Blessed be the God of Israel,
Who comes to set us free,
Who visits and redeems us,
And grants us liberty.
The prophets spoke of mercy,
Of freedom and release;
God shall fulfill the promise,
To bring our people peace.
Now from the house of David,
A child of grace is giv'n;
A Saviour comes among us
To raise us up to heaven.
Before him goes the herald,
Forerunner in the way;
The prophet of salvation,
The messenger of Day.
Where once were fear and darkness
The sun begins to rise;
The dawning of forgiveness
Upon the sinner's eyes,
To guide the feet of pilgrims
Along the paths of peace:
O bless our God and Saviour
With songs that never cease!
Michael Perry, Copyright 1973 Hope Publishing Company
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Saturday, 20 October 2012
Inside the Synod
"Call to serve the poor is the best source to make credible the call for the new evangelization.
There is a need to break down our large communities into small communities where people can meet with God.
Pilgrimages can lead people to a deepening of faith.
The parish is the first place where the Word can be announced. There is a need for parish renewal.
There is a need to break down our large communities into small communities where people can meet with God.
Pilgrimages can lead people to a deepening of faith.
The parish is the first place where the Word can be announced. There is a need for parish renewal.
Clarify the types of small faith communities in different parts of the world.
Evangelization should lead to an encounter with Jesus Christ. We find our fullness in meeting Christ. There is a need to fall in love with Jesus Christ and his spouse the church. We need to contemplate the face of Christ."
These are some of the "small group" discussion reports mentioned in this weeks Inside the Synod blog report from Bishop Gerald Kikanas of Phoenix, AZ. They resonated with me.
Just going to Mass is not enough for me. I want to know more about Christ and personally experience his presence in my life.
The way to this may be through less doing and more being. Less exploring and more imploring. Travelling to the inside rather than outside.
While on the Camino de Santiago, I had plenty of time to "implore" i.e. think, reflect and pray silently. I found this immensely rewarding and life changing.
Perhaps the Synod Fathers are on to something. It's not about the "Power of the Keys", challenging secularization, "creeping infalibility", religious freedom or asking for foregiveness for past sins, it is, it is, .... about ....
BEING WITH CHRIST ALWAYS
Monday, 8 October 2012
Walking as an Antidote to City Poison
Quoted from Hilliare Belloc's The footpath way: an anthology for walkers:
"There is moral as well as bodily wholesomeness in a mountain walk, if the walker has the understanding heart, and eschews picnics. It is good for any man to be alone with nature and himself, or with a friend who knows when silence is more sociable than talk. In the Wilderness alone, there where nature worships God. It is well to be in places where man is little and God is great - where what he sees all around him has the same look as it had a thousand years ago, and will have the same, in all likelihood, when he has been 1000 years in his grave. It abates and rectifies a man, if he is worth the process.
In cities everything is man, and man alone. He seems to move and govern all, and be the Providence of cities; and there we do not render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto Go the things which are God's; but God is forgotten and Caesar is Supreme - all is human policy human insight, human power; nothing reminds us of divisible dominion, and concealed omnipotence - it is all earth, and no heaven. One cure of this is prayer and the solitary place. As the body, harassed with the noxious air of cities, seeks relief in the freedom and the purity of the fields and hills, so the mind, wearied by commerce with men, resumes its vigour in solitude and repairs its dignity."
Sydney Smith (English writer and Anglican cleric, 1771-1845)
Quoted from the working document for the Synod of Bishops on The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, Rome, 2012
"Finally, popular piety with its devotion to the saints and Mary, in particular, as well as sacred places (shrines) with their opportunities for penance and spirituality, is increasingly being seen as a very timely and orginal means of initial proclamation. Pilgrimages and devotions can also provided the occasion to introduce a person to a real faith-experience and to respond to the great existential questions which touch upon conversion in one's life. A shared experience of faith opens a person to a world and life of new horizons. Working to well prserves the richness of Christian prayer in these places of conversion is undoubtedly a challenge for the new evangelization."
Three reflections are in order.
Firstly - it's true! When I am walking on a trail in the country side, I am overwhelmed with God's Creation. My faith in Him, his Love and nature's abundance, quiets my soul and brings me much needed peace. My Faith grows and I return a changed man, ready to take up my Cross with renewed spirit and energy. I have too thought, my goodness, this place was likely like this a 1000 years ago and will likely still look like this in 1000 years from now. It is humbling, earthy and organic. It is a feeling of being closer to God, in all my imperfections, and somehow these imperfections no longer matter as the birds, animals, plants, tress, rivers, lakes I see impart no judgement - we are all one.
Secondly, walking the Camino in 2010, we quickly learned that we did not like cities - they were cold, industrial, confusing, noisy, less friendly and inward focused. Having grown up and always lived in a city, I was taken aback by this revelation. Contrasting this was the warm, friendly, beauty, peacefullness and outward focused nature of the country side - with it's animals, birds, streams and mountains - I was at peace and calmed again, just like Sydney Smith says above.
Finally, going to a sacred place - meaning the pilgrimage journey provides me with an even deeper sense of a faith experience where I know that Christ was the Son of God and did rise again to offer me eternal life with his Father and with predeceased relatives and friends and Jesus. If this sounds a little far fetched or weird to you, try making a pilgrimage to a shrine or holy place, pray along the way and repent when you arrive there safely. See what happens to you. And afterwards when you return.
