 Kings (17:17-24): Elijah cries out to the Lord to bring life
back into the son of a widow, which he does.
The Second Reading was from
St Luke (7:11-17). Again, a resurrection
is performed, this time by Jesus. It was again the son of a widow. The point
was made by Father Brereton that in the patriarchal biblical times a woman
without a man in her household was vulnerable and it was not a desirable
situation. Gender politics creep in as we see that most resurrections if not
all are of men, reinforcing the importance of male life over female life.
This was an aside, despite
its great significance. What that Second Reading also said was that when the
Lord saw the grieving mother he felt sorry for her. He said “Do not cry.” To
quote the scripture he then “went and put his hand on the bier and the bearers
stood still and he said “Young man I tell you to get up.” And the dead man sat
up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother” The reading closes off
with the lines “Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, “A great
prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.” And this opinion of
him spread throughout Judea and all over the countryside.”
Anticipating what Father was
heading to proved an error. Here I thought we’d be hearing of the miracles
performed by Jesus with a call for restored faith in the Shepherd who by the
power of God as his Son could return life to the dead, but no. Father said that
in Jewish religion it is taboo to touch a dead body so that when Jesus laid his
hands on the bier, he was in fact being a rebel as his actions went against the
teachings of the dominant Jewish culture.
Father also talked about a
series of fora that the church had been hosting where discussions were held on
thorny issues like gay rights and abortion. He said it went against the
teachings of his mother who always told him “when you see too too in the road
don’t touch it” lest you get too too on you too. He said, though, sometimes we
have to touch those messy things that might stink us up. He elaborated on this
point in defending Archbishop Harris who it seemed got into a pickle after his
comments on “emailgate” during a Corpus Christi Service.
The church he said must
comment on issues that are political marking a distinction between those and
issues of party politics. I have noticed in recent years and around elections
priests veer into the political albeit within their ascribed guidelines: the
church being concerned with humanity and the societies they exist in.
So these are interesting
times. I may have lost my point, no stranger to that, but I liked the message
of the homily last Sunday and the honesty of Pope Francis.
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet." (1 Timothy 2:12)
ReplyDeleteYou understand your projects stand out of the crowd. There is something unique about them. It seems to me all of them are brilliant. omegle kids
ReplyDelete