|
|
|
|
Newsletter
No.24
July-August 2005
Summer Time - A Time for Rest & Renewal
Summer time is again with us. For some summer time means a lot of free time. For others it means the very opposite... more extra work. Although taking a holiday is not restricted only to Summer time it is still the most popular time for holidaying.
Summer time offers the opportunity for the family to take some holidays together. This is really a good thing especially for children. Spending more qualitative time together strengthens the bond between parents and children. Children need to relate with parents outside the normal "business" of scholastic days where a lot of demands are laid on both children and parents alike.
Summer is also a special time reserved for many celebrations, be they socio-religious like il-festa tar-rahal or the more personal feasting like a wedding celebration out in the open! For us Maltese, summer means more time spent outside. But are we really taking the opportunity of the summer months to relax? Do we really use the time to retrieve our energies and capacities? Do we really slow the pace and enjoy each other's company better?
Nowadays we hardly observe the Sunday as a day of rest. Some of us dream of having a 48-hour day instead of 24-hour day. We cramp so much activity in so little time and space. It is time and space that have to change and not our attitude towards time and space! According to A. Heschel, "Sunday is a Sanctuary in Time representing the ideal state of Creation. As a symbol of rest and renewal, Sunday signifies an inner serenity of the spirit providing the context for a timeless apprehension of the eternal within the bounds of time."
The concept of time off, leave, leisureliness etc. as a time set apart for rest and renewal is a recent sociological development. It was introduced by the advent of the industrial and agricultural revolutions in the 19th and 20th centuries respectively. Leisure time is now part and parcel of our daily lives. It has also grown into an important "service industry" which absorbs a lot of investment and energy both human and technical.
From the religious point of view free time and all the activities associated with it is considered a qualitative time set apart for "contemplation". Leisure time finds its religious justification by linking it with the divine. A Holiday is after all, a holy day set aside for purposeful turning towards God the Creator. Secularization tends to separate the human and the spiritual context of leisure, thus widening further the possible encounter between the divine and human.
By retaining the unified vision of work and play we will be helping to keep the theological meaning of free time. In the Gospel we find numerous references when Jesus withdrew on his own or with his apostles from his workaday life. The indirect message that comes across is that Jesus needed this free time so that he is able to return to his normal activity with better insights and refreshed. To do God's will we need to find the time to rest. God's will is never put on hold because we are on holiday!
The difference in understanding the secular meaning of leisure time from that that comes across from Christian tradition is that the pursuit of leisure is not seen as an end in itself but only as a means. From the Christian perspective leisure is a means for body and soul restoration and connection.
Fr Vincent Magri S.J.
-
Is holiday planning part of my life agenda?
-
What type of holidays do I look forward to?
-
Do I consider spending some time to deepen my prayer life during my holidays?
-
Does this fit or jars with the idea of a holiday? Why?
-
Is the Christian idea of rest a killjoy experience? Why?
A Treasured Friend
-
A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to
acquire. La Rochefocauld, Maxims.
-
We know our friends by their defects rather than by their
merits. W. Somerest Maugham, The Summing Up.
-
Hold a true friend with both your
hands. Nigerian Proverb.
-
Love is rarer than genius itself. And friendship is rarer than
love. Charles Peguy, "The search fro truth," Basic Verities.
-
God save me from my friends - I can protect myself from my
enemies. Proverb common in many languages.
-
The friendship that can come to an end, never really
began. Pubilius Syrus, Moral Sayings.
-
One who's our friend is fond of us: one who's fond of us isn't necessarily our
friend. Seneca, Letters to Lucilius.
|
|
Book Review:
Seeking Spirituality
Guidelines for a Christian Spirituality
for the Twenty-First Century
by
Ronald Rolheiser OMI
Fr Ronald Rolheiser gives an innovative definition and description of spirituality. According to him, the term 'spirituality' is frequently a misunderstood word. For many people, spirituality means something paranormal, mystical, churchy, holy, pious, other-worldly, New Age, something on the fringes and something optional. Rarely is it understood as referring to something vital and non-negotiable at the heart of our lives.
Spirituality is not about choosing certain spiritual activities like going to church, praying or meditating, reading spiritual books or setting off on some spiritual quest. Long before doing anything explicitly religious at all, we have to do something about the fire (a deep desire) that burns within us. What we do with that fire, how we channel it, is our spirituality. Hence, spirituality is not something "out there" but it means that fire that is deep in all of us. How we channel that deep desire is what distinguishes a healthy spirituality from an unhealthy one.
This book is meant to help people struggling and searching to understand what Christian spirituality is all about and how to apply it to their own lives. It explains what the non-negotiables are and how spirituality impacts on every area of life. Above all, it is an affirmation of God and the Church in a world that often doubts the credibility of both.
This book is written in simple language and style so that everybody can read it. It is recommended especially for the insights it gives about spirituality, ecclesiology, the incarnation, the paschal mystery, justice and peace-making, and sexuality.
Fr Reno Grech S.J.
|
|
Prayer
Yours I am, Lord
Yours I want to be
Help me to be Yours
Make me Yours.
Yours I
am
Father, because You created me... You are keeping me in being... keeping me alive... You are my Father who is in heaven... under Your gaze, with Your help, I am living each moment of my life... in the end I will appear
Before You to give You an account of my life...And for all eternity You will enable me to praise You, thank You and live with You for ever
Jesus, because You have redeemed me... when I was in sin, in the firm grasp of the devil, condemned to hell, You had pity on me, and snatched me and freed me from the devil's grasp, by undergoing the Passion and Death and Rising from death for me.
If I am experiencing joy... if I have hope... if I know what true happiness is, I owe all this to You... because You have redeemed me, and reconciled me to the Father.
You have become my Lord and Master, my Teacher... You are, You have become, The Way for me
You have become my Elder Brother
Holy Spirit, because You, in my Baptism, have put your Seal upon me... You have made me Your temple... You dwell within me... You enlighten me... You show me what I should pray for... help me pray... inspire me what I should do... and give me Your strength to do it
Yours I want to be
The natural response, the fitting response from the heart... with all my heart
Help me to be Yours
Because, without You... without your grace... I cannot do anything.
"I am the vine, you are the branches. Who remains in Me and I in him, will
bear much fruit... because apart from me you can do nothing" (NOT much...
NOT little... NOTHING.)
"I can do all things in Him who comforts me" (Phil. 4, 13).
"Our help is in the name of the Lord."
Make me Yours
Take things into your hands, Lord, I mean it... for there will be moments when I will no longer wish to be Yours... and You will need to do everything.
"Bend me to Your will." (Ps 143, 10)
We
would like to remind you that the Centre for Ignatian
Spirituality offers personal spiritual direction to all
those who would like to have any kind of spiritual
experience like Ignatian retreats in every day life.
Retreats can be tailored according to the needs and
circumstances of the retreatant. CIS can call on experienced
Jesuits, other religious and trained lay people to accompany
retreatants through these experiences.
Anyone
interested can contact the Director on 21344349 or 99864561
or email vince@maltajesuitretreats.com.
|
|