Le Puy Two Oh One Three
"There is moral as well as bodily wholesomeness in a mountain walk, if the walker has the understanding heart, and eschews picnics. It is good for any man to be alone with nature and himself, or with a friend who knows when silence is more sociable than talk. In the Wilderness alone, there where nature worships God. It is well to be in places where man is little and God is great - where what he sees all around him has the same look as it had a thousand years ago, and will have the same, in all likelihood, when he has been 1000 years in his grave. It abates and rectifies a man, if he is worth the process.
In cities everything is man, and man alone. He seems to move and govern all, and be the Providence of cities; and there we do not render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto Go the things which are God's; but God is forgotten and Caesar is Supreme - all is human policy human insight, human power; nothing reminds us of divisible dominion, and concealed omnipotence - it is all earth, and no heaven. One cure of this is prayer and the solitary place. As the body, harassed with the noxious air of cities, seeks relief in the freedom and the purity of the fields and hills, so the mind, wearied by commerce with men, resumes its vigour in solitude and repairs its dignity."
Sydney Smith (English writer and Anglican cleric, 1771-1845)
Quoted from the working document for the Synod of Bishops on The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, Rome, 2012
"Finally, popular piety with its devotion to the saints and Mary, in particular, as well as sacred places (shrines) with their opportunities for penance and spirituality, is increasingly being seen as a very timely and orginal means of initial proclamation. Pilgrimages and devotions can also provided the occasion to introduce a person to a real faith-experience and to respond to the great existential questions which touch upon conversion in one's life. A shared experience of faith opens a person to a world and life of new horizons. Working to well prserves the richness of Christian prayer in these places of conversion is undoubtedly a challenge for the new evangelization."
Three reflections are in order.
Firstly - it's true! When I am walking on a trail in the country side, I am overwhelmed with God's Creation. My faith in Him, his Love and nature's abundance, quiets my soul and brings me much needed peace. My Faith grows and I return a changed man, ready to take up my Cross with renewed spirit and energy. I have too thought, my goodness, this place was likely like this a 1000 years ago and will likely still look like this in 1000 years from now. It is humbling, earthy and organic. It is a feeling of being closer to God, in all my imperfections, and somehow these imperfections no longer matter as the birds, animals, plants, tress, rivers, lakes I see impart no judgement - we are all one.
Secondly, walking the Camino in 2010, we quickly learned that we did not like cities - they were cold, industrial, confusing, noisy, less friendly and inward focused. Having grown up and always lived in a city, I was taken aback by this revelation. Contrasting this was the warm, friendly, beauty, peacefullness and outward focused nature of the country side - with it's animals, birds, streams and mountains - I was at peace and calmed again, just like Sydney Smith says above.
Finally, going to a sacred place - meaning the pilgrimage journey provides me with an even deeper sense of a faith experience where I know that Christ was the Son of God and did rise again to offer me eternal life with his Father and with predeceased relatives and friends and Jesus. If this sounds a little far fetched or weird to you, try making a pilgrimage to a shrine or holy place, pray along the way and repent when you arrive there safely. See what happens to you. And afterwards when you return.
Le Puy Two Oh One Three
Friday, 5 October 2012
Fall Colours
I had a Knights of Columbus meeting to attend on Eganville. So I packed up the Roadtrek and decided to hike the K and P Trail near Calabogie. This is the Madawaska spill way beside the generating plant at the trailhead in Calabogie:
.
Now the Kingston and Pembroke Railway (The Old K and P) never did reach Pembroke. It stopped at Renfrew in 1884. In 1913 CP absorbed it and it was abandoned in the 1970s. The K and P trail follows the abandoned route and is compacted earth. I followed it for about 6.5 km before turming around. Here is a typical view:
Now the Kingston and Pembroke Railway (The Old K and P) never did reach Pembroke. It stopped at Renfrew in 1884. In 1913 CP absorbed it and it was abandoned in the 1970s. The K and P trail follows the abandoned route and is compacted earth. I followed it for about 6.5 km before turming around. Here is a typical view:
It runs straight and flat. I thought I was in for boring hike but, it was fun. Here is some more great colour.
About halfway along, one passed by Norway Lake which is dotted with cottages. This is the lake that was really hit by a wind storm in early summer. They went without power for a week or more.
There was lots of wildlife. Here is a downy woodpecker, possibly a female. Also saw a heron, mallard ducks, wild turkeys, several deer and a small black animal about twice the size of a squirrel. (sorry no photos)
Somebody hung up their boots and shoes, some appeared to be in good condition.
View of Calabogie Lake looking north, upon my return.
After camping overnight at the Raven`s Knoll near Eganville: http://www.ravensknoll.ca/ I headed for Round Lake and the Bonnechere Provincial Park http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/bonn.html . Here is a view of the beach:
They had a great fitness trail that followed the meandering Bonnechere River.
It was a great day, Warm and plenty of sunshine. Nobody there. Park closes for the season right after Thanksgiving weekend. Boohoo.
I headed back to Eganville and stopped beside beautiful Golden Lake for a picnic dinner.
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