Light of the North: The magazine of the Diocese of Aberdeen
DIOCESE
A Letter from Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I have been more impressed by our new Cathedral Cross than I expected to be. I am most grateful to the artist, Martin Earle, and his fellow-workers, and grateful to all who’ve made it possible to meet the costs of this undertaking or simply made encouraging noises along the way.
We frequently hear this mentioned but do we really feel that this is a possibility and not just pious talk? That having an encounter and a relationship with Jesus is for me and not only for the outstanding Christians, the saints? After all we do not see, hear or touch Jesus as we do with the people around us. Hopefully the following will help us understand “how to” achieve this important goal of our religious lives. The following quotes are taken mainly from the article: The Local Church: An Encounter with Jesus by Fr Philip McParland that was presented in The Pastoral Review (Jan/Feb 2016).
Birds sing. Angels sing. People sing. God sings. Does God sing? Is this really such an outlandish idea? After all, God made human beings in His own image and likeness and people have been singing, not just for entertainment or worship, but in telling stories, making speeches or serious pronouncements, for as long as history recounts. It is, therefore, perfectly feasible that God created us to sing, for Himself and for ourselves. Throughout the Old Testament, there are a great many references to the people of God singing praise to the Lord first and foremost, with the whole Book of Psalms set down to be sung in different situations, and often quoted in other scriptural books. Singing is often identified with joy; and so we find the exiled Israelites, captive in pagan Babylon, too unhappy to sing:
“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”
I have been more impressed by our new Cathedral Cross than I expected to be. I am most grateful to the artist, Martin Earle, and his fellow-workers, and grateful to all who’ve made it possible to meet the costs of this undertaking or simply made encouraging noises along the way.
The Cross features on the cover of this issue of The Light of the North and an article on the following page tells more of it.
I love its colours. How we need colour in Aberdeen! And the balance of the whole and the part, the harmony it expresses. And then its fulness. It exemplifies St Thomas Aquinas’ understanding of beauty: “[1] integrity or perfection, since those things which are impaired are by the very fact ugly; [2] due proportion or harmony; and lastly, [3] brightness, or clarity, whence things are called beautiful which have a bright colour” (Summa Theologiae).
Its integrity, or fulness, lies most of all in its presentation of Christ. Like the liturgical year that will unfold around it, like the Eucharist that is celebrated beneath it, it is not mono-thematic. It’s a window on the whole mystery of Christ. Here he is: crucified Love at the centre, not dead though, but alive. His eyes are wide open, kind and questioning. There are no nails now, just the wounds delivering their sanctifying blood. He even seems to be rising from the Cross, a momentum accentuated by the circle of the Ascension above his head. Christ seems to be like a great bird, the eagle of God, carrying us upwards. The terminals the artist has added incorporate the Nativity and the Empty tomb. Here then are Christmas, Easter and Ascension. We are encountering here the full mystery of Christ “in whom the fulness of God dwells bodily”.
Another thing that takes my attention is the trajectory from Adam’s skull at the foot of the Crucified to the divine hand reaching down from the very top. Through the Paschal mystery of Christ, the Father draws us from the death that follows sin to a heavenly life where the angels acclaim the victorious Lord. The hand implies the Holy Spirit too.
And lastly – not lastly, of course! – there are the figures under the Cross. Here is the Church, born on Calvary, gathered under the wings of Christ: Mary and John to our left, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to the right, with presumably Longinus, the centurion on the far right. Three women, two men. Four persons haloed, one not. Longinus is on the way to faith and holiness – an encouragement to us.
My hope is that this Icon-Cross will seize the eyes of anyone entering the Cathedral – seize their eyes and lift their hearts. Going further, how good it would be were this the experience of all who approach, not just a church building, but any one of our communities – indeed encounter the Church herself, Christ’s Body and Bride. There is a power in this Cross, combined with a gentle hospitality. Beauty, truth and goodness are interwoven here. This Cross can enchant. May we, singly and together, be ambassadors of Christ, as is this Icon-Cross!
With prayerful good wishes for Eastertide,
+
An encounter with our Lord
We frequently hear this mentioned but do we really feel that this is a possibility and not just pious talk? That having an encounter and a relationship with Jesus is for me and not only for the outstanding Christians, the saints? After all we do not see, hear or touch Jesus as we do with the people around us. Hopefully the following will help us understand “how to” achieve this important goal of our religious lives. The following quotes are taken mainly from the article: The Local Church: An Encounter with Jesus by Fr Philip McParland that was presented in The Pastoral Review (Jan/Feb 2016).
