2008 October archive at Being Frank

Archive for October, 2008

Oct

“Very well, Bart. I shall send you to heaven before I send you to hell. And a 1 and a 2 and.. “

Categories: Being Frank...

I went to Phantom of the Opera last night. Now there will be people out there who don’t enjoy musicals or who don’t like this particular musical or who think musicals are silly because everyone is singing at each other why can’t they just speak to each other he’s right in front of your face for goodness sake.

But I really enjoy the Phantom. I think it has great music and singing, usually great acting, and great production. I can really identify with the character of Raoul who is suave, debonair, has a great singing voice and a rather fetching hairdo. I would happily go watch it again if someone wants to buy me another ticket.

It’s with a pang of regret that I appluad the performers as they come out for their bows at the end of the show. My mum makes the comment that goes along the lines of ‘imagine doing this everyday as your job’. Yes imagine that. Taking in the gratitude and adulation of the audience instead of staring at a computer screen (whilst deep in thought obviously, not daydreaming). But I guess it may be hard at times, performing the same role everyday or even every other day. It could really be quite tiresome if you, as the performer, don’t really put your heart and soul into it, or buy into the character, or infuse your role with personality, or really live the role. The character will become quite lifeless I think.

I was reading something just this morning in the NZ Catholic which I thought I could find on the website (to no avail). It had a quote from a Bishop (don’t think it was a NZ bishop) saying that the problem facing the Church was that people were not really living their faith in between Sunday services. Now without the paper in front of me, I can’t actually remember if that’s what was said but it was something along those lines…. (if anyone can actually quote said Bishop it would be much appreciated).

Whatever was said, it was enough to inspire me this morning to really think about how much more we could live out our faith during the week between going to Sunday Mass. If I don’t really live it, or make it my own, or put my being into it, then how can I bring my faith to life and be a good Catholic/Christian.

Something to ponder as I stare at my computer screen and relive the highlights of the Phantom.

Oct

It’s all in the delivery

By Filia Day 86 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I’ve decided I’m not going to quit talking about politics until the election is over. There’s alot riding on this election and we should really try and keep the discussion going – politically informed and all that jazz.

This morning (over a sweet sweet cup of REAL coffee) I was browsing through the Herald to gauge what’s the haps with the elections. To tell you the truth, not as interesting as the America Elections. But I did stumble across a few beauts!

I found myself agreeing with alot of what Garth George has say on the state of the nation – which is really unfortunate because I like political lefties. I like them alot. But Labour and the Greens have jumped ship – there not left, just a little dictatorial for my liking. I encourage you all to read the whole editorial – but I understand you are all at work and don’t have all the time in the world so I have selected just an except for your reading pleasure.

“This election is all about freedom – the freedom of the individual to live his or her life with as little interference as possible from the state, its politicians and minions.

It’s all about being loosed from the tyranny of dogmatic “do-it-my-way-or-else” socialism, which contends that the state knows best how to spend our money, how we use our property and how we run our families.

It’s all about freedom from fear – from the anxiety generated by the doom and gloom merchants, the Greens in particular, who demand that we circumscribe our lives in certain ways because if we don’t the world will melt and come to an end.

It’s all about freedom from guilt. We want to be able to fill up our cars, turn on our heaters, light our homes, run our taps (and showers), eat our food, smoke a cigarette, have a few drinks, sell land or buy or develop property without being made to feel guilty.

And it’s all about freedom from presidential-style politics. We want – nay, need – to be rid of a dictatorial leader so that consensus politics again has a chance to flourish.”

On another note good old Mr Hide has certainly been active this week

Oct

Revelation, self-communication and coffee.

By Tuppence 33 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I’ve been investing a little in the academic future of my soul, you might say, as one of the pioneer students in Good Shepherd College’s distance learning programme…just starting with the basic introduction to Catholic theology, but gee whiskers (as the parentals say), it’s far from basic.

Our most recent assignment has been on a theology of revelation – contemporary principles of a theology of revelation since Vatican II’s Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation.

It’s beautiful stuff. While previous definitions of revelation were intellectually precise, and highlighted it’s cognitive aspects and the sense of an ever-building sacred â€˜deposit’ of truths, since Dei Verbum quite a different perspective has been taken.

Dei Verbum (a cracking good read…), while reaffirming the doctrines proposed by earlier councils (such as the need for obedience of faith, of intellect and will to God, and the grace that God offers with the help of the Holy Spirit to move the heart and turn it to Himself, so that obedience of faith is an act of “joy and ease”; or God’s choice to share with humanity “those divine treasures which totally transcend the understanding of the human mind.”)…it’s view on revelation is radically more pastoral and more personal.

