“What do we really know about the truth of a human being? He or she may live by our side for years, & we may not notice anything unusual about the person. But we cannot evaluate or judge a human life by everyday events. There are times & moments in our lives when everything we are is concentrated & hangs in the balance. At such crucial moments it becomes very clear who we really are. It is not that the truth of our person is really decided at such moments. It is that such times bring out clearly the vision & conviction that also shapes our everyday life. Undoubtedly, the decisive moment in Jesus’ life was the one involving Gethsemane & Golgotha. For the early Church, however, this moment makes clearer than ever what Jesus must have had before his eyes all the time. The reality of Jesus was not that clear to his own disciples. Their eyes were dimmed by anxiety & weariness of heart. They could say nothing while Jesus was still with them. We cannot say for sure this Gospel passage about Jesus’ transfiguration came into being after Easter. But isn’t it true that we almost always grasp the truth about a human being years later, while we were almost blind to it when we were with the person? What was the truth about Jesus, the truth for all time? This Gospel tells us that we must ascend the mountain with Jesus if we wish to understand him. To maintain the imagery, we can say that our lives are lived in the lowlands & valleys. We seem to be thoroughly defined by the laws of environment, inertia, & gravity. From this “lowland” perspective, we appear to be puppets on string, more acted upon than actors. Such a life, nothing more than a clinging to earth, hardly deserves to be called human. We are called to the heights, to greatness, & our soul is meant to take wings. We are intended to gather together everything in our being & life. So Jesus takes the three disciples with him, leaves the plain, & literally goes up to a higher plane where there is a broad view & eyes can see clearly. How does anyone climb such a mountain? We cannot look for it somewhere in space: the mountains of the heart are the upward sweeps of joy, experiences of absolute liberation, as if we had finally arrived at the very centre of the world, or as if we had come to a sanctuary & left behind everything that chokes, besieges & oppresses us. We human beings are called to touch the heavens with our foreheads & to hear the voice of God in our hearts.” (The Open Tomb: Eugen Drewermann)
Our Parish Vision Prayer
We pray that we may be a growing community
Which, thorough the power of the Holy Spirit, joyfully serves the mission given to us by Jesus Christ.
We pray that we may be a welcoming family
in which, young or old, you are known by name, loved and accepted as you are, invited to pray, to share your life, to heal and to grow, to enjoy a loving relationship with God, yourself and others, and so become the person you were created to be.
We pray that together we may reach out in love
To serve the needs of the world and offer the joy and hope of the Gospel to others, through our actions, our words and the example of our lives, responding above all to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth, so that in all things God our Father will be glorified.
Living God, you walk alongside us & speak to us throughout the Scriptures. Your Son, Jesus Christ, listens to our hopes & fears & shows us how to live for one another. Send us the Holy Spirit to open our hearts & minds so that we may be your witnesses throughout the world. Amen. V. Your word is our path & your truth is our light. R. This day & every day. (Prayer of the Word for the Year of the Word)
Our journey towards the eventual amalgamation of our three Churches continues, as our Coordinating Group, Vision Group & Finance Committee continue to meet on behalf of us all to discuss & discern a number of key issues in our attempt to help each & every parishioner through this difficult time of transition & change. During this season of Lent, & its moment of extra prayer & recollection, please let us pray especially for each other as we meet the challenges & opportunities differently & yet, vitally & hopefully, together. I will be in a position very soon to bring to each of our three Churches an update of where we are, & where we hope to be into the future, & to seek your advice & wisdom. with my love & prayers Fr Bede.