8th July 2012 - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

After a few hectic weeks, this morning Sacred Space 102 gets back to basics with John and Shane taking a bit more time for a prayer space, our regular sharing and reflection on this weeks Sunday gospel, saints of the weeks and some other odds and ends.

This weeks podcast is available HERE.


Gospel - Mark 6: 1-6

From this weeks Limerick Diocesan Resource Newsletter:

They said, "Where did this man get all this? ...Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary" ... And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place ... He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6)

God is here.
Now.
Today.
In this moment as you read.
In your family, in your life, in your heartache and in your joy.
This is what Incarnation means. God is not separate, distant, to be searched for only in distant places. God is here with us now, closer than your own breath.
Don't miss out on Gods presence in your life because you think its too ordinary to possibly be graced with Gods presence. Don't wait only for special moments in your speak with God, to listen for God, to listen to God.
God is not present only in extraordinary moments and special places - God chooses to be present in all of life, and that includes all of your life!!
 

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The One - Patrick Kavanagh

 Green, blue, yellow and red—
God is down in the swamps and marshes
Sensational as April and almost incredible
the flowering of our catharsis.

 A humble scene in a backward place
Where no one important ever looked
The raving flowers; looked up on the face
Of the One and the Endless, the Mind that has baulked
The profoundest of mortals.

 A primrose, a violet,
A violent wild iris – but mostly anonymous performers
Yet an important occasion as the Muse at her toilet
Prepared to inform the local farmers
That beautiful, beautiful, beautiful God
Was breathing His love by a cut-away bog.

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This weeks gospel is a challenging one to us. Mark recounts the return of Jesus to his home town of Nazareth. He has been out, preaching and healing the Galilee region since his baptism by John in the Jordan and his forty days in the desert and he arrives back home; back to the place where people think they know him the best. It is a story which can reverberate for many people especially those who have been at home and those who have gone away and the difficulties and challenges of seeing/recognising the changes that have occurred in both those that stayed and also those that left. The reaction of the people of Nazareth (mirroring the response from the people of Israel) is one of trying to contain/control this man who they all know as the carpenter, who grew up before them. Who does he think he is coming back and teaching with authority? Are we like that? Do we write people off because we know something about them in the community - they didn't finish school, they don't have a qualification, they were in AA, what ever it may be? Are we trying to bring people down? Do we tend to want to "put them back in their box"?

Other reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Deacon Greg Kandra
Sunday Reflections
Blue Eyed Ennis
English Dominicans
Centre For Liturgy

Liturgical odds and ends

Saints of the Week

July 9th - St Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions (Martyrs)
July 10th - St Silvanus
July 11th - St Benedict (Abbot)
July 12th - St Veronica
July 13th - St Teresa of the Andes
July 14th - St Camillus of Lellis - Today is the feast day of St Camillus Hospital, Shelbourne Rd, here in Limerick city. Many of us know it as the old TB hospital, or as a nursing home, as a respite care facility for family members, or as the place we go to get birth certs!!
July 15th - St Bonaventure
July 16th - Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel available here

Divine Office - Week 2

Financial Reporting at the Vatican

From Rome Reports:

Today the Vatican presented two financial reports, one for the governing body of the Catholic Church and the other for the State of Vatican City. The Vatican spokesperson had some good and bad news to deliver.

Vatican spokesman“The balance of the Holy See for the year 2011 closed with a deficit of about 15 million euros. The largest items of cost are related to staff payments.”

The balance of the Holy See includes the costs of the Roman Curia, the nunciatures, and the media communications branch of the Vatican. The good news is that the accounts of the world's smallest state can survive the setback. It closed in 2011 with a surplus of 26 million dollars, thanks largely to money brought in by the Vatican Museums. The report also showed that donations were up by 7.6 percent. The donations to St. Peter's alone raised 84 million dollars. As well as the different dioceses throughout the world sending 31 million, and religious institutes just over a million dollars.

The Institute for Works of Religion, better known as the Vatican's bank, gave the Pope 60 million dollars for his charitable works in the past year.

From Vatican Information Service:

The Council of Cardinals for the Study of the Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See met in the Vatican on Tuesday 3 July and Wednesday 4 July, under the presidency of Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, presented the consolidated financial statements of the Holy See for 2011, then those of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

The consolidated financial statements of the Holy See for 2011 closed with a deficit of EUR 14,890,034. The most significant items of expenditure were those relative to personnel (who as of 31 December 2011 numbered 2,832) and to the communications media considered as a whole. The result was affected by the negative trend of global financial markets, which made it impossible to achieve the goals laid down in the budget.

The administration of the Governorate is autonomous, and independent of contributions from the Holy See. Through its various offices, it supervises requirements related to the administration of the State. The consolidated financial statements for 2011 closed with a surplus of EUR 21,843,851. As of 31 December 2011, the Governorate employed a staff of 1,887. A particularly significant contribution to the result came from the Vatican Museums, which produced a revenue that passed from EUR 82,400,000 in 2010 to EUR 91,300.000, for a total of more than five million visitors. According to specialised rankings, these figures place the Vatican Museums among the most prestigious and important such institutions in the world.

Peter's Pence - i.e., donations made by the faithful to support the Holy Father's charity - rose from USD 67,704,416.41 in 2010 to USD 69,711,722.76. Contributions made pursuant to canon 1271 of the Code of Canon Law - i.e., the economic support offered by ecclesiastical circumscriptions throughout the world to maintain the service the Roman Curia offers the universal Church - rose from USD 27,362,258.40 in 2010 to USD 32,128,675.91. Further contributions to the Holy See made by institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life and foundations rose from USD 747,596.09 in 2010 to USD 1,194,217.78. Thus the overall increase with respect to 2010 was of 7.54 per cent.

