Newsletter 

N.31                                                                                                               March 2006

Sharing God's dream

"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction" (Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est, 1). The Holy Father has put into clear words a principle so often taken for granted.

Along its two thousand years of history, the Christian family has adopted many cultures and still welcomes new peoples as expressions of God's love to all. Though the Western world is apparently distancing itself from and reappraising its Christian inheritance, other peoples in Asia and Africa are gladly embracing God's love in Christ. In the Americas too, many are searching for a deeper understanding of divine love. 
But, as tradition totters under its many divisions, it weighs heavily on new - and renewed - approaches to God. Traditions may even hinder the growth of unity, within the one family of God. 

The timeliness of Benedict's statement can be quite intriguing. Encountering Christ in person is the one, unique factor that can hold together all of God's faithful.
Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Calvinist, Baptist ...: the list of adjectives may appear endless. It would be a great pity, were one to understand 'Catholic' as another adjective on that list. "Catholic" - a Greek word that means "toward the whole" or "according to the totality" - should be a unceasing challenge to any list of qualifiers. 

'Catholic' is the person who has encountered God's love so much, that he or she can never tire till all have become God's adoptive children and thus belong to the one family of God. 
Only encountering Christ fully can be the key to lasting unity: a close relationship between Lover and beloved. The more a believer understands oneself as Christ's beloved, the more that same believer can be aware of the call to share that love with all Christ embraces.
In the last fifty years, the Church has gone quite a long way in reaching out to non-Catholics. As Benedict XVI gave his first homily the day after his election, he said he is "prepared to do everything in his power to promote the fundamental cause of ecumenism" and "is fully determined to encourage every initiative that seems appropriate for promoting contacts and understanding with the representatives of the different Churches and Ecclesial Communities."

Though the Church in Malta has been preserved from formal splits and divisions, Maltese Catholics still need to live up to their calling. Through his Word, God calls Maltese hearts to travel afar and encompass those God fosters in His heart. He guides Maltese minds to fathom cultures and recognize how the Father animates and enlivens them all. 
In his eucharistic self-giving, God transforms human thoughts and sentiments into dreams of love, aspirations of hope, and yearnings of communion. 
"The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving." For Pope Benedict, sharing Christ's Body an Blood means sharing in Jesus' self-gift. This spiritual union, "grounded in God's condescension towards us, operates at a radically different level and lifts us to far greater heights than anything that any human mystical elevation could ever accomplish" (Deus caritas est, 13).

If sharing the Eucharist is the symbolic manifestation of true Christian unity, sharing in God's self-giving overcomes division and turns believers into "a letter of Christ ... written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh" (2Cor 3:3).

Fr Mario Farrugia SJ

Book Review:

A Deep but Dazzling Darkness.
An anthology of personal experiences of God

We find ourselves in Lent again, a time of the year where we make it a priority to find more time for personal reflection. A Deep but Dazzling Darkness is an inspirational guide for prayer. An anthology always presents a wide selection - but in this book it was taken literally across the two millennia of Christianity: the editors start off with Scriptures but travel to the ages to contemporary authors. The excerpts vary in length and in style so one can seek a piece that reflects one's mood, so to speak.
The subject is depicted in the title taken from Henry Vaughan's The Night: 'There is in God, they say, a deep but dazzling darkness;' - in God, there is always this 'unfathomable paradox' as the editors describe it. Yet, what is striking is that through the ages, the human person is somehow drawn to give a profile to this experience in writing. Since the book is in a chronological order, one can notice that different times give different images; and the editors took care not only to portray the joy of the presence of God but also the laments in times of absence. Be they laments or be they praise, a trait evident in all is the passion within the hearts of these people - a passion of being captivated by the love of God.
Two things are brought to my attention as I let myself steep in these reflections: firstly, that we are part of the mystical body of Christ, so many witnesses that can encourage us along the way; secondly, in the hectic life that we live in, even prayer can sometimes be just another mental activity, but a passion for God comes only from the heart - prayer after all, is a consequence and means of communing with God and it is also the driving force to see God in all things.

Louise Laferla

edited by Lucy Lethbridge and Selina O' Grady, (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2003) ISBN No. 0-232-52426-2
Lucy Lethbridge is literary editor of the Tablet and UK correspondent for Art News (NY); Selina O'Grady is a television and radio presenter of religious programmes for the BBC.

