Saturday, September 7, 2019

THE PEOPLE OF SAINT VINCENT ARE ALWAYS ON MY MIND

 LOOKING OUT FROM THE DECK OF THE PASTORAL CENTRE

Diocese of Kingstown
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

  

Looking out from the island of Saint Vincent to the island of Bequia in the gray-blue haze. They are only two islands of the total thirty-two islands that make up the country.  


A MARINER'S PRAYER


O God, I ask you to take me into your care and protection along with all those who sail ships.


Make me alert and wise in my duties. Make me faithful in the time of routine, and prompt to decide and courageous to act in any time of crisis.



Protect me in the dangers and perils of the sea; and even in the storm, grant that there may be peace and calm within my heart.



When I am far from home and far from loved ones and far from the country that I know, help me to be quite sure that, wherever I am, I can never drift beyond your love and care.


Take care of my loved ones in the days and weeks and months when I am separated from them, sometimes with half the world between them and me.

Keep me true to them and keep them true to me, and every time that we have to part, bring us together in safety and in loyalty again.

This I ask for your love’s sake.

Amen







  

Thursday, September 5, 2019

IS IT CLIMATE CHANGE OR ARE THEY JUST LAZY?

      They Just Won't Go Home Any More

          
Even though I lived in the country, I can remember seeing migrating geese flying overhead only a couple of times in my childhood years. I don't remember ever seeing one on a pond or up close. 

Now, they won't go home. They stay year-round because the winter weather is not as harsh here as it used to be. 

I complained to some priests in Canada when I led one of their convocations. "Your Canadian geese will not go home any more and their numbers are growing at an alarming rate!" I was corrected. "They are called Canada geese, not Canadian geese!" I'm not sure I understood the difference, but they sounded like they knew what they were saying so I let it go. 

I counted thirty-six of them at one time the other day on the pond in front of my condo! I like to look at them, but I avoid walking on the grass. They are very dirty animals and they can be brutal to each other when the free food is about to run out! 

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

PRIESTS CONTINUE TO BE KILLED AROUND THE WORLD

Nigerian priest killed on way to peace talks

    


Fr. David Tanko was helping to resolve issues in local ethnic dispute.

Longstanding ethnic tensions in Nigeria that have been relatively peaceful erupted this past April, and they apparently now have claimed the life of a Catholic priest in the country.


Fr. David Tanko was stopped by armed men on the way to the village of Takum in Taraba State Thursday. He was to on his way to a meeting to mediate a peace agreement between Tiv and Jukun populations. According to local sources, attackers—perhaps belonging to a Tiv militia— killed Fr. Tanko and set fire to his body and his car.



The Catholic bishop of Jalingo, Charles Michael Hammawa, condemned the killing and said, “We preached peace and made efforts to bring both sides to the negotiating table. … We pray that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”



Bishop Hammawa warned against retaliation. “We do not want there to be retaliation,” he said. “That would only worsen the situation.”

According to Fides, the Vatican’s missionary news service, there have been a series of armed attacks in Taraba State, the most recent in the area of Wukari. Two people were killed while a police officer was injured in the attack.

“Furthermore, in the nearby Donga Local Government Area (LGA), a student of the ECWA Seminary School was killed in the early hours of 28 August,” Fides reported.

Fides said that the conflict between the Tiv and the Jukuns dates back to the 1950s. “According to some historical studies, the two populations lived in harmony until the advent of British colonization, when the colonial authorities favored the Jukuns to the detriment of the Tiv, planting the seed of discord which exists to the present day,” it said.

The conflict resurfaced on April 1, triggered by a dispute between a Tiv and a Jukun in the village of Kente in the Wukari area. It soon degenerated into a series of raids in the villages of the two populations, with deaths and looting. The violence also spread to the neighboring State of Benue. In July, the governors of Benue and Taraba launched an appeal for peace.

Fr. Tanko’s funeral will be held on September 2.



Sunday, September 1, 2019

PULLING YOURSELF AND OTHERS UP


MAGNANIMITY AND HUMILITY
        
                                                                                                                                                                  

Conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.
Sirach 3:17-18


For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
Luke 14
As we said in the Confiteor today, we can sin in two ways – by what we do and what we fail to do. We can sin by excessively over-inflating our worth, by thinking too highly of ourselves, but we can also sin by devaluating ourselves, by thinking too little of ourselves. 


Narcissism is the term used to describe excessive vanity and self-centeredness. The condition was named after a mythological Greek youth named Narcissus who became infatuated with his own reflection in a lake. He did not realize at first that it was his own reflection, but when he did, he died out of grief for having fallen in love with someone who did not exist outside himself. 