Concretely, how are we enabled to attain this encounter and relationship with Jesus? One of the most important ways that we experience the presence of the risen Jesus is through the experience of human love. The support we receive from other people helps us to get to know Jesus and develop a relationship with him. The friendship shown to us by others helps us to experience the friendship of Jesus. (All true goodness has its ultimate source in God - God is Love (1Jn 4:8)).
Belonging to a Christian Community is important... Human love opens us to the love of Jesus, it draws us into the love of Jesus; it strengthens us in the love of Jesus. Jesus wants us to have companions on our journey through life. This is why it is important for the followers of Jesus to belong to a community. According to the Gospel it is not possible to be a follower of Jesus without belonging to a Christian community. Jesus himself assures us that, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst” (Matt 18:20).
The seven sacraments are the God given unique means of encountering Jesus. Their primary purpose is to help people to meet Jesus. In them Jesus is present to us and with us at all the special times in our lives, offering us the particular gift that we need.
The Sacrament that most nourishes our relationship with Jesus is the Eucharist. "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I in him" (John 6:56). To participate in the celebration of the Eucharist is an experience of real and deep communion with him. When we share in the Eucharistic meal, the life and love of Jesus flow into us and through us to others.
An extension of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is his continuing presence in the consecrated hosts that are kept in the tabernacle. As can be seen from the lives of countless saints, spending some quiet time in church before the Blessed Sacrament in personal adoration and prayer has always been a very important means of encountering Jesus and deepening our relationship with him.
Prayer is our communication with Jesus. Communication is the life blood of relationships. If we have a relationship with Jesus we need to spend some quiet time in communication with him. The experience of spending time on our own with Jesus is often referred to as personal prayer. St Teresa of Avila describes personal prayer as an "intimate conversation between friends". It means taking time frequently to be alone with the one whom we know loves us. There were a number of things Teresa did in prayer to help her experience the friendship of Jesus. Sometimes she would talk to Jesus in her own words, sharing with him what was happening in her life. At other times she would allow Jesus speak words of affirmation and affection to her, especially through the verses of scripture. Then there were times when she was happy to simply be in the company of Jesus without words, enjoying his loving presence.
The scriptures: St Jerome said that "Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Jesus". Familiarity with the scriptures is familiarity with Jesus. The scriptures, especially the gospels, bring us into direct contact with Jesus. They mediate the presence of Jesus. They are a source of encounter with Jesus. The words of scripture carry his presence and offer his friendship. Without this divine friendship our hearts are restless.
How can scripture be used? Some of the ways are:
Lectio Divina - reading a passage of scripture slowly and reflectively; scripture study sessions; using books of scriptural meditation; using books that give a scripture thought for the day with a short reflection.
Serving others: In St Matthew’s Gospel Jesus makes it very clear that we meet him in other people and that we serve him when we serve other people. "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me....Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:34–40).
The great lesson that St Paul learnt when he heard the voice of Jesus as he travelled to Damascus ("I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting") was that Jesus so identifies himself with his people that anything good or bad that we do to another human being is in fact done to Jesus himself.
At the last supper Jesus gave his disciples a powerful lesson in service when he washed their feet. "If I the Lord and Master have washed your feet you must wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you" (John 13:14-15). Service is the true mark of the Christian…Jesus reveals himself to us in and through our acts of service.
Prayer; some golden rules:
Plan to pray; do not leave it to chance. Select a time and a place (a room at home, on the bus, taking a walk).
Decide on how long you will spend in trying to pray (five, ten, fifteen, thirty minutes or more) and stick to the whole length of the period you have decided on.
Decide what you are going to do when you pray; which prayer to select to say slowly and lovingly or which passage from the Bible to read prayerfully. Sometimes use your own words; sometimes just be still and silent. Always start by asking the Holy Spirit for help in your prayers. Pray: “Come Holy Spirit, teach me to pray; help me to do it”.
Remember, you are trying to get in touch with a person, and that person is God – Father or Son or Holy Spirit. He is wanting to get in touch with you.
Leave the results of your prayer, with confidence, in the hands of your Heavenly Father. Trying to pray is praying. Never give up trying.
