|
|
|
|
Newsletter
No.25
September 2005
To Live and Work for the Kingdom in Heaven
The theme of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God is foremost in the Synoptic Gospels. Matthew puts a lot of urgency in the kingdom theme and provides the greatest number of parables referring to it.
The kingdom that Jesus preached is not a place located somewhere. It is a new ethical and moral order for humanity. It is a way of life that should pervade all aspects of our mutual co-existence and behaving.
The kingdom is established on three main principles. The first is Justice… Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things (material needs) will be given you as well. Mt 6,33. The other is Peace… Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognised as children of God. Mt 5,9. The third is Joy… The kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off in his joy, sells everything he owns and buys the field. Mt 13,44.
We live in the kingdom in the here and now. Its ethos supersedes any other code of ethics that came before and overrules the propagation of any other in the future. We live it in our hope, faith, prayer, preaching, relationships and our everyday living. It is Jesus' new interpretation of the Torah… the great commandment of love of God and neighbour.
The inherent message for justice and peace is a call for unity… the whole of humanity is God's family and there are no distinctions of creed, colour, tribe or race. Respect of each person's dignity, equality, sharing of resources and especially forgiveness are the very foundation of this kingdom. Embracing the kingdom in its totality vouchsafes our true happiness already here on earth.
God wants us to live in a particular way and Jesus has paved the way.
A modern-day witness to the kingdom of God…
Fr John Anthony Kaiser is an American Mill Hill missionary who came to Kenya in 1964. His missionary work in western Kenya brought him in direct contact with the injustice of witnessing the brutal eviction of the people he served from their fertile lands and small-scale farms of the Rift Valley. He became a relentless voice to the thousands of voiceless and helpless people he served. In the 1990s he vigorously resisted the eviction of internally displaced people who camped in Maela, following their eviction from Enoosupkia. People were being driven to death, starvation and untold suffering. These unjustified evictions were a part of Kenya's government abused land policy. Patronage politics and cronyism led government officials to fraudulently allocate land to themselves and their sycophants. This abuse of power is still the order of the day and foments tribal hatred and violent clashes between the different tribes.
|
|
Between the years 1986 - 1995 nearly one million people were evicted from their homes. Fr John worked tirelessly so that they can be returned to their homes and their land according to justice and to provide them with adequate security. Fr John found scant help from powerful western countries which could have made a difference. Global politics and global economic interests unashamedly ignore and work against the poor of Kenya (and of all Africa for that matter). Despite the disappointments surrounding his work, Father Kaiser never gave up.
|
|
|
Neither did difficulties break his spirit nor weaken his resolve... "It is a terrible indictment on all people of Kenya that we have failed to unite and return our displaced people to their farms. Prayer is most important, but sincere prayer must certainly lead to effective
action." Fr John loved his parishioners and remained with them...
"I have no intention of leaving this parish voluntarily or going underground. Since I have been threatened before by the Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner, I want all to know that if I disappear from the scene, because the bush is vast and hyenas many, that I am not planning any accident, not, God forbid, any self destruction. Instead, I trust in a good guardian angel and in the action of grace. It is this same grace of God that can touch the minds and hearts of
all."
On the morning of August 24, Fr John was found dead on a lonely road off the Naivasha-Nakuru highway. According to the authorities he committed suicide... but to the Church in Kenya he was killed for the kingdom of God. An inquest surrounding Fr John's death has been initiated by the Church Authorities. It may be some time before the real truth will come in the open and the real perpetrators are brought to Justice.
Fr. Vince Magri SJ
A Treasured Friend
-
Friendship is constant in all other things save in the office and affairs of
love.
Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing.
-
A friend should bear his friend's
infirmities.
Shakespeare, Julius Ceasar.
-
To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away.
Sophocles, Oedipus the King.
-
Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends who we
choose.
Tehyi Hsieh.
-
A friend in Power is a friend lost.
Henry Adams.
-
We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door
neighbour. G.K. Chesterton.
-
A friend is one before whom I may think aloud.
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
-
A friend that ain't in need is a friend
indeed.
Kim Hubbard.
-
Never exaggerate your faults; your friends will attend to
that.
Robert C. Edwards.
-
Love demands infinitely less than friendship.
George Jean Nathan.
-
There's nothing worth the wear of winning, but the laughter and the love of friends.
Hilaire Belloc.
|
|
Book Review:
Mother Theresa - A
Simple Path
compiled by
Lucinda Vardey
This book is the fruit of a team of researchers who wanted to document and film the work of Mother Teresa of Culcutta and the Missionary Sisters of Charity founded by Mother herself in 1950. Those involved in the idea and compilation of the book are Omer Ahmed a film producer, John Cairns researcher and Lucinda Vardey a religious writer.
This book is not just written to help us familiarise with the work of Mother Teresa and her sisters. Very effectively, the book tries to touch the faith, the clarity of purpose and the powerful lessons in the ways of living, serving and respecting our fellow human beings especially the poorest of the poor which was the bread of life of Mother Teresa and her sisters.
This book was written when Mother Teresa was still alive. From when she received "the call within the call" in 1946, Mother Teresa never looked back in dedicating her life for the poor of the slums of India. Even then, the world knew that she was a living saint. The book explores in an incisive way the thoughts and experiences of Mother Teresa. It speaks about what is essential in Mother's life. Mother Teresa maintained an extraordinary balance in her life… a perfect contemplative person in action.
It is A SIMPLE PATH to holiness. A path laid out for us by telling examples, spiritual and human wisdom of a great soul… a modern-day apostle to the poorest of the poor.
|
A SIMPLE PATH is a beacon that will fill one's heart with hope and love. The reader of this book cannot remain indifferent as he lets Mother Teresa's words touch his/her mind and soul. They are humbly meant to charge our hearts with hope and love.
Mother Teresa - A Simple Path, compiled by Lucinda Vardey, 1st ed. ( Ballantine Books. New York. 1995).
V.M.
|
It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
that the kingdom lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of gaols and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation of realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.
+Archbishop OSCAR ROMERO - martyred on March 24 1980 in San Salvador, El Salvador
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.
|
|