And this is where studying theology becomes far more than an academic past-time…

- DV affirms that revelation is essentially God’s self-communication, a loving and totally gratuitous invitation to enter a dialogue of friendship. That’s got to be the thing we’ll spend our lives delving deeper into.

- There is an important unity between faith and revelation. Like the proverbial tree that falls in the forest, out of earshot of anyone, revelation does not occur/exist unless it is received by faith.

- Christ is the central event of all revelation, the ultimate mediator and one mediated. It may seem like the most obvious thing to say in the world…duh, Christ is central. But really, I sometimes get the sense from some people that removing the â€˜Jesus-event’ from the picture would â€˜simplify’ the situation and allow us to get to the more ethereal and divine. Sounds a little nuts, I know. Although we hear it time and again, God became man to save mankind, He gave his only Son, the Word made Flesh etc etc…it’s easy to get a little complacent to the meaning.

But, seriously…wow. And then take it to the next step in the gift of the Eucharist…hmm, no matter which way you look, you get back to the Eucharist.

This essay has really been a chance to allow myself to be â€˜gob-smacked’ once again by the incarnation, by the fact that Our Saviour became human entirely for our sake, and the fact that he allows us to be united to him, have him truly present, so easily and frequently.

I’ll finish with a quote from Gaudium et Spes, one of the other major Vatican II documents…

“The Lord (Jesus Christ) is the goal of human history, the focal point of the longings of history and civilization, the centre of the human race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings.”

Folks, I think that warrants a coffee break.

Oct

…………………………………………….

By The Dumb Ox 2 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Today is the NZ Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, so to mark this important day, which focuses on the biggest social injustice of our time, I will be silent on Being Frank for all of today.

Oct

Render unto Caesar

By James the Least 19 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

It’s seems pretty obvious that Christ was/is an intelligent man. I know that that’s expected when one is the Son of God, but He really was/is a switched-on guy. :)

I keep switching tenses there because, as we all know, Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again. But when I refer to His evident intelligence, I am referring to the historical record – namely yesterday’s Gospel reading. It really is one of my favourites, for a number of reasons.

For those who suffer near immediate short-term memory loss, yesterday’s Gospel from Matthew told of the naughty Pharisees sending in their lackies to test Jesus with the question: “Teacher…is it awful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”

I assume that I don’t need to provide too much historical context for this Gospel story. We all know that the Romans had occupied Jerusalem and most of the known world at this time. We know that Jews didn’t like their occupiers and that they didn’t like paying them tax. So this was a nice tricky question for Jesus: say no, and you’re in trouble with the Romans with their swords and bags of hurt; say yes, and you’re in trouble with the Jews and you’ve seemingly undermined your teaching and focus on God.

How does Christ respond? In a word, brilliantly! Asking for a coin, He asks who’s image and name is on the coin. “Caesar’s” comes the reply. “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” is Jesus’ ingenious response.

I mean, put yourself in the Pharisees’ shoes…how do you even compete with that kind of genius? (Not very well, as the Gospels will later show…)

I reflected on this reading earlier in the week, and then again yesterday at Mass, and I appreciate it for many reasons. First of all, I like the delivery. :) Totally knocks them off guard in a judo-esque turning of their force back on them. But deeper than that, I like what Christ is saying here. Think about what bears “Caesar’s” image in our world: money, power, politics…”stuff”. Now think about what bears God’s image: us, the world, creation…everything that matters and endures.

So, in an election year, we should reflect on the fact that taxes and tax cuts really do pale into insignifcance next to giving ourselves to God. We belong to Him. How much of yourself have you given to Him today? How much do thoughts of Him feature in your mind right now? How often to you give time to Him? These are questions which are always important to ask ourselves and to always improve on our answers.

Oct

“I mean the Bare Necessities, Or Mother Nature’s recipes, That bring the Bare Necessities of Life…”

By eyeWitness 3 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Lots of little things always make up a big thing. I think that’s why at school teachers always made you make achieveable little goals that you could meet each day, rather than just making one huge goal. I love the passage in the autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux (called The Story of a Soul and first published in 1899) that goes like this:

“For a long time I wondered why God had preferences, why He did no give the same degree of grace to everyone. I was rather surprised that he should pour out such extraordinary graces on great sinners like St Paul, St Augustine and so many others, forcing His grace on them, so to speak. I was rather surprised too, when reading the lives of the Saints, to find our Lord treating certain privileged souls with the greatest tenderness from the cradle to the grave, removing all obstacles from their upward path to Him, and preserving the radiance of their baptismal robe from the stains of sin. Also, I wondered why so many poor savages die without even hearing Our Lord’s name.