Adapted from: To Be a Pilgrim - Cardinal Basil Hume
BY FR PATRICK RICE SJ
Sing and Rejoice!
Birds sing. Angels sing. People sing. God sings. Does God sing? Is this really such an outlandish idea? After all, God made human beings in His own image and likeness and people have been singing, not just for entertainment or worship, but in telling stories, making speeches or serious pronouncements, for as long as history recounts. It is, therefore, perfectly feasible that God created us to sing, for Himself and for ourselves. Throughout the Old Testament, there are a great many references to the people of God singing praise to the Lord first and foremost, with the whole Book of Psalms set down to be sung in different situations, and often quoted in other scriptural books. Singing is often identified with joy; and so we find the exiled Israelites, captive in pagan Babylon, too unhappy to sing:
“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”
But what about God singing? There are actually many ancient myths among various peoples that speak of a Creator singing the world in being. For instance, one myth of Ancient Egypt tells of how the world began when the singing sun sang light into being. Australian Aborigines also tell of a world sung into being. One Native American creation myth centres on a powerful earth goddess, the mother of life, who sang the First Song, together with the sun god, bringing the earth, light, and life into being. She then wove his thoughts into material form, creating birds, fish, and other creatures. Many of these myths bear a resemblance to the Creation stories in Genesis. Before anything at all existed, it was a thought in the mind of God: God spoke; and so it was.
The writer Tolkien felt that there was a lack of myth in his own country and so he set out to create a fictional mythology, written over many years, though not published until after his death. These stories were gathered together in The Silmarillion. At the very beginning of the book, he tells of how the world, or ‘Middle Earth’, was created through song. First, there was Eru Ilúvatar, known as the One, who made first the Ainur (similar to Angels), “the offspring of his thoughts”, who were with him before anything else was made. “And he spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music; and they sang before him, and he was glad.” Then he gave them a mighty theme and called on them “to make in harmony together a Great Music”. This they proceeded to do and “a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony … and the music and the echo of the music went out into the Void and it was not void. Never since have the Ainur made any music like to this music, though it has been said that a greater still shall be made before Ilvútar by the choirs of the Ainur and the Children of Ilvútar after the end of days.”
Tolkien’s great friend and colleague, C.S. Lewis, had similar ideas about the singing of Creation and he wrote a most beautiful description of the Creation of Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew, the prequel to his Narnia series. The main characters of this story arrive accidentally into a great Void, before Narnia existed, and stand in a petrified silence before they become aware that something is beginning to happen.
“In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and [they] found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth itself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.”
Even an old cab-horse, whisked with them into the void, responds to the Voice with a joyful whinney. “Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was that the voice was suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could possibly count. They were in harmony with it, but far higher up the scale: cold, tingling silvery voices. The second wonder was that the blackness overhead, all at once, was blazing with stars … The new stars and the new voices began at exactly the same time.” They then begin to make out shapes and features and the sky changes from grey to pink to gold as the “Voice rose and rose, till all the air was shaking with it. And just as it swelled to the mightiest and most glorious sound that it had yet produced, the sun arose … You could imagine that it laughed for joy as it came up.”
Surely an echo of what we read in the Book of Job, one of the oldest books of the Old Testament, when we read that, as the universe is spoken/sung into being, it immediately responds in kind. When they were created, “the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God (the Angels) shouted for joy…” (Job 38:7). In 1Chonicles, we read that when the Ark of the Covenant was finally brought into Jerusalem, King David danced and sang before it, such was the joy of the occasion. He also ordered a song of thanksgiving to be made to the Lord, exhorting all the people to sing praise to God; and not only the people, but all the earth, the heavens, the seas, the fields, and even “then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord” (1Chron 15:25-161-36). And the Prophet Zephaniah tells us of the day when “The Lord your God … will rejoice over you with gladness … he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival” (Zeph 3:17).
When the Israelites are brought safely through the Red Sea while their enemies are overcome by the waters, Moses and the people burst spontaneously into a great song of praise to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously” (Ex 15:1). This foreshadows the triumph of the Lamb and so we read in the Book of the Apocalypse how the Angels and Saints sing the same song before the Lamb. So, even if we don’t (or can’t) sing a particularly joyful song here on earth, surely when we come face to face with our Lord and Creator, we shall burst into a spontaneous song of joy. And He will be glad.