Narcissistic personalities are characterized by unwarranted feelings of self-importance. They expect to be recognized as superior and special, without necessarily demonstrating superior accomplishments. They exhibit a sense of entitlement, demonstrate grandiosity in their beliefs and behaviors and display a strong need for admiration.



When narcissistic people talk about church attendance, they usually say things like “I don’t go because I don’t get anything out of it!” “I, I, I!” When they say things like that, they put themselves in the center of the picture. Church attendance is really about giving, not getting. We go to Church to give God worship and praise! We go to learn how to give to, and serve, others! 



When narcissistic people talk about marriage, they talk about what it will do for them. People who marry successfully get married to be love-givers, not love-getters! As Jesus said, “It is in giving that one receives!” Receiving is not a goal, but a by-product, of both marriage and ordination. 



When narcissistic young people talk about what to do with their lives, they ask themselves “what do I want to do or what do I want to be” that will make me happy? The real question is not what do I want to do, but what is God calling me to do and be” that will lead me to happiness? Jesus was right, “Those who seek to save their lives will lose them, while those who seek to give their lives away, will save them.” Albert Schweitzer was right when he said, and narcissistic people will never get it, “The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found out how to serve.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was right when he said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” 



Pope Francis talks a lot about a “self-referential church,” in other words a narcissistic church. He says that when the Church does not look beyond itself, when it is always focused on itself, it gets sick. The Church is the moon and Christ the sun. The Church exists to reflect the light of Christ to the world, not to live within herself, of herself and for herself. 



The other extreme to narcissism is self-deprecation or the minimization and devaluation of oneself. The first and last reading today is about humility, but what we were taught about humility may need to be reevaluated! Humility is about accepting the truth about who we are, without exaggerating it or minimizing it. “Humility” comes from the Latin “humus,” meaning “earth.” “Humility” means “grounded.” A truly “humble” person, truly in touch with his strengths and weaknesses, neither inflates his worth nor devalues it.



It is this truth that Jesus spent his ministry trying to teach. He taught it to the religious leaders of his day who were so arrogant and self-inflated that they started out talking about God and ended up thinking they were gods. He taught it to the marginalized of his day who were so beaten down that they did not recognize their own goodness and the image of God within themselves. As Mary said, "He pulls the might from their thrones and lifts up the lowly from their dung heaps." 



God has entrusted gifts to us to be used! When we do not use our gifts, even deny we have them, we neither serve God nor the people we are called to serve. There is great responsibility that goes with being the light of the world and having talents! It scares us. We tend to shy away from it. 



In that arena, the prophet Jonah is a patron saint. Jonah was called to preach to the people of Nineveh. He considered himself a poor preacher on one hand and the Ninevites not worth saving on the other. To get away from his unwelcomed call, he went down to the docks and bought a ticket on the next ship sailing in the opposite direction from Nineveh. He thought he could outrun God! 



In his version of a get-away-car, Jonah is pictured going to sleep in the bottom of his boat while a storm raged, a symbol today of “denial.” The psychologist Abraham Maslow calls such spiritual and emotional truancy the Jonah Complex: “The evasion of one’s own growth, the setting of low levels of aspiration, the fear of doing what one is capable of doing, voluntary self-crippling, pseudo-stupidity, mock humility.” 



The fact is, we are afraid of failure and success. A calling makes us wonder if we are good enough, smart enough, disciplined enough, educated enough, patient enough, and inspired enough. We manage our fear by “going to sleep,” “settling for too little” and “self-sabotage.” We both crave and fear becoming who we are called to be! 



Thomas Merton was right, “The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.” Maybe our biggest sin is not what we do, but what we fail to do! Michelangelo put it this way. “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” 



Magnanimity and humility are the virtues specific to leaders. Magnanimity is the habit of striving for great things in oneself, reaching one’s full potential. Humility is the habit of serving others by bringing out their greatness, giving them the capacity to realize their human potential. Together they constitute the essence of leadership. In short, magnanimity and humility is about loving oneself and loving one's neighbor. 



Magnanimity affirms our own individual personal dignity and greatness. It is the thirst to lead a full and intense life through passionate and enthusiastic action. The magnanimous person is one whose heart is set on achieving personal excellence because he considers himself worthy of doing great things. A self-doubting, insecure, self-hating, lazy and timid person will never be able to lead effectively in the world, in the church or in the family. 


The other virtue essential to leadership is humility. Humility affirms the dignity and greatness of others. It is the thirst to love and sacrifice for the good of others. It is not about displays of personal power, but the empowerment of others. Humility is about authentic love. Authentic love is not about merely having warm feelings toward another. It is about offering them practical helpfulness in their growth as human beings. 


                                   For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
                                   but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
                                                                  Luke 14