Jesus chose to enlighten me on this mystery. He opened the book of nature before me, and I saw that every flower He has created has a beauty of its own, the splendour of the rose and the lily’s whiteness do not deprive the violet of its scent nor make less ravishing the daisy’s charm. I saw that if every little flower wished to be a rose, Nature would lose her spring adornments, and the fields would be no longer enamelled with their varied flowers.

So it is in the world of souls, the living garden of the Lord. It pleases Him to create great Saints, who may be compared with little ones, who must be content to be daisies or violets, nestling at His feet to delight His eyes when He should choose to look at them. The happier they are to be as He wills, the more perfect they are.

I saw something further; that Our Lord’s love shines out just as much through a little soul who yields completely to His Grace as it does through the greatest. True Love is shown in self-abasement… Just as the sun shines equally on the ceder and the little flower, so the Divine Sun shines equally on everyone, great and small. Everything is ordered for their good, just as in nature the seasons are so ordered that the smallest daisy comes to bloom at its appointed time.”

This passage addresses so much – the injustices of life, how come some people never hear about God at all?, how come some people have it so easy?, why did God call such awful sinners like Paul? I don’t think I would have liked him had I met him before his conversion.

This is also a lovely meditation on your life. I like grand, big picture things. I want to be recognised as something worthwhile. But perhaps you’re more worthwhile than you think. Perhaps God recognises every call you answer, even if the world doesn’t so much?

Oct

My Plan; God’s Loving Laughter

By On the Road 16 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I had a pretty clear, although somewhat tentative, plan for my life about 4 years ago. I knew what I wanted to do after university, where I would want to live, the groups I would be a part of, which church I would go to.

I also thought I had a solid â€˜plan’ and foundation for my Christian faith. I grew up and was confirmed Lutheran, then floated around in the â€˜non-denominational’ denomination for my initial university years. I knew the bible to an extent, enough to get along. I had a fantastic community of friends that were on fire for Christ. From creation in 7 days to being assured of my salvation through my faith alone, to apologetics and evangelisation, I thought I had it all figured out. During my teenage years I had joined a fantastic protestant youth group that really brought me into true faith and relationship with Christ. I knew that I wanted to be able to do the same for others.

It all seemed to be going according to plan. I was happy. Then, God in His loving laughter at ‘my’ plans decided to change everything- He introduced to me a Catholic kiwi.

For the next 18 months, we confronted each other on our faith. Being a protestant, I knew the Catholic Church was wrong, praying to Mary was wrong, the Eucharist was just a symbol, and the pope was not the â€˜Holy Father.’ I went to mass, but did not appreciate it, loathing the thought of the mindless repetition and incessant standing, sitting, and kneeling. I thought I had that all figured out. For 18 months, I went about attempting to break down this kiwi’s Catholic faith, knowing that we would not work if there was no agreement on these important issues.

The first crack in my foundation came through the only theology course I have ever taken, studying abroad at Auckland University, learning about the Old Testament. I had come to realize that my understanding of Genesis was, for the most part, full of errors. At about the same time, I was â€˜forced’ to sit down and read Scott Hahn’s Rome Sweet Home. This crack soon spread to the fatal breaking of the cornerstone in my foundation. Quickly everything came crumbling down. I was scared, still convinced that the Catholic Church could not hold truth, but yearning to learn more.

From there, I hastily grabbed any book on Catholicism I could secretly get my hands on, acquiring as much knowledge as I could, trying to locate the holes in logic, anything to prove to me it could not be this way. I didn’t find any. All I found was Christ and His Church. I found the beauty of the Eucharist- soon attending mass and experiencing the awesome presence of God in a manner I never thought possible. I saw the incredible richness of scripture that is the mass. I saw how all my preconceived notions about Christ’s Church were unfounded.

Flash forward about two years to today: I am an imported kiwi in Auckland, eating pavalova and drinking sauvignon blanc, having moved cross the world from family and friends, and my entire life I had always known and loved. Furthermore, I am a newly confirmed Catholic, I love the mass and the Eucharist, my prayer includes Mary and the saints (gasp), and yet, I could not imagine a life any different.

Yes, 4 years ago I had a plan. God took that plan, put it through His omnipotent blender, and served me big a lesson in trust and humility. Looking back, only when things weren’t going to plan was when I was truly in His arms, submitting to His will for my life. Through chaos God has brought me home, has shown me the plan for His Church, and has enriched my life more than I could have ever imagined, or planned for.

This is my story, the road that I am on. I thought for my first post I would give a bit of perspective on my journey- so my ramblings, I mean posts, may make a bit more sense to all of you. I am incredibly excited, and humbled, to be invited to join the Being Frank community. I look forward to connecting with all of you, and growing in faith and love with Christ and His Church

God Bless.