As it does every year, the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) offered the Holy Father a significant sum to support his apostolic and charitable ministry. The amount involved for the financial year 2011 was EUR 49,000,000.

During the meeting, according to a communique made public today, "the cardinals present made numerous comments in which they made clear their appreciation at the completeness and transparency of the information they had been given. Recognition was expressed for the commitment to the ongoing improvement of the administration of the goods and resources of the Holy See, and a call was made for prudence and limiting costs, though while maintaining jobs. Unanimous pleasure was declared at the generous support of the faithful and of ecclesiastical institutions, even more praiseworthy given the persistent economic crisis. The members of the Council also expressed their profound gratitude at the support the faithful give, often anonymously, to the universal ministry of the Holy Father, and exhorted them to continue this good work.

"Finally, under the terms of article 25 (2) of the Apostolic Constitution 'Pastor bonus', Paolo Cipriani, director of the IOR, outlined the economic position of the institution he directs. This was followed by a debate during which the members of the Council were provided with the necessary clarifications".

Some web browsing.........

It has been a few weeks since we did a round up of some web browsing for your perusal. This weeks one is a bit on the long side as it has been a while; but put on the kettle, put the feet up and take 20 minutes to have a look and see what takes your fancy:

Beginning to pray has a reflection on the Eucharistic Heart of Christ - Torrent of Love
A young couple journeys from sin to grace, thanks to the friendship and unshakeable confidence of their priest - The Long Road of Grace and Mercy

Pat Gohn reflects on kneeling for prayer and how Kneeling makes me smaller, but love compels me to do it.

For those of you who may be fans of the Kerry writer and mystic John Moriarty, a recent online find was  the WYB documentary where John reflects on 'Slí na Firinne' which was his dream for a  Christian Monastic Hedge School in Kilgarvan in county Kerry, Ireland.

"As I see it, it isn't only the Christian churches that are in trouble. Christianity as a story is in trouble. It is in trouble in its images and in its metaphors. And even though it ravages me to say so, it is, I fear, in trouble in its central ritual, the Eucharist. If we do not get the diagnosis right, it is unlikely that we will happen upon the right remedy. Christ who continues to grow and out grow among us is the remedy. That and our willingness to grow and outgrow with him..." - John Moriarty

"Each and every one of us,” writes Lithwick, “is either a Chaos Muppet or an Order Muppet.” Chaos Muppets, like Cookie Monster, Grover, Gonzo and presumably Elmo, are “out-of-control, emotional, volatile.” Order Muppets, like Sam the Eagle and Bert, “tend to be neurotic, highly regimented,” but “secretly revel in the knowledge that they keep the show running.” A carefully calibrated ratio of the two types in any closed system is the key to happiness and harmony." - Which one are you?

While a lot of coverage has been about the IEC2012, here we have Rocco's coverage of the papal legate's visit to Lough Derg here and here.

From the New York Times; For New York Archdiocese’s One New Priest, a Lonely Distinction

From Agnosticism to priesthood

The monastic life is not for wimps. Look at Saint Benedict, who nearly drank a deadly cup of wine prepared for him by his own brothers. I felt like poisoning a monk

The new bishop of Lourdes began his ministry by helping out at the baths.

Two pieces looking at the devotion to the Sacred Heart and the need to re-visit the iconography of this great feast here and here.

The Irish Dominicans ran a series of reflections over the week of the IEC2012 called Adoro te devote reflecting on the Aquinas Eucharistic hymns. Limerick man Fr John Harris OP reflected at the final evening session of the 'Adoro Te Devote' programme, held in conjunction with the International Eucharistic Congress. His topic was the 'Verbum Supernum Prodiens', the hymn written by St Thomas Aquinas for Lauds of the feast of Corpus Christi. Listen here. If you would like to listen to all the talks, they are available here. Highly recommended.

Mass confusion: Misunderstanding at the root of the liturgy wars

"The missionary is one who has the 'experience' of Jesus; is the one who is taken by Him; is one who helps man to have this encounter with the Lord." - Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

One in four women, and one in six men, report having been abused in childhood. Here's my story of how Dawn Eden began to heal her own wounds through the lives of the saints. - Healing sexual wounds with the help of the saints.

 Diversity in the Church: can you handle it?

Writing about Mother's Day is a joy. But writing about Father's Day is sadder and more difficult. Today more than half of U.S. children spend at least a part of their childhoods living apart from their fathers. How do we do justice to Father's Day in an increasingly fatherless society? - For every Child, a Father.

Religious Illiteracy: The first to send back to school are the adults - Many bishops and priests think the decline of faith is to be resolved by wagering on the very young. This is a serious mistake, objects Professor Pietro De Marco: it will be the adults who decide the success or failure of the upcoming Year of Faith.

The Vatican Secret Archives revealed.

The story of the Reformation needs reforming - The destruction of most of the libraries, music and art of England was not a religious breakthrough but a cultural calamity

Exploring the relationship between gardens and Benedictine - listen to an interview with the Benedictines of Rostrover.

Let's raise a glass to the Bad Popes!

28 year-old Chiara Corbella has died and at her funeral in Rome, there was joy amid the sorrow. In fact, there was a kind of triumph, of love over life and life over death — one of those contradictory signs that makes no sense to an efficient world but is transcendently reasonable to the mind of faith.

The Meaning of Prayer - a reflection from the Dating God blog.

The Smell of Prayer - a reflection from Dominica

First World lifestyles must change, European bishops' leader tells Rio +20 conference.

A story of the keeping of faith in times of difficulty - When the priests return to Russia.

Ever wonder what happens if you die on a cruise ship?