With Great Devotion

With great devotion
and new depth of feeling,
I also hoped
and begged for this,
that it finally be given me
to be the servant
and minister of Christ the consoler,
the minister of Christ the helper,
the minister of Christ the redeemer,
the minister of Christ the healer,
the liberator, the enricher, the strengthener.
Thus it would happen that even I might be able through him
to help many to console, liberate, and give them courage;
to bring to them light not only for their spirit
but also (if one may presume in the Lord) for their bodies,
and bring as well other helps to the soul and body
of each and every one of my neighbours whomsoever.

Peter Fabre SJ

From the CIS Programme 

March 2006

Special Guest Speaker from Ireland

“Spirituality for Managers” by Catherine McGeachy
A Public Lecture in English intended for managers and those in leadership positions.
The goal of this lecture is to develop an awareness of the importance of spirituality at the workplace and how this is expressed in our situations at work.

Date: 16th March 2006
Time: 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm
Place: Mount St Joseph Retreat House – Mosta

“Spirituality in the Workplace” by Catherine McGeachy
Ms McGeachy will give a two-day workshop in English on how to bring spirituality into our workplace. The workshop includes inputs, a slide show, practical sessions in groups, self-assessment exercises and other activities.

The workshop will be conducted by Ms McGeachy, a management consultant and Director of Vision Consultants Ltd. in Ireland. She is the author of the book “Spiritual Intelligence in the Workplace”.

For further details contact the CIS office.

Date: 18th – 19th March 2006
Time: from 9.00am – 5.30 pm
Place: Mount St Joseph Retreat House – Mosta

Catherine McGeachy is a Management Consultant and Director of Vision Consultants Ltd, which is dedicated to promoting the potential of human beings, individually and collectively, in the workplace.

Min hu Ġesù?
Ir-Randan huwa żmien biex nersqu iktar lejn Ġesu’ li tant ħabbna u bata għalina. F’din l-esperjenza se nipprovaw insiru nafuh iktar u nqattgħu ftit tal-ħin iktar mis-soltu miegħu.

Post: Dar Manresa – Għawdex.
Dati: Mill-Ġimgħa 17 ta’ Marzu 2006 fis-7.00 pm sal-Ħadd 19 wara l-pranzu.
Jiggwidaw: Ms Mary Xuereb, Ms Rosalie Scicluna u Fr Paul Zammit SJ.

“Ruħi għatxana għalik Mulej”
Irtir għan-Nisa biss. Kif nqatgħu l-għatx għal Alla fil-ħajja tagħna? Kif nitgħallmu nħallu spazju għaliH fil-ħajja mgħaġġla tagħna? Dan il-weekend joffri oasi ta’ skiet u ġabra sabiex nimlu l-vojt bl-ilma li jagħti l-ħajja … (Ġw Kap. 4).

Post: Mount St Joseph Retreat House - Mosta
Dati: Mill-Ġimgħa 24 ta’ Marzu, fis-6.30 pm sal-Ħadd 26, fil-5.00 pm
Jiggwidaw: Minn Sr Marie Scicluna rcsj.

Irtir għall-Professjonisti (Koppji) bil-Malti
Dan huwa appuntament ta’ kull sena bi tħejjija ghall-Għid ghall-koppji tal-professjonisti u tal-ħbieb tagħhom.

Post: Dar Manresa – Għawdex (Għal dan l-irtir ma nistgħux nilqgħu iktar minn 15-il koppja.)
Dati: Mill-Ġimgħa 24 ta’ Marzu fis-7.00 pm sal-Ħadd 26 wara l-pranzu.
Jiggwidaw: Fr Vincent Magri SJ

Irtir għall-Professjonisti bil-Malti

Dan huwa rtir li jsir ta’ kull sena, li jinkludi pelegrinaġġ għas-Santwarju tal-Madonna ta’ Pinu fl-aħħar jum tiegħu

Post: Dar Manresa – Għawdex
Dati: Mill-Ħamis 30 ta’ Marzu fis-7.00 pm sat-Tnejn 4 ta’ April wara l-pranzu.
Jiggwidaw: Fr Ray Pace SJ

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.