Transcript Slide 1

welcome
June 27th 2012
please relax
Are we in
danger of
missing the
point?
Losing sight of
five great
treasures
James Hanvey – On the way to life
1. A loss of confidence in any
overarching story that claims to give
significance or meaning
(the meta-narrative)
Missing the point
“I’m six how old are you?”
“I’ve got an Xbox”
“I’ve got a girlfriend\boyfriend”
“I’ve got an A grade”
“I’m on a good salary”
“I have responsibility”
“I have successful children”
“I had a triple by-pass”
“I’m 94 how old are you”
“This is not to happen
amongst you” John 12 1-20
Watch for the patterns in Luke
9:34
The disciples are arguing over which of them is the best!
10:13 The disciples are “protecting” Jesus from children
because if children have access to Jesus then what
happens to their own status?
10:28 Peter is stressing to Jesus all that he has given up to
follow him hoping that this might be a qualification for
special consideration
10:37 James and John want to sit nearest to Jesus in the
kingdom!
10:41 The others are annoyed with James and John for asking,
privately hoping that they would not be relegated to
some hidden place themselves
10:47 The people nearest to Jesus tell Bartimaeus to be quiet
“don’t bother the master”.
“The disciples
were arguing
over which of
them is the
best!” LK9:34
And suppose we
get caught up in
“Could try
harder”. So we
fall back onto our
own limited
resources
“By means of a diversion
a man can avoid his own
company 24 hours a day”
Louis Pascal
“The problem with
modern living is
that we worship our
work, work at our
play, play at our
worship”
Terry Hershey
2. A loss of
trust in the
notion of
authority
and
institution
3. Losing a sense
identity rooted
with in tradition
“We are going to have Brooklyn baptised,
we just havn’t decided what religion.”
David Beckham
“For peace of
mind.... resign as
general manager
of the universe.”
Larry Eisenberg
“Caution:
Cape does not enable
user to fly.”
British Home Stores Batman costume
“I love deadlines.
I love the wooshing
sound they make as
they fly by.”
Douglas Adams
4. Loss of absolute certainty objectivity (It depends)
A growing restlessness and discontentment
“The desire for personal
affirmation through instant
gratification leads to a
search for a heightened
experience with a
consequent increase in
boredom and an inability to
find contentment in the
ordinary.” James Hanvey
“I’ll just have
to go back,
back to my
old life.”
5. Isms...
Individualism,
Materialism
and Consumerism
“Year after year cook
books and diet books
are the biggest sellers;
learn how to cook it,
then how to avoid
eating it”
Andy Rooney
Supposing
we have a bit
of a tendency
to get caught
up in our own
sort of self
sufficiency
“Now by chance a priest was
going down that road; and
when he saw him he passed
by on the other side. So
likewise a levite, when he
came to that place and saw
him, passed by on the other
side.” Luke 10:31-32
“Every man for
himself,”
said the elephant
as he danced among the
chickens.”
Charles Dickens
Stretch!
June 27th 2012
beware
the risk
of
narrow
vision
Twickenham Address to Pupils
“Always remember that every
subject you study is part of a
bigger picture. Never allow
yourselves to become
narrow. We need good
historians and philosophers
economists, but if the account
they give of human life is too
narrowly focused, they can lead
us seriously astray.”
“Don’t fall into the narrow way
of being. The Church cannot
shut herself up, inactive, in the
privacy of her churches and thus
neglect the mission entrusted to
her by divine providence, the
mission to form man in his
fullness.” Oscar Romero
symptoms
•New ideas annoy you
•You are less comfortable with the idea of
“sharing” resources
•Training days start to feel irritating
•You’re quietly irritated by other people’s
enthusiasm
•You put your name on your cottage cheese
•Practical mundane tasks become appealing
•You personalise your wheelie bin
•You (Head teachers) stop playing on your
swivel chair when no-one is looking
Disappointment
The feeling that I’m not
getting my entitlement, my
remuneration or my worth
Resentment
“I volunteered, I was the first to
crack.” I’ve been left with more
to do than the others
Chore
The feeling that I’m doing a
duty of service rather than
being fulfilled. It’s just a job.
Performance
Vague feeling that I’m
not doing all I should be
doing – it is never
accomplished
Isolation
Feelings of disassociation –
“Does anyone here
appreciate me for what I
am trying to do?”
Have you caught
yourself getting
grumpy these days?
“But if in my life I fail
completely to heed others,
solely out of a desire to be
“devout” and to perform my
“religious duties”, then my
relationship with God will
grow arid. It becomes merely
“proper”, but loveless.”
Deus Caritas Est, 18 (Pope Benedict XVI, 2006)
“It becomes merely
“proper”, but
loveless.”
Deus Caritas Est, 18 (Pope Benedict XVI, 2006)
Chapel of St Mary’s
University College
September 17th 2010
“The task of the teacher is not simply to
impart information or to provide training in
skills intended to deliver some economic
benefit to society; education is not and must
never be considered as purely utilitarian.”
Chapel of St Mary’s
University College
September 17th 2010
“education... is not and must
never be considered as
purely utilitarian.”
“O that today you would listen to
his voice! Harden not your hearts
as at Meribah” Psalm 94
There is no distinction
between knowledge
and love
“May the world of our time,
which is searching, sometimes
with anguish, sometimes with
hope, be enabled to receive
the Good News not from
teachers who are dejected,
discouraged, impatient or
anxious, but from whose lives
glow with fervour, who have
first received the joy of Christ."
Pope Paul VI's apostolic exhortation "Evangelii Nuntiandi,"
“Your life is not about you.”
Mother Teresa
Catholic schools educate when they
“Help people to grasp their own
identity and to reveal those authentic
needs and desires that inhabit
everyone’s heart, but which often
remain unknown and
underestimated: thirst for authenticity
and honesty, for love and fidelity, for
truth and consistency, for happiness
and fullness of life”.
Pope John Paul ll
“Consecrated persons and their Mission in Schools” Oct 2002
“Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can
give to others much more than their
outer necessities; I can give them the
look of love which they crave. Here we
see the necessary interplay between
the love of God and the love of
neighbour which the first letter of John
speaks of with such insistence.”
Deus Caritas Est, 18 (Pope Benedict XVI, 2006)
Acts of “Unusual Kindness”.
“The inhabitants treated us with
unusual kindness. They made us
all welcome by lighting a huge
fire because it had started to rain
and the weather was cold.”
ACTS 28v2
The Pope at St Mary’s
Twickenham. 17th September 2010
“As you come to know God better, you find that you
want to reflect something of his infinite goodness in
your own life. You are attracted to the practice of
virtue. You begin to see greed and selfishness and all
the other sins for what they are, tendencies that cause
deep suffering, and you want to avoid falling into the
trap yourselves. You begin to feel compassion for
people in difficulties and are eager to do something to
help them. You want to come to the aid of the poor
and the hungry, you want to be kind and generous.”
.
“Deep within your heart he is calling
you to spend time with him in prayer,
but this kind of prayer, real prayer,
requires discipline. It requires time for
moments of silence everyday. Often it
means waiting for the Lord to speak.
Even amidst the business and stress of
our daily lives we need to make space
for silence, because it is in silence that
we find God. And in silence that we
discover our true self. “
The Pope at Westminster Cathedral.
thank you
June 27th 2012